Name: Seth Karlo
Rank: Captain
Position: CO of the LNS San Francisco
Fighter: Avenger
Picture: A picture of Seth taken by Sonya while on holiday on Los Angeles.
Name: Sonya Kellis
Rank: Commander
Position: XO of the LNS San Francisco
Fighter: Avenger
Picture: A picture of Sonya taken by Seth after a Friday night poker game.
Database closed.
"Facts...figures...information. It's all so meaningless. If you want to know who I am? Where I came from? This is my story, but it isn't pretty..."
It had been 801 years since they arrived. When the first sleeper ship landed on the planet now called Manhattan, they always thought they were alone. How wrong they had been. Some blamed it on the Rheinland expedition, some blamed it on the Liberty government, some blamed it on the Order. No matter whose fault it was, they came, and they started to conquer. And while Edison Trent and the Order fought over Planet Toledo, a large organic ship decloaked in the place they had left their technology, which Liberty called "Valhalla". They arrived in their battleship, and they started moving towards the most heavily populated planet in Sirius.
"This is the Liberty Naval Dreadnought Horizon! Mayday! Mayday! They're just too damned strong!"
"Understood Captain Frencis, we're moving a Battlecruiser group to assist you, hold out until they arrive."
Small blue fighters shot around the Dreadnought like flies, the gunners on the Horizon desperately shooting and missing the Nomads, who were taking out the Navy fighters in droves. Ahead, a large nomad battleship sat impassively, firing its massive guns upon the Horizon, which shuddered under every hit. John Frencis stood upon the bridge, shouting orders and looking upon the scene calmly. He was not scared, he was focused upon the protection of Liberty, and nothing would stop him from his goal. The shields failed as they were hit by another barrage from the enemy capital, and he looked around the bridge one last time, knowing they were going down.
"Gentlemen... it's been an honor" he said, saluting his bridge crew, who saluted back. They were not scared of death.
The Nomad Battleship almost grinned in it's eagerness for destruction, and they fired a final volley, watching the energy scortch the vacuum between them and the crippled Horizon. The bolts of death got closer, and then the Phoenix arrived. With a roar that shook onlookers to the bone, it seemed to leap between the battleship and the Horizon, their shields shrugging off the weapons fire without a pause.
Captain Harry Gregory laughed as he sat back down in his chair.
"That's a drink you owe me John!" he shouted through the comms. "Lieutenant, fire everything we have at that Nomad Battleship!"
The Battlecruiser Phoenix twisted its turrets around with a whirr, and started to pump energy through them, hitting the enemy with everything they had. The enemy ship hesitated for a second, before returning fire. The two ships sat about 3 kilometres from each other, firing weapon after weapon, until eventually the Phoenix's shields fell.
"Ensign Karlo! Move us-ARGH!" The captain said as a large beam fell from the ceiling, falling on both him and Lieutenant Terrison, the other person on the bridge. Seth looked around quickly, before realising he was alone on the bridge.
He looked up at the viewscreen, and watched as the Nomad ship kept firing upon them.
"Bridge, this is Engineering, we've lost main engines! What's happening?"
Seth numbly reached for the comms button.
"The Captain's dead... I'm the only one left sir."
There was a pause.
"Then Captain, what are we doing?"
Seth blinked hard at the panel, wincing as the ship rocked again under weapons fire.
"I'm not a Captain! I'm a Sub-Lieutenant!"
The Chief of Engineering's voice re-appeared.
"Liberty Naval Regulation 2-1-1-6. Under the death of a bridge crew member, the next most capable officer will take command, on the bridge crew. If all contact with the bridge is lost, Engineering shall take command."
Seth paused for just a second. Just one.
"Then Chief, what's the situation?"
There was a deep breath.
"Well Captain, engines are offline, and we're not going to last many more hits..."
Seth stood and looked out of the viewscreen. The bridge was in the middle of the ship, and yet the viewscreen made it seem he was on the very front of it. He watched as more shots impacted with the Phoenix, the sun outlining the battleship with precision. He walked to the console and depressed a button.
"All hands, this is the Captain. Abandon ship. I repeat, abandon ship."
He lifted his thumb from the button and pressed another, signalling a ship-wide evacuation. All around the Phoenix, people started running towards the nearest escape pod or ship, leaving via the closest and quickest method. 30 seconds later, the computer spoke.
'ALL PERSONNEL OFF SHIP.'
Seth gave a sad smile, and set the autodestruct.
'AUTODESTRUCT DAMAGED. UNABLE TO OVERLOAD REACTOR'
Seth cursed, and as more shots hit the Phoenix, damaging her further, he dived for his console. His hand found the steel thruster control stick, and his eyes narrowed. With only another seconds hesitation, he pushed it forwards, and the Phoenix's engines pulsed into action.
While the main impulse engines had been destroyed, manuevering thrusters were still operational, and it was these, along with the gravity well of the sun behind the enemy that allowed the Phoenix to pick up speed.
'WARNING. COLLISION COURSE SET. DIVERT FROM CURRENT COURSE IMMEDIATELY'
Seth ignored it, and stood in the middle of the bridge. Sparks flew around him, and he turned on the comms.
"Captain Frencis, can you remove the remainder of the fighters?" he asked, calm in his remaining few minutes.
"What... who is this?"
"Captain Gregory is dead. I am Sub-Lieutanent Seth Karlo, now please answer my question."
The Nomad ship was getting closer, and it's weapons were still hitting the Phoenix.
"Dead? Oh...my... I suppose we could remove the fighters, but not with that battleship in the way."
Seth's eyes narrowed, their normally cheerful light blue turning a dangerous shade of Navy, darkening dangerously. The Nomad ship had started to move, it realising what Seth was about to do.
"Sub Lieutenant... don't do it!" came Frencis's voice, Seth opened the comms again, this time to the system as a whole.
"This is Sub Lieutenant Seth Karlo to the LNS Destiny, please come in."
There was just a seconds hesitation before the response came back.
"This is Sub Lieutenant Sonya Kellis of the Gunboat Destiny, how can we help Sub Lieutenant?"
Seth looked sadly at the screen. Impact in 10 seconds.
"I love you Sonya... I just had to tell you that."
There was a pause.
"Seth... what are you doing? SETH!" she shrieked, and Seth smiled again.
"I'm doing this to keep Liberty safe... I love you Sonya, I lo-" With a roar and a crash and an explosion the Phoenix ripped into the Nomad Battleship, ripping the enemy capital ship into two pieces. While the Nomad ship seemed to be organic, it exploded with a passion, tearing the strong hull of the Phoenix into a hundred pieces in an instant. Seth was thrown from his chair into the viewscreen, hitting it with a dull thud before falling to the floor.
"I love you Sonya..." he muttered to himself, and then blacked out.
Out in space, Sonya stood on the bridge of the Gunboat Destiny and screamed. Her passion ripped out of her in waves and she just stood there and screamed. The Destiny was heading to the sight of the battle within a second, determined to get there as quickly as possible.
Captain Frencis stood up and pointed at the viewscreen, the sun behind him illuminating him movie style, and he bellowed at the explosion in front of them.
"That man was Captain of his ship for 9 minutes, and yet he saved over a thousand lives. He WILL NOT DIE IN VAIN! FIRE EVERYTHING!" He bellowed, his voice resonating with passion and power. Turrets whirred and clicked into place, and then the bolts of death shot across the vacuum, passing space dust and nothingness to impact with the enemies around them. Each shot held the fury, the anger, the wrath of the men and women and children saved by a Sub Lieutenant, and each shot hit it's target.
The Destiny arrived with a roar, the turret's firing with pure rage within them, and they hit the Nomad fighters with perfection. Explosions appeared.
"Farewell proud ship. Farewell proud man." came a voice over the comms. Startled, the Destiny's and the Horizon's crew looked up, and saw an Order ship sitting there.
"He did not die in vain." came the voice again, and then the ship dissapeared in front of them, cloaking.
Sonya had the Destiny move forwards, and they started scanning the wreckage. She wanted his body to take home.
"Ma'am..." came her lieutenants voice. She looked up, tears stained her face and her makeup ran. She nodded weakly.
"Ma'am... I'm picking up a life sign."
Sonya blinked, and then stared out of the viewscreen.
"Where?" she asked.
Seth groaned slightly as he woke up. The bridge was destroyed, the roof had collapsed, the chairs and consoles were destroyed, and the viewscreen was cracked. He tried to move, and regretted it instantly as his back gave a painful twinge. Why wasn't he dead? he quietly mused. Perhaps he was, perhaps this was heaven... or hell. Sparks flew from the ceiling, each one imprinting itself onto his retina. He breathed deeply for a moment, and then sat up. The bulkheads had dropped, covering the doors. The bridge was sealed.
Somehow, miraculously, he was alive. The bridge had been in the very middle of the ship, he was very lucky. A couple of thuds could be heard from the outside, and Seth wondered what was happening.
"BE CAREFUL!" shrieked Sonya as the Heavy Lifter attached itself to the pod. A transport stood by ready to recieve it, and then they would move to Manhattan to let Seth out. He could be dying for all they knew, and Sonya nervously bit her lip. He might be alive... he might be alive...
Seth sat calmly in the bridge. It rumbled, it rattled, it creaked. Communications were down, and he slowly started feeling Gravity return to him. Unfourtenately, it made him fall on his head.
So he sat there, rubbing the back of his head, feeling himself descend through the atmosphere.
[color=#FFFFFF]It's a new day.
And they landed, and he heard people starting to cut into his metal prison. 'A miracle', he thought. 'I'm alive even when I should be dead.'
Cutting torches and plasma cutters appeared on the far side of the bridge, slowly cutting a large circle. He stood, and he smiled. His eyes were soft, his face was happy. He had been given a new chance, a new dawn, a new day.
[color=#FFFFFF]It's a new life.... for me.
The circle fell away, and light came shooting in like bullets from a gun, and Seth covered his eyes for a second. He looked up, and started to walk forwards. People stood there, and just clapped. Sonya was standing about 30 feet away, the woman he loved, had loved for months, just stood there watching. Around in a large circle stood a hundred or so people.
And they clapped.
He looked around, and he smiled. He walked forwards slowly, and up to the Admiral who stood there. And the Admiral saluted him, saluted a mere Sub Lieutenant. Seth lifted his hand, giving a crisp salute in return. The Admiral nodded, and Seth relaxed, and then turned to his love. He walked towards her, his footsteps firm, his face happy. Her tearstained face was radiated in joy.
[color=#FFFFFF]And I'm feeling good.
They stood there, embraced, with a hundred engineers, pilots, officers and Admirals watching them.
"I did it to keep you safe" he whispered into her ear. "I did it to keep everyone safe."
And she looked up at him, and she replied with a saying that would follow him everywhere.
"Seth Karlo, unchallenged in space, an invincible defender."
She kissed him.
"You can be my protector any day."
4 days later, Seth Karlo was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. The ceremony was lavish and grand, with lots of dull speeches and smiling politicians. Seth swore to himself that day one oath.
No matter what he must do. No matter who he must kill. No matter who he must betray. He would protect Liberty, he would be the man unchallenged in space. He would be Liberty's invincible defender. He would protect until the day he died, and he would die protecting the people he loved.
Though so many cried their unshameful tears, the silence pierced all.
"A man who helped many, strived to make the unhappy happy, a man who promised to protect those who needed protecting."
Seth swallowed deeply, his eyes wet and red. He stood alone, away from all his friends and family, alone in his grief.
"A loving father, husband and son."
Sonya stood in military dress, her hand stiff at her temple. Seth was by himself, ignoring every glance she tearfully threw his way.
"And we hope that wherever he has gone."
The coffin was beautifully decorated with flowers, elegantly carved from oak, a rare material, and inlaid with flowers of elder. An expensive coffin, paid for by the Navy. A coffin that was empty.
"We pray this day that those who killed him shall not be shown the way to the same place he has gone."
He had been gone now for 3 months, when the pictures arrived back.
"Farewell, Captain Sawyer Karlo."
Seth numbly walked forwards, desperately reaching for a silver handle. His fingers slipped... once, twice, before catching slowly. He wept as he took the strain, and numbly walked, ignoring the surprised looks of the crowd as a random officer had walked forwards, grasped the handle opposite the greaving son.
Sonya held her head high as she walked, and she cried for the father in law she never had. The silence was deafening, seeming to crush those who dared to think. Footstep after footstep made their way down the corridor of the elegant ceremonial hall, to a small grave dug at the end of a garden.
Ignoring tradition of being shot into space, Captain Saywer Karlo's coffin was placed softly into the bottom of the grave. The 6 people who had carried it wordlessly reached for the shovels that lay nearby.
Such grief... overpowering, ripping your soul in two. How could people commit such an evil act? For a long time, Seth had denied his father was gone, knowing, praying he would return, a smile on his face and his crew safe.
Then a Universal Freighter had strayed through the wrong jumphole, finding themselves near to a wreck... the wreck of the LNS Alabama. The pictures had hit Seth like a cannonball, his legs had given way, and his soul begged to end.
Then came the anger, anger at his father for leaving him alone, here. Anger at his father taking his crew through an uncharted jump hole. Fury at the Navy for allowing him to do so. Rage at the Xeno's for destroying his father.
Truly, he did not know what had happened that day, but he swore he would find out.
Then came more anger, anger and guilt at himself for being angry with his father. He had loved him, more than anything else in the world. After his mother died, he and his father had become so close... he remembered when he was accepted to the Navy, how proud Sawyer had been of his only son.
Then he grieved, and he did not stop.
He stepped back, barely seeing anymore from the liquid that filled his lashes. A small, soft hand slipped into his, and he and Sonya fell onto each other, propping the other up with their bodies, crying into each other.
The congragation stood there, the ones knowing about Seth and Sonya nodding sadly, the ignorant ones slightly confused. Suddenly, the sky turned dark, and eyes lifted to the heavens as a roar ripped through the sky. The Liberty Naval Cruiser Golden Gate slowly soared overhead, a tribute to the man who had died fighting for liberty, and Liberty.
Seth saluted, along with every other military person present. Hopefully Sawyer went to a better place than this one.