Isabelle Kaitlynn walked over the bridge, and up to her command deck, situated about a meter above the floor. From there, she had a perfect view of the crew down, busy at their tasks, all of them important to the good functioning of the ship; whether itd be the gunnery crew officer to the comm. Officer redirecting civilian traffic to avoid collision.
The young general possibly the youngest of her rank in the Liberty land army, and now newly appointed as the only general in the Liberty Naval command, went to her command chair. It was a complex machine, with built-in holo projector and screens feeding important data on the ships status, as well as a private long range comm. Channel. Just for her.
She smiled, and sat on it, thinking it was much more comfortable than her office chair on California Minor
The holo projector came to life suddenly, and the 3d face of her father came in.
Bet you love this, eh? he asked.
Absolutely. How you feel? Daughter going in the real warfare for the first time? She pulled out her tongue in a defiant gesture, and the elderly man began to laugh.
Aw, Im so sorry! What have I done, you should have stayed on the land, space is too dangerous for you!
She smirked, and slapped at the holo projection. Her hand went right through it of course, but only provoked more hilarity from her father, a senior navy officer.
Everywhere else on the ship, crewmen were busy setting up the final preparations before the LNS Citadelle de Quebec would make his first few moves. The dreadnaught has been built just like the Missouri, on a three modular hull system, with superior armour work. Only a few more minutes to go before the immense vessel would begin to really live.
But Isabelle didnt had any more orders to give, her captain having taken charge for the moment, and she certainly was confident in the man, Alexander Lavoie, an old comrade of his father.
The two Kaitlynn remained in communication for a few more minutes, chatting on everything before finally the alarm sounded once it was time.
Good bye father! I love you.
Good luck, Isabelle. Im proud of you. I really am. He smiled at her, and the image froze, and then faded away.
Sitting slightly below her, on the smaller captain chair, captain Lavoie rose up, and looked at her with intensity.
General.
Isabelle closed her eyes for a few seconds. There it was, the moment her vessel was finally going to sail for space
She was going to command the largest Canadian-Liberty battle group ever created. She wouldnt fail her people.
When she reopened her eyes, they were shining with determination.
Captain, engine backward two third.
Engine backward, two third!
The ship shuddered, as thrusters began to work. From the view port, they could see the crowd outside in all kind of ships ranging from civilian crafts to military shuttles watching.
Engine full forward! she finally said, rising from her chair as well, an aura of commandment in her way of acting that has inspired so many of her men in past operations.
Engine, full forward!! Alexander repeated.
The LNS Citadelle de Quebec, the newest addition to the Liberty fleet, charged outside the shipyard where it had been built these last months, its freshly painted hull bristling by the sun of New York system.
The crew began to applaud, and the celebration was heard all over the ship. Their ship was finally being given life. The flag of the 106th.
When they were far away enough from the shipyard, the canons were finally rolled on their axis for the first time, the menacing black barrels turning toward the void.
Isabelle smiled. The crowd would now see some real firepower.
Gunnery, bring all canons online and fire 4!
Aye maam! Guns, youve heard the general, fire!
The impressive laser canons of the warship fired 4 loud shots in honour to the first 4 Liberty system colonised, the bang reverberating even inside the ship. The waves of sounds couldnt exactly be heard in space, but they traveled so fast and so strong, even an armoured hull could transmit it to the human ear at that range.
When the last shots were fired, a thin cloud of smoke formed around the guns their intensity having been set at maximal power for the demonstration. The spectators were satisfied; the immense polar bear knew to fight.
LNS Citadelle de Quebec was ready to serve the people of Liberty.
Isabelle smiled at the naval officer who entered her office, and invited him to sit with a small gesture. The man, in his thirty, with very short military cut, looked like right out of a military recruitment poster.
Greetings, general.
Welcome captain. Something that requires my attention?
The man gave her a few documents, the whole sealed with the words CONFIDENTIAL in bright red font.
This concerns Zone-21 and Alaska doesnt it I didnt expected answers so soon.
Me neither. But theyve accepted your request, didnt even delayed it. Either the navy is desperate, or something is going on there and they need as much personnel as they can.
Isabelle nodded slowly, as she passed through the document pages after pages. Of course, being a high ranking member of the Liberty Military, she was one of the few privileged officers and trusted soldiers to know the existence of the Alaska systems. What she heard about this place was indeed, very disturbing and captain Lavoie certainly had reasons to be concerned
A few years ago, she was summoned urgently by the naval command as she was traveling with a division under her supervision of infantry soldiers. Something dreadful had happened, an accident aboard a prison ship they were told. The LSF and Naval authority apparently lost control over one of their top secret facility, and requested support her unit was the nearest land combat force, and they entered Alaska, without her men even knowing this system existed.
She was quickly briefed, in about the 30 minutes it took to reach the Zone 21 area, about the existence of Alaska, St-Mitchell prison and Juno shipyard, and many other secrets usually only told to high ranking naval officers. Most troubling, was her learning about the existence of the Nomads, apparently an alien race that was the greatest menace to humanity yet. Like many other people nowadays, Isabelle did heard of the nomads before but it was only a widespread rumour, some did believe, others didnt, while most low ranking naval officers commented it was a simple lie forged by the Order to excuse terrorist activities.
Well, the nomads did exist.
They discovered prison St-Mitchell attacked by immense glowing creatures, firing plasma like shots at the naval war ships engaging them. The prison station itself was critically damaged, smoke fuming out of everywhere, and oxygen being crystallised upon contacting the void. A real nightmarish scene.
Her soldiers at the time werent informed about the truth of course. The official version they heard was that St-Mitchell was in fact a top secret naval lab that is attempting to create bio weapons and life form capable at surviving in space.
The matter was of course top secret, and none were allowed to spread this even though it was obviously a lie.
Sneaking under the raging naval and nomad vessels, Isabelle and her mens modified Rhino troop transporters docked upon the prison station, and deployed swiftly. Objective: shoot everything that looked like a jelly like mass of purple. Shoot anyone who gets infested by these experimental creatures.
Isabelle shook his head as she remembered all these events. Hopefully no one had to shoot at humans, the nomads couldnt approach that fast against the barrage of assault blaster fire to be of any real threat. Later that day, reinforcement from fleet command annihilated the nomad warships, and her men were ferried out of the Alaska system without problem.
Say, captain Lavoie, have you ever heard of the nomads?
The man nodded once, still standing very straight.
Yes. I was there in Alaska when you and your men were deployed. I was the captain of the cruiser battle group that arrived in reinforcement.
She looked at him, slightly surprised.
Seems I was right betting the problems in Alaska arent resolved at all
Lavoie grinned slightly, showing impressively white and sharp, teeth.
The nomads wont stand against our vessel, my general. And when the cruisers will be ready, we will be feared by these aliens wretches.
Isabelle smiled, and dropped the files on her desk with a smile. Despite holding a higher rank than Lavoie, she was much younger as well, which was a strange situation, considering she was a female about that
Lavoie thought that woman was indeed very exceptional as reports said.
For the moment, why dont you and I find a way to bring the wonderful news to our crew we are going to shoot some aliens without being looked upon as if we smoked too much cardamine?
Lavoie laughed with good heart, and went out of the room,
That, general, is your job, Im just the big ship flyer!
Isabelle shook her head slowly and returned to her paper works.
The Citadelle de Quebec cruised slowly through the Texas system, its powerful fusion nuclear reactor gentle hummings being heard remotely even in the crowded cantina.
The place was dimly lit with a dark blue lightning to simulate night, and there were marines, pilots and officers around, chatting and eating while the cooks worked at maximal capacity to provide food for everyone.
Isabelle walked up to the officers lounge with a large portion of pizza in her plate, getting stares of incredibility from everyone. She finally stopped and sat at the table she shared with captain Alexander Lavoie, who was staring at her with round eyes like all the others.
Goodness, mind to explain what kind of threat you put up to convince the chef at making a pizza a week day general?! Alexander said, as he contemplated his own not-so good looking plate of Synth Food pasta.
Isabelle smirked,
Men loves women with guns, do they? I think the same applies to men with guns.
Ohh I see! Well, general, it seems the chef prefer fat girls with guns, to feed you like this! he declared, laughing. Isabelle choked on the pizza she was about to eat, and looked at him in mock surprise,
How dare you! she said, as she gently slapped the captain, provoking general laughter in the cantina. They both flushed in shame and looked down on the rest of the room, which immediately made the hilarity cease, with some small comments and laughs being passed from one to another.
Alexander caressed slowly his chin as he looked down again upon his plate of pasta, looking thoughtful.
Now, general, I think you are quickly becoming the most exceptional Liberty officer ever, think about it, you are the first female officer to be promoted so young to the rank of general, the first general to be assigned a place in fleet command, the first to command a Canadian battle group which is the first to exist, and now you might just have the most hilarious high ranking officer of the navy title
Isabelle growled with amusement,
Aw cmon, Ill share this with you if thats what you want!
This time it was to Alexander to smirk.
My, cant refuse that can I general!
--
It was now midnight, local hour of the ship. Isabelle was doing her last shift before letting the vessel in the command of captain Lavoie. As usual though, activity was buzzing around in New York system just like planet Manhatten, if one side of the planet was sleeping, the other side was thriving, in the system, half the ships were in sleeping mode while half the others were doing their day work, hence creating the sensation there were never night or day in such a urbanised space.
Isabelle just sat comfortably on her command chair, alone at the top of the bridge. She switched from one channel to another, listening to communication received from various station areas. Then, a long range communication requested to access her channel suddenly. It was identified as a naval unit Southern Alliance fleet, and the red blinking light definitively signalled an emergency.
Her holo projector came up to life, showing the head of a pilot officer.
Madam general, I know it is probably very late aboard your vessel, but there is a matter that requires immediate attention. We have sighted a Corsair warship, cruiser category. Your ship is the nearest around the area, and is needed immediately.
Isabelle nodded once, and after requesting intel on the enemys identification, cut the communication.
Captain Lavoie, I want helm to put the engines at 100% capacity, heading for Zone-21. Tell gunnery crew to be ready for some big action, and tell the Cerberus turrets crewmen to get at their station, we are going to activate these weapons for the first time in live combat it seems. I want a stock of 30 missiles to be ready in 5 minutes. Target is a Corsair cruiser, clear?
Clear, general. As you order.
The bridge was suddenly silent with nervousness. Sure, all of them has been through simulations, some of the crew even lived real combat like captain Lavoie, but most were complete rookies, many recently out of the academy while others never encountered anything larger than a wing of battered rogue fighters.
For herself, General Isabelle Kaitlynn, never had any other experiences than what she lived in simulators and the few combat situation against fighter wings she had.
It was also their first engagement against the Corsairs, a people rumoured to be some of the best pirates of all Sirius. Not many escaped alive against a Corsair apparently, and they recently decided to increase incursion in Liberty space through the top secret Alaska gate.
Just a reason more why her ship was allowed operation in the area.
The mine field was impressive as the first time she went through it. As she remembered correctly, she aligned her ship with the gate some 20K away, and ordered helm to cruise in the large passage. The cruiser came into view immediately, trying to pick off a squadron of the SA fighters.
Keep a good distance, but ready the disruptors just in case! Open fire at will! she ordered, and once said, her crew began yelling orders through their respective area of the ship while others anxiously tracked the situation through radars and scanners. Isabelle found she was sweating slightly. Captain Lavoie, however, looked rather confident and even managed to speak with great calm.
Hes running. Guns, fire 5 disruptors. Gun, disengage, engines, all forward.
He turned to look at Isabelle to ask confirmation, and she nodded.
On within 1.5K range, engage at will, and destroy target. She added. Looking through her viewport, she saw they were indeed definitively winning. The cruisers shielding had collapsed, and flames were beginning to grind metal at some places, alimented by the ships own oxygen.
The final run ended in the destruction of the cruiser as it desperately attempted to run away. A bright explosion, for a few seconds even brighter than a star, replaced where the ship was, and finally, there was nothing left
Theyve hit the engines, and no one had the time to eject from their doomed vessel.
It took a few seconds of consternation, of realisation they just killed a few hundred Corsair pirates in one kill of human lifes. It wasnt something easy to accept, even to soldiers. After all, soldiers were human as well. Remove them humanity, and theyd all just be machines Oh man. They just massacred hundred of humans
Isabelle was ready to anything, even shamefully retreat her dreadnaught if they were in danger, but not this violent destruction they were used to tractor prisoners aboard, hence never really killing anyone ever since the beginning of the operations. Even in her time with the Army as a lowly soldier, the men Isabelle killed could at least escape by one way or another, even defend self appropriately but now that bunch of corsairs were just faced against death itself, having no chance against the immense firepower of the Liberty Dreadnaught.
Captain Lavoie rose slowly from his own command chair, and Isabelle suddenly felt relieved. Their saviour from living a gloomy night it seems.
He cleared his throat, pushed a button so his voice would be transmitted to everyone aboard, and clasped his hands in his back.
Men, today we have destroyed for the first time, an enemy warship. There were no survivors unfortunately. Meaning, we just killed exactly 226 men that were aboard the Corsair cruisers.
He paused a few seconds, the time to let the number sink in their head. 226 often seemed little in a history book, but not on a battlefield.
Men, understand you all have done your duty at defending Liberty and its people from this threat. Know that by disabling permanently this cruiser and its crew, we just saved thousands, if not hundred of thousands of life. That among these hundred of thousands, one might have been, your father, your mother, maybe your son or daughter or even your wife.
He hardened slightly his voice, frowning.
We must not look upon our hands as if they just got stained by blood. No, our hands will forever stay clean because we are the defender of freedom and security, because we are Liberty, and because we, are the right side.
If there is one thing you must not be ashamed today, it is certainly this victory we just achieved. By doing what we had to do, we are leaving, not death in our path, but peace and security to our nation, remember this! Remember, that what you are doing is honourable. What you are doing, is right.
He sat down, and Isabelle felt like a great amount of responsibility just left her shoulder. Alexander turned to look at her, smiling weakly as if asking if he did well. She smiled back, and offered him a nod. The captain had been excellent indeed.
Somewhere completely in the front section of the bridge, a young officer began to applaud, alone.
He was quickly followed by those around him, and within a few minutes, applauses were being heard all over the ship, the comm. Channel Alexander had opened still active.
--
Isabelle sat for a long time alone on her bed, caressing the soft texture of her skin, wondering. Lavoie was right of course, what they did was right. But just to what extent, right was going to?
She thought of the nomads. Should they really begin an extermination war just like, in the history book, where the Coalition began their long war with the Alliance?
But now, it wasnt only about human against human. Soon, her crew will learn about this.
And it will turn into a human vs alien war.
Who were the humans to destroy a whole race?
Who were they?
Gradually, Isabelle has passed his personnel through multiple briefing about Zone 21. She decided against telling them what was in Alaska, referring it as an ultra secret Liberty military system. And even though they did have the access code to enter it, Isabelle thought her crew wasnt fully ready yet even though most did many years in the service of Liberty. She had to be sure. Up to now, she wasnt deceived, her crew learned quickly, they disrupted many pirate operations and even managed to down a few pirate crafts.
After one long briefing, captain Lavoie entered in the room, with a cup of coffee.
Ah, good, how nice to have a captain caring for his general. Im exhausted. She mumbled, sitting heavily on the table in front of her.
Hey hey, who said this was for the general? He smirked, before adding, Joke of course. There you go.
He handed over the steaming cup, and sat down on one of the chair.
Who were you briefing? Pilots?
No. Worse, the rookies.
Oh dear. They werent too excited I hope.
No, they were over excited. And some trying to make their smart ass, but you know what it is when you just get enlisted in a fighter squad, you get arrogant and think you are the best in the world, and land soldiers are just, inferior
Hey hey, am I listening to a rant from a land army officer or a naval officer? Lavoie said, smiling.
Both, really. Hows doing lieutenant ONeil?
Oh hes fine. For the moment I am letting him handle the easy do-nothing situations, and some maintenance shifts. After that, I want to try him in a real combat situation.
Good. What about the squadrons of captain Marcus and captain Harris? They are getting into shape?
Sure they do. I make them fly escort alternatively to now, theyve lost no men in any of our engagement, but you must admit, weve always been numerically superior up to now.
Isabelle nodded, satisfied by the improvement made. Captain Lavoie was indeed an excellent officer, that knew how to run a ship.
But ultimately, the hard decisions were hers to make.
Lavoie when you talked to the men after the cruisers incident
Yes?
Did you really thought about what you said?
Of course.
She didnt responded anything, and stayed thoughtful for a few minutes, before going back with the captain to the bridge.
--
It was the first time she actually piloted a ship. But to add to the experience, she wasnt piloting a fighter, she was piloting a dreadnaught!
Isabelle thought it would be a good idea that Lavoie taught him how to use the manual control of the ship. It was a difficult task, as the ship was so immense, it took very complexe coordination of strafing thrusters and main engine to manoeuvre correctly. Yet, the pilot simply moved around with a single stick and two pedals funnily, these things were available as well from her own command chair, and not only from the captains one.
Good, good, now just strafe down, smoothly. Use the Frontal Positioning Satellite to check your position
Isabelle flickered one of the holo projector on, and the image showed the front of the vessel, slowly approaching one of the mooring point of planet Manhatten.
What should be the optimal approach speed for this?
Set it to 5, and stop when its about to touch the mooring point. The rest of the operation will be made by a computer controlled tractor beam, dont worry.
She did as Lavoie said, and with a last shudder of the engine, they docked on the mooring fixture.
Excellent work, general. You are learning very quick for a first time pilot!
Yes I guess it was rather fast.
She smiled to him, proud of herself. Next time though, Id like to move it by myself in combat. You told me there were great strategies to be used by using the manual drive, and I want to be able to do so.
Lavoie nodded, seeming to understand her point. Yes of course she was right, the best way to fight an enemy, was to control your ship by yourself and try to give your men the best angle to kill an enemy, not some computer controlled thrusters.
Lavoie thought the woman was quite ambitious indeed. She was going to make a good leader for them.
But first, he needed to brief his part of the crew as well He sighed as he looked at the immense list of persons serving aboard the ship.
Hopefully, general Kaitlynn did most of the work he thought, smiling.
Captain Johnatan Marcus piloted with a confident hand his Avenger fighter. He looked on his radar, and saw with satisfaction his whole squad members made the manoeuvre without much difficulty.
"5, more power to the engine. 2, get in line you are going upward. Show these rookies aboard the dread who's the flyers around."
"5 to leader, copy."
"2 to leader, let's give'em a show!"
Marcus cracked a smile - something he didn't do often obviously.
"Cut the useless chatter 2. Alright people, triple diamond parade formation! I lead group 1, 4 lead group 2 and 7 lead group 3. Go!"
A serie of ackowledgement followed as the other Avenger crafts of his squadron formed to each group leader with precise manoeuvring - well, some weren't that sure with their stick, but it didn't mattered. It would come with time...
"Right, White Wolf squadron, engage full cruise speed and do a fly by over the Citadelle. Give the general some show."
He felt his pilots getting nervous. The diamond formation was rather hard to perform, especially because of the extreme proximity of each crafts to another, plus the fact they needed to strafe at exact good timing to rotate position - creating the illusion of each diamonds turning on their own axis while the 3 diamonds themselves turned on a larger axis!
Marcus himself wasn't very used to this, but thought of himself as good enough to do it without colliding with the others. However, it all depended on his own pilots... If they collided, they'd become the laughing stock of the battle group for the following months...
But, ah! They needed something fancy now, practice was fine but he felt it was the time the men learned to do something harder...
--
1st Lieutnant James Kressman, White Wolf 2, was flying with near as much confidence as his leader. Being the second in command of the squad, he liked to consider himself an excellent pilot, which was rather true. His kill list was already quite active, with impressive numbers of pirate crafts... yet, the man had been transfered from squadron to squadron for all kind of problem, passing from disordely conducts to alcoholism...
The good thing, he thought, was that this last transfer wasn't caused by any of his mistakes, but actually a commendation! - well, he thought with a bit more realism, maybe it was just his previous captain trying to get rid of a loud mouth, but neitherless!
He pushed over the rudder pedals gently as they began to strafe, approaching dangerously the bridge of the Citadelle... he didn't really noticed, but sweat began to run over his face as the hull of the large vessel came in quicker than ever... damn, the captain was crazy, they were going to hit! was he not so concentrated in flying, he could now even see the men looking at them from the viewport...
--
Captain Lavoie, alone on the upper deck to supervise the ship, suddenly turned his chair around, looking through one of the viewport of the circular room. A normal person would usually have either gasped like an idiot in surprise, or ran away in panick, but Lavoie simply frowned as he saw the 12 Avenger fighters coming in, way too fast.
"Lieutnant O'Neil, what ARE the White Wolves doing?"
The young man didn't turned to look at him, and seemed concentrated on his monitor. He seemed quite anxious as well.
"Mar.. I mean, captain Marcus... seems to be doing the diamond parade formation, sir."
"And they want to fly by past the bridge?"
"Y... yes sir, seems so." O'Neil finally lifted his head to look at him. The young fleet lieutnant seemed overtly confused. Lavoie saw with a certain amusement the man fighting back the instinctive question "isn't that dangerous?".
"Right. Well, crew, look all you want, we aren't in combat situation. Still... O'Neil, get ready to activate shield only if necesary. I don't want to upset Marcus out there..."
The young lieutnant sighed in relief as he put his hand over a command that activated emergency shielding for that part of the vessel.
--
The 12 crafts were suddenly only at 1 metre from the Citadelle, when Marcus suddenly yelled "strage UP!"
He saw some of the crafts didn't lifted upward with him - that was, very bad...
--
James pulled up, and saw that at the sudden order of the captain, Wolf 3 panicked and made the move slightly too late - damned the incompetent!
The thing was, Wolf 3 only had a few seconds to live as it approached on a dangerous vector toward the bridge, menacing to... oh dear, the bridge's shield weren't even on! What were they thinking, pleasing the captain?!
--
Lavoie frowned a bit more as he saw one of the Avenger lifting a bit too late - it took a trained officer to notice the slight variation. For the moment, his crew were gasping, but not because of the pilot's mistake, more because of the show of force...
about to turn in disaster if nothing hapenned.
"Lieutnant O'Neil..."
--
"Wolf 3 you IDIOT!!" James yelled over the comm channel, as he frantically punched codes over his craft's commands. The terrified pilot didn't answered an continued his futile thrust upward...
Then, a bright blue beam appeared as Wolf 2 and Wolf 3 began linked by the first's tractor beam. James felt the ship suddenly heavier, pulled down slightly as Wolf 3's acceleration pulled down on him. But now Wolf 3 was being pulled up as well by the tractor...
--
Marcus sighed with relief as he switched his camera view to back perspective, and saw Wolf 3 passing barely a few inches over one of the ship's viewport...
Damned, he didn't wanted to be in that bridge... poor crewmen, he thought, with a certain amusement in his mind.
"Yeeehaaaa!!" Wolf 2 yelled over the com, doing a barrel roll over it's own axis as it released Wolf 3 from the tractor beam.
"Wolf 3, you okay out there?" Marcus asked instead, ignoring the over excited Wolf 2.
"Y... yeah, I'm fine. All thanks goes to 2 though. I wouldn't have made it without him."
"Aww, you are going to make me cry 3. Plain normal from your superior to save your butt from time to time!"
Marcus shook his head. What an arrogant man, that James...
"2?"
"Yeah boss?"
"Kitchen work tonight. For calling me boss instead of leader."
"Wh-!!"
Marcus smiled for the second time of the day.
---
"I tell you, they are completely insane general!"
Isabelle smiled as she listened to captain Lavoie's report, while trying to make some semblance of order in her documents spread all over her desk.
"Well, Marcus got what he wanted anyhow: the crew's admiration. Sounds like it's the only subject of conversation for the following days, eh?" She replied, as she found with some surprise an old paper work dating back from her first day in the Liberty land Army.
"Sure he did, now everyone is asking to have a team of mental medic aboard!"
She laughed with good heart as she dismissed the antic paper aside, and sat down heavily on her chair, abandonning the idea to put order for the night.
"Well, I can already take the bet lieutnant O'Neil is running everywhere around the ship screaming their own fighter squad are being trained as kamikaze..."
Lavoie smiled at the comment. Young O'Neil did indeed took everything with a bit too much paranoia. Briefing the young man on the nomad for instance, was a real nightmare...
It took both Lavoie and Isabelle nearly 2 complete hours of time to explain to the man the nomads weren't in control of Liberty, that they weren't aliens, and the other houses weren't already converted into legion of alien slave fighters...
Isabelle sighed, and looked with a sad smile at her desk.
"You never had that much work as a cruiser captain huh?"
"Oh general, I trust you if you say I don't want your position, I really do!" he said with humor as he passed his hand through his short hairs. He approached one of the chair of the room, and looked at Isabelle, who nodded. He sat down, and took some seriousness back.
"General, our squads are nearly ready now. People need us there now."
"Why now? Why already?" Isabelle asked, surprised.
"You don't know? Ah... yeah forgot to give you a copy of the transmission. We recently were under attack by nomad forces again."
Isabelle remained silent, and looked down, looking through her desk, concentrated on the captain's words.
"We managed to keep the thing silent. But it is obvious now. The existing forces in Alaska aren't enough anymore to keep the nomads in... even if the facilities in there still works correctly, it is obvious we will be needed soon."
"As we suspected, isn't it..."
"Sadly, I must agree general. The situation is going to escalade to critical very soon."
They discussed until late in the morning, finally ending with a potent strategy.
They didn't knew they were listened...
Lieutnant O'Neil was a very busy man. Still, he was an excellent manager, handling the multiple tasks aboard the warship with nearly as much efficiency as his superior, captain Lavoie. He could handle all the comm traffic, redirecting civilian convoy, while directing coordinate for the navigator, checking engine compensation status, writting a report on fuel consomation, etc.
Yes, he was very competent, but he also knew he was worthless in combat. O'Neil knew his real place was probably director in a large corporation, or any high ranking businessman, or, a banker - who knew! But his friends really just had to pull him in that hell hole after they graduated (damn you, James Kressman!), and now, well he was certainly in a job that payed a lot. He actually even liked it to boss the ensigns around.
But he felt like pissing in his pants everytime he saw some rogue ship on long sensor scan!
And just now, there was something like, a couple of squadrons of Rogue and Outcast crafts, just waiting for them. Worse, there were bombers in the menacing formation.
Alarms were blaring loud, as the crewmen busily went to their positions - he saw with relief captain Lavoie and the (gorgeous!) young general Kaitlynn arriving, running down from a private lift.
"Situation!" the captain yelled, as he reached his command chair.
"Very bad sir, we have about 5 whole squadrons of fighters, ranging from dagger type to sabre type. They are all using outcast crafts. There's 2 squadrons of bombers, though they are mostly older Bargest type. A few Falcata are sighted though."
The man who answered was an ensign at the sensor, and he looked definitevely afraid.
O'Neil couldn't deny he was - in fact, only the high rankers still looked confident, but he could only guess general Kaitlynn and captain Lavoie's indestructible wall of courage was real...
--
The pilots were running to their fighter crafts - James was already jumping in the open cockpit of his Avenger though. He began punching in command codes, and the twin engines started as he saw - with satisfaction, his leader only beginning to climb in his own craft.
"2 to leader, ready to roll whenever ready!"
Marcus shook his head as he glanced toward James' Avenger malevolently, before clicking his own comm.
"2, wants some more kitchen duty tonight?"
On the other side of the hangar, White Blizzard squad members, led by captain Harris, was getting ready as well. These men were using an older generation of Guardian fighters, nonetheless, the pilots were older than those of White Wolf, and knew how to handle their craft.
Common men, we have a date with the Rogues outside! Harris yelled over comm channel as he started the engines.
White Storm squadron, composed of Liberator interceptors, was getting ready as well. The small crafts were fast and agile, but lacked the firepower of their larger cousin. Commander Tremblay was by far, the best pilot of the fighter wing aboard the Citadelle de Quebec, and his men were extremely well disciplined. If a certain comradeship existed between cheerful Blizzard and show off Wolf, Storm was simply left alone, and looked upon as the untouchable elite.
Report in, men. Tremblay said on channel, his baritone voice full of authority.
The man reported in according to their numerical order, and all said the same things.
Control, we are ready to go.
All the ships in the hangar turned on their thrusters toward the exit the gate began to slide open slowly
Isabelle looked at the dozen of information projection his holo projectors were showing. She tried to analyse all the formations the enemies were taking, but after a few seconds, decided it was plain useless. Fighter crafts were moving much faster than human beings could it wasnt like leading a land army!
She took a deep breath and reflected on how to lead the assault. She was certainly overwhelmed by the numbers. She only had 3 squadrons of fighters, one elite, and another veteran while the other one was decent. And a fourth training squadron, but she wasnt letting them in the fight
But of course, her side had the advantage of the dreadnaught. But they had to act fast.
Someone down in the deck yelled Fighters deployed!
Indeed, the three squadrons were now deployed in a screen in front of the Citadelle, ready to intercept any incoming torpedoes standard procedure.
She had to think something fast
Missile, get ready. Fire volleys in the middle of their formations. Fighter ops, I want the squadrons to pick them off immediately after the enemy scatter. Captain Lavoie, you think you can synchronize this?
Certainly general. Men, lets do it.
The deck was immediately active like it never had been, men running from one data terminal to another, calculating, getting information, yelling across communication to inform the fighters
Well, that looked a bit more like the Liberty military force she always known, Isabelle thought, smiling.
ONeil turned his head around, unsure what was going on. All he knew was that the enemy was coming in, and very soon they were going to be within firing range. Now that the two high ranking officers have taken the relay, he didnt know what to do anymore
He looked around at consoles, pretending to do something anything to ease that nervous feeling out of him!
Ah yes! The engine! He should be checking the engines, just in case they overloaded like last time
For once, James stayed shut up, at the satisfaction of Marcus. But, Marcus himself really had nothing else to say. The enemy facing them was way too numerous it was suicidary
Were they not in that ridiculous Badland field, they could have called for help, but the communication antenna couldnt transmit in such intense ionic activities emitted by the strange rocks.
He hoped, whatever the decision of the general was for them to go in there, it better be good
Harris tried to keep his mens moral from dropping like his was at the moment. Damn, as good as they were, this could very well be their last fight: all the conditions to lose, from the asteroid field the enemy knew better than you to the fact you were outnumbered twice their number
Whatever!
Cheer up guys, the mechanics are going to be mad at us for the number of kills, but the trick is just stay alive to see their face!
There were some timid laughters well it was that much at least
He heard loud bangs through his helmet, and shortly after saw multiple missiles being shot from the Citadelle. Good, that was the signal
The heavy projectile went straight for the middle of the enemy formations, but their fighters ducked with agility.
Harris saw at the same moment two of the Storm squad pilots thrusting forward and immediately picking off a lone sabre all by themselves with missiles. Damn, these guys were good
Cmon guys, charge!! We are showing these scums what Liberty Canadians are made of!!
A chorus of battle cry went off in the battle channel as the suddenly regained enthusiasm of the White Blizzard squad came back. The heavily armed Guardian fighters began unloading their payload of torpedoes against the enemy, sometime picking off two fighters at a time
behind him, Commander Tremblay heard the rumble of the Citadelles heavy guns pouring incredible amount of energy into deadly lance of destruction, melting and shredding hull it was a beautiful spectacle to see. Well, in fact, not many liked this kind of sight, but then again, most people thought of him as special. It was a kind word.
For a man of his built, none would have thought him capable of such softness he handled the control sticks with a nearly loving caress, the Liberators manoeuvrability being extremely sensible. He saw an opportunity and fired exactly 3, well calculated shots, right at a Sabre about to launch a torpedo a torpedo which destroyed completely the nose of the ship, and ripped apart the lower engines pylons.
That thing wasnt going to fly anytime soon, Tremblay thought, smiling darkly.
White Wolf 2 was having trouble for the first time in his life (that was minus the kitchen duties hes had by the hundreds in his military career). Two interceptors were on him, and he didnt knew how to kill these annoying flies!
Damn they are only FLIES and I cant I cant SWAT them!
Shut up 2, Im coming in
Marcuss craft suddenly came in, and two of its gun picked off one of the interceptors engine, causing it to crash against an asteroid.
Hey thanks leader Ill have to even that someday!
Talk LATER, 2, shoot to kill, not play!
White Wolf 3, lieutenant Elian Delacour, smirked silently at the brief chatter between leader and 2. James was such a fu-
She lifted suddenly the control sticks, slightly too late, and could only remembering that crazy formation run Marcus made them do over the Citadelle One of the asteroids came in, way too close. These black things were nearly invisible in the dark nebula of dark matter
Thinking fast, she quickly opened fire on the rock, blasting away enough of it to pass over without trouble.
Damn that was close close!!
She nearly crashed over an enemy Falcata bomber!
--
Isabelle was pacing the bridge quickly, looking frequently at the diverse projections. The missile trick worked for the first few minutes of the fight, but now it was about risking to lose her own men at doing this
And, she swore they werent going to die without even knowing why they were here at all!
But something kept tickling her thoughts.
Aboard her ship, someone was a traitor.
Someone sold them out.
A whole enemy squadron was now destroyed, but they were having losses on their side as well; 3 of the Wolf were disabled, two were still alive in their escape pod while the thirds situation was unknown, the ship was apparently lingering in space, engine completely dead, along with communication. Isabelle couldnt risk sending a rescue freighter outside, and they were too out of range to tractor their pods in safely
Tension was rising quickly.
Captain Lavoie?
Yes general?
I might have a solution tell me if its viable at all.
A few minutes later, the dreadnaughts heavy guns stopped tracking the enemy fighters
--
All fighter, retreat toward the Citadelle, NOW!
The command came in suddenly, but nobody asked questions. They were quickly getting exhausted, fighting an opponent much more numerous with crafts superior to many of their own ships. James certainly didnt mind it the only harm he felt was in his ego.
But his good sense told him this retreat would at least save his life
Still, it wasnt done yet. All the Liberty crafts began to converge toward the Citadelle, but strangely, the guns werent firing only a few missiles shot from time to time, only occasionally picking off an enemy.
Leader, what the hell are they doing aboard?
2, I have no idea, why dont you just shut it while we try to save
There was a loud explosion, as Marcus Avenger was hid by a torpedo from a Sabre pursuing him. Looking by his view port though, James was relieved to see it only caused the shielding systems to fail
What the-
James was hit as well, two well placed rockets that has stroked right at his engines. Now, there was something to panic about
Leader Im losing speed!
--
The outcast pilot grinned with satisfaction as he saw his two rockets hitting right on target, destroying the engine pods of the Liberty Avenger. Soon, that craft would be nothing but wreckage
He pushed slightly on the cardamine pedal to give himself a little treat. Ah, todays hunt was going to be fun. Theyve lost some of their Rogue pets, but now they were in for maybe a whole battle group
His thought ended as his ship exploded under a shower of black rocks.
--
By all the presidents of Liberty, but what the hell is going on! James heard one of the White Blizzard pilot yelling over channel. The man didnt seem afraid he actually seemed enthusiastic!
James tried to look behind him, trying to see what was going on only to see a Falcata bomber flying past him, pierced with multiple impacts from asteroids?
Then he understood, as he looked back toward the Citadelle. The ship was targeting the asteroids, and making them blow up using electrically charged bolts! The already charged asteroids, under the powerful attack of electricity, implodes, causing pieces to fly at sonic speed through anything: this did include shielding system, titanium reinforced steel hulling and of course human flesh.
James smirked. He only hoped the gunners were bright enough to not hit one too close to him. But it sounded like, they were winning this round after all. Even if most of the kills were due to the big ship.
--
Tremblay looked at the destruction of the enemy squadrons with a thin smile. The Bad Lands was suddenly lit with tiny explosions from everywhere, electricity bolts striking randomly from one rock to another, sometime fatally destroying a craft. Good thing the gunners were bright enough to not hit any of their own pilots
Thats it pilots. Return to hangar. The battles over.
--
Impressive use of tactical terrain, general I must admit, Ive never thought about such things
Isabelle smiled at the captain, and showed the unusual dark green insignia over her naval uniform,
On the land, youve got to improvise a lot years ago we had to do something very similar in a funny ionised magnetic mine field that protected a Xenos base on Houston. One of the boy changed his laser beam to something like that worked perfectly well.
Well, their first encounter was over and it wasnt too bad. Bombers never managed to get in range, all her pilots survived though one had serious injuries nothing impossible to cure though, she was assured. Only problem was that they needed a few replacement crafts 5 to be exact.
Lavoie we have a traitor.
I know, general. Should we postpone operation Recon Prime? We could go through
No if we asked for investigators, or waited, our man will disappear. Hes good, very good. Weve briefed everyone aboard the ship and yet he managed to pass without raising suspicion cant get him that way.
Lavoie stayed silent for a while, then
This is going to be a tough assignment for the men. Especially with a risk of backstab.
I know. Its not even a risk. Its a certainty. Wed just have to survive as we always did, dont we?
Lavoie was slightly confused that Isabelle managed to smile even in such critical situation
Youd think we are in hell James thought, looking outside in the Badland from his dormitorys view port. The long, vertical black pieces of rock were hidden in some dark nebula, where electric storm happened often. He knew for one thing, the engineering team of the Citadelle had to be rushed from one point to another of the large warship everyday as small sections to fix overloaded electronic components.
At least, everything was calm now. 2 days passed since the major engagement against the Rogue-Outcast forces, which turned out to be a glorious victory for Liberty. Everyone thought after this, the general would lead them home but no. They were cruising deeper and deeper within the field, toward places no one ever went to for as far as they could remember. James easily suspected even the LPI never dared to go this far within the pirate controlled field. Despite Libertys best effort, it was impossible for even the navy to take over the place without immense human life loss. Asteroids and electric storm protected the place too well.
So why general Kaitlynn was leading them in there?
Could it be the navy decided to secretly mobilise a certain number of their capital vessels to take out the fabled (but real) Buffalo base? Most unlikely. At the rate the dreadnaught was going, the Rogues already knew they were there and a few days later theyd be swarmed with a small army of bomber and gunboats Then, even Kaitlynns brilliant tactic wont be enough to save them from destruction.
He hoped the girl knew what she was doing
Outside, the grim looking asteroids seemed to look at him with invisible eyes, promising terrible death.
--
Isabelle was as usual, sitting on her command chair, alone over everyone. Everyone was rather silent aboard, the only chatter on the deck were status report from the different section of the ship. It was quite understandable. Her crew was operating under heavy stress. Despite no official announcement of any kind of mission in fact, officially, this was classified as a standard patrol, everyone knew they were flying deep in enemy territory. That no one attacked them since 2 days was very suspicious.
At least, the least experimented crewmen thought so.
That was quite the opposite in fact. She knew for a fact the Liberty rogues were using concealed scanner placed at strategic positions all over the asteroid, watching the Citadelles every movements. These small surveillance machines were only recently discovered by a LPI investigation, and were in themselves wonderful pieces of technology. Since the dark nebula of the Badland let nearly no light go through it, these machines needed to rely on a different source of energy: that was ironically, electricity itself, in its purest form. Extremely high quality receptors would catch the bolt of energy that were often passing from one asteroid to another, and stockpile it in its battery, that powered a complete sensory package, high quality holocam, a transmitter and a rudimentary shielding system that prevented accidental laser fire or electric storm to damage the system. Quite brilliant.
And certainly not coming from any Liberty rogue member. Again, the Outcasts were probably to blame on this matter.
On the other hand, Isabelle was defending herself in her own way. Standard procedure would have requested her to deploy at least one squadron of fighter to serve as scout units, flying in spread out formation in front of the capital vessel in order to provide advanced security. And in a dangerous space such as the Badlands, any commander would immediately deploy its entire available fighter unit.
Well, she had to sacrifice this for tactical advantage better the enemy doesnt know how many fighter unit she truly has.
And hope the enemy would underestimate her.
The Citadelle was after all retrofitted to carry much more than 2 fighter squadrons.
--
Lavoie was having trouble working normally, as pretty much everyone else. He already managed to lose himself in the corridors of the Citadelle twice today while he was supposed to know this ship by heart.
At least, there werent any bad news for the moment.
The automated door in front of him slid open, and he entered the circular deck.
Captain on the deck!
He nodded once. If moral was quite low at this point, discipline was quite good as everyone snapped to attention with military precision.
Isabelle turned her head from her own holo projector and smiled at him, inviting him to come up.
Good day captain. How are things going?
Rather fine. Long range sensor scan reveals no enemies on radar. They are either going on their own business or run away as soon as we come too near them. We should be coming to destination in say, 4 standard hours at this rate. And according to intelligence, we are probably leaving the general direction toward Buffalo. The number of sensors seem to be diminishing.
That is good news. Hopefully they will ignore us have you managed to transmit anything to West Point?
Nope. Too many interferences in the field at this moment.
Ah
The young general leaned back against her chair, seemingly thoughtful.
Well, it wasnt that much of a problem. It was high command that commissioned them for this specific mission after all. But both Isabelle and himself knew it wasnt for a mere routine maintenance call they wanted to call.
She rose up, and stretched herself before locking her terminal.
I think we need to talk. Get lieutenant ONeil on duty for a few minutes would you? Ill be in my room.
--
You checked the room for surprises?
Hey, I used to be LLA general. Show some respect! Isabelle said, a small smirk on her face as she sat down at her work desk.
Lavoie took a chair and looked around. He came many time in this room, but never as an unofficial. He never noticed how the place was so personalised with Kaitlynns mind. There were holo-posters of her their homeworld on many walls An ancient-looking flag that was apparently the one used during the Alliances Canadian division during their final stand on Pluto plus many more items that showed the young generals interest to culture and history.
Highly in contrast, was the feminine decorations all around; walls were all painted in a different tone of blue, he noticed among the well ordered holo-posters of California Minor a few from libertonian and bretonian music band (Lavoie was slightly shocked the general listened to this or that style)
Slightly surprising eh? she said, smiling pleasantly. Military uniforms doesnt even seems to fit in here. She added, as she opened her computer.
He looked back at Isabelle, slightly embarrassed. Looking around the room was like looking in the personal life of the woman. He turned back to the real matter at hand,
Any idea on our traitor?
None to capture. But some about his identity.
Explain?
Isabelle pushed a few buttons over the computers keypad, and turned the screen toward him. It showed a man with strange eyes that seemed to emit light.
A nomad?
Yes. In fact, it is one of the most recent picture LSF managed to get over a Wild, one of those nomad infested Rheinlander.
Lavoie was impressed. LSF really had long arms, to go as deep as Rheinland, risking the rage of the Gottkanzler
But, when it came to nomad, normal diplomacy was null. This was about the survival of mankind.
So you suspect we have a nomad infested agent aboard. But how is that possible? None of us were in contact with nomads
Isabelle shook her head,
No. I was, remember I was on St Mitchell a few years ago, trying to save the station. With the help of a whole division of my own soldiers, most of them are indeed serving aboard.
They looked at each other, right in the eyes. That was very bad news.
If it is one of them
We are in for big trouble., Isabelle agreed.
--
At the same time, James, bored to death by reading some book about Pittsburgh mining operations, threw it off on the bed. Call it intuition, instinct, whatever. A good pilot always lived on this feel.
Something not right was going to happen very so-
The ship shook violently, as he saw through his viewport the distinctive reddish signature trail from a heavy pirate laser canon.
Like the other pilots in the dormitory, he made a dash for the hangar, causing confusion as the door wouldnt allow more than one person to pass at the same time.
Over the curses and mutters from the pilots, another laser splashed over the hull with intensity. How come they were under attack without radar noticing them?!