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Preemptive Strike: Part Three


Blades
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Mission + 22 days 13 hours 36 minutes

[Narrative ON]

GCV Berlin

IC2 Flight Log

Pilot Benjamin ÔÇÿSTOMPEYÔÇÖ Harris

Recording . . . .

This is IC2 pilot Ben Harris, recording what in all likelihood is my last log entry.

The last volley from the Chikuma breached the shields a blew a chunk out of the co-pilots reinforced canopy. Dace was killed instantly in the blast, and what remained of his body was blown out into space and fried by secondary turret fire. I immediately pulled out of the fire, but lost my attitude thrusters in a collision with one of the renegade fighters.

I spun out for a second, and when I came to my senses again I found myself unpowered and drifting.

I managed to get partial sensors back online and have just noticed the enemy IC 1 pulling away from me at maximum burn. It looks like they decided not to go in for the easy kill. Thank god for small mercies. I guess they feel as shitty about killing their own almost as much as I do. Still, I got no guilt on me. I didnÔÇÖt bag a single one. I might have done some damage to the Chikuma herself in my straffing, but at least I donÔÇÖt get to see first hand any casualties.

IÔÇÖm putting out an S.O.S, but subspace is so scrambled with inteference from the Chikuma, I doubt anyone will get it until they well out of the area. And by the looks of things, my cap ship is going up in a ball of flame. Dammit, we were winning.

That stunt the Tsunami pulled gave us the edge we needed to keep things o nan even keel for a while, but that ship, the Chikuma has seen more battle time than most other BCÔÇÖs in the galaxy. Hell, why couldnÔÇÖt it have been the Onasis we ran into?

Commander Savage, that lucky *******. He always gets the easy ships. Oh well, too late to complain about it now. IÔÇÖm just gonna sit here and await my pickup.

Sheesh, Camillas gonna be pissed when I get back home. She told me to watch my six, not get into anything I couldnÔÇÖt handle and above all else, keep my head down when thigns got dirty. She gonna whup me good for this days work.

Hmmmm, at elast she got the kids to keep her mind off things. Little JennyÔÇÖs got a birthday next week, and TerryÔÇÖs due to start pre-school next month . . . I should be there, would have been there if this whole nightmare hadnÔÇÖt started . . . . still, somebody gotta clean up the mess. Guess thatÔÇÖs what they pay me the big bucks for.

Hang on, something not right here . . .

Hell, itÔÇÖs the Chikuma . . . . . ItÔÇÖs pulling away from the Berlin . . . moving towards . . shit! SheÔÇÖs coming right at me . . what the hell for? IÔÇÖm dead in space, I cant go nowhere, I got nothing left to hurt her with . .

Gotta get out of here . . coming into range . . . threat warning!

Must eject . . EJECT EJECT EJECT!

Bollocks . . . systems dead. Cant . . . reach manual release . . . . . oh god . . . . .there firing.

Camilla! . . .. Camilla!

ArghhhhhhhBzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzchnk!

Mission + 22 days 13 hours 39 minutes

[Narrative Off]

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

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Way too much catchup to do...

[RP]

Personal Log: Robert "Banish" Anderson

MD: +21 days 18 hours 14 minutes

Something really strange has been going on here...just got sent to escort the shuttles while they picked something up. Turns out we've got some sort of troops aboard, with a really hard@ss commanding officer. Already heard about a couple of fights breaking out between them and the marines. Wish I could say what's going on here, but nobody knows. No one except the Commander.

------

Inflight recording: IC1

MD: +22 days 12 hours 50 minutes

The world blurred for the two men in the fighter as they were launched out of the Chikuma, and out into battle once again. Once all the fighters were out in space, the comm came to life.

"All IC's, this is Skyhook. Escort formation, and await further instructions," the Flight Controller aboard the ship ordered.

"You heard the man," Banish said. 2, you and I will take the point. 3,4 fall in behind the ship. 2, line astern formation." He watched in his mirror as he saw IC2 fall in right behind his fighter, as 3 and 4 peeled off, taking up position behind the Chikuma.

In the backseat, Bigtone called "Berlin is launching their fighters!"

"2, cover me, combat spread, fingertip formation. 3, 4, take targets of opportunity." Banish said. He waited...and no one responded. "Skyhook, this is IC1, respond." Still nothing.

Bigtone called from the back, "Banish, the ship must've cut comms!"

"S**t!" Banish yelled. He kicked in the rudder, and wagged the tail of his fighter. Luckily, the IC pilots had practiced "comms out" combat before. It was about to come in handy. Motioning with his tail, 2 slid into fingertip formation with him, and moved out to combat spread. This way, 2 could watch his tail, and keep him clear of anyone on his 6.

With a hand motion, and Bigtone using his TacOps uplink, they told 2 to fire missiles at one of the fighters coming toward them. Banish himself locked up a Questor on another fighter, and shot at maximum range. The other pilot valiantly attempted to evade, but failed in the end. The missile detonated underneath his fighter, breaking it in two.

2 managed to destroy his fighter as well, leaving only two left to tangle with. Into the pass, all 4 fighters went through one another, turning around to engage. One of the Berlin's fighters came about to get behind Banish. 2 must've seen it, and broke off to engage the bandit behind him. Banish managed to line up the other fighter, and 3 laser blasts took him down.

From behind him, Bigtone hollered "Bandit on our 6, break right!"

Jamming the stick to the right, and throwing the throttle into full afterburn, Banish looked behind him. The computer identified it as IC1 from the Tsunami. He saw something coming towards him, like bolts of light. Moving the stick back to the left, he twisted and turned to avoid the laser fire. He chopped the throttle, trying to suck the guy in. He had found that this tactic worked well against anyone, even his own. And it did this time as well. The other fighter shot right in front of his own, and managed to get a couple of shots into him.

Bigtone said "He's disabled. Not going to hurt anyone else now."

"Right," was all Banish said. He didn't like killing his own, even if they were renegades. Pulling up the detents, he shot away from the poor fighter, and wished the pilot luck. Although on opposite sides, they were still human, and aerial warriors besides. Pilots respected one another, friend or foe. And Banish wouldn't kill this defenseless pilot.

Soon after, he saw the Chikuma pull away from the Berlin. She was headed right for the fighter he had disabled. Hopefully she would tractor the fighter, and save her crew. What is she doing?!? Banish wondered. He saw two beams lance out, and destroy the fighter.

Both of the pilots cursed the Chikuma, and her Commander. How dare Stone, blowing him out of the sky! He couldn't even hurt anyone! They both thought. They both agreed they were going to have a word with that excuse for an XO when they got back. What Stone did was uncalled for, and everyone aboard that ship would agree. Banish remembered a line from Hamlet, that seemed rather appropriate. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. And something was rotten aboard the GCV Chikuma.

[/RP]

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

Robert "Banish" Anderson

Pilot, IC-1

GCV Chikuma

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Mission + 22 days 14 hours 13 minutes

[Narrative On]

Victory.

But at what at what price?

This was the question running through Lt. Commander Neena PolovoskiÔÇÖs head as she returned from the ships medbay after debriefing Sgt. Diamond and his surviving troops.

ÔÇ£What the hells wrong with the commander?ÔÇØ one of the marines had asked her, his face badly burnt from a close call with a blaster rifle.

Neena just rested a hand on his shoulder and eased him back to the surgical unit where a medic was treating him. ÔÇ£Easy soldier.ÔÇØ She said. ÔÇ£Save your strength.ÔÇØ

The marine protested. ÔÇ£Those were our people we were fighting sir. I didnÔÇÖt sign on for this kind of thing.ÔÇØ

The attending medic quickly sedated him, and the injured marine fell into a troubled slumber.

Sgt. Diamond was more coherent than the injured marine, but spoke with almost as much bitterness. Maybe it was the flash burn to his shoulder that caused him to wince while he gave his report, but she suspected the old dog was furious with himself and the commander for what he had just been forced to do.

Neena tallied up the engagement results from the assault on the ship, and grimly surveyed them. A total of 37 casualties. Mostly the ships compliment of marines but a few medics and a flight engineer here and there. So far, med bay had reported a total of 18 fatalities, again, most of them from the marines. One of Mallones own men had been killed during the firefight, but had almost single handedly taken out a squad of the invading troopers.

ÔÇ£Tough as old boots.ÔÇØ Sgt. Diamond had said when he described them to her. ÔÇ£But they still scare the hell out of me.ÔÇØ

Neena was inclined to agree with him.

The ChikumaÔÇÖs interceptor pilots were in the process of being recalled now, and after the comms bad had been lifted, the abuse from the pilots began to pour in. Each of them sounded distinctly unhappy, especially IC1 pilot Robert ÔÇÿBanishÔÇÖ Anderson.

He had been responsible for sparing the life of the pilot that the commander in his infinite wisdom had decided needed to be ÔÇÿtaken downÔÇÖ despite being defenseless.

This had angered her, but she was in no position to object.

Twice already she had come close to pushing the commander over the edge, and twice now she had just pulled back from going to far. She knew there was something terribly wrong with the commander, maybe their entire mission, and the recent engagement with the Berlin had convinced her of this more than anything.

Sadly, she couldnÔÇÖt act without any kind of justification. In times of war, commanders are given a lot of latitude with their orders. They can break just about any rule, do just about any thing so long as the objective is met. On missions as secret as the ChikumaÔÇÖs, the fleet could probably forgive a few transgressions here and there.

However, there was a limit to what she could allow the commander to do, and the way thigns were progressing now, some kind of action would have to be taken. Before she could do that, she needed something to use against him. She pondered during her trip up to the bridge exactly what she could do, or if it came to it, trump up, in order to relieve the commander. By the time she got there, she still had nothing.

ÔÇ£Engineering, whats our operational status?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Spencer here commander, IÔÇÖm just getting a break down for you.ÔÇØ

Stone acknowledged his XO as she came onto the bridge and took her position.

ÔÇ£Whats our status in medical mister Polovoski?ÔÇØ

Neena glared down at him. ÔÇ£We lost a lot of good people when we were boarded commander. Our marine compliment is less than half strength, and most of those still alive are in no condition to fight.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What about our guests?ÔÇØ asked Stone.

ÔÇ£Oh, they are just fine and dandy commander, although they did lose one man.ÔÇØ

Stone nodded at her. ÔÇ£Unfortunate, but these things happen.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir,ÔÇØ said Polovoski. ÔÇ£they do.ÔÇØ

Stone didnÔÇÖt care for her tone of voice, but couldnÔÇÖt worry himself with it right now. ÔÇ£Anything else Lt. Commander?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir,ÔÇØ said the combat officer. ÔÇ£We lost our cloning capability and took damage to the replacement materials needed to fix it in cargo bay 1.ÔÇØ

Stone frowned. ÔÇ£Not good.ÔÇØ He said, then smiling at her, ÔÇ£Probably an idea to keep our heads down a bit from now on.ÔÇØ

Neena swallowed hard. ÔÇ£Yes sir, might be an idea, sir.ÔÇØ

Stone chuckled and turned away as engineering came back on the link.

From what Stone heard from his chief engineer, the Chikuma had sustained moderate damage in the battle with the Berlin. The hull had taken a pounding, and the shield systems would need to be overhauled once the mission was complete, but all in all it could have been a lot worse. Like it had been for the Berlin.

That ship had erupted in a fireball the moment itÔÇÖs reactor breached. A lucky shot more than a steady pounding and superior combat capabilities of his crew. Either way, it didnÔÇÖt matter. The Berlin and itÔÇÖs entire crew were gone. Dead.

The Tsunami, however, was another matter. That ship had evaded them during itÔÇÖs suicide assault on the ship. Stone winced at the memory, remembered the terror of watching that smashed hunk of junk roaring towards his ship, itÔÇÖs commander obviously deranged enough to attempt such a maneuver. Had things been different and the missions success not such a high priority, he would have taken her on, redirected his turrets from the more dangerous Berlin and swatted the arrogant commander out of the sky.

However, in the sparse seconds he had to make a descision, he concluded that it was probably better to avoid the ship for now, and take care of it once the Berlin had had gone down.

Sadly for Stone, the Berlin put up a brave fight. She held on and beat back the ChikumaÔÇÖs advances, and at one point Stone almost considered retreating across the system to perform minor repairs and regroup his forces. Then, the Berlins reactor blew. The ship dissolved into fragments and spun off in a thousand directions.

There was no cheer from the bridge. No celebrations. The crew were horrified at what had happened. But at least they knew that it had to be done. At least, Stone believed that some of them knew it had to be done. Maybe some of them.

Mission + 22 days 14 hours 38 minutes

[Narrative Off]

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

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[RP On]

Mission + 22 days 16 hours 4 minutes

Internal Sensors

Medic 7 LF 35% FF 100% Medibay

Enter Next Request.....

Medibay Report:

WIA: 37

KIA: 18

Enter Next Request.....

"What the heck are you doing out of bed??" a scream came from across the room. The medic on duty promptly snatched the datapad from the battered man.

"Just... checking if...." was the faint, whisperlike response.

"If what? Listen Jayce, you either stay in that med-bed or you will hemorrage to death. Those medibed force fields are keeping your organs from crawling out of your guts!"

The wounded medic's eyes dashed towards his belly. A gasp of horror escaped from him.

"Oh my gawd! what... what.. how?"

The medic on duty softly eased him back into the bed and reactivated the equipment. "Easy fella, easy. You were treating an intruder when you were shot."

"I was WHAT?" the medic's eyes dashed all over the room, noticing the marines lying next to him were eyeing him in a rather hostile manner. "I was treating a MAN wearing a Galcom uniform, one of OUR marines. What the *cough* hell *cough* are you talking about *cough**cough*"

"Jayce, we were boarded by the GCV Berlin, a renegade ship. Weren't you watching the status display?" the man looked quite annoyed.

"I was off-duty, sleeping when the klaxons *cough* sounded..."

"It doesn't matter anymore Jayce, its over. The man you were treating is alive and in the brig. As a matter of fact, I have an apology from one of our critical patients. It seems one of our own marines shot you, thinking you were a renegade medic".

"*cough* WH*cough* AT?" a few painful laughs came from the marines in the medibeds besides him.

[RP OFF]

[This message has been edited by Tac (edited 09-22-1999).]

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Mission +22 days 00hours 00 minutes

Michael McKendrick was lying in bed next to his girlfeiend, in that half dreamy state where things are unreal and too real. She was stroking his hair, arms, and chest and asking him to wake up. "Micheal, wake up, it's time to wake up now. C'mon Micheal, wake up. Michael! If you don't wake up this instant I'm going to throw you out an airlock!"

McKendrick opened his eyes at that. Airlock? When his eyes opened he didn't see the four post bed and lace hangings of his girlfriend's bedroom, but instead he saw the stark grey interior of a shuttle craft out of his peripheral vision. What was in his direct view was Stephanie Hoffman.

"Where am I? What are you doing here?" he said.

"I was sent to do a post flight checkup of shuttle four. Commander stone dean't trust the computer for some reason. I went into the bay and checked the reactor. it showed much more power drain than would have been necessar on a flight such as yours. Then I came up here to do diagnostics on the computers and found you lying in the command chair."

"Flight? What flight? I didn't make any flight. This headache is killing me.Sheesh I need to go to my quarters." McKendrick tried to stand up and his knees buckled. HE would have fallen if not for Mis Hoffman's supporting arm.

"Yoo need a medic," she said.

"No, I just want to go to my quarters for now. i'll be ok. I promise."

Miss Hoffman looked at him skeptically but helped him down the stairs and through the shutlle launch bay. The way back to his quarters was slow going but they made it. Miss Hoffman helped to him his bed and he collapsed on it. "Damn, I feel like i've been on a two week drunk," he said.

Stephanie Hoffman grinned and replied, "You don't look much better. Let me help you out of clothes."

"Umm, no I'm too tired and it wouldn't be right."

"No, silly, I'll leave you your modesty but you need rest. And the best way to rest is comfortably. I wear this uniform too and they are NOT comfortable." He was too tired to argue and she slowly, carefully unbuttoned his shirt and removed it. She threw it in the corner where his other old clothes were and went for his pants. A snap ad a zip later they were around his hips. He had to do an embarrasing "scooch" to help her but after she got those off she pulled the covers up to his neck. Once again his girlfriend was stroking his hair and wishing him well.

Klaxons!!! McKendrick bolted upright in bed. When he went for his usual "feet on the floor, arm pushes off to the right" procedure he almost fell face first on the floor as his balancing arm met resistance with a warm body. It didn't help that he felt drunk. He stood up and looked at his bed. There was definitely a body there. A female body. A female body that looked like Stephanie Hoffman from what he could see of her curled up form. He looked at her clothed body and loooked at his own mostly naked body and wondered. NAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH, he thought. She wouldn't . But there she was.

He got dressed and made his way to the galley where he met with Eric Stylan, one of his teammates. asked him how the flight was. McKendrick gave him a blank stare. Eric again asled him about the flight where he picked up the goons. McKendrick was confused.

"What flight? What guys? I was checking shuttle stats," McKendrick said as a wave of pain washed through his head.

A klaxon sounded and McKendrick knew it was battlestations. He left his tray where it was sitting . The ship's cook would have to get this one, he thought as he ran to his assigned IC. It was IC3 this time. This thing was plagued with troubles and no one had really gotten into it yet to see what was goinng on. All systems were go but the plating loooked weird. McKendrick looked at his loadout profile CAP/S.E.A.D. yeah that should do it. He preesed the butoon and the carousel spun around around wiht a fully loaded clip of SEAD weapons that were ready to be loaded.

All of a sudden his friend Eric slapped the override button. Eric? I havne't seen him since, since lunch?

Eric quietly pointed out that he had misread the missile loadout and asked him to go inventory vagrant misssiles. McKendrick wondred why that was necessary but did as he wa asked. On the way the saw some men clad in black unifoms. Why they gave him a headache he didn't know. He thought they seemed familiar but yet not.

As he entered the weapons bay he began counting vagrants. Then he noticed more Men in Black. His headache intensified.. I gotta get ooutta here, He thought. Where can I go for some peace and quiet? McKendrick ran back to his room to find no one there. He thought there had been a warm body when he left. Damn this headache, he thought, I need some peace and quiet.

On his search for peace he ran into several of the men in black. Stabs of pain made their way through his brain as he saw them. He finally found his way to SC-4. Something about this tub seemed famiilar. No time like the present he thought as he hit the launch button.

Chrales

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Mission + 22 days 16 hours 8 minutes

[Narrative On]

"Theres a what in the brig?" shouted Mallone at one of the Chikuma's regualr compliment of marines.

"A prisoner sir." replied the startled marine.

"Just the one?" asked Mallone, already turning about and heading towards the security deck.

"Yes sir!" shouted then amrine after him.

Mallone was pissed. He had ordered his own men to check that every intruder on board had been put down totally. The last thing he, Stone or the mission needed was a talkative survivor. That represented a major threat to the success of the mission.

"Commander Stone?" said Mallone on his wrist link.

"Go ahead." replied a tired sounding Stone.

"Commander, we got a live one in the brig. Did you know about this?"

A brief pause. "Stand by." eventually said Stone.

A moment passed and Mallone found himself entering the guarded brig. There were three regular troops here, looking over the injured and currently unconscious prisoner. With them were two of his own people, both looking just as startled as he now felt.

"Sir!" said the first of the his men. "We just got word of this from sickbay. I came down here immediately after hearing it."

Stones voice chirped over hsi wrist com. "Whats the condition of the prisoner?" he asked nervously.

"Unconscious," started Mallone, "but he could reawaken at any time."

Another pause from Stone. "Take care of it Mallone."

"Understood." he acknowledged, then shut off the wrist link. "Clear the brig." ordered Mallone.

The black garmed marines obeyed without question, stepping aside of their commander and marching through the exit. The three regular marines held there ground.

"Sorry sir, we have orders to watch over the prisoner."

"I dont give a rats ass what orders you have soldier, you will move out now or I will punch a hole in your gut and rip out your spleen."

The marine wasnt impressed. He turned to his side and faced down the slightly bigger man. "Not on my watch, sir."

Mallone grinned. He'd been itching to do this. "Son, you got a simple choice to make here . . . . you either step aside or you -"

Mallone slammed his arm out and into the neck of the first marine faster than his eyes could register. The marine briefly felt his throat crumple beneath the big mans forearm as his head snapped back and broke his neck. He was dead before he hit the ground.

The two other regular guards were momentarily stunend from the sudden and brutal attack, but when they did respond they brought their weapons up and towards the attacker.

As they did so, Mallone ducked down and fired a precise kick into the knee of the closets marine. Somthing popped and the marine fell backwards, his weapon launched from his grip and arching silently in the air. The remaining marine fired a snap shot at Mallone, and grazed his arm with a painful burst of laser fire. Immediately Mallone sprung up and towards the startled marine, launching an outstretched palm towards his face and connecting solidly with his jaw. Like the first marine, his head snapped back and the sound of cracking bone accompanied a muffled gurgling as he fell.

Mallone hadnt noticed at first, but a weapons discharge alert was blarring around his ears. First, he stepped over the bodies and approached the security terminal. He quickly puleld open a panel and disconnected a few wires. Then he shorted a few more out. The security grid fluttered, then collapsed.

Launching himself over the terminal, he quickly ran into the cell and dragged the unconscious Berlin survivor from his bunk. Groggily, the marine began to awaken, and had jsut enough full awarness to register Mallones manic grin beaming down at him.

"Sweet dreams." Mallone whispered, before taking hold of the mans head and twisting it round like the steering colum of a car. More snapping, another brief gurgle. The mans legs gave out and his lifeless body hung in Mallones firm grip.

A moment later, Mallone let go of his latest victim and himself crumpled to the floor. He began wailing ever so slightly, raising his moans in pitch as the thump thump thump of approaching footsteps got closer.

"Thank god." Mallone said as two more of the Chukima's regular marines burst through the doorway.

"What happened?" the first yelled as he surveyed the carnage around him.

"He . ." Mallone gestured to the now dead prisorer. "broke through the barries when the system blew. He took us by surprise. Killed them all."

"And you?" asked the second marine. "What about you?"

"I was hit by deflected weapons fire. I managed to take him down before he got a gun free from one of the guards."

The second marine nodded, but didnt look happy. Tapping his wrist comm, he linked down to the medibay. "Medbay, this is Marine#5, we got an emergency in the brig. Prisoners dead, as are the guards. Mallone took a blaster hit. Send a medic and cleanup crew."

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

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Sorry I haven't been posting for a while, been busy and stuff

[rp]Chief Medical Officer's Log

mission plus 22 days 16 hours 20 minutes

It's been a very hard day.

Medibay's computers all shut down at once just as we went into red alert, then the battle started raging, and the casualties started coming in. We were working more than overtime, constantly having to improvise with low-tech treatments, even reverting to sterile air circulation for burns and even splints for broken limbs. Eventually some systems engineers got down and after an awful lot of headscratching and tinkering they manage to get some systems up and running again, but by that time we'd already lost 6 or 7 patients who we could have coped with easily otherwise. We just didn't have the equipment to maintain them, and the cloning bays all went down, so we couldn't regenerate lost limbs. It was a nightmare. And to top it off, two of my combat medics got shot BY OUR OWN GUYS because they were treating the intruders by mistake and so were mistaken for enemy medics. I mean, you don't shoot enemy medics anyway. Hal Davison didn't make it, but Jayce Allen survived, because the systems engineers just managed to get a couple of the intensive care cubicles on-line in time. He's leading a charmed life, but I couldn't say the same for this ship.

I get one of the 'renegade' Galcom troops brought in, then when the fighting died down some of our marines come in and whip him off to the brig before he's even conscious! We'd managed to stabilise him, and he was basically OK, but then barely half an hour later I hear he's been killed trying to escape, after getting past the forcefield, killing three of our fully-armed marines and wounding Captain Mallone. I find that very difficult to believe given the condition he was in when he left here. Something is severely wrong here. In all, 21 dead and 38 wounded, with 10 of those deaths preventable, and a lot of those injuries putting people out of action for a lot longer than normal because of the equipment failures. On top of that murder, and potential mutiny. I'm telling you, this mission is cursed!

End Log

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

Commander Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda

ISS Fleet

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

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

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Mission + 22 days 17 hours 4 minutes

[Narrative On]

PART TWO EPILOGUE

The last few days had been nothing less of a nightmare for the crew of the GCV Chikuma. With reported assassinations, declarations of war, skirmishes with renegade GalCom forces, not to mention the odd murder on board ship and the early signs of a potential mutiny, things were looking grim. With the inclusion of MalloneÔÇÖs elite forces and secret supplies and even more secret orders, things were quickly getting out of control.

The most recent battle with the GCV Berlin had taken a terrible toll on the moral of the ship. The casualties from that engagement had been horrific, including the loss of the Berlins entire compliment and the death of over two dozen of the ChikumaÔÇÖs own.

Damage to the Chikuma herself was not extensive, although several key systems were destroyed, including the cloning tanks and a lot of repair material in cargo bay one.

If that wasnÔÇÖt enough, many other systems were suffering from anomalous malfunctions that couldnÔÇÖt be tracked down or rectified without being in the relative safety of a space dock.

Rumors of a rift between commander Stone and Lt. Commander Neena Polovoski rushed through the ship like wildfire, touching everyone in different and dangerous ways.

Over the next two days, crewmembers began to exchange secret messages, have hushed conversations and a few extremists even began to formulate plans and counter measures for a conflict that most knew was almost inevitable.

There were two sides to this potential conflict.

There were the supporters of Stone, who understood the need for secrecy and accepted the orders they were asked to follow. There were also those who supported the Lt. Commanders point of view, that the Chikuma and her crew were engaging in unethical practices.

More than anything, it was commander Stones refusal to divulge anything more than the most elementary information regarding the mission that antagonized this second group.

Before long, these two sides would collide in an unavoidable conflict.

[Narrative Off]

End Epilogue

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

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Preemptive Strike ÔÇô PART THREE

[Mission + 23 days 7 hours 28 minutes]

FLEET COMMAND OFFICE

GALCOM HEAD QUARTERS

The officers argued feverishly around the large oval table that dominated the briefing room in the operations center. Fleet Commanders, TacOps commanders and diplomats from half the galaxies known races all cast accusations at one another, sounding off with threats of trade embargos, travel restrictions and open conflict.

It was nothing short of chaos.

Occasionally, a word or two could be heard over the uproar. Words like ÔÇ£TargetÔÇØ and ÔÇ£Civilian casualtiesÔÇØ and ÔÇ£Mass Destruction.ÔÇØ

One word above all others was shouted the most frequently. This word was ÔÇ£ChikumaÔÇØ.

Behind them, a large door opened inwards and a tall, powerfully built man strode in and approached his place at the oval table. As he approached, those arguing began to hush and stem their abusive tide. The fleet officials rose to their feet in a respectful manner, and greeted the new arrival with courteous ÔÇ£Good morning, sir.ÔÇØ Dialogue.

The tall man took his place at the head of the oval table and as he sat, the standing officers began to reseat themselves.

A few moments passed as the tall man arranged a selection of datapads, tapped a few brief commands onto one pad in particular and then placed it gently to his side.

ÔÇ£My apologies for being late gentlemen.ÔÇØ Said Supreme Commander Karl Reines, ÔÇ£but we just got word back from the Tsunami that Stone and his crew have breached the cut off point from Tau Ceti to Alpha Majora.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£My god.ÔÇØ Said one of the officers. ÔÇ£I cant believe they got through.ÔÇØ

Another officer spoke up. ÔÇ£And what of the Berlin? She was positioned to intercept the Chikuma.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Destroyed.ÔÇØ Said the Supreme commander. ÔÇ£From what I managed to get out of commander Savage, she covered the Tsunami as she retreated from her prior engagement with the Onasis.ÔÇØ

The second officer shook his head. ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt believe it.ÔÇØ He said. ÔÇ£That was commander Hansons ship, one of the most decorated and experienced officers in the fleet. If anyone was going to stop Stone before getting to Alpha Majora, it was him.

ÔÇ£According the Savage, the Chikuma took quite a pounding before the Berlin blew. However, the Chikuma wasnÔÇÖt under cloak when she made the run for the jump gate.ÔÇØ

The first officer frowned. ÔÇ£She wasnÔÇÖt under cloak? Jesus . . .ÔÇØ

The supreme commander nodded at him. ÔÇ£It looks like our projections were correct. SheÔÇÖs saving her fuel so she can get deep into Gam territory before launching her strike.ÔÇØ

This provoked more heated discussions between the fleet officers and the attending diplomats.

ÔÇ£Gentlemen, please.ÔÇØ Said the supreme commander. ÔÇ£Lets not descend back into chaos.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Commander Reines,ÔÇØ started the Drodian diplomat, ÔÇ£you have to understand, if that ship reaches the suspected target it will spark a war between your people and the Gammulans. The Gammulan counterstrike would surely come through our territory to get to you. Our people will be caught in the middle of your little war.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Not such a little war IÔÇÖm afraid.ÔÇØ Said the supreme commander. ÔÇ£We expect the Gammulans to launch the biggest offensive in history if Gammula is destroyed.ÔÇØ

The Vesperon diplomat interrupted at this point. ÔÇ£Destroyed? I donÔÇÖt see how a single Battle Cruiser could ÔÇÿDestroyÔÇÖ their homeworld. With a maximum payload of OTS weapons, they might be able to level a few cities, but surely not the entire planet.ÔÇØ

Karl Reines frowned grimly at him.

The Drodian diplomat turned to his Vesperon counterpart. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm afraid we havenÔÇÖt been told everything about the ChikumaÔÇÖs threat.ÔÇØ

This surprised the GalCom fleet officers. They exchanged worried glances with each other, and then with the Supreme commander.

ÔÇ£What do you mean?ÔÇØ the Vesperon asked.

The Drodian diplomat turned back to the Supreme commander. ÔÇ£I believe out esteemed host can answer your question.ÔÇØ

Karl Reines had expected this at some stage, but would have preferred to disclose these details at a later stage. ÔÇ£For the last few years, our R&D boys have been developing the ultimate weapons system. Code named R.A.N.D.O.M, it has the potential to eradicate an entire worlds industry and population.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£By RamÔÇÖuuluk,ÔÇØ exclaimed the Vesperon diplomat,ÔÇØthatÔÇÖs . . . . Impossible.ÔÇØ

The Supreme commander leaned forward onto the table. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm afraid not,ÔÇØ he started, then turned an angry glare at his Drodian guest. ÔÇ£and itÔÇÖs something we have tried to keep very quiet about.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£As well you would.ÔÇØ Said the Vesperon. ÔÇ£A weapon system like that would alter the balance of power throughout the entire galaxy.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Agreed.ÔÇØ Said Karl Reines. ÔÇ£Which is why we developed it secretly over the last few years. It was developed as the ultimate deterrent, to prevent future conflicts.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£But instead,ÔÇØ said the Drodian. ÔÇ£It was stolen by your renegades and will now start a war that has the potential to destroy us all.ÔÇØ

The first fleet officer shook his head. ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs by no means certain. The Chikuma is still a long way from Gammula. If it comes to it, we can alert the Gammulans to the threat and have them intercept the ship.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£But if you do that,ÔÇØ said the Vesperon. ÔÇ£You are running the risk of forcing the Gammulans into a conflict. They may see this as an excuse to attack your systems. While you have the technology to eradicate entire worlds, you are a threat to them, and they will come for you.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I tend to agree commander,ÔÇØ said the second fleet officer. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖve done some preliminary calculations, and if the Gammulans choose to attack us now, even with support from our Insurgent ÔÇÿcousinsÔÇÖ, there is a high probability that we will knocked all the way back to earth.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Then again,ÔÇØ started the Vesperon. ÔÇ£If you allow the Chikuma to continue with her mission and she does indeed destroy Gammula, you will limit their ability to rapidly construct new ships and launch them against you. Also, if you arm more of your vessels with these R.A.N.D.O.M devices, you could devastate them utterly. The Gammulan threat would cease to exist.ÔÇØ

Karl Reines angrily slammed his hands onto the oval table. ÔÇ£GalCom doesnÔÇÖt start wars, nor does it consider genocide a viable method of curtailing alien aggression. Besides,ÔÇØ admitted the Supreme commander, ÔÇ£the Chikuma has the only functional prototype.ÔÇØ

This admission seemed to settle the heated dialogue for a few moments.

ÔÇ£What about the other renegade ships?ÔÇØ asked the Drodian.

The supreme commander consulted one of his data pads. ÔÇ£Our most recent reports indicate that the Onasis was destroyed by the Tsunami prior to the engagement with the Chikuma. The Verrandi, Cyclops and Venture were intercepted by Wraith Fleet. They too have been destroyed.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£And the others?ÔÇØ asked the Vesperon diplomat.

ÔÇ£Still unaccounted for.ÔÇØ Replied the supreme commander.

ÔÇ£I see.ÔÇØ Said the Drodian. ÔÇ£You have six missing renegades and one weapon of mass destruction to account for.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs about the gist of it.ÔÇØ

The Drodian, in itÔÇÖs own curious way seemed to smile. ÔÇ£If I were you commander, I might suggest putting your fleet on alert. If the Chikuma does indeed reach itÔÇÖs target, you will have little choice other than to attack before the Gammulans do.ÔÇØ

The supreme commander shook his head. ÔÇ£We DONÔÇÖT start wars.ÔÇØ

The Drodian again gave him a curious half smile. ÔÇ£Unless you stop that ship in the next 72 hours commander, youÔÇÖre going to have to. Either that, or watch your worlds burn with Gammulan fury . . . . . ÔÇ£

Mission + 23 days 7 hours 39 minutes

. . . . . Somewhere in space, the GCV Chikuma burned towards itÔÇÖs latest destination . . . .

ÔÇ£Explain to me again,ÔÇØ shouted commander Stone at the recently patched up Mallone. ÔÇ£Why you found it necessary to murder three of my marines?ÔÇØ

Mallone held his hands up to the ranting commander. ÔÇ£Settle down there Stone, your voice is carrying.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£My voice is not carrying!ÔÇØ he shouted back. ÔÇ£My quarters are sound proofed!ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Good to hear it.ÔÇØ Said Mallone, smiling.

Stone didnÔÇÖt like the look of that. ÔÇ£DonÔÇÖt get wise with me Mallone, this is still my ship, my mission. And despite what you might think, without me nothing happens.ÔÇØ

Mallone chuckled. ÔÇ£Getting paranoid, commander? DonÔÇÖt worry, I donÔÇÖt have any plans for a repeat performance.ÔÇØ

Mallone didnÔÇÖt think it was necessary to add the ÔÇÿYetÔÇÖ part to the sentence.

ÔÇ£Keep it that way.ÔÇØ Said Stone, lowering his voice and reaching for a bottle of contraband liquor. ÔÇ£But tell me again, why did you kill my men?ÔÇØ

Mallone sat on the single stool in Stones command quarters. ÔÇ£They left me no choice.ÔÇØ He said. ÔÇ£They wouldnÔÇÖt clear out when ordered, so I had to remove them.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£You still didnÔÇÖt have to kill them.ÔÇØ Said Stone as he took a swig from the now opened bottle. ÔÇ£You could have just ÔÇÿhurtÔÇÖ them a bit and given them the memory wipe.ÔÇØ

Mallone shook his head. ÔÇ£WasnÔÇÖt enough time. Besides,ÔÇØ Mallone flashed him another near manic grin. ÔÇ£it looked better that way. How do you think it would have looked if your own people had skipped out of the brig and then returned to find a dead prisoner?ÔÇØ

Stone was silently guzzling down the liquor.

ÔÇ£You think you got a potential mutiny on your hands right now? If they had waltzed back in to find that, that busty XO of yours would have been up on the bridge with a full tac team in minutes.ÔÇØ

Stone brought the bottle down from his lips and rounded on Mallone again. ÔÇ£Your people screwed up Mallone. They were supposed to make sure everyone was taken down cleanly. This mess is your doing, and when this is over IÔÇÖm going to make sure Stiles knows about it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Stiles?ÔÇØ said Mallone. ÔÇ£You think that pencil pushing numbnuts is going to give a shit about you and your people when this is all finished?ÔÇØ

Stone glared at the bigger man. ÔÇ£This whole operation is his baby, Mallone. He put it together, he recruited each and every one of us. He has done his utmost to protect us every step of the way. He is probably as appalled at the things weÔÇÖve had to do as I am.ÔÇØ

Stone took another quick swig from the bottle. ÔÇ£And you know what? ThatÔÇÖs the difference between you and me Mallone.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What is?ÔÇØ Mallone asked, sounding curious.

ÔÇ£You enjoy doing this. This is like a big game to you. Just a bit of fun. You donÔÇÖt really understand why weÔÇÖre doing this, you just enjoy doing it for itÔÇÖs own sake. You donÔÇÖt care who you hurt let alone care for the reasons.ÔÇØ

Mallone was amused. ÔÇ£Dear god, how naive can you really be commander? You think this is just a bit of fun to me? You have no clue. This is more my mission than you will ever understand. Your contribution to this mission is insignificant. Your nothing more than a delivery boy.ÔÇØ

Stone threw the near empty liquor bottle from his hand and watched it shatter into a thousand shards against bulkhead. ÔÇ£You egotistical son of a bitch. How dare you put your own inflated sense of self importance above the completion of the mission.ÔÇØ

Mallone didnÔÇÖt flinch. In fact, he seemed to smile even more at the enraged commander. ÔÇ£I see weÔÇÖre not going to be best friends after all commander Stone.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£If I had my way,ÔÇØ said Stone. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖd put you and your men off this ship faster than you can break wind.ÔÇØ

Mallone stood from his stool and walked towards the cabins exit. ÔÇ£Just as well you donÔÇÖt have the authority to do that, commander.ÔÇØ

The door swished open, and Mallone stepped through. ÔÇ£Or the nerve.ÔÇØ

Stone let him go, but found himself wanting to go after the man, taking a swing at his smug head and knocking six kinds of shit out of him. He didnÔÇÖt like the man, nor did he trust him. However, Fleet Commander Stiles had insisted that he was needed on the mission, so Stone had little choice other than to accept it. However, once the mission was over . . .

His wrist com bleeped.

ÔÇ£Go ahead.ÔÇØ Said Stone.

ÔÇ£Sir,ÔÇØ it was Reynolds. ÔÇ£Helm reports we are at the designated coordinates.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood.ÔÇØ Said Stone. ÔÇ£Cloak the ship then bring all bridge systems back online.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sye, sir.ÔÇØ Said Reynolds. ÔÇ£Engaging cloak . . navitron coming back online.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Excellent Reynolds.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Commander, Navigation is requesting instructions.ÔÇØ

Stone felt his stomach tighten again. This was it. This was really it. ÔÇ£Navigation, set course for the flux field.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ Replied Ailsa Strang. ÔÇ£Course locked into the navitron.ÔÇØ

Stone took a deep breath and looked at the mess his shattered liquor bottle had left on the bulkhead. He wondered if five years from now, he would be remembered as a hero, or as the man that plunged the galaxy into the bloodiest of wars.

ÔÇ£Engage, mister Jensen. Maximum burn.ÔÇØ

Mission + 23 days 7 hours 45 minutes

[Narrative Off]

***** The plot thickens smile.gif *****

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

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