Preemptive Strike: Part Three

Blades · August 31, 1999

New thread, same story. New shoes, same socks. You get the idea. The plot thickens . . . .

Gallion · August 31, 1999

Angela -

YES - Terrans do have an eyetooth (checked my funk and wagnel).

[rp]

Mission + 20 days 18 hours 26 minutes

There has been a murder on board. It seems that the prissy wench Angela got stuck up IC3's exhaust port. Hehehe, 'tis a shame. She was an alright wench. The stories I hear about her tell of a wench with an appetite that is a challenge to quench. Poor Team #1, now Jonesy will have to really work, his team is short one system engineer.

-----

Mission + 20 days 18 hours 29 minutes

Stephanie Headlamps just gave us the news about what is going on in the Galley as we began to clean up the Flight Deck. Headlamps began telling Team #3 (in very graphic detail, with some pantomime thrown in for good measure) about a 'vid being played. It was a good thing the rest of the Team began to laugh, I almost blew it trying to keep a straight face during the tale.

-----

Mission + 20 days 18 hours 56 minutes

Damn FO and his Flight Engineers are next to useless scum. We just completed cleaning up their Flight Deck. I found an interesting crate near IC3 launch bay. It was marke Xeno...something. I popped the crate open and had a look see; looked like junk to me. I showed it to Stephanie Headlamps, she said to eject it. So we did.

-----

Mission + 20 days 19 hours 1 minutes

I had to report to the Chief prick. He wants me to conduct a complete system diagnostics check on every system. He told me that I would be excussed from any other duties until they were complete. I am to report the results of the system dianostic to him, the Chief prick himself and nobody else. Jonesy gave me a wierd look as I left the Chief prick's office. I gave him a playful wick as I departed and headed towards a terminal to begin my new task. I think that I can milk this job for a while, might even be able to get Jonsey to fetch some stuff for me. He is such a good suck arse...

-----

[/rp]

System Engineer #13

Benni Arnald

GCV Chikuma

[This message has been edited by Gallion (edited 09-02-99).]

August 31, 1999

Blades, I hope this doesn't fall to far out of line. I'm taking care of Angela It's within my character's realm. If this doesn't jive, let me know and I'll delet or change it... your call.

Mission +21 days 0hrs 15min.

Personal Log, GySgt. Diamond.

[rp]

Begin log:

Things have been kinda hectic the last couple of days. Someone screwed with the security systems; shotty armor was found on IC-3; a green flight engineer was found dead; and ever since it started my teams have been on round the clock patrols.

I utilized the whole situation as a training excersize. My kids need to be ready for the same thing should real intruders beam on board during opperations.

Speaking of the children, my compliment was brought back to full strength back at GHQ. Three wet ears and one non-male with a lot of experience. It was odd that she was available, but I take any good fortune I can get. Only this time it was less good fortune than usual.

Corporal Shard Mattson (marin 13, more appropriate than I thought possible) turned out to be a little too experienced. Cpl. Mattson decided that he knew who killed that young flight engineer. He then proceeded to anonymously mail all the officers on this ship and some off ship as time passed.

It all passed by my desk. Every internal and external message the boy thought was secret. What's worse is that he thought by fooling with some command codes (The CO and Cmdr. should have those changed by now) he could make himself invisible to the perscan. It's typical of new "covert" internal opperatives to do stupid things. Just like it's typical to expect that, no matter what you do, I, the Platoon Commander, would know about everything my marines are doing.

Those damn squids at GALCOM Intel. have been trying to pass these boys by me for years now. You'd think they'd teach opperatives new techniques. But I'm probably just another rung in the training ladder. They've probably got some damned "Fooling GySgt. Diamond" chapter in the frazzing manual. Spooky squids!

I led my four man MEU team into his hiding place. Those boys are good. I have a feeling they'll be tackling the important missions soon. A few more days of training and I'll be able to sign them off on their SpecOps ratings.

Back to Cpl. Spooky: I've confiscated all his toys including the devices he had hidden under his fingernails and inside various body cavities. As a lesson to the next one, I ordered him placed into the brig naked. He'll be fed his meals throug a small hole (ahhh, pureed nutripack mush) to keep the chances of suicide low.

The command staff has assured me that they know who the murder is, so I'm not to deal with that at all (unless one of my boys catch him/her in the act, then all gloves are off ).

Until we get to our next SS, I plan on making Cpl. Mattson's stay a pleasant one. At least as pleasant as the spooks made mine during training...

Five minutes to the next excersize. I'm the llama this time. The CE has rigged up some fake failures and the boys and girls have to catch me before I make it to the bridge and kill Cmdr. Stone.

He and I have had lunch during the last three excersizes. Although I don't mind eating that fancy food in the Officer's Mess, I'd feel better if I could proudly present a well honed team to the boss. I'm hoping the MEU bunch will figure things out quickly this time. But, I don't plan on making anything easy...

I've got to be sure and warn the medics this time. I'm sure to have more than a few injured Marines at the end of this one. Pain is a better teacher than I've ever been!

End log.

Gunnery Sgt. Diamond

[/rp]

------------------

Cmdr. Akira

ICV Nevermore

Spectre, Command Staff

Base Commander, The Dojo

Official Tester

Battlecruiser Series

August 31, 1999

Ok...let's look BACK in the medical dictionary before you try to prove me wrong, ok? It is the lateral insiscor, also known as an eyetooth, or commonly the pointed, sharper tooth located in the mouth directly to the left and right of the 4 first teeth on the top of the mouth. Better? I'd rather not have the reputation of a...well...female dog, and to make this social boo-boo all better, I will simply take on the responsibility myself.

August 31, 1999

COMMS LOG: Mission +21 days 00 hrs 19 min.

In ship speech monitor enabled...

LOCATION: Shard Mattson's quarters.

Displaying text...

SHARD: No, sir. All transmissions have been blocked. I am on a secure module.

UNKNOWN: Has your cover been blown?

SHARD: No, sir. I don't believe that the crew knows about my status as a secret operative.

UNKNOWN: Good. Execute phase two. Now that the officers think you are with the goodguys, which I am sure they do, they'll trust you. That will allow you to detonate the device hidden among the crate of Xenotitanium armor hidden in cargo bay 1.

SHARD: Yes, sir.

UNKNOWN: And remember: To doe for the insurgency is a ticket into the stars forever!

SHARD: Understood, sir. I'll die for...who are you?! What are you doing in here!?

::loud thump::

::unknown sound muffled::

SHARD: Sir!

UNKNOWN: Who is there! You are breaching...uhh...GALCOM Specops security here! Identify yourself!

::plasma shot::

SHARD: (painfully) Uhhhhh!

***GUNFIRE DETECTED-ALERTING INSHIP SECURITY***

Security measures implemented...ending public log for security reasons.

END INSHIP SPEECH LOG.

Ben Somerset · August 31, 1999

[RP]

Personal Log: Robert 'Banish' Anderson

Mission +19days 09hrs 22mins

Well...looks like we're at war. And with the Gamms no less. I sure could think of other people I'd rather fight. From what I've seen and heard, those Gamms are some pretty Sierra Hotel pilots. From what the Commander said, they're going to be looking for a whole new group of brass to take over for the ones who got killed by the Gamms. I'm going to look forward to taking some of the Gamms out, as payback.

At least we got a chance to get some leave before we left port again. More over, I got to spend some time with my girlfriend before we both had to ship out again. I love her to death, but this being on separate ships can be a bit annoying at times. But, it also means that I can't be lovestruck 24-7, lowering my efficency ratings like Shadow. He's got the hots for some crewman, pretty bad, if Big is right. And poor Shodan seems to have that Commissioners daughter falling into his lap. You could see a court-martial coming a hundred klicks away on that one. Oh, well.

I'm just glad I got a message out to Jess before the Commander cut off communications. Something about 'top secret' operations. Just as long as I blow some Gamms out of the sky, I don't care.

-----

Mission +20days 17hrs 45mins

We're stuck in the ready room, all 8 of us. They want us ready for combat operations. How in hell are we supposed to be ready for combat, if we don't know where we are? I'm about to go to the galley with Big, and grab something to eat. Then, it's back to the ready room, to wait.

-----

Mission +20days 18hrs 5mins

Good lord...can't believe what Big and I just saw in the galley. Something I never expected to see, that's for sure. Didn't realize that some of the crew were into making their own X-rated holovids. To each his own...I suppose.

-----

Mission +20days 18hrs 45mins

A murder aboard ship! What a strange month this has been. New Commander, attacked, shore leave, war with the Gamms, dead brass, and now a murder. Poor girl, stuck into one of IC3's exhaust ports. I have the feeling that Shadow's not going to like that very much. And neither will the Flight Engineers that have to fix it. Not to mention the Marines...strange times these are. Strange indeed.

[/RP]

---------------

Robert 'Banish' Anderson

Pilot, IC-1

GCV Chikuma

[This message has been edited by Ben Somerset (edited 08-31-99).]

Blades · August 31, 1999

[Narrative On]

Mission + 20 days 23 hours 56 minutes

ÔÇ£Commander Stone!ÔÇØ

It was Neena Polovoski, the combat officer who spoke with such urgency.

ÔÇ£What is it Lt. Commander?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£My security board just lit up like a Christmas tree. There is an unauthorized transmission in progress.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Confirmed,ÔÇØ started Reynolds. ÔÇ£We have a tight beam transmission broadcasting from somewhere on deck three.ÔÇØ

Stone frowned in his command seat. This breach could jepodise the entire operation.

ÔÇ£Cut it off Mister Reynolds.ÔÇØ

Reynolds fumbled with his control panel. ÔÇ£I cant sir, itÔÇÖs not going out through the communications grid.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What?!ÔÇØ shouted Stone. ÔÇ£Where the hell is it broadcasting from then?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir!ÔÇØ it was Polovoski again. ÔÇ£I believe I can answer that.ÔÇØ

Stone got up from his command seat and hurried over to the combat officers terminal. ÔÇ£Well, Neena?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£One moment commander. Reynolds, patch me through to engineering.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye Lt. Commander.ÔÇØ

A moment passed, and then the engineering Chief came onto the link.

ÔÇ£Spencer here, whats up?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Chief,ÔÇØ started Neena, ÔÇ£are you monitoring a harmonic shift in the phase varience of the deflector grid?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes Lt. Commander. I was just about to realign the grid to stop the bleed . . ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Chief, I believe theres a masked transmission being piggybacked on the leaking shift. Can you determine this from down there?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Stand by Lt. Commander.ÔÇØ

Another moment passed while the Chief began a systems analysis on the deflector grid. ÔÇ£Confirmed bridge, theres a tightly focused signal being routed through the deflector grid. The harmonic shift we detected was masking most of the signal.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Hell.ÔÇØ Said Stone. ÔÇ£Mister Reynolds, begin jamming the transmission.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir,ÔÇØ said Reynolds, ÔÇ£If I start jamming, we will light up like a supernova. Anything within the region will spot us for certain.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood Reynolds. Jam the signal.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye aye, sir!ÔÇØ

Reynolds began the process of jamming the signal transmission. Hopefully, only a portion of the transmission would get through to itÔÇÖs intended recipient.

ÔÇ£Mister Polovoski,ÔÇØ started Commander Stone. ÔÇ£I want deck three sealed off completely. Then get down there with a full squad of marines and find whoever sent that transmission.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye commander,ÔÇØ replied Polovoski. ÔÇ£But how are we going to be able to positively identify the culprit?ÔÇØ

Chief Spencer returned on the link. ÔÇ£Commander, whoever manipulated the deflector grids phase varience would have to have done so manually, from either deflector control or one of a half dozen subsystems throughout the ship. They would have been exposed to the field for a brief time, and that should be detectable with a medical scanner. Only problem is, the phase varience will dissipate very quickly, and since the deflector grid and subsystems are located on all decks, there might not be enough time to scan everyone before the varience is undetectable.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Thanks for the tip Chief, weÔÇÖll take it from here. Bridge out.ÔÇØ

Neena Polovoski began to carry out her instructions. First, she locked down all exit points from deck three. Then she summoned Stg. Diamond on the link and briefed him quickly on the situation. ÔÇ£Oh, and Sgt?ÔÇØ she said just before linking off. ÔÇ£We have to have a little talk later on about that incident in the galley.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Commander, the signal is being jammed.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Nice work mister Reynolds. Were you able to intercept any of it?ÔÇØ

Reynolds again tapped on his terminal, pulling up the diagnostic logs and searching through them for the signals frequency. ÔÇ£Aye sir, we got a piece of it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Can you translate it?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir, running it through the cipher now. Sir, the transmission has ended.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Good. Stop the jamming. Mister Polovoski?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£On my way out sir.ÔÇØ Said the Lt. Commander as she made he way off the bridge and down to meet Sgt. Diamond and his squad.

For the next few moments, Stone had Graves at tacops scan the surrounding area for signs of hostile vessels. He also had Jensen at helm alter course and take evasive action to throw off any potential sensor lock. Relieved when no ships were discovered, he allowed himself to sink back into his command chair and give his beating heart a chance to calm down.

ÔÇ£Transmission decoded sir.ÔÇØ Said Reynolds. ÔÇ£But I only managed to get a few words here and there. IÔÇÖll route it to your MFD.ÔÇØ

Stone nodded and awaited the decoded signals translation to appear on his screen.

Regarding the ###### atrocity ## Sol:

My ##########. I do, ####### ##### that Omega #### will not deter the ##### Special ###### Team from ##### mission.

Regarding my recent ######:

Accomplished. Although the ############ of how I passed through the security nets ####### ### ###### ## issue, it is a simple matter of ######### ## ### officers onboard #### it ### necessary ## ##### disable ### ######## ##### before ## ########. Unfortunately, ## ### #### ## ### ### engineers first. ### ######### ###### ### ####### Angela DeGuerre.

# ## ########## extraction immediately.

#### ### ### #### ## #### ## ### ##### aboard this ship are set ##### It may have been an oversight ## ### ########### Department. ###### ###### ### ###### ########### ######### ### #### #### take appropriate action.

ÔÇ£Wonderful.ÔÇØ Said Stone as he finished reading the scrambled text on his screen.

ÔÇ£Sir?ÔÇØ enquired Reynolds from his station.

ÔÇ£It looks like we got a bigger problem than we anticipated mister Reynolds. I donÔÇÖt believe this is the work of just one individual. We got ourselves a leaky ship.ÔÇØ

Just then, Neena Polovoski linked in. ÔÇ£Commander?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Go ahead Neena.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, the team and I are in position and ready to move into deck three.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Good hunting mister Polovoski. Bring me those traitors, alive if possible.ÔÇØ

The sound of a pulse rifle being cocked, combat armor being fastened into place.

ÔÇ£Yes sir. If possible.ÔÇØ

Mission + 21 days 00 hours 07 minutes

[Narrative Off]

------------------

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

Blades · August 31, 1999

Ok, lets try and keep things tight people.

Watch the prior time index and try not to go too far off beacon.

Ben Zwycky · August 31, 1999

Sorry this is late. You guys move so fast!

[rp]

Mission plus 20 days 21 hours 10 Minutes

Autopsy Report

Subject: Angela DeGuerre

Systems Engineer Class 2

Approximate time of death: mission plus 20 days 18 hours 10 minutes

The subject had multiple internal injuries, broken ribs, internal haemorraging, fractured skull and a broken neck. However, the victim showed very few signs of having put up a struggle, no tissue under the fingernails, tears in her clothing or signs of overexertion or wounds on her arms, which seemed very unlikely given the severity of the beating she was given, so after performing several non-standard tests, which is why this report is late, it was found that she had a remarkably high level of natural human endorfins in her body.

These levels were high enough to induce a paralysingly strong sensation of pleasure. A concentration of endorfins were found in the tissue surrounding the external carotid artery just below the jawbone, indicating a hypospray of human endorfins, which would have gone straight to her brain.

This is a lot less obvious than a needlemark, and doesn't require as much accuracy on the part of the attacker, and high levels of endorfins would have been missed under a normal autopsy. Judging from these facts, and from the blood spatter analysis, I was able to reconstruct the events, approximately;

Miss DeGuerre was standing (or possibly bending over) looking at the engine of IC-3, when her attacker sneaked up behind her, probably placed one hand on her forehead to pull her head back, then delivered the hypospray with the other, inducing an almost instantaneous ecstatic condition, in which she was unable to defend herself or feel any pain as he grabbed the back of her neck then repeatedly smashed her head into the rim of the exhaust port, first breaking her neck at the fifth vertebra, then moving his grip up to the back of her head and continuing, fracturing her skull twice. Her attacker then let her fall to the floor, where he repeatedly kicked her in the stomach, chest and head, causing massive internal injuries, breaking 12 ribs, her nose, her left cheekbone and her jaw. She was instantly killed by the first injury. This guy was probably trying to make this look like a frenzied crime of passion. He is very well equipped, knew what he was doing, and is not to be confronted.

End report.

[/rp]

I think that's enough for my Dr. Quincy moment. Sorry if I'm at all out of line with anything, there Blades.

------------------

Commander Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda

ISS Fleet

"Nakonec pravda vitezi" (in the end the truth wins)

September 1, 1999

Hell...I wouldnt have complained had I known it would be so pleasureable. =)

Blades · September 1, 1999

***** Before we start, need to tidy something up. Ron, could you please remove AngelaÔÇÖs post on dated 08-31-99 12:37 AM . Both your post and AngelaÔÇÖs are contradicting each other, and after careful consideration have decided to stick with events from the SgtÔÇÖs point of view. Angela, I hope you understand why IÔÇÖm doing this. If you think this is unfair or anything, please mail me and IÔÇÖll try and explain everything to you without the need for anyone getting upset. *****

[Narrative On]

Mission + 21 days 8 hours 23 minutes

Commanders Personal Log

God, what a day.

If things werenÔÇÖt complicated enough with my orders package, we stumbled upon a murder, system malfunctions (Or sabotage, depending on your point of view), an insane holovid starring my own XO and Sgt. Diamond, and now a rogue transmission from deck three.

This is exactly the sort of thing I didnÔÇÖt want to have to deal with this time out.

Ok, lets do this by the numbers.

First, the ship wide transmission that alerted us all to the presence of an Insurgent ÔÇÿSpyÔÇÖ was nothing more than the insane ramblings of a deluded mind. The individual in question, Angela DeGuerre, was at one time officer material. Sadly, she was diagnosed as being schizophrenic and suffering from serious paranoid delusions. She was responding extremely well to treatment, however, and was granted permission to serve in the military after several very good reviews. For some reason, it looks like she stopped taking her medication and conjured up this little fantasy of hers regarding Benni Arnald. Maybe it was the stress of the last few days that tipped her over the edge. Maybe she noticed Benni acting suspiciously or something. Whatever it was, she justified it by making the ship wide broadcast and causing everyone a great deal of trouble. After going over her logs, we discovered that she had ÔÇÿattemptedÔÇÖ to tie the comms systems directly into the life support system. She wanted to prevent unauthorized access to the message by shutting off the life support system if anyone interfered with it. According to her log, this is what she had done. In reality, she had done nothing but burn out a couple of circuits and wire her own comm system into the heating panel in her quarters. I guess in her own world, it was fully functional. Sad really, very sad.

What still bothers me is why she was murdered, and who did it. She accused Benni of being responsible for a variety of incidents, and on inspection it was found that several of the systems she outlined had been tampered with. However, Benni couldnÔÇÖt have been responsible for most of them, since he lacks the skills to accomplish these tasks. At least, thatÔÇÖs what Chief Spencer told me and thatÔÇÖs what IÔÇÖm choosing to believe.

All the same, IÔÇÖll be keeping an eye on him for the rest of the mission. I may well have further use of him should things go badly over the next few days. Right now, I got him going over all the critical systems, looking for signs of ÔÇÿinterferenceÔÇÖ.

There is a murderer on board, but I believe that was down to our marine friend that Sgt. Diamond and his group apprehended earlier. HeÔÇÖs sitting naked in the brig right now, waiting to be interrogated by me.

I got marine #17, Dade Velarus down there right now, keeping our ÔÇÿguestÔÇÖ company. By the looks of things, heÔÇÖs special ops. Probably Orion fleet intelligence judging by Diamond and DadeÔÇÖs observations. That by itself is a major concern. Orion was always going to be a problem with the operation. Still, better we got him now than later. IÔÇÖll have to attend to this person once IÔÇÖve had a chance to go over him in the brig.

Once I got everything I need, IÔÇÖll blow him into space. I will not tolerate ÔÇÿtraitorsÔÇÖ on my ship, espech right now. I just hope Orion doesnÔÇÖt send a ship in to recover him. If they do, we may have to engage them to protect the mission. I hope it wont come to that.

On a lighter note, there was a disturbance earlier in the galley regarding a holovid picture that was shown to the congregated masses. Apparently, someone has been rigging holocams in my XO and Sgt. Diamonds quarters. Whoever this person is, or if my suspicions are correct, was, were adept at image manipulation. I got a copy of the vid (Commanders prerogative) and watched it a while back. I must admit, it made me smile. First time I done that in a couple of days.

Anyway, back to business.

We should be on final approach of our first destination in the next eight hours.

IÔÇÖm still uneasy about what weÔÇÖre going to have to do, but itÔÇÖs absolutely necessary to the completion of the mission. I know Sgt. Diamond and the bridge officers are going to question the instructions, (what sensible officer wouldnÔÇÖt?) but IÔÇÖm not going to let that interfere with things. This is my ship, my crew. I give the orders and they follow them. ThatÔÇÖs just the way it is. If things start to turn, IÔÇÖll have to get tough with them. Just as well weÔÇÖre scheduled to pick up additional troops with the rest of our cargo. Hmmmm. The morning is going to be interesting.

End Log

Mission +21 days 8 hours 29 minutes

[Narrative Off]

------------------

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

Gallion · September 2, 1999

Angela - Yep, you right I be wrong. Dont need a Med book. Me Funk and Wagnel had definition of eyetooth - aka canine/incisor. My apologies.

Now one with der show

[rp]

Mission + 20 days 21 hours 1 minutes

This dang system diagnostic is really becoming a bear. Just as I get one diag started, the Chief prick comes running in demanding updates and checking up on me. Especially after the deflector grid fiasco. How that dead wench got into that beats the heck out of me, but it does give me an idea...

-----

Mission + 20 days 22 hours .01 minutes

Holy sheep pebbles Garth! Watch ye step Wayne! Man that was close. I was tinkering around in the security systems and almost got caught by a sniffer. It seems the the Gunny is not an average Goon. I gonna have to lay off of him for a while.

-----

Mission +21 days 0hrs 19min.

I got slammed into the bulkhead by a Goon squad running A drill. Smacked me head up pretty good. That Medic, the one that got transfered to the cannon fodder team, fixed me up pretty good. Glad I revised my list...at least for now.

-----

Mission + 21 days 1 hours 13 minutes

That was great, Stephanie Headlamps was working on another of the plethora of problems that seems to plague this tub, when she blew her britches bending over a pipe. I wish that I could have seen the whole show. I only caught the tomatoe portion as I entered the engineering section. The rest of Team #3 filled me in on the gory details. Maybe she will wear a regulation fit uniform now - one not as snug.

------

Mission + 21 days 7 hours 6 minutes

I found an anomaly in the shield deflector array subsystem today. The dang thing is so small I almost missed it. The two d-arrays power ratio wave combiner are 2 degrees out of phase. I notified the Chief prick. Who ever did this is good, real good. I hate to see what would happen if we went to full shields. Talk about fireworks...

-----

Mission + 21 days 8 hours 23 minutes

Man I got to get this prick off my case. He is constantly looking over my back. Either he is on to me or the prick commander is really on his case. I think that I needs to lay off for a while. Things are getting a little touchy...

-----

[rp/]

System Engineer #13

Benni Arnald

GCV Chikuma

[This message has been edited by Gallion (edited 09-02-99).]

September 3, 1999

Oh man, Im so tired of typing (dont take all your 6000 word classes in one semester, learn from my pain!). Anyway, back to the story...

[RP ON]

Medical Log

Medic #7 Jayce Allen

Mission +21 days 10 hours 4 Minutes

//Begin Report//

Training [+20 Days 10 Hrs --> +20 Days 15 Hrs]

Participated in Angela De Guerre's autopsy,

Position: Observer.

Training [+20 days 18 hrs --> +21 Days 2 hrs]

Participated in Constant Shipwide Drills, Team #4.

Position: Combat Medic.

Medical Emergencies Treated:

1 Marine (#22) w/broken fingers (note to Sys Eng's: Re-activate the "doors are

closing" betty on the turbolifts.)

1 Non-combatant (Sys Eng #13) w/ concussion to the head & 1 cracked rib. (note to CMO: Request Stress treatment for SysEng#13).

Combat Situation: [Mission + 21 days 00 hours 07 minutes, Amidst Drills]

//End Log//

Personal Log

Medic #7 Jayce Allen

+21 Days 10 Hrs 12 Minutes

//Begin Log//

This is madness! A lady engineer got killed, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) had me watch as he mutilated her body... what was it he called it, an "Autopsy"? Yeah I think that was it.. I was so sickened by it I think I passed out for a minute there...and the sickness went with me to the drills.

The drills.. they're as "exciting" as I remembered them, only this time I was carrying a medkit and a sidearm rather than a backpack and a rifle. Today was different though, we were running thru the corridors, playing the usual "make believe one of the team is an intruder and chase him around the ship with weapons on stun" thing for what seemed like hours (my puny sidearm doesnt have a stun setting...its power pack is so small it delivers a strong kinetic blast that knocks the target back and overloads the pain receptors, causing severe pain all over the body and immobilizing the target for a few secs..but those were sweet secs when it was my turn to play intruder hehe).

Oh yeah, I had to treat a "real" combat injury for the first time... it seems our "intruder" marine #12 knocked an engineer into a bulkhead. The marines I was with stepped over his mangled body and kept on after the intruder. Cold hearted *******s. I gave the poor man a sedative and treated his head injury (it was just a concussion) and a cracked rib. As I treated him, the man began to ramble about how much he hated this guy and that guy and something about a girl or something... I think I gave him too much sedative. I reccomended a stress treatment for this man, he seemed about to blow.

When the drill was almost over, we got a call from the Combat officer to arrest someone in deck 3. The grunts smiled and set their guns on fatal settings and GRINNED. I was tempted to "stun" them there.. what kind of people are they? Damn im glad I never finished that course... where was I ? oh yes..

We went to deck 3 and confronted the target's quarters (the marines now had their weps on stun by the CO's orders... though I noticed that 2 of them disobeyed!). I was a few meters away from the team, aiming at the distant door from a corner when the door's security lock was bypassed and the door opened up...the grunts stepped inside,light flashed inside that room... and then I got the call from the team leader to go in.

I dont know what kind of setting the marines used on that poor man (BLADES: If its a woman change this), but he was convulsing heavily, blood coming out of somewhere in his right undearm. I managed to slow down his bleeding, his heartbeat and cauterized his wounds... a medic team arrived just in time to get him to sickbay. I still dont know if hes dead or alive, I've not been allowed in Medibay since then.

I wonder what weapon was used on him though... I've never seen a wound quite like that before.. it looked like those plasma burns I had to treat in engineering, but on a massive scale.

And worst of all, all comms have been restricted (or should I say cancelled?) since the news of the SC's death. Damn, mom must be worried.... I hope my cats havent starved.

//end Log//

[RP OFF]

Blades · September 6, 1999

***** Sorry for the delay my happy go lucky maniacs, but real life got in the way of things again and made it difficult to post. Ok, so thatÔÇÖs a lie. IÔÇÖve been playing with the new RC patch and havenÔÇÖt been able to do anything other than destroy insurgent scumbags on earth for days. I apologize. But I think you understand. *****

[Narrative On]

Mission + 21 days 16 hours 04 minutes

The GCV Chikuma lurched out of hyperspace and came to an abrupt standstill in space.

Few exterior lights were visible on the massive battle cruiser, the commander having ordered near silent running since they began their current, and still secret mission.

It would have been easier to cloak the ship, but the commander was more interested in preserving the limited fuel for the cloaking system rather than waste it just getting to their first destination. The crew, not knowing what their destination was, or what their instructions were to be once they got their were nervous. Would they be plunged into conflict? Would they face a fleet of Gammulan defenders at the border of their territories? Perhaps some of the renegade GalCom vessels were here, cloaked and hiding, waiting for the right moment to intercept and destroy them.

Only commander Stone knew some, if not all of these answers. Not even Neena Polovoski, the executive officer had knowledge of their current orders. This was a concern amongst the bridge crew, one they all shared in secret, but didnÔÇÖt dare voice.

ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre at a full stop commander.ÔÇØ Said Jensen at helm.

ÔÇ£Good job Jensen,ÔÇØ said the commander. ÔÇ£It looks like we made it on time.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ Replied Jensen, although not understanding the commanderÔÇÖs previous comment.

ÔÇ£Reynolds?ÔÇØ

The comms officer turned to his commander. ÔÇ£Yes, sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Bring the communications grid back online. Fire up Delta 432 frequency and prepare to send a data packet to these coordinates.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ Said Reynolds as he began bringing the communication grid back online. As he did so, the commander transferred a message packet to Reynolds terminal and a series of encrypted coordinates.

ÔÇ£Packet ready for transmission commander.ÔÇØ

Stone stood from his command chair. ÔÇ£Transmit mister Reynolds.ÔÇØ

Reynolds acknowledged and carried out his orders. The data packet was sent to the location the encrypted coordinates indicated. He had no idea where it was going, or even where they were. Like the rest of the bridge crew, he wondered exactly what their orders were, and why they were so secret that the commander couldnÔÇÖt even trust the XO with it.

Earlier, just as he was coming onto his shift he interrupted a heated discussion between the commander and the combat officer regarding the need to know mission instructions.

Of course, the discussion abruptly halted once Reynolds reported for duty, and they each went back to their respective positions and sat in near silence, only speaking when orders were given or updates were required.

The whole of the shift had been like this so far. Nobody speaking, no friendly banter between the officers. The mood had changed drastically. Reynolds suspected the commander knew this, although it didnÔÇÖt look like he was going to do anything about it.

It was strange.

The bleeping of the comms terminal brought Reynolds back from his ponderings. A reply was being sent back on the same channel. ÔÇ£Commander,ÔÇØ said Reynolds. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre receiving a data packet . . . . . . CanÔÇÖt confirm the coordinates.ÔÇØ

Commander Stone smirked. ÔÇ£YouÔÇÖre not supposed to mister Reynolds. ThatÔÇÖs the whole point of secret transmissions.ÔÇØ

Stone swiveled in his seat and faced his combat officer. ÔÇ£WouldnÔÇÖt you agree mister Polovoski?ÔÇØ

Reynolds looked back over his shoulder at the XO. She looked angry, on the brink of being furious. ÔÇ£Yes. Sir.ÔÇØ She said, then looked away and into the worried gaze of Reynolds.

ÔÇ£Eyes front and center!ÔÇØ she barked at him, and Reynolds snapped his head back to his terminal.

This was serious. More serious than a disagreement over orders and protocol. The commander almost seemed to be goading the XO into another confrontation. This was not normal. Two weeks ago, you could have said they were good friends. Now, since the war broke out, it seemed like they were almost enemies.

This did not bode well.

ÔÇ£Reynolds, transfer the transmission to my terminal.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye commander.ÔÇØ

Stone quickly decrypted the transmission at his terminal, and read the plain text message on the screen. He frowned, pondered the information for a few moments and then killed the screen.

ÔÇ£Reynolds, delete the entire message log for the last four days. I want it scrubbed clean.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir?ÔÇØ queried Reynolds. ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs completely against protocol.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I understand that mister Reynolds. Now, carry out your orders.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Commander,ÔÇØ started the combat officer. ÔÇ£I must protest.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Noted.ÔÇØ Said Stone. ÔÇ£Do it Reynolds.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Belay that order!ÔÇØ said Polovoski, stepping down from her terminal and towards the commander.

Reynolds froze in place, not knowing what to do or who to obey. Being the most junior officer on the bridge, he was unaccustomed to having senior officers contradict each other. This was a new, and thoroughly unexpected development.

Commander Stone turned on his XO. ÔÇ£You are out of line Lt. Commander.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir! Deleting the comms logs is a direct violation of GalCom operations protocols. A record is to be kept of all transmissions sent and received during operational hours.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I understand that, but these are exceptional circumstances.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir! I donÔÇÖt concur. And as XO I have the authority to question you orders in matter such as these.ÔÇØ

StoneÔÇÖs face began to turn a shade of red. He was starting to get really angry. ÔÇ£Are you, or are you not aware that we are in a state of war mister Polovoski?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Fully aware sir, but that doesnÔÇÖt give you the authority to completely disregard GalCom command protocols.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I have discresionary authority to do anything I damned well please, Lt. Commander, and you had best get used to that.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£No sir, I will not.ÔÇØ

The bridge went a deadly silent for a few moments. Stone looked perplexed, and Neena herself was on the verge of shaking with rage.

ÔÇ£Lt.Commander,ÔÇØ started Stone. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs clear that you donÔÇÖt fully understand the situation we are in.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt understand anything of this situation commander. We are flying blind in a region of space we cant even identify, evading everything that comes into sensor range and cutting off communications to the outside world completely. There have been system malfunctions, murders and other unrest throughout the ship since we started this mission, and I for one want to know why. Not only that, I insist you brief me on our objectives.ÔÇØ

She paused for a moment, trying to compose herself. ÔÇ£Or I will have no other choice than to have you relieved of command.ÔÇØ

Stone smirked at her. ÔÇ£You donÔÇÖt have the authority mister Polovoski, or the justification for it. ItÔÇÖs an idle threat.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, itÔÇÖs not so idle.ÔÇØ

Stone shook his head. He seemed to have calmed slightly. ÔÇ£For starters Lt.Commander, you cant relieve me without the support of the CMO. And you donÔÇÖt have that. Also, I have not put this ship in unreasonable jeopardy and I am also following fleet commands orders to the letter. You have no basis for your challenge to my authority.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, without knowing what those orders are myself, I have every right to question your authority. Check the regs, sir.ÔÇØ

Stone sighed. He knew this might happen at some point, but had hoped to delay it until they reached their second destination. However, the Lt.Commander was a good officer, understood the regs very well and was genuinely concerned for the ship, her crew and the mission. He couldnÔÇÖt fault her for it, she was justified. He just wished this could have been delayed until after the pick up.

ÔÇ£Very well Lt. Commander, if you insist, I shall allow you to view a portion of our orders. And thatÔÇÖs the best youÔÇÖre going to get.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Commander, I require full disclosure.ÔÇØ

Stone had had enough of this now. He would bend, but he wouldnÔÇÖt break. ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs the best your going to get Neena, so you had better get used to either that or confinement to quarters. And donÔÇÖt for a second think IÔÇÖm bluffing.ÔÇØ

The combat officer hadnÔÇÖt quiet expected that. She thought she could get full disclosure, but it seemed the commander wasnÔÇÖt one to negotiate too far. She had been fortunate to get this far. She knew she didnÔÇÖt really have a case against the commander, and wouldnÔÇÖt get the support she needed from the CMO even if she tried. She had accomplished what she set out for, but wasnÔÇÖt going to get any further.

ÔÇ£Understood.ÔÇØ Conceded the combat officer.

ÔÇ£Right,ÔÇØ started Stone. ÔÇ£meet me in my quarters at 1400hrs and we shall talk.ÔÇØ

Neena Polovoski nodded at her commander. ÔÇ£Yes sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Good,ÔÇØ said Stone. ÔÇ£Resume you post. Mister Reynolds?ÔÇØ

Reynolds looked over at Stone. ÔÇ£Y-yes sir?ÔÇØ

Stone smiled at him. ÔÇ£Settle down mister Reynolds, the mutiny will wait for another day.ÔÇØ

Reynolds smiled back, the relief at the commanders joke washed through him and almost settled his nerves completely. ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Carry out your orders. Delete the comms log.ÔÇØ

Reynolds turned back to his terminal and deleted the last 4 days worth of communications logs. ÔÇ£System purged sir.ÔÇØ

The commander sat back in his chair and nodded at him. He looked about his bridge and saw a mixed look of surprise and relief on his officers. He wondered how much longer they would hold out under these mysterious circumstances. He didnÔÇÖt envy them the turmoil brewing in their brains, and so badly wanted to be able to tell them all what their true mission was. But he couldnÔÇÖt, he dare not risk it. Not now, not ever. If they knew, things would get ugly very quickly. He had to avoid that at all costs. The mission was paramount, and none of them were too important to sacrifice for the greater good of GalCom.

For the next twenty minutes, the officers of the GCV Chikuma sat in near silence at their terminals, awaiting instructions from their commander.

ÔÇ£Stand by.ÔÇØ Was all the commanded said to them. He seemed to be waiting for something. They didnÔÇÖt know what, the couldnÔÇÖt know. Only Stone himself was privy to those details, and he wasnÔÇÖt about to explain anything to them.

Just then, GravesÔÇÖs TacOps terminal lit up and began bleeping at him.

ÔÇ£Commander!ÔÇØ said Graves.

ÔÇ£What is it?ÔÇØ enquired Stone.

ÔÇ£Sir, theres a ship decloaking ahead of us.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What kind of ship?ÔÇØ asked Stone.

ÔÇ£Ah . . . . transport vessel of some kind sir. Unknown configuration. Not reading a transponder signal from it. Sir, itÔÇÖs armed!ÔÇØ

Stone nodded. ÔÇ£Understood mister Graves. Mister Polovoski?ÔÇØ

The combat officer glared round at the commander. ÔÇ£Yes sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Have four flight engineers man the shuttle craft and prepare to launch. Make sure McKendrick is on board one of them. Have ICÔÇÖs 1 through 4 launch and escort the shuttles.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir. And the shuttles orders?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Have them dock with the transport and prepare to receive cargo and personnel.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Personnel sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£YesÔÇØ said the commander. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre picking up some ÔÇÿguestsÔÇÖ for stage two of the operation.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I see sir. And stage two would be?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£1400hrs mister Polovoski, not a moment before.ÔÇØ

The combat officer gave up on her line of questioning and carried out her orders. ÔÇ£Shuttles and Interceptors manned and ready for launch.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Very good.ÔÇØ Said Stone. ÔÇ£Launch.ÔÇØ

Mission + 21 days 16 hours 42 minutes.

[Narrative Off]

------------------

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

Blades · September 7, 1999

C'mon gang, lets not lose the momentum.

------------------

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

Ben Zwycky · September 7, 1999

[rp]Chief Medical Officers' Log

mission plus 21 days 13 hours 42 minutes

Allen is coming along very well. He stabilised a guy who had a very tricky injury. He was shot at close range with a rifle on ful power, but luckily it only made a hole in him through the right hand side of his ribcage, tearing a lung, but mostly just damaging muscle. Normally a rifle blast would seal off the blood vessels it breaks, but in this case the edge of the hole was very close to the long thoracic vein, and part of its wall was burnt and weakened and subsequently broke off when he fell. He was initally convulsing as a reaction to the blood filling his right lung. The other blast which shattered part of his shoulder blade and collar bone was not so serious, but a lot more painful. Jayce correctly identified the most threatening injury and administered effective first aid, making the subsequent medical team's job much easier. The guy will live, and is well on the way to a full recovery.

I'm certain that I have enough to satisfy the review board now. Maybe they will listen to me a bit earlier next time I speak up for someone. Beaurocrats. Well, they were doing their job and I was doing mine, and to their credit, they listened, and everything is turning out pretty well. Pretty soon I'll tell him the second part of my argument with the review board, and get him to start teaching the other medics the useful stuff he learned at the marine corps.

Everything on the ship isn't turning out too well right now, though. The atmosphere is pretty tense, and I've had a number of people in here from minor scuffles among the crew. I've even heard rumours that Neena wants me to examine Commander Stone for mental illness, but I don't want to get involved in that sort of ship's politics. Commander Stone certainly seems to be under a great deal of stress and have a great weight on his mind, but he seems to be coping well and shows no major signs of mental instability. I have no medical reason to relieve him of duty. Someone had better find a way to relieve some of this tension soon, or we'll whittle down the crew too much to be able to do whatever it is we're supposed to be doing.

End Log

[/rp]

------------------

Commander Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda

ISS Fleet

"Nakonec pravda vitezi" (in the end the truth wins)

Blades · September 16, 1999

[Narrative On]

Mission + 21 days 16 hours 50 minutes

The eight support craft of the GCV Chikuma approached the vast hulk of the armed transport ship. Upon reaching the ingress point, the four interceptor craft peeled off from their escort duty and allowed the shuttles to maneuver into the landing bay.

Sitting at his Tacops terminal Graves monitored each of the ships as they vanished within the transport. Apparently, there was some sort of dampening field in operation within the ship, preventing the sensors from scanning its interior cargo and weapons bays. This worried Graves, although the commander seemed perfectly at ease. He hesitated about mentioning his grievances, especially considering the heated outburst between the commander and XO. For now, he assumed that the commander knew full well the situation, and was fully briefed and prepared for it. However, as the support craft began to withdraw from the transport ship a few minutes later, he did notice something worthy of comment.

ÔÇ£Commander?ÔÇØ said Graves.

ÔÇ£Yes mister Graves?ÔÇØ he replied.

ÔÇ£Sir, IÔÇÖm scanning the shuttles as they come out of the ship. They seem to be loaded with armed personnel and weaponry.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs right.ÔÇØ Said Stone. ÔÇ£They are required for our mission.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ Said Graves. ÔÇ£But IÔÇÖm also detecting the presence of another dampening field on shuttle 4. ItÔÇÖs blocking out all my efforts to scan.ÔÇØ

Stone nodded at him. ÔÇ£Not to worry mister Graves, IÔÇÖm fully aware of shuttle fours contents. The dampening field is in place for security reasons.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood sir.ÔÇØ Said Graves.

ÔÇ£Sir?ÔÇØ said Polovoski. ÔÇ£How many additional personnel are we bringing on board?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£A total of 42 Lt. Commander. Troops and mission specialists.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£42? We donÔÇÖt have the room in the barracks for additional troops.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm aware of that mister Polovoksi. We will put them up in guest quarters and in the brig if necessary.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ Said Polovoski, suddenly feeling uneasy about the introduction of these secret troops to the ships compliment. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖll alert Sgt. Diamond to greet them and see that they are entered into the ships perscan system.ÔÇØ

Stone rounded on her. ÔÇ£Negative Lt. Commander. They are not to be entered into ships records at all.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£You want to go through this again mister Polovoski?ÔÇØ

Neena PolovoskiÔÇÖs stomach tightened. She didnÔÇÖt like the feel of this at all. ÔÇ£No sir. Understood, sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Very good.ÔÇØ Said Stone, turning his attention back to the view screen. ÔÇ£ETA on SH 1 through 4ÔÇÖs retrieval?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Four minutes commander.ÔÇØ Said Graves.

ÔÇ£Excellent.ÔÇØ Said Stone. ÔÇ£Mister Polovoski, have the recovery deck cleared. Post guards outside the deck and make sure they donÔÇÖt admit anyone except myself.ÔÇØ

Neena Polovoski wasnÔÇÖt liking this at all. ÔÇ£Understood sir.ÔÇØ

Minutes later in the empty landing bay, the four shuttles concluded their docking procedures and came to a halt in their assigned retrieval spaces. Slowly, the cargo ramps lowered, and a mass of armed personnel stomped onto the deck. Each wore jet black combat fatigues, carried an assortment or deadly short to mid range weapons and wore advanced target tracking and identification headgear. There were no identification tags to these men, no name badges or even rank insignia. In fact, there was nothing to identify them as GalCom troops at all. Most prominent amongst them was their commander, a large, powerful man in his early 40ÔÇÖs. Like the others, he wore no insignia or name tags, but his ÔÇÿlookÔÇÖ was more than enough to convince a casual onlooker that this was the man in charge.

As the men descended from the shuttles, they divided into separate units and began moving throughout the deck and started scanning for unwanted personnel and monitoring systems. At each point, they found none.

ÔÇ£Captain Mallone, sir!ÔÇØ barked a starch pressed trooper. ÔÇ£Area secure, sir!ÔÇØ

Mallone gave him a stern nod, then looked over at the shuttle craft. ÔÇ£Unload the equipment and get those shuttle pilots debriefed. Use the ÔÇÿwipeÔÇÖ on them.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, yes sir!ÔÇØ responded the trooper, who immediately turned on the ball of his foot and began issuing orders into his commlink unit.

Seconds later, three additional troopers and a medic with an ominous looking case joined him, and made their way into shuttle 1.

Mallone tapped the transmit button on his communit, and spoke into the extended lash mike. ÔÇ£Ghost to Revenant, the cats amongst the pigeons. You are cleared to cloak and disembark.ÔÇØ

Static came back, then a hurried response. ÔÇ£Revenant to Ghost, received and understood. Good hunting.ÔÇØ

Mallone clicked the comm unit again, switching it back to itÔÇÖs predetermined unit frequency. Looking up at his amassed troops, he couldnÔÇÖt help but allow a small smile to break onto his cold, granite like features.

The smile was cut short by the sounds of a struggle from within shuttle one. A mans voice, he didnÔÇÖt recognize it as one of his men, seemed to be protesting strongly about something. The protesting sounds were quickly silenced, probably by a carefully aimed punch to the throat. The gurgling sounds he heard as he got closer would seem to suggest this.

ÔÇ£Corporal Mitchell,ÔÇØ said Mallone into the lash. ÔÇ£Is there a problem?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Negative sir.ÔÇØ Replied Mitchell. ÔÇ£The subject declined the voluntary procedure. ItÔÇÖs now been taken care of.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood.ÔÇØ Said Mallone, pausing at the first of the unloaded crates and gently running a gloved hand across itÔÇÖs cold, metallic surface. ÔÇ£Proceed with the others pilots, weÔÇÖre on a time table here.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Acknowledged captain, weÔÇÖre already on our way out.ÔÇØ

Commander Stone pushed himself from his command seat and walked over to the bridge viewer unit. He watched as the unidentified transport ship turned on itÔÇÖs axis and without so much as a farewell, fired up itÔÇÖs huge engines and engaged itÔÇÖs cloaking device.

ÔÇ£Status?ÔÇØ asked Stone.

Neena Polovoski brought him up to speed. ÔÇ£Access to the flight bay has been completely cut off Commander. Guards are posted at each exit point.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Graves, anything to add?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre alone again commander. Or as alone as we can be without full sensors.ÔÇØ

Stone smirked. ÔÇ£Feeling useless mister Graves?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Not at all sir. IÔÇÖm busier than ever trying to monitor tacops with such limited range. Just wish I could dare to look away for a second without running the risk of missing anything.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Not to worry Graves, IÔÇÖm sure you-ÔÇ£

The Lt. Commander cut him off mid sentence. ÔÇ£Commander! Perscan has just alerted me of an injury. Systems engineer #6 has just red lined in shuttle one!ÔÇØ

Stone frowned. ÔÇ£His status?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£He appears stable sir, but his signs are weak.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood mister Polovoski.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Commander,ÔÇØ protested the combat officer. ÔÇ£what the hell is going on down there?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Probably just an accident mister Polovoski. DonÔÇÖt concern yourself, they have medics down there. Sys engineer #6 will be fine.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£ShouldnÔÇÖt we investigate commander?ÔÇØ

Stone paused for a moment, considering his options. ÔÇ£Contact the landing bay Lt. Commander. Tell them IÔÇÖm coming down.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye commander.ÔÇØ Said the combat officer, then began paging the landing bay.

ÔÇ£Mister Jensen?ÔÇØ said the commander.

ÔÇ£Aye sir?ÔÇØ

Stone began to tap commands into his chair MFD. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm uploading the next way points to mister Strangs terminal. As soon as the path is plotted, bring us about and take us to our next destination, maximum cruise speed.ÔÇØ

Jensen nodded to her commander, and began to make flight preparations.

ÔÇ£Commander?ÔÇØ said the combat officer. ÔÇ£They are expecting you sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Very good.ÔÇØ Said Stone. ÔÇ£You have the bridge Lt. Commander.ÔÇØ

With that, Stone left the bridge.

Each of the remaining officers went about their duties, following their orders or maintaining normal systems operations. Each of them were uneasy about recent developments, but none more so than the XO. However, it was the navigation officer, Ailsa Strang that first voiced the concern.

ÔÇ£Is it just me, or is something very wrong with all this?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£As you were Ailsa.ÔÇØ Said Neena Polovoski. ÔÇ£Ours is not to question a command order. And I donÔÇÖt want to hear any more talk like that on my bridge.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Oh, come on Neena,ÔÇØ said Jensen. ÔÇ£You more than any of the rest of us are worried about this.ÔÇØ

The combat officer glared at her. ÔÇ£True or not, this isnÔÇÖt the time or place to discuss it. IÔÇÖll get my answers from Stone this afternoon, and not a moment before. HeÔÇÖs made that very clear.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt like it,ÔÇØ said Jensen. ÔÇ£something feels very wrong about all this.ÔÇØ

There was a general murmur from the other officers on the bridge. They all seemed to be in agreance.

ÔÇ£Stow it people.ÔÇØ Barked Polovoski. ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt want to hear anything else about it.ÔÇØ

The bridge descended again into near silence, each officer silencing their thoughts and questions to the best of their ability and concentrating on their duties. For her part, Neena Polovoski was fighting a losing battle against the doubt. She hoped more than anything that the commanders explanation this afternoon would silence the screaming protests inside her head. At least if she was at ease, the other officers would be less likely to worry or question. At least, that was her hope.

ÔÇ£Course plotted and inputted.ÔÇØ Said Strang.

ÔÇ£Coming about to new coordinates.ÔÇØ Said Jensen.

ÔÇ£Very good.ÔÇØ said Neena Polovoski, moving from her security terminal and taking her place in the commanders seat. ÔÇ£Lets get out of here, maximum cruise.ÔÇØ

Mission + 21 days 17 hours 5 minutes

[Narrative Off]

------------------

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

Blades · September 16, 1999

***** Right, you guys have no excuse for not posting now. Lots to work with and big things a commin. The real story starts HERE. *****

Mission + 22 days 12 hours 39 minutes

[Narrative ON]

Commanders Personal Log

First things first.

Theres trouble coming. I can see it on the horizon. My bridge crew are concerned about our mission, and scuttlebutt suggests that the crew are divided on my command orders. They didnÔÇÖt react favorably to the arrival of our ÔÇÿGuestsÔÇÖ and there have already been minor skirmishes between the regular marine compliment and the special operations team. IÔÇÖve done my best so far to keep them apart, but everyone has their orders and their duties, and itÔÇÖs nearly impossible for the regulars not to interact with the new boys.

IÔÇÖve spoken to Mallone about keeping his people under control, and so far he has done an excellent job at keeping their hostile leanings in reletive check. However, despite their superior training and conditioning, they are still being goaded by my regulars when they interact. Perhaps if they didnÔÇÖt show such contempt for the marines it would be a helluva lot easier to keep things professional. However, that isnÔÇÖt an easy thing to accomplish, and wont work out long term.

However, they are needed on board ship, just in case things continue to progress as I fear they might. At any rate, IÔÇÖve already had them intergrate the additional equipment into the ships systems, despite the protests of Chief Spencer and Lt. Commander Polovoski.

Hell, I wish she wasnÔÇÖt on board ship. If there is going to be a problem, it will start with her. I did my best to calm her down at our meeting earlier, but I donÔÇÖt think she accepted my word as gospel. I informed her about the crucial nature of our mission, but not our real target. I fobbed her off with some creative bullshitting. Told her we were hitting a secret cloaked missile delivery installation. I almost think she bought it.

Almost, but not quite.

Once our meeting was concluded, we both went back to the bridge. We didnÔÇÖt say anything much after that, and the crew were awfully damned quiet. I cant blame them.

I think the only time I heard her speak during the remainder of the shift was when she ordered the pilots to RTB prior to jumping out system. However, she did manage a concerned glare at me every once in a while.

Hmmmmm.

IÔÇÖve took the precaution during the night to install some new software in the main computer. IÔÇÖve had some of MalloneÔÇÖs men stand guard around the computer core. They will remain there for the remainder of the mission, just in case.

Maybe IÔÇÖm being over cautious. I donÔÇÖt know. Maybe IÔÇÖm being paranoid. Whatever the case, I cant allow anything to interfere with the mission. I still have my doubts, but not enough to go against what I know is necessary.

Damn, I really wish Neena wasnÔÇÖt on my crew. I like that woman, she is a damned good officer. If things had been different, IÔÇÖd want her with me wherever I was assigned.

Ok, I mustnÔÇÖt allow sentiment to get in the way. Could be fatal.

ÔÇ£Commander Stone to the bridge!ÔÇØ

Hell.

ÔÇ£Stone here, whats the problem mister Reynolds?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£TacOps is picking up a blip ahead of our next jump point. ItÔÇÖs transponder identifies it as the GCV Berlin, Mk.2 battlecruiser.ÔÇØ

Christ . . . almost avoided it.

ÔÇ£Are you running the transponder through the updated IFF system?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Doing it now sir . . . . . . itÔÇÖs one of the renegades sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood Reynolds. Signal battle stations, IÔÇÖm on my way up.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye aye sir!ÔÇØ

Dammit, we were so close to getting through. Now we have a problem. A big one.

End Log.

Mission + 22 days 12 hours 43 minutes

[Narrative Off]

------------------

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

Gallion · September 17, 1999

(rp)

Mission + 21 days 15 hours 44 minutes

The CMO's access count is up to 30. Anytime now and the Trojan will be released. A Trojan that will cripple this tub's comp system.

-----

Mission + 21 days 16 hours 04 minutes

Scuttlebut has it that the Russian wench and the Prick in charge had a round or two on the bridge. Hope the Russian Wench wins, she looks better in the command chair.

-----

Mission + 21 days 16 hours 13 minutes

The Chief prick totally disregarded my warning about the anomaly in the shield deflector array subsystem. He says not to worry about it and that it is an undocumented design enhancement inherent to the L-IVS shield system. I think that he is full of guono myself.

-----

Mission + 21 days 16 hours 55 minutes

Gravy duty complete, system diagnostics check for the prick in charge are complete. Chief prick has me checking on IC3. Something about cross-wiring that the colour blind Jonesy did earlier that needs to be fixed

-----

Mission + 21 days 17 hours 5 minutes

Cant get to the flight deck anymore. There be goons all over the place. Ah well, looks like the repairs on IC3 will have to wait.

-----

Mission + 22 days 12 hours 43 minutes

Klaxon is sounding gots to get to me battle station - where ever that is. I see an open system terminal. I wonder what I will find...

-----

(/rp)

System Engineer #13

Benni Arnald

GCV Chikuma

[This message has been edited by Gallion (edited 09-17-99).]

Ben Zwycky · September 19, 1999

[rp]

mission plus 21 days 18 hours 30 minutes

I've been trying to share medical history databases with the medics who came aboard with the new crewmembers, but they haven't been very helpful. I eventually managed to talk them round by asking who will treat their men if they get injured, and how are we supposed to treat them properly without their medical histories. I downloaded theirs and uploaded ours, so that we can work together and ease the load on each other. We should be able to work together- after all, we're on the same team.

mission + 22 days 12 hours 43 minutes

Well, we're on battle stations. Looks like all this secrecy and sneaking around hasn't done us much good. Right, emergency readiness drill. Medics on station, combat medics on patrol, medical history and treatment database online. Hang on, computer, activate medical history database. Activate database! Stupid thing. That's going to make things tricky. Oh, well, computer, activate emergency treatment cubicles. Computer? Oh, dear. Er, Mr Spencer?

[rp]

------------------

Commander Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda

ISS Fleet

http://www.watson-jones.swinternet.co.uk/Svoboda

"Nakonec pravda vitezi" (in the end the truth wins)

Charles Lindsey · September 20, 1999

Mission: + 21 days 16 hours 00 minutes

Narrative:

McKendrick laid his terminal down and rubbed his eyes. He was tired after reading pages of technical specs on the shuttles. The files had taken some hunting to find. While not classified they weren't called on much except by the system engineers for repairs, and really only then for extreme diagnostics. Most parts were plug and play and easily identifiable as to which one had gone bad.

It was about time for his shift to start anyway. Third shift sucked. It didn't matter that there was no sunlight to go by. His body was firmly locked into Terran Standard. He closed his terminal and thought of the shuttles. They really were quite amazing little machines, he thought. They had hyperjump capability as did most Galcom ships and the speed capacity of an interceptor. Perhaps a little more sluggish in maneuvers but some tweaking ought to take care of that. Not only that but they had the sheer grunt to tow ships many times their size, all while carrying a drone, an ATV, and 500 units of cargo. IC's had weapons but much smaller engines and reactors to go with their lighter mass.

He was starting to think along other lines when the commlink beeped. He activated it and heard, "Crewman McKendrick, please report to the shttle launch bay." He pressed the acknowledge button and walked down the corridors wondering what he was to do now.

It took several minutes for him to make his way from the personel quarters to the shuttle bay. He passed several interceptor pilots all decked out in flight gear while he was on his way. He started to get a bad feeling about the situation.

When he arrived in the shuttle bay he was assigned to shuttle 4 and given instructions to fly to the transport in the system, dock, accept cargo and guests. It sounded easy but he remembered the last time. A preflight inspection showed that both the drone and the ATV were missing giving him full cargo capacity.

The launch went smoothly and the interceptors stayed tight on his tail and the others. This time, he thought with a rueful laugh. Not a raider in site and they are covering us like we were the most precious thing in the quadrant. He approached the transport and realized his CVD had been teling him the truth. This thing looked like a cross between a Canlon, a Jenstar, and a Generis. He cruised along the bottom of the hole looking for the docking bay. No telling where it was on this hunk of junk he thought to himself. He finally found it in the aft section that looked most like a Canlon.

He was the first one to dock and as he landed he noticed a gaggle of men wearing black uniforms. No rank insignia or anything else for that matter marred the matte black color of the outfits. McKendrick landed the shuttle and set the rear door to open. He then ducked through the bulkhead to the passenger area and at the end of that took the steps down to the cargo bay area. The black clad men had already entered and had tucked a unit into a corner and plugged it into the nuclear reactor outlet on the ceiling. It looked like a dampening unit but he wasn't sure. Now they were maneuvering a rather large object into the cargo bay. Several drones were assisting the antigrav pad.

The other shuttles had docked and were taking on passengers through the side entrances. As the piece was loaded a few of the men stayed with it and the rest boarded through the side entrance including a rather large man who looked to be in his late forties. Just before he entered he waved the other shuttles off.

"Ok, son, just get us to the Chikuma," he said.

McKendrick bristled. He didn't like being called "son" or "boy" by anyone. He had almost gotten courtmartialed over that while still in flight school. The officer who had insulted him had been found guilty instead and reprimanded. But ever after McKendrick took such insults with prudence as was the case with this jerk.

McKendrick used the VTOL controls to lift back off the deck of the transport when the shuttle began tilting. "Son! what are you doing? Do you have any idea what you are carrying?!?" yelled the older man.

"The load is off balance sir, pretty bad too," replied McKendrick.

"Son, that load is perfectly centered in the bay, I watched it myself."

McKendrick stood, turned, summoned his best (You don't know what the hell you're talking about but I will respond respectfully because you can kick my ass) voice, and said, "Yes sir, it is centered but it is off balance. Why did you have five drones on one side of it and only three on the other? While inside this transport we are subject to it's Guardran field and as such any inconsistencies in the load will be reflected in Terran Standard gravity. That equipment is off balance. Sir!"

The older man gave McKendrick a hard look and said, "Son, just get us out of here in one piece if you can. If not I'll personally rip your head off and puke down your throat."

McKendrick sat back down in the shuttle's command chair and balanced the thrust. He lined up with the bay doors and exited the transport. Once clear of the transport he targeted the Chikuma and the flight was uneventful. Once in the Chikuma's shuttle bay however everything changed again. The older man burst out of the shuttle and started barking orders. The men in black started pouring out of the shuttles and searching the bay as if there were intruders aboard.

One man stayed behind however holding a nasty looking headset. "Sir, I am sorry to iinform you that this procedure is necessary but if ou will hold still for a moment it is quite painless."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked McKendrick. "I kept the goon's equipment safe and now you want to do a procedure on me? What's is for?" asked McKendrick.

The man in black smiled and said, "This will wipe your memory of the proceeding events. It has been set to your arrival in the shuttle bay and you will simply forget all that has happened recently. You will take a nice nap and wonder why you were asked to the shuttle bay."

"But, but, I don't even know what you brought along," sputtered McKendrick.

"I'm sorry sir, it's the easy way or the hard way, I really don't care which."

McKendrick forced himself not to look at the Flight Data Recorder and nodded assent. He sat back down in the command chair and felt the headset being put on his head. One surge of "something" then it was euphoria and he was dreaming.

[RP] Off

CREWMAN McKendrick

GCV Chikuma

Flight Engineer # 13

Blades · September 21, 1999

Mission + 22 days 12 hours 47 minutes

[Narrative On]

ÔÇ£Status!ÔÇØ barked Commander Stone as he entered the bridge.

ÔÇ£Enemy vessel is at a heading of 243 by 14 by 9, holding position ahead of the jump gate out of the system. Their weapons and shield systems are fully charged. No support vessels of any kind in the immediate area. They are hailing us commander.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Block the transmission Reynolds. I donÔÇÖt want that son of a bitch blowing the whistle on our whereabouts to any of his turncoat friends.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Mister Graves?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£On station, commander.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Bring TacOps back online, full readiness.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir!ÔÇØ exclaimed Graves, who for the first time in days was able to properly investigate his surroundings without worrying about blowing the ChikumaÔÇÖs silent running orders. Being intercepted by the renegades ship more than did that.

ÔÇ£Helm?ÔÇØ asked the commander.

ÔÇ£Yes sir?ÔÇØ replied Jensen.

ÔÇ£Bring us to an intercept course with the renegade.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye commander.ÔÇØ

Stone was almost by his command seat by this time. Just as he was seating himself, the combat officer spoke up.

ÔÇ£Commander, you want us to engage the renegade?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Not ideally mister Polovoski, but we have little choice now. We need to get through that jump gate, and they are in the way.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£But sir, those are our people on that ship.ÔÇØ

Stone shook his head. ÔÇ£Not any more Lt. Commander, they ceased being our people when they betrayed the fleet. There nothing more than common scum with some high tech equipment.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, what about all the enlisted men and support crew that ship? They are just following the orders of their superiors, much like the crew on this ship would.ÔÇØ

Stone didnÔÇÖt like the tone of her voice. Something about her last comment seemed threatening to him.

ÔÇ£Whatever feelings you may have for those crewmembers Lt. Commander, put them aside. For one, whether they know the score or not, they are still getting ready to attack this vessel and are therefore a threat. Second, we have an objective, and right now, however unfortunate, that ship stands between us and that objective.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Then we can warn them off commander. Give them a chance to retreat.ÔÇØ

Stone was reluctant to answer her, knowing full well what the reaction would be.

ÔÇ£Negative mister Polovoski. We cant let them get word back to their fleet.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Commander, we cant possibl-ÔÇ£

ÔÇ£I want them out of my sky Lt. Commander, and I donÔÇÖt want any further argument from you about it! Now, carry out your duties or I will have you relieved!ÔÇØ

The combat officer bolted from her console and stepped down quickly to her commander. It was only when she faced him directly that she noticed, for the first time, that commander Stone had armed himself. Surprised, he protest was momentarily forgotten.

Stone glared at her with cold, hardened eyes. ÔÇ£As you were Lt. Commander.ÔÇØ

Again, Neena paused, waiting for some semblance of understanding to force itÔÇÖs way into her head and makes sense of the remarkably confusing situation she now found herself in.

ÔÇ£I will tell you one more time Lt. Commander, and if you havenÔÇÖt resumed your post, I will have you escorted to the brig.ÔÇØ

Reynolds looked at the XO with worried eyes. ÔÇ£Neena, please?ÔÇØ

The combat officer slowly acknowledged him, then looked briefly back at her commander. She conceded.

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ She said, before making her way back to her post.

For just a moment, Stone had considered rushing for his firearm, pulling it from itÔÇÖs holster and leveling it at his XOÔÇÖs chest. He wondered how the rest of the bridge crew would have reacted to such a blatantly hostile gesture, but didnÔÇÖt dwell on the grim and all too possible outcome. Instead, she had backed down again, probably for the last time.

ÔÇ£Commander?ÔÇØ said Jensen.

ÔÇ£Yes?ÔÇØ he replied.

ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre on course for the Berlin, ETA 6 minutes.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Good. Mister Polovoski, have ICÔÇÖs 1 through 4 launch and escort us. Get the regular marines prepped and ready for combat. I got a feeling weÔÇÖre going to be boarded.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What about our guests, commander?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Inform Mallone of the situation, and have his people stand by.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye commander.ÔÇØ

Moments later, the four Interceptors were in space, moving into an escort stance around the Chikuma and bring their weapons to readiness. On the lower decks, Sgt. Diamonds compliment of marines began making their patrols around the ship, while worried off duty personnel retreated into their quarters and prepared for the worse.

In the guest quarters, Mallone began barking instructions to his men, ordering them to supplement the ships regular marines in almost every area. Soon, uniformed marines stood side by side with their clandestine fellows, exchanging grudging looks each attempting to carry out their duties with more precision and enthusiasm than their counterparts. It was an odd mixture, with no clear chain of command. Although Sgt. Diamond had full authority on board ship, the new arrivals had obviously not been told this, or if they had, were following their own agendas and had little intention of taking orders from a regular.

This was a major concern.

ÔÇ£Mister Polovoski?ÔÇØ said Stone.

ÔÇ£Aye sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I want IC comms shut out. Over ride their systems and lock them out completely. Have any new orders routed through TacOps only.ÔÇØ

Again, the combat officer thought about protesting, but knew she was already a single step away from being relieved and a possible court martial. In war times, she could find herself spaced without so much as a hearing, or shot down like a dog at her commanders whim. She doubted anything like that would happen on this ship, or at least, she doubted that it would have happened on this ship until recently, but she wasnÔÇÖt about to risk it now.

ÔÇ£Aye commander.ÔÇØ She said, manually locking out the interceptor pilots communications with a few well placed keyboard strokes. ÔÇ£ICÔÇÖs 1 through 4 are locked out of comms.ÔÇØ

Stone nodded, and leaned forward in his command chair. He looked into the main bridge viewscreen, and as the seconds ticked by, watched the distance between the Chukuma and the renegade Berlin decrease.

ÔÇ£Commander!ÔÇØ shouted Graves from his TacOps terminal. ÔÇ£The Berlin is launching fighters, and we got activity from the jump gate.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Something coming through?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir, something big.ÔÇØ

Stone watched on his MFD at the TacOps data, and winced as a new blip appeared on the readout. It didnÔÇÖt make pleasant viewing. Another Battlecruiser Mk.2.

ÔÇ£What ship is that Graves?ÔÇØ the commander barked.

ÔÇ£Transponder identityÔÇÖs it as the GCV Tsunami. Another renegade.ÔÇØ

Stone frowned. ÔÇ£Tsunami? IsnÔÇÖt that commander SavageÔÇÖs ship?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ Said Graves. ÔÇ£I hear he used to be a file clerk, sir.ÔÇØ

Stone was almost amused by this most recent turn of events. He had heard about commander Karl ÔÇÿBladesÔÇÖ Savage, and what he had heard led him to believe that the commander, although clever and resourceful, was not cut out for starship command. In fact, rumor had it that Blades had only got his commission through various nefarious activities, including blackmailing a high ranking fleet official. Or so the rumor went.

ÔÇ£Whats the status of that ship Graves?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£SheÔÇÖs taken heavy damage sir and in no condition to fight.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£All the better mister Graves. Have ICÔÇÖs 3 and 4 break and attack the Tsunami.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, the Tsunami is no threat.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Do I have to repeat myself to you as well mister Graves?ÔÇØ

Graves swallowed hard. ÔÇ£Negative sir. Updating their threat list. They are moving to intercept.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Good.ÔÇØ Said Stone. ÔÇ£ETA to primary target?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Three minutes sir. Enemy fighters on approach.ÔÇØ

Stone gripped the edge of his seat tightly, and forced himself to ease back into his command chair. ÔÇ£Bring the turrets online. Maximum spread, 80% power. IOD to 30%.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ Said Graves. ÔÇ£Weapons hot, lead targets in range in 20 seconds.ÔÇØ

Stone took in a breath, thought one last time about the implications of what he was about to do. In those moments, he considered his orders, the choice he had made over three months ago, the sacrifices that had already been made, and the sacrifices that were about to be. All the doubts of recent weeks finally came at him head on. Before, they were just theories and possible complications. Now, they were real, and faced with these real threats, real targets, Stone almost lost his nerve and countermanded his orders.

However, the need was as great now as it had been before. Possibly even more so.

How could GalCom survive with officers like commander Savage being the only thing standing between Earth and hordes of aggressive aliens? It couldnÔÇÖt. Not with the way things were.

ÔÇ£Commander, lead targets are now in weapons range. What are your orders?ÔÇØ

Stone looked grimly up at the main bridge viewer. The four Berlin interceptors streaked towards his ship, weapons hot and already trying to acquire a missile lock.

Kill or be killed. Fight, or die.

ÔÇ£Make them go away mister Graves, I want a clear run to the Berlin.ÔÇØ

Mission + 22 days 13 hours 00 minutes

[Narrative Off]

Mission + 22 days 13 hours 57 minutes

[Narrative On]

Commander Savage's Personal Log

GCV Tsunami

I think I must have soiled myself for the third time in just over an hour.

The first instance was pretty much as per normal given that we had just barley gotten away with putting down the GCV Onasis. However, after picking up survivors and jumping into the anticipated safety of [CLASSIFIED], we ran smack bang in the middle of yet another engagement with these renegade forces. This time it was the Chiukma, bearing down on the Berlin at full speed.

Running across another renegade in this short space of time was nothing short of impossibly unfortunate in the first place, but as soon as TacOps had been able to establish that it was the Chikuma, I knew I was in for a bad afternoon. Hence my second soiling.

Gah . . itÔÇÖs all confusing at the moment. Let me see If I can get this all down in proper order.

Before I knew what was going on, two Interceptors from the Chikuma were speeding towards me and devastating what was left of my shields. The Chikuma herself was making a move towards the fully functional Berlin, and wasnÔÇÖt paying us too much attention. I guess the commander of that ship, whats his name? Stone I think fleet said when they briefed us, didnÔÇÖt consider us too much of a threat. If he had done, he would have gone for us first and got in an easy kill. Damn, IÔÇÖm glad we were so beat up.

Anyhow, the Chikuma engaged the Berlin at close range, the other two fighters mixing it up with the Berlins own compliment. This went on for a while, and at first, it looked like the Berlin was doing the most damage.

While this was going on, my crew were screaming at me to get us the hell out of there, and as the good commander I am, I ordered a hasty retreat back through the jump gate.

Sadly, our reverse thrust was completely shot to hell, so all we could do was go forward or use maneuvering thrusters to turn us to face the gate.

Thrusting round would have taken time, and severely limited our ability to defend ourselves from the attacking interceptors. So instead, I ordered a maximum power burn on our present heading.

Jonis said something about a collision alert a few moments later, and it was only when the bridge view came back online briefly, I realized I was hurtling the ship directly into the path of the Chikuma. I bluffed my way through that slight oversight by claiming I knew what I was doing, and it was all part of an intricate plan to thwart the enemy.

As luck would have it, the Chikuma wasnÔÇÖt much in the mood to take us head on, and despite losing most of our remaining armor and blowing the half dozen or so working systems we still had, the enemy ship executed an emergency evasion maneuver and just got out of our way.

For the next fifteen minutes, it was a running battle between ourselves and the two enemy interceptors. My own pilots ships were too heavily damaged to send out into the engagement, so I had to rely on a huge amount of luck to get us out of the firefight.

I say luck, what it actually boiled down to was the Berlins utter refusal to back down from the Chukuma that probably saved our hides.

From what my TacOps officer told me, the Chikuma recalled itÔÇÖs interceptors from harassing us to help defend it against the onslaught from the Berlin.

This allowed us to get clear across the system to out alternate exit point.

I donÔÇÖt really know what happened from that point, since TacOps was gone and we were only getting the most basic of sensor info about the battle.

The last thing I saw before we lost TacOps for good was the Berlin burning in space, itÔÇÖs interceptors blown out of the sky and the damaged, but still functional Chikuma throwing everything she had at the devastated ship. There was an explosion, and the EMP blast knocked out the rest of our sensors.

Somehow, we managed to get through the jump to [CENSORED] and put out an immediate S.O.S.

I just hope someone comes and rescues us before that renegade ship comes back to finish us off.

End Log

[Mission + 22 days 14 hours 3 minutes]

[Narrative Off]

------------------

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

Lynx Pherrett · September 21, 1999

Flight Engineer #11, Eric Stylan

Mission + 22 days 13 hours 6 minutes

[RP ON]

Found these scraps uesd used as packing for an IC laser [unreadable] and a micro-pneudralic applicator works ok as a pen, but the fluid smears pretty easy until it dries. I don't trust the ship's computers or even my personal datapad anymore; not since the murder, CO's video debut and the other wierd crap. It just keeps getting stranger.

Now we've got a bunch of spooks running around the ship, and I can't even get on the flight deck to get anything done half the time. Harrison told me he saw the Commander wearing a blst blaster when he passed him in the corridor.

And Mac's been acting pretty strange lately, ever since he got back from picking up the goons. Hell, he almost screwed the pooch launching this last sortie. If I hadn't pulled him off the launch and sent him down to inventory Vagrants, he'd have launched IC-2 with a CAP/SEAD loadout. And he didn't even put up a fight, just shrugged and wandered off.

Hope whatever we're up against this time, we don't take the same pounding we did last time.

[RP OFF]

Mission + 22 days 13 hours 8 minutes

September 22, 1999

"an intricate plan to thwart the enemy."

LOL!!

[RP ON]

Personal Log

Medic #7 Jayce Allen

Mission + 22 days 12 hours 48minutes

What the heck is going on? Oh man oh man... klaxons... battle stations! $%#$%@ always when im off-duty.

I rushed over to medibay, picked up my medkit, waited in line for a few seconds with the rest of the Marines as we requested our weapons. As usual, my miserable weapons clearance only allowed me to getthat miserable wrist laser no one would use in their sane state of mind.

I linked up with my fire team and went with them to our battle stations.

[RP OFF]

Bad Mojo · September 22, 1999

{rp on}

-------

GALCOM OPERATIONS LOG

Mission Time: +22 days, 13 hours, 26 minutes

IC3 Pilot, Wendel Roberts, Callsign: Pancake

GALCOM operating number: 4927111

SUBJECT: Personal log

-------

I hate my job.

I think that sums it up nicely. I hate my job. I hate my job alot. But right now, I hate THIS BUSTED-ASS GHETTO TUGBOAT MORE!!! Why in the name of ZEUS'S BUTTHOLE did I get stuck in THIS particular piece of space junk??! I'm in the middle of combat... and I'm making a LOG entry... WHY!? BECAUSE IT WORKS! THE STUPID LOG WORKS!

Why is that remarkable?

BECAUSE NOTHING ELSE DOES! THAT'S WHY! The armor is shot. The shields are blown. Navcom went 5 minutes ago. Attitude thrusters are out. Main thrust injectors were blown, but I managed to rig them for full on/full off. Frankly I'm amazed that Shadow is pulling this off. Kinda strange though.. I think I'm going to get really sick if I ever stop being pissed. Shadow threatened to space me if I didn't stop screaming about 15 minutes ago. Then I told him I had bangs on the ejection system. That shut him up. Oh, and we got a full loadout, but the weapon systems fried when we tried our first launch. Oh, but that didn't stop the warheads from arming. We still got blasters though.. so, Shadow's kinda amused. Pretty pathetic. Oh, all counter measures are gone too. Right now two things work right.. The logs...

And the Comm system.

Guess what? THEY TURNED THE BLOODY COMMS OFF ON US!!!

Sucks huh? WAIT! IT GETS BETTER!

I'm sure everyone know by know that we got our high and mighty butts kicked by the Gamms, and all our high level people got toasty. So we're blasting the Gamms outta the sky right?! WRONG!

We're currently fighting (or trying to when the damn weapon systems work) some fellow GALCOM pilots. Why are we fighting? Because before Nav went out, it told us to blow up a badly beaten Mk2 that was pretty much defenseless, and now we're picking on a full stocked one. Supposedly they're 'renegades'. I don't know about that. All I know is that THIER IC WORKS JUST FARKIN DANDY!

I swear if shadow gets us out of here alive I'm going to buy him a keg of beer, and then I'm going to find me some flight engineers. I will kill them, and everyone who looks like them.

MOTHERPUSSBUCKET! DE SHOOTIN AT US AGAIN! WE'RE HIT! WE'RE@#$#$###ZZzzzZZXX***

Th#y kiz#led the log#. Zz thin# I'm gonna cr%#!.

Preemptive Strike: Part Three

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest Ron Wallin

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest Angela DeGuerre

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest Angela DeGuerre

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest Angela DeGuerre

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Guest

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment