"Attention! Admiral on the bridge!" Everyone standed up and saluted to Admiral O'Neill as he entered the bridge of the Odyssey. Quickly saluting back and ordering the officers to continue their work he walked to the window and tried to light a cigarette but as always, his lighter gave up at the worst possible time. He turned towards Commander Sader who was sitting in the helm's seat. "Oh come on. John could you give me your lighter? It seems my own just gave up." John looked up from the console he was working on and walked to O'Neill, took out his lighter and gave it to the little annoyed Admiral. "There you go sir." "Thanks. By the way are we ready?" "Almost sir. We are curently going trough final checks. Cargo bays 1 2 3 and 4 are full with supplies for the mission. Engeniering just reported that the new comm relay is functional and ready, and that the Juneau engeniers left the ship." Jack took the lighter lighted his cigarette and gave back the lighter to John. "Good to hear Commander. Now lets get to work.".....
An hour later.
Jack was sitting in his chair on the bridge smoking a cigarette and thinking about something very deeply when Commander Sader's voice woke him up. "Sir. Final checks are complete. Engeniering reports green status. We are ready to request launch premission." Jack turned his head towards Sader "Good. Open a channell to Juneau controll." "Aye aye sir." "Channel open." "Juneau controll this is the LNS Odyssey requesting premission to launch, over.""Roger that Odyssey your request to launch is granted, good luck out there, Juneau controll out" Jack turned towards Lieutenant Drake. "Allright Drake, manuvering thrusters only untill we leave spacedock after that one quarter impulse speed till we set course." Lieutenant Drake repplied affirmatively "Yes sir." Jack then turned towards Sader. "John start plot the course." "Aye sir." The Odyssey slowly left spacedock and after the course was plotted she quickly charged her cruise engines and left...
3 weeks later.
Jack was sitting in the cantina drinking a cup of tea and reading scanner data from his pda. "And once again nothing intresting." He said silently, then took out a cigarette lighted it and leaned back to enjoy the rest of his tea. At this very moment Sader entered the cantina to grab a sandwich and hand over some reports to O'Neill before going back to work. Reaching the table where O'Neill was sitting he took out the pda wich contained the data. "Sir. Here are some fresh reports and scanner data." Jack took a deep smoke and turned his attention to Sader. "Thanks. John do you have a moment?""Well honestly i should go back to work but i think that maybe i can spare some minutes why?"Sit down for a moment." John did as Jack asked he sat down and lighted a cigarette. "Long time since we managed to talk.""Indeed sir. But mainly because most of the time i was on the yukon and you rarely go outside alaska.""Maybe. But this is not what i want to talk about." Taking a small smoke from his cigarette John asked. "Then what is it sir?" Jack dropped his cigarette into the ashtray and finished his tea. "I want to know how is the crew holding up so far. Like we've been here for 3 weeks now and the omicrons aren't the most friendly place where a person can be. Especially if its in a Battleship. And since i know they would never show that they had enough when iam near them i ask you." After a short thinking John did not remember anykind of negative or tired comment from the crewmembers he met so far. "Well as far as i can tell the crew is holding up perfectly sir. And what about you?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "What about me? What do you mean?" John took a deeper smoke from his cigarette. "Well....you seem to be a little apathetic theese days. And actually Drake and I are worried a little." Jack smiled a bit. "Oh. Well don't worry iam fine iam just a bit tired thats all.""Oh i see. Well allright then." With this sentence John standed up. "And now i have to go back. See you on the bridge sir. With this last sentence John walked out from the cantina. "Ok. See ya there." Jack standed up as well and walked out from the cantina too but he went to his office first.
Upon reaching his office the ship's alarm was raised and from the speakers Lieutenant Drake's voice was heard. "Atention! All hands to battlestations. Repeat all hands to battlestations. Admiral O'Neill to the bridge!" Jack turned away from the door of his office and started to run towards the elevator. "Oh, for crying out loud." As Jack ran trough the corridors of the ship he finally reached the bridge.
"Allright at ease everyone. Status report." Jack stopped at right side of the bridge looking on Drake. "Sir we picked up an unindentified ship on intercept course. ETA 2 minutes." Jack walked to his chair and sat down.Damn it, that means we cannot cloack away and escape unnoticed."Now the only question wich remains is what will we do when its in range."Jack sighed and turned towards Sader. Thank you mister obvious. But i think since we cannot run and i don't want to waste energy on killing that target let's see what he or she wants from us. In case it's a human of course. But keep the weapons powered up and the shields at full.
John repplied with a quick nod and after sending the orders to the gunners and the engeniering he resumed observing the radar.
"Incoming transmission." Said Lieutenant Drake after a few minutes of silence. "Great. Let's see what is it. On screen." Drake nodded quickly and evereyone turned his head towards the screen. "Odyssey power down your weapons. No need for violence. Also willing to explain what the hell are you doing out here Jack?" Said a very familiar voice. "Who are you? And how the hell did you know our exact location?"" No matter what kind of changes are made to that ship as soon as it is in the same system as my ship i can find you. Also my name is Walter Brooks. You smoked too much i think. You don't even recognize your old first officer?" Jack was stunned by this sentence and took some time to be able to say anything. "That can't be. You died. I was there on the funeral, and saw the body before the coffin was closed. How the hell did you survive?""Thats a long story but i did and after that joined the order. Now that you know who I am could power down those weapons?" Walter's ship slowly approached the odyssey while they talked and came into visual range. Jack sighed and his head turned towards sader"Power down the weapons and lower the shields. Alarm's over."Then quickly turned towards Drake "Send a security team into the hangar. I want to talk to him in person so i can get proof who he is. Not to mention i suspect he wants to do the same." Both of them repplied with a nod, while Jack turned his attention back to the screen. "So you say you are Walter Brooks? Ok. But i don't think you came here just to show yourself that you are alive. There are many other ways to do so.""Indeed. I would like to personally speak with you. It's very important." "You know the docking procedure. Welcome back." With this sentence Jack terminated the transmission, stood up and walked out from the bridge. "I'm heading to the hangar, Sader the bridge is yours. Also just to be sure let's head to location bravo. The last thing we need is another visitor.""Aye sir".
Reaching the hangar he saw that the "Bastet" type ship landed and the security team surrounded the ship. A small ramp lowered from the ship and Walter slowly walked down with his helmet in his right hand. The guards took his weapons and escorted him towards Jack. "I hope that you know this welcoming party isn't neecessarry." Jack shrugged. "What did you expect? Be happy that i allowed you to board this ship damn it." Jack took out his cigarette box took one and tried to find his lighter then he noticed that he doesn't have one. "Oh come on. Anyone willing to loan his lighter to me?" Walter smiled and gave his to Jack. "You should consider buying a new lighter." Jack lighted his cigarette and gave back the lighter to Walter. "Maybe, but there is only 1 problem the nearest place is in Liberty and we cannot leave. Anyways lets go to a place where we can talk." They walked out from the hangar trough the corridors getting in and out from elevators finally reaching the Jack's office.
They both entered the office Jack walked to his table and sat down. Walter remained on his foot, and after a couple moments of silence Jack finally started to talk. "So what is so important that after more than a decade of silence you had to contact me in person?" Slowly walking to the window Walter took a deep breath than turned his head towards Jack. "I know what are you searching for." Jack raised his eyebrow. "And then what?" Walter sighed. "We've been searching it for 3 years now.""And?""Nothing. Apart from some debris we found nothing." Jack dropped his cigarette into the ashtray and sighed. "So what are yor suggestions?""I think it's obvious. Alter your course and fly back to Liberty.""I waited 4 years to get this mission ready. If i return now it will only proove that...."
Suddendly the ship started to shake Jack fell out from his chair Walter also lost his balance and fell to the ground along with some of the pictures on the wall and glasses from the table. After a milisecundum another shockwawe shaked the ship and another, the alarm system came online. Both Jack and Walter managed to stand up and regain balance they looked out from the window and they saw a nomad ship shooting the Odyssey. "Damn it. We must go to the bridge." They started to run. The crewmembers they met where also in a hurry sparking cables, flashing lights all over the corridors they finally reached the elevator but it wasn't working so they took the maintanence tunnel. The nomads didn't holded their powers back. One hit after another shocked the ship and its crew.
Finally they reahed the bridge. "What the hell happened? How did theese squids find us, and where the hell did they come from? Jack ran to his chair and sat down and turned his head towards Drake. He didn't even had to say anything the young Lieutenant already knew what does he want. "Sir multiple nomad ships decloacked from nowhere and attacked us. We had no chance to prevent it or get away. Hull integrity at 75%, shields at 20%, The first shots have cought us off guard, the shields where offline. Hull breaches on deck 12, 13 and 14.""The cruise engines are down, cloacking generators are also damaged." "Damn it any good news?""Iam sorry sir. Nomad ship dead ahead!""God damn it. Evasive manuver delta 6. Keep the damaged parts of the shield out of the main fire. Full impulse and concentrate fire on that gunboat on port. Auxiliary power to the shields and weapons. And launch all fighter and bomber wings." The ship turned away from the biggest nomad ship of the ambushing fleet shot down the gunboat and the hangar quickly opened and the small fighters and bombers quickly launched and engaged the nomads. "I am not sure how many ships can we withstand. Shields at 10% , we can't take much more. And another nomad cruiser appeared on scanner and its firing on us.""Ok turn back towards the cruiser behind us and fire every weapon we have."
The battle continued. Slowly one ship after another got shot down but not without causing serious damage to the Odyssey or shooting down some fighters or bombers. The shields of the Odyssey where weak and actually collapsed under the constant fire of the nomad cruisers and bombers. "Sir the cruiser is going down switching target. Targeting the other cruiser" As the ship turned towards the other cruiser a nomad fighter got damaged and it started to fall towards the Odyssey's bridge. "What the.... BRACE FOR IMPACT!" In the last second the ship was able to turn so that the fighter hit the deck below the bridge still causing great damage. After a long time the other cruiser sudendly cloacked away and escaped. The remaining fighters and bombers where shot down and the wings returned to the ship.
"Everyone allright? All stations damaged report.""Cruise engines down, impulse engines baerly holding up. Shields completly depleted. The last few shots from the cruiser damaged our primary power core. So now we are on emergency power, communication systems severly damaged, primary weapons on 30% secondary weapons on 50%. Hull integrity on 25%, hull breaches on multiple decks. So far this is our status sir. In other words we are an easy target for anyone who wants a little scrap metal.""Set course to location charlie 16. And stop there. Lets hope that we will have enough time to repair." Jack turned his head towards Walter."Don't look at me like that. Also spare me from the "I told you" part of your speech. Make yourself usefull and head down to the engeniering and help in the repairs."Walter sighed "Why should i?" Jack stood up took out his gun and pointed towards Walter. "Because if you don't do anything usefull then you are useless and if you are useless you are just wasting our resources and will be killed and pushed out from the airlock. GOT IT?! Now get your butt down to the engeniering and help them repair the cruise engines and the cloack.""Fine." With this Walter walked out from the bridge. Jack stowed his weapon lighted a cigarette and walked to a console to help in the repairs......
Hours started to pass, days emerged from the hours and from the days weeks passed. Certain parts of the ships where unreachable even after 2 weeks. But finally after 3 weeks of constant work the ship was battleready again though from the outside it looked more like a cheese with those holes.......
Jack was sitting in his office reading the reports of the repair teams. Drinking a cup of tea smoking his cigarette and thinking about their next move. Do i have the right to order the crew to continue the search? Where is the point where we have to turn arround? Is there any chance that we will find any survivor? And if there are survivors how can i be so arrogant to tell them that we came to rescue them though I'm are bearly able to keep my own ship in one piece? And what if i order them to continue and next time we will meet something the Odyssey can't handle, then what? We die for nothing. Theese thoughts haunted him for the last 2 weeks. And he didn't even notice when Sader entered and asked something. It took minutes untill Jack noticed someone is in the room and actually asked something. Jack turned his head towards Sader who was standing in front of him. "Sorry commander, what was your asking?""I was asking for orders. The ship is finally ready. Should we plot a course to the next system on our list?""Are you sure? The report from repair teams indicate that deck 11 is still without gravity, and the shield generator is still not functioning properly. Here is the report from the repair team. Go down to the engeniering and order them to repair the shields and the artificial gravity on Deck 11."
Sader took the report and after checking it he raised his eyebrow. The report was 1 week old. The shields are already repaired and he just came from Deck 11 where was no problem with the artificial gravity. He placed the report back to Jack's table. "Sir? There is somekind of a mistake. This report is 1 week old.""What? That can't be. I just recieved it." In fact this was a lie and Jack perfectly knew that the report is old. "Is there something wrong sir?""No, everything is fine. Maybe iam just tired.""Sir. Why are you trying to lie?""Excuse me?""When i entered, you where so deep in your thoughts that you didn't een noticed that i asked something. Then though you perfectly know that the report is a week old you still give it to me. And then you lie that you didn't notice it, and you are chewing the filter of your cigarette whie somking it. You aways do it when something is bugging you. So tell me, whats the problem?" Jack sighed dropped his cigarette into the ashtray and after standing up he walked to the window of his office.
"I don't know what should our next move be. Can i order the crew to ***** despite we took heavy damage we have unreachable decks, and only half of our weapon systems are working? Where is the point where we should turn arround and run back to Liberty. Alone, without reinforcements, with a damaged ship wich is bearly able to maintain itself and take care of her crew. Can we risk continuing the search? At some point the Odyssey will meet something wich will be too big for it................I cannot allow this happen. But i also can't leave without finding any survivors of that ship.""The crew will do whatever you order us to do.""Thank you John." Jack smiled a bit then he resumed staring at the window and after some moments he finally decided."Set course to the next system. Cloack the ship and start searching for escape pods, ship wrecks, anykind of debris wich can help us finding them." Sader repplied with a quik aye and left the office. After some moments the Odyssey's engines powered up and the ship started it slow flight towards the jumphole.
3 hours later.....
Brooks was walking trough the corridors of the Odyssey. It was good for him to be able to be aboard the ship again, it felt like he was the first officer again. There where 2 things wich actually broke this illusion. The 2 guards always walking behind him and escorting him everywhere he wants to go. He was wondering where is the ship heading so he decided to visit the bridge and ask Jack about it. He wanted to know if Jack accepted his advice and the ship is heading back towards Liberty or not. They reached the elevator entered and headed up to Deck 1. The elevator slowly stopped the doors opened and Brooks stepped out first. As they walked trough the corridors he met Drake who was coming from the bridge. Brooks stopped and waved towards Drake who after noticing this walked to them and stopped. "Can i help you?""Aye. Where is the ship heading?""Well we are curently heading to Omicron Zeta jumphole. Thats the next system we will search.""You're joking right? Its a complete miracle that this ship is still flying and you are continuing your search? O'Neill went completly insane or he just wants to kill us all. Well at least you because if this is true iam going to leave this ship right here right now.""Theese where the orders wich we got from the admiral."
Brooks started to walk towards the bridge."Maybe it's time to speak with him about this suicidic mission again." Drake tried to tell him that O'Neill is not on the bridge but Walter just rushed into the bridge. "Ok. He's not here, so where is he?" Sader turned towards Walter. "Be creative and find out, but not on the bridge." Sader signed to the guards who escorted Brooks out from the bridge. "Ok, let's try his office." With this they walked towards the elevator and went down 3 levels. Brooks reached Jack's office, didn't even knock or something just rushed in and started to yell at Jack "ARE YOU TOTALLY INSANE? The ship is like a big piece of cheese with those holes in it and you decide to continue, despite knowing that you will not be able to repair completly? My first thought was that you are only brave when i saw the ship. But now i know i was wrong. You are not brave but foolish. I will not remain here and get myself killed not to mention i would have to vitness everyone else's death." Jack was sitting in his chair reading a book when Brooks rushed in. He waited untill Brooks stopped. "No you will not. You have 15 minutes to get of my ship. Also why do you even care? Now if you excuse me i have a book to read" Jack turned his head towards the book and resume reading. "Fine, but if you die just so you know, I TOLD YOU!" Jack shrugged and lighted a cigarette. "You're still here?" Walter turned arround and walked out from the office. After reaching the hangar he entered his ship powered up the systems and asked for clearence to take off. "Odyssey dock controll this is Walter Brooks requesting clearence to take off. Over.""Brooks you are cleared. Good flight." Brooks left. And the odyssey continued his route towards Omicron Zeta....
