1: Sailor's Warning
The shrill of the alarm in her bedroom blended in with the klaxon of the Orion in her dreams as Jaelyn strapped herself into the navigations station, her amber eyes darting about the bridge looking for a familiar face in the hurried bustle of officers and crew. Her heart beat rapidly as ship creaked, hearing the docking anchors begin to detach from the vessel. She had only just graduated from the officers academy days ago, and now with the news of the Drej suddenly on a warpath in their system with little warning and reason, she was assigned to the ship and requested for immediate departure. She didn't see any familiar faces aboard the bridge to anchor to, just worried and frantic faces as everyone prepped the ship for launch as the launch bays ahead rumbled to life. The lens immediately polarized as the sun's warm rays poured in so that the morning light didn't impede with operations, but the crew stopped their frantic ready checks and glanced out the window towards the fiery star anyway, Jaelyn included. How could one sight seen day in and out to most mesmerize so many in this important hour. Maybe everyone knew deep down that this could be the last sunrise they ever witnessed.
The bridge doors pulled apart with a mechanized click, the computer's AI cutting through the thick silence in the room "Captain on deck." the male voice rang. Everyone in the room stood at attention, raising their heads up and facing the arrival of their captain, an aged but stocky man named Elijah Kennard. His faded blue eyes glared around the room to each man and woman, then out the window to the morning light. He huffed "Back to your damn positions. I see one more person look out that window for more than five seconds that shouldn't be, I'll make the first shot fired at the Drej is a jettisoned locker with your ass inside it." he barked as he made his way to the captain's chair, his second and third-in-command filing into the room as the people turned back to their stations. Jaelyn flinched as the klaxon got noticibly louder and louder, her focus on the panel fading before her as she tapped in coordinates. Frustrated as the numbers and letters began to jumble and the echo of the alarm echoed through her head, she balled her hand into a fist and brought her hand down.
The alarm clock silenced as the woman stirred between bedsheets, pushing her lean body up in a sitting position as she brushed her chestnut hair out of her face. She glanced to the side of the queen sized matress Carson used to sleep upon, still empty as the day he left it. Her mind wandered to what he was doing out there in the stars, hoping that he was out there making a difference, but she knew there wasn't much to do in his stationed quadrant. Being the director of the intellegence division of the United Colonies had its perks, like being able to keep up to date on her husband's vessel without needing to hear it from his lips, or from the ocassional reports sent to her offices. The window shades automatically began to part as it did every morning in part of a failsafe just in case the alarm failed to do its job, the soft red morning light peeking over distant mountain tops and adding more coloring the azure sky, casting the darkness of the room away. Jaelyn smirked to herself and shoved the bedding aside "Alright, alright...I'm up."
After breakfast she began to prepare for the busy work day ahead, picking out a proper suit to wear for today's ceremonies. The news program on the television began to perk her interest as she was about to duck into the bathroom to change, her momentum stopped and she leaned out to view the program briefly. Senator Mason Parnell had been the feature of the story, and the embezzlement scheme he had been working on for the past couple years. Videos of him ducking and dodging the flashes of hungry media cameras days just after the news leaked out, even an audio statement sent to the station played: "I have always placed the people of this great land first and foremost. These allegations are baseless and a cheap political ploy to sway voters."
That message was sent only hours before a damning dossier was sent to press outlets detailing how the man attempted to steal thousands of government credits through the use of fake charities and restoration projects. When politicians get cutthroat, they know which blade can cut the deepest. Jaelyn shook her head slightly and went back into the bathroom to prepare for the very publicized arrest of the senator today. She was to join UC Police in apprehending him in a show of solidarity between the departments. Crime and corruption had been nothing new to the levels of any government on the old Earth, but the heads of the colonies want to show everyone, Council included, that humanity was turning over a new leaf. So a house cleaning was required, and Mason was just another weed that needed pulling.
Mason was never a true politician, but rather just a charming man that managed to talk and pay his way to the higher levels of New York colony. Rumor was that Mason was a gambling addict back on the colony, and in one of his many games New York colony leader Evan Gerry was supposibly attending. The game came down to one final draw between the two, and it ended in a tie. They both had four aces. Rather than cracking each others skulls open, trying to place the blame on either one for cheating, the two supposedly laughed it off and divided the share equally. They became good drinking buddies and once the ships began to land, Gerry called on Parnell to join his party. Whether Gerry was a poor judge of character was still up to debate, as Jaelyn recalled, Mason never actually kicked that rumored gambling habit of his.
Jaelyn stepped out of the bathroom after adjusting her suit's wrists and collar just in time to hear the comm unit chirping on the table in the next room. She slipped the unit into her ear and pressed a finger gently to the answer button "Jaelyn Miles."
"Mrs. Miles, the motorcade is outside." A female voice answered back.
"Thank you." she clicked the end call button and moved quickly to the door "Power down." she commanded, and the house complied as the lights and television began to shut off as she exited. She was greeted out front by a long, black hovercar being escorted by four police officers riding by hovercycles. The door to the car was opened by the driver, a woman with an athletic form and short cropped blonde hair, who greeted Jaelyn with a small smile "Hello Director Jaelyn Miles. Chief Carter Fotherby is inside."
Jaelyn made her way inside the car, where UC Police Chief Carter Fotherby was inside enjoying the contents of a flask he soon slipped in the coat pocket of his police regailia. The emblem of the police department, a golden star wrapped around New Earth, adorned the cap that rested on the seat next to him and just below his nametag. Medals and honors covered the man's chest, his dress suit pressed to near perfection. The bulky man leaned forward to extend a handshake, the aging creases on his cheeks pulling back as he smile "Pleasure to meet ya, Director Miles. Chief Fotherby." he said as the two hands clasped.
His grip was firm and confidant, betrayed only by the beads of sweat on his forehead "A pleasure. I certainly hope I'm not making you nervous, Chief."
The man leaned back, swiping a hand across his forehead and against his red hair "Ahh, naw ma'am. It's them media types and all them cameras. I never get use ta them no matter how many times I'm in fronta them."
Jaelyn crossed her legs with a small smile "I guessed that's what the flask of liquid courage was about." she peered outside, watching the sun briefly as it rose through the heavily tinted windows one last time before the tall skyscrapers of Colorado blocked the view as they made their way deeper into the city.
Carter briefly glanced out with her, letting out a sigh "My men near Mason's office already secured the street and the building, heard that the press began to build up there early in the morning."
"And the senator?"
"In his office clearing out his desk and paperwork I hear. They really know how ta put a guy through the wringer, eh? I'm surprised they haven't called him an akrennian sympathizer yet."
Jaelyn nodded lightly "An example to show that years out in space without a home has changed us for the better, I imagine."
The chief let out a low chuckle as he took his cap into his hands and fiddled with it "Ain't much has changed if ya ask me."
The two sat in silent thought for a moment as the mountains disappeared behind the tall skyscrapers of Colorado, the capital city of the United Colonies. Named after the Titan's historic launching point, the large city is home to nearly two and a half million humans and the headquarters of the budding United Colonies government. Most of the gleaming towers that stretched tall to the sky were built from parts of the largest colony in the After Earth era, and one of the first to make planetfall, Houston colony. Alot of the skyscrapers are still under construction, and some of the building are still marred by damaged plating that had yet to been repaired, but even despite the flaws the city was a showcase of architectural ingenuity and the human spirit to survive and rebuild after calamity. Delegates from all fifteen major colonies come to the prized city to debate and shape humanity's domestic and foreign policies.
"So, I understand Mrs. Fotherby is teaching children now. How's that going for her?" Jaelyn asked, looking back towards the Chief.
Carter scratched his chin "Uhh, just fine, thank you...how did you know my wife teached children? You guys aren't snooping around are ya? I'm a clean man, I'll have you know."
Jaelyn shook her head with a short laugh "No, no, I just read your backround last night was all, wanted to know a little bit about who I was meeting. And other than your mild drinking habit, you seem alright by me, chief."
He reclined in his seat "She just started two days ago, so how..."
"We keep very up to date records."
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The car soon arrived outside the New York senator's office amid a frenzy of media personnel as their autocams snapped continual pictures, pressing their mics towards Jaelyn and Carter as they made their way up the steps, several reporters shouting requests for a candid remark or sound bite. Their calls were unanswered as police kept them at bay while the two made their way inside, greeted by a small escort of two dressed police officers. The group took the elevators to the forthteenth floor, the offices of Mason Parnell "Can't wait till this is done with. This was supposed to be my day off, you know." the chief mentioned to Jaelyn, removing his cap and wiping his forehead once more.
"I guess it's true, justice never sleeps." she remarked, giving him a grin before looking back to the floor indicator, floor 11.
Carter cracked a quiet laugh "You can say that again."
The elevator stopped and rang as the door opened, the escort stepping out and making their way through the busy hallways and cubicles, almost stopping work entirely as they walked by and finally to the receptionist officers were just outside the closed oak doors to his personal office as Carter and Jaelyn walked up to the receptionist, a curvy brunette with her hair pulled back in a pig tail "We're here under the order of the UC to place Mason Parnell under arrest." the chief told the girl.
"Um, I-I know, but Mr. Parnell requested that you waited five more minutes to finish up his..."
Carter groaned "He's had all bloody mornin' ta..."
The argument was cut short by the flash of light and the crack of a laser pistol discharging inside Parnell's office. Screams and gasps momentarily filled the large room as people poked their heads out of their work stations. Carter barked to his troops to clear out the area, as Jaelyn and the guards near the door moved into the room. Blood and gore covered the bookcase behind Mason's desk, while Mason himself was sprawled on the ground, the killing weapon resting near his lifeless body.