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+--- Thread: Adam Earhart (/showthread.php?tid=63961)
Adam Earhart - mwerte - 07-29-2011
Adam Earhart sighed as he eased into his seat on the personnel shuttle.
"Finally, some rest and relaxation" he muttered at the fighter jock in the seat next to him.
"Agreed, it'll be good to see the missus again. I'm Lieutenant Redcliffe, Commander Earhart." he extended his hand and Earhart reached forward to shake it.
The ship shuddered as it jumped through the gate into the Cambridge system. As they re-appeared in real space Adam looked out the window. Even though he was stationed on the Harlow he rarely got to fly though space. Routing all the communications between Fleet Command and Her Majesty's forces demanded his constant attention. His diligence had paid off though with a promotion to Commander and a week of furlough.
Cambridge shimmered in the far distance. Even here though, it was obvious how verdant the planet was. Earhart sighed deeply, thinking of the crystal clear waterfalls of the Choltern Hills. Before long he'd be able to shrug off the feeling that he was shirking his duty by taking time off, and then would come the blessed relief of doing nothing for a few days.
The Clydesdale shuddered slightly as it started to dock with the trade lane to Planet Cambridge. The pilot lazily pressed a few buttons as the ship neared the entrance point. Then, just as the vessels started to accelerate forward, warning lights started flashing and a loud siren ruptured the peace of the cockpit.
'Ahhh hell!' muttered the pilot as he scanned the reports springing up on his display. He turned to Adam.
'We got troubles here I'm afraid. Looks like there's been a major failure of the lanes running direct to Cambridge. We've gotta reroute, and that means the long trip via Cardiff and the Norfolk. It'll add a few hours onto the trip, but we'll get there.'
Adam shrugged and nodded as the pilot swung the ship about to line up with the Cardiff lane. Please, he thought. Please don't let this be a sign of things to come.
The docking sequence engaged, pulling the Clydesdale into the lane, and accelerating the vessel to enormous speeds. Light stretched outside the windows of the freighter, lending an eerie, somewhat ethereal sensation. As Adam started to doze, they were suddenly kicked out of the trade lane. Engines screamed, and the hull groaned alarmingly as the Clydesdale's speed suddenly decreased. Adam and the pilot were thrown forward in their seats as alarms sounded in the cockpit again. He could feel the blood rushing to his hands, making them feel like lead balloons. His eyes felt like they were about to pop right out of his skull, and nausea swept through him.
When the Clydesdale finally settled into a normal speed, the pilot started running diagnostics. There was a look of concern on his face.
'Odd. Very odd..................' he punched a few more buttons. 'Looks like there's been some pirate activity here, but I just caught what seemed to be the tail end of a transmission from some of the lads chasing off a few corsairs. Something about the transmission signatures just doesn't seem right though. Probably best if we give the area a bit of a wide berth though, just in case. You weren't in a hurry, were you?'
Adam swore softly under his breath. This was meant to be relaxing!
'No, no,' he sighed deeply. 'Just get me to Cambridge Lieutentant.'
Redcliffe smiled ruefully and nodded.
'I'll get you there Commander, never you worry. I know a bit of a scenic route to the next docking point on the trade lane, if you fancy it. Takes us through this little asteroid field. It's quite a sight, I promise you, and the asteroids act as a dampening field of sorts. Should keep us nicely hidden from any pirates that might still be kicking about the area.' He paused slightly to look more directly at Adam. 'You're a comms whiz, right?'
'Er, yeah.' Adam nodded.
'Take a look at these transmissions. See if you can figure out what's up with them. It'll give you something to do, at least.'
The data transferred to the displays in front of him. He wasn't really interested, but scanned the data lazily, until something caught his eye.
'Odd indeed.' he breathed. 'This looks like fragments from a Rheinland military transmission. How the hell has that got caught up with our frequencies?'
His interest piqued, Adam started to try to isolate the Rheinland signal. Before long he turned to the pilot.
'I think I've isolated the signal. It's audio only I think. Can I put the transmission on speaker?'
'Sure thing, Commander. Just press that button there.' he pointed.
A burst of static echoed through the cockpit, followed by a broken, heavily accented transmission
.....day. This i........ilitar.......anspo....gdtiger. We ha...........lure of.........actor. Propul.............inop..........esting..medi.....ass.........ayday! Mad.........
Adam arched an eyebrow as he looked over towards Redcliffe.
'A distress call? Why............how would a Rheinland distress call be piggybacking on a Bretonian military channel? And where the hell is it coming from? Can you get a bearing on it's location?'
Redcliffe nodded and pointed to an area deep in the asteroid field. 'I can't pinpoint the exact location, but as we get closer I can refine the search. You sure you want to head out there in a freighter though?'
'Well, you're the best judge of what this ship is capable of. The message isn't live though, it's an automated broadcast. The attackers are probably long gone, and it is our duty to investigate.'
'Roger, sir. I'm plotting the course now. We should be within the rough area of the distress call in about thirty minutes. The Norfolk is aware of our course change. They're rerouting a local patrol to this area, just in case anything untoward crops up.'
Adam Earhart - mwerte - 07-29-2011
The cruise engines of the Clydesdale kicked in, and the two men settled in to the journey. The sense of intrigue was palpable, with an overshadowing of concern as to the nature of the transmission. The asteroid field grew larger, and Redcliffe took manual control of the freighter, dodging around the larger asteroids. Adam began to feel a cold sweat starting to creep down his spine. Something didn't feel right, he was sure of it. He looked over at the Lieutenant. No sign of worry there, just concentration.
Am I imagining things? he thought. Hell, what do I know. I just do comms.
As they pressed deeper into the field, Adam noticed the comms signals starting to deteriorate. It wasn't long before all civilian signals had been lost, and just the boosted military ones remained, and they wouldn't last much longer.
'Lieutenant? Have we got a lock on the distress call yet? We're about to lose all comms.'
'Nearly, sir. I'll call in our position before we lose the signal. Norfolk command, Norfolk command, this is freighter Alpha Tango seven seven four. Our current current position is sector Beta seven, vector one three niner. We are close to the source of the distress call. Please confirm.'
They waited a few seconds before a broken transmission came through
Roger alpha tango sev.......ven four. We confir...........location as sector beta seve........ctor one three nin..................ignal is degrading rapidly. Patrol charli.......ur should be wit.........................mately one hour. We advise..........
The comms went dead. Redcliffe tried to get a signal again, but had no success. As the silence stretched uncomfortably, the two men looked at each other.
'Think we should wait?' Adam asked, nervously. The last thing he wanted was to appear afraid, but he was. 'I've got a bad feeling about this.'
Redcliffe grinned as he said that. Adam groaned internally. He knew now that any chance of them not going any further alone had just flown out of the window. Some pilots liked nothing more than making their superiors uncomfortable, and Adam had just given Redcliffe a golden opportunity on a plate. He had no choice now. He straightened, took a deep breath and used his most commanding voice, trying to cover his mistake.
'Right Lieutenant, take us in. Let's find this damn ship so we can get the hell out of here.' He groaned again, audibly this time. That hadn't come out like he'd planned it. He closed his eyes. 'Just take us in.'
Adam Earhart - mwerte - 07-29-2011
Fifteen minutes of asteroid dodging later, Adam felt his eyes crossing and his eyelids getting very heavy. He found the spinning rocks oddly hypnotic, one of the reasons he'd never made it as a pilot himself. As his chin dropped to his chest, a loud exclamation focused him with a start.
'Got it! There!' Redcliffe pointed at an area of space full of rocks, just like the rest of it. 'You see it?'
Adam strained to see something - a shadow, a glint of metal, anything that might help him spot what Redcliffe could see - but saw nothing.
'Right there!' Redcliffe pointed again. 'Next to that big asteroid with the long trench carved down one side. About two thirds of the way down.'
'Got it!' Adam tried to focus on what was obviously a slowly spinning ship. As they got closer, he began to make out details. It was a Rheinland transport, a Ragnar he was sure. Smoke-like tendrils drifted out from one section of the hull.
'Can you raise them on comms?' Adam asked.
'Not a chance. That damaged area you can see, that's where the comms array should be. Which begs the question............. Who the hell actually sent that transmission we picked up? I'm running a full scan of the ship now.'
Adam was quiet as he watched the data from the scan come in. Damage to the transport was minimal, apart from the destroyed comms array. Main power was offline, but auxiliary power was functioning. Life support was running, and there were stable life signs.
'Looks like we've got live ones, sir. Four, maybe five, all in hibernation. I'm going to try to link up to their systems. This shouldn't take a min...........Oh damn!' Redcliffe's face drained of colour. Displays flickered and then closed one by one. Then the engines spluttered, and the two men found themselves momentarily floating free from their seats as the gravitational systems started to fail.
'What the hell is happening, Lieutenant?' demanded Adam.
'We've got a virus, sir. It hit us as soon as I tried to connect to the Ragnar's systems. The firewalls are barely holding up. Buckle up! I'm going to see if I can get us to dock with that vessel before we have complete systems failure.'
Adam strapped himself into his chair as Redcliffe started to maneuver the Clydesdale alongside. He was shaken vigorously as the freighters collided again and again. The sounds of grinding metal echoed through the cockpit as Redcliffe desperately tried to move into position.
'There, got it! Shut everything down, then get to the cargo hold. If life support fails we'll have about a minute to get into the survival suits.'
Consoles and lights dimmed and then extinguished as they shut down the systems on board. Last to go were the engines, which slowly wound down as the men made their way into the cargo area. Emergency lights lent the space an eerie glow, with crates and boxes casting jagged shadows across the deck.
'Best we get our suits on regardless.' said Redcliffe. 'We've no idea how long it'll be before the patrol gets to us, and no way to warn them what's happened. That virus though, I've never seen anything like it. The way it ate into the computers........ We've got to think of some way of getting a warning out to that patrol, or we'll end up with a fleet of ships out here, and most of us will be corpses.'
Adam Earhart - mwerte - 07-29-2011
As the two men discussed their options, a third vessel arrived on the scene, emerging from the shadow of one of the large asteroids in the area. This one made no attempt to open communications with the stricken vessels, nor did it try to link in with their computer systems. It simply slid close to the Ragnar, using the transports bulk as a shield from the view ports of the Clydesdale, and slowly, and silently engaged its docking clamps. A dull ring echoed through the two freighters as the hulls came into contact.
Adam Earhart - mwerte - 07-29-2011
'Shhh!' whispered Adam. 'You hear that?'
Now in their survival suits, the two men had been heading for the airlock that would grant them access to the Ragnar. Unable to make any kind of contact with the patrol heading for them, they had decided to at least explore the stricken Rheinland vessel. Maybe they could bring one of the Rheinlanders around, and get an idea of what had happened. Maybe they'd find a large stash of Blood Diamonds, or experimental weaponry, or maybe just some ordinary people who would be confused and concerned when they were revived.
Adam shuddered as a bead of sweat crept slowly down his spine. Redcliffe simply smiled, a mischievous glint in his eye..
'Probably just a rock hitting the hull. Boy, you are a jumpy one aren't you. C'mon, let's see if we're gonna get rich!'
As the Lieutenant moved on, Adam sighed and fell in behind him. Redcliffe was right, of course. What was there to be scared of out here in space? It's not like there were monsters lurking in Cambridge. Adam chuckled to himself as some of the fear drained away. He couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was wrong though. Very wrong indeed. He didn't have long to think about it though. They were soon standing in the airlock.
'Ready?' Redcliffe asked. Adam nodded reluctantly and as the airlock closed he activated the visor on his suit. There was a brief hiss as the suit pressurised, then Redcliffe opened the door through to the Ragnar. Adam involuntarily braced himself, partially expecting some slavering, enraged beast to leap at them from the dark. The scene inside the Rheinland freighter was much the same as they had come from. Emergency lighting cast deep shadows across the cargo hold. One area, on the far side, glowed brighter than the rest. They headed for that area. As they rounded one of the stacks of crates, they came across the hibernation units.
Five hibernation units lined the bulkhead, the area well lit compared to the rest of the cargo bay. Green lights flashed slowly on the displays. Adam noticed that Redcliffe had deactivated his visor, so he did the same. Cool, fresh air breezed across his face as the seal broke and the visor retracted.
'Any sign how long they've been here, Lieutenant?'
'Not yet, but I'd say they've not been here long. Take a look around. There's no dust, so it can only have been here for a few days at most.' He bent closer to one of the displays, and pressed a few buttons. 'So where the hell is the crew?' he breathed.
'What?'
'The crew. This isn't them. We need to get to the bridge. They might be there, or maybe we can get some kind of transmission out.' Redcliffe turned and headed out of the cargo area. Adam turned to follow, and then stopped abruptly.
'Lieutenant, wait! It's just occurred to me. You said the comms array on this vessel was destroyed right?' Redcliffe nodded. 'So, if it is destroyed, how the hell did this ship get a signal to piggyback onto a military frequency that we just happened to pick up? The transmission was looping, so there's no way the array could have been destroyed after the message was sent. There has to be another ship sending the message, doesn't there? And that means someone else is out there, and they know we're coming..............' Adam trailed off as that really began to sink in.
Redcliffe didn't look anything like as confident as he had just a few short moments ago. They both found themselves looking into the shadows, searching for unseen assailants. Redcliffe unclipped his side arm.
'Doesn't change the fact we've got to find out what happened here. C'mon, lets just get to the bridge.'
Soon enough they reached a closed door. Redcliffe raised his hand in warning.
'Wait there,' he called. 'Just in case. You'll get a head start if anything jumps out at me, eh?!'
With an uncertain laugh he reached for the door controls.
'Bloody hell!' he suddenly swore. 'Visors! Nearly forgot to reactivate the bloody visor!' Both men looked at each other briefly, and swallowed before reactivating their visors. Redcliffe reached out for the door control again. As his hand came into contact, a vivid blue energy danced across him. He jerked momentarily before being launched backwards, crashing into Adam.
Adam Earhart - mwerte - 07-29-2011
Adam and Redcliffe fell to the deck in a tangle, and Adam writhed, attempting to free himself from the other man. Finally he was able to roll Redcliffe away, and as he knelt he tentatively reached for the still form. A quick glance at the Lieutenant's suit display showed he was alive at least. That was when Adam felt a presence. His skin crawled as his hairs stood on end. He looked towards the doorway to the bridge to see a suited figure stepping through. He fell onto his backside as he tried to get away from the figure that was now moving towards him. The door to the bridge slid closed, and the visor of the figure started to retract. Human features began to be revealed, and Adam relaxed momentarily, until he caught sight of the eyes. Terror like he had never felt swept through him. As he opened his mouth to scream, his consciousness was assaulted.
***BE STILL***
Any resistance Adam may have had to the command was quickly swept aside. His muscles relaxed as one, and he flopped back onto the deck gracelessly. As he gazed upwards at the ceiling, the figure knelt at his side and Adam'sis visor was deactivated. Something was placed on the deck near him, and the figure leant close. A heavily accented Rheinland voice whispered into his ear.
'My name is Jeske, and we have come for you. Do not be afraid, Commander. You are us now.'
Adam felt the Rheinlander withdraw. A shadow passed briefly across his face. Then something touched his cheek, tentatively. It reminded him of a slug. He tried to move his face away, but failed. The touch on his cheek increased in pressure. It felt as if something was trying to pull itself up. Additional touches fell upon his jaw, his cheekbone, his nose, each exerting a pressure as something pulled. He felt it against his ear then. Warm, damp, muscular. The thing pulled itself easily across his cheek, tendrils entering his mouth, pulling his jaws slightly apart. He was panicked now. Unable to move he tried in vain to thrash his body around, desperate to dislodge the thing as it slowly entered his mouth. He felt it force his tongue aside, and suddenly he couldn't breathe. He gagged against the thing as it pressed down his throat, slowing its progress, but unable to stop it. His lungs burned, his twitching feet the only movement he could muster. The light began to dim then. His vision started to blur, and he sensed himself slowly retreating. Darker and darker it got, until all that remained was a small point of light in the distance. Finally extinguished, Adam lay still.
A short time later Adam rolled onto his side, then pushed himself up. He stood, swaying slightly as he caught his balance, before looking around. His gaze stopped at the prone form of Lieutenant Redcliffe. He blinked. Moving forward, he leant down and grabbed a hold of Redcliffe's suit, before hauling him upright and slinging him over a shoulder. Slowly at first, then with increasing confidence, he walked back towards the Clydesdale.
Once aboard he saw to the comfort of Lieutenant Redcliffe. Then he powered up the Clydesdales' systems. There was no virus. There never had been. He opened a wide band comms link and transmitted a distress call. Within seconds
'Alpha Tango seven seven four, this is Norfolk patrol Charlie one four. We're getting your signal nice and strong. We should be with you in five minutes. What is you status?'
Adam was unable to respond, a look of concentration furrowed his brow. The silence stretched
'I repeat, Alpha Tango seven seven four, this is [/i]Norfolk[/i] patrol Charlie one four. We're getting your signal nice and strong. We should be with you in five minutes. What is you status?'
Adam reached forward and opened the comms link.
'Norfolk patrol,' he began tentatively, almost as if he was remembering how to speak. 'This is Commander Earhart. My pilot, Lieutenant Redcliffe, is unconscious after sustaining an electric shock.' The words came easier now. 'We have located five hibernation units on an abandoned Rheinland freighter. Glad you fellows could make it. I was starting to get a tad worried.'
'Roger, Commander. We'll be getting you home soon. Sit tight, we'll be with you in no time.'
Soon the approaching patrol showed up on the Clydesdale's scanners. Two Templars and a gunboat were soon alongside, and a medical team were soon checking over Lieutenant Redcliffe, as other soldiers checked out the Ragnar. The captain of the gunboat appeared before Adam and saluted
'Commander Earhart, sir, I'm Major Mills. You'll be accompanying me aboard the Valerian while my lads get these freighters back to the Norfolk. From there we'll arrange a quick, and uninterrupted hop across to Planet Cambridge. I expect the Admiralty will want to debrief you at some point.'
Adam returned the salute crisply.
'Thank you Major. And thanks to you and your patrol for getting here as soon as you did. I'm no medic, and it was a nasty shock that the Lieutenant took. I do hope he's going to be alright.'
'The medics have assured me that he will be okay, sir. Apparently his brainwaves are fluctuating badly though, so they expect a certain amount of amnesia. He may not even have any recollection of you. Now, if you'll accompany me this way, I'll show you to my ready room on the Valerian.' The Major turned to lead Adam off the Clydesdale. 'That will act as your cabin until we reach the Norfolk.....................'
Adam followed behind, the words of the Bretonian officer washing over him. He said little, just enough to convey an amount of interest in what the Major was saying. He knew the task. He knew the role that was to be played. Everything was in place......................
Adam Earhart - mwerte - 07-29-2011
Adam walked back to his office from the conference room, where he had conducted a meeting with a junior Communications officer based on the Suffolk. The officer, Lieutenant Mark Gia, was a promising young candidate, and Adam had taken a personal interest in Mark's career, ensuring that he would be promoted to the Harlow in due time.
As he booted up his communications suite, he noticed a flagged communication, destined for
Sir Jack Fraser, Duke of Norfolk. Something about Bowex and Rheinland and embargo regulations.
***This will do***
With a few quick strokes, he pulled up the entire report, scanned it, and it was known by those who would maximize their insider knowledge.
Within a few hours, he was reading distress calls from Bowex vessels, who had fallen under attack from Rheinland Special Ops fighters, operating deep within Bretonia.
***We have divided -humans-***