There was a stunned silence throughout the bridge of the Avalanche. Marcus stared at the fuzzy image of his old friend in disbelief. "Robert,"
"Yes Marcus, I'm glad to see you made it, although I have to say I was a little surprised to hear of your arrival at first."
Marcus swallowed. "Its good to see you again old friend,"
"You too Admiral, I'm sure we have a lot to catch up on, but first lets get the hell out of this nebula, it's playing hell with the Danaan's systems."
"Understood," Marcus nodded as the link went dead. He turned to Lieutenant Kaye. "Lay in a parallel course with the Tuatha de Danaan and radio Doctor Maxthor, tell him we've rendezvoused with an old friend."
"Aye sir," Kaye turned around and began tapping away at his console.
Marcus relaxed in his chair, closing his eyes for a moment. All of their efforts, all of their pains had finally paid off. He would soon have his crew back with the Freedom Fighters. In a strange sort of way, Marcus felt like he was back home again.
Engineering, Tuatha de Danaan
Unknown Grid Location
Sigma 17 / Edgeworld Space
Merlow entered the central Engineering hub, looking for Combat Lieutenant Seras Victoria. Seras, a member of the illustrious HiME group: a special arm of the Freedom Fighters Section 9. She was acting Chief Engineer as their previous Chief Engineer died during their battles in void space. He spied her working on an open wall panel, rewiring its connection with the warp core. She had a tinted face shield on, guarding her face from the sparks and pieces of metal that were liable to fly in her face.
Seras! Merlow called, walking towards her, Whats our status on the rewiring?
Seras turned off her nano-plasma torch, pressing a button and receding her face shield, Sir, traveling through this nebula has been screwing with our systems more than I could have imagined. Im working on it, but it will take another two to three hours to hunker it down and stop the random malfunctions.
Merlow sighed, not exactly happy with the response, Keep it up, Lieutenant. Ill make a note to have our people look over our own ships.
Seras merely nodded as she reactivated her face shield and got back to work.
He walked out of Engineering, towards the lift, when his internal comms signaled. He grumbled, as he opened the channel.
Merlow here.
The face of Seras appeared in the upper left corner of his vision, Sir, were expecting guests in Transporter Room Zero.
The VIP Transporter? Heh, Admiral Scarman wishes a little meeting?
It looks to be that way. Should I alert Admiral Testarossa, Nagato, and Captain Tokhia?
Yes, tell them to meet me on board the Dannan in room Zero.
Roger. Victoria out.
Merlow rerouted his comm to the bridge, Merlow to Kalinin.
Kalinin here. What do you need, Admiral he asked.
Prep Conference Room Zero for a meeting, and I want a Sadukar Honor Guard posted at the Conference Room and at Transporter Room Zero.
Scarman hopping aboard, Sir? he said with a smug look on his face.
Hes an old friend, Commander. You know my opinion of him, and you know he deserves to be treated as such.
Roger. Ill prep the room. Kalinin out. The comm went dead.
Merlow walked towards Transporter Room Zero, eager to greet Admiral Scarman.
Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet / Former Fleet Admiral of the Liberty First Fleet Second Survivor of the Mentat Program. We must give and take with good measure. Give too much, we become complacent. Take too much, we incur the wrath of our own. Tread Lightly. --Supreme Bashar Robert Merlow--
After the ethereal glow of the transporter had dissipated, Marcus took in a deep breath of the Danaans internal atmosphere. It almost seemed like he had returned to a past home, although the Avalanche was technically his ship. The transporter room seemed different from the last time Marcus had been inside. Although, he had to admit that had been a very long time ago. He looked across to the control console and grinned at the sight of his old friend.
Marcus, its good to finally see you again, Robert stepped around the console and extended his hand.
Marcus clasped his old friends hand and shook it enthusiastically, You honestly have no idea how relieved I am to be here Robert,
Christ, how long has it been now, Robert asked as he returned the handshake.
Nearly a year since the battle of Omicron Alpha,
My God, that seems like so long ago, Merlow said, thinking back to the tense skirmish they had fought against the Zeta back in their home dimension.
For me it seems like only yesterday, I was stuck on Kabul for almost three months with Captain Wade,
Youll have to tell me all about it Marcus, Merlow smiled, But first, arent you going to introduce me?
Marcus turned around back to his team, Oh of course, how rude of me. You know Captain Victoria Wade,
Merlow stepped across to the Captain and took her hand warmly. Its good to see you again Captain,
This is my acting science officer, Doctor Harry James, Marcus continued, moving on to the Bretonian scientist stood next to Victoria. He was a member of the late Doctor Wilcoxs team, who helped me build the rift manipulator,
Doctor, Merlow nodded at James giving Marcus a questioning look, Rift manipulator?
Ill explain later, Marcus continued, You obviously know Rear Admiral Anderson,
Lucas gave the Fleet Admiral a sharp salute, Its good to be here sir,
At ease Rear Admiral, Merlow grinned.
And finally, the three newest additions to my team, as it were, Klaus Reinhardt, a mercenary who helped me back in our dimension, Kurt Manning, a Bounty Hunter who has the same story as Reinhardt, Marcus turned to the last figure who stood beside Manning. Robert didnt recognize him, but noticed he wore the attire of a Freedom Fighter Admiral. This is Admiral Jayce Wilder, of the Liberty Freedom Fighters.
Im sorry, we havent met before, Merlow shook Wilders hand.
Thats because Admiral Wilder is from another dimension,
Well thats not very hard to believe, Robert nodded, Theres been so much dabbling in inter dimensional travel recently Im quite surprised the entire continuum hasnt collapsed.
Admiral Wilder selflessly gave up his ship in order to save the Avalanche, unfortunately, he lost his crew.
I am sorry to hear that Admiral, Merlow said sympathetically, I know what it is like to lose an entire crew, it has to be one of the worst feelings a leader has to endure. Anyway, Im sure we all have much to talk about, please, this way.
Robert gestured to the doorway, indicating that Captain Wade should step through first. He followed her out and began striding down the corridor in the direction of the Conference room
Merlow walked along side Scarman and Wilder, passing the numerous Sadukar Honor Guard that lined the corridor leading to Conference Room Zero. Scarman nudged Merlow.
"Was all of this really necessary?" he asked.
"I thought it was appropriate. Besides, I like to show off." Merlow replied, a smug look on his face.
"Still prideful. You haven't changed all that much, have you?"
"Time has a tendency of changing the most steadfast of us, Marcus..." Merlow said, his voice trailing off.
"All too true. So, what's happened since I've been gone?"
"You'll find out soon enough. That's why I've arranged the use of the Conference Room."
They reached the Conference Room, the honor guard separated and allowed their party through the door. Inside, Rear Admirals Nagato Yuki and Tessa Testarossa, Captain Tokhia Mai, General Thomas Serov, and Captain Hans Hao were within waiting for them. Merlow motioned them all to take a seat around the circular table. Merlow remained standing as the others took their seats. He cleared his throat, ready to begin.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you all to the most advanced ship ever to be designed and fielded by Liberty, the Tuatha de Danaan. I've decided to call this meeting because there are some matters of great importance that need to be discussed, and we need to get ourselves up to date on the current situation. I realize I have this tendency to call these meetings, but I have a good reason for it. It gives us time to think and allows us to lay down ideas and input that we would have never thought of by ourselves.
"First, I would like to hand the floor to Admiral Marcus Scarman. I believe that you should debrief us all on what happened to you during your separation from the core group. Admiral, if you would please..."
Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet / Former Fleet Admiral of the Liberty First Fleet Second Survivor of the Mentat Program. We must give and take with good measure. Give too much, we become complacent. Take too much, we incur the wrath of our own. Tread Lightly. --Supreme Bashar Robert Merlow--
Marcus nodded and thanked Merlow as the Fleet Admiral handed him the proverbial baton. He straightened his Admiral's uniform and cleared his throat.
"First of all, I'd like to introduce my colleagues to those of you who haven't met before." Marcus began, gesturing to his comrades, "Mr. Reinhardt and Mr. Manning as well as Admiral Wilder here are all new faces and most of you won't have met them before. General Serov I know you and Mr. Reinhardt have made acquaintances in the past."
Thomas Serov and Reinhardt met eyes and nodded respectfully as the others each took a seat around the large circular table.
Now, as you are all aware, the Freedom Fighters fought the Zeta in the Omicron Alpha system the almost a year ago, resulting in the reactivation of an archaic alien hypergate. Some cataclysmic error forced the hypergate to tear a gash in the fabric of time and space and consequently, pulled the majority of the First Fleet through into unknown territory, Marcus paused, watching the faces of his audience as they listened intently. I assume you will all be able to fill in that part of the story, but as someone who was left behind, I was left in the dark.
What exactly happened to you on Carina Marcus? General Serov asked. Werent you on the planets surface, I would have thought you would have been one of the closest to the blast.
Im not entirely sure, Marcus replied, I believe I was, I remember fighting the Zeta commander, Raziel, in the centre of an ancient alien construct along with Captain Wade. Just as everything began to happen I was whisked away across half the galaxy by Raziels daughter Kimiga. Because of her extensive ability to manipulate matter, she threw me and Victoria to safety, which happened to be the middle of one of Kabuls deserts.
Tessa Testarossa gave him an impressed whistle, Thats quite a long way Admiral,
Indeed it is Tessa; we were lost in the desert for a few days, Kimiga a burden to our journey having used a lot of her energy getting us there. Once we finally found a settlement, we began treating Kimigas fatigue. As soon as she was healthy again she up and vanished with nothing but a wish of good will.
After that, it took me and Victoria a couple of months to scrape the funs we needed for a lift off-world. We had to pose as Tau-31 miners, hiding our identities as Freedom Fighters. In the shadow of the old Kushan Government, two Liberty Freedom Fighters were probably not the most welcome of guests. We finally managed to hitch a lift on an old type one transport to the Leeds system where we spent another three months trying to secure a message with anyone back in New York. In the mean time I decided to contact a few old friends in order to try and find a way to reunite myself with all of you. I met up with Doctor Maxthor of the DWB and an old colleague of mine at Cambridge University; he suggested that I find a Professor Wilcox, a specialist in interspatial technology and a respected theorist in temporal and dimensional mechanics.
As you can see, I was trying to find a way to open a new rift to follow you through. However I ran into a bit of trouble on the way. Marcus scratched his chin and gestured to Klaus Reinhardt. A rogue AI had taken control of a Liberty Cruiser and had gone AWOL. Of all things it had decided to target me and was bent on my destruction. My old friend Klaus here was in the neighborhood and agreed to help me. Mr. Manning there also agreed to help, hes a Bounty Hunter who was in search of a man named Jadyn, a man I never met, he apparently programmed the AI to terminate me but it was all unfortunately a bit of a mystery,
Sayne Jadyn, Merlow interjected, rising slightly in his seat.
Yes, Marcus turned to the Fleet Admiral, I believe that was his name, do you know him?
"I'll touch upon Sayne in a bit," Merlow said, "but first I think we'll have to debrief you on what's been going on lately."
He cleared his throat, taking a small sip of water before he began, "Well, first off, right after that explosion we were flung into another universe, most of the First Fleet was flung in there with us. Unaware to most of the First Fleet, there is an emergency alert that prompts all high ranking and essential personnel of the FF to converge on Interstate Hole 001 andremodulate it to our Temporal and Spacial coordinates."
Scarman paused Merlow, "Wait, how come I wasn't alerted, nor was Admiral Anderson and the crew of the Avalanche?"
"Well, it was an experimental system which we had never drilled with before, and there were few who knew how to use the Interstate Holeremodulation device. As a result, about one-fourth of the essential personnel who needed to know about the evacuation plan were left behind. In the universe we called 'Evolved,' we left basically a skeleton crew to run the First Fleet, unintentionally of course. This is when it all gets... a little crazy."
Merlow nodded to Serov, who activated the holo-panel in the center of the table. Serov rose and began to speak, "Well, we arrive in this new universe which we call 'Shattered' now. We arrived in New York, to find it overrun. Who ever ran Liberty before we arrived really had it in sorry shape. We had to hunker down in Liberty. The Liberty Rouges were powerful, there was a crime family in California that was attempting to seize control, we had crazies inBretonia yet again, it was a mess.
"First, we had to take a look at who was running the Liberty Navy. It was an alternate version of Steven Kaplan, this time Fleet Admiral of the Liberty Navy. He was talking with Outcasts on Juneau, working out some sort of Card deal. We stopped that one in time, thank the Eternals.
"Our next action was to find the former Liberty Freedom Fighters in this universe. We knew that there were some discrepancies in the timeline, but we had to attempt to find the FF in that universe in order to gain legitimacy. We ran across some very interesting counterparts, among them a polar opposite of myself and AdmiralMerlow. They were members of the Kanzaki Yakuza , another blight on Sirius. When we were looking for the alternate FF, it was because of them and an alternate version of you, AdmiralScarman, that Fleet Admiral Victoria Wade died."
Scarman's eyes widened as he glanced quickly over at Wade. Her face was just a little paler than usual. Serov looked at her, "Yes, Captain. You were Fleet Admiral there. She gave her life so that our Fleet Admiral could live. After all of this, after we established ourselves as the First Fleet we were, Bretonia began to advance into Liberty Space. This is where Sayne Jaydn steps into the picture." The holo-image appeared in the center of the table, a dossier of Jaydn displayed on the holo-emitters at each seat, "At the time, we knew him only as the leader of the Lane Hackers, and a convenient ally in the war against the Bretonians. Well, the war was going well until the Universe went all to hell. Jump Holes began to destabilize, destroying the asteroid fields and nebulae they were contained in; The Badlands began to destroy New York; Nomads began pouring out of the woodwork and destroying entire systems; it was utter chaos. We teamed up with the Order, which had their own Sayne Jaydn. This was an odd fact that we chose to overlook at the time, as the universe was literally crumbling. It was determined by the four Houses and the Council of Elders of both the Corsairs and the Outcasts, that we needed to rebuild a new Sleeper Ship fleet and needed to get a good portion of each house's population to get the hell out of the universe. It was decided that we were to lead the population and the remaining members of the house's navies into a newly created Interstate-class hole. It was our job to lead them to a new home, a place safe from the death and destruction that was wrought in the previous universe."
Captain Tokhia stopped him for a moment, "General, sorry to interrupt, but shouldn't we explain Jaydn's role in all of this?"
Merlow put his hand up, motioning Serov to take a seat, "Well, I found out during our rather rough trip through void space that the Agent Jaydn from the Order was actually the same Sayne that lead the Lane Hackers. He was on board the Dannan and we were under the assumption that he was a member of the Order. During that little journey, I found out that he was a former member of both the Fahrenheit Zero-Alpha Program and the Sadukar Program. The Fahrenheit Zero Program was run by the Liberty Government in my native universe, named TFL. This program produced some of the most unstable individuals I've ever seen, all but one died during their tests by their own devices. Apparently, he came with us to 'Evolved' and blended in as a standard member of the Liberty Marines. He was a member of the first batch of soldiers ever to enter the Sadukar Program. He was one of the soldiers that were the first to land on New London, one of the first to draw blood against Kraizer and his cronies. Apparently, he was under your command Marcus."
Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet / Former Fleet Admiral of the Liberty First Fleet Second Survivor of the Mentat Program. We must give and take with good measure. Give too much, we become complacent. Take too much, we incur the wrath of our own. Tread Lightly. --Supreme Bashar Robert Merlow--
Jadyn, now you come to mention it, I do have a vague recollection of a trooper Jadyn on my team, when we took the Canary Wharf Tower." Marcus scratched his chin in thought. I have to admit, I dont remember every soldier I ever worked with, but on that day only marines Waterman and Buchannan were commended for exemplary performance, simply because they acted so well under so much stress.
As I remember, the assault on the Wharf Tower was a failure, as the Emperor himself had fled New London a long time before we even made planetfall. If this Sayne Jadyn holds a grudge over me for that for such a long period of time however, I can only imagine he has severe mental issues.
I know Jadyn, I know how his mind works, Kurt Manning spoke up, I was hunting him down for a very long time, before that A.I. attempted to take your life Admiral,
Marcus nodded as the Bounty Hunter spoke, Continue,
It seemed to me that he always had inner demons, a darkness that gnawed at his conscience. He was a murderer, after he disbanded from the Freedom Fighters he became wanted across several systems for multiple murders. Unless his file shows otherwise, he is quite an unstable individual. The single event of you not recognizing him Admiral may have been the trigger for a downward spiral that has lead to such insanity,
Thank you Mr. Manning, Marcus turned to Robert, But is Sayne really our top priority here, do you truly think that this man is dangerous enough to warrant our full attention?
Not our full attention, at least, not for the moment, Merlow replied, For now we need to get back to Liberty. The nation is still dubious as to our integration into their society let alone their armed forces. You can imagine they arent too convinced of our backing story, I mean, would you be?
Before any of this happened, your right, no I wouldnt, Marcus had to agree.
Despite this, there is also the disappearance of the Zeta, Merlow added, It is my understanding Marcus that Raziel and Kimiga paid you a visit when you arrived here in this dimension.
Thats true, they materialized on the bridge a few days after we managed to contain a little issue we brought with us, Marcus said.
Well you may have been amongst the last to have seen them; Merlow said gravely, Raziel was brief, and very vague. He said he had to leave along with all of the Zeta to attend a far more pressing matter than helping to integrate us into the workings of our new home.
Typical Zeta behavior, Marcus said bitterly, The only Zeta I knew who wasnt like the rest was Kimiga,
Indeed, Merlow continued, Well they have disappeared without a trace, and it seems we keep getting more and more troubles landing on our doorstep.
![[Image: Scarecrow-Jupiter.png]](https://i.ibb.co/6FqxTqG/Scarecrow-Jupiter.png)
![[Image: merlowisatw1.png]](http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/9171/merlowisatw1.png)
![[Image: americancommie7.png]](http://miniprofile.xfire.com/bg/sf/type/2/americancommie7.png)