Chapter 2 (the briefing)

"I assure you Captain Roberts it was not my choice to be here either but the current situation requires me to sit with you imbeciles so if you'd hurry it up and get in here the sooner we can discuss today events and set things right again," replied Contre-Amiral Francis Barret.

"Do as he says Captain, that's and order!" replied Admiral Sky, making it clear that the subject was closed.

Charles reluctantly sat down followed by the rest of his crew, "Fine, but don't think I forgotten that you tried to kill me and mine Barret!"

"Oh please, you would have done the same had our roles been reversed, that was years ago during a time of war. Now you need my help to learn about the terrorists that attack you, so I suggest you shut up and let me speak my peace, any objections?" he took the rooms silence as compliance and spoke on, "the terrorists that attacked you are called Puissance de Doule dos Rouvenor III is responsible for the attacks today, three months ago they began operations in my region, their primary base of operations is a Nyx class mothership. We did not think much of them, a lot of freelance corporations fly Nyxes and as long as they have good standing with us we don't bother them. However, we were able to intercept a transmission praising the success of the attack by their leader a woman by the name of Armelle Traître. That is all we know about them at the moment, we would have moved in to strike them down, but we figured that you would rather have a chance to do it yourself first," with that he looked to the Admiral indicating it was his turn to speak.

"That is correct, we plan to strike first. Captain Roberts, that's where you come in. I want you and your team to go into Gallente space to find and board the Puissance de Doule dos Rouvenor III's Nyx. Once on board I want you find out how they planned and executed the attack and capture a high ranking officer. Then and only then will your objective be to destroy the ship, we don't know if they have any other bases of operation so this is an intel gathering mission first, sabotage mission second,"

Now it was the Captain's turn to speak, "Ok, I get that, but why me? Why not send one of regular's out on this mission?"

"Plausible deniability, should you get found out, we can easily pass you as a privateer looking to get revenge. We don't want to instigate any further attacks."

"Fair enough, good to see the good old Fleet will have our backs. How are we supposed to get close enough to that thing to board it? Sure we could cloak the Gra'ika but not in warp, that's not possible! She won't have time to cloak up once we are out of warp, as soon as the Nyx sees us, they will blow us out of the skies,"

Admiral Sky smiled at him, "Excellent question, you will be given a brand new ship with a brand new technology. A Manticore class stealth bomber with a covert ops cloaking device, this ship can warp while cloaked. It is so new that it hasn't made it to the fleet yet and the person who designed the cloak is still in the Academy, Cadet Phillips. He and his team will be your engineers during the mission because they know the cloak best. This will count as their space tour, so try to set the example for them. Contre-Amiral Barret will also accompany you, but only as an advisor, you will have tactical command of the operation. While you are away, the Gra'ika is too remain here and fly CAP around HQ. I have plenty of work to do, so I must take my leave of you now. Take this time to plan, I want you out of station by tonight. Your new ship is in hanger bay 34A," with that the Admiral left the room.

Charles still had plenty of questions, but the perfect person to answer them remained in the room, "Ok, so are to use this new ship and cloak to get up close to the Nyx, but how do we get on board, I doubt they will let us dock, and no matter what if we get too close our cloak will drop…"

"The solution is a lot easier than you might think. After the Noir Incident, the Gallente government decided to secretly install every capital ship with a special airlock that only those with the upmost security clearance knew about. These airlocks were installed so if another capital ship commander went rouge there was a way to board the ship and take control of the situation. This was added into the blueprints as well so the public would also unknowingly install this feature. All we have to do is leave our ship in environment suits, than make our way to this hatch which is located on the underside of the Nyx. Once we are inside we can set up a base camp, even on a Fleet Nyx there are small nooks and crannies that go unchecked, I highly doubt that these terrorists have the man power to fully operate it so we should go largely unnoticed for virtually as long as we want."

Charles look to his crew, "Sounds like a nice little party you have planned here, but the question still remains, does my crew want a part in it?"

Everyone else had been respectful enough to let their captain speak for them, they trusted him the ends of the universe, but when addressed to directly they spoke, "For the State!"

Charles knew this was their way of saying they were completely on board, "Excellent, we are expected to leave by tonight, which give us about five hours. Pack everything you need first and get it stowed away on the Manticore, once that is done you can attend to personal matters. Report back to the Manticore by 21:00. Berret, we will see you then," with that Charles and his crew left the room to prepare.

Chapter 3 (preparations)

Charles walked on to the Bridge of the Gra'ika, he had to take care of some business before he packed his gear. He needed to appoint an officer to take command of his beloved ship of sixteen years while he was out. He knew exactly who he would appoint the second he set foot on the bridge.

"CAPTAIN ON THE BRIDGE!" shouted Lieutenant Thompson saluted smartly.

Charles returned it, but snapped back to attention, everyone else on the bridge did the same as he spoke, "Attention to orders, I have been given a mission deep into Gallente space to hunt down the terrorist responsible for the attacks, however you will not be following me, I will be commanding a covert-ops ship. Admiral Sky has ordered the Gra'ika to fly CAP around HQ until my return." He walked towards Lieutenant Thompson, "Commander 'Eeman will be on the mission with me, so that means the Gra'ika needs a captain," he stopped in front of the Lieutenant, years of military service preventing him from betraying emotion, "Lieutenant Thompson, I hearby grant you the field promotion to the rank of captain, take care of my ship," He quickly unpinned the lieutenant insignia on his collar and replaced it with a shiny new captain insignia, then quickly saluted which everyone on the bridge also did.

Captain Thompson returned the salute, everyone else dropped theirs' as he spoke, "Sir, Captain Thompson requesting permission to take command of this vessel!"

Charles returned the salute, "Permission granted, Captain," he dropped the salute and left the bridge turning on his heel. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do.

Meanwhile Crystal was in her quarters packing some civilian clothes for the mission. Her husband was there and he wasn't the slightest happy about her sudden departure. "Come on baby, just tell him you don't want to go, you're his best friend I'm sure he will understand!"

Crystal was getting frustrated, she had already told him a hundred times today, and they had had this argument before, "That's right we're best friends that's why I serve on this ship and answer his call when he asks for my help. You knew this when we got married, I will follow his lead,"

"Alright fine, then why couldn't you insist that I come too?" now a hint of jealousy was in Raven's voice.

"I already told you, you know nothing about this special cloak we are using and for the last three years you barely managed to qualified to fire a sidearm let alone a rifle, you would be dead weight, I nor the Captain are willing to risk that."

"ALRIGHT FINE, GO ON YOUR LITTLE PLAY DATE WITH THE CAPTAIN AND LEAVE YOUR HUSBAND HERE!" with that he stormed out of their quarters.

Crystal was very annoyed at her husband, he was always jealous of the relationship ship she had with the captain. He always stopped short of making her choose between the two men because he know she would choose the captain. She finished packing, though much more upset than when she had started, failing to hold back a few tears.

Charles had packed his clothes in a sea bag which was slung over his shoulder, he had one more thing to do before he made his way to the ship's armory. They would need a field medic for this mission so he made his paid a visit to sickbay.

Dr. Felix was double checking her supplies, more out of to have something to do than need, the ship had been fully stocked before the last mission and none of it had been used. She was very surprised when the captain came in, he hated visiting sickbay preferring to be his own doctor, "Captain, what a surprise, to what injury to I owe the pleasure?"

Charles laugh beside himself, "Nothing dear Doctor, but I have need of your services, pack as much supplies as you can ASAP and report to hanger bay 34A in two hours, there will be a engineering team of cadets on board, get their records squared away then I will brief you on our mission, I must go now to the armory and over see the packing there," with that he left the confused doctor to process what he just said by herself.

The armory was only three decks below sickbay and right next to the cargo hold, it only took Charles five minutes to get down there. Everyone in his team was there except for Crystal, he shook his head figuring her husband was holding her up again. These fights were getting old, and if he wasn't such a talented engineer, Charles would have sent him out the airlock years ago. His men gave him a polite nod before returning to their work. Everyone was already in full combat gear standing around a long table checking and cleaning their weapons to ensure they were perfect for combat several crates of rifle and pistol magazines were already stacked in the corner next to the hatch as well as crates of grenades and other combat supplies. Charles put down his sea bag with the crates then got a rifle out of the weapons locker. Next he walked to the head of the table, put his rifle down, took his service pistol out, took out the magazine, removed the round from the chamber, and began to strip it like the rest of his men before him.

About forty-five minutes later Charles was the only one still cleaning, the rest of his team, barring his XO had already finished and were stacking the crates on pallets for transportation. Charles was starting to get worried, they had an hour and fifteen before departure and Crystal hadn't even come to the armory yet. He was about to call her when she stormed into the armory, throwing her sea bag to the corner, snatching a rifle from the locker and slamming it shut. Master Chief Dobbs heard the commotion from the cargo hold and came in to take the commander's bag.

Charles knew Crystal was in a bad mood and that he had to defuse it before they left the station he told the Master Chief to take the bag, and instruct the rest of the team to head over and leave one truck for Crystal and himself. Once the Master Chief left, closing the hatch behind him, Charles spoke to Crystal, "You can't keep fighting him like that Crystal, its wearing you down and making you less effective, here pass me your rifle, we won't be ready in time if you work on both," he kindly took the rifle from her side, he was not angry with her, how could he? This woman was the very reason he was still alive today, when he lost his family he was devastated to say the least. More than once he considered taking his own life, but Crystal was there to keep him together. They had been best friends since they were Nasties (freshman cadets) at the Academy, and she never turn her back on him. She had always seemed to be the more centered of the two, but ever since her marriage she started to lose it.

The puffy eyed woman looked up at him, "I know it, he thinks we're having an affair. He's always been so jealous the relationship we have. He won't listen when I tell him we are just best friends, he doesn't understand, he can't he's never had a friendship as long as ours,"

Charles frowned, his chief engineer was really smart when it came to machinery, but a complete idiot when it came to people. Whatever Crystal saw in him Charles failed to see. "Well then it's his fault for not understanding, if he doesn't trust you by now there's a problem with your relationship not him. He was great for you for a while, he was a mode for you to vent the emotions I dumped on you, but I got over my depression. Maybe it's time you got over him too, so what if he leaves? There are other engineers out there, from what I hear this kid we're working with is a really sharp guy. If all goes well we could pick the kid up immediately, certainly his grades and research are grounds for the immediate placement as chief engineer,"

Crystal sob a little more, "Don't do that, if you're going to sack anyone, sack me, I can barely keep myself together now. Hell Chuck, I don't even know why you want me with you now, I could compromise the mission with this bullshit!"

"Oh, stop that, Engineers are replaceable, great XOs and best friends are not. I trust your judgment, it has saved our skin several times. I'm not going to let you go like that." He grinned and gave her a playful punch on the shoulder, "Besides if you're not around who's going to keep me on top of my game, everyone on the bridge knows I'm only as good as I am because I'm try to outshine you dear XO,"

Crystal grinned back feeling much better, "Your right, besides there would be a mutiny if you let me go,"