1st Class Servicewomen Nina Collins swung her legs out of the stasis pod. Rubbing her eyes slightly the tall mechanic yawned slightly a compulsion she didn't quite understand given that she should have been sleeping in that pod for a few days. As she grabbed her fatigues she looked over back to the other pods. Most of the other hatches were slowly creaking open and then she noticed that Lieutenant Commander Aseldone's was among them.
It was standard operation procedure that the CO of any military vessel, wake up a few hours early to make sure the rest of the thawing process went smoothly. But if the Commander was just being thawed out himself, than who unsealed the hatches.
"What in the hell is that crazy marine pulling?" Servicemen Walton shouted as he himself donned the standard enlisted soldier uniform. Nina ignored the remark and tried to think over the possibilities for thawing before schedule. Surely the marine had a good reason but if they didn't maintain their exact route than their patrol would be altered and possibly even cause a gap in an already thin security line. Of course she'd find no answers down here. Finished well before even the last crewmember awoke Nina headed up for the access stairway that would take her directly to the command center and hopefully some answers.
The service chief had always been a sort of enigma to the Osiris crew. The marine had been dropped on them so to speak on their last landing with Arcturus but no one save possibly the commander knew why he had been assigned to them. Scuttlebutt abound as it always was the rumors ranged from a military experiment gone wrong which facilitated the lack of going into cold sleep, all the way to him being a complete lune and the marines didn't have anywhere else to put him except a scouting and reconnaissance ship. But he seemed normal enough to Nina minus the fact that he had managed to already complete a series of task usually spread out through at least four individuals.
Out the small rectangular viewport a group of planets stared back at her calm visage. The main monitor displayed their location as being in the Farinata system in the Hades Gamma cluster, part of their regular patrol route but just a little past their usual exit vector to the next mass relay. She sat down at her main console and logged in she turned to the chief.
"Bit of an extravagant way to get some company isn't it chief?" She asked going through a system check to make sure nothing aboard had caused the thaw. But all systems responded back within normal parameters and so she brought up the ships telemetry screen. Before she got so far a small beep issued from her console and a new message crossed her screen. The blood almost drained from her face when she saw the report. The Osiris had seen its share of burnt down and raided colonies but this put all those out of the scope. An alliance battle group in critical condition operating in the very system they had just entered. 'What was that jarhead thinking?' She thought as she loaded the basic heat monitoring program to make sure she did her part no matter what the circumstances. Somewhere behind her she finaly got a reply.
"It's our job to monitor Alliance territory and make sure that high command is informed about any threats to security at all times no matter the cost. A destroyed battle group ranks pretty high on my chart Collins." The marine's tone wasn't harsh but it wasn't all that friendly either. Nina wondered just how tough he'd be when the commander arrived to find out why the taxpayers would have to pay a whole load of credits because one of the alliance scouting vessels had pulled off its patrol to go gala banding into most likely hostile territory.
Within a few seconds her thoughts came to realization as Aseldone arrived on the command deck. "Chief Fields I demand to know just what you think your doing." The grizzled commander had seen his far share of action while serving out in the Skyllian Verge and had found reconnaissance roles as a good way to continue service but not throw him right back into the fire. The marine slowly exited the main command chair and strengthened up. Like most marines Nina had seen you wouldn't want to be caught in a bar fight anywhere near him, but on your side you could feel that he would do his job without excuse.
"The com relay picked up a distress call from one of our battle groups operating in the cluster. The message doesn't paint a good picture for their ships commander, I took it upon myself to investigate." The commander and Walton slowly moved toward James though no one could see any angered intent on either of them. James knew how to handle himself but assaulting an alliance officer didn't really put you high on the redeemed list.
"This is my ship marine, not yours! I'm the only one who says where she goes and what she does, not some washed up Service Chief like you." Even Nina could feel the sting in his words but it hardly seemed to faze Fields.
"We have a duty to the alliance to make sure nothing passes our security. I'm just following orders." James retorted wishing he had thought enough to bring his pistol. No, he'd no more make sure he got the ship to the Tranquil then solidify that he was unfit even for such a mundane task as serving on a scout vessel. But that thought didn't comfort him one bit when he saw Walton tighten the grip on his stun baton.
"Yes following orders is important and I'll trust you to continue that." Aseldone's reply was cold and commanding as he continued. "Servicemen Walton take the chief back to the lower decks find somewhere out of the way and restrain him, if he persists use…" his last line didn't finish as his eyes slowly registered something. Almost at once all the other crew members found the same alluring sight. Slowly turning around James stared out the main view port. They had found the Tranquil.