Kert got the message from the hub just as he was on his way to meet the local sec defence force commander. He had a bunch of data cubes in his jacket pocket that gave a pretty concise picture of what he had been doing over the last few tazura. I was not surprised to see commander Golo waiting for me in the office the man seemed to be taking a lot of interest in our operations, I didn't really mid though the man had proven himself to be a true friend and in his position I had no doubt I would have questions I wanted answered about that Thresher as well.
"Commander Dannar it is pleasant to see you again, your assistance with the Xenon incursion was appreciated".
"I was glad to be of service Commander Golo but I imagine it is the Thresher that you wish to speak to me about".
"Indeed commander the ship has been determined to be one that was retired form actiove service following damage it incurred in the war zones to the north and our understanding was the vessel would be sold for scrap. As you will appreciate we would not wish the vessel to find its way into the wrong hands".
I gave the man the data cubes which he fed into a reader and waited for him to study the facts as we knew them. He was clearly annoyed at what he saw and made some notes of his own before handing the cubes back.
"This Split I take it you have apprehended him" the commander stated
"Indeed he is at this moment cooling his heels in a prison cell at the gate hub operations centre under armed guard. Naturally he is unaware of his location, once we have the information we want we could transfer him to your custody".
"We would rather that did not happen commander we are at the moment experiencing a truce with the split race an incident such as this might disturb that peace".
I could see his reasoning and I could only agree with him that and the fact that this Split had been part of an attempt to kill me and my crew made it personal.
"Now as to the ship it is clear that you have claimed an abandoned vessel and by rights it is yours to do with as you see fit no matter the circumstances that led it to being abandoned where it was which it is clear you had no part in. for my part I anticipate no difficulties should you wish to retain the ship you have proven yourself a valued ally I would however urge you to have it examined most carefully for structural damage whilst it is in the shipyard".
The man was right the ship had been sent to be broken up with good reason as far as the Boron military were concerned but the chances are that the damage we had determined to be present during the voyage here was the limit of it but it would be wise to be certain before taking it in harms way.
"I am sure the engineers here at the shipyard will be able to provide such an inspection for me before I make any decisions as to the ship commander for the moment I will be returning to the Gate hub to elicit some answers form the Split I will of course forward whatever information we are able to obtain for him".
"Then our business here is concluded captain I would feel obliged to offer your crew the facility to converse with some of our own personnel as regards the operation of a unique vessel such as the Thresher it is a powerful ship but requires careful handling to attain its full potential in combat, indeed it takes many jazura for a Captain to become skilled in its handling".
I thanked the man and made my way to the station managers office and arranged a detailed survey of the ship to be carried out by his engineers before returning to the ship.
Bekka was less than pleased when I told her I wanted her to remain at the yard to oversee the ships inspection and to seek advice on its handling from the Boron sec defence forces on station but she knew one of us had to do it and I wanted her to have no part of what I was going to have to do next.
PARIAH: AP Peace keeper start. (DID)
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Sabrina Bergin
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Sabrina Bergin
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I landed the TM at the Hub and made my way through to the holding cells where I had the split escorted to the room I had prepared for his interrogation. The Split was shown in and sat in the chair opposite me I wanted to strangle him on the spot instead I poured him a whiskey and lit a cigar and leaned back in my chair.
"You might need that" I suggested, indicating the whiskey "It seems you are worth more to certain people dead than you are alive, fortunately for you one man is paying me even more if I deliver you to him alive he even specified that you were to be unharmed. To be honest he was quite insistent about that which made him willing to pay me a lot more than he wanted to".
That disturbed the Split he knew who I was and that I would quite happily kill him for what he had done.
"Who is this Split who wish's me such good health Dannar ?".
"Sorry did I not say earlier I assumed you knew Lord Rhonkar has been most concerned as to your well being he has even called a council meeting of all the Split to discuss it".
I had never seen a Split go pale before the man placed his glass back on the desk his hand visibly shaking. I was not surprised when he stood before the Split lords, not only himself but his entire family line would be dishonoured for all time if not extinguished.
I let the implications sink in the Split knew I wanted him dead and that within a short space of time he could expect to be collected by the agents of Rhonkar which meant if he was going to try and make a deal he would do so now or not at all.
"If I tell you the names of my employers would you allow me to leave unmolested" he asked.
"Only if what you told me outweighed the advantages I would gain from the family Rhonkar, to be honest I doubt you have any information I need".
The man seemed to seemed to settle within himself as one does when ones fate is certain, it gave him courage of sorts knowing that he was helpless to alter his fate.
"I have much information but I will take it with me into the dark Argon if for no other purpose than to thwart you and Rhonkar. I will have the satisfaction of knowing at least that my death will be avenged even upon Rhonkar himself".
To late he realised he had revealed more than he had intended with that statement. A fact that was confirmed as Rhonkars envoy entered the room and stunned him with a pistol.
"My appologies commander but I acted to ensure he did not have time to end his own life when he realised his error, with your permission I will take this scum to face justice at the hands of my lord".
"You might need that" I suggested, indicating the whiskey "It seems you are worth more to certain people dead than you are alive, fortunately for you one man is paying me even more if I deliver you to him alive he even specified that you were to be unharmed. To be honest he was quite insistent about that which made him willing to pay me a lot more than he wanted to".
That disturbed the Split he knew who I was and that I would quite happily kill him for what he had done.
"Who is this Split who wish's me such good health Dannar ?".
"Sorry did I not say earlier I assumed you knew Lord Rhonkar has been most concerned as to your well being he has even called a council meeting of all the Split to discuss it".
I had never seen a Split go pale before the man placed his glass back on the desk his hand visibly shaking. I was not surprised when he stood before the Split lords, not only himself but his entire family line would be dishonoured for all time if not extinguished.
I let the implications sink in the Split knew I wanted him dead and that within a short space of time he could expect to be collected by the agents of Rhonkar which meant if he was going to try and make a deal he would do so now or not at all.
"If I tell you the names of my employers would you allow me to leave unmolested" he asked.
"Only if what you told me outweighed the advantages I would gain from the family Rhonkar, to be honest I doubt you have any information I need".
The man seemed to seemed to settle within himself as one does when ones fate is certain, it gave him courage of sorts knowing that he was helpless to alter his fate.
"I have much information but I will take it with me into the dark Argon if for no other purpose than to thwart you and Rhonkar. I will have the satisfaction of knowing at least that my death will be avenged even upon Rhonkar himself".
To late he realised he had revealed more than he had intended with that statement. A fact that was confirmed as Rhonkars envoy entered the room and stunned him with a pistol.
"My appologies commander but I acted to ensure he did not have time to end his own life when he realised his error, with your permission I will take this scum to face justice at the hands of my lord".
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Sabrina Bergin
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A Council of war:
The Split was taken from the room by the envoys men. "It would appear that you have uncovered more than you anticipated commander Dannar, I must depart immediately for Rhonkar".
"Naturally any matter that pertains to the safety of the patriarch must take priority" I agreed, "I would however be greateful if you could find what information you can regarding the attack upon myself and my people".
"Rest assured Commander Dannar by the time we are done with this dog we will forward all information to yourself regarding his actions against your people, he will hold nothing back from me, I will leave with the prisoner know that you have done my family a great service this day which will not be forgotten".
The Split gave me a formal ser'va kai then strode from the room no doubt heading towards the docks and his waiting ship. I alerted the chief and made sure the man was given priority then turned to the wall screen which showed the traffic passing through the hub. I saw the split mamba undock then gasped as a split carrier jumped into the sector a moment later. Clearly the Split envoy was taking no chances with his captive and his fighter docked aboard the carrier within moments after which it immediately jumped out again. That left me with a problem I had promised my people and more importantly Dan Silarn that I would see the man dead now I would have to tell him I had given him over to the Split without gaining much information about the people who had attacked us. I asked the chief to have Dan meet me at the Shipyard in Queens retribution where Bekka was sending increasingly terse messages demanding to know when to expect me.
I tidied up the outstanding paperwork and after a light lunch with the chief who told me he would be accompanying me I took the TM and headed south with a hold full of missiles and energy cells for the Thresher.
No sooner had I docked the ship than Bekka had her crew racing to transfer the cargo I had bought with me, I left the ship and made my way to the ray with the chief and his squad of marines escorting me we boarded the Thresher.
Bekka was waiting for me in the main command briefing room on the carrier along with Dan Silarn. The man looked up at me as I entered the room and I could see he was seriously annoyed but he held his peace as I took my place at the head of the table and indicated everyone should sit.
I waited a moment studying the ships status reports on the monitor set into the desk in front of me before I rose to speak.
Sorry to keep you all waiting I will be brief the Split we captured has revealed that there may be a conspiracy against Rhonkar himself which is why I felt I had no choice but to give him to them.
Dannar if Rhonkar believe that split is part of a plot against the patriarch he will die a death worse than you can possibly imagine Silarn said smiling to himself at the thought.
"We were however hoping for some information from that split Bekka snapped I trust you remembered that".
I winced at her tone and accepted that she was probably going to give me a hard time about that some time fairly soon but this was not the time or place to get into that so I Ignored her and went into my plans for the immediate future. The TL I intended to escort to the Shipyard in Zyarths where the local split council had agreed to let us dock it for the next few Wozura.
After that we would be taking on sec defence and escort missions in the Thresher with the intention of building up our working capital, alongside which we would be having our companies start actively selling off their surplus's to add to our funds.
"I short we are building a war chest I anticipate that we will receive intel from Rhonkar in due course at which point I want the crew of this ship to be battle ready, the Magnetar will act as a supply and salvage recovery ship with three fully armed fighters on board as close support. We will be acting on the basis that we can expect further hostile actions against us in the near future so our remaing fighters will be tasked in the short term with defending our assets. Once we have good information as to who has attacked us that will change" I promised.
"For the moment we will complete loading stores and then follow the TL to the family Zyarth shipyard before we start active operations so get a good nights sleep".
The Split was taken from the room by the envoys men. "It would appear that you have uncovered more than you anticipated commander Dannar, I must depart immediately for Rhonkar".
"Naturally any matter that pertains to the safety of the patriarch must take priority" I agreed, "I would however be greateful if you could find what information you can regarding the attack upon myself and my people".
"Rest assured Commander Dannar by the time we are done with this dog we will forward all information to yourself regarding his actions against your people, he will hold nothing back from me, I will leave with the prisoner know that you have done my family a great service this day which will not be forgotten".
The Split gave me a formal ser'va kai then strode from the room no doubt heading towards the docks and his waiting ship. I alerted the chief and made sure the man was given priority then turned to the wall screen which showed the traffic passing through the hub. I saw the split mamba undock then gasped as a split carrier jumped into the sector a moment later. Clearly the Split envoy was taking no chances with his captive and his fighter docked aboard the carrier within moments after which it immediately jumped out again. That left me with a problem I had promised my people and more importantly Dan Silarn that I would see the man dead now I would have to tell him I had given him over to the Split without gaining much information about the people who had attacked us. I asked the chief to have Dan meet me at the Shipyard in Queens retribution where Bekka was sending increasingly terse messages demanding to know when to expect me.
I tidied up the outstanding paperwork and after a light lunch with the chief who told me he would be accompanying me I took the TM and headed south with a hold full of missiles and energy cells for the Thresher.
No sooner had I docked the ship than Bekka had her crew racing to transfer the cargo I had bought with me, I left the ship and made my way to the ray with the chief and his squad of marines escorting me we boarded the Thresher.
Bekka was waiting for me in the main command briefing room on the carrier along with Dan Silarn. The man looked up at me as I entered the room and I could see he was seriously annoyed but he held his peace as I took my place at the head of the table and indicated everyone should sit.
I waited a moment studying the ships status reports on the monitor set into the desk in front of me before I rose to speak.
Sorry to keep you all waiting I will be brief the Split we captured has revealed that there may be a conspiracy against Rhonkar himself which is why I felt I had no choice but to give him to them.
Dannar if Rhonkar believe that split is part of a plot against the patriarch he will die a death worse than you can possibly imagine Silarn said smiling to himself at the thought.
"We were however hoping for some information from that split Bekka snapped I trust you remembered that".
I winced at her tone and accepted that she was probably going to give me a hard time about that some time fairly soon but this was not the time or place to get into that so I Ignored her and went into my plans for the immediate future. The TL I intended to escort to the Shipyard in Zyarths where the local split council had agreed to let us dock it for the next few Wozura.
After that we would be taking on sec defence and escort missions in the Thresher with the intention of building up our working capital, alongside which we would be having our companies start actively selling off their surplus's to add to our funds.
"I short we are building a war chest I anticipate that we will receive intel from Rhonkar in due course at which point I want the crew of this ship to be battle ready, the Magnetar will act as a supply and salvage recovery ship with three fully armed fighters on board as close support. We will be acting on the basis that we can expect further hostile actions against us in the near future so our remaing fighters will be tasked in the short term with defending our assets. Once we have good information as to who has attacked us that will change" I promised.
"For the moment we will complete loading stores and then follow the TL to the family Zyarth shipyard before we start active operations so get a good nights sleep".
Last edited by Sabrina Bergin on Thu, 12. Jun 14, 02:11, edited 2 times in total.
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Sabrina Bergin
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I did not get a good nights sleep what I got was Bekka rounding on me as soon as we entered our quarters.
"What the hell did you think you were doing Kert ?, you said we needed information from that split and you just let him go ".
Bekka weren't you paying attention or were you just to pissed at me to listen, that split has information on a plot against Rhonkar that might threaten the alliance itself I had no choice but to let them have him".
She knew I was right but she wanted a target to vent her frustration on and wouldn't leave it there luckily my bones don't break but the hits she got in still hurt eventualy she gave up and I pulled her into my arms as her chest heaved with exertion then she pushed me away and stormed off slamming the bedroom door behind her.
That action shocked me as I stared at the blank door for a moment before leaving the room and heading for my day cabin feeling rage build in my heart like a fire being swept by an icy blast perhaps my anger was evident in my eyes as on the way there no one tried to speak to me.
I sealed the office door and in fury punched a wall as soon as I was alone then bridling my rage I sat down at the desk and began reviewing the ships status reports.
The shipyard engineers had been unusually thorough in their inspection and despite finding a few minor flaws they had signed her off as combat ready.
I called up a galactic map and began running through the contracts that the operations team at the hub had verified and settled on a sec defence mission in Thuruks beard to start with followed by one from the military outpost in Merchants Haven.
I worked through the night or at least most of it grabbing only a short nap in my chair before I was woken by the intercom in the early hours.
I poured myself a coffee before before answering the call and let the Chief in.
The chief glanced at the dented wall panel before pouring himself a coffee and sitting down quietly obviously waiting for me to speak.
When it became clear I wasn't going to say anything he put his flask down.
"She's just frustrated Kert Jora was a friend of hers and she took his death hard, she was hoping for some progress in avenging him, she knows you had to let the split go but she didn't like it, she'll get over this as soon as we get back to business".
"She better I said coldly or she will be off this ship I can't have anyone letting anger blind them to the mission not even Bekka now is that all chief ?".
The Chiefs eyes flashed at my tone but he gave it a moment before replying.
"It seems Bekka is not the only one that is letting their emotions get the better of them I suggest you cool down before you come to the bridge".
With that he left the office, he was right and that only made matters worse it was now more than ever that we all needed to be working as a team.
I stripped off and took a shower before changing and heading for the mess hall where I grabbed a quick breakfast before I went to the Bridge. The Alter day crew were still at there stations working quietly in the dimly lit bridge.
I waited till 0800 ships time just before the shift changeover before hitting the ship wide com.
"All hands to standby station departure at 0830 all weapons crews report to your stations".
I turned to the com officer and told her to inform the dock master and Silarn on the Magentar of our departure time.
"Messages confirmed" Captain came the swift response docking tethers are being withdrawn, Message from sec defence "Good hunting".
"Acknowledge" I ordered as I felt the engines begin to wind up the whole ship throbbing for a moment till they levelled out. "Helm take her out for ten clicks the go to standby until crew changeover is complete"
"Ten klicks aye" came the swift response as the man gently eased her out of the dock.
The station master was obviously diverting traffic away from us so we were unhindered as we cleared the shipyards traffic zones. The crew change over was progressing rapidly as the boards showed changes at all stations were underway.
The bridge personnel rotated out smoothly and I waited till the changeover was complete before laying in a jump for Zyarths stand. The automated warning blared over the Tannoy as the jump drive spooled up and we dived into the Vortex it had created. A heart beat later we were at the south gate in Thuruks beard with proximity alerts sounding as the smaller craft got out of our way. Helm took us up hard accelerating away from the gate transit zone to avoid collisions and after a few moments the proximity alerts faded away.
Within moments the TL umped in behind us and set course for the ship yard.
As soon as it was in range of the station I set course and Jumped for Thuruks Beard.
"Notify sec defence we are in system" I ordered as we stabilised after the jump and cleared the traffic lanes.
"Incoming message sir from sec defence the require us to assume immediate patrol xenon activity is anticipated imminently"
"Acknowledge" I ordered "helm give us a standard sector sweep weapons are free missile defence standby sensors start active scanning"
My orders were swiftly acknowledged and the main viewer displayed an overlay of the system with the sensor information filling it with tactical information as it started getting data returns.
"We have multiple hostiles reported the sensor chief before the information hit the screens range five clicks and closing they must have been passive" he concluded.
I took the helm controls and moved to intercept the targets a Q and two P's with ten or more fighters of varying classes all headed right down our throat. I ignored the fighters and headed for the Q building up a charge in the mains and holding it till I was certain I had the thing bracketed then fired the results were astonishing we stripped his shields with the first salvo, I kept up the attack ignoring the recharge warnings determined not to let his shields recharge.
"Missiles fire banshee's at will at the Q" I ordered easing off on my rate of fire as the flak cannons began taking out the fighters. That let the mains power up enough for me to keep stripping away the hull of the Q which was now beginning to slow it was taking a lot of damage from our missiles now as I dropped in behind it pouring my fire into its drive area. I risked a glance at the main screen and saw that the red targets were disappearing from the screen at an accelerating rate as they tried to protect the Q.
I saw the reactors start to go and pulled away sharply accelerating to our max speed to ride the shockwave that was sure to follow.
The whole ship seemed to jump as the blast hit us but our shields barely flickered I returned control to the helm and started studying the reports from the ships sensors one of our turrets had been targeted but a quick message from engineering told me it would be online again in a mizura.
"Helm resume sector sweep I ordered weapons crews to standby signal Silarn to begin salvage operations".
The Magnetar entered via the south gate launching its fighters to collect the munitions that were left trailing in our wake. The next Stazura was tedious but necessary at one point the galley crew arrived and distributed snacks and drinks to the crew at their stations but still the time passed slowly we eventually received official confirmation from the sec defence commander that we could stand down.
"All crew change over we will remain in system for ten mizura till we jump for Merchant haven everybody that wants some get some lunch Helm you have the com" I continued as I exited the bridge and headed for the galley.
I was studying the after action reports on my DPD when Bekka joined me at the table.
I looked up at her to see if she was still pissed at me but she said nothing till I put the DPD down. She waited till she had finished her meal before she looked at me and I could see she was hurting and I wanted to reach out and take that hurt away but I couldn't I was hurting too much myself.
"Do you plan on moving into the day cabin ?" she asked quietly
"I don't want to but I thought we both needed some space yesterday" I admitted.
"Perhaps you were right, I was just so angry when you told us you had handed that split over without even consulting anyone, I lashed out I'm sorry but I am still pissed with you Kert".
"I didn't like it either Bekka and I couldn't wait till we had time to discuss matters I had the envoy of Rhonkar stood right there how could I refuse him when it involved a threat to Rhonkar himself ?".
"You couldn't of course she agreed but it still pissed me of, just promise me you are not going to leave it there".
I reached over and took her hand gently "I promise whoever attacked us and killed our people will pay if we don't get any intel from Rhonkar then I'll go out and find it elsewhere and once I know who was behind it I will destroy them".
"That's a promise I will hold you to" Kert she replied squeezing my hand as the pre jump warning sounded breaking the moment.
We were both back on the bridge in moments as the jump warning ended then we waited for the weapons crews to report in before we jumped for the south gate of Merchant Haven.
There was minimal traffic in system so we set a course for the military outpost far to the north.
"Sir" called out a surprised tactical officer "we have pirate traffic nearby they are all showing as non hostile".
That was interesting it appeared that the local pirates were going out of their way to show they were not a threat to us, which meant that the Pirates that had been part of the attack on us had acted independently.
That was an interesting development I made a note of their clan colours for future reference if this was going to be repeated elsewhere it should make a search for those who had attacked us that much easier.
The nod I got from Bekka told me she had reached the same conclusion.
We were barely in com range of the outpost when once again we detected a large xenon force jumping in system behind us I was already moving to intercept it before sec defence asked us to intervene.
"Weapons are hot came the tactical officers call as a large squadron of fighters accelerated towards us. I could see a Q and a couple of P's holding back and suspected they were waiting for the fighters to weaken us before they moved in for the kill.
I decided to reduce the chance of that and avoided the heavies and started putting distance between us, that would let our turrets go for the fighters.
"Is it just me or does anyone else think this is getting personal" asked the tactical officer.
The man had a point the xenon did indeed to be singling us out rather than just rampaging through the system. with that in mind I changed course to bring our pursuers in range of the orbital weapons platform near the outpost.
"The heavies are moving now the P's are maintaining position on the Q" came tacticals report.
The Weapons platform began launching barrages almost as soon as the fighters came into range I took us out of the path of the missiles and started to alter our heading to keep the heavies at a distance till the fighters had been thinned out.
I waited till the outpost began a second series of barrages before I bought her about dropping our forward speed to give the turrets more time to acquire targets. the ship began to resonate as the turrets began firing almost continuously the xenon apparently were unconcerned by the losses they suffered with only the M5's avoiding our guns. "Bekka launch wasps at the M5's" I ordered sensing that they intended to act as distractions for our targeting systems.
Bekka wasted no time and began targeting the M5's shredding them as they came in range with the surplus swarm missiles acquiring the M4 and M3 craft. fairly soon we were flying through a debris field of the destroyed fighters the few that were left were vainly trying to outrun the missiles launched from the weapons platform.
I cut our forward velocity to a crawl as I lined up on the Q that was now coming into range its remaining escort fighters were trying to clear a path for it through the missile storm headed its way.
"Well that makes it official I guess that Q has set us as it's target I want our turrets to target the P's and missiles I will take the Q, Bekka as soon as the shields drop low enough on that thing shove some tempests down its throat".
"Copy that" agreed Bekka changing her load outs, I waited till I saw another barrage of missiles pass us by heading for the Q before I accelerated behind them to engage the Q as soon as I could after the missiles had struck, I waioted till we were just in range before I started firing using short sniping shots rather than a charged blast figuring that the Q might be expecting me to do as I had done the last time I had destroyed a Q in Thuruks Beard. The tactic worked the Q was still targeting missilesd as the photon blasts impacted it reducing its shields and ravaging its hull Bekka did not have to be told as she launched rapid volleys of Tempest missiles to compound the damage.
It worked better than I could have hoped as the Q disappeared in a blinding flash of light, leaving just the P's to deal with.
Those I left to the turrets just manouvering the ship to give them the best targeting angles in a few mizura they too were just debris.
I gave it a while before I called Dan in and had him launch his fighters during a sector sweep we found two L's sitting dead in space so I claimed them both and had the Magnetar retrieve them and strip them of weapons before jumping them to the Legends home shipyard for disposal.
A message from Silarn alerted me to a couple off PPC's floating amidst the wreckage so I retrieved them using our transporter.
As soon as the Magnetar returned I jumped north to the Grand Exchange jump point and contacted the Sec defence commander who was positioned by the north gate.
Once again we started a sector sweep and yet again the few pirates in system were flagging as non hostile. again I noted their clan markings.
"A penny for them" asked Bekka as she noted my interest in the pirate ships.
"It would appear that there are in fact less pirates about than is normal that's why we are not seeing hostiles they are keeping out of our way for the moment".
"Well it should make identifying those who attacked us that much easier" she acknowledged. "What about the Xenon though they seem to like us more than I am comfortable with".
"I don't think its personal but I think we got tagged back in Queens retribution when we came in hot when we get a chance I am going to do a visual of the hull and look for some sort of beacon".
At that moment a fleet of ships entered via the north gate right into the path of the condor that started shattering them before they could reorientate. I altered course immediately heading for the J that was trying to get clear to launch its fighters. by the time we got in range the J had taken one hell of a battering I moved in and launched a fully charged blast at it just as its fighters began to launch they and the J were obliterated in the resulting fireball and a pair of q's that were attempting to engage the Condor also got damaged in the shock wave that followed.
Between the condor and ourselves it did not take long to complete the rout with some xenon fighters running for the gate.
"That's not good" I indicated the retreating fighters "it means they have another attack force just beyond the gate I'm going to take position above the gate alert the Condor captain to expect another wave".
I had barely positioned the ship when the First Xenon came through a K class I opened up with a fully charged salvo then kept poring cannon blasts into it whilst it was still in range ahead of it the Condor was doing the same pouring its EBC rounds into it the result was spectacular as it exploded obliterating the ships that exited the gate behind it, unaware of the carnage awaiting them more and more xenon ships kept coming through which meant we were mostly firing blind into the ever expanding fireball.
"Please stopsss firing Captain the Xenon are obliterated" came the request from the teladi Condor.
I stopped firing realizing that we were once again able to see the sector ahead of us moved forward slowly scanning the debris but nothing had survived the expanding fireball even the debris was little more than charred shards.
I moved back towards the sector centre and deployed an advanced satellite high above the elliptic. then I switched to its cameras as I manouvered around the satellite looking for what I was certain had to be there.
"Captain we have identified an anomaly just forward of the drive section on the lower hull" reported the engineering chief who was studying the displays carefully.
"Alright chief get a team out there and get it of our hull I'll have the chief send a weapons expert with your team to check it out".
I watched by remote as the engineering team approached what I thought was the Xenon beacon.
Then I watched in alarm as the weapons tech ordered everyone back away from the object.
"Captain we have a slight problem here" came the marines voice over the speakers. "This thing is embedded into this hull section I have no doubt it is booby trapped and will blow if we attempt to detatch it".
"Suggestions then marine I don't want that thing on my hull a minute longer than it has to be"
"What the hell did you think you were doing Kert ?, you said we needed information from that split and you just let him go ".
Bekka weren't you paying attention or were you just to pissed at me to listen, that split has information on a plot against Rhonkar that might threaten the alliance itself I had no choice but to let them have him".
She knew I was right but she wanted a target to vent her frustration on and wouldn't leave it there luckily my bones don't break but the hits she got in still hurt eventualy she gave up and I pulled her into my arms as her chest heaved with exertion then she pushed me away and stormed off slamming the bedroom door behind her.
That action shocked me as I stared at the blank door for a moment before leaving the room and heading for my day cabin feeling rage build in my heart like a fire being swept by an icy blast perhaps my anger was evident in my eyes as on the way there no one tried to speak to me.
I sealed the office door and in fury punched a wall as soon as I was alone then bridling my rage I sat down at the desk and began reviewing the ships status reports.
The shipyard engineers had been unusually thorough in their inspection and despite finding a few minor flaws they had signed her off as combat ready.
I called up a galactic map and began running through the contracts that the operations team at the hub had verified and settled on a sec defence mission in Thuruks beard to start with followed by one from the military outpost in Merchants Haven.
I worked through the night or at least most of it grabbing only a short nap in my chair before I was woken by the intercom in the early hours.
I poured myself a coffee before before answering the call and let the Chief in.
The chief glanced at the dented wall panel before pouring himself a coffee and sitting down quietly obviously waiting for me to speak.
When it became clear I wasn't going to say anything he put his flask down.
"She's just frustrated Kert Jora was a friend of hers and she took his death hard, she was hoping for some progress in avenging him, she knows you had to let the split go but she didn't like it, she'll get over this as soon as we get back to business".
"She better I said coldly or she will be off this ship I can't have anyone letting anger blind them to the mission not even Bekka now is that all chief ?".
The Chiefs eyes flashed at my tone but he gave it a moment before replying.
"It seems Bekka is not the only one that is letting their emotions get the better of them I suggest you cool down before you come to the bridge".
With that he left the office, he was right and that only made matters worse it was now more than ever that we all needed to be working as a team.
I stripped off and took a shower before changing and heading for the mess hall where I grabbed a quick breakfast before I went to the Bridge. The Alter day crew were still at there stations working quietly in the dimly lit bridge.
I waited till 0800 ships time just before the shift changeover before hitting the ship wide com.
"All hands to standby station departure at 0830 all weapons crews report to your stations".
I turned to the com officer and told her to inform the dock master and Silarn on the Magentar of our departure time.
"Messages confirmed" Captain came the swift response docking tethers are being withdrawn, Message from sec defence "Good hunting".
"Acknowledge" I ordered as I felt the engines begin to wind up the whole ship throbbing for a moment till they levelled out. "Helm take her out for ten clicks the go to standby until crew changeover is complete"
"Ten klicks aye" came the swift response as the man gently eased her out of the dock.
The station master was obviously diverting traffic away from us so we were unhindered as we cleared the shipyards traffic zones. The crew change over was progressing rapidly as the boards showed changes at all stations were underway.
The bridge personnel rotated out smoothly and I waited till the changeover was complete before laying in a jump for Zyarths stand. The automated warning blared over the Tannoy as the jump drive spooled up and we dived into the Vortex it had created. A heart beat later we were at the south gate in Thuruks beard with proximity alerts sounding as the smaller craft got out of our way. Helm took us up hard accelerating away from the gate transit zone to avoid collisions and after a few moments the proximity alerts faded away.
Within moments the TL umped in behind us and set course for the ship yard.
As soon as it was in range of the station I set course and Jumped for Thuruks Beard.
"Notify sec defence we are in system" I ordered as we stabilised after the jump and cleared the traffic lanes.
"Incoming message sir from sec defence the require us to assume immediate patrol xenon activity is anticipated imminently"
"Acknowledge" I ordered "helm give us a standard sector sweep weapons are free missile defence standby sensors start active scanning"
My orders were swiftly acknowledged and the main viewer displayed an overlay of the system with the sensor information filling it with tactical information as it started getting data returns.
"We have multiple hostiles reported the sensor chief before the information hit the screens range five clicks and closing they must have been passive" he concluded.
I took the helm controls and moved to intercept the targets a Q and two P's with ten or more fighters of varying classes all headed right down our throat. I ignored the fighters and headed for the Q building up a charge in the mains and holding it till I was certain I had the thing bracketed then fired the results were astonishing we stripped his shields with the first salvo, I kept up the attack ignoring the recharge warnings determined not to let his shields recharge.
"Missiles fire banshee's at will at the Q" I ordered easing off on my rate of fire as the flak cannons began taking out the fighters. That let the mains power up enough for me to keep stripping away the hull of the Q which was now beginning to slow it was taking a lot of damage from our missiles now as I dropped in behind it pouring my fire into its drive area. I risked a glance at the main screen and saw that the red targets were disappearing from the screen at an accelerating rate as they tried to protect the Q.
I saw the reactors start to go and pulled away sharply accelerating to our max speed to ride the shockwave that was sure to follow.
The whole ship seemed to jump as the blast hit us but our shields barely flickered I returned control to the helm and started studying the reports from the ships sensors one of our turrets had been targeted but a quick message from engineering told me it would be online again in a mizura.
"Helm resume sector sweep I ordered weapons crews to standby signal Silarn to begin salvage operations".
The Magnetar entered via the south gate launching its fighters to collect the munitions that were left trailing in our wake. The next Stazura was tedious but necessary at one point the galley crew arrived and distributed snacks and drinks to the crew at their stations but still the time passed slowly we eventually received official confirmation from the sec defence commander that we could stand down.
"All crew change over we will remain in system for ten mizura till we jump for Merchant haven everybody that wants some get some lunch Helm you have the com" I continued as I exited the bridge and headed for the galley.
I was studying the after action reports on my DPD when Bekka joined me at the table.
I looked up at her to see if she was still pissed at me but she said nothing till I put the DPD down. She waited till she had finished her meal before she looked at me and I could see she was hurting and I wanted to reach out and take that hurt away but I couldn't I was hurting too much myself.
"Do you plan on moving into the day cabin ?" she asked quietly
"I don't want to but I thought we both needed some space yesterday" I admitted.
"Perhaps you were right, I was just so angry when you told us you had handed that split over without even consulting anyone, I lashed out I'm sorry but I am still pissed with you Kert".
"I didn't like it either Bekka and I couldn't wait till we had time to discuss matters I had the envoy of Rhonkar stood right there how could I refuse him when it involved a threat to Rhonkar himself ?".
"You couldn't of course she agreed but it still pissed me of, just promise me you are not going to leave it there".
I reached over and took her hand gently "I promise whoever attacked us and killed our people will pay if we don't get any intel from Rhonkar then I'll go out and find it elsewhere and once I know who was behind it I will destroy them".
"That's a promise I will hold you to" Kert she replied squeezing my hand as the pre jump warning sounded breaking the moment.
We were both back on the bridge in moments as the jump warning ended then we waited for the weapons crews to report in before we jumped for the south gate of Merchant Haven.
There was minimal traffic in system so we set a course for the military outpost far to the north.
"Sir" called out a surprised tactical officer "we have pirate traffic nearby they are all showing as non hostile".
That was interesting it appeared that the local pirates were going out of their way to show they were not a threat to us, which meant that the Pirates that had been part of the attack on us had acted independently.
That was an interesting development I made a note of their clan colours for future reference if this was going to be repeated elsewhere it should make a search for those who had attacked us that much easier.
The nod I got from Bekka told me she had reached the same conclusion.
We were barely in com range of the outpost when once again we detected a large xenon force jumping in system behind us I was already moving to intercept it before sec defence asked us to intervene.
"Weapons are hot came the tactical officers call as a large squadron of fighters accelerated towards us. I could see a Q and a couple of P's holding back and suspected they were waiting for the fighters to weaken us before they moved in for the kill.
I decided to reduce the chance of that and avoided the heavies and started putting distance between us, that would let our turrets go for the fighters.
"Is it just me or does anyone else think this is getting personal" asked the tactical officer.
The man had a point the xenon did indeed to be singling us out rather than just rampaging through the system. with that in mind I changed course to bring our pursuers in range of the orbital weapons platform near the outpost.
"The heavies are moving now the P's are maintaining position on the Q" came tacticals report.
The Weapons platform began launching barrages almost as soon as the fighters came into range I took us out of the path of the missiles and started to alter our heading to keep the heavies at a distance till the fighters had been thinned out.
I waited till the outpost began a second series of barrages before I bought her about dropping our forward speed to give the turrets more time to acquire targets. the ship began to resonate as the turrets began firing almost continuously the xenon apparently were unconcerned by the losses they suffered with only the M5's avoiding our guns. "Bekka launch wasps at the M5's" I ordered sensing that they intended to act as distractions for our targeting systems.
Bekka wasted no time and began targeting the M5's shredding them as they came in range with the surplus swarm missiles acquiring the M4 and M3 craft. fairly soon we were flying through a debris field of the destroyed fighters the few that were left were vainly trying to outrun the missiles launched from the weapons platform.
I cut our forward velocity to a crawl as I lined up on the Q that was now coming into range its remaining escort fighters were trying to clear a path for it through the missile storm headed its way.
"Well that makes it official I guess that Q has set us as it's target I want our turrets to target the P's and missiles I will take the Q, Bekka as soon as the shields drop low enough on that thing shove some tempests down its throat".
"Copy that" agreed Bekka changing her load outs, I waited till I saw another barrage of missiles pass us by heading for the Q before I accelerated behind them to engage the Q as soon as I could after the missiles had struck, I waioted till we were just in range before I started firing using short sniping shots rather than a charged blast figuring that the Q might be expecting me to do as I had done the last time I had destroyed a Q in Thuruks Beard. The tactic worked the Q was still targeting missilesd as the photon blasts impacted it reducing its shields and ravaging its hull Bekka did not have to be told as she launched rapid volleys of Tempest missiles to compound the damage.
It worked better than I could have hoped as the Q disappeared in a blinding flash of light, leaving just the P's to deal with.
Those I left to the turrets just manouvering the ship to give them the best targeting angles in a few mizura they too were just debris.
I gave it a while before I called Dan in and had him launch his fighters during a sector sweep we found two L's sitting dead in space so I claimed them both and had the Magnetar retrieve them and strip them of weapons before jumping them to the Legends home shipyard for disposal.
A message from Silarn alerted me to a couple off PPC's floating amidst the wreckage so I retrieved them using our transporter.
As soon as the Magnetar returned I jumped north to the Grand Exchange jump point and contacted the Sec defence commander who was positioned by the north gate.
Once again we started a sector sweep and yet again the few pirates in system were flagging as non hostile. again I noted their clan markings.
"A penny for them" asked Bekka as she noted my interest in the pirate ships.
"It would appear that there are in fact less pirates about than is normal that's why we are not seeing hostiles they are keeping out of our way for the moment".
"Well it should make identifying those who attacked us that much easier" she acknowledged. "What about the Xenon though they seem to like us more than I am comfortable with".
"I don't think its personal but I think we got tagged back in Queens retribution when we came in hot when we get a chance I am going to do a visual of the hull and look for some sort of beacon".
At that moment a fleet of ships entered via the north gate right into the path of the condor that started shattering them before they could reorientate. I altered course immediately heading for the J that was trying to get clear to launch its fighters. by the time we got in range the J had taken one hell of a battering I moved in and launched a fully charged blast at it just as its fighters began to launch they and the J were obliterated in the resulting fireball and a pair of q's that were attempting to engage the Condor also got damaged in the shock wave that followed.
Between the condor and ourselves it did not take long to complete the rout with some xenon fighters running for the gate.
"That's not good" I indicated the retreating fighters "it means they have another attack force just beyond the gate I'm going to take position above the gate alert the Condor captain to expect another wave".
I had barely positioned the ship when the First Xenon came through a K class I opened up with a fully charged salvo then kept poring cannon blasts into it whilst it was still in range ahead of it the Condor was doing the same pouring its EBC rounds into it the result was spectacular as it exploded obliterating the ships that exited the gate behind it, unaware of the carnage awaiting them more and more xenon ships kept coming through which meant we were mostly firing blind into the ever expanding fireball.
"Please stopsss firing Captain the Xenon are obliterated" came the request from the teladi Condor.
I stopped firing realizing that we were once again able to see the sector ahead of us moved forward slowly scanning the debris but nothing had survived the expanding fireball even the debris was little more than charred shards.
I moved back towards the sector centre and deployed an advanced satellite high above the elliptic. then I switched to its cameras as I manouvered around the satellite looking for what I was certain had to be there.
"Captain we have identified an anomaly just forward of the drive section on the lower hull" reported the engineering chief who was studying the displays carefully.
"Alright chief get a team out there and get it of our hull I'll have the chief send a weapons expert with your team to check it out".
I watched by remote as the engineering team approached what I thought was the Xenon beacon.
Then I watched in alarm as the weapons tech ordered everyone back away from the object.
"Captain we have a slight problem here" came the marines voice over the speakers. "This thing is embedded into this hull section I have no doubt it is booby trapped and will blow if we attempt to detatch it".
"Suggestions then marine I don't want that thing on my hull a minute longer than it has to be"
Last edited by Sabrina Bergin on Thu, 12. Jun 14, 02:16, edited 1 time in total.
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Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
There was a moments silence before the marine responded to my last statement.
"Sir I am going to take some scans of this thing then I will get back on board to discuss our options".
"I'm sorry marine you have the call on this one, please keep me advised".
"Roger that sir"
I waited impatiently for what seemed like forever before the marine ended his eva and I went down to the engineering level where the chief and others were waiting for him as he came out of the airlock.
The man didn't bother removing his space suit merely opened the visor on his helmet and led us into a small room the chief obviousely used as his office down here.
The engineering chief loaded up the data and put it onto a monitor so we could all see it.
"Nasty" was all he said after a moments study "The thing has attached itself to the hull plating its generating a very low frequency pulse that effectively gives our position in sector to whatever tin can is watching our movements and it carries a nasty high yield warhead rigged to sense shields. Remove it from a shielded area and it goes off at close range it could vaporise us". he concluded.
"How about detaching the hull section its on" I asked
"I see where your going with that skip but its risky this is a Boron ship and its hull is semi organic I can replace the inner plating easily enough but it will leave us with a weak spot for a while till its fully integrated itself again".
That was a danger but it was preferable to carrying what was effectively an armed mine around with us. "Okay well if we can detach it I want to fix it to a missile so that we don't leave it out of range of a shield we can disable the missile thrusters and get it to a safe distance before we detonate the missile".
"Why not use it instead" suggested the Chief "I assume that thing can detect contacts other than us if we were to get a bunch of recon drones to follow it and shove it through the north gate chances are it will run into a xenon fleet waiting to destroy an invasion force".
That idea appealed to me in a lot of ways but it still left the problem of getting it of the hull. I took the marine who had scanned it to one side and had him run over the details of it with me before telling the chief to start detaching the hull section before heading for the airlock.
I was suited up and moving towards the device when Bekka got on the coms to me.
"What are you doing Kert you're no weapons specialist".
"Negative to that Bekka I was trained to defuse mines in the fleet and I have the marine bringing me a missile from the cargo hold now together we will be able to manage it".
I manouvevered around to the site where Nil had marked out the hull section to be detached with a fleurescent dye. the object itself seemed to blend in with the hull making it hard to see clearly till you got close enough to it.
I saw Nil coming to me from the opposite direction to the one I had taken manipulating the Tempest missile carefully as he approached before securing it to the hull with tethers.
"I can see some sort of access panel just to the right of the antenna".
"Yeah I saw that as well skip but I figured its a come on" came Nils reply
"If you look about twenty centimeters down there is a concealed socket port panel my guess is that's where we plug in if we want to attempt to disarm this thing, so how do you want to do this sir".
I think we secure the missile tight to it but not touching then we let the chief cut through and move it away if you keep a reading on its energy levels we should know if we've triggered it if that happens we fire up the missiles drive and hope for the best".
I told the chief to get his men working inside the ship whilst Nil kept a scanner on the thing.
It took a fair while for the chief to get it detached but at last it was done. With help from the men inside the ship we began to move it out of the hull.
"Stop Nils called I'm getting a slight increase in energy readings let me see what caused it".
We stopped moving the hull section and as it moved back into the hole we had cut slightly Nils swore.
"Its got a G field sensor Skip best guess is its attuned to our ships gravitational field if it goes beyond a certain range then I would guess it will go off".
That was a problem it meant that the missiles engines could not possibly get it far enough away from us before that happened.
"Okay that leaves us no choice we'll have to try disarming it keep an eye on the energy readings I'm going to access that port"
I opened the concealed port and was relieved to see it was a standard fitting that meant I could plug my DPD into it I began uploading the date it was sending giving my unit time to allocate functions to what it was receiving.
It took some time till it gave me some indication of how to disable the gravity sensor. At last I was given a code to input I entered the code then froze as Nil warned it had started a count down I reached down to pull out the data connecter when I felt a pulse from the thing that was like a static shock I felt even through my suit.
"Wait its stopped the count" Nil gasped in surprise.
I left the DPD connected and waited for a moment before we started to move the hull section away from the ship.
It took a tense few minutes for us to manouver it down to the launch platform the chief had rigged for it beneath the nose of the ship it was with some relief that we had it secured in place before we went back on board.
"That was the damnedest thing skip I thought we had fracked up".
"Perhaps it was a default response in case the code was found to be false I offered"
"Maybe skip but it was still weird, I'll be glad when we get rid of the damn thing".
I stripped off and showered before heading for my day room where Bekka tracked me down.
"What is it" she asked seeing my stony expression.
"The damn thing was going to detonate Bekka till I got close enough for it to sense me it scanned me then shut down".
"What that was a bad thing Kert hell if it hadn't we would be so much debris at the moment for once that Xenon tech the terrans stuck you with has come in handy".
"There is that perhaps that's what they wanted people able to deal with stuff like that well for the moment we have to consider how to use that thing".
"Sir I am going to take some scans of this thing then I will get back on board to discuss our options".
"I'm sorry marine you have the call on this one, please keep me advised".
"Roger that sir"
I waited impatiently for what seemed like forever before the marine ended his eva and I went down to the engineering level where the chief and others were waiting for him as he came out of the airlock.
The man didn't bother removing his space suit merely opened the visor on his helmet and led us into a small room the chief obviousely used as his office down here.
The engineering chief loaded up the data and put it onto a monitor so we could all see it.
"Nasty" was all he said after a moments study "The thing has attached itself to the hull plating its generating a very low frequency pulse that effectively gives our position in sector to whatever tin can is watching our movements and it carries a nasty high yield warhead rigged to sense shields. Remove it from a shielded area and it goes off at close range it could vaporise us". he concluded.
"How about detaching the hull section its on" I asked
"I see where your going with that skip but its risky this is a Boron ship and its hull is semi organic I can replace the inner plating easily enough but it will leave us with a weak spot for a while till its fully integrated itself again".
That was a danger but it was preferable to carrying what was effectively an armed mine around with us. "Okay well if we can detach it I want to fix it to a missile so that we don't leave it out of range of a shield we can disable the missile thrusters and get it to a safe distance before we detonate the missile".
"Why not use it instead" suggested the Chief "I assume that thing can detect contacts other than us if we were to get a bunch of recon drones to follow it and shove it through the north gate chances are it will run into a xenon fleet waiting to destroy an invasion force".
That idea appealed to me in a lot of ways but it still left the problem of getting it of the hull. I took the marine who had scanned it to one side and had him run over the details of it with me before telling the chief to start detaching the hull section before heading for the airlock.
I was suited up and moving towards the device when Bekka got on the coms to me.
"What are you doing Kert you're no weapons specialist".
"Negative to that Bekka I was trained to defuse mines in the fleet and I have the marine bringing me a missile from the cargo hold now together we will be able to manage it".
I manouvevered around to the site where Nil had marked out the hull section to be detached with a fleurescent dye. the object itself seemed to blend in with the hull making it hard to see clearly till you got close enough to it.
I saw Nil coming to me from the opposite direction to the one I had taken manipulating the Tempest missile carefully as he approached before securing it to the hull with tethers.
"I can see some sort of access panel just to the right of the antenna".
"Yeah I saw that as well skip but I figured its a come on" came Nils reply
"If you look about twenty centimeters down there is a concealed socket port panel my guess is that's where we plug in if we want to attempt to disarm this thing, so how do you want to do this sir".
I think we secure the missile tight to it but not touching then we let the chief cut through and move it away if you keep a reading on its energy levels we should know if we've triggered it if that happens we fire up the missiles drive and hope for the best".
I told the chief to get his men working inside the ship whilst Nil kept a scanner on the thing.
It took a fair while for the chief to get it detached but at last it was done. With help from the men inside the ship we began to move it out of the hull.
"Stop Nils called I'm getting a slight increase in energy readings let me see what caused it".
We stopped moving the hull section and as it moved back into the hole we had cut slightly Nils swore.
"Its got a G field sensor Skip best guess is its attuned to our ships gravitational field if it goes beyond a certain range then I would guess it will go off".
That was a problem it meant that the missiles engines could not possibly get it far enough away from us before that happened.
"Okay that leaves us no choice we'll have to try disarming it keep an eye on the energy readings I'm going to access that port"
I opened the concealed port and was relieved to see it was a standard fitting that meant I could plug my DPD into it I began uploading the date it was sending giving my unit time to allocate functions to what it was receiving.
It took some time till it gave me some indication of how to disable the gravity sensor. At last I was given a code to input I entered the code then froze as Nil warned it had started a count down I reached down to pull out the data connecter when I felt a pulse from the thing that was like a static shock I felt even through my suit.
"Wait its stopped the count" Nil gasped in surprise.
I left the DPD connected and waited for a moment before we started to move the hull section away from the ship.
It took a tense few minutes for us to manouver it down to the launch platform the chief had rigged for it beneath the nose of the ship it was with some relief that we had it secured in place before we went back on board.
"That was the damnedest thing skip I thought we had fracked up".
"Perhaps it was a default response in case the code was found to be false I offered"
"Maybe skip but it was still weird, I'll be glad when we get rid of the damn thing".
I stripped off and showered before heading for my day room where Bekka tracked me down.
"What is it" she asked seeing my stony expression.
"The damn thing was going to detonate Bekka till I got close enough for it to sense me it scanned me then shut down".
"What that was a bad thing Kert hell if it hadn't we would be so much debris at the moment for once that Xenon tech the terrans stuck you with has come in handy".
"There is that perhaps that's what they wanted people able to deal with stuff like that well for the moment we have to consider how to use that thing".
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Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
I changed into a fresh crew suit before going back to the bridge and looking at the north gate.
Get me the sec defence commander lets tell him what we plan to do I suggested as I swung the ship towards the north gate. Bekka deploy the drones and make sure they keep pace with the missile.
The Teladi appeared on my side monitor a moment later and I told him my intentions. She was no fool having been commander of this sector for some Jazura she had a good grasp of what to expect from the Xenon.
We agreed to maintain flanking positions just ten clicks on either side of the gate once we sent the missile through just in case we didn't do enough damage.
"There is one other matter Captain" the Teladi offered before ending the link. "We have been unable to determine which of our ships destroyed the Carrier in the initial engagement".
That's not a problem commander as your ships caused it substantial damage I believe it only proper that you claim it as one of your kills" I replied knowing that such a 'Kill' would generate valuable revenue for his fleet if the claim was disputed then the teladi would fail to pay either party".
"You are most kind captain" the Teladi acknowledged closing the link.
It was strange watching the monitors as the Drones followed the missile through the gate as the view cleared it was obvious there were a lot of xenon ships approaching the gate I waited as long as I dared before ordering Bekka to shut down the missiles power systems. As soon as she entered the command the view vanished in a blinding light that hurt our eyes before the compensators cut in.
I waited a few minutes before sending some more drones through much to my relief they found only debris for twenty clicks in all directions and nothing on their sensors to indicate any other force build up.
"Well that looks pretty conclusive, send the Teladi the data on that beacon and advise her to pass the word along to her superiors on what to look for".
For the moment I think a spot of R&R is called for so lets set a course the outpost in Rhonkars trial.
I had other reasons for wanting to go there but I was keeping that to myself for the moment.
Get me the sec defence commander lets tell him what we plan to do I suggested as I swung the ship towards the north gate. Bekka deploy the drones and make sure they keep pace with the missile.
The Teladi appeared on my side monitor a moment later and I told him my intentions. She was no fool having been commander of this sector for some Jazura she had a good grasp of what to expect from the Xenon.
We agreed to maintain flanking positions just ten clicks on either side of the gate once we sent the missile through just in case we didn't do enough damage.
"There is one other matter Captain" the Teladi offered before ending the link. "We have been unable to determine which of our ships destroyed the Carrier in the initial engagement".
That's not a problem commander as your ships caused it substantial damage I believe it only proper that you claim it as one of your kills" I replied knowing that such a 'Kill' would generate valuable revenue for his fleet if the claim was disputed then the teladi would fail to pay either party".
"You are most kind captain" the Teladi acknowledged closing the link.
It was strange watching the monitors as the Drones followed the missile through the gate as the view cleared it was obvious there were a lot of xenon ships approaching the gate I waited as long as I dared before ordering Bekka to shut down the missiles power systems. As soon as she entered the command the view vanished in a blinding light that hurt our eyes before the compensators cut in.
I waited a few minutes before sending some more drones through much to my relief they found only debris for twenty clicks in all directions and nothing on their sensors to indicate any other force build up.
"Well that looks pretty conclusive, send the Teladi the data on that beacon and advise her to pass the word along to her superiors on what to look for".
For the moment I think a spot of R&R is called for so lets set a course the outpost in Rhonkars trial.
I had other reasons for wanting to go there but I was keeping that to myself for the moment.
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Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
Secrets and lies:
We arrived at the outpost in Rhonkars trial after a detour to pick up the Chief which gave us a chance to rotate the crew to give them a much needed break. To be honest I was not sure how the team would react when they found out why we were going to Rhonkars trial.
As we pulled into the dock I saw the Phantom had arrived which was one less thing I had to worry about.
"Kert the station dock master wants to see you and your senior officers as soon as we dock" Bekka said giving me a long hard look that demanded an explanation.
"Confirm we will meet him as soon as we are secured and have the team join us at the hatch that includes you Bekka I answered " I answered making it clear it was not something I wanted discussed publicly. She didn't like it but she sent the message then relieved herself to get changed.
"Helm you have the bridge" I ordered as I left to join her below.
Bekka was in the shower when I entered our quarters so I had a quick freshen up before dressing in the Uniform that indicated my rank as commander.
"So Bekka said I take it there is a reason you are wearing that get up".
"There is I received a message from Rhonkar's envoy and he gave me the information we needed, unfortunately it also came with strings attatched, look Bekka wait till we are on dock and you will have all the answers".
Bekka just glared at me then followed me as I led the way top the main hatch where the rest of our original team were waiting for us.
The hatch opened and I led the way onto the dock proper where the Dock master himself with a squad of split marines were waiting to escort us to the meeting.
It was a short walk to the elevator that took us to the command level of the base and everyone began to notice that there was an unprecedented amount of security which confirmed what had been hinted at in the coded message I had received from the envoy.
Finally we were led into a large chamber where on a dias at the far end of the room the senior members of the council of Rhonkar were seated waiting for us.
"Your arrival is timely Dannar please all be seated and we shall discuss matters that concern us all" said the Patriarch himself.
I bowed and led my team to the conference table that had been arranged on the podium. Rhonkar and his advisors joined us and indicated we should take our seats.
"We shall dispense with formality during this meeting" Rhonkar announced". Thanks to your efforts Kert Dannar a threat to not only myself but to the stability of the commonwealth has been discovered, also your discretion in this matter has not gone unnoticed.
Now as to the traitor we have ascertained much Che t'kel will you continue and bring our friends up to date on what we have learned.
Rhonkars envoy rose and after bowing deeply to Lord Rhonkar began to speak.
"The traitor revealed much, certain members of the family Nye have been working with the pirates of dukes haven and with the terrans to disrupt our infrastructure sufficiently to weaken our efforts in the contested sectors.
It was your interruption of their plans that forced them to act against you directly Dannar. It is now our understanding that when the alliance was fragmented the terrans would support a coup within the split that would leave the family Nye as the ruling family of the split.
Our intelligence forces have also discovered that many pirate clans have allied themselves with this pirate duke and are marshalling their forces in the sector Lasting vengeance. Regrettably the Paranid cannot allow our forces to act as it could lead to an internecine war amongst the Paranid themselves.
Therefore we have begun preparations to act I our stead as our sword are your people ready ?".
"They are" I confirmed rising to speak and signalling for a large wall screen to be activated that showed a string of production bases that I had been assembling.
"As agreed with yourselves these complexes have been built in utter secrecy with no direct links to my people or the Split. They are now in full production I estimate that I can begin operations within a wozura".
The team were stunned as they looked at the details of the complexes I had arranged to be built.
"Just where did the finance for all this come from the sort of production figures you are looking at do not come cheap" the chief noted.
"No they don't and most of the funds came from us at least some of the seed money did the rest I got by mining Nividium. once the support stations were up and running they provided the necessary funds to expand them, with the assistance of the Split of course".
They all got it then and I waited for the protests to be voiced but none came instead they waited for me to explain why I had syphoned of millions of credits from our companies earnings without telling them what I was doing.
"I am sorry but absolute secrecy had to be maintained for this operation as regards the funds I used they have been repaid into the company account.
If anyone had even suspected what I plan to do next they would have struck before we were ready to deal with them".
"And just what do you plan to do next Kert".Bekka asked
"I am going to cripple the traitors plan by taking out the ships in Lasting Vengeance, by the time I am done there the Duke will be lucky to have a single ship left and without him and his forces those who have sought to betray the alliance will be unable to act.
That is why I asked you all to be present at this meeting you have to decide for yourselves wether you want to go forward with me or not".
"At this point" Rhonkar declared "we will adjourn so that you may speak in private".
There was silence till the Split had left the room and I waited for the recriminations to begin.
It was Daye who spoke first "skip don't get me wrong here but Lasting Vengeance is a no go area for the most of the people in the commonwealth and you say he's marshalling ships there did the split find out what we could expect".
"They did latest intelligence has at least one Brigantine and a galleon with supporting fighters as well as his own standing fleet are in system at present which is why this mission has now become time critical".
"Then you have a problem right there Kert the Thresher is good one on one but against a fleet like that it wouldn't last more than a stazura".
"No it wouldn't which is why I have a replacement ready".
"What if we decide not to join in this plan of yours Kert I take it you've got that all worked out" the chief asked pointedly looking at the split marines positioned by the doors we had entered by.
"Then we part company chief the guards are for the council members the Thresher and all the ships the company owns stays with them as does the account. The only thing you don't get are the complexes necessary for the next stage of the mission although suitable reimbursement has already been made to the company".
"Just how long have you been doing this without telling us kert, that's the real question here". Bekka asked looking at me as if I was a stranger.
"I started it nearly two mazura ago before we were attacked the intention then was to provide us with an alternative income other than the fees we were receiving from our contracts. after the attack on the Centaur I began building the weapons fabs with the help of the Split who supplied the necessary transports .
I apologise for not telling you this before now but it was vital that secrecy be maintained so I will leave you to decide what you want to do if you want to opt out then so be it" I stated rising to leave.
"Hell Kert sit back down Bekka's pissed at you because you are not supposed to keep secrets from her or haven't you figured that bit out yet, for my part I suggest we decide the matter right now we've followed Kert so far and he's made us wealthy in the process which is a damn sight more than we had to look forward to when we started out together.
So people take your time to decide what you want to do then we'll vote on it anyone wants out now's the time to say so".
There were a few mizura of quiet discussion as everyone considered the choices I had presented them with I kept quiet having made my decision mizura ago when I had started down the path that led us here. If they left it would hurt but so be it.
Then they fell silent before the chief asked anyone who wanted to leave to go back to the ship now. No one moved it took me a moment to grasp that fact and the relief I felt was overwhelming.
"Well that answers that question so what next and no more secrets Kert" Bekka warned.
"No more secrets" I agreed "the company will continue operations as normal and will not be involved in any aspect of the mission so what I will tell you now remains between us. The first stage is to find replacements for us in the companies structure for the duration of the mission or the companies factories could be attacked.
So onto the next stage which is the ship I mentioned earlier Its an M7 Cobra courtesy of Rhonkar fully equipped and battle ready.
I also have a team of marines ready for operations and just waiting to be collected I am assured they are all fully skilled but I'll leave you to deal with that aspect of things chief.
We arrived at the outpost in Rhonkars trial after a detour to pick up the Chief which gave us a chance to rotate the crew to give them a much needed break. To be honest I was not sure how the team would react when they found out why we were going to Rhonkars trial.
As we pulled into the dock I saw the Phantom had arrived which was one less thing I had to worry about.
"Kert the station dock master wants to see you and your senior officers as soon as we dock" Bekka said giving me a long hard look that demanded an explanation.
"Confirm we will meet him as soon as we are secured and have the team join us at the hatch that includes you Bekka I answered " I answered making it clear it was not something I wanted discussed publicly. She didn't like it but she sent the message then relieved herself to get changed.
"Helm you have the bridge" I ordered as I left to join her below.
Bekka was in the shower when I entered our quarters so I had a quick freshen up before dressing in the Uniform that indicated my rank as commander.
"So Bekka said I take it there is a reason you are wearing that get up".
"There is I received a message from Rhonkar's envoy and he gave me the information we needed, unfortunately it also came with strings attatched, look Bekka wait till we are on dock and you will have all the answers".
Bekka just glared at me then followed me as I led the way top the main hatch where the rest of our original team were waiting for us.
The hatch opened and I led the way onto the dock proper where the Dock master himself with a squad of split marines were waiting to escort us to the meeting.
It was a short walk to the elevator that took us to the command level of the base and everyone began to notice that there was an unprecedented amount of security which confirmed what had been hinted at in the coded message I had received from the envoy.
Finally we were led into a large chamber where on a dias at the far end of the room the senior members of the council of Rhonkar were seated waiting for us.
"Your arrival is timely Dannar please all be seated and we shall discuss matters that concern us all" said the Patriarch himself.
I bowed and led my team to the conference table that had been arranged on the podium. Rhonkar and his advisors joined us and indicated we should take our seats.
"We shall dispense with formality during this meeting" Rhonkar announced". Thanks to your efforts Kert Dannar a threat to not only myself but to the stability of the commonwealth has been discovered, also your discretion in this matter has not gone unnoticed.
Now as to the traitor we have ascertained much Che t'kel will you continue and bring our friends up to date on what we have learned.
Rhonkars envoy rose and after bowing deeply to Lord Rhonkar began to speak.
"The traitor revealed much, certain members of the family Nye have been working with the pirates of dukes haven and with the terrans to disrupt our infrastructure sufficiently to weaken our efforts in the contested sectors.
It was your interruption of their plans that forced them to act against you directly Dannar. It is now our understanding that when the alliance was fragmented the terrans would support a coup within the split that would leave the family Nye as the ruling family of the split.
Our intelligence forces have also discovered that many pirate clans have allied themselves with this pirate duke and are marshalling their forces in the sector Lasting vengeance. Regrettably the Paranid cannot allow our forces to act as it could lead to an internecine war amongst the Paranid themselves.
Therefore we have begun preparations to act I our stead as our sword are your people ready ?".
"They are" I confirmed rising to speak and signalling for a large wall screen to be activated that showed a string of production bases that I had been assembling.
"As agreed with yourselves these complexes have been built in utter secrecy with no direct links to my people or the Split. They are now in full production I estimate that I can begin operations within a wozura".
The team were stunned as they looked at the details of the complexes I had arranged to be built.
"Just where did the finance for all this come from the sort of production figures you are looking at do not come cheap" the chief noted.
"No they don't and most of the funds came from us at least some of the seed money did the rest I got by mining Nividium. once the support stations were up and running they provided the necessary funds to expand them, with the assistance of the Split of course".
They all got it then and I waited for the protests to be voiced but none came instead they waited for me to explain why I had syphoned of millions of credits from our companies earnings without telling them what I was doing.
"I am sorry but absolute secrecy had to be maintained for this operation as regards the funds I used they have been repaid into the company account.
If anyone had even suspected what I plan to do next they would have struck before we were ready to deal with them".
"And just what do you plan to do next Kert".Bekka asked
"I am going to cripple the traitors plan by taking out the ships in Lasting Vengeance, by the time I am done there the Duke will be lucky to have a single ship left and without him and his forces those who have sought to betray the alliance will be unable to act.
That is why I asked you all to be present at this meeting you have to decide for yourselves wether you want to go forward with me or not".
"At this point" Rhonkar declared "we will adjourn so that you may speak in private".
There was silence till the Split had left the room and I waited for the recriminations to begin.
It was Daye who spoke first "skip don't get me wrong here but Lasting Vengeance is a no go area for the most of the people in the commonwealth and you say he's marshalling ships there did the split find out what we could expect".
"They did latest intelligence has at least one Brigantine and a galleon with supporting fighters as well as his own standing fleet are in system at present which is why this mission has now become time critical".
"Then you have a problem right there Kert the Thresher is good one on one but against a fleet like that it wouldn't last more than a stazura".
"No it wouldn't which is why I have a replacement ready".
"What if we decide not to join in this plan of yours Kert I take it you've got that all worked out" the chief asked pointedly looking at the split marines positioned by the doors we had entered by.
"Then we part company chief the guards are for the council members the Thresher and all the ships the company owns stays with them as does the account. The only thing you don't get are the complexes necessary for the next stage of the mission although suitable reimbursement has already been made to the company".
"Just how long have you been doing this without telling us kert, that's the real question here". Bekka asked looking at me as if I was a stranger.
"I started it nearly two mazura ago before we were attacked the intention then was to provide us with an alternative income other than the fees we were receiving from our contracts. after the attack on the Centaur I began building the weapons fabs with the help of the Split who supplied the necessary transports .
I apologise for not telling you this before now but it was vital that secrecy be maintained so I will leave you to decide what you want to do if you want to opt out then so be it" I stated rising to leave.
"Hell Kert sit back down Bekka's pissed at you because you are not supposed to keep secrets from her or haven't you figured that bit out yet, for my part I suggest we decide the matter right now we've followed Kert so far and he's made us wealthy in the process which is a damn sight more than we had to look forward to when we started out together.
So people take your time to decide what you want to do then we'll vote on it anyone wants out now's the time to say so".
There were a few mizura of quiet discussion as everyone considered the choices I had presented them with I kept quiet having made my decision mizura ago when I had started down the path that led us here. If they left it would hurt but so be it.
Then they fell silent before the chief asked anyone who wanted to leave to go back to the ship now. No one moved it took me a moment to grasp that fact and the relief I felt was overwhelming.
"Well that answers that question so what next and no more secrets Kert" Bekka warned.
"No more secrets" I agreed "the company will continue operations as normal and will not be involved in any aspect of the mission so what I will tell you now remains between us. The first stage is to find replacements for us in the companies structure for the duration of the mission or the companies factories could be attacked.
So onto the next stage which is the ship I mentioned earlier Its an M7 Cobra courtesy of Rhonkar fully equipped and battle ready.
I also have a team of marines ready for operations and just waiting to be collected I am assured they are all fully skilled but I'll leave you to deal with that aspect of things chief.
-
Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
Council of war:
I waited a moment before speaking again the teams support had meant more to me than I had realised. There were other matters they would have to be made aware of but those were things even the Split knew nothing of.
I gave a signal to one of the guards and a few moments later the council members re joined us at the conference table.
Lord Rhonkar gave a brief nod of acknowledgement to the team as he began laying out the time table for the forthcoming operation.
It was intended to discourage the Duke form gaining additional allies in the first instance by unleashing hell on every ship in the sector after which the second strike would take out his base once his defences had been reduced.
It was hoped that he could be captured before the base was destroyed but that was not the priority. The message we intended to send was that any group that sought to aid the terrans or to profit from the war would be hunted down and dealt with.
We finally finished late in the day having gone over every stage of the operation including the preparation and acquisition of the necessary munitions which meant we had just over four tazura to become acclimatised to the Cobra.
It was a point I made to Rhonkar and suggested that we should depart for Zyarths ahead of schedule to carry out training exercise before we went into action.
"Then we shall delay you no further Dannar our plans are made and the gods willing we will humble our enemies know that you and your warriors have the thanks of the Split".
I waited a moment before speaking again the teams support had meant more to me than I had realised. There were other matters they would have to be made aware of but those were things even the Split knew nothing of.
I gave a signal to one of the guards and a few moments later the council members re joined us at the conference table.
Lord Rhonkar gave a brief nod of acknowledgement to the team as he began laying out the time table for the forthcoming operation.
It was intended to discourage the Duke form gaining additional allies in the first instance by unleashing hell on every ship in the sector after which the second strike would take out his base once his defences had been reduced.
It was hoped that he could be captured before the base was destroyed but that was not the priority. The message we intended to send was that any group that sought to aid the terrans or to profit from the war would be hunted down and dealt with.
We finally finished late in the day having gone over every stage of the operation including the preparation and acquisition of the necessary munitions which meant we had just over four tazura to become acclimatised to the Cobra.
It was a point I made to Rhonkar and suggested that we should depart for Zyarths ahead of schedule to carry out training exercise before we went into action.
"Then we shall delay you no further Dannar our plans are made and the gods willing we will humble our enemies know that you and your warriors have the thanks of the Split".
-
Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
The meeting over we were escorted back to the ship where I had Terrel who was on the bridge undock and set a course for the shipyard in Zyarths.
I led the team to our on board command centre where I intended to bring them up to speed on the various aspects of my operations some of which I hoped not even the Split were aware of.
First thing I did was send down to the galley for some snacks and refreshments to be sent up this was likely to be a long night but I needed everyone present to know every aspect of what I had achieved to date and what my future plans were before we began actual operations.
Once the food and drinks were delivered I closed the doors and activated the security screens that would make it impossible for the security of the room to be breached. It wasn't that I had any doubts about our people but I was not going to take any chances at this stage.
"Alright time to bring you up to speed" I announced activating the display monitors set into the conference table then displaying the list of factories and ships and personnel that were part of our company.
"This as you can see is effectively an itemised list of every asset the company owns and it is all anyone will see no matter how hard they look.
This however is the reality".
I activated the secondary data file I had prepared for this purpose and a whole new set of schematics were displayed.
"These are basically our primary resource facilities we have multiple missile fabs with appropriate support facilities. Each complex is self supporting and can operate independently of outside suppliers should the need arise.
To be honest that is a worst case scenario and would occur only as a result of our operation being exposed which I can't see occurring but it was something I factored in".
"This doesn't figure" kert bekka said looking at the details of the two complexes no matter how much money you borrowed from the company there is no way you could have paid for all this in just two mazura".
She gave me that look again which clearly asked what are you not telling us.
"Bekka is right of course the cost of those two complexes was nearly half a billion credits but as I said the funds as bekka put so diplomatically I borrowed from the company could never manage to have financed them as they are. as I said earlier though I only used those funds as seed money in the initial stages all those complex's produced was a massive overage of food and supplies but the demand was such in the early stages that they had difficulty coping with demand particularly as they were restricted to selling at average price the weapons fabs were paid for and added from those funds after the initial stage".
"That was pretty generous of you kert you could have made a killing at that time" Daye chipped in.
"I could have and it would have sped things up but as I said earlier our aim is to make sure that no one profits from the damage done to our infrastructure and that includes us".
"Now before we go on there are one or two other matters that I have not briefed you or anyone else on, I want it to be a surprise and you won't believe it till you actually see it anyway which is why you will have to wait till we take the Cobra out on her trials.
There is one other matter the marines Jak you have the ball on that one I have had them trained up to what I am assure by the split is the highest degree of ability but you'll be the man who decides who makes it into the Alpha team You'll find their records have been downloaded to your DPD.
"Now the reason for the marines is two fold initially we want to try and take the duke of his station before we destroy it. There is of course a more practical use once operations begin the duke and his allies have cost us and others millions if not billions of credits and I think it only fair that he should make reparations the Split will be quite happy for us to just destroy those ships but if we capture them then that will help fund the next stage of operations".
"What about prisoners Kert we don't exactly have the facilities to deal with them in any quantity ? "Jak asked.
"Any prisoners we hand over to the nearest main race military but given the type of people we'll be dealing with I doubt any of them will want to be captured, now whilst I have no doubt they won't respect the codes of conduct of war we will so look over the data you have I am open to any suggestions that will improve things".
"How is this going to work Kert I mean don't get me wrong I'm all up for it but won't some one notice when we stop cracking down on pirates and such I mean no bragging but we do have a bit of a reputation and we can't be in two places at once". Liom asked.
"Actually we can" Erin chimed in "I see where Kert is going on this now outside of the company or even of this ship all people know about us is our names or call signs, hell no one knew us at all till we formed the company because till then we were doing black ops for the fleet".
"Erin is right I agreed but that actually works in our favour whilst the terrans and their allies focus on the company they won't be expecting us.
It also builds in a degree of protection for them as our actions will not be attributed to them.
So now we come to the plan itself it comes in three stages and each stage will be timed to the actual completion of the previous one.
Our initial action will be to drop into lasting vengeance where we will unload as many missiles as we can into the allies of the Duke our primary targets will be the pirates more specifically their fighters in numbers they are a major concern so we need to thin them out after that we need to cripple the capital class ships so they will be effectively crippled and stuck in lasting vengeance with no shipyards available to carry out repairs.
Stage two will be to make a second sortie in which we will take out the capital class ships piecemeal hopefully by boarding if not we destroy them.
Stage three we quarantine the system and go for the station itself on this op we will use both alpha and beta marine teams with the intention of capturing the so called duke, if this part of the operation fails we then destroy the station".
"So let me recap skip we drop into a sector that even the Paranid avoid we attack a lot of heavily armed pirates cripple a whole fleet and then capture and destroy a station" Kris Hang said ticking of each point at a time on his fingers".
That's about the size of it I agreed"
"No problem there skip where you go I go I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything out".
That remark cut the tension in the air which was probably why Kris had spoken none of us could help but laugh at the absurdity of what we proposed to do.
It was enough I decided the team had all the information they needed and the laughter around the room was reminiscent of earlier days when life had been much simpler. " Okay people I think we all have enough on hand to deal with and tomorrow we have a lot to do so lets call it a night". I announced closing down the terminals and the security systems.
I opened a bottle of a particularly good scotch and raised a glass "to the Peacekeepers"
There was a chorus to the toast then we all downed our drinks and went to our quarters I took the bottle with me as I knew that Bekka was far from done asking me questions.
I led the team to our on board command centre where I intended to bring them up to speed on the various aspects of my operations some of which I hoped not even the Split were aware of.
First thing I did was send down to the galley for some snacks and refreshments to be sent up this was likely to be a long night but I needed everyone present to know every aspect of what I had achieved to date and what my future plans were before we began actual operations.
Once the food and drinks were delivered I closed the doors and activated the security screens that would make it impossible for the security of the room to be breached. It wasn't that I had any doubts about our people but I was not going to take any chances at this stage.
"Alright time to bring you up to speed" I announced activating the display monitors set into the conference table then displaying the list of factories and ships and personnel that were part of our company.
"This as you can see is effectively an itemised list of every asset the company owns and it is all anyone will see no matter how hard they look.
This however is the reality".
I activated the secondary data file I had prepared for this purpose and a whole new set of schematics were displayed.
"These are basically our primary resource facilities we have multiple missile fabs with appropriate support facilities. Each complex is self supporting and can operate independently of outside suppliers should the need arise.
To be honest that is a worst case scenario and would occur only as a result of our operation being exposed which I can't see occurring but it was something I factored in".
"This doesn't figure" kert bekka said looking at the details of the two complexes no matter how much money you borrowed from the company there is no way you could have paid for all this in just two mazura".
She gave me that look again which clearly asked what are you not telling us.
"Bekka is right of course the cost of those two complexes was nearly half a billion credits but as I said the funds as bekka put so diplomatically I borrowed from the company could never manage to have financed them as they are. as I said earlier though I only used those funds as seed money in the initial stages all those complex's produced was a massive overage of food and supplies but the demand was such in the early stages that they had difficulty coping with demand particularly as they were restricted to selling at average price the weapons fabs were paid for and added from those funds after the initial stage".
"That was pretty generous of you kert you could have made a killing at that time" Daye chipped in.
"I could have and it would have sped things up but as I said earlier our aim is to make sure that no one profits from the damage done to our infrastructure and that includes us".
"Now before we go on there are one or two other matters that I have not briefed you or anyone else on, I want it to be a surprise and you won't believe it till you actually see it anyway which is why you will have to wait till we take the Cobra out on her trials.
There is one other matter the marines Jak you have the ball on that one I have had them trained up to what I am assure by the split is the highest degree of ability but you'll be the man who decides who makes it into the Alpha team You'll find their records have been downloaded to your DPD.
"Now the reason for the marines is two fold initially we want to try and take the duke of his station before we destroy it. There is of course a more practical use once operations begin the duke and his allies have cost us and others millions if not billions of credits and I think it only fair that he should make reparations the Split will be quite happy for us to just destroy those ships but if we capture them then that will help fund the next stage of operations".
"What about prisoners Kert we don't exactly have the facilities to deal with them in any quantity ? "Jak asked.
"Any prisoners we hand over to the nearest main race military but given the type of people we'll be dealing with I doubt any of them will want to be captured, now whilst I have no doubt they won't respect the codes of conduct of war we will so look over the data you have I am open to any suggestions that will improve things".
"How is this going to work Kert I mean don't get me wrong I'm all up for it but won't some one notice when we stop cracking down on pirates and such I mean no bragging but we do have a bit of a reputation and we can't be in two places at once". Liom asked.
"Actually we can" Erin chimed in "I see where Kert is going on this now outside of the company or even of this ship all people know about us is our names or call signs, hell no one knew us at all till we formed the company because till then we were doing black ops for the fleet".
"Erin is right I agreed but that actually works in our favour whilst the terrans and their allies focus on the company they won't be expecting us.
It also builds in a degree of protection for them as our actions will not be attributed to them.
So now we come to the plan itself it comes in three stages and each stage will be timed to the actual completion of the previous one.
Our initial action will be to drop into lasting vengeance where we will unload as many missiles as we can into the allies of the Duke our primary targets will be the pirates more specifically their fighters in numbers they are a major concern so we need to thin them out after that we need to cripple the capital class ships so they will be effectively crippled and stuck in lasting vengeance with no shipyards available to carry out repairs.
Stage two will be to make a second sortie in which we will take out the capital class ships piecemeal hopefully by boarding if not we destroy them.
Stage three we quarantine the system and go for the station itself on this op we will use both alpha and beta marine teams with the intention of capturing the so called duke, if this part of the operation fails we then destroy the station".
"So let me recap skip we drop into a sector that even the Paranid avoid we attack a lot of heavily armed pirates cripple a whole fleet and then capture and destroy a station" Kris Hang said ticking of each point at a time on his fingers".
That's about the size of it I agreed"
"No problem there skip where you go I go I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything out".
That remark cut the tension in the air which was probably why Kris had spoken none of us could help but laugh at the absurdity of what we proposed to do.
It was enough I decided the team had all the information they needed and the laughter around the room was reminiscent of earlier days when life had been much simpler. " Okay people I think we all have enough on hand to deal with and tomorrow we have a lot to do so lets call it a night". I announced closing down the terminals and the security systems.
I opened a bottle of a particularly good scotch and raised a glass "to the Peacekeepers"
There was a chorus to the toast then we all downed our drinks and went to our quarters I took the bottle with me as I knew that Bekka was far from done asking me questions.
-
Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
When we got back to our quarters we both got out of the uniforms we had been wearing all day and I settled down on the couch to catch up on the news casts. Bekka had changed into a soft silk robe having taken the chance to have a quick shower.
I handed her a glass of whiskey as she joined me on the couch thanks she leaning into my shoulder.
"Have a shower before you turn in kert you smell" she commented before taking a sip of her whiskey.
" I will Bekks I assured her I just want a few mizura to just sit and relax. in a stazura or so we won't have much time for this in the foreseeable future".
"And just what do you have planned for that future that you haven't told me diddly about that".
"Nor will I bekks you will see it at the same time as everyone else so its no good trying to prise it out of me" Bekka just shrugged and smiled she had to try of course but she could tell that on this point I would not be moved and it was only until tomorrow anyway.
So we just sat there and made small talk avoiding all discussion about the planned operations except the ship of course.
Bekka was a marine through and through and she had demonstrated a remarkable ability in missile operations I knew for a fact it was hitting that big shiny red button which with a single stroke could obliterate a target that she loved giving her the fire power of a Cobra would be raising that level of potential destruction to a whole new level.
I called up the schematics of the ship on the screen along with the data at which point I lost Bekka I took the opportunity to have a quick shower before preparing some light snacks for us.
She was still reviewing the ships stats as she absently grabbed a sandwich flipping through the holographic views of the ships decks.
She was not surprisingly impressed with the marines deck which included training and exercise courts equal to anything you might find on an outpost.
"One thing I absolutely must know, how the hell did you get the Split to give you one of those things its an absolute monster and they have always refused them to be in other than split hands".
It was but it was not something I could reveal just yet nor would she believe me till she saw it. "Let's just say I had access to something they desperately wanted" I offered refusing to be drawn "all will be revealed in due course and its late we need to get some sleep so come on lets get some go to bed or we'll be no good to man nor beast in the morning".
"You are a tease Kert Dannar" she announced allowing me to draw her of the couch and out of the room whilst stifling a yawn.
I had been right about needing more sleep I thought as I prepared a light breakfast for us both I felt as if another stazura of sleep would not have been amiss but Terrel had already alerted me that we were being manouvered into the dock already.
Bekka came into the galley and grabbed a slice of toast of the stack I had prepared. I joined her at the breakfast bar and flicked on the ships coms to listen to the updates being broadcast to the ships crew Terrel seemed to have matters well in hand so I resisted the urge to take over on the bridge at this point and decided to take my time over breakfast for a change.
It also gave me time to prepare myself for what lay ahead even though I had worked hard for mazura to get us to this point but I still faced the future with some trepidation there were so many obstacles still to be overcome or neutralised.
"Hey stop brooding Kert the plans are laid now and its too late to go back so eat your breakfast before we have a crewman battering down the door to interrupt us".
I Gave her hand a light squeeze and cleared my plate before sitting back for a moment to enjoy another cup of coffee.
Her prediction proved all to accurate though as less than a mizura later there was a brief call from our door com requesting my presence on the Bridge. I hit the com and acknowledged it before leaving Bekka to finish her own breakfast and heading up.
"Problem" I asked Terrel as I strode onto the bridge.
"Not really skip but the dock master insists that you are in command when we actually dock"
I had forgotten that about the split in the past it had never been a problem but we were here to relinquish command of the thresher and to take command of a Split military vessel the protocols were somewhat different than normal.
I assume control and within moments we were being hard docked to the station.
I handed her a glass of whiskey as she joined me on the couch thanks she leaning into my shoulder.
"Have a shower before you turn in kert you smell" she commented before taking a sip of her whiskey.
" I will Bekks I assured her I just want a few mizura to just sit and relax. in a stazura or so we won't have much time for this in the foreseeable future".
"And just what do you have planned for that future that you haven't told me diddly about that".
"Nor will I bekks you will see it at the same time as everyone else so its no good trying to prise it out of me" Bekka just shrugged and smiled she had to try of course but she could tell that on this point I would not be moved and it was only until tomorrow anyway.
So we just sat there and made small talk avoiding all discussion about the planned operations except the ship of course.
Bekka was a marine through and through and she had demonstrated a remarkable ability in missile operations I knew for a fact it was hitting that big shiny red button which with a single stroke could obliterate a target that she loved giving her the fire power of a Cobra would be raising that level of potential destruction to a whole new level.
I called up the schematics of the ship on the screen along with the data at which point I lost Bekka I took the opportunity to have a quick shower before preparing some light snacks for us.
She was still reviewing the ships stats as she absently grabbed a sandwich flipping through the holographic views of the ships decks.
She was not surprisingly impressed with the marines deck which included training and exercise courts equal to anything you might find on an outpost.
"One thing I absolutely must know, how the hell did you get the Split to give you one of those things its an absolute monster and they have always refused them to be in other than split hands".
It was but it was not something I could reveal just yet nor would she believe me till she saw it. "Let's just say I had access to something they desperately wanted" I offered refusing to be drawn "all will be revealed in due course and its late we need to get some sleep so come on lets get some go to bed or we'll be no good to man nor beast in the morning".
"You are a tease Kert Dannar" she announced allowing me to draw her of the couch and out of the room whilst stifling a yawn.
I had been right about needing more sleep I thought as I prepared a light breakfast for us both I felt as if another stazura of sleep would not have been amiss but Terrel had already alerted me that we were being manouvered into the dock already.
Bekka came into the galley and grabbed a slice of toast of the stack I had prepared. I joined her at the breakfast bar and flicked on the ships coms to listen to the updates being broadcast to the ships crew Terrel seemed to have matters well in hand so I resisted the urge to take over on the bridge at this point and decided to take my time over breakfast for a change.
It also gave me time to prepare myself for what lay ahead even though I had worked hard for mazura to get us to this point but I still faced the future with some trepidation there were so many obstacles still to be overcome or neutralised.
"Hey stop brooding Kert the plans are laid now and its too late to go back so eat your breakfast before we have a crewman battering down the door to interrupt us".
I Gave her hand a light squeeze and cleared my plate before sitting back for a moment to enjoy another cup of coffee.
Her prediction proved all to accurate though as less than a mizura later there was a brief call from our door com requesting my presence on the Bridge. I hit the com and acknowledged it before leaving Bekka to finish her own breakfast and heading up.
"Problem" I asked Terrel as I strode onto the bridge.
"Not really skip but the dock master insists that you are in command when we actually dock"
I had forgotten that about the split in the past it had never been a problem but we were here to relinquish command of the thresher and to take command of a Split military vessel the protocols were somewhat different than normal.
I assume control and within moments we were being hard docked to the station.
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Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
The Cobra:
The Dock master had the necessary transports ready to transport the crew to the Cobra that was in the military section of the base under heavy guard.
The crew were loaded into transports to take them to Cobra whilst the bridge crew and myself were taken there in individual transports.
As I Had been advised it was a matter of protocol that the Split officers who had till now been running the ship for us had to transfer their posts individually to the person designated as their replacements.
I had briefed the team on this and waited for the formal handovers to be completed before Vo t'nit the acting Captain approached me and handed me the ceremonial ships Jatra.
I responded by handing him my officers sword that had been in my possession since my day's at the academy along with the control key for the Thresher which was part of the deal.
I would have preferred to have kept her but the Split had insisted on taking it as part of the package. I suspected it was mostly to get their hands on the Boron weapons it carried.
After that I was escorted onto the ship proper to meet the Marines who had arrived the previous day in the main hanger some of them I knew but many I would get to know in the days ahead as would the chief as I saw him giving them the eye.
I was formally introduced to them as the Captain of the ship by the dock master who then stepped back so that I could announce myself properly.
"Marines I am Captain Dannar some of you I have already met the rest of you I will meet in the days ahead we have four days to make this ship battle worthy. We will undock tomorrow at 0800 hours so once we are done here you may disperse as your duties or wish's indicate. Know this we go forward into battle to bring death and destruction upon our enemies this ship is the sword forged for that purpose but you are the blade of the sword now I will introduce you to your commander Chief Sillarn.
"Thank you Captain" Jako said as he stepped forward. "Marines you will disperse and join me in the briefing room in two mizura select two men to man the boarding hatch the rest of you get into your ships gear Dismiss he roared".
The Marines scattered leaving two Split to take station at the access ramp.
"Now Captain if you will excuse me I will begin assessing the men you have provided for me" and with that he left the hanger and made his way below followed by two of his own senior marines.
The Split officials took their leave and I led the others to the lifts so that we could start settling in I had Terrel arrange for the personnel effects people had bought with them to be sent to their quarters, for my part I headed for the Captains day cabin which was located just behind the bridge, Bekka followed me into the office a coffee pot had been set up for which I was grateful knowing that the next stazura was going to be chaotic as the crew started to report to their duty stations and started requesting instructions.
My biggest headache was the munitions deliveries eventually I had to call in Jak to take charge of the storage of the missiles as they arrived to ensure they were placed in the proper racks.
After that things became a blur till late in the day when we were finally fully armed and provisioned.
I finished what I hoped would be the last call then sat back sipping my coffee keeping one eye on the ships status boards as one by one the lights went from amber to green showing people were starting to get where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to be doing.
there was a polite knock at the door before a steward wheeled in a trolley with some snacks for us.
"Chef's apologies sir this is the best he can do till he has the kitchens up and running properly" the man explained.
"Give the chef my thanks Jarren this will do just fine" I replied reaching for the plate Bekka handed me.
Jarren backed out of the room obviously pleased I had known his name and left to make his way back down to the kitchens.
I devoured what was on the plate then stood and helped myself to some more starting to relax a little as I concentrated on the food.
After a while I put the plate down and finished my coffee before asking Bekka to join me as I made my way forward.
I was both startled and pleased to see two marines guarding the access doors to the bridge obviously the chief had taken steps to ensure the security of the ship. Both the marines snapped to attention as I approached and then opened the blast doors for us.
"This I said is our new office" as the Bridge lighting came up to full power looking down from the gallery to the stations arranged below us.
"Your position is just forward and right of mine" I said leading her down to the bridge deck level proper.
Bekka sat herself down at the missile control station and began powering up the displays that showed her the status of the missiles in the loading racks along with the arming controls the switches for which were under safety caps for the moment there was also a display that would give her a real time sensor feed of a targets shield and hull integrity that was also linked to a targeting display which I had been informed would give detailed advice on missile payloads to destroy a target entirely or to reduce its shields to a point where boarding pod firing could be initiated.
"I can't see the firing control for the pods" she muttered after studying the displays for a few sezura.
"That's because they are controlled by the marine in charge of the boarding operation in the launch bay where he has a matching display to the one you are looking at" I explained.
I saw her get that being a marine herself if the pods were fired into a live shield it would incinerate everyone aboard the moment it hit the shield which was why after incidents shortly after pod boarding was developed that marines had insisted that they alone would be able to initiate the pod launch system. Bekka could launch pods from her station just not ones with marines on board.
Whilst she was running simulations at the missile station I stepped up to sit in the command chair and powered up the main displays.
I must admit to being as impressed with the control setup of the command chair as Bekka was with hers at the missile control station. If need be it was possible to take complete control of the ship from where I was seated.
I just hoped that never became necessary if it ever did it would meant we would be in a world of pain.
Bekka shut down her station and powered her seat around to look up at me.
"I'm impressed Kert" she admitted "but what is the cost for all of this and I don't mean in credits the Split would never sell this ship not even to their allies so what is the real price".
I activated the privacy field before answering I knew she would ask this question as would the others once they realised what the Split had actually given us.
"There is a price I agreed and it is not yet paid suffice to say that it is a matter of honour to the Split and that I am uniquely qualified to be able to assist them in this matter".
That bought a concerned look to her gaze so I explained the unusual request concerning the missing bridle and bought her up to speed on what I had discovered and done to this point in time.
"I still don't see why Rhonkar had to get you involved in all this Kert".
"Politics Bekka the Strong arm corporation is making a power play if Rhonkar put his hand into the pot it would undermine his position which is what the Strong arm people want, also I got the impression by talking with the woman that she has her own agenda and insisted that I be the one sent too help her with her research".
"That sounds ominous Kert this woman seems to know far more about you than you should be comfortable with".
"I'm not happy about the whole deal Bekka one thing I have learnt about this woman is that she can be ruthless in the pursuit of her ambitions so trust me when I tell you that I am being extremely careful around her and if she push's too far I'll cut her loose a point I have taken great pains to impress upon her".
Bekka wasn't happy and I could see her forming plans of dire retribution for the woman if I came to harm forming behind her steady gaze, but at this point I was committed, that might change depending on how things worked out with the upcoming operations so for the moment I put it out of my mind in less than a tazura we would be undocking and there were a thousand details to be sorted between now and then.
The Dock master had the necessary transports ready to transport the crew to the Cobra that was in the military section of the base under heavy guard.
The crew were loaded into transports to take them to Cobra whilst the bridge crew and myself were taken there in individual transports.
As I Had been advised it was a matter of protocol that the Split officers who had till now been running the ship for us had to transfer their posts individually to the person designated as their replacements.
I had briefed the team on this and waited for the formal handovers to be completed before Vo t'nit the acting Captain approached me and handed me the ceremonial ships Jatra.
I responded by handing him my officers sword that had been in my possession since my day's at the academy along with the control key for the Thresher which was part of the deal.
I would have preferred to have kept her but the Split had insisted on taking it as part of the package. I suspected it was mostly to get their hands on the Boron weapons it carried.
After that I was escorted onto the ship proper to meet the Marines who had arrived the previous day in the main hanger some of them I knew but many I would get to know in the days ahead as would the chief as I saw him giving them the eye.
I was formally introduced to them as the Captain of the ship by the dock master who then stepped back so that I could announce myself properly.
"Marines I am Captain Dannar some of you I have already met the rest of you I will meet in the days ahead we have four days to make this ship battle worthy. We will undock tomorrow at 0800 hours so once we are done here you may disperse as your duties or wish's indicate. Know this we go forward into battle to bring death and destruction upon our enemies this ship is the sword forged for that purpose but you are the blade of the sword now I will introduce you to your commander Chief Sillarn.
"Thank you Captain" Jako said as he stepped forward. "Marines you will disperse and join me in the briefing room in two mizura select two men to man the boarding hatch the rest of you get into your ships gear Dismiss he roared".
The Marines scattered leaving two Split to take station at the access ramp.
"Now Captain if you will excuse me I will begin assessing the men you have provided for me" and with that he left the hanger and made his way below followed by two of his own senior marines.
The Split officials took their leave and I led the others to the lifts so that we could start settling in I had Terrel arrange for the personnel effects people had bought with them to be sent to their quarters, for my part I headed for the Captains day cabin which was located just behind the bridge, Bekka followed me into the office a coffee pot had been set up for which I was grateful knowing that the next stazura was going to be chaotic as the crew started to report to their duty stations and started requesting instructions.
My biggest headache was the munitions deliveries eventually I had to call in Jak to take charge of the storage of the missiles as they arrived to ensure they were placed in the proper racks.
After that things became a blur till late in the day when we were finally fully armed and provisioned.
I finished what I hoped would be the last call then sat back sipping my coffee keeping one eye on the ships status boards as one by one the lights went from amber to green showing people were starting to get where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to be doing.
there was a polite knock at the door before a steward wheeled in a trolley with some snacks for us.
"Chef's apologies sir this is the best he can do till he has the kitchens up and running properly" the man explained.
"Give the chef my thanks Jarren this will do just fine" I replied reaching for the plate Bekka handed me.
Jarren backed out of the room obviously pleased I had known his name and left to make his way back down to the kitchens.
I devoured what was on the plate then stood and helped myself to some more starting to relax a little as I concentrated on the food.
After a while I put the plate down and finished my coffee before asking Bekka to join me as I made my way forward.
I was both startled and pleased to see two marines guarding the access doors to the bridge obviously the chief had taken steps to ensure the security of the ship. Both the marines snapped to attention as I approached and then opened the blast doors for us.
"This I said is our new office" as the Bridge lighting came up to full power looking down from the gallery to the stations arranged below us.
"Your position is just forward and right of mine" I said leading her down to the bridge deck level proper.
Bekka sat herself down at the missile control station and began powering up the displays that showed her the status of the missiles in the loading racks along with the arming controls the switches for which were under safety caps for the moment there was also a display that would give her a real time sensor feed of a targets shield and hull integrity that was also linked to a targeting display which I had been informed would give detailed advice on missile payloads to destroy a target entirely or to reduce its shields to a point where boarding pod firing could be initiated.
"I can't see the firing control for the pods" she muttered after studying the displays for a few sezura.
"That's because they are controlled by the marine in charge of the boarding operation in the launch bay where he has a matching display to the one you are looking at" I explained.
I saw her get that being a marine herself if the pods were fired into a live shield it would incinerate everyone aboard the moment it hit the shield which was why after incidents shortly after pod boarding was developed that marines had insisted that they alone would be able to initiate the pod launch system. Bekka could launch pods from her station just not ones with marines on board.
Whilst she was running simulations at the missile station I stepped up to sit in the command chair and powered up the main displays.
I must admit to being as impressed with the control setup of the command chair as Bekka was with hers at the missile control station. If need be it was possible to take complete control of the ship from where I was seated.
I just hoped that never became necessary if it ever did it would meant we would be in a world of pain.
Bekka shut down her station and powered her seat around to look up at me.
"I'm impressed Kert" she admitted "but what is the cost for all of this and I don't mean in credits the Split would never sell this ship not even to their allies so what is the real price".
I activated the privacy field before answering I knew she would ask this question as would the others once they realised what the Split had actually given us.
"There is a price I agreed and it is not yet paid suffice to say that it is a matter of honour to the Split and that I am uniquely qualified to be able to assist them in this matter".
That bought a concerned look to her gaze so I explained the unusual request concerning the missing bridle and bought her up to speed on what I had discovered and done to this point in time.
"I still don't see why Rhonkar had to get you involved in all this Kert".
"Politics Bekka the Strong arm corporation is making a power play if Rhonkar put his hand into the pot it would undermine his position which is what the Strong arm people want, also I got the impression by talking with the woman that she has her own agenda and insisted that I be the one sent too help her with her research".
"That sounds ominous Kert this woman seems to know far more about you than you should be comfortable with".
"I'm not happy about the whole deal Bekka one thing I have learnt about this woman is that she can be ruthless in the pursuit of her ambitions so trust me when I tell you that I am being extremely careful around her and if she push's too far I'll cut her loose a point I have taken great pains to impress upon her".
Bekka wasn't happy and I could see her forming plans of dire retribution for the woman if I came to harm forming behind her steady gaze, but at this point I was committed, that might change depending on how things worked out with the upcoming operations so for the moment I put it out of my mind in less than a tazura we would be undocking and there were a thousand details to be sorted between now and then.
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Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
I knew there was nothing I could say to her that would change her mind about those plans so I let it go for the moment I hit the all ships com's system to alert the senior crew to the meeting I wanted in the main briefing room. in ten mizura, I figured that by now the station chiefs should have their crews up to speed on their ships operations and I needed to brief them all before we undocked.
Having made the announcement I led Bekka to the briefing room on the deck below where the displays and monitors were all live. The section Chiefs started arriving shortly after and most grabbed a coffee before taking their seats.
A number of them had as requested a list of queries for me to respond to which I would take care of after this meeting which hopefully would answer most of those queries anyway.
I waited till everyone was settled before standing to speak "thank you all for attending I appreciate that this is a hectic time for all of us, it is however necessary so that you all know what I expect from you and your people over the next few days. Firstly make no mistake we will be going in harms way, this is a warship and I expect the appropriate level of professionalism from everyone.
That's the down side the up side is that every one aboard will when we are on active duty receive pay at hazard rates as detailed in your mission briefings which you will now be able to access. As for our immediate plans we will undock at exactly 0800 am for the next two tazura we will be running simulation drills as well as boarding operations courtesy of the split training grounds in Wretched skies based on our performance there we will move onto active operations.
Now our first port of call will be to an uncharted sector that only I have the coordinates for, you will understand why when we get there.
for the moment I need your best men at their posts tomorrow any questions ?".
"Yes Chief" I asked seeing him rise to question me.
"How long do I have to determine which marines to allocate to alpha and beta teams respectively Kert ?".
That nailed the question everybody really wanted answered, I need your best team ready in a wozura chief till then I leave it to you to determine who goes where but I need both teams to have experience in boarding ops during our training ops".
"Fair enough Kert I'll have a roster ready for you by then he acknowledged before sitting back down.
"Okay people you now have a time scale of when we go operational, from this moment on we are on active duty status as you will have seen the chief has already initiated security procedures which I expect everyone to accept. There will be no shore leave today and no alcoholic beverages served on board this ship prior to operations.
One other note we may in the next few wozura have the opportunity to board and capture hostiles ships for each prize there will be a bonus payment to each and every member of the crew once operational costs have been accounted for.
You will all find an attached breakdown of payments in your data pads alongside the incapacity and death benefits to be paid to anyone or in the worst case to the family of anyone that is disabled or killed during operational duties.
On a final note unlike our laid back style of working in the company on board this and other ships of the strike group we will be assembling we will have strict military discipline, anyone unable to remember their service training will be reminded of it forcibly if need be if not they will be returned to other duties.
Now I need you all to give me progress reports on your operational readiness sent to my desk before 2200 hours the chef has also informed me that all crew mess's and canteens are now operational so you can now arrange your shifts accordingly till then you can return to your posts that is all people just make sure you are all rested and ready for tomorrow.
The section leaders left leaving just a handful of us from the original Peacekeepers remaining in the room. These were the people who would make what I envisaged possible so I was more than ready to answer the questions they felt needed answering.
I opened a cabinet and poured us all a glass of synthol before indicating Jak should lead the questions.
"Kert or is it captain now ?".
Informally like now then it's Kert, but on the bridge I am the Captain".
"Fair enough Kert I have a question the marines you have presented me with want to retain their quads and I am inclined to agree with them do you want our people to be grouped up in the same way ?".
"If possible yes Jak those quads have been trained to work closely together and more importantly they trust each other in combat if we can organise our people in a similar manner it would lessen the chances of us taking casualties".
"I am all for that Kert but you realise if we have a man wounded in a quad we have to rotate out the entire unit".
"I appreciate the difficulty Jak but I would rather that than take more casualties due to a loss of integration with a stranger in a quad which is why I want to have two complete teams on board at all times".
"Five quads per team it is then he agreed which means I will need more marines for duties other than boarding ops".
"That's a given Jak" I agreed we have more in training so I'll leave it to you to allocate them as they complete their training".
"That just leave's you then Bekka" Jak said turning to her "as of this moment I am assigning you to CQP for the Captain here alongside your duties as missile ops chief on the bridge I want a marine talking to me when I get the order to launch the pods understood ?".
She understood alright and I saw the fury in her eyes at Jaks decision but it made sense even though she resented being excluded from what a marine would consider to be the elite squads on board. Besides which it saved me from having to tell her she would be excluded from combat ops whilst she was pregnant I was grateful to jaks for making it unnecessary for me to put my foot down about this but said nothing.
Bekka said nothing either but the anger in the air was palpable so I changed the subject, now people I have arranged for the chief in engineering to start shield testing about now" I explained feeling the sudden charge in the air as the shields were run up to max so now I can give you more details on our next port of call.
I entered an encryption code stick and the main display lit up showing an unnamed sector complete with a headquarters station and several complex's under construction.
"As far as I know this is a sector that only I have jump co-ordinates for I found it by chance during my scouting of xenon space for the Boron.
It is my intention to move our entire base of operations here as well as the families of all our key personnel. Not even the Split or the Boron know it even exists. This is our future people no matter what else happens we will have a safe haven, travel to and from this sector will be limited, as you can see the gate access is protected by multiple laser towers and a mine has been positioned in front of the gate to impede entry into the system in time those defences will be added to".
"Skip I take it this system is deep in Xenon space that is a real threat" Kris stated.
"The Xenon are always a threat Kris but they seem to be unaware of the system in over a Jazura there has never been a xenon presence in this sector and its position gives it a level of security that is impossible to achieve elsewhere.
"Look at this another way" I suggested "the war is pretty much a stalemate with massive casualties on both sides and no end in sight, sooner or later it will escalate and no one knows how that will turn out here at least we and our people will be safe, or at least as safe as anyone can be.
They all looked long and hard at that sector map and the proposed constructions that were under way, it was a redoubt a place of safety in a time of war and possibly would be the only safe sector in a universe verging on the brink of all out war.
I gave them a few mizura to understand what I was offering them it was Kris Hang who asked the right question.
"Okay skip I can see it so how do we get our people there undetected ?".
"We get them to the Gate hub its the only place that offers a level of security where only we have the means to track transports coming and going I explained, from there they transfer to a TL which will take a multi-jump trip to the sector you are looking at including an unfocused jump to throw of tracking measures. Be advised though this will be a one way trip for the civilians, in this sector they will find work and opportunities appropriate to them as well as two M class planets where construction of a city has already been started for those who prefer a planet side environment".
"What about my parents ?"Tellar asked "hell my dads a vet of the Khaak wars what would he have to do to be given a home in this sector its not like he could hold down a job".
"Good Point Tellar" I noted glad that he had raised the matter so that I did not have to. "The simple answer is that all family members will be relocated at no charge employment will be offered but is not mandatory. All service pensions will be honoured we will also provide free medical and social services to everyone regardless of apparent status. We will not however view free loaders kindly, so if you have a relative expecting a free ride he or she is not entitled to we will educate them otherwise.
Look tomorrow you will get to see the sector first hand once you see what we are building I will welcome any suggestions that will be of benefit to ourselves and our families be it schools or community centres parklands whatever. Bottom line no one will be turned away if they want to sit back at subsistence level we will provide that but I want us to provide the opportunity to do better".
Having made the announcement I led Bekka to the briefing room on the deck below where the displays and monitors were all live. The section Chiefs started arriving shortly after and most grabbed a coffee before taking their seats.
A number of them had as requested a list of queries for me to respond to which I would take care of after this meeting which hopefully would answer most of those queries anyway.
I waited till everyone was settled before standing to speak "thank you all for attending I appreciate that this is a hectic time for all of us, it is however necessary so that you all know what I expect from you and your people over the next few days. Firstly make no mistake we will be going in harms way, this is a warship and I expect the appropriate level of professionalism from everyone.
That's the down side the up side is that every one aboard will when we are on active duty receive pay at hazard rates as detailed in your mission briefings which you will now be able to access. As for our immediate plans we will undock at exactly 0800 am for the next two tazura we will be running simulation drills as well as boarding operations courtesy of the split training grounds in Wretched skies based on our performance there we will move onto active operations.
Now our first port of call will be to an uncharted sector that only I have the coordinates for, you will understand why when we get there.
for the moment I need your best men at their posts tomorrow any questions ?".
"Yes Chief" I asked seeing him rise to question me.
"How long do I have to determine which marines to allocate to alpha and beta teams respectively Kert ?".
That nailed the question everybody really wanted answered, I need your best team ready in a wozura chief till then I leave it to you to determine who goes where but I need both teams to have experience in boarding ops during our training ops".
"Fair enough Kert I'll have a roster ready for you by then he acknowledged before sitting back down.
"Okay people you now have a time scale of when we go operational, from this moment on we are on active duty status as you will have seen the chief has already initiated security procedures which I expect everyone to accept. There will be no shore leave today and no alcoholic beverages served on board this ship prior to operations.
One other note we may in the next few wozura have the opportunity to board and capture hostiles ships for each prize there will be a bonus payment to each and every member of the crew once operational costs have been accounted for.
You will all find an attached breakdown of payments in your data pads alongside the incapacity and death benefits to be paid to anyone or in the worst case to the family of anyone that is disabled or killed during operational duties.
On a final note unlike our laid back style of working in the company on board this and other ships of the strike group we will be assembling we will have strict military discipline, anyone unable to remember their service training will be reminded of it forcibly if need be if not they will be returned to other duties.
Now I need you all to give me progress reports on your operational readiness sent to my desk before 2200 hours the chef has also informed me that all crew mess's and canteens are now operational so you can now arrange your shifts accordingly till then you can return to your posts that is all people just make sure you are all rested and ready for tomorrow.
The section leaders left leaving just a handful of us from the original Peacekeepers remaining in the room. These were the people who would make what I envisaged possible so I was more than ready to answer the questions they felt needed answering.
I opened a cabinet and poured us all a glass of synthol before indicating Jak should lead the questions.
"Kert or is it captain now ?".
Informally like now then it's Kert, but on the bridge I am the Captain".
"Fair enough Kert I have a question the marines you have presented me with want to retain their quads and I am inclined to agree with them do you want our people to be grouped up in the same way ?".
"If possible yes Jak those quads have been trained to work closely together and more importantly they trust each other in combat if we can organise our people in a similar manner it would lessen the chances of us taking casualties".
"I am all for that Kert but you realise if we have a man wounded in a quad we have to rotate out the entire unit".
"I appreciate the difficulty Jak but I would rather that than take more casualties due to a loss of integration with a stranger in a quad which is why I want to have two complete teams on board at all times".
"Five quads per team it is then he agreed which means I will need more marines for duties other than boarding ops".
"That's a given Jak" I agreed we have more in training so I'll leave it to you to allocate them as they complete their training".
"That just leave's you then Bekka" Jak said turning to her "as of this moment I am assigning you to CQP for the Captain here alongside your duties as missile ops chief on the bridge I want a marine talking to me when I get the order to launch the pods understood ?".
She understood alright and I saw the fury in her eyes at Jaks decision but it made sense even though she resented being excluded from what a marine would consider to be the elite squads on board. Besides which it saved me from having to tell her she would be excluded from combat ops whilst she was pregnant I was grateful to jaks for making it unnecessary for me to put my foot down about this but said nothing.
Bekka said nothing either but the anger in the air was palpable so I changed the subject, now people I have arranged for the chief in engineering to start shield testing about now" I explained feeling the sudden charge in the air as the shields were run up to max so now I can give you more details on our next port of call.
I entered an encryption code stick and the main display lit up showing an unnamed sector complete with a headquarters station and several complex's under construction.
"As far as I know this is a sector that only I have jump co-ordinates for I found it by chance during my scouting of xenon space for the Boron.
It is my intention to move our entire base of operations here as well as the families of all our key personnel. Not even the Split or the Boron know it even exists. This is our future people no matter what else happens we will have a safe haven, travel to and from this sector will be limited, as you can see the gate access is protected by multiple laser towers and a mine has been positioned in front of the gate to impede entry into the system in time those defences will be added to".
"Skip I take it this system is deep in Xenon space that is a real threat" Kris stated.
"The Xenon are always a threat Kris but they seem to be unaware of the system in over a Jazura there has never been a xenon presence in this sector and its position gives it a level of security that is impossible to achieve elsewhere.
"Look at this another way" I suggested "the war is pretty much a stalemate with massive casualties on both sides and no end in sight, sooner or later it will escalate and no one knows how that will turn out here at least we and our people will be safe, or at least as safe as anyone can be.
They all looked long and hard at that sector map and the proposed constructions that were under way, it was a redoubt a place of safety in a time of war and possibly would be the only safe sector in a universe verging on the brink of all out war.
I gave them a few mizura to understand what I was offering them it was Kris Hang who asked the right question.
"Okay skip I can see it so how do we get our people there undetected ?".
"We get them to the Gate hub its the only place that offers a level of security where only we have the means to track transports coming and going I explained, from there they transfer to a TL which will take a multi-jump trip to the sector you are looking at including an unfocused jump to throw of tracking measures. Be advised though this will be a one way trip for the civilians, in this sector they will find work and opportunities appropriate to them as well as two M class planets where construction of a city has already been started for those who prefer a planet side environment".
"What about my parents ?"Tellar asked "hell my dads a vet of the Khaak wars what would he have to do to be given a home in this sector its not like he could hold down a job".
"Good Point Tellar" I noted glad that he had raised the matter so that I did not have to. "The simple answer is that all family members will be relocated at no charge employment will be offered but is not mandatory. All service pensions will be honoured we will also provide free medical and social services to everyone regardless of apparent status. We will not however view free loaders kindly, so if you have a relative expecting a free ride he or she is not entitled to we will educate them otherwise.
Look tomorrow you will get to see the sector first hand once you see what we are building I will welcome any suggestions that will be of benefit to ourselves and our families be it schools or community centres parklands whatever. Bottom line no one will be turned away if they want to sit back at subsistence level we will provide that but I want us to provide the opportunity to do better".
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Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
The Redoubt:
We left at exactly 0800 using military standard time as we had always done, the Split pilot waited till we were clear of the shipyards perimeter before relinquishing the helm and leaving the ship.
I let Teller coast us out to our jump point whilst I made last minute checks on the data coming in from the various stations I also made a point on checking on our civilian passengers who were in temporary quarters. These were the first of our headquarters personnel who would be working to bring sector operations up to speed for us.
Bekka was busy monitoring the weapons stations and bringing the weapons on line talking quietly into her headset as her gunners and missile crews reported in to her. I took the helm controls as we reached the jump point and vaguely aware of the jump warning sounding I made the jump to the hub sector then immediately made an unfocussed jump without the normal count, it was one of the Goners secrets about the UFJD that I had been made privy to that a return point could be pre set the next jump back to known space went to the unknown sector I had taken control of. I swung around the mine that effectively barricaded the gate then shut down the targeting systems as we manouvered through the arrays of laser towers that warded the only means of entrance to the sector.
"This is only for now I assured the bridge crew later on we will deploy a jump beacon in system but we won't be doing that till we have made the system totally secure".
Once clear of the gate I set course for the sector base and docked the cobra glad to see that work on the corvettes was already well under way as we docked above the construction yards. On the docks the base staff were already busy loading on board the additional stores I had arranged to be made ready for us which would give me time to brief the crew more fully on the future plans for this sector I had discussed this with the team and we had agreed that they needed to feel that they were investing in their own future I flipped the master com switch to all quarters.
"All Crew please report to your mess halls so that I can bring you up to speed on what lies ahead of us before we begin operations, that excludes bridge crew, Mr Teller you have the com". I had already briefed Teller on what I planned and he knew to put the broadcast up on the main bridge monitors.
I went back to my office and sat behind my desk watching on the monitors as the crew gathered to hear what I would say to them. I had pre-prepared a video briefing which I would let them watch before I stepped in to finish the briefing myself.
Once I was certain all crew would be in the common rooms I activated the camera.
"This is the Captain I wanted to take the time to show you what we plan to build here for ourselves and our families, short term we will all be stationed on the main headquarters we are currently docked at but once the various construction projects that are on going are completed that will change I will now show you what we have done here so far and what we intend to do in the future I won't be taking questions at this time as we are on a schedule but I will answer any questions posted to me once we have completed our initial operations".
I activated the video and watched with them as we were given a guided tour of the sector and the various construction sites with my pre-prepared audio briefing explaining the purpose of each complex.
I had to admit I was pleased with the way the techs had put the briefing together and waited for a moment after it had ended before I spoke again.
"There you have it as you have now heard this sector is not on any map its coordinates known only to myself and as you have seen we are doing our utmost to ensure its security, you have until we complete our initial operations to decide if you want to be part of this anyone who opts out can return to their prior duties please inform me if that is your decision before we return to our company base that is all please return to your duties we will be leaving in a stazura, all headquarters staff please disembark and report to the dock master he will direct you to your new assignments".
Once that was done I stayed in the office and began monitoring the dock operations and reviewing what I had planned for the next wozura. Bekka brought me a coffee and sandwiches in at some point then left me to it she obviousely sensed that I was running on a tight schedule that had started once we had cleared Zyarths.
Time that was the problem Rhonkar would be making his preparations baed on the schedule we had agreed would be signalled when we left Zyarth. Now I had just under a Wozura to get the crew meshed and trained into an effective military force. Tellar commed me as arranged when it was time to leave and I returned to the bridge.
I was not wrong at the end of the following three days I was both physically and mentally exhausted. We had however carried out a number of set piece manouvers with the Rhonkars forces in various unknown sectors and whilst it was simulated the boarding operations were real using stun charge weapons instead of full force weapons.
The result was that the crew were now working as a cohesive unit, for the moment we had a day to rest up then we would go calling on the Duke the supply ships were waiting in Patriarchs conclusion just waiting for our signal.
ASfter a brief stop to contact Rhonkars representative we jumped back to our headquarters and I turned the ship over to the dock master to re provision and make ready before ordering everyone to disembark and to take the opportunity to rest up for a day except the senior crew who would meet me in the command room behind the bridge.
I was the last to enter the room and poured myself a coffee before sitting down I looked around the room noting that we all looked a bit jaded.
"Any comments on how the exercises went I asked looking around".
"I've made a couple of changes to the tams Jaks announced but all in all we are as ready as we can be I think given the time scale we've done remarkably well".
There was a chorus of agreement from the others around the table which was good too hear. There were a couple of minor matters I would have the maintenance crew look at but otherwise everyone seemed pleased enough with how well the Sword and the crew had worked "well we have a day here to rest up before we begin in earnest so I suggest we all take the opportunity to rest up a bit if anyone remembers something later com me before we come back on board. I'm told by the dock master that our quarters are ready for us, as for myself I intend to sleep for the next two stazura".
"You won't be the only one doing that Erin agreed" stfling a yawn. There was a slight chuckle at that comment so we just sat back and chewed the fat for a few mizura before I took my leave and left. Bekka grabbed my arm as I made for the door and we made our way onto the dock where the dock master had a cart ready for us to use. I remembered to ask him to have a look at the the couple of minor niggles that had been noted and he told me he would take care of it before he returned to his duties.
The cart took us deep into the stations core then stopped at a private lift which took us up to our quarters at the very top level of the station.
The apartment was luxurious with view windows that let us look upon the whole sector I took a few moments admiring the views before I decided that I needed to get some rest and made my way to the bedroom.
I awoke much later surprised to find that Bekka must have taken my clothes off at some point I looked at the display startled to find I had been true to my word I had slept for over two stazura.
I showered and dressed and made my way to the kitchen where Bekka had prepared a large pot of coffee.
"Your awake at last then" she said hugging me from behind "take your coffee into the dinning room I'll cook you some lunch".I squirmed around and kissed her soundly before she let me go and shooed me out of the kitchen "Go on through she said and take the coffee with you".
I left her reluctantly as she started opening cupboards humming happily to herself.
She joined me a few mizura later and placed a large tray in front of me then returned with her own a sezura later.
I poured her a fresh coffee then returned my attention to the meal feeling suddenly ravenous.
"Well you were certainly hungry" Bekka said reaching for my tray "I'll clear the table you've a pad full of calls to deal with".
"You should have woken me" I said reaching for the pad
"You needed the rest more I expect they will be trivial matters at best or you'd have been summoned directly, now try and finish at least one coffee before you answer them" she said smiling at me.
I could see the sense in that so took her advice before I responded to the first of several trivial matters. I finally cleared them before sending instructions to the coms room to exercise better judgment in what they deemed I should have to deal with.
Does this mean we have the whole day to ourselves" she asked reaching her arms around me again.
"It does I agreed how about we go awol for a while and take a look at the city I'm told its finished now".
"I'll fix us some sandwich's to take with us" she agreed turning back to the kitchen.
So it was after appropriating a shuttle we were making slow lazy circles above the city so that Bekka could see it all before we landed at the city terminal and appropriated a ground vehicle much to the consternation of the fields staff.
I drove through the city pleased to see that it was already being brought to life by the families and business's that had opened up as we made our way to the to the coast where we both took the opportunity to strip of and have a swim luxuriating in the warm waters.
Much later we watched the sunset from some rocks above the shore line drinking the wine Bekka had thought to bring along with the snacks.
It was after dark that they found us still sitting there "Sorry to intrude sir" said the marine "I've been assigned to you whilst you are here I'll take point over there".
"No need marine it's about time we got back anyway".
The marine still joined us for the drive back to the city I knew better than to try and dissuade him so I let him drive us there. "Are you from the city or the headquarters" I asked.
"Sir I am Cheram from beta team the chief sent me to ensure you were undisturbed".
"So how long were you watching us before approaching me" I asked
"My team arrived on site one mizura after yourself sir"
"Your team I asked startled" I hadn't seen them.
"They are on route to the landing field sir the chiefs compliments I am assigned to you till we get back to base he has requested your presence in the city sir".
"We would be wise not to upset the chief then" Bekka replied laughing at the audible sigh of relief from the marine whilst linking her arm with mine.
"No ma'am thank you ma'am the marine agreed as we arrived back in the city in the commercial area where he escorted us to the restaurant pausing only at the door to take watch.
"Is the Jako really so frightening" I asked Bekka.
"Only if you are one of his crew and don't obey his orders to the letter she confirmed" as we enetered the main dining area where the rest of the team were waiting for us to arrive.
"About time" Kert said Jako rising to greet us "I was afraid you were going to be late for your own party".
He ushered us to the table and poured us both a drink as I began to recall that first meeting so long ago back on that station in wastelands when we had started at the beginning of all this.
The whole team were here which meant someone had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange it all and my suspicions were confirmed as soon as I saw the all to familiar obnoxious grin on Bekka's face.
I knew now why she had been so keen for us to disappear for the day and there had been me thinking I had been so clever.
I gave Bekka quick peck on the cheek to show I wasn't upset and sat back and relaxed wondering why I hadn't thought of doing something like this myself. None of us drank much we just relaxed in each others company recalling anecdotes of things that had happened to us over the last few mizura.
It couldn't go on indefinitely so it was fortunate that asome time later the chief announced our transport back to headquarters were waiting and we all dutifully followed his marines to our assigned transports and then on to the shuttles that took us back to the HQ.
We left at exactly 0800 using military standard time as we had always done, the Split pilot waited till we were clear of the shipyards perimeter before relinquishing the helm and leaving the ship.
I let Teller coast us out to our jump point whilst I made last minute checks on the data coming in from the various stations I also made a point on checking on our civilian passengers who were in temporary quarters. These were the first of our headquarters personnel who would be working to bring sector operations up to speed for us.
Bekka was busy monitoring the weapons stations and bringing the weapons on line talking quietly into her headset as her gunners and missile crews reported in to her. I took the helm controls as we reached the jump point and vaguely aware of the jump warning sounding I made the jump to the hub sector then immediately made an unfocussed jump without the normal count, it was one of the Goners secrets about the UFJD that I had been made privy to that a return point could be pre set the next jump back to known space went to the unknown sector I had taken control of. I swung around the mine that effectively barricaded the gate then shut down the targeting systems as we manouvered through the arrays of laser towers that warded the only means of entrance to the sector.
"This is only for now I assured the bridge crew later on we will deploy a jump beacon in system but we won't be doing that till we have made the system totally secure".
Once clear of the gate I set course for the sector base and docked the cobra glad to see that work on the corvettes was already well under way as we docked above the construction yards. On the docks the base staff were already busy loading on board the additional stores I had arranged to be made ready for us which would give me time to brief the crew more fully on the future plans for this sector I had discussed this with the team and we had agreed that they needed to feel that they were investing in their own future I flipped the master com switch to all quarters.
"All Crew please report to your mess halls so that I can bring you up to speed on what lies ahead of us before we begin operations, that excludes bridge crew, Mr Teller you have the com". I had already briefed Teller on what I planned and he knew to put the broadcast up on the main bridge monitors.
I went back to my office and sat behind my desk watching on the monitors as the crew gathered to hear what I would say to them. I had pre-prepared a video briefing which I would let them watch before I stepped in to finish the briefing myself.
Once I was certain all crew would be in the common rooms I activated the camera.
"This is the Captain I wanted to take the time to show you what we plan to build here for ourselves and our families, short term we will all be stationed on the main headquarters we are currently docked at but once the various construction projects that are on going are completed that will change I will now show you what we have done here so far and what we intend to do in the future I won't be taking questions at this time as we are on a schedule but I will answer any questions posted to me once we have completed our initial operations".
I activated the video and watched with them as we were given a guided tour of the sector and the various construction sites with my pre-prepared audio briefing explaining the purpose of each complex.
I had to admit I was pleased with the way the techs had put the briefing together and waited for a moment after it had ended before I spoke again.
"There you have it as you have now heard this sector is not on any map its coordinates known only to myself and as you have seen we are doing our utmost to ensure its security, you have until we complete our initial operations to decide if you want to be part of this anyone who opts out can return to their prior duties please inform me if that is your decision before we return to our company base that is all please return to your duties we will be leaving in a stazura, all headquarters staff please disembark and report to the dock master he will direct you to your new assignments".
Once that was done I stayed in the office and began monitoring the dock operations and reviewing what I had planned for the next wozura. Bekka brought me a coffee and sandwiches in at some point then left me to it she obviousely sensed that I was running on a tight schedule that had started once we had cleared Zyarths.
Time that was the problem Rhonkar would be making his preparations baed on the schedule we had agreed would be signalled when we left Zyarth. Now I had just under a Wozura to get the crew meshed and trained into an effective military force. Tellar commed me as arranged when it was time to leave and I returned to the bridge.
I was not wrong at the end of the following three days I was both physically and mentally exhausted. We had however carried out a number of set piece manouvers with the Rhonkars forces in various unknown sectors and whilst it was simulated the boarding operations were real using stun charge weapons instead of full force weapons.
The result was that the crew were now working as a cohesive unit, for the moment we had a day to rest up then we would go calling on the Duke the supply ships were waiting in Patriarchs conclusion just waiting for our signal.
ASfter a brief stop to contact Rhonkars representative we jumped back to our headquarters and I turned the ship over to the dock master to re provision and make ready before ordering everyone to disembark and to take the opportunity to rest up for a day except the senior crew who would meet me in the command room behind the bridge.
I was the last to enter the room and poured myself a coffee before sitting down I looked around the room noting that we all looked a bit jaded.
"Any comments on how the exercises went I asked looking around".
"I've made a couple of changes to the tams Jaks announced but all in all we are as ready as we can be I think given the time scale we've done remarkably well".
There was a chorus of agreement from the others around the table which was good too hear. There were a couple of minor matters I would have the maintenance crew look at but otherwise everyone seemed pleased enough with how well the Sword and the crew had worked "well we have a day here to rest up before we begin in earnest so I suggest we all take the opportunity to rest up a bit if anyone remembers something later com me before we come back on board. I'm told by the dock master that our quarters are ready for us, as for myself I intend to sleep for the next two stazura".
"You won't be the only one doing that Erin agreed" stfling a yawn. There was a slight chuckle at that comment so we just sat back and chewed the fat for a few mizura before I took my leave and left. Bekka grabbed my arm as I made for the door and we made our way onto the dock where the dock master had a cart ready for us to use. I remembered to ask him to have a look at the the couple of minor niggles that had been noted and he told me he would take care of it before he returned to his duties.
The cart took us deep into the stations core then stopped at a private lift which took us up to our quarters at the very top level of the station.
The apartment was luxurious with view windows that let us look upon the whole sector I took a few moments admiring the views before I decided that I needed to get some rest and made my way to the bedroom.
I awoke much later surprised to find that Bekka must have taken my clothes off at some point I looked at the display startled to find I had been true to my word I had slept for over two stazura.
I showered and dressed and made my way to the kitchen where Bekka had prepared a large pot of coffee.
"Your awake at last then" she said hugging me from behind "take your coffee into the dinning room I'll cook you some lunch".I squirmed around and kissed her soundly before she let me go and shooed me out of the kitchen "Go on through she said and take the coffee with you".
I left her reluctantly as she started opening cupboards humming happily to herself.
She joined me a few mizura later and placed a large tray in front of me then returned with her own a sezura later.
I poured her a fresh coffee then returned my attention to the meal feeling suddenly ravenous.
"Well you were certainly hungry" Bekka said reaching for my tray "I'll clear the table you've a pad full of calls to deal with".
"You should have woken me" I said reaching for the pad
"You needed the rest more I expect they will be trivial matters at best or you'd have been summoned directly, now try and finish at least one coffee before you answer them" she said smiling at me.
I could see the sense in that so took her advice before I responded to the first of several trivial matters. I finally cleared them before sending instructions to the coms room to exercise better judgment in what they deemed I should have to deal with.
Does this mean we have the whole day to ourselves" she asked reaching her arms around me again.
"It does I agreed how about we go awol for a while and take a look at the city I'm told its finished now".
"I'll fix us some sandwich's to take with us" she agreed turning back to the kitchen.
So it was after appropriating a shuttle we were making slow lazy circles above the city so that Bekka could see it all before we landed at the city terminal and appropriated a ground vehicle much to the consternation of the fields staff.
I drove through the city pleased to see that it was already being brought to life by the families and business's that had opened up as we made our way to the to the coast where we both took the opportunity to strip of and have a swim luxuriating in the warm waters.
Much later we watched the sunset from some rocks above the shore line drinking the wine Bekka had thought to bring along with the snacks.
It was after dark that they found us still sitting there "Sorry to intrude sir" said the marine "I've been assigned to you whilst you are here I'll take point over there".
"No need marine it's about time we got back anyway".
The marine still joined us for the drive back to the city I knew better than to try and dissuade him so I let him drive us there. "Are you from the city or the headquarters" I asked.
"Sir I am Cheram from beta team the chief sent me to ensure you were undisturbed".
"So how long were you watching us before approaching me" I asked
"My team arrived on site one mizura after yourself sir"
"Your team I asked startled" I hadn't seen them.
"They are on route to the landing field sir the chiefs compliments I am assigned to you till we get back to base he has requested your presence in the city sir".
"We would be wise not to upset the chief then" Bekka replied laughing at the audible sigh of relief from the marine whilst linking her arm with mine.
"No ma'am thank you ma'am the marine agreed as we arrived back in the city in the commercial area where he escorted us to the restaurant pausing only at the door to take watch.
"Is the Jako really so frightening" I asked Bekka.
"Only if you are one of his crew and don't obey his orders to the letter she confirmed" as we enetered the main dining area where the rest of the team were waiting for us to arrive.
"About time" Kert said Jako rising to greet us "I was afraid you were going to be late for your own party".
He ushered us to the table and poured us both a drink as I began to recall that first meeting so long ago back on that station in wastelands when we had started at the beginning of all this.
The whole team were here which meant someone had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange it all and my suspicions were confirmed as soon as I saw the all to familiar obnoxious grin on Bekka's face.
I knew now why she had been so keen for us to disappear for the day and there had been me thinking I had been so clever.
I gave Bekka quick peck on the cheek to show I wasn't upset and sat back and relaxed wondering why I hadn't thought of doing something like this myself. None of us drank much we just relaxed in each others company recalling anecdotes of things that had happened to us over the last few mizura.
It couldn't go on indefinitely so it was fortunate that asome time later the chief announced our transport back to headquarters were waiting and we all dutifully followed his marines to our assigned transports and then on to the shuttles that took us back to the HQ.
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Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
I sat in the command seat listening as the reports came in the ship was coming to life again there was a sense of tension in the air not surprising considering what we were about to do.
I waited till we were good to go before I spoke to the crew over the all ships com. "This is the captain speaking you all know where we are going and what we are about to do, for too long our target has been left the freedom to reach out to kill and steal from our people for his own personal gain. Well no longer we are going to teach this self styled Duke the meaning of the word retribution, to demonstrate to the verse that those who harm us and ours will pay dearly for doing so. I have chosen each and every one of you because I have faith in all of you now let us go and bring the war to him.
I closed the com and looked forward to Tellar to initiate the jump sequence that would take us to Heavens assertion Wher the combined Split and Paranid forces were blockading the whole sector on the pretext of military manouvers.
Captain Chot'zal the commander of the Split Raptor launched the scout ship that would take up position in Dukes Haven to give us an overview of the forces in the sector before we committed ourselves. "Bekka all safeties are of" I called to her knowing that she would be loading the racks for what was to come, "Com's signal the supply ships to standby".
"Supply ships are waiting on the word sir, as is the TL in contorted dominion" He replied as the confirmation of the TL with its cavernous holds filled with missiles would be almost as busy as we would be over the next few stazura.
Tactical put the displays up as the data started coming in from the scout ship and the network of satellites it was laying as it raced through the system so we could see what we were facing.
I punched in my list of target priorities to Bekka so she could plan her load out rotations as events unfolded. "Jako" I called over the com "are we good to go".
"Both teams ready Captain" came the swift response. I could easily picture the scene on the operations deck two floors below where the marines would be ready to board the waiting pods".
I hit the alert warning and activated the jump feeling the familiar rush of adrenalin that always hit before I began an op. We emerged in Dukes Haven and I accelerated to full military thrust as we headed for a position high above the system's centre. "missiles take out the fighter screens" I ordered as the swarm of pirate ships changed course to intercept us.
As I had hoped the Dukes corvettes joined the chase with the nearest pirate galleon changing course to provide support for it's fighters. the ship was filled with vibrations as Bekka launched successive barrages of flails that was followed by an eerie silence as we waited to see the effects of the initial barrage's. I changed course sharply to lead our pursuers away from capital class ships clustered around the Dukes head quarters.
"missiles incoming" warned tactical over the com to alert the turret and MDM control teams"
The guns opening up told us they were on the job "Okay Bekka lets get rid of the corvettes they are starting to annoy me".
"Roger that Captain" she replied cycling the loading racks to put the hammers in the tubes which she began to launch in a steady pattern targeting each of the pursuing corvettes in sequence she then switched on of the tubes back to flails to eliminate the few remaining fighters that were holding position with us just out of our turrets range. The tactical display was becoming a lot less cluttered as more and more targets were eliminated Bekka fired two more hammers at a couple of M6's that whilst crippled had some how survived the initial barrage.
I slowed our speed to allow the galleon to begin closing on us and hit the alert button that would alert Jako tohave the marines start manning the pods.
"Okay Bekka lets strip the shields of that thing and get support one to jump in and take position.
Far to the north a Chokaro appeared in-system and raced to a prearranged position where it would wait for us.
"Captain Riders compliments, what took us so long" com's called out.
"No reply for the moment" I answered angered that Rider had broken com silence.
I turned my attention back to the displays watching the effects Bekka's missiles were having on the Galleons shields. I had to admire her skill as she brought them down to zero then maintained them with a steady rhythmic launching of flails to keep them steady at 1% as the galleon moved into optimum boarding range it was u to the marines now as Jako launched the pods.
Bekka kept up her shield suppression till all four pods had latched on then cycled the hammers back in ready for our next target. Rider had managed to catch up with us and was matching our pace and replenishing our missile stocks, even this far from the missile holds I could hear the cargo handlers dealing with them. Rider pulled clear as soon as we were topped of. Now it was a matter of waiting for the Alpha team to complete the boarding operation. I cut into the com channel and put it on the bridge com so that we could monitor their progress. I heard Daye Braks coordinating the assault as they made their way through the ship to the computer core. they were meeting determined resistance not surprising considering the most likely fate that awaited any survivors.
"Captain Came Dayes voice a few mizura later operations complete the ship is ours". This was confirmed a moment later as several escape pods were launched.
"Let them go Bekka they won't get far lets save our missiles for the next target".
"Signal Rider and get a jump drive on board the galleon, Tellar take us back to it close enough to retrieve our marines and get a prize crew on board then have Beta team stand by".
I called Jako over the com and asked for an update on alpha teams status the answer was that no one had been wounded which I was relieved to hear. The Galleon was virtually intact despite a last ditch attempt by the crew to scuttle the ship it even had a hold full of weapons and replacement shields on board which they team were installing even as we spoke.
We pulled up alongside the Galleon and transported them back even as the jump drive was transferred form the M5 that Rider ordered landed in its hanger bay.
Once the transfers were complete I took control and headed back towards the Duke's HQ. Their was a burst of light as the Galleon jumped for Patriarchs shipyard.
"Captain" called Pico who was running tactical "the Capitals are moving towards us".
I looked at the data and projections he had made and made a decision based on that "We'll take the Zeus next Bekka be ready for a fighter launch though our intel suggests none lets not take any chance's".
Bekka gave me a quick acknowledgement as I set course for the Zeus that was approaching us at full speed the Captain was a fool I realised he should have kept pace with the two Brigantines he was making this almost too easy for me I called Jako on the com to tell him what I planned to do.
He just grinned at me as I explained the strategy despite the fact that it would require precise shield management to cover the pods at the reduced range we would be working at.
I then turned to Bekka who had obviously caught part of the conversation. "I know its a big ask Bekka but I want this guy to be to sure he can take us than to pay attention to the reality of his situation".
She just gave me her best version of that grin of hers that meant she was looking forward to the challenge.
I hit the combat alarm to alert the crew then accelerated toward the Zeus intending to do a swing by that should infuriate it's Captain "Bekka do you feel up to giving that Zeus a punch to the face at close range".
"One nuclear punch in the nose loaded Captain just watch our distance" she replied coolly as she loaded the tubes to intent on her screens to take her eyes of them.
"As soon as you've done that I would like one of the Brigantines to go away you get to choose" I offered knowing that she would now have to rapidly have to reconfigure her load outs.
"Punch one Zeus in the nose and scratch one Brigantine aye Captain" she responded her fingers dancing over her controls.
I reduced our speed a bit to give her an extra mizura to make the changes then resumed full acceleration when she signalled she was good to go.
Bekka launched a barrage of hammers at one of the Brigantines then switched the load outs as we closed in rapidly on the Zeus. Bekka launched another salvo of hammers and I swung the Sword across the face of the Zeus engaging the turbo boost to give us the acceleration we needed to clear the blast radius of the hammers.
The result was spectacular as our monitors were overloaded for a sezura by the blast that we could feel impacting on our shields for a moment I thought we might have overdone it till our displays rebooted I manouvered the Sword to the minimum safe range of the Zeus and waited for Bekka to finish getting its shields down. It did not take long that punch in the nose had almost zeroed them so she was signalling for the pods within a mizura.
Once again we listened in as the Beta team fought their way through the decks. I recognised Cherams voice over the com as he directed his men remembering the man from that meeting on the shore was it really only yesterday. once again the capture was a success Cheram quickly called in that they had prevented the destruction of the Jump drive which saved Rider a trip even so I ordered him to move in to replenish our missile stocks before ordering him to return to Patriarchs to get our transports in system as soon as we had completed our capture of the destroyer that was inexorably bearing down on us. As soon as we had Beta team on board I ordered them to grab a quick meal whilst Alpha team readied themselves for the next op.
a few Mizura after Rider had Jumped out our transport ships and missile laden freighters arrived in system and deployed to their staging positions.
"Scratch one Brigantine" Bekka called out whilst all this was going on punching the air with her fist, sorry captain she said looking me in the eye so I knew she wasn't.
"No worries Bekka at least you got some intel on the likely shield strengths of the Brigantine we have coming after us".
I called up tactical on the monitor as the Zeus jumped out of system and began manouvering to let Bekka start pounding on its shields this one would be a much tougher nut to crack I also wanted its internal defences fried of before I risked our people so I sent the signal to have our Heavy Centaurs jump in. once we had the shields down their job would be to make strafing runs on the destroyer using its known blind spots to minimise the risks they faced as much as possible.
Its time I called as we settled down to begin the penultimate operation, I wouldn't be taking any risks this time if we couldn't get the shields and defence's down I would have Bekka destroy it.
This Captain was a bit smarter than the Zeus Captain had been as he kept trying to change his approach vector enough to allow his turrets a chance at shooting down our missiles and pods.
An idea grabbed me "Bekka as soon as the shields and defences are down I want you to fire a spread of empty pods at him and keep suppressing the shields as if they are live pods".
"That's brilliant Kert sorry captain"
She almost gushed as she saw my intent and I was quite pleased myself the Cpatain of that Brigantine would see the pods coming at him and would have to commit himself to stopping them before they landed which is when we would fire the real pods at him.
I quickly briefed Jako on the slight twist I intended to put on our plan and he suggested that once his teams were on board we have the centaurs try to disable the life support systems he would advise his team to stay sealed in their suits unless it proved to difficult to disable the life support.
I agreed and told him to get his men ready to which he simply replied.
"Marines are always ready Captain".
I waited till we were good to go before I spoke to the crew over the all ships com. "This is the captain speaking you all know where we are going and what we are about to do, for too long our target has been left the freedom to reach out to kill and steal from our people for his own personal gain. Well no longer we are going to teach this self styled Duke the meaning of the word retribution, to demonstrate to the verse that those who harm us and ours will pay dearly for doing so. I have chosen each and every one of you because I have faith in all of you now let us go and bring the war to him.
I closed the com and looked forward to Tellar to initiate the jump sequence that would take us to Heavens assertion Wher the combined Split and Paranid forces were blockading the whole sector on the pretext of military manouvers.
Captain Chot'zal the commander of the Split Raptor launched the scout ship that would take up position in Dukes Haven to give us an overview of the forces in the sector before we committed ourselves. "Bekka all safeties are of" I called to her knowing that she would be loading the racks for what was to come, "Com's signal the supply ships to standby".
"Supply ships are waiting on the word sir, as is the TL in contorted dominion" He replied as the confirmation of the TL with its cavernous holds filled with missiles would be almost as busy as we would be over the next few stazura.
Tactical put the displays up as the data started coming in from the scout ship and the network of satellites it was laying as it raced through the system so we could see what we were facing.
I punched in my list of target priorities to Bekka so she could plan her load out rotations as events unfolded. "Jako" I called over the com "are we good to go".
"Both teams ready Captain" came the swift response. I could easily picture the scene on the operations deck two floors below where the marines would be ready to board the waiting pods".
I hit the alert warning and activated the jump feeling the familiar rush of adrenalin that always hit before I began an op. We emerged in Dukes Haven and I accelerated to full military thrust as we headed for a position high above the system's centre. "missiles take out the fighter screens" I ordered as the swarm of pirate ships changed course to intercept us.
As I had hoped the Dukes corvettes joined the chase with the nearest pirate galleon changing course to provide support for it's fighters. the ship was filled with vibrations as Bekka launched successive barrages of flails that was followed by an eerie silence as we waited to see the effects of the initial barrage's. I changed course sharply to lead our pursuers away from capital class ships clustered around the Dukes head quarters.
"missiles incoming" warned tactical over the com to alert the turret and MDM control teams"
The guns opening up told us they were on the job "Okay Bekka lets get rid of the corvettes they are starting to annoy me".
"Roger that Captain" she replied cycling the loading racks to put the hammers in the tubes which she began to launch in a steady pattern targeting each of the pursuing corvettes in sequence she then switched on of the tubes back to flails to eliminate the few remaining fighters that were holding position with us just out of our turrets range. The tactical display was becoming a lot less cluttered as more and more targets were eliminated Bekka fired two more hammers at a couple of M6's that whilst crippled had some how survived the initial barrage.
I slowed our speed to allow the galleon to begin closing on us and hit the alert button that would alert Jako tohave the marines start manning the pods.
"Okay Bekka lets strip the shields of that thing and get support one to jump in and take position.
Far to the north a Chokaro appeared in-system and raced to a prearranged position where it would wait for us.
"Captain Riders compliments, what took us so long" com's called out.
"No reply for the moment" I answered angered that Rider had broken com silence.
I turned my attention back to the displays watching the effects Bekka's missiles were having on the Galleons shields. I had to admire her skill as she brought them down to zero then maintained them with a steady rhythmic launching of flails to keep them steady at 1% as the galleon moved into optimum boarding range it was u to the marines now as Jako launched the pods.
Bekka kept up her shield suppression till all four pods had latched on then cycled the hammers back in ready for our next target. Rider had managed to catch up with us and was matching our pace and replenishing our missile stocks, even this far from the missile holds I could hear the cargo handlers dealing with them. Rider pulled clear as soon as we were topped of. Now it was a matter of waiting for the Alpha team to complete the boarding operation. I cut into the com channel and put it on the bridge com so that we could monitor their progress. I heard Daye Braks coordinating the assault as they made their way through the ship to the computer core. they were meeting determined resistance not surprising considering the most likely fate that awaited any survivors.
"Captain Came Dayes voice a few mizura later operations complete the ship is ours". This was confirmed a moment later as several escape pods were launched.
"Let them go Bekka they won't get far lets save our missiles for the next target".
"Signal Rider and get a jump drive on board the galleon, Tellar take us back to it close enough to retrieve our marines and get a prize crew on board then have Beta team stand by".
I called Jako over the com and asked for an update on alpha teams status the answer was that no one had been wounded which I was relieved to hear. The Galleon was virtually intact despite a last ditch attempt by the crew to scuttle the ship it even had a hold full of weapons and replacement shields on board which they team were installing even as we spoke.
We pulled up alongside the Galleon and transported them back even as the jump drive was transferred form the M5 that Rider ordered landed in its hanger bay.
Once the transfers were complete I took control and headed back towards the Duke's HQ. Their was a burst of light as the Galleon jumped for Patriarchs shipyard.
"Captain" called Pico who was running tactical "the Capitals are moving towards us".
I looked at the data and projections he had made and made a decision based on that "We'll take the Zeus next Bekka be ready for a fighter launch though our intel suggests none lets not take any chance's".
Bekka gave me a quick acknowledgement as I set course for the Zeus that was approaching us at full speed the Captain was a fool I realised he should have kept pace with the two Brigantines he was making this almost too easy for me I called Jako on the com to tell him what I planned to do.
He just grinned at me as I explained the strategy despite the fact that it would require precise shield management to cover the pods at the reduced range we would be working at.
I then turned to Bekka who had obviously caught part of the conversation. "I know its a big ask Bekka but I want this guy to be to sure he can take us than to pay attention to the reality of his situation".
She just gave me her best version of that grin of hers that meant she was looking forward to the challenge.
I hit the combat alarm to alert the crew then accelerated toward the Zeus intending to do a swing by that should infuriate it's Captain "Bekka do you feel up to giving that Zeus a punch to the face at close range".
"One nuclear punch in the nose loaded Captain just watch our distance" she replied coolly as she loaded the tubes to intent on her screens to take her eyes of them.
"As soon as you've done that I would like one of the Brigantines to go away you get to choose" I offered knowing that she would now have to rapidly have to reconfigure her load outs.
"Punch one Zeus in the nose and scratch one Brigantine aye Captain" she responded her fingers dancing over her controls.
I reduced our speed a bit to give her an extra mizura to make the changes then resumed full acceleration when she signalled she was good to go.
Bekka launched a barrage of hammers at one of the Brigantines then switched the load outs as we closed in rapidly on the Zeus. Bekka launched another salvo of hammers and I swung the Sword across the face of the Zeus engaging the turbo boost to give us the acceleration we needed to clear the blast radius of the hammers.
The result was spectacular as our monitors were overloaded for a sezura by the blast that we could feel impacting on our shields for a moment I thought we might have overdone it till our displays rebooted I manouvered the Sword to the minimum safe range of the Zeus and waited for Bekka to finish getting its shields down. It did not take long that punch in the nose had almost zeroed them so she was signalling for the pods within a mizura.
Once again we listened in as the Beta team fought their way through the decks. I recognised Cherams voice over the com as he directed his men remembering the man from that meeting on the shore was it really only yesterday. once again the capture was a success Cheram quickly called in that they had prevented the destruction of the Jump drive which saved Rider a trip even so I ordered him to move in to replenish our missile stocks before ordering him to return to Patriarchs to get our transports in system as soon as we had completed our capture of the destroyer that was inexorably bearing down on us. As soon as we had Beta team on board I ordered them to grab a quick meal whilst Alpha team readied themselves for the next op.
a few Mizura after Rider had Jumped out our transport ships and missile laden freighters arrived in system and deployed to their staging positions.
"Scratch one Brigantine" Bekka called out whilst all this was going on punching the air with her fist, sorry captain she said looking me in the eye so I knew she wasn't.
"No worries Bekka at least you got some intel on the likely shield strengths of the Brigantine we have coming after us".
I called up tactical on the monitor as the Zeus jumped out of system and began manouvering to let Bekka start pounding on its shields this one would be a much tougher nut to crack I also wanted its internal defences fried of before I risked our people so I sent the signal to have our Heavy Centaurs jump in. once we had the shields down their job would be to make strafing runs on the destroyer using its known blind spots to minimise the risks they faced as much as possible.
Its time I called as we settled down to begin the penultimate operation, I wouldn't be taking any risks this time if we couldn't get the shields and defence's down I would have Bekka destroy it.
This Captain was a bit smarter than the Zeus Captain had been as he kept trying to change his approach vector enough to allow his turrets a chance at shooting down our missiles and pods.
An idea grabbed me "Bekka as soon as the shields and defences are down I want you to fire a spread of empty pods at him and keep suppressing the shields as if they are live pods".
"That's brilliant Kert sorry captain"
She almost gushed as she saw my intent and I was quite pleased myself the Cpatain of that Brigantine would see the pods coming at him and would have to commit himself to stopping them before they landed which is when we would fire the real pods at him.
I quickly briefed Jako on the slight twist I intended to put on our plan and he suggested that once his teams were on board we have the centaurs try to disable the life support systems he would advise his team to stay sealed in their suits unless it proved to difficult to disable the life support.
I agreed and told him to get his men ready to which he simply replied.
"Marines are always ready Captain".
-
Sabrina Bergin
- Posts: 2239
- Joined: Sat, 12. Apr 08, 10:53
The Brigantine:
I decided not to make an initial attack run on the Brigantine this Captain had seen us capture two carriers so far so I wanted him to think my intent was to destroy him, if he thought that was my intent he would have no choice but to try and engage us. "New twist missiles I announced take his shields down to ten percent then switch to flails only, but only enough to have the shields hold at that level I want him to think we don't have any hammers left and make it look as if you are being conservative of the flails".
"Captain we are going to burn through a lot of flails that way" Bekka replied "I have to keep a reserve for shield suppression once we go for boarding ".
"Understood keep a close count and see if you can calculate how many hammers it would take to wipe out that last ten percent in one hit. Don't worry about hull damage I'd rather we lost some of the prize than risk the team".
"Roger that" Captain she replied even as the deck began to pulsate as she started firing Hammers at the destroyer.
I contacted the corvettes at the gate and told them to make for the HQ but at a speed that would keep them within range of the destroyer which I intended to bring towards them.
Bekka began firing at the destroyer after a few Salvoes that brought the shields down to 30% she switched to flails that she fired in steady salvoes that slowly bought the shields down to 9% then a final Barrage before firing some mosquito's and four empty pods at the target. I almost laughed at her cunning the Captain of that ship would see the last heavy barrage of flails and with the mosquitos amongst them he would assume we had spent all our major ordinance. I accelerated rapidly straight at the Destroyer who now came charging straight at us thinking we were a spent force hoping for success in boarding him by distracting his turrets with the sword itself.
His shields actually dropped to five percent for a brief moment before the pods arrived when they were taken out by his turrets and MDM system.
At that point I swung us hard about and headed for the North gate as anticipated he came right after us. I could almost picture his delight as he would be able to come in range of us before we made it to the gate if he altered course now.
That would tell me if he thought we were really out of missiles, He obviously did he changed course a moment later and I knew we had him in his mind he would have seen that we hadn't engaged the turbo boost as we had done previously so he would also believe we didn't have enough E cells for a jump hence the dash for the gate, we were now from his point of view a pirates dream target.
I based my course on that assumption knowing it would put us in danger if he opened up on us with his main batteries when we came within range. I was going to keep that window of opportunity confined to as short a period of time as possible I also forwarded the coordinates we would reach where I wanted our corvettes to begin their attack runs.
It was along run to the gate we all watched the tactical display intently as the distance between us narrowed The Our corvettes had moved away from the gate at a slow speed as if they were pausing to watch the battle.
I checked the data on the destroyer its shield were slowly coming back up Bekka would be watching that recharge rate intently in order to deliver the right number of hammers at the thing so I said nothing to disturb her there was absolute silence as we came in range of the destroyer's guns as anticipated he started firing on us with his turrets to drop our shields I altered course then dropped our speed slightly to simulate damage to our engines allowing him the opportunity to get ahead of us for the first time he obviously intended to board us if he could and he would rely on his rear turrets to pound our shields down.
Now would be a good time missiles I thought as he began to manouver into a firing position on us it was a sizura later that bekka launched a spread of hammers at short range at him I opened up to full boost and flew up and over his ship keeping the boost wide open till we were ahead of him and in range to launch a boarding operation. The move obviously startled the man as he didn't even fire at us as we sped past his upper turrets.
Bekka switched to flails to micromanage his shields as the corvettes began making runs on him with their ion disruptors I listened intently as they relayed the results of their passing scans on him to me directly.
"Now" I ordered as his shields dropped to zero and his hull started to take damage . Our corvettes pulled clear to take station just out of range of his guns as our pods launched at minimum range Bekka was firing single flails at the destroyer now interspersed with salvo after salvo of mosquito missiles to distract his targeting systems from our pods. I heard Daye announce they had cut through the hull and then confirmation the ships life support system was down for the first time I cut into his com channel "Daye this is the Captain he was preparing to board us so he will have marines on board".
"Roger that came Daye's cool response the chief had warned us of that possibility".
I cut the com link feeling somewhat embarrassed I should have known the chief would have anticipated the destroyer captains intent to board us.
"There's no harm in double checking they knew Captain" Bekka allowed as we all listened to the fire fight that had begun on the destroyers decks.
The destroyer Captain had demonstrated his competence alteady and now his crew did the same they fought for every meter of decking so the battle was taking a lot longer than I had hoped even so our men were making slow but steady progress.
Then there was a sudden decrease in the noise of combat aboard the destroyer "Hold positions they are pulling back beware of booby traps" I heard Daye order as the sound of Battle faded.
Captain I have a com signal from the Captain of the destroyer they're seeking terms.
"Put him on the main screen" I ordered stunned by the request I had never heard of a pirate offering to surrender a capital class ship most were to stupid or desperate to avoid capture to consider it as an option.
Then I got another shock the Captain of the Brigantine was a woman and a surprisingly beautiful one at that her Skin tone was dark and her eyes flashed with fire as she saw me.
"Well fought Captain" she acknowledged" I will make this simple for you I have ordered my people to withdraw from contact with your marines they will not fire unless fired upon or your marines attempt to move further towards us on this you have my word if you will contact your marines they will confirm this is so".
"That's a Roger" came the voice of Daye in my ear piece from his forward position on deck three of the destroyer he had obviously been listening in on the com channel.
The woman obviously knew from my momentary distraction that I had been told that she was telling the truth. "Very well Captain name your terms".
"They are simple enough Captain considering that I am at your mercy and that my situation is desperate I ask only that I surrender into your keeping myself and my crew and that you will give your word not to turn any of us over to other races military particularly not the Paranid".
"And if I refuse your request" I asked still not believing what I was hearing.
"Then we shall fight to the death Captain none of us will allow ourselves to be taken alive and many of your people will die for no purpose other than your desire for this to happen".
I could see the resolve in the woman's eyes she meant every word she had just spoken. "I would speak with you in person before I make my decision" I told her bluntly.
"I will meet you on deck three then" she replied her voice quiet stifling a chorus of whispered protests from people out of view of the camera with a sharp gesture "if you will restore life support at least, my people will all be dead within half a stazura if you do not, do this and I will lower our shields" she offered. "Captain do not think to take advantage of this we are prepared to detonate our missiles if you seek to betray us".
She would do it I could see it in her eyes the woman was desperate to spare her crew but was also equally determined that they would not be handed to other races military and that intrigued me.
"Very well I agreed I will transport aboard after life support has been established I will bring one officer with me you may do the same".
The courtesy obviously startled her but she nodded acceptance"I will meet you shortly then" Captain she said coldly cutting the link.
"Are you insane Kert it has got to be a trap" Bekka whispered powering her seat around to face me.
"No there is something odd here that woman is desperate to preserve her crew I want to know why".
"I don't care wh.. bekka started to reply before tactical interrupted her.
"Captain they are dropping their shields"
"Daye I ordered get the life support up and running"
"Already on it Captain be advised it will only last a Tazura " Daye responded.
"Now Bekka best get ready your coming with me as I recall the Chief made you my bodyguardl".
"Damn right I'm coming with you" she muttered as she went to get into her combat rig relinquishing missile control to her second.
We transported aboard to Dayes position a couple of mizura later and I asked him to give me an appraisal of the Brigantines crew.
"Sir they are damn good they don't make mistakes and we've taken a few hits nothing fatal but if I was a betting man I would say they are military not pirates at least none like I've ever met before. We may be able to take the ship sir but it is going to be a bitch even if you beamed over the entire Beta team".
"Do you think she'll blow the ship".
He took a sezura to consider his reply"Without question Captain. if she doesn't surrender then beam as many of us out as you can and blow the ship".
Dayes assessment of the situation mirrored my own. "Alright Bekka lets not keep her waiting" I suggested leading the way out into the corridor facing the bulkhead doors that led to the next level".
The doors opened almost as soon as we took position so I assumed she had watched our approach The man with her a Split said nothing but the way he acted and moved reminded me of Jako this was one scary marine alright.
"I am Captain Dannar of the Sword" I offered.
"I am Captain Xarrisse of the Celentaree will you accept my terms Captain, and vow to hold to them".
"I am considering why you are prepared to seek terms at all Captain Xarisse answer that question and you will have my answer".
She did not want to answer that question I could see it somehow it would weaken her position.
"You must not whispered" the man next to her she looked at him and I saw remorse in her eyes, "I must Che t'nn if they refuse then we all die together or would you prefer the alternative know that I do not question your courage please do me the same honour" she whispered back placing a gentle touch to his face with one hand.
He lowered his head in a brief bow to acknowledge her words before returning his gaze to us.
"You force my hand then Captain the crew of this ship are of my blood we are Yaki and we will die at own hands before we allow ourselves to be given to those who would delight in our deaths".
It all fell into place there were still a lot of unanswered questions but it explained her determination to blow the ship should I fail to grant her terms if the Paranid got hold of them they would die as slowly and horrifically as the Paranid could conceive, it was not a fate I would wish on anyone. There was a faint noise from beyond the open bulkhead and Bekka grabbed my arm.
"Kert that's a child crying" she hissed
Xarisse lost her steely composure for a moment but I could see she still held to her resolve and I saw her heart harden to what she might have to do. "You have children aboard this vessel" I asked gently.
"I have already said the crew are my family Captain Dannar it makes no difference I will destroy this ship rather than be taken you should not doubt my resolve though at a disadvantage at this moment still I am Yaki".
The man next to her stiffened with pride at her words I was honestly appalled at what they intended till I considered the alternatives she faced.
I had no choice but what the hell was I going to do with them The Paranid would be moving into the system when we moved to attempt to take the Duke captive.
"I did not know this was a Yaki vessel my quarrel is with the Duke and his minions alone, you have my word that you and your people will remain in my care alone do I have your parole ?".
"You have it she answered" in a quiet voice.
The Split next to her moved a hand slowly to the Jatra fastened at his waist . "I do not ask for your blade I said quickly".
The man gave me a deep Serva kai "It shall remain sheaved my word on it, how is it you know so much of the Split Captain Dannar".
"Many Split warriors are in my service" I replied knowing that the man would die before he broke that promise.
I could also see him judging that was also the reason for the effectiveness of our boarding teams.
"Your men fight well he acknowledged"
Xarisse spoke into a com unit ordering her crew to surrender their weapons before turning to face me again "Now I am in your hands Captain I would ask that you and your men be careful on the next level this is where our families are quartered".
Bekka was already passing the information to Daye who was walking towards us with his quad around him who were no doubt relaying it onto his other teams.
" This changes things and complicates matters we need to talk I said will you join me aboard the Sword Our men will begin repairs to your ship and will not attempt to pass beyond this level".
"A wise precaution Captain this is the control unit for the scuttling charges" Xarisse agreed handing me the pad which I gave to Daye.
Daye took the pad carefully and ordered his men to begin dismantling the charges in the missile racks before sending another team towards a lift access that Xarisse said would take them directly to the bridge. Xarisse moved to a wall mounted com unit and ordered the bridge crew to allow them access.
A few moments later and we were back aboard the Sword.
I decided not to make an initial attack run on the Brigantine this Captain had seen us capture two carriers so far so I wanted him to think my intent was to destroy him, if he thought that was my intent he would have no choice but to try and engage us. "New twist missiles I announced take his shields down to ten percent then switch to flails only, but only enough to have the shields hold at that level I want him to think we don't have any hammers left and make it look as if you are being conservative of the flails".
"Captain we are going to burn through a lot of flails that way" Bekka replied "I have to keep a reserve for shield suppression once we go for boarding ".
"Understood keep a close count and see if you can calculate how many hammers it would take to wipe out that last ten percent in one hit. Don't worry about hull damage I'd rather we lost some of the prize than risk the team".
"Roger that" Captain she replied even as the deck began to pulsate as she started firing Hammers at the destroyer.
I contacted the corvettes at the gate and told them to make for the HQ but at a speed that would keep them within range of the destroyer which I intended to bring towards them.
Bekka began firing at the destroyer after a few Salvoes that brought the shields down to 30% she switched to flails that she fired in steady salvoes that slowly bought the shields down to 9% then a final Barrage before firing some mosquito's and four empty pods at the target. I almost laughed at her cunning the Captain of that ship would see the last heavy barrage of flails and with the mosquitos amongst them he would assume we had spent all our major ordinance. I accelerated rapidly straight at the Destroyer who now came charging straight at us thinking we were a spent force hoping for success in boarding him by distracting his turrets with the sword itself.
His shields actually dropped to five percent for a brief moment before the pods arrived when they were taken out by his turrets and MDM system.
At that point I swung us hard about and headed for the North gate as anticipated he came right after us. I could almost picture his delight as he would be able to come in range of us before we made it to the gate if he altered course now.
That would tell me if he thought we were really out of missiles, He obviously did he changed course a moment later and I knew we had him in his mind he would have seen that we hadn't engaged the turbo boost as we had done previously so he would also believe we didn't have enough E cells for a jump hence the dash for the gate, we were now from his point of view a pirates dream target.
I based my course on that assumption knowing it would put us in danger if he opened up on us with his main batteries when we came within range. I was going to keep that window of opportunity confined to as short a period of time as possible I also forwarded the coordinates we would reach where I wanted our corvettes to begin their attack runs.
It was along run to the gate we all watched the tactical display intently as the distance between us narrowed The Our corvettes had moved away from the gate at a slow speed as if they were pausing to watch the battle.
I checked the data on the destroyer its shield were slowly coming back up Bekka would be watching that recharge rate intently in order to deliver the right number of hammers at the thing so I said nothing to disturb her there was absolute silence as we came in range of the destroyer's guns as anticipated he started firing on us with his turrets to drop our shields I altered course then dropped our speed slightly to simulate damage to our engines allowing him the opportunity to get ahead of us for the first time he obviously intended to board us if he could and he would rely on his rear turrets to pound our shields down.
Now would be a good time missiles I thought as he began to manouver into a firing position on us it was a sizura later that bekka launched a spread of hammers at short range at him I opened up to full boost and flew up and over his ship keeping the boost wide open till we were ahead of him and in range to launch a boarding operation. The move obviously startled the man as he didn't even fire at us as we sped past his upper turrets.
Bekka switched to flails to micromanage his shields as the corvettes began making runs on him with their ion disruptors I listened intently as they relayed the results of their passing scans on him to me directly.
"Now" I ordered as his shields dropped to zero and his hull started to take damage . Our corvettes pulled clear to take station just out of range of his guns as our pods launched at minimum range Bekka was firing single flails at the destroyer now interspersed with salvo after salvo of mosquito missiles to distract his targeting systems from our pods. I heard Daye announce they had cut through the hull and then confirmation the ships life support system was down for the first time I cut into his com channel "Daye this is the Captain he was preparing to board us so he will have marines on board".
"Roger that came Daye's cool response the chief had warned us of that possibility".
I cut the com link feeling somewhat embarrassed I should have known the chief would have anticipated the destroyer captains intent to board us.
"There's no harm in double checking they knew Captain" Bekka allowed as we all listened to the fire fight that had begun on the destroyers decks.
The destroyer Captain had demonstrated his competence alteady and now his crew did the same they fought for every meter of decking so the battle was taking a lot longer than I had hoped even so our men were making slow but steady progress.
Then there was a sudden decrease in the noise of combat aboard the destroyer "Hold positions they are pulling back beware of booby traps" I heard Daye order as the sound of Battle faded.
Captain I have a com signal from the Captain of the destroyer they're seeking terms.
"Put him on the main screen" I ordered stunned by the request I had never heard of a pirate offering to surrender a capital class ship most were to stupid or desperate to avoid capture to consider it as an option.
Then I got another shock the Captain of the Brigantine was a woman and a surprisingly beautiful one at that her Skin tone was dark and her eyes flashed with fire as she saw me.
"Well fought Captain" she acknowledged" I will make this simple for you I have ordered my people to withdraw from contact with your marines they will not fire unless fired upon or your marines attempt to move further towards us on this you have my word if you will contact your marines they will confirm this is so".
"That's a Roger" came the voice of Daye in my ear piece from his forward position on deck three of the destroyer he had obviously been listening in on the com channel.
The woman obviously knew from my momentary distraction that I had been told that she was telling the truth. "Very well Captain name your terms".
"They are simple enough Captain considering that I am at your mercy and that my situation is desperate I ask only that I surrender into your keeping myself and my crew and that you will give your word not to turn any of us over to other races military particularly not the Paranid".
"And if I refuse your request" I asked still not believing what I was hearing.
"Then we shall fight to the death Captain none of us will allow ourselves to be taken alive and many of your people will die for no purpose other than your desire for this to happen".
I could see the resolve in the woman's eyes she meant every word she had just spoken. "I would speak with you in person before I make my decision" I told her bluntly.
"I will meet you on deck three then" she replied her voice quiet stifling a chorus of whispered protests from people out of view of the camera with a sharp gesture "if you will restore life support at least, my people will all be dead within half a stazura if you do not, do this and I will lower our shields" she offered. "Captain do not think to take advantage of this we are prepared to detonate our missiles if you seek to betray us".
She would do it I could see it in her eyes the woman was desperate to spare her crew but was also equally determined that they would not be handed to other races military and that intrigued me.
"Very well I agreed I will transport aboard after life support has been established I will bring one officer with me you may do the same".
The courtesy obviously startled her but she nodded acceptance"I will meet you shortly then" Captain she said coldly cutting the link.
"Are you insane Kert it has got to be a trap" Bekka whispered powering her seat around to face me.
"No there is something odd here that woman is desperate to preserve her crew I want to know why".
"I don't care wh.. bekka started to reply before tactical interrupted her.
"Captain they are dropping their shields"
"Daye I ordered get the life support up and running"
"Already on it Captain be advised it will only last a Tazura " Daye responded.
"Now Bekka best get ready your coming with me as I recall the Chief made you my bodyguardl".
"Damn right I'm coming with you" she muttered as she went to get into her combat rig relinquishing missile control to her second.
We transported aboard to Dayes position a couple of mizura later and I asked him to give me an appraisal of the Brigantines crew.
"Sir they are damn good they don't make mistakes and we've taken a few hits nothing fatal but if I was a betting man I would say they are military not pirates at least none like I've ever met before. We may be able to take the ship sir but it is going to be a bitch even if you beamed over the entire Beta team".
"Do you think she'll blow the ship".
He took a sezura to consider his reply"Without question Captain. if she doesn't surrender then beam as many of us out as you can and blow the ship".
Dayes assessment of the situation mirrored my own. "Alright Bekka lets not keep her waiting" I suggested leading the way out into the corridor facing the bulkhead doors that led to the next level".
The doors opened almost as soon as we took position so I assumed she had watched our approach The man with her a Split said nothing but the way he acted and moved reminded me of Jako this was one scary marine alright.
"I am Captain Dannar of the Sword" I offered.
"I am Captain Xarrisse of the Celentaree will you accept my terms Captain, and vow to hold to them".
"I am considering why you are prepared to seek terms at all Captain Xarisse answer that question and you will have my answer".
She did not want to answer that question I could see it somehow it would weaken her position.
"You must not whispered" the man next to her she looked at him and I saw remorse in her eyes, "I must Che t'nn if they refuse then we all die together or would you prefer the alternative know that I do not question your courage please do me the same honour" she whispered back placing a gentle touch to his face with one hand.
He lowered his head in a brief bow to acknowledge her words before returning his gaze to us.
"You force my hand then Captain the crew of this ship are of my blood we are Yaki and we will die at own hands before we allow ourselves to be given to those who would delight in our deaths".
It all fell into place there were still a lot of unanswered questions but it explained her determination to blow the ship should I fail to grant her terms if the Paranid got hold of them they would die as slowly and horrifically as the Paranid could conceive, it was not a fate I would wish on anyone. There was a faint noise from beyond the open bulkhead and Bekka grabbed my arm.
"Kert that's a child crying" she hissed
Xarisse lost her steely composure for a moment but I could see she still held to her resolve and I saw her heart harden to what she might have to do. "You have children aboard this vessel" I asked gently.
"I have already said the crew are my family Captain Dannar it makes no difference I will destroy this ship rather than be taken you should not doubt my resolve though at a disadvantage at this moment still I am Yaki".
The man next to her stiffened with pride at her words I was honestly appalled at what they intended till I considered the alternatives she faced.
I had no choice but what the hell was I going to do with them The Paranid would be moving into the system when we moved to attempt to take the Duke captive.
"I did not know this was a Yaki vessel my quarrel is with the Duke and his minions alone, you have my word that you and your people will remain in my care alone do I have your parole ?".
"You have it she answered" in a quiet voice.
The Split next to her moved a hand slowly to the Jatra fastened at his waist . "I do not ask for your blade I said quickly".
The man gave me a deep Serva kai "It shall remain sheaved my word on it, how is it you know so much of the Split Captain Dannar".
"Many Split warriors are in my service" I replied knowing that the man would die before he broke that promise.
I could also see him judging that was also the reason for the effectiveness of our boarding teams.
"Your men fight well he acknowledged"
Xarisse spoke into a com unit ordering her crew to surrender their weapons before turning to face me again "Now I am in your hands Captain I would ask that you and your men be careful on the next level this is where our families are quartered".
Bekka was already passing the information to Daye who was walking towards us with his quad around him who were no doubt relaying it onto his other teams.
" This changes things and complicates matters we need to talk I said will you join me aboard the Sword Our men will begin repairs to your ship and will not attempt to pass beyond this level".
"A wise precaution Captain this is the control unit for the scuttling charges" Xarisse agreed handing me the pad which I gave to Daye.
Daye took the pad carefully and ordered his men to begin dismantling the charges in the missile racks before sending another team towards a lift access that Xarisse said would take them directly to the bridge. Xarisse moved to a wall mounted com unit and ordered the bridge crew to allow them access.
A few moments later and we were back aboard the Sword.
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Sabrina Bergin
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We beamed back aboard to a pad on the marine deck where the chief joined us as we made our way to the conference room. I indicated we should all take seats in the lounge area.
"You said we needed to speak Captain Dannar to what end I have given you my parole and none of my people will break my word".
"Of that I have no doubt Xarrisse my difficulty is that my purpose in coming here was to capture or kill the Duke and to destroy that base. To the North the Paranid are blockading the sector and are waiting for me to complete my tasks before they move in a fleet to pacify the sector. As you have given me your word and parole I have also given you mine I am considering options on how best to resolve the issue I can delay only for so long".
"The first task you have surely failed then Captain I have been waiting here two Tazura for that dog to return. Had he been more timely then you and I would never have met, you would have not defeated me in battle and brought me to ruin....... Captain the arrangements with the Paranid did you speak to the commander of a Hyperion a certain Lockemtlas concerning them perchance" she asked quietly.
Che t'nn said something to her in a low whisper in that odd dialect and I saw her nod her head in agreement before she broke it was totally unexpected she got up and turned as if to flee till Che t'nn caught her and held her close speaking quietly and softly to her.
He sat her down on a seat away from us then returned to the table to explain.
"My wife apologises she is somewhat distraught Captain I will explain in her stead. Know then that My lady is first born to our lord Halin Tagar chief of chiefs of the Yaki and until now heir to the Clan Intares. The Paranid you have named is an agent in the employ of her brother who has long craved her position as heir to the leadership of our clan and no doubt arranged the absence of this so called duke and brought us to our ruin. Once word of our defeat rather than her death at your hands reached the Yaki her brother will force her father to declare us outcast, it is our oldest law and though he loves her dearly it is one he cannot break even for if it were for her".
"We've been used Kert" Jak said aloud" "she can't go back not now, if you think handing her to the Paranid would be bad you have no idea how much worse it would be to hand her back to her bretheren even with her ship".
"They would destroy us and my father would suffer the same fate, it is possible that this is also my brothers intent better, I had died in battle" Xarrisse confirmed in a quiet voice from where she sat.
I sat there appalled that anyone would do such a thing but it explained everything that till now had seemed odd about her being here in the first place. It also made me angry I hated being used and those responsible would pay for this.
"You said we needed to speak Captain Dannar to what end I have given you my parole and none of my people will break my word".
"Of that I have no doubt Xarrisse my difficulty is that my purpose in coming here was to capture or kill the Duke and to destroy that base. To the North the Paranid are blockading the sector and are waiting for me to complete my tasks before they move in a fleet to pacify the sector. As you have given me your word and parole I have also given you mine I am considering options on how best to resolve the issue I can delay only for so long".
"The first task you have surely failed then Captain I have been waiting here two Tazura for that dog to return. Had he been more timely then you and I would never have met, you would have not defeated me in battle and brought me to ruin....... Captain the arrangements with the Paranid did you speak to the commander of a Hyperion a certain Lockemtlas concerning them perchance" she asked quietly.
Che t'nn said something to her in a low whisper in that odd dialect and I saw her nod her head in agreement before she broke it was totally unexpected she got up and turned as if to flee till Che t'nn caught her and held her close speaking quietly and softly to her.
He sat her down on a seat away from us then returned to the table to explain.
"My wife apologises she is somewhat distraught Captain I will explain in her stead. Know then that My lady is first born to our lord Halin Tagar chief of chiefs of the Yaki and until now heir to the Clan Intares. The Paranid you have named is an agent in the employ of her brother who has long craved her position as heir to the leadership of our clan and no doubt arranged the absence of this so called duke and brought us to our ruin. Once word of our defeat rather than her death at your hands reached the Yaki her brother will force her father to declare us outcast, it is our oldest law and though he loves her dearly it is one he cannot break even for if it were for her".
"We've been used Kert" Jak said aloud" "she can't go back not now, if you think handing her to the Paranid would be bad you have no idea how much worse it would be to hand her back to her bretheren even with her ship".
"They would destroy us and my father would suffer the same fate, it is possible that this is also my brothers intent better, I had died in battle" Xarrisse confirmed in a quiet voice from where she sat.
I sat there appalled that anyone would do such a thing but it explained everything that till now had seemed odd about her being here in the first place. It also made me angry I hated being used and those responsible would pay for this.
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Sabrina Bergin
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In a way it simplified matters I realised instead of having to risk boarding the station I could now just destroy it I ordered our missile freighters to match our course as we moved to a firing position.
Once we were fully restocked I left it To Tellar to warn the station inhabitants to evacuate and to begin the attack on the station in a stazura.
Bekka had joined Xarrisse on the couch and was speaking to her quietly.
Che t'nn stood nearby his expression revealing nothing of what he must be feeling.
"You're not going to just leave things as they are Kert" Jak asked quietly.
"Damn right I'm not Che t'nn do you have a moment" the Split looked to his wife for before joining us though positioning himself so that he could maintain a discreet view of Xarrisse.
"What would happen if I was to give the Paranid we spoke of to her father" I saw the sudden flash of passion in his eyes as he considered my words and he gave some thought to his answer before speaking.
"Then my Lord would exact revenge upon the one who has sought to betray her, there is also the fact he would be indebted to you but what you suggest would be difficult to achieve the cowardly Paranid never leaves that ship he is so proud of except to speak with my brother by law. Even then it would be impossible for us to return to our home sectors her brother will be seeking to have us declared outcast once that was achieved it would force my lord to act even against his own wish's to the contrary".
"If I could get a message to him telling him where this Paranid could be found would he act upon it, given that he will already suspect your lady has been betrayed by her brother" I asked bluntly.
"He would Che t'nn agreed but this is speculation only at this point until you have the Paranid in your hand".
Then its decided you know Jak I've always wanted a Hyperion once we have destroyed the base I think we shall lay a trap for this Lockemtlas I hate being used". Jak just grinned at me and left us to select the people we would need for the job it would have to be a space walk if we wanted the ship intact and I think we would be taking one of our corvettes with us when we left this sector. Much of what we could do would depend on wether Xarrisse would agree to go along with my plans but having seen the desire for vengeance in the eyes of Che t'nn I doubted she would refuse.
"There is one other matter I know will be of importance to your Lady and yourself Che t'nn the safety of your people, in this I must ask you to place your trust in me to deliver them to a place beyond any ones reach but mine. I will need both you and your lady to accompany us to take this Paranid and I would rather your people see that she has agreed to this willingly I would not wish them to think our intent is to betray you or them".
"This place of safety you speak of you are certain of it" he asked.
"It is to me and mine that which Weavers tempest is to your people you will see it yourself before I ask you to send your people there but it will mean we will have to transfer to another ship for a short time and then return here before the station has fallen I would ask your wife to return to your ship as surety of my word and to give your people reassurance".
I could see the man weighing his options if I intended betrayal then at least his wife would die in the midst of her family his own safety meant nothing to him and if I was sincere then he would bear proof of my words upon our return.
"I would speak with my Lady alone for a moment he said softly"
I agreed motioning for Bekka to join me so that we could give them the room. "What's going on Kert that woman is so broken up its a wonder she isn't climbing the walls".
I outlined my plans briefly and I saw her grasp my intent "look Bekka it's asking a lot of you your control of the shields is critical to the success of this plan and we need the Paranid alive we can hardly give Xarisse's father a corpse, not if this is to work".
She said nothing just gave me that thousand yard stare all marines learn at birth and nodded acceptance as the door behind us opened and Che t'nn indicated we might re-enter the room. I was glad to see that Xarrisse had recovered her composure and we sat down opposite her as she looked into my eyes as if she sought to determine I spoke the truth in what I had promised her husband.
"You risk much unnecessarily Captain not least the enmity of the Paranid on my behalf I would ask why ?".
"I don't like being used Xarrisse by this Paranid or by your brother and I would rather not make an enemy of all the Yaki".
"In that you are wise Captain my father is not a kindly man if he feels he has been attacked and as you have wounded him by defeating me he will not look kindly upon you. My Husband has said you intend to take this Paranids ship I would wish him to go along with your men".
"I think not Xarrisse firstly because my men work best as a team and have trained to work as one and secondly because given the harm this Paranid has caused you he might not be able to restrain himself if they were to come face to face".
"I know not myself" Che t'nn admitted as she turned her eyes to him.
She smiled at his words then turned her attention to me "my husband has suggested that time is of importance I will return to my ship she agreed"
I did not miss the weight she put on the words 'My Ship' as I had no doubt she intended I catch and I led them down to the transport pads.
Once back on board the Celentaree I was pleased to note that our marines were maintaining a non aggressive stance with the ships crew nor did I miss the looks of surprise and relief on her peoples faces when they saw she had returned safely in our company. She led us to a conference room similar to our own where her senior crew were waiting for us.
They rose and bowed to her as she took her place at the head of the table Bekka and myself remained near the doors so as not to seem as if we were placing her under duress.
"We have been betrayed she said simply this man who fought us in battle was here to chastise the Duke and has been used as a pawn by my brother, he had no knowledge of our presence when he entered the system believing us to be but one of the Dukes lackies".
"That is all well and good my Lady and no doubt explains why we still live it does not change the law you know what your father will do said one of the older men at the table".
"If I might speak" I asked stepping forward to forestall matters "My understanding is that the Yaki outcast those who have suffered defeat lest they become a tool for their enemies is this so". seeing none of them was about to speak I carried on making it up as I went hoping that Xarrisse would follow where I led".
"I have only learnt this was a Yaki ship in the last few Mizura had I known I would never have sought to engage you in combat, my target is the duke and his allies only. I regret beginning this action and will make restitution where I am able. In the short term this means getting your ship out of Paranid controlled space to a place where we can make what repairs are necessary, clearly I have been misled and your lady has been the victim of that I will have answers from those responsible I swear it".
That caught everyone of them by surprise and I saw several of them casting glances my way as Xarrisse spoke on repeating my assurance that I would render them assistance in leaving Paranid space.
The man who had spoken earlier stood again "my lady speaks of safety for our family and more importantly of vengeance for the treachery we have been dealt give us this and we will do our ladies will in this matter" he said plainly.
I had not forgotten Jaks warning that if I failed to provide that which I had promised the crew might refuse to obey Xarrisse and would select another Captain I left them too it and Che t'nn followed me and Bekka out of the room we went back to the spot we had been beamed aboard and we found ourselves on one of the Corvettes that formed a defensive patrol around the Sword.
I assumed command and took us to the Redoubt by the normaly circuitous route to anyone studying the satellite feeds it would appear we were simply routinely rotating out and I was fairly there would be one Paranid who would be watching the Celenteree intently.
Once we were fully restocked I left it To Tellar to warn the station inhabitants to evacuate and to begin the attack on the station in a stazura.
Bekka had joined Xarrisse on the couch and was speaking to her quietly.
Che t'nn stood nearby his expression revealing nothing of what he must be feeling.
"You're not going to just leave things as they are Kert" Jak asked quietly.
"Damn right I'm not Che t'nn do you have a moment" the Split looked to his wife for before joining us though positioning himself so that he could maintain a discreet view of Xarrisse.
"What would happen if I was to give the Paranid we spoke of to her father" I saw the sudden flash of passion in his eyes as he considered my words and he gave some thought to his answer before speaking.
"Then my Lord would exact revenge upon the one who has sought to betray her, there is also the fact he would be indebted to you but what you suggest would be difficult to achieve the cowardly Paranid never leaves that ship he is so proud of except to speak with my brother by law. Even then it would be impossible for us to return to our home sectors her brother will be seeking to have us declared outcast once that was achieved it would force my lord to act even against his own wish's to the contrary".
"If I could get a message to him telling him where this Paranid could be found would he act upon it, given that he will already suspect your lady has been betrayed by her brother" I asked bluntly.
"He would Che t'nn agreed but this is speculation only at this point until you have the Paranid in your hand".
Then its decided you know Jak I've always wanted a Hyperion once we have destroyed the base I think we shall lay a trap for this Lockemtlas I hate being used". Jak just grinned at me and left us to select the people we would need for the job it would have to be a space walk if we wanted the ship intact and I think we would be taking one of our corvettes with us when we left this sector. Much of what we could do would depend on wether Xarrisse would agree to go along with my plans but having seen the desire for vengeance in the eyes of Che t'nn I doubted she would refuse.
"There is one other matter I know will be of importance to your Lady and yourself Che t'nn the safety of your people, in this I must ask you to place your trust in me to deliver them to a place beyond any ones reach but mine. I will need both you and your lady to accompany us to take this Paranid and I would rather your people see that she has agreed to this willingly I would not wish them to think our intent is to betray you or them".
"This place of safety you speak of you are certain of it" he asked.
"It is to me and mine that which Weavers tempest is to your people you will see it yourself before I ask you to send your people there but it will mean we will have to transfer to another ship for a short time and then return here before the station has fallen I would ask your wife to return to your ship as surety of my word and to give your people reassurance".
I could see the man weighing his options if I intended betrayal then at least his wife would die in the midst of her family his own safety meant nothing to him and if I was sincere then he would bear proof of my words upon our return.
"I would speak with my Lady alone for a moment he said softly"
I agreed motioning for Bekka to join me so that we could give them the room. "What's going on Kert that woman is so broken up its a wonder she isn't climbing the walls".
I outlined my plans briefly and I saw her grasp my intent "look Bekka it's asking a lot of you your control of the shields is critical to the success of this plan and we need the Paranid alive we can hardly give Xarisse's father a corpse, not if this is to work".
She said nothing just gave me that thousand yard stare all marines learn at birth and nodded acceptance as the door behind us opened and Che t'nn indicated we might re-enter the room. I was glad to see that Xarrisse had recovered her composure and we sat down opposite her as she looked into my eyes as if she sought to determine I spoke the truth in what I had promised her husband.
"You risk much unnecessarily Captain not least the enmity of the Paranid on my behalf I would ask why ?".
"I don't like being used Xarrisse by this Paranid or by your brother and I would rather not make an enemy of all the Yaki".
"In that you are wise Captain my father is not a kindly man if he feels he has been attacked and as you have wounded him by defeating me he will not look kindly upon you. My Husband has said you intend to take this Paranids ship I would wish him to go along with your men".
"I think not Xarrisse firstly because my men work best as a team and have trained to work as one and secondly because given the harm this Paranid has caused you he might not be able to restrain himself if they were to come face to face".
"I know not myself" Che t'nn admitted as she turned her eyes to him.
She smiled at his words then turned her attention to me "my husband has suggested that time is of importance I will return to my ship she agreed"
I did not miss the weight she put on the words 'My Ship' as I had no doubt she intended I catch and I led them down to the transport pads.
Once back on board the Celentaree I was pleased to note that our marines were maintaining a non aggressive stance with the ships crew nor did I miss the looks of surprise and relief on her peoples faces when they saw she had returned safely in our company. She led us to a conference room similar to our own where her senior crew were waiting for us.
They rose and bowed to her as she took her place at the head of the table Bekka and myself remained near the doors so as not to seem as if we were placing her under duress.
"We have been betrayed she said simply this man who fought us in battle was here to chastise the Duke and has been used as a pawn by my brother, he had no knowledge of our presence when he entered the system believing us to be but one of the Dukes lackies".
"That is all well and good my Lady and no doubt explains why we still live it does not change the law you know what your father will do said one of the older men at the table".
"If I might speak" I asked stepping forward to forestall matters "My understanding is that the Yaki outcast those who have suffered defeat lest they become a tool for their enemies is this so". seeing none of them was about to speak I carried on making it up as I went hoping that Xarrisse would follow where I led".
"I have only learnt this was a Yaki ship in the last few Mizura had I known I would never have sought to engage you in combat, my target is the duke and his allies only. I regret beginning this action and will make restitution where I am able. In the short term this means getting your ship out of Paranid controlled space to a place where we can make what repairs are necessary, clearly I have been misled and your lady has been the victim of that I will have answers from those responsible I swear it".
That caught everyone of them by surprise and I saw several of them casting glances my way as Xarrisse spoke on repeating my assurance that I would render them assistance in leaving Paranid space.
The man who had spoken earlier stood again "my lady speaks of safety for our family and more importantly of vengeance for the treachery we have been dealt give us this and we will do our ladies will in this matter" he said plainly.
I had not forgotten Jaks warning that if I failed to provide that which I had promised the crew might refuse to obey Xarrisse and would select another Captain I left them too it and Che t'nn followed me and Bekka out of the room we went back to the spot we had been beamed aboard and we found ourselves on one of the Corvettes that formed a defensive patrol around the Sword.
I assumed command and took us to the Redoubt by the normaly circuitous route to anyone studying the satellite feeds it would appear we were simply routinely rotating out and I was fairly there would be one Paranid who would be watching the Celenteree intently.
Last edited by Sabrina Bergin on Thu, 7. Aug 14, 11:33, edited 2 times in total.
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Sabrina Bergin
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We transferred to the Celentaree as soon as we returned I noted the absence of our people and followed Che t'nn to the bridge. Xarrisse was sat in the command chair giving quiet orders over her head set studying her monitors carefully.
She must have sensed our approach as she powered her chair around to face us before we could approach further.
"Captain Dannar, Che t'nn you return sooner than I expected, I had hoped to have my ship fully functional before you returned. Welcome husband what say you of Dannars further promises to us".
"He speaks truly Captain though I am loathe to admit it his home sector is not only unknown to me it is far more secure than your fathers domain even having seen its defences I would be daunted were I asked to assault him there, further from what little I saw he has the means to wage war with impunity upon any of the races should he choose to do so".
"Then you have kept your promises so far Kert, what now the station is about to meet its end and you have also promised me a certain Paranid".
"I have and we will fetch him soon enough for the moment I will need your ship to jump to the ship yard in legends home were I to ask you to leave it within reach of the Paranid I could not guarantee its safety. I have made arrangements with Otas for the Celenteree to be given safe passage. It would be helpful if your crew did not fire upon people I consider my allies and friends. Once there your ship will be provisioned and the final repairs can be made.
In the short term I will need you to speak with your father I assume you have a means of doing so" . She agreed she did which did not surprise me so I outlined what I wanted her to say. she was a little surprised at first but a slow vicious smile spread across her face as she saw to my intent.
"Come with me" she ordered leading me of the bridge to a small command centre just beyond the bridge access doors.
Her senior crew were present obviously waiting on Che t'nn to report on what he had seen although the mere fact he had returned and the withdrawal of our people from their ship had already given them reason to trust me already.
They were not entirely happy with both Xarrisse and Che t'nn leaving with me again even if only for a short while until Xarrisse told them it was necessary to enact vengeance on those who had betrayed them.
"There is one other matter Xarrisse my men found the second set of charges you had set around the reactors and they ask that you have your men remove it we cannot allow you to take the Celenteree to our sector whilst it is in place it poses to great a threat to our security".
"Your men are thorough Kert I was assured that it could not be detected, still having proven you are a man of honour it serves no purpose now it will be removed".
She turned again to her crew and instructed her first Kentarre to assume command until she returned and to follow my orders as if they were her own.
"Now Captain" she said cheerfully whilst turning to lead me from the room "lets us go and set a trap for traitors".
She must have sensed our approach as she powered her chair around to face us before we could approach further.
"Captain Dannar, Che t'nn you return sooner than I expected, I had hoped to have my ship fully functional before you returned. Welcome husband what say you of Dannars further promises to us".
"He speaks truly Captain though I am loathe to admit it his home sector is not only unknown to me it is far more secure than your fathers domain even having seen its defences I would be daunted were I asked to assault him there, further from what little I saw he has the means to wage war with impunity upon any of the races should he choose to do so".
"Then you have kept your promises so far Kert, what now the station is about to meet its end and you have also promised me a certain Paranid".
"I have and we will fetch him soon enough for the moment I will need your ship to jump to the ship yard in legends home were I to ask you to leave it within reach of the Paranid I could not guarantee its safety. I have made arrangements with Otas for the Celenteree to be given safe passage. It would be helpful if your crew did not fire upon people I consider my allies and friends. Once there your ship will be provisioned and the final repairs can be made.
In the short term I will need you to speak with your father I assume you have a means of doing so" . She agreed she did which did not surprise me so I outlined what I wanted her to say. she was a little surprised at first but a slow vicious smile spread across her face as she saw to my intent.
"Come with me" she ordered leading me of the bridge to a small command centre just beyond the bridge access doors.
Her senior crew were present obviously waiting on Che t'nn to report on what he had seen although the mere fact he had returned and the withdrawal of our people from their ship had already given them reason to trust me already.
They were not entirely happy with both Xarrisse and Che t'nn leaving with me again even if only for a short while until Xarrisse told them it was necessary to enact vengeance on those who had betrayed them.
"There is one other matter Xarrisse my men found the second set of charges you had set around the reactors and they ask that you have your men remove it we cannot allow you to take the Celenteree to our sector whilst it is in place it poses to great a threat to our security".
"Your men are thorough Kert I was assured that it could not be detected, still having proven you are a man of honour it serves no purpose now it will be removed".
She turned again to her crew and instructed her first Kentarre to assume command until she returned and to follow my orders as if they were her own.
"Now Captain" she said cheerfully whilst turning to lead me from the room "lets us go and set a trap for traitors".
Last edited by Sabrina Bergin on Thu, 7. Aug 14, 11:39, edited 1 time in total.
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Sabrina Bergin
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The Hyperion:
"Most Holy the Station is no more" his servant said opening the door to his sanctum uninvited.
Lockemtlas looked down on the one who had disturbed his peace but for once he was pleased at being interrupted he had been concerned at the time spent by the creature Dannar in subduing the Yaki ship it would have been simpler had it been destroyed but no matter it was done now he ordered his captain to enter the system intending to claim the ship and to dispose of it he was doubly pleased with one stroke he had destroyed one enemy who had become a burden to him and his emporer and with the other had made certain his influence with the cursed Yaki would be increased which would in time allow him to orchestrate their destruction.
He felt a warm glow of satisfaction having set his plans to encompass three goals which he had achieved surely his status was set to improve as was promised in the holy texts.
He strode onto the bridge still suffused in the glow of his anticipated rise in status at the court of his lord Emporer he looked out the bridges view ports pleased at having been placed in command of this powerful fleet an indication that the Emporer himself was aware of his actions on behalf of the chosen.
The Divine messenger entered the system and sent out a broad spectrum transmission that this sector was being annexed by command of the Holy Emporer and that all found within were subject to His Holy law.
Set a course for the Brigantine he ordered having waited till the broadcast had finished before allowing time to consider more mundane matters.
"Most holy the Brigantine is no longer in the system our reports are that it was jumped out mere sezura before our arrival" one of his underlings reported.
It was of no matter Lockemtlas decided no doubt the venal argon had sent it to the split shipyard to be sold as he had his other captures, in fact it saved him a task. He instructed his Captain to take him towards the remains of the station that had so long been a thorn in the side of the Paranid.
He was looking upon the ruin of the station with satisfaction when his contemplation was disturbed by news that the venal argon Dannar wished to speak with him and would not be dissuaded.
I will speak to this lesser creature in my cabin he announced wondering what this lesser creature wanted. The sooner he had risen to a position where he no longer had to soil himself with contact with such the better he decided.
"Why do you disturb my peace unholy one" he demanded to know making it clear he was displeased at being disturbed.
"Good news Lockmemtlas we have struck the jackpot pure nividium that last Brigantine we captured it was a Yaki ship".
"Yaki pirate what difference impure one sell it as you have the others and be done with this conversation so that I may return to the service of our most holy emporer".
"Don't be hasty Locketlas the Argon said leaning closer to his monitor and lowering his voice in a furtive manner, I captured that ship intact we used a new type of gas it knocks everyone out for a tazura even in enviro suits the stuff is just amazing didn't even have to fire a shot, any way to cut to the chase the captain of that ship she's not just Yaki she's only the daughter of the great high oompah of the whole Yaki race. I can ransom her back for millions. millions Lockemtlas".
Lockemtlas sat back stunned this venal Argon knew not that holding this woman in his grasp guaranteed him nought but a slow death not the riches he sought but, if he should learn of his part in her being here his own death would also be assured at the hands of the yaki prince he has been using to gain control of that vile pestilence.
There was no time to lose he must gain control of this woman and this Argon but how to do so if he left the Paranid realm he might loose that opportunity to act.
"This woman are you taking her back to your base it would be wise to ensure she is held far from prying eyes".
"Way ahead of you Locky I've got a base in the unknown sector just west of lasting vengeance I'm on routes there now and as its not even operational no one but me knows it even exists how good is that".
"That is very good indeed Commander Dannar not even the Yaki can find a base that is not known you are fortunate but why call me I have pressing matters to attend to here" he lied sensing that the Argon would provide the means for him to deal with this unfortunate turn of events beyond the eyes of witness's.
The Argon looked embarrassed as he answered the question" I forgot there's no E cells at the base once I realised what I had I just jumped here without thinking, I could call in one of the other captains I mean I need to restock on missiles and stuff anyway but I don't want word of this to get out, don't get me wrong I don't mind giving you a taste of the action but some of the people I work with well they can be a bit holier than thou about selling people even if its back to her own kind. So if you could see your way clear to popping over here and transferring me some E cells I can get us some real payback for this job".
This was divine intervention Lockemtlas realised the Argon had jumped his prey to a deserted sector he vaguely recalled it with no energy for his jump drive and scant missile stocks and required his assistance, it was the trinity again he realised his mood suffused in wonder at the workings of the most holies will, he composed himself before responding to this creature who knew not that he had sealed his own fate. In recognition for your assistance in disposing of this irritation to the Empire I shall assist you unholy one but I will not require payment the knowledge that you have dealt a blow to the Yaki scum is payment enough".
"That's up to you Locky I'll be halfway to the base by the time you get here or do you want me to wait for you to arrive before I dock".
"It would be better if you held your present position as I said earlier I am pressed for time in service to the Empire I do not wish to be unduly delayed".
"Okay Locky I'm sending you my coordinates now I owe you one".
Oh no I owe you one unholy creature Lockemtlas thought as he closed the link before calling his captain into his office. Wondering what difficulties might be involved in the destruction of a Split Cobra.
"Most Holy the Station is no more" his servant said opening the door to his sanctum uninvited.
Lockemtlas looked down on the one who had disturbed his peace but for once he was pleased at being interrupted he had been concerned at the time spent by the creature Dannar in subduing the Yaki ship it would have been simpler had it been destroyed but no matter it was done now he ordered his captain to enter the system intending to claim the ship and to dispose of it he was doubly pleased with one stroke he had destroyed one enemy who had become a burden to him and his emporer and with the other had made certain his influence with the cursed Yaki would be increased which would in time allow him to orchestrate their destruction.
He felt a warm glow of satisfaction having set his plans to encompass three goals which he had achieved surely his status was set to improve as was promised in the holy texts.
He strode onto the bridge still suffused in the glow of his anticipated rise in status at the court of his lord Emporer he looked out the bridges view ports pleased at having been placed in command of this powerful fleet an indication that the Emporer himself was aware of his actions on behalf of the chosen.
The Divine messenger entered the system and sent out a broad spectrum transmission that this sector was being annexed by command of the Holy Emporer and that all found within were subject to His Holy law.
Set a course for the Brigantine he ordered having waited till the broadcast had finished before allowing time to consider more mundane matters.
"Most holy the Brigantine is no longer in the system our reports are that it was jumped out mere sezura before our arrival" one of his underlings reported.
It was of no matter Lockemtlas decided no doubt the venal argon had sent it to the split shipyard to be sold as he had his other captures, in fact it saved him a task. He instructed his Captain to take him towards the remains of the station that had so long been a thorn in the side of the Paranid.
He was looking upon the ruin of the station with satisfaction when his contemplation was disturbed by news that the venal argon Dannar wished to speak with him and would not be dissuaded.
I will speak to this lesser creature in my cabin he announced wondering what this lesser creature wanted. The sooner he had risen to a position where he no longer had to soil himself with contact with such the better he decided.
"Why do you disturb my peace unholy one" he demanded to know making it clear he was displeased at being disturbed.
"Good news Lockmemtlas we have struck the jackpot pure nividium that last Brigantine we captured it was a Yaki ship".
"Yaki pirate what difference impure one sell it as you have the others and be done with this conversation so that I may return to the service of our most holy emporer".
"Don't be hasty Locketlas the Argon said leaning closer to his monitor and lowering his voice in a furtive manner, I captured that ship intact we used a new type of gas it knocks everyone out for a tazura even in enviro suits the stuff is just amazing didn't even have to fire a shot, any way to cut to the chase the captain of that ship she's not just Yaki she's only the daughter of the great high oompah of the whole Yaki race. I can ransom her back for millions. millions Lockemtlas".
Lockemtlas sat back stunned this venal Argon knew not that holding this woman in his grasp guaranteed him nought but a slow death not the riches he sought but, if he should learn of his part in her being here his own death would also be assured at the hands of the yaki prince he has been using to gain control of that vile pestilence.
There was no time to lose he must gain control of this woman and this Argon but how to do so if he left the Paranid realm he might loose that opportunity to act.
"This woman are you taking her back to your base it would be wise to ensure she is held far from prying eyes".
"Way ahead of you Locky I've got a base in the unknown sector just west of lasting vengeance I'm on routes there now and as its not even operational no one but me knows it even exists how good is that".
"That is very good indeed Commander Dannar not even the Yaki can find a base that is not known you are fortunate but why call me I have pressing matters to attend to here" he lied sensing that the Argon would provide the means for him to deal with this unfortunate turn of events beyond the eyes of witness's.
The Argon looked embarrassed as he answered the question" I forgot there's no E cells at the base once I realised what I had I just jumped here without thinking, I could call in one of the other captains I mean I need to restock on missiles and stuff anyway but I don't want word of this to get out, don't get me wrong I don't mind giving you a taste of the action but some of the people I work with well they can be a bit holier than thou about selling people even if its back to her own kind. So if you could see your way clear to popping over here and transferring me some E cells I can get us some real payback for this job".
This was divine intervention Lockemtlas realised the Argon had jumped his prey to a deserted sector he vaguely recalled it with no energy for his jump drive and scant missile stocks and required his assistance, it was the trinity again he realised his mood suffused in wonder at the workings of the most holies will, he composed himself before responding to this creature who knew not that he had sealed his own fate. In recognition for your assistance in disposing of this irritation to the Empire I shall assist you unholy one but I will not require payment the knowledge that you have dealt a blow to the Yaki scum is payment enough".
"That's up to you Locky I'll be halfway to the base by the time you get here or do you want me to wait for you to arrive before I dock".
"It would be better if you held your present position as I said earlier I am pressed for time in service to the Empire I do not wish to be unduly delayed".
"Okay Locky I'm sending you my coordinates now I owe you one".
Oh no I owe you one unholy creature Lockemtlas thought as he closed the link before calling his captain into his office. Wondering what difficulties might be involved in the destruction of a Split Cobra.
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Sabrina Bergin
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Dannar leaned back in his seat as the link closed a smile on his face, the Paranid had taken the bait and would be arriving in system as soon as he could find a justification for leaving Lasting vengeance.
Xarrisse looked him straight in the eye before speaking, "by your expression I assume the Paranid is en route but I am not certain I like the description of being the daughter of the great high oompah of the Yaki it seems not to be a term of respect I would associate with my father".
"She's right Kert you really hammed that up like some third rate video gangster, was that really necessary ?".
"Not really Bekka but when I first told him I would be capturing ships where possible I got the impression he thought I was only interested in credits so I played up to his belief in that view of me the last thing I want him to do is consider I might have other motives. It was a lot of fun though".
Bekka just gave me that look again then sighed and waited for me to lay out the plans for taking the Hyperion, in essence it seemed simple but with a ship with the turret coverage of the Hyperion this was far from that The Sword was more than capable of destroying Capital ships but taking on a corvette required a degree of finesse in shield suppression that few were capable of.
"Okay here's the way I see it playing out Lockemtlas will head straight for us probably with the intention of getting close enough to be certain of killing us with his first barrage. That means wraith missiles so we'll have to use drones as well as our other countermeasures".
"You want me to use drones as well as monitor his shields, you don't believe in making my life easy do you" Kert Bekka snapped
"You.. You are the one who took down my shields tell me what prompted you to destroy the other Briganteen and not mine during your attacks in lasting vengeance ?". Xarrisse asked her eyes blazing with anger once more.
Bekka was surprised at the womans outburst it had been a tactical decision she had made during battle not one she had really considered till this moment. She waited a moment reviewing her actions at the time with the Zeus closing and the two destroyers accelerating towards them in unison what had made her choose one over the other. "The other Captain was Stupid he gave no thought to what we were or what we could do he came straight at us whereas you were on a vector that gave you a greater chance of using your turrets to deal with a long range missile barrage than the other one" she said finally not realising till now that this was the reason for the choice she had made.
Xarrisse visibly shook as she struggled to impose self control on herself still shaking she sat back down "I must consider it a compliment then that you spared us only because I was less stupid than the other ships Captain I am sorry for my outburst Bekka I did not know it was you who controlled the ordinance of your vessel I suppose I should really be thanking you for sparing us".
"I am sorry Xarrisse truly had we known you were Yaki I would not have targeted you at all what made you come at us in the first place if you had drawn away from the conflict and announced your neutrality you would not have been a target". Bekka replied honestly.
"Ah my brothers hand again" she admitted ruefully "He had advised my father that our dealings with the Duke must not be discovered so I was ordered to maintain my disguise as a Pirate whilst in Paranid space which was one of the reasons he gave for it being my ship that came here".
Kert saw how that could seem sensible at the time but it gave him a chance to ask a question that had intrigued him since he had first learnt the Celenteree was a Yaki ship.
"Xarrisse forgive me for asking but how exactly did you come to possess your ship I thought all Yaki preferred their own".
"Ah that is a tale worth telling Kert and I will gladly do so once we have captured the Paranid there will be insufficient time to do so to give my lady her due praise before he arrives I fear" Che t'nn answered for her.
"It sounds worth waiting to hear Che t'nn" I replied "but you are right we should probably take our places on the bridge" I led the way indicating to Xarisse and Che t'nn that they should take seats either side of my own so that they would be out range of the Com camera I would be using when I spoke to Lockemtlas.
"Alright people pay attention I will be misleading our target over coms so take no notice of what you hear me saying, Bekka may give you an order you might expect to come from me if she does do not hesitate to comply is that understood".
There was an instant chorus of agreement from the crew and we sat back to wait on Lockemtlas's arrival I had a coded signal ready to send to Jako who was piloting the Centaur that was holding position just beyond the gate. We had run simulations on what I intended now we just had to wait to see if it panned out as I hoped it would.
"The Hyperion is entering the Sector now" Pico advised putting the tactical display up on the main monitor then falling silent.
The man was taking his time I thought knowing the specs of that ship, for a moment I feared he might have anticipated my intent but then I realised he was trying to lull me into a false sense of security. Had he realy known he would have brought company with him. I decided to help him think he had succeeded opening a com link.
"Lockemtlas I was about to give up on you and head for the nearest power station why the delay".
"As I stated earlier unholy one I was busy carrying out my duties for our Lord Emporer you need not have concerned yourself unlike lesser beings we Paranid always honour our obligations".
"Yeah fine just move into transport range the sooner I can get my cargo stashed the sooner I can negotiate payment for it's delivery".
"You should learn to take things at a pace where you might savour the moment of things rather than act in undue haste unholy one". He replied in what I suspect was his idea of being enigmatic.
"Yeah what ever just get those fuel cells over here I've got places I want to be sooner rather than later". I sent the coded signal burst as soon as I had finished speaking and right on time Jako entered the sector accelerating at full turbo boosted speed for the sword His ships Yaki ident broadcasting loud and clear.
"Move out of my path Lockemtlas our lord gave you clear instructions that his sister was not to leave the Dukes domain alive, in this you have failed now I will show you how we the Yaki deal with such matters".
"Hey Yaki I have a message for your Yaki lord tell him I have his sister and that I am prepared to ransom her" I cut in.
"Ah Captain Dannar my lord also has a message for both you and his sister" Jako replied as he fired a brace of Hornet missiles at the Sword
I immediately launched the fighter drones as Bekka launched two flails seemingly in response to the Hornets accelerating the Sword to maximum velocity. It was all a question of timing now Jako would have to pass the Hyperion immediately after the flails struck with the drones arriving sezura later to distract the Hyperion's turrets.
Lockemtlas contacted the Centaur "what are you doing you fool I told our lord I would deal with this".
"Our Lord doubts your ability you have failed him once already in a simple task now maintain your course and speed or the next missiles I launch will be at your ship" screamed Jako a moment before the flails found their target he was just beginning to pass over the Hyperion.
The timing was perfect as soon as they impacted he opened up on the Hyperion with his ion disruptors stripping it of defences then diving into position ahead of it just long enough for his men to be dropped in its path.
He then accelerated away from it as his men signalled they had good hull contact so swiftly had it happened it was likely Lockemtlas didn't even realise what had just happened.
"He 's launching his fighters" warned Pico
"I'm on it Bekka" replied calmly letting them close the distance to us before launching a single flail at the closest fighter and another at the Hyperion to keep its shields below Zero signalling me to pull the drones clear.
I was concerned about the second fighter but I had underestimated Bekka it only took four of the flails warheads to destroy the lead fighter the remaining two were enough to cripple the other leaving it for us to deal with at our leisure.
"He's launching missiles Pico warned again "wraiths" .
I hit the turbo boost and kept punching it to try and get out of flail range of the Hyperion before we started taking them out.
"Sorry Bekka that's it twenty seconds before we can hit the boost again" I apologised knowing it was not enough".
"Copy that give me a course 240 true max thrust" then she hit the com and told Jako to make a run on the missiles furthest from us. Then she started going for the wraiths nearest us.
"Report from the Hyperion Captain The Paranid is in custody the ship is ours" Pico reported
I said nothing as I watched the number of incoming missiles dwindling Bekka did a fantastic job but two got through and hit us hard doing a number on our shields but with no real damage.
"That's the last of them Captain" she confirmed "Sorry about the last two they were just to damn close to get a lock on them in time".
"No apologies needed Bekka that was damn fine work".
"Okay lets go and retrieve the prisoner Teller take us to the Hyperion".
I called Jako over the com and told him to capture or destroy the remaining fighter Lockemtlas had launched. "Coms get a fighter bus in here I want that Hyperion parked at the hub complex in less than a stazura".
Xarrisse looked him straight in the eye before speaking, "by your expression I assume the Paranid is en route but I am not certain I like the description of being the daughter of the great high oompah of the Yaki it seems not to be a term of respect I would associate with my father".
"She's right Kert you really hammed that up like some third rate video gangster, was that really necessary ?".
"Not really Bekka but when I first told him I would be capturing ships where possible I got the impression he thought I was only interested in credits so I played up to his belief in that view of me the last thing I want him to do is consider I might have other motives. It was a lot of fun though".
Bekka just gave me that look again then sighed and waited for me to lay out the plans for taking the Hyperion, in essence it seemed simple but with a ship with the turret coverage of the Hyperion this was far from that The Sword was more than capable of destroying Capital ships but taking on a corvette required a degree of finesse in shield suppression that few were capable of.
"Okay here's the way I see it playing out Lockemtlas will head straight for us probably with the intention of getting close enough to be certain of killing us with his first barrage. That means wraith missiles so we'll have to use drones as well as our other countermeasures".
"You want me to use drones as well as monitor his shields, you don't believe in making my life easy do you" Kert Bekka snapped
"You.. You are the one who took down my shields tell me what prompted you to destroy the other Briganteen and not mine during your attacks in lasting vengeance ?". Xarrisse asked her eyes blazing with anger once more.
Bekka was surprised at the womans outburst it had been a tactical decision she had made during battle not one she had really considered till this moment. She waited a moment reviewing her actions at the time with the Zeus closing and the two destroyers accelerating towards them in unison what had made her choose one over the other. "The other Captain was Stupid he gave no thought to what we were or what we could do he came straight at us whereas you were on a vector that gave you a greater chance of using your turrets to deal with a long range missile barrage than the other one" she said finally not realising till now that this was the reason for the choice she had made.
Xarrisse visibly shook as she struggled to impose self control on herself still shaking she sat back down "I must consider it a compliment then that you spared us only because I was less stupid than the other ships Captain I am sorry for my outburst Bekka I did not know it was you who controlled the ordinance of your vessel I suppose I should really be thanking you for sparing us".
"I am sorry Xarrisse truly had we known you were Yaki I would not have targeted you at all what made you come at us in the first place if you had drawn away from the conflict and announced your neutrality you would not have been a target". Bekka replied honestly.
"Ah my brothers hand again" she admitted ruefully "He had advised my father that our dealings with the Duke must not be discovered so I was ordered to maintain my disguise as a Pirate whilst in Paranid space which was one of the reasons he gave for it being my ship that came here".
Kert saw how that could seem sensible at the time but it gave him a chance to ask a question that had intrigued him since he had first learnt the Celenteree was a Yaki ship.
"Xarrisse forgive me for asking but how exactly did you come to possess your ship I thought all Yaki preferred their own".
"Ah that is a tale worth telling Kert and I will gladly do so once we have captured the Paranid there will be insufficient time to do so to give my lady her due praise before he arrives I fear" Che t'nn answered for her.
"It sounds worth waiting to hear Che t'nn" I replied "but you are right we should probably take our places on the bridge" I led the way indicating to Xarisse and Che t'nn that they should take seats either side of my own so that they would be out range of the Com camera I would be using when I spoke to Lockemtlas.
"Alright people pay attention I will be misleading our target over coms so take no notice of what you hear me saying, Bekka may give you an order you might expect to come from me if she does do not hesitate to comply is that understood".
There was an instant chorus of agreement from the crew and we sat back to wait on Lockemtlas's arrival I had a coded signal ready to send to Jako who was piloting the Centaur that was holding position just beyond the gate. We had run simulations on what I intended now we just had to wait to see if it panned out as I hoped it would.
"The Hyperion is entering the Sector now" Pico advised putting the tactical display up on the main monitor then falling silent.
The man was taking his time I thought knowing the specs of that ship, for a moment I feared he might have anticipated my intent but then I realised he was trying to lull me into a false sense of security. Had he realy known he would have brought company with him. I decided to help him think he had succeeded opening a com link.
"Lockemtlas I was about to give up on you and head for the nearest power station why the delay".
"As I stated earlier unholy one I was busy carrying out my duties for our Lord Emporer you need not have concerned yourself unlike lesser beings we Paranid always honour our obligations".
"Yeah fine just move into transport range the sooner I can get my cargo stashed the sooner I can negotiate payment for it's delivery".
"You should learn to take things at a pace where you might savour the moment of things rather than act in undue haste unholy one". He replied in what I suspect was his idea of being enigmatic.
"Yeah what ever just get those fuel cells over here I've got places I want to be sooner rather than later". I sent the coded signal burst as soon as I had finished speaking and right on time Jako entered the sector accelerating at full turbo boosted speed for the sword His ships Yaki ident broadcasting loud and clear.
"Move out of my path Lockemtlas our lord gave you clear instructions that his sister was not to leave the Dukes domain alive, in this you have failed now I will show you how we the Yaki deal with such matters".
"Hey Yaki I have a message for your Yaki lord tell him I have his sister and that I am prepared to ransom her" I cut in.
"Ah Captain Dannar my lord also has a message for both you and his sister" Jako replied as he fired a brace of Hornet missiles at the Sword
I immediately launched the fighter drones as Bekka launched two flails seemingly in response to the Hornets accelerating the Sword to maximum velocity. It was all a question of timing now Jako would have to pass the Hyperion immediately after the flails struck with the drones arriving sezura later to distract the Hyperion's turrets.
Lockemtlas contacted the Centaur "what are you doing you fool I told our lord I would deal with this".
"Our Lord doubts your ability you have failed him once already in a simple task now maintain your course and speed or the next missiles I launch will be at your ship" screamed Jako a moment before the flails found their target he was just beginning to pass over the Hyperion.
The timing was perfect as soon as they impacted he opened up on the Hyperion with his ion disruptors stripping it of defences then diving into position ahead of it just long enough for his men to be dropped in its path.
He then accelerated away from it as his men signalled they had good hull contact so swiftly had it happened it was likely Lockemtlas didn't even realise what had just happened.
"He 's launching his fighters" warned Pico
"I'm on it Bekka" replied calmly letting them close the distance to us before launching a single flail at the closest fighter and another at the Hyperion to keep its shields below Zero signalling me to pull the drones clear.
I was concerned about the second fighter but I had underestimated Bekka it only took four of the flails warheads to destroy the lead fighter the remaining two were enough to cripple the other leaving it for us to deal with at our leisure.
"He's launching missiles Pico warned again "wraiths" .
I hit the turbo boost and kept punching it to try and get out of flail range of the Hyperion before we started taking them out.
"Sorry Bekka that's it twenty seconds before we can hit the boost again" I apologised knowing it was not enough".
"Copy that give me a course 240 true max thrust" then she hit the com and told Jako to make a run on the missiles furthest from us. Then she started going for the wraiths nearest us.
"Report from the Hyperion Captain The Paranid is in custody the ship is ours" Pico reported
I said nothing as I watched the number of incoming missiles dwindling Bekka did a fantastic job but two got through and hit us hard doing a number on our shields but with no real damage.
"That's the last of them Captain" she confirmed "Sorry about the last two they were just to damn close to get a lock on them in time".
"No apologies needed Bekka that was damn fine work".
"Okay lets go and retrieve the prisoner Teller take us to the Hyperion".
I called Jako over the com and told him to capture or destroy the remaining fighter Lockemtlas had launched. "Coms get a fighter bus in here I want that Hyperion parked at the hub complex in less than a stazura".
Last edited by Sabrina Bergin on Thu, 7. Aug 14, 11:49, edited 1 time in total.