It was 8:58 am, 2 minutes before the morning meeting on Fort Bush. Karl had just arrived from Illinois only 20 minutes ago. As he approached the lounge where the meeting would take place, he noticed a figure sitting at the head of the large Maple conference table. Cautiously he moved in and recognized the figure as Chief Myers... had Myers arrived especially early today? a true reflection of his devotion? or... did he fall asleep here after or during last nights meeting and the cleaning crews had simply cleaned around him?
No matter.. he turned on the lights and took his place at the conference table. The sudden light seemed to awake Myers, causing him to quickly sit up straight. Karl had never seen a man before who could move as fast as the Chief of police.
Eventually the other Deputy Chiefs arrived, except one. The empty chair of Markey, stuck out like a sore thumb next to all the other filled chairs.
After a quick exchange of pleasantries and the ordering of breakfast, Karl began the meeting.
"Alright, I'll get straight to the point this morning" he passed around a folder "As you can see here, we have a surplus of credits this term, due mostly in part of income from certain special operations"
He grabbed a notepad and scribbled the number 9 onto it in red ink. Only a few in the room understood its significance, but most never questioned it.
"So I figure, we need to put these credits to good use before the accountants notice"
A few in the room whispered to each other
"I'm proposing we add another ship to our inventory, an old Liberty Siege cruiser to be exact"
He punched in a few keys on a computer panel, bringing up data on the derelict ship. It was a slightly older model of ship, then what was currently in use by the Navy. It was retired not long ago after suffering damage in battle. The Navy decided to not repair it, instead channeling their credits towards constructing newer and more expensive classes of the same ship type.
"According to the reports from the shipyards, it would not cost too much to repair the vessel, most of the components are intact, it was simply abandoned due to a large hull breach."
One person in the room asked the obvious question of how much it would cost to fully repair the hole...
"Nothing... for this class of vessel we had always planned to modify an existing hull to attach a special docking clamp system, that will allow us to cut into a stations hull and gain entry. This hole actually makes it cheaper and easier to do that..."
"So, that is the proposal... think it is feasible?" Karl turns to the others in the room, looking for opinions.
***Note if you are not in the LPI you are not to post here, any information gathered will be OORP if used by any non LPI in anyway.***
Iâll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because itâs flag that I love
And a flag that I trust
The Chief rubbed his chin some and looked around. Karl always was the ambitious one, though he did it in a modest way. He was a unique man. An oddity that the Chief had long since become used to. He considered this from every angle for a good minute, before he spoke.
"Think the Navy will go for it? I mean, we already got one big ship from 'em."
"I think they will, they'll get more money selling the ship to us than if they scrap it for parts," he looked down at some papers. "Parts that aren't compatible with their newer Siege Cruisers. Hell... they have these old ships listed on the open market for any freelancer to purchase..."
Myers nodded. Those had been his thoughts, as well. It made good sense.
"And what is it's practical use to us?"
"Use?" Karl asked, as if surprised that the question had been raised. "We'd have plenty of uses, for one we could equip it to actually capture large enemy ships or stations instead of blowing them up with our bombers. Otherwise, it would be capable of operating as a proper support vessel for the Leavenworth. As our current ship inventory shows, we have a huge void between the Leavenworth and our Gunboats."
Myers nodded again. "If you can get the Navy to part with it, try. Seems like we could use another ship to meet the rising piracy and whatnot going around. Liberators aren't much use when the pirates are cruising around in gunboats."
Mentally, he moved on. "So, what's your take on the Silver wing idea I've put into action." It wasn't so much a question as it was an order to give input.
"Silver wing?" Karl stopped and thought a moment, damn.. did he get too caught up in the latest project and neglect to read a report?
He regained his composure "Well Sir.. from what I know of them, they certainly must be a skilled group of pilots, those magma hammers are notoriously difficult to aim"
A brief pause " Perhaps we should go over the details on the group again?"
Iâll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because itâs flag that I love
And a flag that I trust
"Perhaps we should. Silver wing'll operate independent of the regular chain of command, and in combat situations their orders will be treated as if they came from one of us. They'll fly in pairs, one Liberator with all Debilitator pulse weapons and nuclear mines, and one Liberator with all Magma Hammers and screamer mines. In tandem, a deadly force.
"Naming scheme is LPI-Silver-#, where the number is determinate on whether it's a Liberator with shield-busting or hull-busting capabilities. I'm looking into which pilots would be best to fill out the squad as we speak.
"They'd also act with the Navy's Gold wing in a support roll."
The Chief sat back, satisfied that he had explained it.
Karl took in the information and thought up a response.
"Well, Sir, I think it is certainly a project worth exploring if we can find the right pilots for the job."
He spun a pen around in his hand
"And anything that helps us gain more cooperation with the Navy can only be a good thing. Our relationship has been a tad strained these past few months"
Iâll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because itâs flag that I love
And a flag that I trust
Hull O'Brian Took another long pull from the double Cappuccino coffee he had in front of him....
He had worked late last night getting the figures and Intel together that was needed for this mornings meeting.
"Agreed. We could use a Hunter/Killer group to supplement the Navy and spread some good cheer. Also, it sounds like it might be quite effective against some of the problem children we deal with lately."
Another pull from the Coffee....
"Now would be a good time to form it up. I was going over Ship Production quotas, Liberators are slightly ahead in production, so lets get them now while we can."
"I also checked in on the R&D department, the Libby / Guardian hybrid bomber testing is going well. We had a contest and the name Peacekeeper won."
"We need to remind folks to use the criminal database to document the names of those causing problems. Been a lot of Freelancers and Mercs making cowardly attacks on folks here in Liberty using the false cover of Neutrality to attack them.
** Swig **
"A suggestion has been made that we show up at day shift roll call at Fort Bush. Lots of Folks are a might worried about all this Nationalization talk. They would hate to think we are trying so hard to take care of business and in the end get the shaft.."
"What do you think Chief?"
Hull took another Swig of Coffee..... "I really should have ordered a triple...."
Formerly known as LPI Police Chief Hull O'Brien.
Creator of Sgt. V. Price, 207th Precinct out of Chula Vista Station