Preemptive Strike: Part Four

[Blades]

Like the man in the top hat says, time for a new thread. Hell, I know that dont make sense. Give me a break, I've been up 24 hours without coffee.

Tac, even in the future there is a place for unwarranted brutality. More so if you we all end up wearing silver jump suits. Hmmm, thats an idea.

Onwards . . .

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

[Charles Lindsey]

McKendrick hit the launch button and nothing happened. So he hit it again, again nothing happened. He checked the boards. Everthing was green, it had a full charge on the nuclear reactor. Engines were online. Launch control! They must have turned the power off, he thought to himself. Well, now what? He looked around at the cockpit and got a feeling of deja v├║ . It was just like any other shuttle cockpit but the feeling persisted. Still Stephanie and others had wanted to know how his most recent trip was. The last one he remembered was going against the raiders. Sheesh I was a ten times fool for doing that, I should be dead twice over.

A blinking to his right caught his attention. It was the flight data recorder in the navigation computer. He popped the access panel and pulled it out. Now to get it analyzed. He went below into the cargo bay and found several droids there. They were general purpose models designed for lifting, hauling, and data storage and retrieval! McKendrick felt a surge of excitement as he walked over to them. Most had already shut down and were waiting to be recycled. Two were still active though. Just as he got to the first one it beeped twice and powered down. Disappointed he walked over to the remaining unit. Its timer read ten minutes.

He doubted the video was that short so he left the shuttle and made his way to cargo bay 1. He dug around and found some tools. He took the laser cutter and opened two droids ready for service. He pulled their energy cells and the sockets that went with them. He hurried back down to the shuttle and noticed several of the gons giving him the eye. They made him nervous and his headache returned worse than before. As he turned and activated the turboshaft he saw them talking and pointing his way. The doors shut and he went back down to the subdeck.

As the turboshaft opened McKendrick hurried back to the shuttle. The droids were still there. The remaining droid had four minutes left on his timer. McKendrick cut open the casing and pulled the energy cell out exposing the plug and wires. He opened the tool case and took out a pair of wire strippers. He carefully exposed the bare wire on the energy leads. Next he cut the insulation off the spare lead. Using the microwelder he soldered the leads together and finally plugged in one of the spare energy cells. The droid surged to life. Servo's jerked and lights came on.

"Stay still, I'm not done yet," said McKendrick. The droid swiveled it's squat head and aimed it's camera at him. It beeped a few times and a warning flashed on the screen in its chest. "I know what I'm doing, now stay still, or would you rather be recycled."

"Standard procedure including memory reset" flashed upon the screen this time.

"Not this time bucko, you got some explaining to do, now stay still." The sound of the servos relaxing sounded disturbingly like a human sigh. McKendrick looked at the droid and shook his head. He bent back down to the wires and applied the second plug in parallel with the first. McKendrick stood up feeling rather proud of himself. "There," he said, "dual capacity should be about twice the runtime and the option to replace one battery at the time. We're going to keep you going for a while. Now I need you to decode the flight recorder for me," he said as he plugged it into the data port.

McKendrick watched as the screen split into two view. One was of the cockpit and the other of the shuttle's cargo bay. It was void of both the drone and the atv. His doppleganger entered the shuttle and he watched himself in the lefthand screen as he went through preflight checks. The flight was uneventful until he came upon the weirdest looking transport he had seen. He watched as he entered the docking bay and the same men who had been wandering the ship appeared along with some equipment. They directed the droids onto his shuttle and some climbed in afterwards. The rest could be seen boarding the other shuttles as the bay door closed.

A large older man flipped up the cover and checked some instruments. From what McKendrick could see it looked like a missile by was by far larger than anything he had ever loaded onto an IC. The man pulled the cover back down and proceeded upstairs. A moment later he appeared on the left side of the screen. He must have ordered liftoff because that's exactly what happened. Except the shuttle tilted crazily, The man had a rather unpleasant look on his face and began shouting at the other McKendrick. He must have explained it well enough because even though the man still looked sour he allowed McKendrick to right the craft and proceed.

The return to the chikuma was uneventful but as they landed a last goon came in with a rather nasty looking helmet. A stab of pain accompanied this site. McKendrick argued with the man but he would not be swayed. McKendrick got a resigned look on his face and sat back down. The man put the helmet on McKendrick and shortly thereafter he was slumped in the chair. The goon reached over and powered down the shuttle and the image went blank.

McKendrick was in a sweat by now. A good two hours of his life had been cleaned out by that man. As he had watched the video his pain had intensified. "Come on you, I'm not through yet, stay with me." With that McKendrick left the shuttle launch bay with the droid following right behind. He stumbled for the turboshaft and when inside set it for deck two. He was clutching his head by the time he reached medibay. The door opened and he collapsed inside. The little droid rolled in and took up a position beside him.

RP (OFF)

Best I can come up with is that the droids look somewhat like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit but without the cutesy head. Really mechanical articulated arms and what not. About the size of R2-D2 though.

Err, if a medic feels like posting it should be obvious the "wipe" is causing all sorts of problems. I was thinking memories trying to resurface and Blades suggested chemical imbalance. It has nothing major to do with the plot so I thought I'd just go ahead and post it and save the emailing

Charles

[This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 09-28-1999).]

[Blades]

Mission + 23 days 10 hours 51 minutes

[Narrative On]

Personal Log

Lt.Commander Neena Polovoski

Things are getting worse on board ship. Too many people have been killed or incapacitated due to the commanders reckless orders. I say reckless, because right now were burning hard for a flux field and are probably going to be heading into it. At least we now know where we are, and have at least a partial idea of our primary target. Having said that, IÔÇÖm surprised by the lack of Gammulan presence on our side of the anomaly. Surely the Gams would have secured the flux field as soon as open hostilities broke out. This worried me. It doesnÔÇÖt ÔÇÿfeelÔÇÖ right. Not that it ever did, of course. Theres something very badly wrong with this mission. For example, our secret orders that nobody is privy to except the captain and presumably Mallone. Heres another. Locking out the navitron computer and blanking all but the short range sensors. Ok, the commander said there was a possibility of traitors on board ship, which to a point has been proven with the transmission and the murder of that engineer. Still, I think theres more to this than Stone is letting on. Of course theres the whole issue with our guests, not to mention the utter destruction of the Berlin and her crew. Even going after that stranded IC pilot. Hell, that was the worse thing of all. It was nothing short of murder. I should have acted then, done something to prevent that. I just donÔÇÖt know any more. Perhaps if the commander hadnÔÇÖt armed himself I would have made a play to take the ship. Then again, my support on the bridge is by no means certain. The CMO wouldnÔÇÖt have back me then. I donÔÇÖt know if he will now. As for the others . . well, I know Jensen is having issues with the mission, but I donÔÇÖt know if itÔÇÖs enough for her to back me. Ailsa is as by the book as it goes so wouldnÔÇÖt take any action unless there was absolute proof of wrong doing. Reynolds is another matter. HeÔÇÖs young and understandably confused. IÔÇÖm sure he wants to do the right thing, but IÔÇÖm willing to bet that heÔÇÖd side with the commander out of loyalty more than understanding.

Jesus . . . listen to me. IÔÇÖm thinking about mutiny. Not only that, IÔÇÖm considering allies.

Has it really got so bad now? Am I really justified? Maybe IÔÇÖm at fault, maybe IÔÇÖm the one who isnÔÇÖt reacting well to the mission. Maybe IÔÇÖm not cut out for this duty after all.

No, itÔÇÖs not my professionalism thatÔÇÖs making this call, itÔÇÖs my sense of morality. In my gut, I know something wrong. Yet my head cant explain what.

What can I do? I could sit back and do nothing, but that worries me more than taking some kind of action. Then again, taking action against Stone would undoubtedly lead to more complications. For instance, Stone has Mallone and his goons on side. Even if I had every marine on ship at my side, itÔÇÖs doubtful we could take the ship from them. They are special ops after all, superior soldiers to the ships regulars. Maybe If I had Spencer on side I could lock them down in quarters. Yeah, that would be possible.

Damn . . . . IÔÇÖm doing it again.

Well, I guess thatÔÇÖs decided it. Time to set things in motion. If theres going to be a mutiny on board ship, itÔÇÖs got to be a good one. Well planned, well executed. But I need allies. I cant rely on support from the bridge or any senior officers, so IÔÇÖm going to have to start listening to the mood of the crew. IÔÇÖve got a feeling I can rely on support from the pilots, at least some of them. The marines too, providing I can get Diamond on side. I donÔÇÖt think that will be too much of a problem. HeÔÇÖs already expressed major doubts about the commander and Mallone. Spencer is vital if were going to take control, as is a fair portion of the engineers not to mention Graves. At the very least, if I get Graves on board be can limit the ChikumaÔÇÖs offensive capability, make it harder for us to chase down any more ÔÇÿRenegadeÔÇÖ ships.

Sigh . . . . . I really hoped this would never happen, but I guess weÔÇÖre nearly at the point of no return. IÔÇÖll put the feelers out, get a sense from the crew and start recruiting from the senior ranks. Perhaps if I had something concrete to use against the commander, it would sway opinion in my favor. Until I do get something, IÔÇÖm going to have to be damned careful. Hmm, I had best make some changes to the internal sensors, just in case things get tricky. Might be an idea to get a shuttle on standby in case we need to make a get away. IÔÇÖll have to talk to McKendrick. Some of the medics have informed me that heÔÇÖs got a major problem with our guests. Could be useful.

Damn, is that the time? We must be close to the flux field now. Better get to the bridge . . . . end recording.

[Narrative Off]

Mission + 23 days 10 hours 59 minutes

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

[Charles Lindsey]

As McKendrick collapsed into medibay everyone turned and gawked. They weren't used to this. Usually someone collapsed in a hallway and was found by a medic or they came in under their power. A cybernetic droid (Check your manual) took quick action and left it's cubicle. It trundled over to McKendrick and picked him up. Five articulated arms balanced the load perfectly. It deposited him upon a table that was ready . It signalled for a medic but by this time three were already at his side. As was the droid McKendrick had "rescued".

As they hooked up the monitoring equipment and got it stabilized one of them called,"Doctor! you should see this!" . Meanwhile Mcendrick was laying prone on the table groaning and clutching his head, the movement of the cybernetic droid having revived him somewhat. The medics had trouble securing McKendrick's arm as the little droid was in the way. "Ok you are going to have to move," the same medic said as he tried to work around it.

The droid employed its expandable torso to raise full up with the medic and look him in the eye. The servoes used to accomplish this produced a quite ominous hiss accompanied by a few low octave beeps. "Uh, Doc, I got a problem over here. The droid doesn't want to move. "

The CMO came over and said, "You have to get out of our way now." The droid raised the final few inches its torso allowed producing an extremely angry hiss. Not ever having this problem from her own droids the CMO said in anger, " Look, we are trying to help your friend, whatever he told you he is in dire cirdumstances right now and needs full medical attention. And we can't do that if you are in the way. Now please go wait in the corner so we can attend to your friend. You'll still be with him." The droid shook as it interpreted commands given by two different individuals. "Please," said the Doctor, "You may save his life is you allow us to work unencumbered. " The droid, not so little after the display he had put on, jerked over to the corner in obvious conflict with orders given.

"Have you ever seen anything like that?" asked the medic.

"Well," the Doctor replied, "Several of the old Mother computers would take on a quasi- personality after time. But I've never seen it in a droid. Not in my cybernetic droids and certainly not in a droid of this manufacture. This man must have done a lot of talking to override that programming. "

"Perhaps he re-enforced it ," said the medic. "after all, a fear for ones life is a strong argument and one not any droid could ignore."

"But this man has severe chemical imbalances and is not likely to be rational, Give me a dose of neuro enhancers."

"But he is rational enough to convince a plain droid of his well being. I thought that was programmed in. "

"Mainly it is, but that is not a Galcom droid. If it is it's one I have never seen before. Perhaps Droidan but certainly not of this ship's compliment. Those extra energy cells worry me too. No telling what that thing is rigged up to do. Best to play robopsychologist till we can ask this man what he's done to it. Ok neuro enhancers in place. Aggravated activity in the memory area of the brain. Best thing we can do is to stimulate that and give the body some rest. "

McKendrick awoke in medibay strapped down to the bed. The last thing he half remembered was pushing the entrance button. To his right was the rest of medibay with several patients being attended to. To his left was the entrance and over against the wall was a small droid, cut up with extra energy cells hanging off of it. Oh yeah, he thought. "Psssst you, hey get over here. I thought I told you to stick close. " The little droid seemingly gave off a happy series of chirps, beeps, and hisses and began moving towards McKendrick. "Not so loud!," whispered McKendrick. The droid immediately stopped, hunkered down to its full y retracted positioon and began inching its way towards McKendrick.

The droid finally pulled up to McKendrick and stopped. "Well, get these straps off of me. One articulated arm came up and released the strap holding his left arm. McKendrick reached over with his now free arm and released the right side. Obviously he hadn't been too bad or they would have strapped his legs as well. For the first time he noticed he could think clearly and his headache was gone. His clothes were still on. They must not have had time to do aything else but he was greatful for that small favor. He eased himself out of bed and made his way towards the door with the droid close on his heels.

The medic on duty was busy helping another crewmember when he glanced over and saw that the chem imbalnce guy was walking out under his own power. "Hey you! Wait!!!!"

Narrative OFF

Charles

"Deeper and deeper I shall go till the light shines no more."

[This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 09-29-1999).]

[Charles Lindsey]

"Sorry, gotta run, but thanks," said McKendrick as he left Medibay. His head felt better than it had in a couple of days and he wanted to make the best of it. He actually remembered the trip to the transport along with watching it on the droid's video. Maybe he has more, McKendrick thought. I'll have to check that out.

He ran to his room with the droid following along behind. Along the way he saw several goons giving him the eye. Not good, he thought. Feeling dirty he let the shower blast him for a minute and put on a change of clothes. The feeling of freshness was utopia. It was as if all his troubles had been washed away. But they were creeping up on him quickly. He knew they were only rinsed off.

With his hair still wet he left his room. "Come on you," he said to the droid. He went to the only place he felt halfway safe. Shuttle 4. The de-energized drones were still there as were the tools he had used on "his" droid. "Ok, guy, you have got to have a designation. Saying hey you all the time just don't cut it. Display serial number. "

R0D1M473, came up on the droid's screen.

"R zero D huh? R O D? Rod? It'll have to do. It's hoky I know but from now on I'll call you Rod ok? Now Rod, I assume you have a log file on recent events?" The droid beeped in the affirmative. "Ok, back up till when we arrived back on this ship and play forward."

The droid beeped again and went silent. Then on it's small display screen an iage appeared. It was the missile and the men gahered around it. The view shook slightly and an older man stood oup and said," Ok, we've arrived. Everyone out. Jones, get those droiids to unload this thing. Smith, you take care of the pilot. " The view began moving as the droids moved the missile out of the shuttle and onto a transport cart. "Ok, Jones, get 'em back in the shuttle and wipe them." McKendrick watched as the view once again moved but this time back to the shuttle. The droids parked themselves around the perimeter of the bay and waited while Jones began the reset procedure. Droid after droid shut down and went lifeless. Jones came straight towards his field of view and then disappeared to the left. Just then a commotion started in the bay and Jones ran out leaving at least Rod and presumably the other droid he had seen still active.

"Well, well, what have we here?" said a voice from behind McKendrick. He arose and turned to face Smith. The same man who had put that helmet on him .

"Uh, nothing. Just doing post flight checks."

"Flight? What flight?" Smith asked as he delivered a jab at McKendrick. It connected with his jaw and sent him reeling. "There wasn't wasn't any flight. We took care of that. You did look like you knew too much," said Smith as he delivered a right cross.

"That's enough of that cuz. I'll report you to Commander Stone. He'll run this show right. No flight? What's that big missile I saw?"

"Oh, I don't think there will be any reporting. Stone doesn't know near what he thinks he does," Smith said as he delivered a kick to McKendrick's gut. " That old bag of wind wouldn't know his arse from ahole in the ground if we shoved his head in it. That missile is for a big surprise, not even Stone knows. Everyone will get a kick out of it. "

"How dare you? Stone runs this show and you know it. Now report yourself. "

Smith just grinned and delivered a roundhouse kick that caught his shoulder, numbing it. "No, I think you'll be reporting to Stone from the morgue. Especially after Mallone tells him we found another traitor who sympathized with that one from the fighter that was brought in."

A smoldering rage began to boil in McKendricks soul. These goons had taken over the ship and were now trying o kill him. He fought back and actually drew blood on Smith until he did something that had him flat on his back. "You got some spunk, you might have made it through the first week of boot camp. I almost don't hate you now." With that he grabed McKendricks neck with both hands and began sqeezing the life out of him.

Mckendrick was losing air. Smith had him pinned and he had no leverage. "You wanna know where that missile is going? well seeing as how you won't be telling anyone I'll tell you."

"Rod, the cutter," he managed to choke out at the same time. Finally given a command the droid whirred to life and went over to the box of tools McKendrick had left there previously. It scanned the box for a split second before recognizing the laser cutter. The droid picked it up and rolled over to McKendrick, handing the cutter to him.

Smith looked up, "I should have made sure I de-activated you. Let me do that now and I'll finish this wuss later," said Smith as one hand left McKendricks throat to punch in the shutdown code. Several things happened simultaneously. The droid backed away from Smith. Smith continued to reach for the droid and overbalanced himself. McKendrick's throat being free he gasped for air and activated the cutter. As Smith overbalanced McKendrick plunged it into his chest. Smith looked surprised. He turned back to McKendrick with an obvious question on his face. McKendrick just shrugged as Smith fell over dead.

McKendrick scuttled out from beneath the dead man and turned to the droid. "Thanks," he said. The droid just stared at him. Ok so you're not strong on personality, he thought. "Let's get out of here, c'mon."

[Ben Zwycky]

Hey Chavik, you didn't pot a time index on any of your posts. Not to worry. I've rewritten this one a bit to fit in with your last one.

[rp]Chief Medical Officers Private Log

Mission plus 23 days 11 hours 30 minutes

Well, things are getting stranger and stranger around here. We got McKendrick in earlier, and he was in a bad way. He collapsed in medibay, repeatedly mumbling something like 'gotta tell them about this'. He had a severe chemical imbalance in his brain, and a few memory neurones seemed to have been damaged in some way. We struggled to stabilise him because of this strange droid he had in tow which seemed to decide that it should be taking care of him. We eventually got things sorted out and I got to take a well-earned break. A couple of hours later, he managed to get out of bed and get out of the Medibay on his own.

I had to know what the hell was so important that would risk discharging himself from medibay when it was clear that we didn't want him to leave.

I opened a private channel to him and asked "Hey, McKendrick. I think we need to review your condition."

"Not now, doc. I've got things to do."

"I could examine you where you are. This is important. I think I've worked out the problem, but I need to run a couple of tests." He chose his words carefully, in case the channel wasn't so private. He hoped he wasn't being too subtle.

"After my shift, doc, OK?"

"May I remind you that I outrank everyone on this ship on health issues. Now do I have to pull rank on you?"

"Alright, I'll be in Cargo Bay 1 in 5 minutes."

"Right. I'll meet you there."

I walked down to cargo bay 1, with medkit in hand.

"Over here, doc."

I got out my portable brain scanner and began to examine him, but at the same time I quietly told him, "I'm not really here to review your condition. I want to ask you about what's going on here."

He looked back at me puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"You're found out something damned important to risk your own life trying to tell someone about it. You discharged yourself from medibay when it was clear that we hadn't finished treating you, and while you were going in and out of consciousness you kept mumbling 'gotta tell them about this'."

"I didn't know what I was saying. And I felt fine, so I got up. I'm a busy man."

"I know that Mallone killed our only prisoner and three of our marines, and that there is something seriously wrong with our mission. I'm going to work it out eventually, but I'll work it out a lot quicker if you tell me what you know."

That changed his attitude. He said "OK, doc, you gotta see this, but you gotta tell no-one."

"I can do that. You never heard of doctor-patient confidentiality?"

He then got the droid which was still following him everywhere he went to play back the flight recorder he'd "borrowed", and told me about his encounter with one of Mallone's goons. So, it looks like we're carrying some sort of weapon of mass destruction, much more powerful than our biggest OTS, and we're planning to launch it at the gammulans. Since we've been killing prisoners and fighting Galcom ships, either a large number of Galcom ships have gone renegade, or this is not sanctioned by Galcom. What I'm thinking about now is against all my training. I think Neena has a point, and I think it's about time for her bimonthly check-up.[/rp]

The conspiracy grows.

I hope that wasn't out of line

Blades, I've got an idea I'd like to run past you. I'll give you a mail soon.

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

Commander Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda

ISS Fleet

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

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

[Blades]

Mission + 23 days 14 hours 4 minutes

[Narrative On]

Lt. Commander Neena Polovoski

Personal log

This could be my last log entry in a good while. Maybe ever. If it is my last entry, love to my folks and sister. Tom, regrets for the way things turned out. Malc, IÔÇÖm so sorry about missing the wedding. Duty called.

The last hour has been traumatic to say the least. Let me start at the beginning.

I got to the bridge shortly after finishing my most recent log entry and took my position. Within moments, we approached the flux field and then Stone ordered Jensen to hold position 6 klicks from the opening. For a while we just sat there. The commander didnÔÇÖt say anything, but kept checking the time every minute or so. He was clearly nervous and deep in thought. A bit later, his personal com bleeped at him and he began speaking with Mallone. I donÔÇÖt know what the conversation was about, but Stone didnÔÇÖt seem impressed. That made me nervous.

I stayed up on the bridge for a while longer. I felt next to useless as it was, so I made an excuse to leave the bridge and attend to other ship related duties. The commander was distracted by whatever he was thinking about, so didnÔÇÖt question my motives. To be honest, I bet he was as relieved as I was to get away from the bridge. I know heÔÇÖs worried about me, itÔÇÖs only natural. HeÔÇÖs probably already formulating plans to prevent a potential mutiny. I can see it in his eyes. He doesnÔÇÖt trust me any more.

I left the bridge with the intention of speaking to some of the IC pilots in the ready room. I took the long route round, making my way through personal quarters to keep up the pretence that I was getting reports from off duty crewmen. I wanted to have something to fall back on in case Stone got suspicious and sent someone after me to check me out.

Imagine my surprise when I was almost bowled over by flight engineer McKendrick coming out of his quarters.

The guy was in a bit of a state. He seemed near panicked when we collided. For a second, I thought he was going to bolt down the corridor, but he managed to steady himself and mutter a controlled apology.

Something was definitely up with him, and he knew that I could see it. For a moment or two, I could see a battle being raged inside his head. A combination of arguing voices trying to decide what to do, what to say. Eventually, one of those voices must have won the battle, because his face suddenly softened and took on a look of near resignation.

ÔÇ£Lt.Commander, theres something I need to talk to you about.ÔÇØ

That kinda surprised me.

I responded by asking him what the wanted to talk about, and then was grasped by the upper arm and dragged into his quarters.

I was thrown inside before I could prevent it, and had to fight all my self preservation instincts not to immediately drop him on the spot. Fortunately, I held back and merely broke myself free of his grip as he thumped the door control hard and backed away as it closed.

ÔÇ£You better have a damned good explanation for this.ÔÇØ I said to him, my guard still up and ready to attack in the blink of an eye.

McKendrick quickly apologized to me, and then held a finger to his mouth to suggest silence to me. I kept quiet, and after a few seconds could hear the sounds of heavy footfalls from outside the door. Slowly they approached, then grew more distant as they passed. Finally, McKendrick took his finger away from his mouth and spoke quietly to me.

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm sorry Lt.Commander, but I cant offered to be seen with you.ÔÇØ

I glared at him, not understanding his reasons. He seemed to acknowledge this, and gestured with his head over to the right side of the cumbersome quarters. I looked, and was quite surprised to see one of MalloneÔÇÖs contingent propped up against a side cabinet with some kind of drill impaled in his chest.

I asked him what had happened, and the flight engineer quickly explained. The details are not really important now. In short, he told me about the memory wipe he had been subjected to, the contents of the shuttle he piloted back from the Transport ship and the attack by Mallones marine. He also told me he had just gotten back from speaking with the CMO about this exact matter.

That part was unexpected, but none the less very useful. At the least, the ships doctor has the authority to remove the commander with the support from the XO. However, judging by what McKendrick had just told me, it didnÔÇÖt look like Stone was running the show any more. And even if that wasnÔÇÖt the case, there was still Mallone and his men to take care of. They wouldnÔÇÖt relinquish control of the ship on my or the doctors say so.

However, there were more important things to worry about right now. First, Mallones dead marine was a problem. Sooner or later (Probably sooner) he would be reported as being missing, and his attacker quickly identified. Moving the body was out of the question. The personnel quarters were usually quite busy, and with constant patrols around the ship it would take a miracle to get him to either a disposal chute of medbay.

What needed to be done now was to hide McKendrick and remove him from the ships Perscan. At least that way, it would make it harder for those searching to track him down.

Just then, I was beeped by the CMO. He ÔÇÿrequestedÔÇÖ that I goto medbay for my bi-monthly mediscan. Perfect.

I told McKendrick to transfer the relevant info held within the droids memory to a datapad and then go and find a convenient place to hide out. I told him IÔÇÖd remove him from perscan once I got to the medibay and talked to the CMO.

I left his quarters a moment later, and made my way as quickly as possible to medbay. Upon arrival, I was surprised to see it very understaffed. There was just the CMO and a few duty personel looking over the injured personnel from the earlier attack.

He ushered me into his office and looked intently for a few moments.

ÔÇ£I know theres something very badly wrong with this mission,ÔÇØ He said ÔÇ£and I also suspect that you feel the same way.ÔÇØ

I nodded at him and allowed him to continue.

ÔÇ£There is evidence to suggest that it was Mallone who killed three of our regular troops, and not the prisoner as he reported. I have also learnt that there is specific equipment in cargobay two that Mallone brought aboard for our mission.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£You are referring to the weapon?ÔÇØ I said to him.

The CMO looked surprised. His eyes seemed to ask how I knew. I explained to him that I had just run into McKendrick and had been brought up to speed. The CMO looked puzzled, but also relieved.

ÔÇ£So, you believe us then?ÔÇØ

Again I nodded, and told him of my plans to recruit some if not all of the pilots to help in taking the ship. While doing this, I accessed the doctors terminal and hacked into the perscan system. I removed every trace of McKendrick from the system, and purged the redundant systems to make doubly sure he couldnÔÇÖt be traced.

ÔÇ£The real problem is,ÔÇØ I said to him ÔÇ£is Mallones contingent of troops. Whatever support we can muster from the senior staff and crewmembers, it wont be enough to keep them in check should fighting break out.ÔÇØ

The CMO agreed with me, and descended into deep thought for a moment. When his eyes looked up to me, I could see he was formulating a plan.

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖve got an idea.ÔÇØ He said, standing from his chair and approaching a computer terminal.

For the next few minutes, the CMO explained his plan to me. Once he had concluded, I sat back in the chair I had taken and considered it.

ÔÇ£Ok,ÔÇØ I said to him, ÔÇ£get it set up and ready to deploy in two hours.ÔÇØ

The CMO nodded and began to make preparations.

Just then, commander Stone bleeped my personal com. I answered nervously.

ÔÇ£Aye commander?ÔÇØ I said.

ÔÇ£Mister Polovoski, Mallone has just reported one of his has been found murdered in flight engineer McKendricks quarters. He suspects that McKendrick has been our traitor all along, and has ordered his men to begin a thorough search of the ship.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Commander, can we be sure McKendrick is responsible?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes,ÔÇØ he replied to me. ÔÇ£Mallones medics tell me McKendricks DNA is all over the body. HeÔÇÖs our murderer all right. Now get back up here, the perscan system isnÔÇÖt tracking him and I need you to fix it.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye commander.ÔÇØ I replied, then cut him off.

I exchanged a worried glance with the CMO, then held up two fingers to him.

He grimly nodded, and turned back to work.

That was an hour ago.

I got back to the bridge and feigned work on the perscan system. After a few more minutes, I told the commander that he had been scrubbed from the system and there was no way to trace him electronically. Stone wasnÔÇÖt impressed, but didnÔÇÖt bother to check himself.

Again I excused myself from the bridge, this time with the intention of actually getting to the pilots and having discussions with them. Should the CMOÔÇÖs plan work as anticipated, it would be another 5 hours before things started to happen. Not a good amount of time, but maybe just enough. I had to get my supporters from amongst the crew, and get them now.

Anyway, IÔÇÖm on my way down to the pilots now. Time to be creative, and pray like hell they see things my way. IÔÇÖll start with IC1 commander. If I can get the unit leader on side, perhaps the rest will be easier.

End Log

Mission + 23 days 14 hours 20 minutes

[Narrative Off]

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

[Ben Zwycky]

[rp] Mission plus 23 days 15 hours 30 minutes

"Matches found."

"Display full list."

"No, too common, too fragile, too lethal, too- no, wait, that'll do- severe nausea, dizziness, but no long-term harmful effects, 60 minute incubation time, and they won't have heard of it. Display DNA profile. Right, I could change that to make it more infectious, and that to make it difficult to treat without knowing the organism precisely."

******************

Mission plus 23 days 17 hours 40 minutes

"Synthesis Complete."

"Deactivate shipwide biohazard alarm, but mask authorisation and enable reactivation without command codes."

"Acknowledged, deactivated."

Martin paused. What he was about to do would either get him a medal, or a courtmartial. He prayed silently, 'If I'm wrong, Lizzy, please forgive me.'

"Release organism."

"Released."

'In about an hour, people will start to call in sick. I hope Neena has had enough time.'[/rp]

I'll put up the next bit tommorrow, so if people want to call in sick or anything, feel free.

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

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]

uncoventional time stamp: After Neena left McKendrick's quarters up till? Ya'll decide. I don't know how long it took me to do this stuff. I'm thinking Neena's meeting with the CMO is done and Neena is proceeding with other stuff. I'm concurrent. Just when is my prob.

After his meeting with Neena Polovoski Mckendrick didn't know what to do. He looked at his would be killer and saluted him. He turned and knelt down next to Rod. "Look's like you and I are the only ones I can trust in this. Why had she told him to put the info on the datapad? Wasn't it enough that it was on the droids memory banks as well as the flight recorder. Well, nothing like triple redundancy. So I'll go one better. He hooked up an extra set of cables to the droid. "Upload to the datapad and into mother's databanks. Flag it for Commander Stone. Maybe he will see it in time." When the upload was done he said, " Now let's get out of here before the entire ship comes looking for us.

They made their way around the corner to the turboshaft without incident. They had to duck into cargo bay 1 to avoid some of the goons. There they were. The two droids he had mangled along with ten others. Inspiration! He went around activating the droids manually along with another little enhancement. "Ok guys. the logistix computer is out as is communications. Check for yourselves. We need the shuttle bay repaired ASAP though. Get down there and await further orders from me." The droids did some internal checks and satisfied that what McKendrick had told them was true they trundled off down the service tubes. The last two droids he had to rummage around for some more enery cells. When he had them he reconnected them as well. "You two come with me. You to Rod." They loaded up on tools and extra energy cells and made their way to the front of the ship.

Goons were all around weapoons bay 2. McKendrick just had time to duck as they looked his way. They went across the ship to weapons bay 1. This one was unguarded. McKendrick and the droids slipped inside. There they were. The missiles. He didn't know what he was planning but he damn sure wanted the tools for the job. The two Galcom droids were told to grab an ATA Warrior while Rod was instructed to get the ATS Hyperdyne. McKendrick instructed the two Galcom droids to carry the weapons to IC bay 1 for loadout and for Rod to follow them. As the droids left down the service tube McKendrick suddenly felt lonely.

He steeled his nerves and hopped the first turboshaft to deck three where he met with the droids. It was a long walk down the aft corridor as he went to meet his companions. He found them waiting by IC 1 and motioned for them to follow. It was another long walk to the turbo shaft that would take them to the subdeck where the shuttle launch bay was.

They had made it into the shuttle launch bay without incident. McKendrick almost collapsed with relief but he knew he had more work to do. Then he heard the APB put out on him. For what!?! He wanted to scream. Well he had known he wasn't playing a nice game of hide and seek but hadn't expected the whole ship to join in.

He had his droids. Perhaps he had a fighting chance. And the missiles would blow a hole inside of the BC big enough for a P21 Vandal to fly through. That was only if he could get them to dumb fire. Oh well. Time for a last stand. He ran to the other shuttles and unloaded the ATV's. They had APM missiles as well as a laser. Will be good in a fight. Too bad I can't control more than one, he thought. The Galcom droids had safeties built in, perhaps Rod could be persuaded. Rod! there are seven other like him. McKendrick ran over to Shuttle 4 and and checked them . They were still there. He motioned to the Galcom droids that were carrying the energy cells and they came over. He took the energy cells from them and installed them into the other droids. They came to life one by one and began looking around. "Rod, brief them."

Rod went over to the first droid and uploaded the data. That droid signalled receipt of data and went to another as Rod did the same. Soon all the droids were updated as to the current situation. Once the new droids were updated McKendrick motioned to Rod. "Find Neena Polovoski and tell her," McKendrick searched for a metaphor that would convey the situation. "Tell her the eagle has landed, the sky is falling , and chicken little has built a little nest." The droid beeped in query but McKendrick just said," Just do it, and relay any subsequent orders form her." The droid beeped affirmative and trundled off.

McKendrick watched his scout leave the shuttle bay. One less in his army. Now to make the bay look like everything is operating normally. McKendrick went to the other shuttles and began unloading the drones as well.

RP OFF

Here I am with my little army. {Grin} Good or bad Blades? Tell me and I can fix.

[This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 10-05-1999).]

[Ben Zwycky]

Mission plus 23 days 18 hours 53 minutes

As more and more people started to come in to medibay reporting the same kinds of symptoms, Graham Rawlitt, one of the junior medics reported, "sir, it looks like we have an epidemic."

"We can't have- the ship's biohazard sensors would have picked it up. Steve, check the biohazard console."

Steve Conley, one of the CMO's 'trusted few' went over to the panel and reported, "doesn't show anything."

"Are you sure it's working?" Replied Graham

"Yeah, wait- whoa, it's switched off! Computer, reactivate biohazard detection system"

"System reactivated."

Every section of the computer-generated model of the ship switched instantaneously from green to red. Alarms went off all over the ship. "S&%*! We have a major biohazard alert! Every section contaminated!"

"OK, everybody, we have to assume everyone's infected. Steve, Keith, Tony and myself will work on identifying and combating the organism. The rest of you prepare room for patients and establish a quarantine section around us. Looks like we'll have to get everyone on the ship through here. Mike Proctor is in charge out here"

A small area of the medibay was sealed off around Martin and his chief medical staff.

Martin turned to his fellow conspirators, and said, "gentlemen, let's make this look good. Steve, you get the dual hyposprays ready. Keith and Tony, prepare the 'extra treatment'. Computer, isolate the organism, analyse and compare with all known current diseases and biological weapons."

"No matches found."

"Widen search. Include historical databases, going back 300 years."

"No matches found."

"That should be the limit of Mallone's medics' database. Good."

"Include database going back 900 years."

"Partial match found."

"Display."

"Organism closely resembles non-lethal weapon developed by chinese military scientists in early 22nd century, never used because new government disapproved of non-lethal methods."

"We've got Commander Stone wanting to speak to you."

"OK, patch him through."

"What the hell is going on? We've got people throwing up all over the place and medical alarms going off everywhere."

"We've got a major biohazard alert, sir. All sections of the ship affected. It wasn't picked up by the ship's biosensor network, because it was down, probably since all the medibay's computers went haywire just before we were boarded. I'd guess it was brought on by one of the intruders."

"So why haven't people been affected before now?"

"The organism appears to have a long incubation period, it just lies dormant for a number of hours before any symptoms appear. We have to assume that everyone is infected, or shortly will be."

"I see. Have you made any progress in finding a treatment?"

"We have successfully identified the organism as a mutation or modification of a very ancient biological weapon that was never actually put into service. We should be able to develop an effective treatment within the hour. Once we do, we will require everyone on board ship to report to Medibay for treatment, with no exceptions."

"That's good news. I will give the order when you notify me."[/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)

[Blades]

Mission + 23 days 19 hours 7 minutes

[Narrative On]

From the bridge of the GCV Chikuma, Commander Ted Stone looked blankly into the whirling flux anomaly and despaired. Recent events had brought him to the upper level of his stress tolerance, and with the sudden and deeply troubling biohazard outbreak amongst his crew, it pushed him over.

Suddenly, the entire mission seemed wrong.

Not just wrong, but immoral, unjust and in retrospect, futile.

Fleet commander Stiles had originally recruited him because he, like many of the other recruited commanders had served time in combat against the Gammulans and was more than aware of their vicious intellect and complete disregard for other sentient life. The things he had seen on the Falkyrie home world had permanently ruined his ability to sleep unaided, not to mention instill a sense of utter disgust and loathing for them as a people. As far as Stone was concerned, there was no justification for their existence.

When Stiles approached him with his plans for a preemptive strike, Stone fought long and hard with his conscience before finally accepting. His GalCom training and long service had taught him to respect the chain of command, as well as the ideals of Galactic Command. However, Stiles played on his fears of an eventual cataclysmic war between the Gammulans and GalCom and convinced him that when it happened, GalCom would fall and the peoples of earth would perish under the Gammulans technologically superior boot.

Despite having to betray his own people, maybe even fire upon them, Stone believed that it was necessary for the survival of the human race. Never before had their been such a powerful and ruthless enemy. Their manufacturing potential was far greater than that of the allied governments, and even with the assistance of the Insurgents it was unlikely GalCom would survive an all out conflict.

The last major engagement had devastated the GalCom fleet, and even after all this time production was only just returning to normal. The Gammulans on the other hand had rebuilt their fleet quickly, taking advantage of their huge economical infrastructure.

If the misinformation propaganda from HQ hadnÔÇÖt been able to convince the Gammulan spy network that Galcom had quickly rebuilt itÔÇÖs own devastated fleets, a second wave would have come quickly and overwhelmed the home quadrant..

However, no such attack had come, but people like Fleet Commander Stiles expected it to come. And soon.

The plan had been a bold one. Several break away ships from GalCom would begin minor raids on Gammulan shipping in the Credian quadrant. These attacks would panic GalCom into dispatching vessels to intercept and destroy them before the Gammulans took it upon themselves to retaliate. Meanwhile, two other vessels would assume silent running and navigate into the Syrion quadrant and take advantage of flux fields to penetrate deep into Gammulan territory and deliver an experimental weapon of mass destruction to eradicate the industrial and military center of the Gammulan empire.

One of these two ships, the GCV Onasis, would attempt to divert perusing vessels from the weapon delivery ship, the Chikuma. As fortune would have it, the Onasis was intercepted by the Tsunami before hooking up with the Chuikuma. Stiles had miscalculated Commands tactical response and that mistake nearly allowed the Chikuma to be intercepted not only by the Tsunami, but also the Berlin.

Mallones people had previously stolen the RANDOM device from itÔÇÖs secret testing facility and brought it to the Chikuma. This event coincided with the initial strikes against Gammulan shipping, and it was hoped would throw GalCom into disarray and convince them that the weapon system was heading for a rendezvous with the renegade fleet in the Credian quadrant. However, with the devastated Tsunami managing to evade the Chikuma it would have become all too apparent for the command staff at GHQ that the RANDOM device was heading to Gammula via the back door, and the fleet in the Credian Quadrant nothing more that a diversion.

Right now, Stone believed a rapid response fleet was preparing to intercept the Chikuma and destroy her before she jumped into enemy territory.

Stone checked the time again.

13:07 hours

Twenty three minutes before he was due to enter the anomaly and reappear in Gammulan space. Twenty three minutes before he sent himself, his crew and billions of Gammulans to hell.

Was it all worth it? Was the price of peace worth a genocidal war? Could he sacrifice his ship, his crew and the lives of thousands of his fellows to ensure future peace?

For the first time in his life, commander Stone knew without any doubt that he had been wrong. Wrong about himself, wrong about Stiles, wrong about the mission.

The worst thing was, he had always known this, had always known that it was wrong. But up until now, it didnÔÇÖt seem real. DidnÔÇÖt seem possible or likely to succeed. And now, with them on the brink of entering enemy territory and annihilating the Gammulan home world, it seemed very, very real.

Time to put things right, he decided. Time to go home.

ÔÇ£Mister Reynolds?ÔÇØ said Stone, coughing, the initial signs of infection plain for those still on the bridge to see.

ÔÇ£Aye commander.ÔÇØ Replied a sickly looking Reynolds.

ÔÇ£Signal Mallone and tell him to get up here. Also, have Neena meet me in my quarters in one hour. Then get yourself off to the medbay, and take Ailsa with you.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Aye sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Mister Jensen?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes commander?ÔÇØ Said the seemingly unaffected flight officer.

ÔÇ£Clear the flight path and plot a course away from the anomaly.ÔÇØ

Jensen looked confused. ÔÇ£Sir?ÔÇØ

Stone was wracked with a sudden cough. ÔÇ£Please Tamara, IÔÇÖm not in any condition to repeat myself. Suffice it to say, weÔÇÖre scrubbing the mission.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£But commander.ÔÇØ Started Graves at tactical. ÔÇ£We cant just abandon the mission. WeÔÇÖre in a state of war, sir!ÔÇØ

Stone looked up at him and slowly shook his head. ÔÇ£Not any more mister Graves. This war is over.ÔÇØ

Mission + 23 days 19 hours 12 minutes

[Narrative Off]

***** Until otherwise stated, all events are to be time indexed no later than Mission + 23 days 20 hours and 30 minutes You will understand the reasons for this shortly. *****

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

[Blades]

Mission + 23 days 19 hours 16 minutes

[Narrative On]

Personal log

Colonel Stuart Mallone, Orion Special Ops

I just got a call to goto the bridge. It seems Commander Stone wants to discuss something regarding the mission with me. IÔÇÖm concerned that his conscience has gotten the better of him and heÔÇÖs having second thoughts. I had better get up there and straighten this out.

Additionally, the rumors of mutiny on this ship are increasing, and with the sudden outbreak of this infection IÔÇÖm beginning to think theres more to these rumors than idle speculation.

I have already had to send nearly half my contingent down to medbay to have them treated. IÔÇÖm keeping the other half on standby in case my gut feeling turns out to be true.

I got them searching for Flight Engineer McKendrick, the man who somehow got the better of one of my best men. When heÔÇÖs found, I will personally remove the mans spine.

What the . . . ?

WeÔÇÖre moving. The ship is moving.

Damn Stone, what the hell does he think heÔÇÖs doing?

ÔÇÿAndrews? Cancel the search. Have all our people assemble in the mess and standby for contingency plan Delta. Yes, even those in medbay. This is a priority 1 emergency order. Clear out any other personel in the mess and have them establish a secondary command interface. Mallone out.ÔÇÖ

Stone is way out of line. Who does he think he is? HeÔÇÖs nothing more than a delivery boy. IÔÇÖm the Sheppard. Time to make him understand this.

Mission + 23 days 19 hours 20 minutes

[Narrative Off]

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

[Blades]

Mission + 23 days 19 hours 30 minutes

[Narrative On]

Commander Stone had been expecting MalloneÔÇÖs arrival on the bridge. He had also expected the big man to be less than happy with him at this time. As anticipated, Mallones vocal arrival on the bridge did little to quell the gnawing sense of dread he now felt.

ÔÇ£Stone!ÔÇØ shouted Mallone as he came through the bridge access way. ÔÇ£What the hell are you doing?ÔÇØ

The commander spun in his command chair and faced the fuming man. ÔÇ£IsnÔÇÖt it obvious even to you Colonel? WeÔÇÖre moving out and heading back into GalCom territory.ÔÇØ

Mallone glared at him, barley being able to contain his fury. ÔÇ£You donÔÇÖt have the authority.ÔÇØ

Stone smirked at him. ÔÇ£Not only do I have the authority, Colonel, I also have the moral responsibility.ÔÇØ

Mallone shook his head at him. ÔÇ£Moral responsibility?ÔÇØ he jeered. ÔÇ£You have got to be joking. Where were your morals when you destroyed the Berlin and betrayed the fleet?ÔÇØ

Stones eyes skipped from the enraged marine and briefly to Graves at the tactical station. The younger man looked shocked, stunned even by what he had just heard.

Mallone took a moment to glance at the junior officer. ÔÇ£DidnÔÇÖt you know?ÔÇØ he said, smiling. ÔÇ£This entire mission is illegal. Not sanctioned by command at all. In fact, we are the renegades. We are the ones starting a war.ÔÇØ

Jensen turned and glared at Mallone. ÔÇ£You mean none of itÔÇÖs true? The Omega directive? The assassination of the Supreme Commander and the diplomatic staff?ÔÇØ

Mallone snorted. ÔÇ£You stupid girl. Of course itÔÇÖs false. We couldnÔÇÖt risk taking out the Supreme Commander and our best military heads. We need them just as much as you do.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Then what are we doing out here? Starting a war with the Gammulans for no reason?ÔÇØ

Again Mallone smirked and shook his head

Stone swallowed hard. ÔÇ£Clear the bridge.ÔÇØ He ordered.

Jensen, the only other officer still on the bridge looked round from her flight console and looked questioningly at her commander. ÔÇ£Sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs an order Mister Jensen! Clear the god damned bridge.ÔÇØ

Jensen snapped to her feet, cast an unsure look at Graves and then made a hurried move towards the exit.

As she approached, Mallone stepped to one side and pulled his sidearm from itÔÇÖs holster. ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt think so.ÔÇØ

Jensen froze in place, and Stone pushed himself fast to his feet, his hand immediately going for his own weapon.

ÔÇ£Hold it!ÔÇØ shouted Mallone. ÔÇ£Or IÔÇÖll reduce your pilot to bleeding entrails.ÔÇØ

Stone froze, his pistol half out of itÔÇÖs holster

Mallone grinned at Stone while keeping an eye on the frozen flight officer. ÔÇ£Bring it out, nice and easy commander.ÔÇØ

Slowly, Stone obeyed, removing the blaster from itÔÇÖs holster fully and tossing it aside.

ÔÇ£You wont get away with this Mallone.ÔÇØ

Mallone couldnÔÇÖt help but let a small laugh escape him. ÔÇ£Oh my commander, thatÔÇÖs so clich├®d. Have you got any more for me? No no, let me guess. You were going to say ÔÇÿMy people will stop you, whatever you do to meÔÇÖ . .. am I right?ÔÇØ

Mallone allowed himself another brief laugh. ÔÇ£And this is the part where I tell you the entirety of my plan.ÔÇØ

Stones eyes narrowed. ÔÇ£Something like that.ÔÇØ He coolly said. ÔÇ£But before you do, theres something I want to add to our little drama.ÔÇØ

Mallones grin faltered, and his eyes turned their attention fully on the commander. ÔÇ£And that is, commander?ÔÇØ

Stone flashed him a cold smile. ÔÇ£Computer : Activate Equinox.ÔÇØ

An instant later, the computer acknowledged in an unemotional female voice. ÔÇ£Program Equinox initiated. Bridge command protocols deleted. Primary ships systems have been disabled.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£No!ÔÇØ exclaimed Mallone, taking a sudden step closer to Stone and leveling the pistol at his chest. At that same moment, Graves took a step back from his tactical station and positioned himself closer to Mallone.

ÔÇ£Computer!ÔÇØ shouted Mallone. ÔÇ£Reinitialize manual helm control. Authorization Mallone zero-seven-nine-six-three beta.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Invalid command protocol.ÔÇØ Replied the computer instantly.

ÔÇ£I took the liberty of removing youÔÇÖre access to the ships systems along with my own, the XOÔÇÖs and SpencerÔÇÖs. Nobody left on this ship can access helm, navigation or the weapons systems.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£You!ÔÇØ shouted Mallone, taking another bold step closer to the commander. Unnoticed again, Graves also moved up. ÔÇ£This changes nothing! All you have done is delay the inevitable!ÔÇØ

Stone held his ground. ÔÇ£I donÔÇÖt think so Mallone. This ships not going anywhere now. Not without helm or navigation.ÔÇØ

Mallone snarled at him, his lip curling in surprised fury. Steadily, his anger began to subside, and his features grew softer.

Stone didnÔÇÖt like it. He had the look of a man with a trump card to play.

ÔÇ£If weÔÇÖre not going anywhere,ÔÇØ started Mallone, swinging his weapon arm away from the commander. ÔÇ£then we have little use for a flight officer.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£No!ÔÇØ screamed Stone, lurching towards Mallone as his aim fell upon Tamara Jensen and his finger began to squeeze the trigger. His other arm shot out and knocked Stone to the floor the instant he came into range. At that same moment, Graves charged. Closer to the marine than Stone, the instant the weapon discharged, he collided and knocked them both over the communications terminal. As they fell, Graves watched Jensens slight figure reel backwards from the weapons impact and slump out of sight.

Mallone rolled and sprung to his feet the instant he touched the deck plating. Beside him, the winded Graves was attempting to push himself to his feet. His head arched up briefly and looked into Mallones stern face. The marine recognized resignation in the tactical officers eyes, and without a moments hesitation, kicked out with his boot, hard and precise. Graves neck crumpled under the impact, broken in several places and crushing his wind pipe. Mercifully, he died instantly.

Mallone turned a moment later, looking in the direction where he expected Stone to be lying unconscious on the deck. He was genuinely surprised to find Stone hurtling at him again, but dismissed this thought the instant Stones extended fist connected with his nose and sent him reeling back over the communications panel again.

This time not so fortunate, Mallone landed badly and lost grip on his sidearm. The blaster scattered across the deck, far out of immediate reach and lodged itself under the navigation stations tracked chair.

Stone threw himself over the blocking terminal and landed hard on Mallone. His hands were immediately around the marine Colonels neck and began to squeeze.

Alarmed by Stones surprising strength, Mallone gripped the commanders forearms with his hands and tried to lodge them free. Surprised by more enraged resistance, he thrashed out with his legs and kicked Stone painfully in the ribs.

Stone rolled with the impact, feeling the snap of at least one of his ribs and slumped in agony beside Mallone.

Forcing himself to his knees slowly, he looked up in time to block a vicious kick aimed at his head, then swept out with his freed leg to knock Mallone back on his feet.

As the marine fell onto his back, Stone forced himself painfully to his full height. ÔÇ£Murdering son of a bitchÔÇØ he sneered, taking a step closer to the prone marine.

Mallone, in a single and precise movement, flipped himself back to his feet and swung a reverse kick out at Stone. Unprepared for the attack, Stone failed to block and was shunted back by the blow to his chest. He fell back a good seven feet, and stumbled backwards over his command chair.

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖve been waiting for this a long time,ÔÇØ said Mallone, spitting a broken tooth from his bleeding mouth.

Stone gasped as he began to climb back to his feet, cradling his broken rib with his left arm.

ÔÇ£If you wanted this,ÔÇØ Stone said to his opponent. ÔÇ£you could have just asked. You didnÔÇÖt have to kill Graves and Jensen.ÔÇØ

Mallone began to stride confidently towards the injured commander, the maniacal grin on his sweat-drenched face gleaming threateningly. ÔÇ£YouÔÇÖre right. I didnÔÇÖt have to kill them.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Then why?ÔÇØ asked Stone, taking another painful step closer, and falling into a combat stance.

Mallone stopped short of the commander and also fell into a similar stance. ÔÇ£Because I wanted to.ÔÇØ

Mallone fired an aimed punch forward.

Stone deftly avoided the strike, and flung one back, connecting solidly on the bigger mans chin. Mallone reeled slightly, clutched his damaged chin with his left hand and nodded at the commander. ÔÇ£I gotta hand it to you Stone, youÔÇÖre not quite the walkover I thought you were.ÔÇØ

Stone answered with his fists and feet, launching into a number of maneuvers that surprised Mallone further. Deflecting most of them, Mallone fired a few retaliatory strikes back at the commander. Like the marine, Stone deflected most of the blows, but failed to anticipate another powerful chest kick that sent him reeling back towards his chair again.

ÔÇ£Where did you learn to fight Stone?ÔÇØ asked the marine as he launched into another bout of kicks and punches.

Again Stone deflected, and again found a weakness in the marines defenses and exploited it, knocking Mallone to the floor before he was himself brought down by a surprising sweeping attack.

Both men rolled backwards and up onto their feet. Again, they were a few feet from each other, retaking their stances and awaiting an aggressive strike.

ÔÇ£You think youÔÇÖre the only Special Forces on this ship? I spent a year undercover on Sygan. They donÔÇÖt just let anybody do that.ÔÇØ

Mallone smiled. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs a pity that you didnÔÇÖt stay there, you might have saved yourself a lot of pain.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Pain is my business.ÔÇØ Said Stone, launching into another volley of kicks and punches that had Mallone blocking and retreating.

ÔÇ£Is that so?ÔÇØ said Mallone as he frantically tried to deflect most of the blows.

Momentarily finding himself free from attack, he lowered his guard just long enough to reach behind him and pull out a standard issue combat knife.

Stone frowned at the new addition, and carefully reoriented himself to defend against this latest weapon of attack.

ÔÇ£Well,ÔÇØ concluded Mallone, bringing the knife up and within striking distance of Stone. ÔÇ£I guess this is your closing down sale.ÔÇØ

With that, Mallone launched himself into an all out attack of the commander. Over stretching himself in his effort to stab Stone, he found himself struck viciously several times. He reeled from these blows, and for the first time during the melee found himself threatened. He didnÔÇÖt like this. DidnÔÇÖt like it at all. Each of his men had been personally trained by him, and he was superior to all of them in hand to hand combat.

The thought of being defeated by a mere starship commander angered him, even if this particular commander had received previous Special Forces training. The thought also occurred to him that if he was defeated, then the mission, the real mission would fail.

He couldnÔÇÖt allow this.

Launching himself at Stone once again, he was careful to avoid overstretching himself and was rewarded with several deep lacerations to the commanders forearms and hands.

Withdrawing slightly from the knife attack, Stone arched out with his legs in an attempt to dislodge the knife from the marines grip.

Spotting an opportunity, Mallone swung to the side and launched a powerful kick at the commanders midsection. It connected, sending Stone reeling backwards. Unbalanced, the commander fell and landed awkwardly between two consoles.

He looked up just in time to see Mallone flip the knife blade into his hand, draw it behind his head and throw it with lethal force down towards him.

A curious sensation overcame Stone, but not as curious as the sight of the knife, buried up to itÔÇÖs hilt into his chest and leaking blood down his scuffed uniform.

Lacking the strength to do anything but frown in disbelief, Stone resigned himself to the knowledge that he was beaten.

ÔÇ£Killing me doesnÔÇÖt change anything Mallone, youÔÇÖre still beaten.ÔÇØ

Mallone stepped into Stones view and crouched down in front of his defeated opponent. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm afraid thatÔÇÖs not quite true.ÔÇØ

Stone looked into the big marines face and found that he was nearly smiling. A sense of dread overcame him, an understanding of sorts in his last few moments. ÔÇ£Stiles lied, didnÔÇÖt he?ÔÇØ

Mallone snorted, and wiped a hand over his bleeding lip. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs so sad. Only now at the end do you understand.ÔÇØ

Stone gasped as he began to feel the digging pain in his chest. ÔÇ£Stiles never trusted me with the mission. He expected me to turn back once we got close to our target. ThatÔÇÖs why you are really here, to make sure I didnÔÇÖt turn back.ÔÇØ

Mallone chuckled. ÔÇ£Not quiteÔÇØ he said. ÔÇ£Stiles trusted you to get this far, perhaps even go all the way to Gammulan space and make the attack. However, despite what our beloved leader may have told you, Gammula was never our real target.ÔÇØ

Mallone grasped the hilt of the knife and slowly twisted the blade inside Stone chest.

The commander cried out in agony, the blades serrated edge doing more damage to his already brutalized innards.

ÔÇ£You *******!ÔÇØ cried Stone into his tormentors face. Mallone chuckled, gaining immense satisfaction from his victimÔÇÖs agony. ÔÇ£Where were you going with that thing?ÔÇØ

Mallone stopped the twisting, and in a single brutal stroke withdrew the knife from Stones chest, wipes it on the commanders tunic and replaced it into itÔÇÖs sheath.

ÔÇ£The last place we were ever going to go with the device was Gammula. What a waste of fine ordinance.ÔÇØ

Mallone began making way over to the navigation station. Once there, he reached under AilsaÔÇÖs unoccupied seat and fished out the blaster. He turned, and began walking back towards the mortally wounded commander.

ÔÇ£No commander, weÔÇÖre not going to Gammula with that thing. WeÔÇÖre going somewhere very different. Somewhere unexpected. Somewhere beneficial.ÔÇØ

Stone managed to force out a pained chuckle. ÔÇ£Wherever you think youÔÇÖre taking that thing, it doesnÔÇÖt matter. This ship is dead in space. Within a matter of hours a fleet of ships will be here and will stop you. YouÔÇÖre not going anywhere. Launch control has also been locked out, as have the ships transporters. Theres nowhere for you to go. Nowhere to hide. YouÔÇÖre just as dead as I am.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£All you did by locking out the command protocols was inconvenience me, commander. I can have this ship up and running again in a matter of seconds.ÔÇØ

Stones vision began to fade, and he began to drift ever closer to the abyss. ÔÇ£How . . ?ÔÇØ he managed to spit out.

ÔÇ£Failsafe.ÔÇØ Said Mallone, lowering himself face to face with the commander. ÔÇ£Watch this Stone, youÔÇÖre gonna get a kick out of it.ÔÇØ

Mallone cleared his throat, and smiling said. ÔÇ£Computer : Initialize command protocol Baker-two-five-seven-nine-four.ÔÇØ

The computers female voice took a moment to respond, and seemed to be experiencing a few difficulties. ÔÇ£Command initialized. Protocol baker-two-five-seven-nine-four Initialized.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£How?ÔÇØ asked Stone quietly, his voice fading as his heart slowed.

ÔÇ£There were some adjustments made to the computer core during the refit. We had a few special systems installed just in case something like this happened. You see, we thought of everything.ÔÇØ

Mallone beamed at the commander with a huge, mocking smile.

ÔÇ£You . . . . wont get . . . away . . . with this . . . . ÔÇ£ croaked Stone.

ÔÇ£Wanna bet?ÔÇØ replied Mallone. ÔÇ£Computer : Execute command Preemptive Strike.ÔÇØ

Moments later, all major bridge systems came back online. The engines began a slow burn, and the ship reoriented itself and began blazing off in a new direction.

ÔÇ£As you can see commander, the ships now fully on automatic. I cant disable the system now even if I wanted to. Which means neither can you, or your crew. Impressed?ÔÇØ

Stone looked up on final time into Mallones eyes. Lacking the strength to utter any words, he mouthed a silent question.

ÔÇ£Where?ÔÇØ said Mallone. ÔÇ£Ok, since your about to die, IÔÇÖll tell you. But shhh, itÔÇÖs a secret.ÔÇØ

Mallone bent close to the commander and whispered quietly into his ear. He withdrew his head in time to register a final look of disbelief and shock from Stone.

ÔÇ£Monster.ÔÇØ Whispered Stone, and in a final defiant gesture, spat into the Marines cracked face.

By the time Mallone had wiped the blood and saliva from his eyes and nose, Stone had become still.

Standing, Mallone stepped away from the dead commander and looked over the fallen body of Tamara Jensen. The blaster wound had hit her in the shoulder, and hadnÔÇÖt killed her outright. ÔÇ£I think IÔÇÖll let the boys have some fun with you.ÔÇØ He said to her, rolling her over with his boot.

ÔÇ£Pretty young thing too.ÔÇØ

Just then, his wrist comm bleeped.

ÔÇ£Mallone, what is it parker?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir,ÔÇØ started the voice from the comm unit. ÔÇ£We have established a command unit in the mess hall.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Excellent. Have alpha team report to the bridge immediately.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir. What about commander Stone sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs no longer a problem. Stand by for further orders.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood sir?ÔÇØ came the slightly worried voice.

Mallone deactivated the wrist comm, and walked over to the command chair. Taking a moment to relish in the irony of it, he seated himself in Stones chair and gazed into the viewscreen.

ÔÇ£Computer. Display time to primary target and begin a continuous countdown.ÔÇØ

The computer obeyed, and displayed the current time index as well as the estimated time to target.

ÔÇ£Twenty hours, four minutes and six seconds.ÔÇØ

Mallone smiled. Tomorrow was going to be glorious.

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

[Blades]

Target Countdown T ÔÇô 20 hours 5 minutes 32 seconds

[Narrative On]

In medbay, Neena Polovoski frantically worked her fingers over one of the redundant terminals and attempted to reinitialize her command protocols remotely. Frustrated with continual failure, she concluded that Stone must have locked out all access to the higher command functions.

ÔÇ£Anything?ÔÇØ asked Sgt. Diamond from her side.

ÔÇ£Nothing.ÔÇØ She said, shaking her head.

The old marine regular slammed a fist down hard on the terminals display unit. The screen shook with the violent thump. ÔÇ£Then I guess Stone didnÔÇÖt have a change of heart after all.ÔÇØ

Neena shrugged. ÔÇ£I was so sure Sgt. I spoke with Reynolds when he came in and he was certain the commander had decided to scrub the mission.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Do you know any more details?ÔÇØ the Sgt. asked her.

ÔÇ£No.ÔÇØ she replied. ÔÇ£But IÔÇÖm due to meet him in his quarters in a little over half an hour from now.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Lt.Commander!ÔÇØ said an over excited medic as he ran into medbay.

Neena turned to him, noticed the look of concern in his eyes. ÔÇ£What is it crewman?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir,ÔÇØ he started, fighting for breath. ÔÇ£I was in the mess hall with Otis and McGillan when a squad of those black troopers came in and threw everyone out.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Hell.ÔÇØ Said the combat officer. ÔÇ£At least we now know where they were goin in such a hurry when they left here. What were they doing?ÔÇØ

The medic gasped again, and allowed himself to rest on Neenas terminal. ÔÇ£Not sure sir, but they brought in a lot of equipment. They made us leave very quickly and threatened to shoot us if we didnÔÇÖt scarper pronto.ÔÇØ

Sgt. Diamond stood to his full height, turned to the side and tapped into his lash com. ÔÇ£Strager? Get the rest of our people prepped for combat. I want a full tac loadout and ready to move in three minutes.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Theres more Lt.Commander.ÔÇØ said the exhausted medic.

ÔÇ£Yes?ÔÇØ

The medic took a deep breath and then explained. ÔÇ£Sir, I ran into an engineer who had been working on the malfunctioning bridge doorway. He told me that Mallone went up there in a real hurry and told him to clear out.ÔÇØ

Overhearing, the recovering communication officer sat up from his biobed and interrupted the conversation. ÔÇ£Neena, Stone ordered Mallone up there just before me and Ailsa left the bridge.ÔÇØ

Neena frowned, and then had an awful thought. ÔÇ£Mallone went up there to make sure Stone continued with the mission.ÔÇØ

As if on queue, the Chikuma began to shake as the main engines came back online. Neena turned back to her console, and again tried to initialize her command protocols. Again, she failed.

Just then, Spencer down in engineering broke through static and began shouting at her. ÔÇ£LT.Commander, the computer core has just come back online. Engines are up and running as is navigation and weapons control.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Can you interface with the propulsion systems chief?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Negative!ÔÇØ replied Spencer over the background hum of the engine room. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm just as lock out as I was when everything died a few minutes ago. But someone is in control.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Oh god.ÔÇØ Said Neena, a horrific thought crossing her already taxed mind. ÔÇ£Spencer, stand by to evacuate engineering. Get your team together and stand by for further instructions.ÔÇØ

Neena linked off and began frantic tapping on the medbay terminal. Within moments, she had managed to access one of the less restrictive systems.

Reynolds, now off the bio bed walked hesitantly over to her and over her shoulder. ÔÇ£Why are you looking at the perscan system?ÔÇØ he asked. A moment later, he understood.

ÔÇ£Oh my god.ÔÇØ The junior officer said.

From what he could read on the flat 2d terminal, Commander Stone and Tactical Officer Graves were dead. His heart skipped a beat, and an awful truth dawned on him.

ÔÇ£Mallone has taken the ship.ÔÇØ He said solemnly.

ÔÇ£Noooo!ÔÇØ shouted the combat officer, beating on the flat screen with her fists until its surface began to crack. The banging stopped all conversation and activity in medbay, with medics and patients alike looking over at the enraged combat officer.

When she stopped her thumping, the medbay remained quiet. Only the slight beeping of automated equipment broke the cold silence.

ÔÇ£Neena?ÔÇØ said Sgt. Diamond after a moments pause. ÔÇ£We have to assume Mallone is going to take control of the entire ship. We have to prepare ourselves if weÔÇÖre going to oppose him.ÔÇØ

Neena shook her head. ÔÇ£We have to get a message out to all our people, but Mallone could have a squad of his people on their way over here as we speak.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£They are not here yet Lt.Commander. We have to evacuate sickbay and get to a defensible position.ÔÇØ

Neena thought for a moment. ÔÇ£Engineering.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£My thoughts exactly.ÔÇØ Said the old marine. ÔÇ£Although thatÔÇÖs the first place they will try to take control of. They may already be on their way.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£We better move fast then.ÔÇØ Said Neena, standing from her chair. ÔÇ£If we can hold onto engineering, we can slow them down.ÔÇØ

Just then, and rather unexpectedly, a small droid thumped against the secured medbay entrance. Neena turned to look at the curious little device, and Sgt. Diamond instinctively drew a firearm and leveled it at the droid.

ÔÇ£Wait.ÔÇØ Said Neena. ÔÇ£I think thatÔÇÖs the droid that McKendrick took control of.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£McKendrick? The traitor?ÔÇØ

Neena cursed herself for not previously explaining to the marine. ÔÇ£Sorry sgt. ItÔÇÖs a long story. Suffice it to say, McKendrick found out something real interesting. IÔÇÖll explain on our way to engineering.ÔÇØ

A moment later, Neena unlocked the medbay doors and allowed the little droid to enter. It wheeled itself up to her, extended it cranial unit to full height and interfaced with the medbays terminal.

As she watched, line after line of text began to display on the monitor, explaining to her and all those that observed that McKendrick was in the shuttle bay, accompanied with stolen ordinance from the weapons bay and ready to make a stand.

ÔÇ£Reynolds,ÔÇØ started Neena. ÔÇ£Get a message through to our pilots in the ready room. Update them of our situation and tell them to get to Shuttle bay and load up.ÔÇØ

Reynolds nodded and went about his duty.

ÔÇ£Looks like we got a nice fall back location.ÔÇØ Said Sgt. Diamond. As he spoke, his lash com signaled him. ÔÇ£Go.ÔÇØ He barked into the mike.

ÔÇ£Sgt,ÔÇØ started the tinny voice. ÔÇ£We have 8 healthy people and three walking wounded locked and loaded. Standing by for orders.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Excellent.ÔÇØ Said Diamond. ÔÇ£Move out and secure engineering. If you meet any of Mallones troops en route, you are cleared to engage them.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood sgt.ÔÇØ Said Strager. ÔÇ£And you?ÔÇØ

Sgt. Diamond looked round at the combat officer. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre preparing to move out and consolidate as many additional personnel as possible. If things get FUBARÔÇÖd, fall back to the shuttle bay.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood sgt. Good hunting.ÔÇØ

Neena pulled away from those gathered around the terminal and sought out the CMO. She found him, standing over Ailsa Strang on a biobed. ÔÇ£How is she?ÔÇØ

The CMO frowned. ÔÇ£Not good. She didnÔÇÖt react well to the infection. SheÔÇÖs stable, but not going anywhere.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£We donÔÇÖt have a choice.ÔÇØ Said Neena. ÔÇ£We have to get down to engineering.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm a doctor, not a counter insurgent. Besides,ÔÇØ he pulled a device from a nearby tray and flashed it over her head. ÔÇ£I got a feeling there are going to be a lot of casualties over the next few hours. IÔÇÖm needed here.ÔÇØ

Neena sighed, and quickly realized that the doctor couldnÔÇÖt be argued with. ÔÇ£Ok doc, you stay. Just donÔÇÖt forget, when Mallones men start falling down, they gonna get wise to your involvement and come looking for you.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Maybe.ÔÇØ Said the CMO. ÔÇ£But I promise you, should things get difficult, IÔÇÖll make myself scarce real fast.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£You do that.ÔÇØ Said Neena, smiling.

ÔÇ£Just remember Lt.Commander, we only managed to tranq half his people. Theres at least 16 combat worthy troops that wont fall down in . . ÔÇ£ he quickly checked his chrono. ÔÇ£the next 45 minutes.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood doc. Keep your head down.ÔÇØ

The CMO smiled back at her. ÔÇ£Always Neena, always.ÔÇØ

Moments later, those willing to make the perilous journey through the occupied ship were ready to move out. In total, there were nine of them, including Neena Polovoski, Sgt. Diamond, Comms officer Reynolds, two walking wounded marines and an armed combat medic.

Neena linked back to engineering. ÔÇ£Spencer? Change of plans. WeÔÇÖre coming down to you. Lock out access to anyone but us and a ships contingent of marines that are on their way down. If Mallones people get there before we do, donÔÇÖt resist. No heroÔÇÖs, understood?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Understood!ÔÇØ shouted Spencer over the background noise. ÔÇ£Anything we should do before then commander?ÔÇØ

Neena thought for a moment. ÔÇ£See if you can disrupt the ships power systems, but donÔÇÖt initiate unless engineering is taken or I give you the go ahead.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Acknowledged commander. One thing though, is Stone with us or against us?ÔÇØ

Neena swallowed hard. ÔÇ£Stones dead Mister Spencer. Mallone killed him.ÔÇØ

The com went quiet for a few moments. ÔÇ£Understood Neena. WeÔÇÖre in real trouble, aint we?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm afraid so.ÔÇØ Said the combat officer. ÔÇ£Hang tight chief, weÔÇÖll be with you in a few minutes.ÔÇØ

Deactivating the link to chief Spencer, Neena cast an unsure glance at her assembled crew and then nodded the command to move out. Weapons at the ready, they stepped out of medbay and began their journey down towards engineering.

Target Countdown T ÔÇô 19 hours 59 minutes 12 seconds

[Narrative Off]

***** Participating players have 24 hours from the time of this post to sound off. Otherwise, you will be assumed to be captured or killed. Chavik and Ben are excluded from this rule. *****

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

[Guest]

[RP ON]

Auxiliary Personal Log

Medic # 7 Jayce Allen

LF:100% FF:2%

Target Countdown T ÔÇô 20 hours 6 minutes 10 seconds.

//Begin Log//

Nuts.. nuts.. this is nuts!. Captain killed, this Mallone madman in control of the ship, god knows what the heck is going on here...

The CMO decided stay behind and treat the wounded that are sure to come. I don't know why the guy wishes to remain in a place where the enemy is sure to show its face when the fighting starts. He's a good man, I wish he would have as much sense as he has heart. For my part, I've decided to go with Neena Polovski. I may not know much about what's going on, but I know that she is now the head honcho...

Someone better tell me what's going on when we get to the shuttle bay... gawd I shouldn't have taken these 8 medkits with me... they're heavy as hell! But I think I'll need them if we meet some of those black clad goons later on. Well, at least I got myself a rifle, I was getting tired of using this stupid wristlaser anyway.

Oh god.. this is for real...

//End Log//

[RP OFF]

[Bad Mojo]

{rp on}

-------

GALCOM OPERATIONS LOG

Countdown: T minus 19 hours, 51 minutes

IC3 Pilot, Wendel Roberts, Callsign: Pancake

GALCOM operating number: 4927111

SUBJECT: Personal log

-------

Dear god. Things just went from bad to worse. I don't think I'm gonna make it home this time...

Shadow managed to get us back last time we went out, I'll admit, the boy was good... IS good. Not was.. IS good. Damn, I hope he's still alive... but I won't hold my breath.

Has everyone gone mad? Things have been bad lately, everyone has been on edge, but I never expected this. There had been talk of rebellion.. heck, I was even agreeing with them... but I never expected it to really happen. Well, it looks like it did. Those goose-steppers went nuts and killed the Capt'n. Never really liked him, but Shadow things they iced Jensen too.. I liked her.

damn.

Right now I'm hunched down in IC-3 wondering where the hell everyone is at. We were in the ready room when we got the word to deploy.. too bad they were waiting for us. I'm confused as to what happened then. We blew out the door and right into a squad of ninja-men. I saw black suits and ran like a little girl. I'm a pilot, not a jarhead. I like the clean death of a missle blast.. I don't want to die from a hole in my belly. I heard shadow screaming something, Bigtone whipped out that big damn knife of his and charged one. Last I saw of them. I know at least one or two made it.. I think.

Damn. I hope the guys make it here alright.

I'm gonna give shadow 5 more minutes then I'm going to hole up in one of the shuttles. Probably safer than here. I hope I make it..

Mom? Dad? I love you guys. This is Wendel Roberts... signing off... maybe for good.

[rp off]

[This message has been edited by Bad Mojo (edited 10-05-1999).]

[Guest Ron Wallin]

Target Countdown T ÔÇô 19 hours 50minutes

{rp}

This will not be a good day. There's only nine of us in this group. I'm the only one, outside of what little the combat medic know that can hold his own in a firefight.

It's not the first time this has happened. In fact it's the 13th time. Lucky 13. I've always liked that number.

Oh well, perhaps my number is up. No matter. I'm sure I'll live long enough to take that freak Mallone with me. I transfered out of the damn SpecOps to get away from guys like him. I'll be damned if he's gonna take this ship while I turn my back.

I've got a few warm bodies that can pull triggers. I guess it's time I pulled out the sniper gear and started blending in with the shadows. If 13 is my lucky number the rest of this group won't know that anything is happening.

That's a good thing considering none of the marines with me have any combat experience. That medic looks like he knows how to hold a weapon. I wonder if he's ever used flash grenades before?

{/rp}

Hehe, GunnerSgt. Diamond is 'bout to open a can of whoopass Sorry I've taken so long, but I'm back now!

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

Cmdr. Akira

ICV Nevermore

Spectre, Command Staff

Base Commander, The Dojo

Official Tester

Battlecruiser Series

[Gallion]

[rp]

Countdown: T minus 19 hours, 51 minutes

This whole blipping affair has gotten out of hand. The Chief prick is still riding my arse and the russian wench thinks that she be in control. Why? Heck if I know. But I have something for him, something wonderful. If it is a mutiny that they want, then I will give them one.

-----

The terminal screen came to life as Benni began his jihad. Menus and file systems were drilled down into, accessed, rejected and searched again until the System Engineer 3rd Class, Benni Arnald found what he was looking for; Droid control and Command Protocol access. The trojan that the CMO released was not as dangerous as some previously thought. Yes it caused some minor problems but it also gave SE#13 the one thing that some people would kill for --- access to the computer system.

SE#13 reached into a pocket and withdrew a 'tab. This was not an ordinary 'Tab. It was a special datatab; one with a very special set of commands and instructions that would allow certain systems to be altered and controlled. So much for Malone's little plan, SE#13 thought to himself. These people are all twits and arses. There is no such thing as a secure system, not with SE#13 Bennidict Arnald about....

[/rp]

System Engineer #13

Benni Arnald

GCV Chikuma

[This message has been edited by Gallion (edited 10-06-1999).]

[Ben Zwycky]

Even though I don't have to post, I enjoy it so much Hey, this is getting good!

[rp]Chief Medical Officer's Personal Log

Countdown T- 19 hours 48 minutes

While they were encamped in the medibay, I had one of Neena's system engineers help me install a defence mechanism of sorts into the medibay. I hope I don't have to use it, but it's reassuring to know that its there if they decide to come for me.

It seems the infection has combined with another minor infection Ailsa had and severely slowed down her natural healing process, which I hadn't anticipated. Well, that's what you get for doing a rush job. She's not been doing too well, but she's over the worst of it, unless we lose. If we lose, then we're all dead. I don't doubt that now. Commander Stone's death at the hands of Mallone was a shock, but it was predictable. That man's psychological profile must make for very frightening reading.

There are quite a number of Mallone's men who we haven't been able to give the time-release tranquiliser. However, this means that they are still infected, and however tough and determined they are, and even if it's not been totally effective it's sure to slow them down a little bit. The lack of access to the ship's systems is a worry, though. We seem to be locked on to some target or other, with no way to break off. It worries me that we may end up having to destroy the ship. With no access to launch protocols or transporters, that could mean mass suicide. Lizzy, if you ever get to hear this message, I love you and would give anything to be with you right now, but we can't let this madman murder billions of innocent people. If that means sacrificing ourselves, then so be it. I for one know that if I die trying, it will be with a clear conscience.

End log[/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)

Hey, I hadn't read Gallion's post when I did mine. Makes my main concern look a bit out of touch, but nevermind.

[This message has been edited by Ben Zwycky (edited 10-06-1999).]

[Blades]

***** Ah, good timing Ron. I was worried for a bit weÔÇÖd seen the last of you. *****

Countdown T ÔÇô 19 hours 55 minutes 19 seconds

[Narrative On]

ÔÇ£Status report.ÔÇØ Ordered Mallone from the ChikumaÔÇÖs command chair.

ÔÇ£Sir!ÔÇØ said one of the troopers that had just reported to the bridge. ÔÇ£Just got word from two of our people down in pilot country.ÔÇØ

Mallone spun in his chair to him. ÔÇ£Tell me.ÔÇØ

The marine stepped forward, snapped to attention and began his report. ÔÇ£Sir! Troopers Smith and Caplan were bringing up additional equipment to our command center in the mess when they faced off with the pilots. All of them sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£And?ÔÇØ said Mallone.

ÔÇ£And it got a bit confusing, sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Confusing how?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Well sir,ÔÇØ started the marine. ÔÇ£Seems the pilots didnÔÇÖt like the look of Smith and Caplan too much. So they bolted sir. Most of them anyway. One of the pilots managed to cut up Smith pretty good before escaping.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£They escaped?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, yes sir! Ran right through them sir. Knocked them for six.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£I see.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£And confiscated their weapons, sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Marvelous.ÔÇØ Groaned Mallone.

The marine colonel swiveled back in the command chair to face the view screen. ÔÇ£Seems like Lt.Commander Polovoski has finally gotten round to assembling her merry band of mutineers.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir, seems that way sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Well, we canÔÇÖt be having that sort of thing going on on my ship.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£No sir, it wouldnÔÇÖt do, sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£My thoughts exactly. Very well, I had hoped to put this off for a little longer, but It looks like the Lt.Commander has the same nasty habit as Stone did for forcing my hand.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Shall I deploy the men, sir?ÔÇØ

Mallone nodded. ÔÇ£Have them begin locking down everyone in personal quarters. If there is any resistance, kill them. Have a team goto the barracks and eliminate any marine personnel encountered. Have another team take control of engineering. Again, if there is any resistance, kill them.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes colonel.ÔÇØ Said the marine. ÔÇ£And what of the surviving command staff?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Track them down and put them under arrest. If they resist, kill them.ÔÇØ

The marine nodded, and began to move for the bridge exit.

ÔÇ£One more thing.ÔÇØ Said Mallone.

The marine turned and faced his commander. ÔÇ£Yes, sir?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Should you run into any significant resistance, deploy the HK drones.ÔÇØ He said.

ÔÇ£Sir? Do you think thatÔÇÖs a good idea. I mean, they are still experimental.ÔÇØ

Mallone smiled. ÔÇ£IsnÔÇÖt everything we brought with us marine?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir, but we havenÔÇÖt calibrated them do distinguish between our people and everyone else.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Then make that your first priority marine. I want those units prepped and ready to deploy in twenty minutes.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, I donÔÇÖt think we will need them. I doubt we will meet much resistance.ÔÇØ

Mallone stood from the command chair and approached his subordinate. ÔÇ£If theres one thing I have learned from my brief time on this ship, itÔÇÖs that you should never underestimate the capabilities of this crew. Like it or not, they are dangerous. Stone surprised me, and I wont make that mistake again. Get it done marine.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir.ÔÇØ

With that, the marine saluted quickly and left the bridge.

When he was gone, Mallone reseated himself and pondered the likely activities of Neena Polovoski and her band of mutineers.

Countdown T ÔÇô 19 hours 52 minutes 37 seconds

[Narrative Off]

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#31927230

[Bad Mojo]

{rp on}

-------

GALCOM OPERATIONS LOG

Countdown: T minus 19 hours, 50 minutes

IC3 Pilot, Wendel Roberts, Callsign: Pancake

GALCOM operating number: 4927111

SUBJECT: Personal log

-------

Looks like some of the guys made it.. still haven't seen Shadow. Bigtone's covered in blood, but it's not his. They don't know what happened to shadow, he grabbed a blaster and took off down one of the halls.. I think he's going to get his chick. *sigh* Best of luck to him.

On a lighter note I've discovered that IC-3 is STILL busted up, but this time in a good way. It seems all the safty locks are currently down for repair right now, along with the automated systems. Everything is on manual control.. this might be a good thing.

That means my weapon systems are hot... even on ship. Hmm.. I think I'm going to re-orient IC-3 facing inward..

Hopefully shadow will get here and I can get back to my seat and we can bail outta here, until then though...

We'll see if those ninja-boys can dodge blaster fire.

[end log]

[This message has been edited by Bad Mojo (edited 10-06-1999).]

[Gallion]

Interesting Blades ... very interesting

[rp]

Countdown T- 19 hours 50.5 minutes

My jihad continueth and has born the ever bountiful fruit of success. It seems that the Chief Prick and the Russian wench are in a tad bit of woe and can't do a blessed thing. Poetic justice is what I would call it.

-----

Countdown T- 19 hours 48.33 minutes

HK doids - what are they and what can they do. Quick scan of database failed to enlighten me. But they are driods and droids can be controlled --- from within as well as from without. Let me see what this will do...

-----

Countdown T- 19 hours 48 minutes

Bahhhhh Dang things are protected by some blipping protocol. Something tied to this...eh...what does this mean -- Preemptive Strike?

-----

Countdown T- 19 hours 47 minutes

Oooooooo-daaaawgggy I hit the mother lode. Preemptive Strike just another name for another I'm in charge prick wanna be; aka Malone and his special feces wanna bes. I gots something for them. What is all the racket about. Gotta get out of here, gestopo cometh. [uploads command string from tab to terminal before completing shutdown. Command string should disable ship systems for few minutes whilst Benni makes an exidus from engineering section.]

Shuts down terminal, grabs datatab and remote unit (with cables). Locks the hatchway. Gotta hide in the bilges, plenty of places to hide, plenty of access points there. The last place any would look...

-----

[/rp]

System Engineer #13

Benni Arnald

GCV Chikuma

[This message has been edited by Gallion (edited 10-06-1999).]

[Ben Somerset]

[RP]

Countdown T - 19 hours 59 minutes 32 seconds

Banish sat in the cockpit of IC-1, wondering just how in the hell they had gotten into this mess. Renegade Commander...illegal missions...crazy Marines...killing their own... There was going to be some heads rolling when they got back. If they got back.

It was a miracle that they even made it to the fighters in the first place. As a group, the entire flight had decided that they were no longer going to stand idley by as Stone took them on a mission that was just...wrong. If it was mutiny, then so be it. But the pilots would not stand by while this went on. With 4 interceptors at their disposal, they could waste the Chikuma, and stop this deadly flight.

They were all headed toward the Launch Bay when they ran into some of Mallone's goons. Big had pulled out his knife, gave a yell, and charged them. Banish thought he saw one of the pilots turn and run out of the corner of his eye, but he wasn't sure. He pulled his knife as well, and ran toward the crazed marnies.

Big stabbed one of them, and hurt him fairly bad. They only managed to knock out the other one, and decided not to kill them. Stone might have been like that, but they were not. After the marines were down, Shadow grabbed one of their weapons, and ran down the corridor. He shouted, "Go on without me! I'll meet you at the Launch Bay!" They had tried to stop him, but failed. With the other weapon in hand, Banish and the other pilots made their way to the Launch Bay, quietly.

When they got there, they found the traitor McKendrick. However, their minds quickly changed when they noticed he had a nice assortment of weapons to load onto their fighters. With the droids assistance, within 10 minutes, the fighters were loaded for bear. They all climbed into their fighters, and sealed them up. Aboard the 4 interceptors, the crews prepared for combat. Against whom...they didn't know.

Before he put his helmet on, Banish could smell the blood drying up on Big's flight suit. With the helmet, he was glad he couldn't smell something so disgusting anymore. Banish and Big began the pre-flight check, and completed it quickly. After it was done, Banish said, "Big, start up the reactor."

"Roge-o, boss man," he replied.

The reactor spun up, filling the fighter with a dull hum. Displays flared to life, giving status readouts for the interceptor. Banish ran the engine pre-start check, and finished it as quickly as possible. After he was done, he touched the button on one of the displays that read Engine start-up sequence. The engine roared to life as Banish advanced the throttle to idle. Big completed his checks and said "Ready to rock and roll, Banish."

"Let's get this show on the road," Banish said, opening the fighter comm channel. "Scorpion Flight, check," he said, waiting to hear the rest of the flight check in.

"Two."

"Four."

"Three. Minus one pilot, but ready to kick ass!"

Enthusiastic pilot...Banish thought. "One last thing to do," he said. "Scorpion Flight, green 'em up."

"Two."

"Three."

"Four."

After he heard them respond, Banish looked at one of the few switches in the fighter. The one that read Master Arm. Flicking it to Off he said, "Now it's time to kick ass."

Countdown T - 19 hours 50 minutes 23 seconds

[/RP]

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

Robert "Banish" Anderson

Scorpion Flight Leader

GCV Chikuma

[This message has been edited by Ben Somerset (edited 10-06-1999).]

[Ben Zwycky]

I hope I'm not rushing too far ahead of the timeline with this. I could always edit it if requested.

[rp]Chief Medical Officer's Log

Countdown T-19 hours 45 minutes

Well, it seems they've come for me earlier than I expected. It's still ten minutes before the first of the tranquillisers kicks in

Two black-clad marines came into medibay with their rifles at the ready. I put on my best diplomatic face.

"Good evening gentlemen. I don't believe I've seen you in here before. Are you here for treatment for the infection? The symptoms must be quite distressing by now," I said, reaching for a hypospray with a ten minute delay on the sedative.

"No, doc. That's not why we're here," replied one very pale-looking marine, "We have orders to arrest all the command staff."

"But I don't have command authority. I'm just a doctor, and I have patients to look after here. Couldn't you just confine me here, and let me do my work? I could show you how to treat your comrades, if you want. You just put the hypospray to the patient's neck like this and press these two buttons. The nausea clears in about five minutes, but the dizziness takes a little longer."

The pale-looking marine seemed tempted for a moment at the thought of being rid of that damned infection, but then corrected himself. He had a job to do.

"Thanks, doc, but no. We've gotta take you in."

"Oh, well, sleep tight."

Instantly the entire medibay was flooded with anaesthetic gas. Holding my breath, I ducked and darted behind one of the beds where my breathing apparatus was. They were already on the floor by the time I got behind the bed. I put my breathing apparatus on, then went over to the hypospray rack and picked up a couple of my preparations. I put enough sedative in both of them to knock out an angry bull for a couple of hours. I left the medical droids managing the current patients, picked up my 'expanded' medikit and sidearm and left the medibay via a service hatch. I crawled down the service tube, changing direction a few times until I was far enough away from the medibay to be very difficult to find. I then called Neena; "I'm sleeping tight. Where shall I wake up?"

Countdown T - 19 hours 41 minutes

[/rp]

Well, that's another two down for a good while. Doctor on the rampage! Program 'sleep tight' is running all the time now, so if anyone goes into the medibay it'll reflood with anaesthetic gas, knocking you out for a good hour if you have no breathing apparatus. The system is well stocked up on anaesthetic. Of course, only Neena and her group know this, and how to deactivate it, plus anyone she has told, of course.

BTW, could some people join Eternal Diligence, please? come on! You know you want to All you really have to do for now is say where you are and what you're doing, and it'll grow from there.

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

Commander Ben Zwycky GCV Svoboda

ISS Fleet

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

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

[Blades]

Countdown T ÔÇô 19 hours 43 minutes 8 seconds

[Narrative On]

ÔÇ£How are our patrols doing?ÔÇØ asked Mallone from the command chair.

The marine at the combat officers station brought up a modified perscan display on the terminal. ÔÇ£Sir, team two has just entered medbay to take the doctor into custody. Teams three, five and eight are sweeping the crew quarters and are locking them down. Team four, nine and ten are converging on engineering. Everyone else is in the command center in the mess or up here, sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Excellent. Any luck with the ships internal sensors?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Partial sir, but IÔÇÖm still not able to get reliable readings. Once they stop however, I should be able to get a bead on them in under a minute.ÔÇØ

Mallone was still angry with Stone and his Equinox program. Not only had it shut out access to the ships major systems, it had locked down transporters, launch control and scrambled the perscan system. Despite having his best technical crew working on the perscan problem, he was still only able to get accurate sensor readings from crewman IF they stayed put in one location for more than a minute.

Limited, but for now it would have to do.

ÔÇ£Colonel!ÔÇØ shouted one of the bridge marines from Graves old tactical station.

ÔÇ£What is it?ÔÇØ enquired Mallone.

ÔÇ£Sir, someone is prepping the Interceptors for launch.ÔÇØ

Mallone pushed himself from his newly aquired chair and went over to the tactical station to verify what his subordinate was telling him.

ÔÇ£Damn.ÔÇØ Said Mallone. ÔÇ£I was sure the pilots would have tried to hook up with the Lt.Commander.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£It would have been the most logical deduction sir. Consolodate her forces and make a stand.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Indeed.ÔÇØ Agreed Mallone. ÔÇ£Which leads me to believe that the good Lt.Commander knows more about whats goin on than I had given her credit for.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir.ÔÇØ Agreed the marine. ÔÇ£What do you suggest colonel?ÔÇØ

Mallone thought for a moment. ÔÇ£Whats the status of the Interceptors?ÔÇØ

The marine tracked his fingers over the terminal and brought up the relevant information. ÔÇ£Flight worthy, but just barley sir. Looks like the repair crews hadnÔÇÖt got round to patching them back together from the previous engagement.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Charged?ÔÇØ asked Mallone.

ÔÇ£Not to full capacity sir. But they have sufficient charge for a brief furball.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Armed?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir, each interceptor is fully loaded with ordinance.ÔÇØ

Mallone frowned. ÔÇ£I would have preferred you tell me something other than that marine.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir. Sorry sir.ÔÇØ

Mallone stepped away from the tac ops terminal and considered his problem.

The way he saw it, a determined fighter crew could, as a last resort, cause an awful lot of damage to the Chikum internally. He of course based this on the assumption that they, like Neena were aware of the existence of the RANDOM device on board ship.

Fortunately, the fighters built in safe guards would prevent the launch of the missiles from within the launch bay. However, the forward guns had no such restrictions.

It had been a mistake not to secure the flight deck the moment he suspected Commander Stones change of heart. He also realized it had been a mistake not deactivate the fighters individually. Now, there was the potential for the mission to be screwed without them ever getting near the target.

ÔÇ£Ah, colonel?ÔÇØ said the marine manning the combat officers terminal.

ÔÇ£Yes? What is it?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, IÔÇÖve been interlinking this system with our remote equipment in the mess hall command facility. Someone from the outside has just hacked into the HK system and is accessing the database.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£What?ÔÇØ said Mallone, sounding surprised. ÔÇ£How?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm not sure sir. Whoever it is has bypassed three security protocols and hacked into the mainframe.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Can you lock them out?ÔÇØ

The marine nodded. ÔÇ£Yes sir. IÔÇÖll do it now sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Wait!ÔÇØ said Mallone, an idea springing into his head. ÔÇ£Has he tried to access the launch protocols for the devices?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Yes sir, but he wont get them sir. Theres no way he will ever break through six levels of encryption.ÔÇØ

Mallone thought for a moment more, then began to smile. ÔÇ£Give him partial access to the drones. Let him think he has enough to allow him to reprogram them.ÔÇØ

The marine began to work over the terminal ÔÇ£HeÔÇÖs downloading the protocols now sir.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Good.ÔÇØ Said Mallone. ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm assuming he cant be on the move while doing this. I want a trace on that download path. Tie in with perscan and identify our hacker.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Working.ÔÇØ Said the marine, again tapping into the security console.

Mallone stepped back to the command chair and seated himself again. He stretched back into it, enjoyed itÔÇÖs comfortable feel and allowed himself to enjoy a moment of pure relaxation. He was almost annoyed at the marine when he informed him the trace had been successfully completed.

ÔÇ£What have you got for me?ÔÇØ said Mallone.

ÔÇ£I tracked the signal sir. I got it just before the hacker disconnected. And I donÔÇÖt think he noticed the trace.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Who is it, and where did the hack originate from?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Sir, itÔÇÖs System Engineer #13,Benni Arnald. HeÔÇÖs currently near deflector control, trying to evade our patrol.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Benni Arnald huh? That names seems mighty familiar.ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Uh, yes sir.ÔÇØ Agreed the unsure marine. ÔÇ£Shall I have the team close and take him down?ÔÇØ

ÔÇ£Negative.ÔÇØ Said Mallone. ÔÇ£We could use a man with his talents. Have the team pick him up and bring him to the bridge. If he resists, knock him down but donÔÇÖt kill him. I want this one alive. I got a feeling he could be useful.ÔÇØ

Countdown T ÔÇô 19 hours 37 minutes

[Narrative Off]

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

Commander Blades

GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó

PRIME Fleet

'For Queen and country'

ICQ#43692958