O'Brian stood in her ready room, inspecting the plan that had been sent across by the Libertonians. It made sense, but the Harlow was not their most powerful asset. Whilst an ageing ship, she'd been well looked after, albeit having avoided most of the war. She lay in wait for a higher purpose, a purpose O'Brian dearly hoped would never come to pass.
She'd been pacing again. It was some time since she'd led an active combat engagement, and it was beginning to bother her. It was still all there in her head, ready to draw on at a moments notice, but she felt untested, rusty. She couldn't afford to make mistakes.
Michelle shut down the computer, leaving the ready room and locking the office. She made her way directly to the bridge, swiping in. Gowers sat in the Captains chair. Fitting. It was his ship after all. He turned to see O'Brian ad entered the bridge. He nodded at her, tapping a few buttons on the command chair as she approached.
Your ship Admiral?
She paused, nodding in approval
My ship, Captain.
He stood, stepping aside, allowing her to take the command chair. He made his way down to the communications console. He may not be in command of this vessel for the moment, but he still took it upon himself to organise the battlegroup for her. A good officer, she thought.
Captain Gowers, call Captain Y'Berg, Commanders Flameheart, Fire and Briggs, and Lieutenant Commander Elliot down to the training deck. I think it's time to get them involved. Oh, and keep me updated, he should be arriving any day now, and they need to be ready.
Your ship Captain.
She stood after his nod, heading straight down to the holo-decks. Time to put this rag tag bunch through it's paces.
Battleship Harlow was very close to New London frontier and this seemed a displeasure for Sid Fire. It hadn't to be there if not for the Gallic war machine who was doing nothing else than continuing to advance in gallic space. The Bretonian capital had become even a planet at the frontier. Looking those old projects he had in mind in an alternate victorious destiny, Sid was reaching the Battleship Harlow as O'Brian ordered at him and his colleagues. After the docking procedures his assigned bay was the sixth, his favourite number; keeping a passive and silent behaviour with the others in the battleship besides some exceptions, Sid reached the Admiral requested location, this time in time and without any problem. Awaiting the other colleagues he found a place to stay.
Commander Flameheart stretched and yawned. After that she looked at her table, which was overwhelmed with a lot of various battle reports, documents and other papers. She's almost finished her paperwork for today. Suddenly, loudspeaker coraked to life.
“Captain Y'Berg, Commanders Flameheart, Fire and Briggs, and Lieutenant Commander Elliot, please, proceed to the training deck ASAP. Thank you for your attention.”
“Huh?”
Eva sighed.
"I should hurry up, but first a cup of tea."
Commander drank a cup of tea in one gulp. She put empty cup on a table and wore her officer's coat. Eva left her cabin and closed it by key-kard. She opened a H.M.S “Harlow” map on her PDA. After a few seconds, computer made the best route to the training deck. Commander Flameheart began to move to the destination. After several corridors and ladders she finally approach training deck door. Commander Fire was already there. Flameheart greeted him. After that, Eva got out her personal PDA and wrote a short message to O'Brian.
Eva Flameheart Wrote:
Message Class: Textual
Encryption: Standard
To: Admiral Michelle O'Brian
From: Commander Eva Flameheart
My Admiral,
Commanders Eva Flameheart and Sid Fire arrived to the training deck and awaiting further orders.
Eva Flameheart[
Commander
Bretonian Armed Forces
Long live the Queen.
Commander send a message and turned off her PDA. After that Eva loaned to nearest wall and closed her eyes. She could only wait now.
Sparkles rained on the corridor as Pria walked thorough to her cabin. Since her arrival to the Harlow group a week prior, the Orion was constantly worked at, preparing the ship for another campaign both by the ship's engineering teams as well as the cadets from the training group.
In her cabin she quickly began reading thorough the daily reports: Some cadet requested massive amounts of materials to repair the old fleet command systems, which she quickly denied.
She put up a bulletin to the engineering crews to not repair that system, since it was massively outdated, most of the wiring was cannibalized to save more critical ones in the operations around Gran Canaria and Aland.
After maneuvering herself thorough the reports, carefully avoiding those that had to do with Commanderism, a flamethrower-guitar, or anything else that could result additional rules added to the list, Pria was about to call her first officer to meet for supper, when he contacted her.
Excuse me sir, Admiral O'Brian ordered you on the Harlow for briefing Aight, tell her i'll be there in a few minutes, Clyde. Keep the kids from burnin' down the place, and if any idiot tries to replace our Templars with Dragoons, kick him out of an airlock. As you wish, Sir.
After docking on the Harlow, she made her way to the training deck where Eva and Sid already waited.
Elliot adjusted his uniform after dropping the rucksack. Aland was done and he was finally released back to the Harlow command. Checking himself out in the mirror, his data pad delivered the message that he quickly read. Putting it in his pocket, he adjusted his uniform again and breathed in.
Time to get to work.
He nodded at himself in the mirror and made way to the training deck.
Briggs scooped the last mouthful of mash into his mouth, before dropping the spoon back onto the tray. It made a light "clang" as metal hit metal. He sat back, swigging his drink, washing down the food. As soon as the cup touched the table, his datapad began to flash.
Oh not now you cow.
He rolled his eyes, loading up the message on the datapad.
Commander. Admiral O'Brian expects you on the holodeck, about 5 minutes ago. Gowers
In some ways, he was lucky she ran a loose ship. It created a much stronger sense of camaraderie than he'd experienced under other officers, but she didn't like it when he was late. She didn't like it when anyone was late. Still, he earned his keep around here, and that, he suspected, was why O'Brian kept him around. A useful tool.
He dropped the tray and utensils in the cleaning bin, and marched towards the doors, though by the time he reached them it was a slight jog. His flight jacket was loose, casual, you might say. He just called it comfortable.
It took him roughly 10 minutes to make it down to the holo-deck from the mess hall. The slight jog had helped him to get his head clear. He stepped through the doors, looking at the assembled officers before him. All smart and clean, like they all had sticks up their arses and coat hangers in their jackets. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
So where id the old cow then? Sprucing up her hair?
He laughed, stopping suddenly at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him
aww shi-
Yes, thank you Commander. We'll discuss how you introduce me later. Ladies and Gentlemen, I thought it was time for some war games, before we meet our honoured guest later. No questions about whom right now, but I expect you all clean and presentable when the time comes. Captain Y'Berg, you'll be remaining on the Harlow for the time being. I hope your Number One will be able to cope without you for a while?
She paused, allowing her to answer before continuing
In the next room you'll find your combat suits and some weapons. They'll be loaded with stun rounds, but for the simulation they'll be just as effective as live ammunition. I expect all my officers to be well versed in ranged and hand to hand combat, alongside their duties as pilots and bridge officers. Boarding is a vital, but seriously underutilised tactic. I want us to be ready to deploy at a moments notice. I'll be running the simulation from here, and for today's task you'll be tasked with extracting a high value target from a Molly installation. Let me be clear, this is a team exercise, no leaving people behind, you extract the target alive, and you get out of there before the fleet blows the station. Am I understood?
Nods all round
Perfect. Go on and suit up. Commander Elliot, you'll be in charge. I said when you all first joined that I was unorthodox, and I expect you to respect your fellow officer, regardless of them being senior or junior in rank. I expect you to help your fellow officers grow, so work as a team, and make me proud.
Captain Y'Berg, you'll be remaining on the Harlow for the time being. I hope your Number One will be able to cope without you for a while? Oh I'm sure Commander Blackburn will manage Pria answered wtih a sly grin.
She wondered why did O'brian chosen some of the people for this project Eva's a no brainer she thoughtintelligent, thinks on her feet, and Elliot's a prick, but soldier all the way. Should pay some attention around Briggs. Sid is a failure if I've ever seen one, don't think he'd pass a psych exam. And me... who the hell did I pissed off to end up babysittin' some dim-witted, club footed aristocrat?
After the briefing, she pulled over Elliot for a quick talk Hey she said I've got some field experience with boarding stations, so got a few tips for ya, if you're interested. Pria didn't liked Elliot at all, but it was a teamwork assigment.
Elliot nodded as a sign to continue We'll need some shaped charges. Other than breaking thorough airlocks, we can pretty much blow off an entire section from the station she paused for a split second, then just spoken into a blank spot in front of her or blow it up.
For guns, standard should be plastic rounds to not break anything important, but since we'll only have stun rounds, I say let's go crazy and get some particle blasters. She tried to think what more should they need for a second Oh! And let's grab some sticky-cameras and a hand terminal, so we can track their movements, or set up ambushes.
While Elliot processed the imformation blob that just fallen into his hands, Pria walked quietly towards the armory.