Turning the Tide

[Marcus Lindberg]

As he stood by the large window screen, his hands on his back in a disciplined manner, Capitaine Roland Bernard surveyed the drones, machines and space men completing the renovation and repair of his new, but used, Obstinate. He glanced at the name, reminding him of his hometown, the school he went to and where he met his future wife. The CLN-Carentan was just hours away from completion. There would be no commemoration ceremony, as soon as the cruiser was ready, it would be released into the hell that is the Gallic Border Worlds.

Capitaine Bernard specifically volunteered for this mission. Upon promotion, he refused adamantly to be given authority of a cruiser to simply patrol the frontlines. He argued as though it was his divine right to carry out this mission with a fiery belief, which is what got him through the last 20 years of conflict. The officers he chose for the mission had all volunteered for it themselves, and had more than proven themselves in the line of fire. There was no guarantee this mission would turn the tide, but it would help the resource strained Council military survive just long enough.

Awarded for her bravery on Marne, the Capitaines wife, Lieutenant Lucie Petit Bernard brought back twelve wounded and agonized soldiers from the frontlines to the medic stations during the raids against positions and territories still held by the Royal forces on Marne in a single day, and saved all their lives whilst putting her own at risk. The paramedic achieved several medals and ribbons to commemorate for her service during that one single day, where she had achieved more than she had her entire life. One of the men she saved was the Capitaine Bernard himself, and although he was 13 years older, they began a fruitful relationship which allowed the Capitaine to forget his ex wife, who nearly killed him when he talked of defection from the Gallic Royal Navy. She was to be the Chief Medical Officer on board and was the most qualified person for the job he knew as well.

The navigator, Philippe Leroy had defected alongside the Capitaine and the two had close friends ever since the beginning of the Second Gallic Civil War. He was renowned within the Council military for having predicted and spotted three GRN cruiser battle groups about to strike the cruiser he previously served on, the CLN-Calais. He had volunteered for a chance to serve and follow alongside the leadership of Capitaine Bernard whilst at the same time he was handpicked by the Capitaine himself for the upcoming mission.

Marine Capitaine Tristan Robert volunteered and was chosen for the position of handling the cruisers on board security and marine operations. He led 225 marines during a major engagement against the GRN, and singlehandedly captured an entire GRN Valor class battleship, and turned its guns upon the next Royal battleship he could find. He was outnumbered by 400 men in the enemy battleships crew and managed to kill or captured all of them. He had no casualties or wounded amongst his marines after the battle was over and received several awards and medals, but he denied all of them stating that it wouldve been an insult and that he believed it was simply a coincidence, not his leadership that led his men to victory. Capitaine Bernard chose to think otherwise, and put him on board his cruiser.

Gunnery Chief Xavier Dubois was an innovative man. During a short engagement in a previous cruiser he was assigned to, his tactics of choosing the correct weapons to fire at the correct time gave an necessary window of opportunity to allow his previous cruiser that he served on, the CLN-Verdun to retreat whilst surrounded by two Royal Obstinates. Outgunned, outnumbered, his fired the weapon accordingly, almost is a calculated manner, allowing the most damage to be inflicted whilst the Verdun retreated. Not only did his tactics allow the Verdun to outmaneuver its opponents, but managed to serious damage, if not destroy both the enemy cruisers. His actions had saved the lives of hundreds of men aboard the Verdun.

But there was always one person in the Capitaines heart who would be with him no matter what, other than his wife, his 18 year old daughter, Elodie Bernard. When he defected, the Royals had kidnapped his daughter and tortured her even though she was but a child. They demanded to know where her father was, but she stood resilient, not because she didnt know where the only man she looked up to in her life was, but because she had changed. A hate her father hoped would never take over her logic grew within her. She escaped the prison and killed her own mother because she refused to defect from the oppressors. But that was a long time ago. She regretted her decisions, but has learned and grown from them. Knowing that she could lose her father at any time, she spends all the time she can spare with him, constantly wishing he succeeds in whatever he endures. At first her father denied her to travel alongside with him on his new cruiser, but she, like her father, refused adamantly. The Capitaine was uncomfortable, not wanting her to go through the pain she once did, but he knew that she had grown apart from the hate, and learned to love and stay away from prejudice once again. He could not deny her this adventure.

The Capitaine passively stared into his ship. He knew the mission wouldnt turn the tide, but it was something he needed to be done, to at least try. He was being sent to the Tau regions to collect and secure any supplies available, and to search for possible staging areas if the Royal Navy launched a massive surprise attack upon the Languedoc system. There were reports and rumors of a massive GRN fleet staging in a nearby system to take control. If this event had happened, he was ordered to find a suitable, secure, defensible and quiet staging area where the Council fleet could regroup and counter-attack. But that was simply the easy part. In order to get through to the Taus, he had to sneak past the systems held by the Royal Navy, and hope he isnt spotted by any GRN forces. The mere fact that his daughter would be on board his ship made reduced failure to a myth. Defeat was not an option