Futuristic Iron & Fire: 2338 AD (Now Accepting, See Sign-Ups)

[Dirtbear]

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:00 hours Terran time


CIC

"Gallen, I know your feet hurt from sitting down all day, but please refrain from using the comm panel as a foot rest."

​

With an unhappy attitude, Gallen lifted his feet and parked them on the floor. He kept his face forward and gave another lazy salute in acknowledgement. 'Ooooh, you should become an officer, Gallen. Be on a fancy ship, Gallen. Play "Yes, sir. No, sir", Gallen with all the yuppity folk. Great IDEA.... Join the Navy, she said. It's more like prison with the false sense of freedom attached to it...' He mumbled to the blinking lights of the comm panel.

"Also, Gallen, care to explain as to why you, the Chief Communications Officer, was late to the CIC this morning?"

​

"Oh! You caught that, did ya?" He frowned before turning around in his chair to face the XO.


Gallen smiled and thought of his response, "Well, ya see, Takashi. I had woken up very early, as I usually do. But I had to communicate with the coffee machine because it was being way too chatty with me this morning. Same with the blast door that just wouldn't quit yapping about security clearance and what not. Oh! And don't get me started on those guards outside. They didn't even let me get through the door until I personally communicated their recommendations to Fleet Comm to assign them off guard duty. And, of course, I told them, ' I'm not authorized for that. I'm just a lowly Major that has to follow the totem pole of protocol like you two fair chaps. Now let me by before I'm late.' And do you know what they said?" Gallen asked rhetorically,


"They had the audacity to tell me no. So I marched them up to the mess hall and made them wipe down all the. . . um--umbrella stands that we have in case of a surprise attack of fire suppression systems. Those umbrella stands need to be spick-and-span if they are going to be up to the Commander's standards. Yes, sir they do. So as I left them to that task, I looked at the time in the mess hall and thought, 'Golly! I'm going to be late to my duties and kill us all if I don't reach my post in time!' So I ran as fast as I could down the decks. I even had to perform evasive maneuvers around these two bulkheads and narrowly avoided spilling my deliciously sweet coffee all over the place. And when I reached the doors to the bridge, it was already ten minutes passed the shift change and I realized I had failed and skulked my way to my station to think of ways to make up for my incompetence. And so I forced myself to endure the strenuous exercise of keeping my feet above my heart and they closest place was the comm panel. That's when you forgave me for being late and had me stop my punishment." Gallen finally finished his long believable story of why he was late.


Gallen smiled and added, "And by the way, you look rather peaceful today. Good for you, Lt. Colonel."

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:15 hours Terran time


Starling's Quarters

"Have a seat. That's an order."

​

Kaylee perked up at the seriousness of the Commander's tone. 'I guess no time for small talk.' She said to herself as she arranged the chair away from Martins. She noticed Starling leaving the bottle of scotch on the desk and retrieved one of the glasses. She poured herself enough for a double and took a short sip of the liquor. She braced for the overt potency of the "Whiskey of Kings". She was never much for Scotch. One, too expensive. Two, she didn't feel like growing any hair on her chest. Of course, that wasn't implying that the Commander had---hair--- Ah hell, maybe Starling did have a rack full of excellent plumage. She was a tough bitch and she drank like a tough bitch.

"Cassandra, please display the breakdown of the Mk5 DSI, highlight mentioned areas."

​

With a very indiscernible grimace, Kaylee placed the liquor in her palm and looked up to see Martins bring up her DA and transferred the images onto the monitor across from them. Many images and information that, in all honesty, Frye was bored with. Her headache was drumming like a row of cadets marching double-time in place. She was wrapping up when Kaylee snapped out of her spaced state and looked towards her scotch and licked her lips. She lifted the glass and threw all etiquette out the window. The elixir sailed smoothly down her tongue and slipped down her throat like velvet. She placed the glass on the desk and closed her eyes. Her stomach had become a scorching furnace. She stretched her neck by rotation, feeling the sensation of floating begin to surface.

"What else would you like to know Commander?"

​

She sat up straight and cleared her throat. Peering over the dossier and seeing the usual jargon that accompanied top tier clearance, Kaylee pointed out the obvious, "You said quite a bit but that didn't answer the question, Lieutenant Martins. Why are they on this vessel, why are you on this vessel, and why was the Commander and myself not made aware of the ordnance before your departure of---", she paused to open the hard copy to her flight plan, "Sol." Her face set a hard look on the Lieutenant. She was upset with the fact that she didn't exactly know why a squadron was on her flight decks. "This assignment just seems to get worse and worse... Starting to think I made the wrong decision at ACOM..."

 

[Verse Zero]

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:20 hours Terran time


Starling's Quarters


Starling looked at the schematic and scrawled some notes with pen and paper. Victoria had trained herself in the art of observational note taking so that she did not have to look at the page when she wrote. So as her eyes were fixed on the screen she scribe'd on in neat straight lines of cursive lettering fit for a calligraphy piece. Victoria had basically two separate hands that she wrote in. The barely legible scrawl of her short hand used on charts and small notes. Followed by her more elegant long hand that had been drilled into her since childhood. It was a commonly held right of passage for personnel on the Valkyrie to be able to completely decipher Victoria's barely legible short hand. The Martian dialects infliction and colloquialisms having never died within her.


"Yes, my CAG has a point Lieutenant Martins. But you are not on any sort of trial here and we are not a tribunal. So do not feel like you are at fault for anything nor being scrutinized. I will leave the question of why ACOM chose to send you here for another time. Panoptes Squadron will be performing our recon force for this operation in the Lalande system. Your standing orders are to be on the look out for ghost contacts on SDAR. Do not engage and you will not be fielding these new missiles this time. Standard Raven load outs only. I will have two squadrons of Gryphons, Red, and Blue, providing escort and rapid response in case trouble shows up. If you find an installation report back to the Valkyrie and we will send in Marines escorted by Gryphons. You are both dismissed. Frye, get those squadrons ready."





Not waiting for a reply Victoria reached over and took the phone from the receiver mounted on the wall beside her desk and held it up to her ear. Patching herself into the CIC she spoke so Takashi and the bridge crew would hear, "Takashi let me know when we reach our AO. I will take command once we arrive. Standing orders on arrival are to launch Panoptes, Red, and Blue squadrons. Panoptes for recon perimeter with Red and Blue flying escort and fast response. Marines are to be on standby along with transports for boarding and installation actions. Over."





The click of the receiver on the holder signaled the end of the announcements as Victoria pretended to be engrossed in her notes.





TNV Valkyrie;


Lalande System, AO


March 31st 2338


10:00 hours Terran time


The Valkyrie dropped out of FTL right on the dot of where it was supposed to be. The blackness of the void was alight with the pinprick light of the stars. Some seemingly close like bright orbs of light punctuating the darkness, while others but faint dots of soft light. Far to the ships aft the soft glow of Lalande's star was roughly the size of a baseball if not smaller. The Valkyrie was figuratively speaking in the middle of nowhere when it came to shipping lanes and populated areas.


SDAR came up with nothing as the ships engines came online to propel it towards the edge of the asteroid field. Smaller craft, like bees to a hive, erupted silently from the tubes located on the side of the landing pods. Each tube was much like a chutes whereby a non-transport craft would be rapidly accelerated via catapult system into space or atmosphere. Preventing the need for pilots to throttle their engines and cause damage by backwash to the interior tubes of the Valkyrie. An expert pilot could time almost down to the second the exit of the tube and to gun the throttle to achieve varying speeds of acceleration.

 

[Iskandar]

TNV Valkyrie


IN Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st, 2338


09:03 Hours Terran Time


CIC


Takashi smiled and nodded at James, "Alright, See ya James." He then looked at Gallen as he took his feet off the Comm panel, much to Takashi's delight. Takashi then listened to Gallen as he explained his very elaborate and interesting story as to why he was late. Continuing to listen to the rather lengthy and absurd story that Gallen must have put much thought into. Takashi just grinned as Gallen finished his story, letting out a quiet chuckle at the end.


"I see Gallen. Perhaps I should give you a medal as well? Maybe a Promotion." Takashi replied to Gallen's story, "Also, I am pretty sure you'd be very sweaty and out of breath from your 'Strenuous exercise.' Which didn't appear to be the case. In fact you looked like you had just woken up." Takashi let out a heavy sigh and continued, "Though, I won't punish you this time. Only because of you rather on the spot and funny story. Next time though... Well, you'll have to see. Won't you?"


Takashi Checked his pocket watch and looked at the time, letting out a "Hmm." sound and then looked back at Gallen, "Peaceful? I wouldn't neccisarly say that. I'm just glad we aren't babysitting anymore. Actually doing something productive."


TNV Valkyrie


Lalande System, AO


March 31st, 2338


10:00 Hours Terran Time


CIC


Takashi looked at his watch once more as the Valkyrie got out of transit and was in the middle of nowhere. Getting on the personal Communication device on the bridge to Commander Starlings room and spoke into it.


"Commander Starling. We have arrived at our AO."


Takashi immediately hung up and pulled the ship wide receiver to his mouth and spoke into it.


"Panoptes, Red, and Blue squadrons prepare for launch. Panoptes is to do Recon while Red and Blue flying escort and fast response. Marines, are to wait on standby along with transports for boarding and Installation actions."


The ship heard a loud crackle as Takashi hung up the receiver and awaited for Starling to return to the bridge and take over.

 

[Tarmagon]

TNV Valkyrie


Transit and Lalande System


March 31st, 2338


0920-1001 hours





Alexis schooled her face into neutral immobility as the CAG berated her in front of the CO. She had been asked several questions, and had just finished the answer to the first when the colonel had decided that humiliating the newest squadron commander on the ship was the order of the day. That, coupled with the CO's patronizing attitude and rude dismissal, even by military standards, had set her teeth on edge. Orders were orders, however stupid they were in her opinion however, and she nodded sharply to both women before turning on her heel and exiting the commanders quarters.


"Cassandra," she said crisply as she began to make her way back towards the hangar deck, "Please remove all DSI related materials from the Commander's display. Open the squadron comm net."





"Materials removed," her DA replied a moment later. "Unable to fully initialize squadron comm net due to several units being placed in privacy mode."


"Override sierra alpha echo two six seven," Alexis said, gritting her teeth. "Squadron alert status one."





Almost immediately curses and protests erupted into her ear as her DA reached out, bringing all the squadron's other DAs fully on-line and sending an alert signal through them and into their users earbuds.





"What the hell?"


"Dammit Martins!"


"Whiskey tango foxtrot?"


"Quiet on the net!" Alexis snapped, gratified as the protests cut off immediately. "We have exactly forty minutes to replace the DSI in every Oracle with an SAR. Apparently our new commander heard the word nuclear, and went, nuclear on me."


"That's going to cripple our long range detection ability ma'am," sub-lieutenant Simms said. "Didn't the CO at least consult with the CAG on that?"


"The CAG was present in the commander's office when the decision was made," Alexis said coolly. "We will not be receiving any support from Colonel Frye in this matter. All hands report to the hangar bay, and I'm sorry for whatever I interrupted, but orders are orders. Standard Oracle class Raven loadout, minus the DSI's."


"Then it's hardly a standard loadout is it?" a voice drawled lazily over the net.





"No, it is not, and thank you for pointing that out Jericho," Alexis said tartly. "Now get to the hangar and get started. It will take me approximately seven minutes to get there from my current position. I had better be the last one to arrive."





Just over seven minutes later Alexis stepped off the lift into the hangar bay, and was gratified to see the other four members of the squadron working on the sleek scout craft that had been temporarily removed from their launch cradles. Even her craft had already been removed, and as she stepped onto the deck, she saw the DSI dropping smoothly down from the munitions bay. A large, familiar figure stood by her bird, and she smiled at the squadrons transport pilot and all around Mr. Fix-it.


"Good old Jericho," she thought. "He may never rise above lieutenant, but he's as reliable as they come, always doing what needs to be done. And one hell of a scrounger."





"Thanks Jericho," she called. "I've got it from here."


"Not a problem Lt." lieutenant Carl Haskins, callsign Jericho, replied with a lazy wave. "I was in the transport anyway. Extra SAR's are ready to go, I've already charged the drives and uploaded the conditions for Lalande into them."


"Thanks Carl," Alexis said again, walking up to the big man and lowering her voice. "Can you tap into the scuttlebutt circuit asap? I really need to know what I'm dealing with in this CAG and CO. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that the CAG was half drunk in the commander's quarters."


"Consider it done ma'am."





The next thirty minutes were a flurry of activity as the DSI's were turned over to the marines for transport to the magazines, and the SAR's were loaded into the munitions bay of each fighter/scout craft. As the flight deck crew re-spotted the Ravens on the ready catapults, Alexis sent the squadron to hit the head and don their flight suits. She had been the only one still in the lightweight spacesuit, so while the rest went to put theirs on, she made use of the nearest facilities, then climbed into the cockpit of her craft and began running an extended preflight check. She kept one eye on the ready indicators of the other four craft under her command, and was happy to see the indicators turning green in rapid sequence as her pilots scrambled into their birds.





"We will be running scout," she said over the comm net after the last status indicator had turned green. "We are being graced with two supporting fighter squadrons. We will NOT be letting them slow us down. Do I make myself clear?"


"Aye aye."


"Yes ma'am."


"Can do."


"Understood."





Alexis spent the next few minutes going over the conditions they were expecting, particularly the asteroid belt, but then it was time.





"Panoptes flight, cleared for launch. Assume patrol stance." the voice of Valkyries STC officer was cool and professional in Alexis ear, and she responded with a smile.





"Acknowledged STC. Panoptes flight, hit the black."





This was what she lived for. The building hum as the catapult system charged, then the headlong rush through the launch tube. Kick the throttle hard as you clear the tube, then there was nothing but the wheel of the stars and the song of the scouts twin engines hurtling you through space. All the indicators were green as her squadron mates formed up around her, and Alexis couldn't suppress the smile creeping over her face as they arced gracefully away from the Valkyrie to accelerate ahead of the larger ship as their sensors began to drink in the data that would keep them all safe.

 

[Verse Zero]

TNV Valkyrie


Lalande System AO


March 31st, 2338


1005 hours


Anastasia von Sylmira, from Ganymede and spent much time on Proxima as her parents owned several civilian commercial shipyards, cruised in her Gryphon aerospace superiority fighter with the rest of Red Squadron. Some family members had served in the Great Colonial War, mostly uncles and a couple aunts. But they never told stories about the war, some say that it took all who participated as a casualty in some way or another.


"Athena, Bear, and Tomaas stay with Panoptes flight leader as support." It was the voice of Red Squadron leader Axel "Rose" Fydirov. Rose was his callsign, and it was a common tradition for pilots to be given one as a right of passage. Usually by completing their first actual sortie in an operation. This was in addition to their squadron numbers that designated the craft they flew. Rose was Red 1, Tomaas the squadrons newest rookie flew number 8, Bear was 3, and Athena had 5. So on it went with the twelve member squadron and the same methodology was with the accompanying Blue Squadron that took up positions on the flanks and aft of the Valkyrie itself. The problem with space combat was that an enemy could attack from literally an infinite amount of directions, trajectories, degrees, and points. This meant squadrons on CAP or Carrier Air Patrol had to divide themselves up into flights of groups of typically 2-4 craft covering a specific sector. Red Squadron had broken up to provide close support of the Ravens while Blue squadron took up guard position around their Carrier ship.


The chorus of acknowledgements went on as the trio of Red squadron Gryphons sped after the Ravens. Which, given how fast the Ravens were meant that unless the scouts were at an actual speed that could allow the Gryphons to catch up they'd easily outpace their escorts. Which could be bad if the Ravens didn't see an enemy coming given their relatively limited arsenal and not being built for straight up dogfights. Therefore it was prudent of Naval commanders to always have fighters on standby to intercept the enemy to allow the scouts to easily break away and speed off to safety.





"I think my callsign should be Ares." said Tomaas over the squadron comms.





"How about drunktank?" replied Bear who was undoubtedly grinning broadly within his flight helmet. Tomaas had tried to engage in good old drinking games back on the Valkyrie during its layover over Tauron. Needless to say the rest of the squadron ended up helping him pray to the gunmetal god that is a toilet shortly after.





"Hey! I heard that!" shot back Tomaas over the comms. No doubt also grinning but with a degree of humility involved.





"Hey, not my fault, though cleaning up your sermons over the toilet was hilariously eventful." came Bear's retort.





"Alright guys lets keep it real out here. This isn't practice runs back on Earth or Luna."





TNV Valkyrie


Lalande System AO


March 31st, 2338


1010 hours





Victoria walked onto the CIC briskly from her office. The Marines smarted with a salute before closing the door and locking it shut. It was standard protocol that the CIC should always be secured during an operation. That and the walls where sound proof so no one could be listening in on the outside. Commander Starling took up her position across from Takashi and looked up at the SDAR. It's field of detection enhanced by the Ravens of Panoptes squadron.


As the ship moved silently in the void of space to its targeted area of the asteroid belt Victoria picked up the phone and flicked the switch to give ship wide and craft wide communications. So the three squadrons deployed would hear what everyone else would hear back on the Valkyrie.


"Set condition Two. I repeat we are on condition Two." Condition two was high alert, Condition One was war footing and Condition Zero was basically shoot at everything with an IFF tag not matching friendlies or civvies.


Turning to Gallen and Firentis Victoria spoke, "Have Marines ready for deployment. I want you Firentis in the field to lead them if we find an installation. We have a lot of new Marines on board fresh from boot camp. I need an officer that knows how to make tough calls and get our people home. Gallen...send message to all gunnery crews and engineering. Gunnery is to man all batteries and prepare targeting solutions. Engineering is to prepare for immediate combat action and get the FTL drive spun up and ready to be fired if we need to jump out of here."





Turning back to the holo-table Victoria watched as a CIC crewmember bearing ensign tabs marked course corrections and estimated times of arrival on the charts. Victoria was about to open her mouth when a deep blip sharply sounded above her. Snapping her head up she saw SDAR show a yellow icon. Unknown contact. They wouldn't have seen it if Panoptes wasn't projecting their own scanners.


Rapidly picking up the comm phone Victoria spoke crisp and authoritarian, "Contact, 23 Degrees forward, 7 degrees down from elliptical. Panoptes you're right on to--."





The icon vanished. Victoria winced. Panoptes should have picked up anything way far out and relayed it back to the Valkyrie. That contact was well within range when it appeared. Something was off. Space is a big place but given how spread out things are it is very hard to hide in. Scanners don't lie; they can glitch, they can malfunction, but they don't lie and show something is there where it isn't.





"Panoptes did you register that contact?"





The intensity of Victoria's eyes was like a lion angry that prey had disappeared. But also worry that they were up against something unexpected. You plan for the unexpected because plans seldom survive contact with hostiles. That was fact and being ignorant of that fact meant people die. Plain and simple. In space the survivability without oxygen was only up to 7 minutes before total cell death and organ failure occurred. So if shit hit the fan she only had 7 minutes to get tactical before someone or some people under her command could be feeling the voids cold embrace.


Slamming down the phone Victoria pressed a button the table to put any reply through the CIC speakers.

 

[Tarmagon]

Open space


Lalande System AO


March 31st, 2338


1010 hours


Alexis was in her element. The steady thrum of the engines of her sleek scout craft was her favorite song, and the stars her best friends. Unfortunately, this wasn't a pleasure jaunt, and the squadron was doubly crippled at the moment. They didn't have their DSI's to illuminate targets hiding in low power mode, and they were being forced to hold their acceleration down to something that the Gryphon's could match, which was halving the effect of their gravitic sensor pods. She listened to the banter from the support CAP, and tried not to sigh. They should be paying attention...


Her proximity alarm suddenly screamed at her as a blazing red icon appeared in her HUD. Before she could do more than curse, the icon vanished, leaving a strobing yellow icon indicating a possible target, which vanished completely a few seconds later.


"Panoptes did you register that contact?"


"Okay," Alexis thought. "Enough is enough. The CO and CAG can ream me a new one after we land, but there's something out here with us, and I am damned well going to find it."


A flick of a finger opened up the squadron comm net, and she began to rap out orders in a crisp, precise voice.





"All Panoptes flight, go to maximum military power. CAP, I highly recommend that you hold a steady course and speed for a few moments. Valkyrie, please maintain course and speed, space is about to get VERY crowded out here. Panoptes flight, starburst on my three count, Demon, plus elliptic, Burner port, Raptor, minus elliptic, Angel, starboard. Harpy will take centerline. Fire one SAR at maximum spread, immediate deployment. Rotate 180, fire another SAR. And three, two, one, execute!"





The Raptors of Panoptes squadron exploded away from each other at speeds the Gryphon fighters could only dream of. As they moved apart, a bay opened in each, and a missile erupted into the void from each scout. Each missile immediately seemed to shatter, as the sub-sensor's erupted from each relay unit and began to examine space with a sensor net that rivaled a main fleet base. Before each missile had completed its deployment however, each Raptor had killed it's drive, spun in space, and launched a similar missile back towards Valkyrie. Again the missile seemed to shatter as they deployed their sensor nets, creating a web nothing material was going to slip through.





"Panoptes flight, return to Valkyrie space at standard cruise. Harpy will provide gravitic illumination. Link sensors."





Alexis ignored the acknowledgements as the squadron began to head back towards their escorts and the Valkyrie, instead she flipped her craft and headed further away from the Valkyrie at maximum acceleration. After a moment or two, she flipped her nimble craft again, and began to race towards the Valkyrie herself. Unlike her squadron mates though, she kept her throttle full open, maximizing her speed to create a gravitational 'wake' for the other scouts to detect. As she hurtled though them, carefully adjusting her course to avoid the looming Valkyrie and it's CAP, she saw red icons appearing on her display as the sensor missiles and gravitic detectors of the squadron teased the location of the unknowns from the void.


"Tango tango tango," she said into the net. "We have multiple tango's within attack range of the Valkyrie. Size range is medium fighter. They appear to be employing advanced stealth techniques. I count four, make that five tango's. Dammit commander, we need those DSI's!"

 

[Iskandar]

TNV Valkyrie


Lalande System AO


March 31st, 2338


1010 hours


Takashi looked up at the CIC entrance as Sterling briskly walked into the CIC, he saluted her briefly before she set the ship to Condition two. Looking up at the SDAR he rubbed his chin slightly. He listened to Sterling give orders to Firentis and Gallen, nodding in agreement with them. He looked up at the SDAR once more as a deep blip sharply sounded above him. A yellow blip appeared on the SDAR, unknown contact.


"Command-" Takashi was cut off as Sterling had picked up the phone and began to talk to Panoptes squadron before she stopped herself. Takashi raised an eyebrow and looked back up at the SDAR, seeing the Icon vanish. Takashi sighed and looked back down at Sterling who had the intensity and anger of a lion when their prey disappears. Takashi noticed the worried look on her face too and remained silent before picking up the phone and flipping a switch to give ship wide and craft wide communications.


"Medical staff, be on the ready. I repeat medical staff be on the ready." Takashi said, his tone very serious. He flipped another switch and directly called the Ships Doctor, Doctor Miranda Zelic, a Croatian Doctor in her mid 30's with multiple degrees from some of the best colleges on Earth and Luna. She was a very scary woman when it came down to it, but she was a god damn good doctor, someone the ship could rely on, "Doctor Zelic. Please report to the Portside Hangar, take a few medical personal with you. Thank you."


"Takashi dammit! What is this ab-" Miranda said midway before hearing the crackle of Takashi hanging up. Looking back up Takashi gave Sterling a simple nod, saying, "Don't worry"


Takashi looked back up as something played through the speakers from Panoptes squadron's leader, Lieutenant Alexis Martins, "Tango tango tango. We have multiple tango's within attack range of the Valkyrie. Size range is medium fighter. They appear to be employing advanced stealth techniques. I count four, make that five tango's. Dammit commander, we need those DSI's!" Raising an eyebrow he looked back at Sterling.


"I am assuming the talk with Alexis didn't go over too smoothly..?" Takashi jokingly asked before returning to his more serious demeanor, "Orders Commander?"

 

[Heartsteal]

Four Months Prior


CMSCOM, Quantico Virginia, Earth


"You are aware of the charges you face, correct Conscript?" a soft-middled man in his greying years asked, sitting opposite a young woman, wearing blue prison slacks, and a gleaming pair of steel bracelets that the table also happened to be wearing a pair of, a majour fashion faux-pas. He was Master Chief Petty Warrant Officer Burns. While in a military career, some burns might have been expected, he remained quite unblemished by scars, and was really more of a desk-jockey for the home office than anything, though he had been assigned to debrief a penal conscript. At first he'd thought it must have been a joke, but she'd survived her active tour.


"Take your guessink debil," she replied, half-heartedly giving her cuffed hands a tug that rattled the tabletop and made her chains strike against themselves audibly.


"I need you to repeat the charges miss... Vasilyev," Burns answered in kind, taking a moment to check the dossier before him on the table. One hand came to his face, pushing the thick-rimmed glasses back up his nose from where they'd slid when he looked down.


The tone he'd taken certainly didn't please his charge, as she decided to show by taking a more... intent tug on her cuffs, which had the entire table jump a bit until its feet hit the heads of the bolts holding it down, and sent the steel frame back to the concrete floor.


"Palka vash raskhody gde oni pomestit'sya!" she shouted, maybe just loosing her temper, maybe trying to draw a rise out of the pencil-pusher. While the sudden movement made his glasses jump nearly off their precarious perch, the only real damage done was scattering her file across the floor, and bouncing the pen down atop them.


Pushing himself out from the table, MCPWO Burns stood up, correcting his glasses again in silence, and stepped out of the room. Outside, two guards stood, sidearms on their belts at attention.


"Perhaps you'd like to convince our guest to be more cooperative?" Burns asked, rubbing two fingers together with his thumb, which was more than enough hint to the pair.


"I'll be heading upstairs for a few minutes to get some coffee; I'll be sure to bring something down for you lads while I'm there."


As the officer made his way down the hallway, both soldiers, a master corporal and sergeant, stepped into the tiny, poorly lit room. Tatyana sat in the same seat as she had for the last duo that had been bribed. One eye swollen nearly shut, and her lip split, though not bleeding any longer.


"Alvays more deti..." she muttered, a smile twitching its way onto her bloody lip.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Thirty-two minutes later...


Burns was making his way back up the hall to his debriefing room, and neither guard was at the door. A cup of steaming coffee in his one hand, he had a pair of water bottles under his opposing arm, bundled with a thick brown paper envelope. This damned woman was going to cost his whole month's salary at this rate.


Muted thumps could be heard through the door, and muffled voices as well. Wordless grunts of exertion, and the occasional mocking comment and laugh. Swinging the door open, both soldiers inside had stripped away their ties, undone their cuffs and collars, and seemed in quite a state of exhaustion, their breathing laboured, pouring with sweat, and their knuckles split open and weeping blood to a one, though not all of the blood was their own.


Her chair pushed into the corner, hands forcibly shackled to the back legs of her seat now, and her ankles still chained to the same, Tatyana had nowhere to go, and took every punch of the head, laughing. The sergeant was up to bat right now, though both men were about at their limits, mumbling remarks to themselves, and looking altogether beaten.


After another savage blow to the mouth, Tatyana spat a mouthful of blood in the man's face, certainly not the first one today, and a chipped tooth with it.


"Who teaches you to punch zis way!? Your muzh!?" she laughed, blood streaming down over her split lip. By now, her face was barely recognizable, and her eye patch had been knocked off in the persuasion.


The other soldier seemed to take offense to her comments about the sergeant's sexuality, and unholstered his pistol, though while Burns worried at first that he would shoot the one-eyed conscript, instead he struck her over her scarred temple with it with all the force he could muster, and while it made her bite into her tongue in mid-laugh, she didn't seem terribly deterred from making any more smart remarks.


"Zo many baby-men! How meny more do you need fat man?"


Again, the middle-aged officer frowned, his brow beetling the way a father's might with a disobedient child, but unfortunately, this wasn't just a child he was handling. He was handling a seasoned and trained killer, who was sent to the CMC in penance for her previous crimes, which went far beyond the grievances listed in her court case. According to his report, she'd assaulted a number of fellow soldiers while off-duty, but without any evidence, he needed a confession, which she'd not been forthcoming with.


Considering how much it had already cost him, out-of-pocket, Burns was at the point of losing interest, and given that her story hadn't wavered even under the past four days of punishment, he was beginning to even believe a little bit. Regardless, she'd be sent on another tour, and another after that, this debrief was just to see if it was more efficient to execute her now, or let the tours continue. Considering the amount of injury had been lain upon her already, it seemed a more efficient use of resources to just turn her loose on the enemy like they'd done with so many other conscripts.


On the other hand, there were a number of ships leaving the system soon, though not all of them would be seeing active combat. Both the Valkyrie and Baldur would be on their way out inside a month or so, and could use some replenishment to their forces. While conscripts might not be the favourite soldiers to be receiving, any were better than none, and a soldier that needn't be worried after was always expedient. Tagging her into one of those wouldn't be terribly difficult with the right leverage, then maybe the file could get... lost. If he was lucky, it would keep this little problem out of his rapidly thinning hair for at least a few months, maybe even years.


"Alright, alright boys. You can send the next rotation in," Burns piped up, interrupting the conscript's beating as he extended the envelope and water bottles toward the pair of guards.


"And get yourselves cleaned up, this is just embarrassing."


Unfortunately, Tatyana wouldn't stop talking, trying to bait the men on their way out to take one more crack at her, which made for a loud distraction whilst the MCPWO gathered up his paperwork from the floor where it had been scattered before, left untouched until now. Doing his best to ignore the one-eyed woman's hollering, Burns filled out the forms to waive the charges, and reassign her to the Valkyrie. At least there he could send her to the same criminal suckhole she should've never crawled out of.


TNV Valkyrie (Rec. Chambers)


Lalande System AO


March 31st, 2338


0900 hours


Many of the Valkyrie's marines were trying to prepare themselves for now, fully expecting to fly into a combat zone, but the more seasoned among them, and all of the penal conscripts included in that number (All four of them), were in the Rec Chambers, relaxing until the call came to ready up. Mutt, one of the conscripts was playing Five Fingers, trying to teach one of the careers the same game. Tatyana had tried once, and nailed her finger to the table for her trouble. Playing with knives had really never been her specialty. Most of the others were playing billiards, and even with all his fingers busted to pieces and three years away from a table, Slim was still skunking the boys in uniform. On the other hand, Tatyana, or "Tats" as some of the marines had taken to calling her, was getting herself ready in a much more active way. She was in the gym rather than the game room, though even this wouldn't be the best. Laying into a heavybag like it owed her three months rent, Tatyana wished that the stupid sack of sand had arms to swing back. Her one amber eye focused intently on the bag, she could feel her heart speeding up, and liquid fire running up her arms as calloused knuckles slammed into the burlap pendulum again and again with no discernable pace.


Swinging backward, then in toward her again grew tiresome rather quickly, and instead of waiting for it to come back around, Tatyana stepped in directly beneath the chain, driving more punches to what would have been the stomach of her imaginary opponent, letting the sack sway back further and higher until the ring holding it up nearly slipped off the hook before it swung around her in a wide arc that she followed, driving more punches, one after the other. It was the closest she would get to a real fight, as foolish as it might have looked.


Turning in from her blind side, Tatyana sent a hard right hook towards where she knew the bottom of the bag would be, or at least where it should be, and was gratified with the impact of another hit before she turned far enough to see it. That hit lifted the bag just high enough out of its hook that the sack crashed heavily to the floor. The one-eyed conscript could feel her right arm twitching, aching to hit something that would bleed, but instead of dwelling on the feeling, she slammed the same fist into the heavybag where it lay on the floor, straddling the poor stand-in to deliver another rain of blows on it from above, though the sack tore above the stitching line, bursting open to pour sand across the floor.


Then, at what couldn't have been a more convenient time, the announcement she'd been waiting for was broadcast:


"Panoptes, Red, and Blue squadrons prepare for launch. Panoptes is to do Recon while Red and Blue flying escort and fast response. Marines, are to wait on standby along with transports for boarding and Installation actions."


She stood then, ignoring the sand beginning to heap on the floor, and made her way out from the gym, taking a quick once-over of her knuckles, though she'd only reddened them, not split them open at all. Satisfied, and exiting the gymnasium, she saw the other marines, penals included filing out of the game-room. Two careers, the handlers hung back behind Mutt, who waited up for Tatyana as she came the further distance down the hall towards their ready-room. He made the same dumb smile as he always did when he looked at the Leonan woman that towered over him. He still never spoke, the beatings he'd taken before he got convicted made that impossible, and left him a little bit slow in the head to boot. All things considered though, Tatyana almost liked Mutt.


He could be a little bit slow to catch a hint, but he still had quick fingers, and that's what counted. Once in a while it got the conscripts into trouble, though it never ended up being much more than helping out down in engineering or running laps around the hangar. Next to the other deployments she'd gotten over the past five years, this one was a joke, no live-fire drills, no combat training, no border patrols, just sitting around in a big metal box while it floats around in space.


Tatyana and Mutt stuck to the back of the group of marines, while Slim and Bull both fit right in, slapping shoulders and making conversation with the others. Both of them had already done terms of military service before being convicted, so things the way they were now weren't terribly different. Besides losing shore leave, and access to recreational materials outside what was provided by the crew, their lives had barely changed at all. Bull had been brought in for a PTSD-related outburst that had him kill his wife and neighbours, while Slim had a little bit of a track record, ending off with killing a couple of enforcers from some loan-shark or another. She wasn't sure what Mutt got bagged for, though she was pretty sure that petty theft was on his wrap-sheet either way.


Her own record had started out pretty tame, minor theft, some joyriding, and speeding, but then it turned violent. While she'd been in the military for five years, she'd been a soldier a little while longer than that. The difference being, it was fun then. She got paid, she got to beat people bloody, and she got to do whatever she wanted when they didn't need something broken. All she had now though was the gym. The bag. On a good day she could trick Bull into the ring with her, but that never lasted as long as she would've liked. It always ended up: "You'll kill him!" "He's already out!"


Deti.

 

[Verse Zero]

TNV Valkyrie


Lalande System AO


March 31st, 2338


1015 hours


Starling saw the icons pop up on SDAR and her face adopted stern determination. She opened up the communications network to all craft and throughout the ship, "Blue and Red Squadrons engage incoming tango's, stay clear of Valkyrie's area of engagement and line of fire. Be---" She stopped as another contact at the periphery of Panoptes squadrons SDAR range showed up on the Valkyries. A larger ship, destroyer size, but exact readings couldn't be given due to the asteroid belt messing with the SDAR's readings. All that could be shown was that it was smaller than a frigate but larger than a corvette, and it was moving at attack speed. Since when do pirates attack Naval ships?! Though Starling as she lifted the receiver back to her lips, "Launch emergency fighters! All Marines prepare for boarding! Panoptes squadron we need eyes on that ship contact bearing 79 degrees above elliptical and 11 points off the Valkyrie's starboard by our present course. Bastard's coming in at a full strafing speed from the belt." Slamming the receiver down but keeping the channel open over the CIC comms Starling looked up at Takashi and Gallen, "Get our emergency fighters in the air and I want Marines ready for boarding actions under fire. All Gunnery crews with firing solutions are to open fire." The emergency fighter squadrons were done by rotation, three squadrons kept on emergency standby in case of rapid need for deployment in force, but usually ramped down to one squadron when not in an active operation. However this was no passive operation, and so a full three squadrons of Gryphons would be deployed in addition to the squadron of Ravens and two squadrons of Gryphons already out there.


On cue from the Gunnery officer in the CIC sitting across from Gallen the guns facing the incoming tangos opened up. Tracer shells silently zoomed towards the incoming mass of enemy fighters to detonate in a burst of explosive fragments. This was followed by the rapid firing of the ships smaller caliber auto-cannons located in a belt across the ships side. Lines of tracer rounds lit up space followed by the bright flashes of explosions from timed fuses. For the largely green pilots out in space the sight of an Odin-Class warship opening up with its batteries was awe inspiring.





MISSILE LAUNCH DETECTED





SDAR showed smaller pinpoints, twelve missiles launched from the rapidly approaching bogeys were streaking towards the Valkyrie. Followed by a tango blip vanishing, first blood went to the gunnery crews of the Valkyrie.


TNV Valkyrie


Lalande System AO


March 31st, 2338


1015-1020 hours





Anastasia rolled her craft as orders came in too engage. She swung about and angled towards the incoming tangos. Red Squadron was scattered having escorted Panoptes squadron. Now they were trying to race back to the rapidly forming engagement zone as the mass of Valkyrie's guns opened up for the first time in anger against an assault in almost twenty years. Anastasia herself felt mesmerized as the sheer number of rounds the ship could put out. This was a ship that had sent dozens of its foes to the cold grave of space. A ship that had reduced battleships too burnt out carcasses trailing streams of embers like life blood spilling out.


Then she saw the missile contacts come in on her SDAR screen in front of her. Though she couldn't make them out till she got close enough to discern the individual guns of the Valkyrie. She saw twelve missiles streaking from chemical trails as they zipped in, to disappear in a cloud of explosions as the massive warships close defense system came on line. Small guns shooting FLAK rounds and laser targeting CIWS, counter-missiles, and missile jamming instruments came on line automatically.


Scanning the area she saw the craft of her compatriots along with Blue squadron going into interception courses. She angled herself and finally able to see the shapes of the enemy craft Anastasia squeezed the trigger. Two lines of tracer rounds zipped off into space....

 

[Tarmagon]

Open space


Lalande System AO


March 31st, 2338


1015 - hours


Alexis barely managed not to curse as her HUD lit up like a Christmas tree. Fortunately she was a bit preoccupied as she blasted through the swarm of fighters, not to mention the sudden hail of fire that erupted from the Valkyrie. Part of her mind listened to the chatter over the comm channel as she concentrated on guiding her fighter through the sudden maelstrom filling space.


"Blue and Red Squadrons engage incoming tango's, stay clear of Valkyrie's area of engagement and line of fire. Be---Launch emergency fighters! All Marines prepare for boarding! Panoptes squadron we need eyes on that ship contact bearing 79 degrees above elliptical and 11 points off the Valkyrie's starboard by our present course. Bastard's coming in at a full strafing speed from the belt."


As she cleared the munition storm around the Valkyrie, Alexis hauled her fighter over in a tight arc, lining herself up on a vector that would carry her towards the asteroid belt and the mysterious ship emerging from it.





"Reform on me," she broadcast, easing her throttle slightly to allow the rest of the squadron to loop around and catch up with her. "Valkyrie, those SAR missiles will only last for 10 minutes. Recommend you load one fighter for a replenishment mission. Jericho can pre-program a flight for you."





A fresh alert on her HUD claimed Alexis' attention, and she blanched.





"VAMPIRE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE! We have multiple vampires inbound."


"That's a boatload of missiles," Raptor said as he settled his fighter into the coalescing formation, then his whistled appreciatively. "Damn, those point defense crews are on the ball."


"Can the chatter," Alexis said automatically. "But damned if they didn't splash all of them."


For the moment, the furball forming around the Valkyrie had all of the enemy fighters engaged, leaving Panoptes squadron free to form up and align their vectors on the mystery ship accelerating hard towards their ride home.





"Alright," she said as the formation shook itself out around her. "We don't know who these jokers are, but they were lying in wait right where we came out of Transit. The Valkyrie's got the fighters well in hand, but she needs to know what that big one's packing. It masses like a destroyer, so it'll probably have a ton of close-in defenses. Countermeasures under computer direction. If it gets too hot, break off your run and scoot for the Valkyrie's defensive umbrella. Oh, and in case you hadn't guessed, weapons free."





The chorus of wry chuckles that greeted her last statement brought an smile to her face as they raced towards a ship that probably had enough firepower to swat them like the Valkyrie had swatted the inbound missiles. What they had was speed, and they used it ruthlessly, throttles wide open as they raced through the black, the unknown ship already starting to expand as their reciprocal vectors multiplied their effective velocity towards a not insignificant fraction of light-speed, making their gravitic sensors that much more effective.


"Alright you bastard," Alexis thought as the unknown continued to swell in her HUD. "Let's see what you've got."