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

[Verse Zero]

Three Months Prior


Norfolk Geostationary Dockyards


"Commander Starling?" The harsh, authoritarian, ravaged voice of Admiral (In General Staff) Eric de Mazieire. His officer collar pins denoted his rank as C-13, General Staff, one of the planners and overall authorities of the Fleet. Eric's voice was never the same since 2316 or so the story went. Commander Starling was not there when the Frigate Siberia had been boarded by forces from the Sirius Republic. The then Commander de Mazieire, CO of the Siberia, led a counter-boarding operation to prevent the raiding party from reaching the Frigate's starboard side magazines. The Siberia was already in a deadly dance of death as its dueled a pair of Republican destroyers at close range. During the fighting Eric took a 7.62mm round to the throat. Nearly killed him since it punched a hole straight through his jugular and pulped his vocal cords. Only the skill of the Siberia's medical staff saved him, but his voice now sounded like it was constantly gutteral and full of phlem. His voice matched his face to be quite frank. Admiral de Mazieire bore several more scars from The War. An indent on his right cheek from when a piece of shrapnel embedded itself in his cheekbone. A scar across his forehead from a close quarters assault on an enemy mining installation where a bayonet nearly lanced his cranium. All confidential gossip one might suppose. But Commander Starling knew the difference from a bullet wound and one caused by a blade. She had enough of her own, though she got lucky with none touching her face, a small amount of relief.


"Commander are you listening to me?" repeated the gutteral voice. Starling looked up sharply, shooting enough lasers that the Admiral sat back, and replied, "Yessir. You want me to take the Valkyrie on a four month patrol through the Bernard's Star system outer edges around the Moons of Capricorn."


"That is correct Commander." Again the phlem seemed to assault Starling's ears.


"Followed by a jump to Taurus for resupply and then to the Lalande system for anti-piracy operations." Starling was trying to not make the unamusement evident in her voice. The Valkyrie was a warship through and through, and yet again she was handed a anti-piracy Op. There were several dozen vessels much closer to carry out this kind of task. In the Lalande system itself there was an entire Fleet protecting those Colonies. However, protecting was not as accurate as supervising. The Lalande system was notorious for smuggling and illegal markets. There wasn't a day that goes by when the AGC or TA garrison on one of those worlds isn't chasing after some narcotics dealer or cartel. Four times this year a freighter leaving the system had been boarded and busted by Colonial Marines for holding illegal cargo. Once a Naval Commander managed to stop a runner trying to escape customs by firing across the ships bow with a promise that the next shot would be through the freighters fuselage.


"Correct again Commander. Do you have any questions regarding this assignment?" This was almost an insult if it came from anyone else. Usually a reference to the controversial order Starling gave while commanding the Mississippi. The order in question was obliterating a registered commercial installation in the outskirts of the Lalande system using a 50 megaton nuclear warhead. Her logic was that a conventional boarding operation by the Marines aboard the Mississippi would have to high a risk for resulting in heavy casualties or failure. She only had a platoon of Marines versus over two hundred highly armed and motivated smugglers and pirates from an in-system cartel.


So Starling gave a simple, "No sir."


"Dismissed Commander." said de Masieire as he stood up with Starling following a second later. Flicking her right arm into position she gave a crisp military salute that was returned by the Admiral. Starling knew personally de Masieire could care less about her controversial decision. Eric wasn't a man prone to gossip and squabbles. So at least it wasn't given in slight.


Leaving the board room the Commander walked down the gunmetal colored corridors of the vast Geostationary Dockyards that housed over twenty-thousand Naval personnel on average during day to day operations. Able to dock, repair, overhaul, and even construct vessels from scratch. Capable of servicing 86 vessels at once. Turning a corner and quickly returning nods or salutes given by personnel passing by she heard a familiar voice. That of a certain Sub-Admiral with straight black hair and opal colored eyes. Turning around she spoke as if bemused, "Is that you Cao?"


The man was shorter than the Commander and they both embraced as old friends. Speaking up the shorter man seemed ecstatic and gave a wink,


"Heard you got stuck on a babysitting run again?"


"Yes. This time from de Maizieire."


"Well you are the finest babysitter in the Fleet Victoria." They both laughed with several passer bies turning their heads quickly. Senior officers were often stereotypically no nonsense, given their jobs, and uncompromising. To see two laughing like that definitely through social stigmas within the Fleet through a loop. Cao had been one of her wingmen back when she served aboard the Odin which seemed like ages ago. Cao seemed to have aged more than Victoria ever did and he commented upon it while patting her on the back, "It's been what a good nine weeks since we last saw one another. We should head down planetside I know a pub in Dublin. Best Irish beer this side of the solar system!"


"When I get back Cao, I'll take you up on that offer." replied Victoria with a smile as they shook hands, saluted each other, and then broke off into chuckles as they parted ways.


The Present


Alpha Centauri System; In Orbit over Taurus


March 31st, 2338


08:10 Hours Terran Time (HTT)


Command-in-Control room/Bridge.


To make it clear the Command-in-Control/Combat-Information-Center depending on the desired parlance or CIC for short was to the Valkyrie what the brain stem was to a human. Calling it the bridge was simply an easy term of expression for the exact same part of the ship. Both terms being used interchangeably, though CIC was the technical term, and bridge was an unofficial slang in Navy circles more adept at describing a maritime vessel than a starship.


In the CIC, alone, stood a woman. Her dark hair and eyes contrasted with a smooth complexion from her lightly toned skin. Her skin was smooth and soft, and a sign from spending lots of time in a place were there was little to no sunlight. UV lamps were mandatory on starships for extended voyage, but even then the CIC was not exactly open to natural lighting. It sat towards the forward or head of the ship and was behind so much reinforced titanium alloy frames not a single UV ray could hope to penetrate through the decks surrounding it. Not that anyone would want to be exposed to UV rays without a nice ozone layer protecting themselves...I guess being instantly riddled with cancer was not on anyone's bucket list.


The crew, well the vast majority, were probably asleep at this hour. This was jokingly called the graveyard shift from the hours of 1900 to 0900. But being a military ship there was always a portion of the crew slated for this time period to be on active duty. Whether it was maintenance seeing to the Aerospace Wing or the ship, an engineer supervising the ships engines, or a pilot sitting next to his fighter on status in-case of emergency sortie.


The woman's fingers quickly, delicately, and skillfully turned over a transparent piece of plastic material. Similar to an X-Ray image but clear and overlaid across the CIC's central holograph table. Slowly pushing the sheet into space, now hunched over, the woman made minutiae markings. Speaking in a low tone she wrote notes on the side in a barely legible script: Valkyrie position 678.34 by 12.7 degrees on elliptical. Course correct 23 degrees starboard & adjust port-aft direction up across Z-plane 5 degrees.


Looking over the charts and graphs the woman drew a line from the little circle with her new notes ascribed adjacent to an area depicting an asteroid field where another circle was drawn. To anyone else not trained in the arts of Space Naval navigation this may be utterly confusing or come off as complete mumbo jumbo. But for those not learned in such arts the position numbers referenced a specific grid that could be uploaded to the 3D holograph display able to be projected from the table. The degrees marked the forward facing of the ship if someone took the entire solar system, cut it in half horizontally (using Earth as reference), and spliced in a 365 degree measuring disc. Finally the Z-Plane was the same thing except vertical. The woman was plotting a course from an entry point into the Lalande system to a destination near the regions outermost reaches. The ship would enter well out of normal registered trade routes and commercial areas. Roughly 95,000km from the gas giant Lalande Octanus with a course in a long half circle before going straight for the area of operation (AO) roughly 980,000km from the gas giant itself.


Looking up at the displays held aloft above the table the woman could see the SDAR displays (Spatial-Direction-Angle-Range) which was in essence the ships radar. It's eyes and ears since it would be unwise to have a bridge with large portholes in which one could fire a missile into and disable a ship. A lesson learned from the Insurgency Era during the 22nd Century.


Pulling on the golden chain in her pocket the woman drew a antique timepiece from the long ago Victorian Era. A heirloom of her family before they originally left Earth when Mars was being colonized. Clicking open the piece the hands read 8:14AM London, Earth time. Lifting the receiver of a military grade phone, its reinforced black wiring coiling into the central table. Pressing her index finger's first knuckle on the dial pad she accessed the ship-wide communications system.


Lifting the receiver to her face she spoke in the charistically authoritarian tone of voice officers were trained to give. Crisp and clear was what the instructors always said. Crisp and clear.


"This is the Commander. Begin shift change to daytime rotation. Make prep for FTL jump at 0900 hours. click."


The click of the receiver being put back onto the holder to end the communique was a sign that the message was over. The graveyard shift was over and that rotation of crew would now enjoy downtime and rest while everyone else would be rising from their racks, quarters, or wherever else they where to take up their positions and duties about the ship. Soon the bridge would be full of officers and crew conducting the myriad task to keep a large warship functioning at prime, combat ready, condition. The Valkyrie would be jumping to the Lalande system, the most troublesome region of all Terran space.


Lifting a hand to her face the woman rubbed some left over sleep from her eyes. She prefered to be up before the daytime rotation. Usually leaving the XO or Officer of the Watch in command so she could go to her quarters, file reports, and sleep for the early morning to come. Of course as these thoughts and musings went through her head the very concept of night and day aboard a starship was entirely fictional. Space didn't change much as the hours tick by. But in order to keep some semblance of sanity a crew kept such terrestrial phrases in their vocabulary.


Standing with her back straight the woman rolled her head around to stretch her neck while whispering softly, "Another day Victoria. Another day amidst the stars."


Looking back down at the holograph table Victoria exhaled deeply as she began gathering up all of the charts and intelligence reports given to her from when she left the Norfolk Docks in January. It had been smooth passing through the Moons of Capricorn and hanging in orbit around Taurus for resupply. Even now as Victoria looked up at SDAR she could see hundreds of contacts from small private craft made for in-system transit, to bulk freighters working specified trade lanes, and finally TNV flagged contacts denoting Navy ships. There were more over Taurus than usual, especially since the planet was now once again prone to insurgents on the surface. She knew some of her crew were from Taurus, her own Gunnery Officer was a native of that Colony, but that didn't worry her. All of her crew from Taurus had so far been loyal, efficient, and effective members of the ship. After all spending months in the vastness of space...offered plenty of time to sit down and have a chat with people


Checking her time piece again she noted it was precisely 08:15 hours. Daytime rotation had officially started. The crew would be prepping for FTL transit, which, usually involved making sure everything was in its proper place and secured. Not doing so didn't mean things would go flying or flailing about the ship, but it was safety protocol in case the artificial gravity failed and things then began to float about uncontrollably. Victoria didn't want any of her Aerospace Wing out of the fight because of gravity failure and their craft floated off and collided with the bulkheads of the ship; Or, a crewmember getting crushed by floating machinery. Whichever came first.


Stepping back Victoria thought about the deployment thus far. The Moons of Capricorn had be pretty boring as the Valkyrie made its way through that region of space. Winding through the moons and various trade lanes until it made its jump to Taurus. Taurus, with its lush jungles and arid deserts separated by vast mesas was a contrast in it of itself. Now, they where headed for the most troublesome system in all of Terran space. A system half owned by black market cartels with the TDF usually acting as a militarized police force rather than a defending military presence to protect those Colonies from external attack or piracy.


The Lalande system itself had a brown dwarf star, and therefore the Colonies were located 0.11-0.24 AU from it by the fact of the systems sun being small in comparison to the main sequence star of the Sol system. The AO could be accurately described as out in the 'boonies' by all accounts. It would take 303 hours on full sub light speed to reach the nearest mining station located 1.9 AU from the systems star. Humanity had made massive technological leaps in the last two centuries in regards to space travel. Normally a trip that would take over 4,000 years by early 21st Century standards now took 12 days and 6 hours. But Victoria shook such mathematical trivia aside and resumed her task as she expected the ship to metaphorically awaken as the crew rose from their sleep racks, quarters, or bunks.

 

[Iskandar]

One Year Prior


Aboard the TNV Tennessee





"Lieutenant-Colonel Takashi, you understand your orders, correct?", a bitter and old voice rang out in the CIC of the destroyer, Admiral Amanda Blackwall, her pins denoted her rank as a C-10, an old officer who dedicated her life to the Navy, she really never saw much action, even when the Martial Communist and Sirus Republicanist started to rebel against the Terran Government, she was much more suited a desk job.





"Yes, Admiral Blackwall, I am to relinquish command of the Tennessee and be transferred to the Valkyrie as her Executive officers under the command of Commander Victoria Starling.", Jacob replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice, he personally despised Admiral Blackwall, she had seen no real action and was a pain to talk to; she acted better than everyone and was self-entitled.





"That is correct, Lieutenant Colonel. You're to leave immediately, got it? Dismissed.", Blackwall said and immediately ended the call. Jacob let out a heavy sigh and turned back towards the members in the CIC and smiled lightly.





"Well, ladies and gentlemen. It was a pleasure to serve with you and lead you. You all were a magnificent crew. I wish you all the best of luck.", Jacob said before leaving the CIC and towards his quarters to pack for his new station.


The Present


Alpha Centauri System; In Orbit over Taurus


March 31st, 2338


08:00 Hours Terran Time (HTT)


Executive Officers Quarters





Jacob had woken up at 07:00 Hours Terran Time for the past year now, ever since he became the Executive Officer of the Valkyrie. He personally preferred to get to the CIC before the halls of the vast ship became crowded with it's crew. He started off everyday the same, he'd wake up, do a quick thirty minute workout, brush his teeth, take a shower, get dressed and have a cup of tea before heading for the CIC. He had been in the military for almost two decades now and had previously served under Commander Starling when she was in command of the Mississippi. He looked in his closet and saw his uniform hanging in it, he took it out and began to slowly get dressed. He had put his socks on first and then his officer's pant before tightening them with a belt. He traced his fingers over his chest where he had multiple scars and a few tattoo's from his teenage years. He put on his undershirt and this his officer's jacket, he made sure his rank pins and everything else was perfect. He looked in a small mirror and combed his dark black hair, grabbed his glasses and put them on; he smiled and turned around towards the tea machine in his room and began to make a cup. Once the tea was finished brewing he poured himself a cup and left his quarters. Jacob didn't smile much while on his way to the CIC, but today was a bit different, he had a huge smile on his face as he walked down the various corridors of the ship. He nodded and greeted some of the others that had woken up for the day shift or those getting ready to get off of the graveyard shift. He opened the large and heavy door to the CIC and smiled at Commander Starling and the others. He walked up to the CIC's holograph table and stood across from his superior.


"Commander Starling.", Jacob said before giving a brief salute and looking down at the holograph table. He checked his wrist watch and smiled at the time, it read 8:15AM London, Earth Time. He took a quick sip of his tea before glancing around. He personally liked being the Executive officer of the Valkyrie and being under Commander Starling's command. He looked back at Commander Starling and smirked, "Why'd command have to give us such a boring assignment?"

 

[Verse Zero]

The Present


Alpha Centauri System; In Orbit over Taurus


March 31st, 2338


08:15 Hours Terran Time (HTT)


Executive Officers Quarters


Victoria gave a quick salute to her XO as he came onto the bridge. As punctual as ever, Victoria liked her XO in the professional sense, for he was efficient and hard working. The XO was usually never widely popular for having to execute the CO's orders about the ship and provide a second pair of oversight on the crew. The CO gave the orders and the XO made sure they where followed to the letter along with assisting the CO in practically all matters. It was a team effort to command a ship of this size and complexity.


Looking at Takashi she smiled as she put a singular chart on the table for him to observe. The one that had her markings and math upon it, "Because we're the best damn babysitters this side of Terran space." She held her face in seriousness for a solid minute before laughing as she tapped the holo-chart and began in a more serious tone, "FLEETCOM thinks that this Old Glory is more suitable for chasing after smugglers, pirates, and freebooters than putting the fear of Earth in our enemies. The Lalande system has two other Odin-Class vessels of the newer variant, Venus and Orion, but given the fact the system in question is always so chalk full of crime they are tasked to enforce the space lanes over the colonies near the star. Given the fact we were unassigned they gave the assignment to us since we have all the resources aboard a single warship like the Valkyrie."





That was the prime advantage of the Odin-Class, its flexibility, and the fact it could outgun just about everything except a dedicated battleship class vessel. Even then that doesn't account for the entire Aerospace Wing in its hangar bays nor the companies of Marines it could deploy. One Odin-Class was worth a Fleet of lesser vessels back in the day of the Great Colonial War.


Looking at the holo chart Victoria continued, "Intelligence reports from corvettes patrolling at different dates for the past couple months have had peculiar SDAR contacts in this region. There are no trade lanes or private entities out here. No licensed vessel with permission to operate beyond the mining colonies either. At first the corvette TNV Suleiman reported a contact just within the asteroid field but could not get a clear image on its scopes nor precise SDAR reading before it vanished. That was on February 2nd. *Hands Takashi the report*. Next on February the Corvettes Suleiman and Hasdrubal attempted a closer sweep and detected several contacts on SDAR before they to suddenly vanished deeper into the asteroid field. Both ships hung around for several days until they were relieved by the Cruiser Leipzig which launched a few Ravens into the area to probe the field. Nothing was picked up but rock. All three ships departed on the 11th of February but left a probe to monitor the area. This is where it gets interesting. *Gives Takashi a SDAR log*. When the three ships returned, along with the Light Carrier Hokkaido, on March 27th to retrieve the probe they noticed its scopes had been removed. Its recorder had recorded images and SDAR readings until it was cut off on March 16th. During its weeks of monitoring the area it did not see anything but picked up over a dozen SDAR contacts at seemingly random intervals. All gravitating around the area I circled, the area we will approach after we enter the system."





Those four ships mentioned above had left the system on the 29th of March with no contact being reported. True, 'ghost' contacts did occur in areas of space were SDAR could be distorted or interfered with. It happened, and that's if it was running properly. Malfunctions and glitches did happen from time to time and usually resolved in a matter of moments by the ships computer drives. But the specific occurrence of these 'ghost' contacts in that area was something to be concerned about. Especially in a system notorious for nefarious activity.

 

[Iskandar]

Jacob smiled as Victoria made the joke, he chuckled lightly and then took a sip of his tea, being the XO was quite a stressful job but having the faith of the CO always made it worthwhile. He looked at the chart on the table and examined it before saying, "This thing may be a hunk of metal, but it is the best damn hunk of metal in the fleet. At least we can gun anything down, if we had to take action in a chase it would be the death of us."


Jacob took the report and reads briefly through it, most likely a fast smuggler ship using the asteroid field for cover from SDAR and the corvette. He continues to listen to Victoria and takes a sip of his tea as he does so. He takes the SDAR log after Victoria explained the sudden increase of contacts in the asteroid field. He piqued up when he heard that the probe's scopes were removed. He thought long and hard for a moment before looking at the logs and report again and letting out a heavy sigh, "I did not want to start my morning off with a 'mystery of what's happening in that asteroid field.' " He took a long sip of his tea before looking at Victoria.





"Well, smugglers would be the largest suspect here. After all these seem to be their type of tactics and what not. Plus, they aren't the least common thing here." He said before pacing back and forth for a while and turning back towards his commander, "Hmm. I hate to think of it but it could be spies, unlikely yes, but also possible. After all the Martial government has been a bit more daring as of late. Or even the Sirius Republicans, they are always the quiet and secretive type if you ask me" He then shook his head and sighed, he was frustrated at the anomalies but also very intrigued. He pushed up his glasses and went more thoroughly over the logs and smiled lightly, "Well, we will find out soon enough, won't we commander? No need to speculate on theories." He sipped his tea and continued to look at the table, anticipation building up, he knew something was amidst and that there was a story to be told here.

 

[Tarmagon]

Present day





Alpha Centauri System; Approaching TNV Valkyrie


March 31st, 2338


08:15 HTT


Alexis shifted in the acceleration bolster of her sleek craft, and checked the position of the rest of the squadron out of reflex. Everyone was where he or she was supposed to be, keeping formation around the transport full of their support gear. Considering the stress of the last few days, everyone was doing remarkably well. The rushed loading onto the transport vessel Hador, the express transit from Sol to Alpha Centauri, and the rush to get the squadron fueled and their transport loaded while Hador headed towards Taurus. Then there was no more time, and Hador’s catapults had hurled the squadron into space while the transport made its stately way out of the hanger under its own power. They had fallen into formation automatically, and headed for the distant shape that slowly resolved itself into TNV Valkyrie. Alexis’ thoughts were brought back to the present as her HUD flashed an alert as they passed the outer limits of Valkyrie’s STC (Space Traffic Control) zone and her communicator crackled to life.


“Raven flight, be aware you are entering restricted space. Please transmit your squadron designator and flight path information.”


Alexis took a deep breath, then triggered her comm.


“This is Lieutenant Alexis Martins, leading Panoptes flight. We have orders to report to TNV Valkyrie and attach to her scouting wing. Orders burst transmitting now with hardcopy aboard.”


There was a brief squeal from the communicator as it transmitted the heavily encrypted data burst, then a long moment of silence. Just when Alexis was starting to wonder if the transmission had been received properly, the voice of Valkyrie’s STC officer came over her comm. again.


“You’re cutting things a bit close Panoptes squadron. You do realize that we’re due to transit out in, 45 minutes. Your orders check out though. Vector 278 absolute, plus 15 Z, clearance to trap in landing bay 3, transport to follow after Ravens have been secured.”


“Acknowledged Valkyrie STC.” Alexis replied calmly, trying to keep the relief out of her voice. This whole mission had a rushed together air, and she desperately wanted everything to go smoothly. Unfortunately, the next words out of her communicator disabused her of that idea.


”I think that the CAG is going to want to have a few words with you once you’re aboard and secured for FTL Lieutenant. If you’re lucky, that’s as high as this will go. If not…”


“Acknowledged STC,” Alexis repeated, a leaden lump growing in her stomach. This was not the way she wanted to report to her new ship. She was probably irritating the CAG, not to mention the XO who was probably up to his or her eyebrows getting the ship ready for FTL. At least this probably wouldn’t come to the CO’s attention. Immediately at least.


“Panoptes flight, follow your vectors. Once we’re down, secure your birds for FTL transit, then we’ll have to see where we’re going to be bunked down. I’ll see you all settled, then see how big a strip the CAG is going to tear off me.”


“Aye ma’am.”


“Yes lieutenant.”


“Acknowledged.”


“Vector locked.”


“Five by five ma’am.”


“Well,” she thought as the acknowledgements washed over her. “We’re here. Let’s hope we live up to all our own hype.”

 

[Dirtbear]

The Present


Alpha Centauri System; In Orbit over Taurus


March 31st, 2338


08:10 Hours Terran Time (HTT)


Chief Comm Officer's Quarters

"This is the Commander. Begin shift change to daytime rotation. Make prep for FTL jump at 0900 hours. click."

​

*CRASH*

​

A few files filled with sheets of paper scattered from the metal desk all over the floor surrounding the tipped over chair. Gallen let out a brisk moan as he turned his head around to see what had happened through his groggy hazel eyes. He reached out to collect the closest papers nearby and fell out of the chair completely, hand and knees on the floor. He sighed and sniffed his stale breath. Gallen grimaced when the scent of last night's grub filled his nostrils. He smacked his lips and sucked in air between his teeth as he collected the remaining papers of the files that scattered around. He stood, stretching his broad shoulders and pulled back his arms up and over his head. He scratched his ribs and blinked a couple times as his vision adjusted to the lighting in his quarters.


"Slept in the chair again...", Gallen grumbles coarsely.


Gallen stares at his reflection in the mirror beside his unused bed. His calloused hand brushed against his grizzled beard starting to grow in. There were stray grays finding their way into the chestnut scruff. He widened his squinting eyes, revealing light black bags underneath them. Gallen wiped the remnants of sleep gunk from the corner of his eye and brushed off his semi-wrinkled patterned buttoned shirt. He placed his coat over it and didn't bother buttoning it up. It was rather early for the formalities. As it was, judging by the time on his watch, he was already ten minutes late to see the Commander in the bridge.


He let out a grunt, "Eh, gives me enough time to brew a cup of coffee." Gallen lifted his lips to take a look at his teeth and made a semi-approving face. "Gotta make sure I eat a mint afterwards." Gallen remarked.


With that, he patted himself down to find the pocket holding minty fresh snacks he enjoyed. Gallen finds them hiding within his shirt pocket and makes his way to making his coffee. After doctoring the coffee with half creamer and half sugar, his light brown version of "coffee" was just right as he strolled leisurely towards the bridge. He makes his way to the entrance and hears the voices of both commanding officers, Lt. Colonel Jacob Takashi and Commander Victoria Starling. Gallen slightly adjusted his Major pin unconsciously and drank another sip of his hot beverage.

"Hmm. I hate to think of it but it could be spies, unlikely yes, but also possible. After all the Martial government has been a bit more daring as of late. Or even the Sirius Republicans, they are always the quiet and secretive type if you ask me"



​

Gallen walked onto the bridge and gave a lazy salute to both of his higher ranking officers while he drank more of his deliciously sweet beverage. He almost choked on it when he inhaled too much cinnamon and quickly cleared his throat.





"Ahem. Hm. Yes, Sneaky Sirius Rep and their shifty eyes, going every which way. Don't mind me." Gallen said, shifting smoothly into his chair in front of the Valkyrie's main comm panel.


He began sliding the screens around and making sure the junior officer on graveyard logged the chatter of the evening. He also noticed an alert on the screen's top right corner. The Ravens they were expecting were just flying into dock. Perfect. Some good news for the Commander this morning.


Gallen wheels around in a half circle on the stationary chair and takes a quick sip of his coffee. "Mmm. Commander, Panoptes squadron arriving and docking at flight deck bravo shortly. Looks like those Ravens finally made it." Gallen nods and takes in a breath that slides the inside lining of his uniform coat to either side and fully reveals his palm tree and hula girl patterned shirt.

 

[Iskandar]

The Present


Alpha Centauri System, In orbit over Taurus


March 31st, 2338


0800 hours Terran Time


Hangar A, Deck 2


It had been a long and tiring journey for Amanda to make to the Odin Class Warship, Valkyrie. She had applied to be the ships new master sergeant of the ship, after her long tenure on the Roma, Amanda wanted something fresh and new. She took a step off the Northrop light transport ship, she took a deep breath and smiled widely, thinking to herself; Hmm, what should I do first? I should probably go report to the CO and XO.





Amanda was a beauty for a military woman, who had seen a lot of combat and cruel things. She was pale but not too pale, she had a curvy but lean body, she had long angelic blonde hair. Her uniform was always up to date and crisp, she did act out in a bit of rebellion by wearing a non-commissioned red beret that had been passed down in her family since before man had landed on the moon.


"This is the Commander. Begin shift change to daytime rotation. Make prep for FTL jump at 0900 hours. click." Amanda heard on the PA System. She was glad that she had arrived before they made the FTL Jump, otherwise she'd be stranded in smugglers paradise. She fully exited the transport ships and made her way through the hangar and into the now bustling halls of the ship. She wandered around for a bit, admiring the ships infrastructure and architecture. She looked around with a puzzled face, she was lost, she had no idea where the CIC was. She didnt want to bother anyone and take their time to ask such a stupid question, but she did anyway.





"Er, hello, you!" Amanda said pointing at a random petty officer, "Where is the bridge?" She asked, using the layman's term for CIC. The petty officer looked around for a moment before pointing to himself, Amanda nodded and smiled.


"Yes, Ma'am? The CIC? Oh take this hall all the way down, make a left at the split and take that hall all the way down. You'll find yourself at the CIC." The petty officer said, a bit irritated that she had asked him such a stupid question.





"Thank you!" Amanda said, waving at him as she began to follow his directions to the CIC. She came to a hulking metal door that read Combat and Information Center. She smiled to herself as she opened the door and walked into the CIC, seeing the CO, XO and chief communications officer, as well as other members of the CIC's crew. She approached the CO and XO and gave them a salute and cleared her throat,





"Master Sergeant Amanda Buck reporting for duty, Ma'am, Sir." Amanda said in her British accent, her voice was stern though, she then nodded, "Yes, my father is that General Michael S Buck of the Colonial Marine Corps." She felt like she had to say that, she hated it when people asked her that question and thought it would be best to just tell them instead of the them asking.

 

[KaldorDraigo]

TNV Valkyrie;


Alpha Centauri System; In orbit over Taurus


March 31st, 2338


0800 Hours Terran Time


Executive Officers Quarters.


"This is hardly the time- Mmm...!" Her protest died out easily, replaced by a pleased purr as a low, husky, undoubtedly male chuckle followed. "You sure about that darlin... We've got an hour till shift begins..." His lips grazed the soft nape of her neck, drawing more muted sounds of pleasure as she sank reluctantly back against him, almost giving in before turning around to smack the uniform top (navy blue as opposed to marine green) she held in her hands across his face. "Enough of that!" The woman chided sternly, though the flush up her neck and heavy breaths told Nicholas she wasn't quite as firm as she wanted him to believe. "You know as well as I do that an hour isn't nearly enough time... I do have to look presentable and not..." She paused to glance down at herself, "Thoroughly shagged by a very enthusiastic major." The marine having reclined back against the headboard let out another laugh, expression smug.


"But you have been, lieutenant. And I wasn't so much enthusiastic as... ferocious? Shall we say?" Her only reply was an unimpressed gaze, full lips upturned in a hint of amusement, he returned said gaze unashamedly before glancing at the militarily functional, plain clock on his equally steel grey, spartan wall. "Five minutes have passed, you know what I could have done in five minutes?" Nicholas grumbled playfully, finally conceding to her logic and moving off the bed. Letting the cotton sheets drop from his body as he moved towards the shower, not bothering with modesty, she'd seen just about anything there was to see. The woman, already dressed, now just cocked a defiant eyebrow. "Not me, that's for damned sure." Leaning forwards as he passed her, there really wasn't much walking room, she gave him a farewell peck. "You know when my shift ends... My quarters, tonight." It wasn't a request. "Don't miss me... Lover." Blowing him one last kiss she palmed the door release, stepped out as it hissed open, hips swaying pretty as you please.


"Bloody redheads."


TNV Valkyrie;


Alpha Centauri System; In orbit over Taurus


March 31st, 2338


0830 Hours Terran Time


Main Corridor, Deck 1.


A quick shower and brief swing by the mess later saw Major Nicholas Firentis, second son of the Firentis family and current officer in charge because the higher ups back in CMC command couldn't be bothered to send anybody of higher rank for a ship due to be retired shortly. "Damn stingy REMFs..." Said major muttered beneath his breath, coffee in one hand and data slate in the other as he strode down the center of the still quiet corridor. Crewmen and women scurried from deck to deck, up and down the main hall that ran through the deck, first only one or two, then threes and fours as the Valkyrie began to wake up. Most snapped hasty, instinctual salutes at him upon seeing his rank insignia; mumbling a quiet "morning sir". The Navy crew did it out of respect and ingrained military tradition, Marines did it out of recognition. Nicholas had made an effort to attach names to faces, knowing that even just being able to greet a fellow CMC by name would give a morale boost. But then, after two years of serving aboard this old girl, he was pretty well known around the ship.


Dressed smartly in combat fatigues instead of regulation uniform, raybans tucked neatly into a pocket and side arm strapped to his side, the tall and broad shouldered marine made a clear path straight for the "brains" of said ship, the CIC. "G' Morning sir." The two marines, armed with side arms offered him a salute as he neared the door. "At ease gentlemen, Falkes, Chawkwa. Ready to bunk up?" Nicholas greeted both marines with nods as he let the door console scan his palm print, waiting for the light to beep green. "Aye sir, if only Jay and Felix would hurry the hell up." Nick just gave them a commiserating grin and stepped through the now open doors and into the dim room. The many screens and holographic displays highlighted the lighter colours of his uniform, outlining the scar across his left cheek. He moved to where he could see the familiar figures of Commander Starling and X.O Takashi stood on the slightly elevated area colliqually referred to as "The Stage" someone else in formal CMC uniform stood beside them.


The hum of quiet conversation and constant flow of information in the background was familiar, not something the Marine officer was happy about. He'd always thought captain was the highest he wanted to go, high enough to matter, low enough that he could pretend he was still a grunt. But the past four months of patrol, with little in the way of action and more time spent being an adminstrator said otherwise. "Good Morning Commander, Takashi."


Giving his fellow command officers a brief salute in lieu of formal greeting. He liked the new head honchos. Starling's exploits as a fighter pilot during the war, and her stint as a commanding officer was spoken about in almost awed tones. The Major had yet to see her in action, nearly half of the Valkyrie's current crew were new additions rotated in over the past four months, but so far she and Takashi had run a tight ship. They expected efficiency but with realistic standards and left departments who had capable leaders to run on their own. As far as Firentis was concerned, they ran the boat, he would keep said boat secure.


Turning to his left, his eyes flickered over the newcomer curiously. Noting the tense shoulders and bold, almost confrontational expression on her young, pretty face. "Easy there, Master Sergeant. You're in the wrong place. Valkyrie Marine Command is Deck 2, the Citadel." The Major's tone was level, light but at the same time had a tone of steel in his voice.


"That's Ship Security HQ, if you're new." The silent reprimand was clear. It didn't matter who her father was, Firentis had made sure the marines aboard the Valkrie were not only well trained but well behaved. The newcomer's assumption bordered on arrogant, none of the officers around the holograph table gave a damn, and she'd have to learn that pretty quick. " Last name Buck, ey? You'll report to Lieutenant Patrick McConnell, 1st Battalion, Delta Platoon. He should be up and if he isn't, he damn well should be. There will be staff at the Citadel to assist you. Dismissed."


Not waiting to see if the Master Sergeant left, because she had better, Nick turned back to Starling and Takeshi. "Apologies, newcomers are still boarding the ship apparently. Damn Terran admin..." He cleared his throat, bringing up his data slate to give Victoria the usual morning report. "Alright, so sitrep... Though I'm sure you already know, Commander. Nothing to report from security. All restricted areas are secure,, no unauthorized access of any sort. All guard details checked in with nothing unusual. Crew on shore leave have all reported back before curfew, no incidents." He paused to give them a wry smile, knowing how rowdy one could get on a night out after months of being cooped up onboard. "Nothing worth mentioning atleast... Armory is stocked and ready, Ditto for Strykers and 'Heavies." Pursing his lips as his report came to a close, he placed the data slate down. "That's about it. Everything on my end is green for FTL. So what's the latest, Commander? We done baby sitting yet? Cause if not I'll need to request leave to run down to Taurus and grab more milk and diapers."

 

[Sheogorath]

TNV Valkyrie;


Alpha Centauri system; in orbit over Taurus


March 31st 2338


8:32 hours Terran time


Engine deck : Maintenance control room


James furrowed his brow in confusion, running a hand through his silver streaked hair as he examined the system report on the Valkyries engine condition. All seemed to be in shape, no faults or nothing whch meant less time spent in the maintenance shafts fixing some broken circuit board but it paid well to say the least.


This was the first time he had been on a ship as big as the Valkyrie, for past couple of years he spent most of his job fixing the fighter ships and the occasional civilian craft so the Valkyrie was a new challenge for him. James had applied for the position for chief engineer a few months ago, he had the right qualifications and experience for the job; James was lucky to have been picked out of a hundred candidates.


After running the routine checks on the engine system, James heard a voice break through the comms system "Graveyard shift over, officers report to bridge. FTL transit soon" James chuckled to himself, he got to his feet and wiped the dirt from engineer jumpsuit, hopefully the rest of the officers wouldn't look down on his messy appearance. Engineering required you to be constantly getting yours hands dirty, which the military brass who often spent their career behind desks had no concept of. James made his way to lift, passing two of his fellow engineers who had completed the grave yard shift. He nodded to the pair of them and entered the lift, James pressed the button which sent you to the bridge.


A few quiet minutes passed before the lift opened onto the bridge, James made his way past various crewmen busy working at their stations . "Oi, you there... Which ones the captain?" He said in a annoyed tone to one of the marines on duty.

 

[Blarg222]

TNV Valkyrie;


Alpha Centauri system; in orbit over Taurus


March 31st 2338


8:46 hours Terran time


Hanger: Flight Deck


Wilhelm worked carefully on his new ship, making sure not to mess up any bit of his work. He had just received his state of the art Vulture transport and he wanted to give it his own personal touch. As he placed the last touch of paint and removed the design tarp he stepped back to admire his work, dreaming in his head what it would look like in combat. However, in the corner of his eye he caught the flight officer's gaze and returned to his assigned work, hoping to avoid being chastised once more. He checked flight systems, engines, weaponry, door control, all the works, this routine work only made him ponder combat. He yearned for the roar of the ship's engines, the crack of enemy flak, the churning of his forward machine guns, and the wiz of his 127mm rockets. However those dreams would have to wait, as the bridge sent down their call for FTL preparation. He proceeded to his assigned location along with the other pilots and strapped in, "Next Stop: War" He thought to himself as the final preparations were made.


Wilhelm's nose art:

 

[TerraBooma]

TNV Valkyrie;


Alpha Centauri system; in orbit over Taurus


March 31st 2338


8:52 hours Terran time


Hanger: Flight Deck:


"Look at all these ships..." A certain redheaded mechanic said, muttering to himself as he was preparing himself for FTL travel. He was still on the flight deck, scheduled for some simple routine maintenance, but he couldn't keep still. Fiddling with a few gears and parts he was carrying around with him, he wondered what it would be like on the other side. What would FTL travel to do the smaller craft on board? Would they experience any stress? What does FTL speeds do to arms and the well being of the craft in general? All he knew is he'd check out everything after they dropped from FTL. He had a job after all, and his jumpsuit was already greasy.


Allen himself was somewhat glad he'd been assigned to maintain and repair any and all of the smaller crafts on board the ship. Engineering was a pretty broad department, but his familiarity with this area of it...and his likewise unfamiliarity with the more complciated matters of FTL and the engines themselves...well, he's not sure what he'd be doing should he ever have to work in the more important areas. But what's important is he was here. Back home...his mother's attempts at a living just weren't enough to get by, she knew what she was doing, but with no reputation, it was hard enough to find the customers, so Allen had found himself signing up as a member of the mechanical corps as soon as he had to...he just hoped his family was doing alright.


Messing about with his handful of gears and wires, Allen was strapped in and ready for FTL. He thought. Maybe.


FTL didn't hurt right?

 

[Verse Zero]

TNV Valkyrie;


Alpha Centauri system; in orbit over Taurus


March 31st 2338


09:00 hours Terran time


CIC





Commander Victoria Starling had a peculiar way of getting her subordinates attention, and the last time someone slacked off to far they ended up running laps around the ship 100 times until she was satisfied their pace was good enough, but that was balanced by her rather calm demeanor and equal respect for her crew and subordinate officers. She regarded a ship like a family, a disciplined family whereby it was a good working environment but also completely efficient. She didn't care what the Marines did so long as it didn't break any codes or regulations and they kept efficient in their duties. Same with her engineers, mechanics, and officers. So how does she get their attention, well to some who have served with her its the slow drumming of her fingers on a surface that gets louder with each iteration. Followed by a stiffening of her back and a fist resting on her hip that some might consider a little close to the .357 Super Magnum Pistol she preferred as a side arm.


So she drummed her fingers till quiet echoed on the ship and then gave the order, "Commence Jump. I want Marines ready for installation and ship boarding. Ravens deployed to form a scouting perimeter and fighter flights ready to escort he Marines and engage any bogeys."





Turning to Gallen she ordered "Get me Panoptes squadron leader."





Moving to Firentis Victoria gave a grin and replied, "I have a distinct feeling you'll be either joyriding through space or emptying magazines soon enough, oh and see to it Buck over here gets where she needs to be please, because she'll be joining the boarding parties."





Then there was the characteristically annoyed voice of James as he came up from the lift. Victoria did not turn to him but resumed her watch on the charts before her along with any issue her subordinates might bring. So she instead just raised her voice in James direction and said his name for emphasis, "James, judging by the tone of your voice I hope all is well...or are we about to experience engine meltdown first hand?"





The last few words where meant to be candid to her engineer. She had respect for all positions aboard the ship due to them being all necessary in some way. Further she realized that Engineers and Mechanics while not expected to fight also suffered intense pressure to simply keep things top of the line and ready to endure whatever hells out on the battlefield. More than once she's seen engineers and mechanics go through equally extreme PTSD and survivors guilt that maybe if they screwed a bolt in tighter it could have saved a comrades life, or that if they found a fix sooner it wouldn't have led to problems et cetera. So Victorias rule of thumb was that a Commander had authority, but an Engineer running towards an engine problem or better yet, away from, had greater authority than anyone.

 

[Dirtbear]

TNV Valkyrie;


Alpha Centauri system; in orbit over Taurus


March 31st 2338


09:00 hours Terran time


CIC

"Get me Panoptes squadron leader."

​

With a nod, Gallen spun in his stationary seat, "Yes, Commander."


He placed the empty mug off to the side on a coaster. He lifted his headset onto his head and began to tapping buttons and swiping the windows off to the side of the screen. Gallen opened up the flight comm directory and accessed the new channel on the network labeled "Panoptes Squad Lead; Lt. Alexis Martins". He cleared his throat and then tapped his mic to make sure he didn't get much feedback in his headset before opening the comms.


Gallen opened up the comm, "Panoptes Squadron Leader, Lt. Alexis Martins, Commander Starling wants a word with you. I'll patch you onto her comms. Good luck, heh." Gallen tapped the screen, directing the line onto the Commander's open channel.


He wheeled around in his chair and flung his fingers off his forehead to the Commander, "Squad Lead on your comms, Commander. Beginning order relay to other departments." His body spun and his patterned shirt was fanning out with the motion. Gallen's fingers swiped and typed a mass message order to all department heads.

[Jump Commencing. Marines to be ready for installation and boarding. Ravens to be deployed, forming a scouting perimeter. Fighter flights to be ready to escort Marine entourage and engage any possible hostiles.]






​

The message showed up on his screen and he frowned. Gallen never unchecked his name from mass communications and so was given the redundant information. He pursed his lips and shrugged. It made logging the ships directives easier onto the ship log. He hated having junior officers watching his station over-night. He had to fix all the settings on his main comm panel every morning. The incompetent junior was lucky no action was seen during graveyard, or Gallen would wring his neck for his slacking behavior. Hence having to send himself the redundant information for the junior officer's sake. Gallen nodded and kept it to himself, bringing up his holographic hula girl to display on the screen, moving with the imaginary movements of her surroundings.

 

[Tarmagon]

TNV Valkyrie


Alpha Centauri System and Transit


March 31st 2338


0900 Hours


Flight deck Bravo





Alexis supposed she should be worried that she hadn't reported to the CAG yet, and she had been on board nearly half an hour. It had taken the squadron just over fifteen minutes to vector in on the Valkyrie and trap on the designated flight deck. Then, while the flight crews had swarmed over the fighters, topping off their fuel cells and, to Alexis' surprise, spotting them on the ready catapult cradles, she had presented their written orders to the Officer of the Deck. By that time the transport had settled onto the deck, and she had to supervise the unloading of the Mk 5 DSI's. The marines in charge of the ordnance locker had looked at her skeptically when she told them how they had to be stored, at least until they had seen the spec sheet her DA (Digital Assistant) had shunted over to their data pads. One glance at the payloads the innocuous looking missiles contained, and they had gone from skeptical to respectful in a heartbeat.


"I suppose any nuclear warhead, even a sub-critical implosion device with minimal, tuned output is enough to make them nervous," Alexis thought wryly. "And the fact that we brought two hundred of the things really bugged their eyes out."


The last of the Mk 5's had been safely sealed away in the secure magazines, well, except for the one nestled in the belly of each of Panoptes' Ravens. Then a harassed looking Ensign...what had his name been? had shunted berthing assignments to each of the squadron members.


"Go and grab showers and put on clean flight suits," she had told the rest of the squadron, eliciting a chorus of cheers before they had scattered like wild birds, following the directions their DA's downloaded from the ship's infonet.


"Best get directions to the CAG's office and find out how irritated he is with me" Alexis muttered out loud.


"That would be how irritated SHE is with you," a soft contralto said into her ear bug. "Colonel Frye, Kaywinnet Lee. No further information available at current access level."


"Thank you Cassandra," Alexis said. "That could have been..."


"Incoming priority call," her DA said, interrupting her. "Transferring."


"Panoptes Squadron Leader, Lt. Alexis Martins, Commander Starling wants a word with you. I'll patch you onto her comms. Good luck, heh."


The hiss of an open channel followed the ominous words, and Alexis took a moment to take a deep breath and mentally square her shoulders.


"Ma'am!" she said crisply. "Lt. Alexis Martins, commanding Panoptes squadron, reporting. How may we assist you?"

 

[Iskandar]

TNV Valkyrie


Alpha Centauri System and Transit


March 31st, 2338


0900 Hours Terrain Time


Deck 2, "The Citadel."


Amanda gave a brief salute to Commander Starling and Major Firentis, "Yes sir." She turned around and left the CIC. She looking around and began to make her way to Deck Two to report to Lieutenant Patrick McConnell. She was glad that Firentis had dismissed her the way he did, she would get along with the officers if most were like that. She found her way to the Citadel and looked around, she was eager to meet her subordinates and superiors, after all she was their to help keep moral up when the getting got tough. She looked around a bit before finding Lieutenant McConnell.


"Master Sergeant Amanda Buck reporting for duty." Amanda said, giving him a salute. McConnell quickly returned the salute and looked at Buck.


"Welcome aboard, Master Sergeant." McConnell said, his Irish accent was apparent. He let out a sigh as he looked over her personal files and looked back at her, "Impressive little file you have her, anyway, I hope you know your role here, keeping moral up, training the newbies, administrative work, and your normal marine things." McConnell said, followed up by a sigh and looking back at his clip board, "Also, gear up, you'll be with Boarding parrrty, lets see, lets go with one."


"Yes sir. Is that all?" Amanda asked and McConnell nodded. She smiled and walked off to go look around a bit more and get prepared for boarding or repelling a boarding. She was rather happy she was here, the officers seemed great and the lower ranks seemed in high spirits and respected their superiors.


TNV Valkyrie


Alpha Centauri System and Transit


March 31st, 2338


0900 Hours Terran Time


CIC





Takashi looked as the large and loud door to the CIC was opened and took a sip of his tea. He saw Gallen, the Chief Communtications Officer, arrive late, which happened on occasion, He usually let him off but liked to tease him about it too from time to time. He remained quiet though, deciding to continue to look over the reports and files Starling had given him. He then looked to see a rather young woman with a red beret enter the CIC, the loud doors making it impossible to not know. She introduced herself as the new Master Sergeant and went off about some personal information, which seemed a bit selfish but he didn't mind, it's what youth does. He took another sip of his tea as the Marine Commander, Major Nicholas Firentis came in, quickly dismissing the rash Sergeant to the Citadel.


"Good Morning Firentis. How are the troops? Still the best in the fleet I hope?" Takashi said, giving a brief smile before looking at Starling who had began to give the orders for transit and such. He liked the officers of this ship, they all had their ups and downs but were efficient and good at their jobs. His job was mostly to help the Commander as best he could from advice to decisions as well as making sure everyone followed orders and followed Starling. He was pretty much her right hand mind, which is what he signed up for, knowing what kind of a Commander she was. He finished his tea and gave a mixed sigh of relief and disappointment, one he finished his tea which was good, but he no longer had any tea to drink. The loud doors opened once again and James, the Chief Engineer had entered the CIC, which was never good, it usually meant that there was a problem, which is worse during an FTL jump.


"Commander, we really need to get those doors fixed, they're getting pretty loud. I know this ship is a bit older, but can we at least spray some WD40 on them?" Takashi said, trying to lighten up the mood that had occurred now that James was here. He always thought that the bridge should have a positive air to it, with it being the control center, if everyone was frantic in the CIC then so would the whole ship, just as if the CIC was positive, this rest of the ship was. He was also excited to meet the leader of Panoptes Squadron, meeting a new officer was always good and would determine how well they would fit in on the ship. He then resumed to looking back at the reports, still examining them and trying to get a better conclusion to them. As most of the officers new, he wasn't the most social of them, and could be very quiet and sometime awkward, but he did his job, which is what matters the most.

 

[Verse Zero]

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:00 hours Terran time


CIC


Victoria put on a headset that hang in an alcove just under the lip of the holo-table before her. She put it on and tapped the mic. She preferred the wired headsets over the personal comms. It prevented people from listening in on a person talking to her, and quite frankly she thought the padding was soft and the audio clear.


"Lt. Martins, please report to my quarters immediately. Panoptes will be providing our recon team when we reach our area of operations. But, I picked up a curious communication docket while the Valkyrie was re-supplying over Taurus. I am curious as to what you have brought aboard my ship. Be prompt Lieutenant. My quarters is located on Deck 15 four compartments aft of the CIC."





Putting the headset away and thus severing the communications link Victoria looked up at Takashi, "Be my guest, I'm sure Engineering has a vat of the stuff you can dump on these doors."





Turning to her Comms officer Victoria added, "Have the CAG meet me at my quarters as well." Turning towards the door she had come in hours previous she walked off and then abruptly held up a finger, "Firentis come with me! Takashi you have the ship for now, estimated ETA is 45 Minutes."





Resuming her pace Victoria walked on briskly, the marines by the door quickly opened the reinforced bulkhead and swung it open, Starling didn't even break stride. Walking out onto the hall she was greeted by passing salutes, "Ma'ams," "Commander," and all manner of honorable prefixes. She was the shepherd to this flock with her officers being the watch dogs that kept the herd moving. In just over a half and hour the Valkyrie would be entering its AO and exiting FTL moments later. She'd immediately launch Panoptes squadron to form a rough sphere of recon. At which point it was a rough curved line along the ellipsis of the system to the ghost contact sightings. If they found hostiles it'd be gloves off and war drums beating. Victoria hoped it was nothing, she'd seen war, she'd bled in its fires and had many friends personally pay the butchers bill. But she had a gut feeling that this time...the butcher was back.

 

[Dirtbear]

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:00 hours Terran time


CIC

"Have the CAG meet me at my quarters as well."

​

Without turning around, Gallen acknowledged the order. "On it, Commander." He tapped the screens and brought up the directory for the flight operations. He scrolled down and bit his lip, locating the CAG's Command Line. Gallen brought it up and opened the comm-link. There was a muted curse on the other end and the link was severed. Gallen looked at the operational status of the Command Line and it was in optimal condition. He tried the line again, this time redirecting his line through the hardwire channels. The other end was answered almost immediately.





"Colonel Frye, Commander Starling requests your presence in her quarters ASAP." Gallen says before something disconnects his link.





"Very well, Major.", there is a brief muffling of the mic and clattering of glass, "I'll be at her quarters shortly. Is that all, Major Brook?" The Colonel asked, failing to hide a soft groan of pain.





"I believe so, Kaylee. Should probably stop by the bridge beforehand," he grins behind the mic as he continues in a hushed tone, " I got some mints for ya if ya need 'em." He lightly chuckles.





"HA! Get bent, Gallen." Frye shouts over the line. "And it's Colonel Frye, Major." She ends with a hiss and cuts off the comm-link.


Gallen looks around to make sure no one could overhear and exits the ships directories. "Prissy prat only plays nice when she wants something. Manipulative bitch..." Gallen mutters under his breath. He reaches into his buttoned shirt pocket and retrieves a mint and pops it into his mouth. He chewed the refreshing wintergreen mint and leans back into his chair and makes sure the Commander actually left the CIC. He nudges off the uniform coat and sits comfortably in his palm tree and hula girl patterned shirt. He kicks up his feet on the edge of the comm panel and pops another mint in and sucks in air to feel the cooling effect of the mint.

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:05 hours Terran time


Flight Operations; CAG Quarters

After cutting off Gallen, Kaywinnet Lee or Kaylee for short, was gathering the handful of bottles of Tauran whiskey she acquired from the resupply. She tossed them into a case where they were originally packaged and placed the cases of whiskey back in the compartment in her hiding hole. She freshened up a bit and grabbed some painkillers to numb the throbbing headache from her hangover. Kaylee kicked on her boots and buffed them a bit and made sure her attire was tip top. She adjusted her hair into a quick, tight ponytail and looked for something to mask the scent of liquor on her. She found some antiseptic mouthwash and washed out her mouth. Kaylee reexamined herself and quickly left her quarters, heading to the Commander's quarters on the fifteenth deck.


Kaylee marched herself across the decks and nodded to the veteran pilots and rookies fresh out of the program that saluted her as she passed through. She had a fear that the wet-behind-the-ears weren't going to adjust to real-time action from simulation. It was going to be a crash course for them and hopefully all that time in the sim, they were paying attention. That's why she was having vets with the greenhorns on their first ride out. That reduced the chances of failure marginally. Failure was death out in the black. That was a bad way to go for a pilot, or anyone for that matter. She reached the lift and her golden brown hair reflected off the shimmering metal doors. She sighed heavily when the glimmer of her Colonel rank pins caught her eye. It was a hard road to where she had gotten and the experience she's had was around that of Commander Starling. Kaylee's dossier was impressive but her declination of a higher station had positioned her from commanding at ACOM to commanding an air group on a dinosaur about to be set out to pasture. She whisked away the memory as the doors opened and she hurried on.

 

[Tarmagon]

TNV Valkyrie


In Transit


March 31st, 2338


0903-0905 hours


En route to CO's quarters





"Turn left at the next intersection," her DA whispered into Alexis' ear. "You will be entering shipboard officer's country and can expect to reach the CO's quarters within two minutes."


'Thank you Cassandra,' Alexis replied quietly, knowing the tiny device in her ear would carry her response to her DA. "You're sure there wasn't a faster route?"





"Negative lieutenant," the DA replied, and even though it wasn't programmed for it, Alexis could have sworn the unit was, irritated. "You could have reached the commander's quarters in no less than 3.7564 minutes at a dead run with no other foot traffic in the corridors, and all bulkhead doors standing open ahead of you. In current usage conditions..."


"Thank you Cassandra," Alexis repeated, stopping the DA's recitation of facts. "Squadron status report and estimated time of emergence from Transit?"


"Emergence will occur in 40.13245 minutes. All Ravens are fully loaded and flight capable. Current personnel status unavailable due to access restrictions."





"Flash their DA's," Alexis said. "Let them know to grab showers and chow, then report to our assigned... Damn, we don't have a ready room yet. Have them report to the transport in 35 minutes unless otherwise informed. I think we're going to be up immediately.


"Yes Lieutenant. Orders transmitted. Request for ready room assignment submitted. Take the next lift."





Alexis nodded her thanks to a crewman as he flattened himself against the bulkhead to let her pass. She knew it was military courtesy to let an officer have right of way, but she had always been raised to acknowledge acts of courtesy and kindness, and the military hadn't quite managed to beat that out of her.


"I guess they will eventually," she though morosely as she continued down the corridors towards the CO's quarters. The conversation that had brought her here came immediately to mind.





"Lt. Martins, please report to my quarters immediately. Panoptes will be providing our recon team when we reach our area of operations. But, I picked up a curious communication docket while the Valkyrie was re-supplying over Taurus. I am curious as to what you have brought aboard my ship. Be prompt Lieutenant. My quarters is located on Deck 15 four compartments aft of the CIC."


She hadn't even had time to acknowledge the order before the link had gone dead. She had actually frozen for a moment, her mind whirling, then roused herself with a shake. She had grabbed a datapad from their transport with all the specs on the new Oracle class Raven, the Mk 5 DSI's, and the Mk 3 SAR's then headed out, following Cassandra's whispered directions. She had briefly considered stopping off at her new quarters to change into formal uniform, but when a CO said immediately, you went immediately, and the utilitarian grey of her flight suit would have to do.





"May I see your ID Ma'am?"





The quiet question brought Alexis back to the present, and she found herself facing a rather serious looking marine standing beside a sealed hatch.





"Of course corporal," she replied, displaying her ID as Cassandra transmitted an encrypted authentication file to the marine's datapad.





"Thank you Ma'am," he said a moment later, as the massive hatch opened with a hiss of pneumatic actuators. "Welcome to the Valkyrie."


"Thank you," Alexis said with a nod, stepping through the hatch. She ignored the hiss/clank of the hatch closing behind her, and proceeded up the corridor at a brisk pace. As she was approaching the cabin Cassandra was displaying on her wrist unit, Alexis noticed another person approaching from the opposite direction.


"Great," she though. "A witness."

 

[Iskandar]

TNV Valkyrie


In Transit


March 31st, 2338


0900 Hours


CIC





Takashi let out a sigh as the Commander told him he was in charge while she met the new leader of Pantopes squadron. He brought the receiver to his mouth, his voice it's normal, deep and raspy voice. His voice was more soothing than Starlings, but still sounded authoritarian when it needed to be.


"The Executive Officer has the Ship now. I repeat the Executive officer has the ship."


Takashi let out another sigh and took off his glasses and took out a small piece of cloth and began to clean the glasses. He looked at them after wiping them and put them back on. His blue hair made him standout in the ship, after all, not many have blue hair. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked around the CIC, noticing Gallen being himself, he didn't mind that he shrugged his uniform jacket off, after all they were hot and uncomfortable, but he didn't like the fact that he had his feet up on the comm panel.


"Gallen, I know your feet hurt from sitting down all day, but please refrain from using the comm panel as a foot rest." Takashi said, more of a playful warning than an actual one. He then picked up the reports from earlier and looked over them once more, just to clarify everything. He picked up a report about a one Lieutenant Alexis Martin, the leader of Pantopes Squadron, her record wasn't anything out of this world, she was hard working, had excellent psych test scores, was familiar with Sensor tech. He himself was always excited to meet the new officers and members of the ship.


"Also, Gallen, care to explain as to why you, the Chief Communications Officer, was late to the CIC this morning?" Takashi asked, not because he wanted to punish Gallen, more of which wanting a valid reason as to why he was late to determine if he should be punished.

 

[Sheogorath]

TNV Valkyrie


In Transit


March 31st 2338


9:02am


CIS


"Well I must go, after all FTl will be commencing soon and I've got to head down to the engines room for a routine check up. Don't want a ruptured pipeline to be the death of us all now do we? See you later Takashi "James nodded to him before making his way out of the room. James made his way past a couple of ensigns who had only just awoken up and were making their way to their respective stations aboard the ship, he soon reached the engines room where a gaggle of engineers were busy working at the controls and computers "Right!" He roared, startling a few of his men "I don't want to see any slacking around, is this understood? If I see any mistakes I'll make you lot rue the day you were born! Now on with it! FTl will commence soon, so we don't have long to finish the check up" a few of the engineers replied with a tired " yes sir" before setting off to work. Although some people might of seen James leadership as a tad over the top, James only wanted everything to be in working order and whatnot. After all a loose pipe or faulty electrical engine had been known to kill or maim many an engineer, James didn't want to be responsible for that so he had always worked to install a hardworking disciplined spirit in his engineers.

 

[Verse Zero]

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:10 hours Terran time


Starling's Quarters





Victoria arrived at her quarters scant minutes before Alexis arrived, and Victoria didn't bother closing the door only to get up once more when the Lieutenant arrived, and would thus be knocking. So Victoria simply had the door open a tad and simply opened her desk drawers. Pulling out a dossier detailing Lt. Martins and Panoptes squadrons history, along with the history of all its members, she slid it onto the desk. This was followed by a slimmer, black bound dossier labeled in silver lettering Naval Warfare and Development: Division II. Below it red lettering stared back at Victoria with malevolence: CLASSIFIED.


Truth be told Victoria had already gone through its contents but would pretend to not know anything about it. This would judge how honest Martins would be with her when she arrived. Martins was not on trial or anything, rather, Victoria was ever so curious about any details she may have been not privy too that the Lieutenant could shed some light on. Such as why such new armaments where aboard her ship. Sure, she had the inventory manifest clear as day, but why would this be sent aboard a ship hunting illicit activities. Typically the Fleet didn't bother with nuking every illegal installation, ship, or person in space as a common policy.


Opening her left drawer she sighed, and pulled out a bottle of scotch, aged 25 years and of excellent blend. It was smooth like ice on the way down. Pouring herself a small glass of the bright amber liquid she waited for the Lt. Martins to walk through the door.

 

[Tarmagon]

TNV Valkyrie


In Transit


March 31st 2338


09:12 hours


Corridor outside the CO's Quarters





"I am sorry Lieutenant," the contralto voice or her DA sounded almost sheepish to Alexis. "I should have synchronized with shipboard time immediately upon arrival."





"Don't worry about it," Alexis replied, in a far calmer tone than she was actually feeling. "I forgot to tell you to when we arrived."





All TNV ships ran on Terran time, but since different ship traveled at different speeds, not to mention the speeds of which fighters were capable, clocks tended to shift around, especially after fast transits, and until they were synchronized by one of the planetary broadcasts, well, things could get interesting. Admittedly the full five minute correction that Cassandra had just made to her internal clock was one of the largest corrections Alexis had ever heard of, but not, by far, THE largest. It really didn't have any effect on the amount of time she had actually been on board, but she felt late. And she didn't like that one little bit.





"You have arrived," Cassandra said into her ear. "The cabin with the open door is Commander Starling's."





"Thank you Cas," Alexis said. "Privacy mode until further notice."





The only acknowledgement of her order was a small amber light beginning to flash slowly on her wrist unit. Until she spoke her DA's name or keyed in the unlock code, it would remain silent and would record nothing. She stared at the slightly open door for a moment, glancing up the corridor to see the other woman still striding purposefully in her direction, then gave a small shrug.


"Open door, open invitation," she thought. "After all, I rather doubt a Commander would want to be bothered opening the door for a mere Lieutenant."


Alexis paused a moment, twitching her flight suit straight on her shoulders, then rapped once on the doorframe before opening the door fully and taking a single step inside. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a dark haired woman in an immaculate uniform sitting behind a desk, sipping from a glass of amber liquid. She noted a pair of folders on the desk, one of them with a CLASSIFIED marking, before she fixed her eyes on a point just above the crown of the woman's head and braced to attention, even as her heart sank at the sight of the never sufficiently to be damned report she was quite certain lay within that innocent seeming folder.





"Commander... Lieutenant Martins reporting to the CO as ordered."

 

[Dirtbear]

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:11 hours Terran time


Starling's Quarters

Kaylee passed the bulkhead doors that were guarded beside the CIC. She glared at the guards that immediate recognized the Colonel and let her pass without delay. She hurried forward and the clanking of her boots on steel gave her movement a steady rhythm as she headed down the deck. She saw a sharp woman with blonde hair that she thought she recognized but the face wasn't clicking at the moment. The woman had turned into a room and Kaylee was sure that door led to the Commander's Quarters.


'Must be getting an ass chewing or maybe... something else?' She thought as the many different things floated in her mind. She grinned and the door was just closing as she made it to Starling's quarters.


Kaylee was going to wait a bit to go inside but the light fixtures on the deck began to aggravate her throbbing headache. She squinted and pinched the bridge of her nose. The beat of her heart was going full bass in her head and the painkillers she wished she grabbed would have helped. She slowly got a grip of her senses and looked forward, back straight and square. She lifted her arm to grab the closing door and entered the room behind the woman.

"Commander... Lieutenant Martins reporting to the CO as ordered."

​

"AH! That's where I recognized you!" Frye exclaimed as she made her way beside the Lieutenant. Frye looked at the desk and saw the glass of liquor and her eyes narrowed. Her stomach churned inside as she caught the scent of the scotch. 'Nasty stuff there.' She thought to herself and slowly licked her lips as her eyes moved away from the glass to the dossier on the desk.





"Commander." She saluted informally. "I take it that dossier there is why I'm here. Along with Lieutenant Alexis Martins, squadron leader of Panoptes squadron. Who also hadn't reported herself at her arrival. " She added her observation. Frye gave Alexis a sideways glance and then refocused onto Starling.

 

[Verse Zero]

TNV Valkyrie;


In Transit to Lalande AO


March 31st 2338


09:15 hours Terran time


Starling's Quarters


Victoria took the liquid, swirled it once, smelled the amber liquid as she held it to her face, and then swirled it once more before taking a sip. She proffered the scotch up to them, and if they did not have military protocol drilled into them they probably would have raised en eyebrow. After all, how many Commanders offer their subordinates scotch right before entering a possible combat zone. Not that a single glass of the stuff would cause them to get buzzed. Victoria preferred to not have cheap liquor in her cabinet, since she bought it herself, and dispensed with the cheap beer given in the mess halls for off duty personnel. Of course even then the cut off point was three beers of 16oz to begin with so that crew members wouldn't be drunk, and always given with food. It was a simple way to improve morale during long voyages. When the crew starts mumbling, pop open a cask and let them vent their frustrations and stress by having a nice drink with a game of cards or social mingling.


Seeing as none of her officers immediately took the handle to pour themselves a glass she set it down before them to let them know the offer was still standing. Speaking after a few solid minutes of silence her words now marked utter seriousness, "Have a seat. That's an order."





Taking another sip of the smooth amber liquid Victoria flipped open the non-classified dossier. The one bearing Lieutenant Martins personal and service files. "Quite impressive Lieutenant Martins. Advanced electronic engineering, sensor technology, and a test pilot for Project Oracle." Closing the file dossier she put it before Frye to read for herself as Victoria picked up the classified dossier and slid it open, "But perhaps you would like to enlighten me on why of all ships was mine chosen for Panoptes squadron's initial deployment. Further why there are peculiar nuclear devices now on my ship that your squadron brought aboard. The Intelligence boys like to bathe these files in black ink. Normally I would call friends in the Admiralty for this sort of thing to get answers, but I prefer to hear it from you. I assume you have been briefed on why you are being deployed here?"





Victoria might have been a tad overzealous in her inquiry. But whenever someone brought nukes aboard she preferred to get the personal story of the person bringing them. Especially on such short notice. Usually Nuclear clearance was given to the CO's of ships equipped with them and on up the chain of command in the Admiralty. You could say the Navy held a tight leash in regards to such devices. The memories of the Nuclear bombardments of Earth and Mars during the Great Colonial War still only 20 odd years in the past.

 

[Tarmagon]

Alexis ignored the implied offer of the drink, knowing she was going to be in the black in under an hour. She wasn't quite sure what to make of her new CO and CAG, but she sat when ordered, and maintained a respectful silence as Starling read out the highlights of her dossier. She stifled a sigh as the inevitable quiz began concerning the Mk5 DSI's, but this was a dance she had mastered the steps to through harsh repetition.


"May I?" she asked, rising and gesturing to her wrist unit and then to the large, wall mounted display that graced the CO's quarters. At Starling's nod, she took a deep breath, then keyed Cassandra back on line.





"Cassandra, please display the breakdown of the Mk5 DSI, highlight mentioned areas." Alexis said, walking over to stand by the display.





"Yes Lieutenant, submitting materials to shipboard AI for approval. Materials approved. Display initialized."





An exploded view of an obviously non-standard missile appeared on the display, and began to rotate slowly. Alexis let it make one full rotation, then began to speak.





"This is the Mk 5 DSI, or Deep Space Illuminator missile. It is a clean He3 microfusion reaction, triggered by a sub-critical fission implosion. The actual fissionable material in each missile is under a kilogram. The He3 pellet is approximately a gram, and is located at the implosion squeeze locus at the core of the missile."





As Alexis spoke, Cassandra pulled each portion of the missile out, highlighting the various features as they were mentioned, As her DA highlighted the implosion mechanism, simulating the on-board accelerators that ran the length of the missile, Alexis glanced at her audience. Starling seemed to be paying close attention, but she just couldn't get a read on the CAG... Frye, that was her name.





"The He3 reaction takes place in the core of a concentric set of four layers of specifically doped polycarb designed to absorb both the neutron pulse of the fission trigger and the ultra energy gamma's of the fusion reaction and re-radiate them at lower energy frequencies. The end result is a very limited elmag pulse, an immense flash of both visible light and gamma rays at a specific frequency, and a kinetic energy release that would only be terminal to a light fighter, and then only in direct skin contact. Against anything with actual armor, well, we could probably sensor blind nearly any target, but only for a few seconds."





Alexis waited while Cassandra ran through the simulation of the missile detonation, then displayed the actual payload of the missile in relation to regular fighter missiles. While the actual numbers for initial reaction were higher, the effective payload was barely the equivalent of a light fighter missile. When compared to a heavy missile, well, the DSI was laughable. She waited for a moment longer, then glanced at Commander Starling.





"What else would you like to know Commander?" she asked politely.