So here's chapter three, I've tried my best NOT to mirror the works of any other writer doing BT crossovers, there's a lot of unfinished Clan Wolverine stories out there this is my own twist.
Unknown system
Suddenly sparks started flying everywhere in space and then a flash of light, and the Pilgrim showed up in the dark, which caused the lone Vandal class clan aerospace fighter on what should have been a routine scout patrol to stop dead in space, and it's pilot to rub the sleep out of his eyes, for a jumpship to appear this far outside of any known shipping lanes was rare especially like this with sparks flying around the engines, the pilot contacted his superiors on the Congress class Frigate Minnesota,
"CWS Minnesota, this is Dunham, I'm reporting the appearance of an unknown jumpship in grid sector 13" Dunham reported and while he waited for reply, he decided to scan the ship it looked really old,
"maybe it is one of them ships lost in a misjump and trapped in that jump for centuries?" he wondered, when he was interrupted by his com coming to life,
"Minnesota here, Dunham I swear if this is another one of your hangover stunts, so help me I'll personally have you on latrine duty until the end of this century!" An angry voice declared
"Sir I'm sending my initial scanning data now" Dunham said quickly in order to avoid another yell out from his CO, after a few minutes he was contacted again,
"Have you tried contacting them yet?" The commander of the Minnesota queried,
"Negative star commodore, shall I contact them now?" Dunham queried
"Affirmative, we are sending a dropship and a point of Visigoths as backup just in case they prove to be hostile" Star commodore Brian McEvedy answered
"Sir you better send some medical personnel just in case, the ship seems really banged up, sparks around the engines suggest a misjump, it's a wonder the ship is in one piece"
"We've called for the destroyer Sara to help out, just contact them and see if they are in a talking mood" McEvedy said
"Affirmative Star commodore" Dunham replied
Inside the Pilgrim everything was a mess, a few moments ago they were jumping out of the Panpour system and all the systems went haywire, there where spark flying from the consoles which provided the only light source on the bridge, Jim tried to stand up but felt too delirious from the jump,
"Can I have a damage report anyone?" he demanded, he could see in the dim light that several bridge crew was tangled together,
"Whose hand is this under my butt?" Ensign Tanya Vaishnavi demanded to know
"I'm not sure but I'll try and find out" Kono said half sincere,
Then the lights came on at last and Jim could finally see the full extent of the devastation, except for some mild electrical damage the bridge seemed to be in more or less one piece,
"Damage report" Jim demanded again, Kono managed to drag himself off the floor and pressed a few buttons on his console,
"After the circumstances I'd say we are in surprisingly good shape, from what I can see, all systems except for jump engines seems to functioning at least" he reported
Jim hit the intercom and contacted engineering,
"Captain to engineering, are you there Cronk?" Jim queried, and the reply came soon enough with someone swearing in Scottish, Jim understood though he wished he didn't
"Aye engineering here, chief engineer Cronkite reporting, we're still picking up the pieces down here, plus my dinner is all over the walls" Cronkite growled, "But all in all things look okay, just one question; WHAT THE HELL YOU DOING UP THERE?" he continued bellowing the last,
"We must have had a misjump or something" Jim explained
"OH YOU THINK?" Cronkite blurted out,
"Just see what you can do and give me a report within half an hour" Jim said and cut the com, "GEEZ he's got a bad temper when he doesn't eat?" Jim thought, Ensign Vaishnavi who was also Elisabeth's younger sister piped up,
"Captain I'm picking up a hail from another ship just off our starboard bow, I'm patching it through now" she reported, and the com crackled for a while and then
"I repeat this is Clan Wolverine scout patrol aerospace warrior Dunham, to unidentified jumpship do you copy?" Warrior Dunham queried
"This is captain Jim Shannon of the jumpship Pilgrim out of Panpour" Jim answered
"Wow, then I'd say you people if you're telling the truth, have had quite the misjump" Dunham retorted
"We figured as much, can you tell me what system this is? Our navcomputer seems to be malfunctioning, we were supposed to appear at Basantapur" Jim queried
"HO, HO! If THAT'S correct then I'd say you are about two thousand light-years off course" Dunham chuckled, Jim was absolutely dumbstruck as was everyone on the bridge even Kono who usually could diffuse any situation with some wisecrack or another looked as if he had just been spaced, several minutes passed and then everyone started arguing of the plausibility of it all,
"QUIET" Jim shouted, and then spoke into the com again
"Look it's a bit too early for April-fools jokes" Jim said annoyed, and then was contacted by Elisabeth who was the ships chief medical officer,
"Jim what happened is everyone okay on the bridge?" she queried worriedly
"I few bumps and bruises nothing serious" Jim answered
"What about the rest" he then asked
"I've been getting reports from all three dropships and it's pretty much the same nothing serious, except people are worried even scared Jim" she answered
"Jim I just got the radar back on line and I'm picking up some dropship transport with what in my book looks like an escort" Kono said apprehensively
Jim motioned for Tanya to again open the com to aerospace warrior Dunham,
"Okay Dunham would you like to explain why there are more ships coming at us?" Jim asked suspiciously,
"We're sending a dropship to check your ship, you have to understand, you show up here uninvited and pretty much unannounced for all we know you could be pirates, and we're also sending some medical people to see if you need any help" Dunham answered sternly
"Look whatever questions you have will have to be taken up with my superiors over and out" he then said and cut the com, Jim turned to Kono,
"What do you think Kono" Jim asked
"Really not much we can do Jimmyboy, those fighters they're sending look mean, the computer won't identify them, and they look advanced, same thing with the dropship" Kono stated, and crossed his arms across his chest.
Moments later the dropship contacted the Pilgrim,
"This is Star colonel Victor Guzman of Clan Wolverine dropshipFang we request you prepare for us to send a small party on board" a voice commanded
"We're being boarded?" Jim queried
"Negative unless you decide to be difficult, we are just sending over a small team to make sure you are alright and see what else we can help with, off course also making sure that you are not pirates" Guzman said, Jim was silent
"Do you have anything more important to do today, query?" Guzman asked when no reply came
"Not that I have much choice but as you can see our docking collars are all occupied so you'll have to use the aft hangar bay, don't worry we won't try anything" Jim confirmed and looked at Kono
"Kono call for Ben and Takeda to meet us in at the aft hangar bay" Jim said, and called Elisabeth on the com,
"Liz can you meet me at the aft airlock and tell the kids to stay in the cabin, we're getting some guests" he said and then turned to Tanya "Ensign, you have the bridge" he said
"Yes sir" she responded.
After twenty minutes when a small shuttle craft landed in the bay and six armed soldiers that must have been at least eight feet tall as they had to bend slightly to leave the shuttle, got out followed by some slightly shorter officers and what looked like field medics stepped off the ramp, one off the officers walked up to Jim and his party and saluted before he started speaking,
"I am star colonel Victor Guzman which of you is Jim Shannon?" he asked, Jim noticed even though he was not as abnormally big as the soldiers he was still about seven feet tall,
"I am Jim Shannon and these are my officers; medical officer who is also my wife Elisabeth, Security officer Lieutenant Kono Lao, Operational ground and MechCommander Lieutenant Ben Shannon, and flight commander Lieutenant Akiko Takeda, My chief engineer is Vincent Cronkite but he's in engineering trying to get the ship on her keel again" Jim said and smirked at the term keel, some terms had a tendency to stick around even though star ships had no keels,
Guzman nodded to the others and talked to his field medics "Squad commander Ogawa I want you to coordinate with chief medical officer Elisabeth Shannon here and see what you can do to help" Guzman said to the medic and turned to Jim and Elisabeth
"With your approval off course?" he queried, Jim nodded and Elisabeth and the medic and her squad walked away to the infirmary,
"I also brought some engineers with me in since your ship looks like it has seen better days" he continued,
"No problem and thanks" Jim nodded and motioned for a security guard to show the engineers where to go,
"Jones, you show them to engineering, but don't disturb Cronk if he's eating, you KNOW how he gets when he's interrupted during dinner" Jim ordered, smirking
"Yes boss" Jones chuckled
While Captain Shannon were talking to his subordinate, Guzman watched him and his officers and except for Jim and Kono the only officers that looked military was the one called Ben who was dressed and carried himself like a mechwarrior and the young woman called Takeda, Ben seemed to have noticed that Guzman was watching and looked back at him with steel grey eyes,
Jim turned back to Guzman,
"Could you show me to the bridge, I need to contact the CWS Minnesota to let them know everything is working to satisfaction" Guzman asked politely
"CWS Minnesota?" Jim queried
"It's one of our Frigates, it waits further into the system, and we thought it prudent not to come with it as we didn't wish to startle you people" Guzman explained
"Okay err well this way to the bridge" Jim answered guardedly
"They seem very tense, can't say I blame them after the circumstances" Guzman thought as he, his officers and a couple of his soldiers were led through the ship, he saw a few people scuttling about and their scans had shown that one of the dropships and much of the jumpships passenger areas were filled with people,
"Captain Shannon if I may but it looks as if you and yours are refugees, affirmative?" He asked
Jim nodded "we were leaving our world because of criminal elements controlling the local government, me and my foster brother Kono here used to be cops until we crossed paths with a crime lord named Henry Radcliff one too many times" Jim acknowledged, and Guzman nodded
When they got to the bridge Guzman was showed to the com console and sent a message
"Star colonel Victor Guzman to dropship Fang come in" he said into the com and the screen flickered to life,
"This is Fang, Star captain Joanna Xi here, how is it going over there Star colonel, eaten by the barbarians yet?" a woman with brown hair queried jokingly
"Funny Joanna, things are well with me and my company, it is what we suspected, these people are refugees and seem to be in dire need of help, their ship seems to be broken down but repairable" Guzman answered, and activated his personal com and contacted his engineer team
"Sulk, how are things in engineering are the ship at least moveable?" he asked into the com
"The main sub light engines are in moderately working order and should be able to take the ship all the way to home base" Sulk replied
"Good" Guzman commended and cut the com and turned toward Jim
"Do you have a briefing room or something where we can talk?" he then asked
"We have an officers lounge here in the forward section of the ship" Jim answered and added
"Look before you decide on confiscating our ship, I'd like to say that this ship and everything on it is all we own" he said sternly
"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, though if you'll be allowed to stay on our planet or not is for the Khan to decide" Guzman said calmingly
When they finally got to the officers lounge, with Guzman leaving his subordinate officer on the bridge to pilot the ship to home base, Guzman and Jim sat at the briefing table and talked about who they were, and Guzman told of the clans and how Clan Wolverine had to flee to avoid genocide
"So you see we DO have a soft spot for hard luck cases such as yourselves" Guzman, he saw Jim and Kono had a little hard to accept it all,
so he explained the whole history about the Exodus and later the formation of the clans up until the Wolverine secession and subsequent near annihilation by the son of Alexander Kerensky, Nicholas Kerensky.
After a few hours ensign Vaishnavi reported they were in orbit over what looked very much like a habitable planet,
When Jim , Guzman and their respective officers got to the bridge Jim and his family gawked at the massive ships that rested in high orbit, Guzman chuckled at their reaction
"And that's WHY we didn't meet you with any of these to begin with" he said and continued
"The smaller one is one of our Congressclass Frigates CWS Minnesota, the large one is the Texas class battleship CWS Wolverine's Claw, other than that we have a few Whirlwind class destroyers like the CWS Hallis that escorted us in, and a few other vessels as well, though many of them have been dismantled for parts over the centuries" Guzman said proudly and then added
"You seem to be getting some more guests" he said as a shuttle craft was leaving the battleship and headed straight for the Pilgrim,
Just then Jim noted the band around Guzman's arm as well as on the arms of everyone with him, those that was introduced as Warrior caste anyway,
"Excuse me but that armband, does it have any special meaning" he asked and Guzman looked at him
"Well it has a copy of my lineage, and records everything I do from my first testing in the sibco to my eventual dying oath….IF I have time for that before I die that is" Guzman explained chuckling,
Jim wondered what the hell he and his people had gotten themselves into; here they had met up with actual descendants of General Alexandr Kerensky's exiled Star League army, and they were at least over a thousand light years from where they had planned to make their new home.
Jim, Kono and Ben as well as Akiko had gone to the hangar bay to receive the new arrivals and Jim suspected it had to be Guzman's superior possibly this Khan he was talking about, the way Guzman and the other clan people reacted
When the shuttle landed in the bay and its ramp lowered and a man with grey almost white hair and beard and piercing blue eyes stepped out followed by a seemingly young man with short cropped dark hair standing a good seven feet tall even taller than Guzman, Guzman and his party now stood at stiff attention, they were just like Guzman dressed in strange jumpsuit and with the same armband
"At ease Guz and the rest of ya as well before ya embarrass me in front of our guests here" the Man commanded gently and then turned to Jim and smirked
"I'm guessing from the look in your face you didn't expect to find us here or even end up here to begin with?" he said with a small grin
"Not really….err sir" Jim said hesitantly and then straightened up
"Captain James Shannon of the jumpship Pilgrim out of Panpour" Jim said and both he and Kono stood at whatever attention they could along with Ben and Akiko who already stood at attention knowing the drill when a soldier of superior rank no matter who was before them,
"At ease" the man chuckled again
"Well I'm Khan Nathaniel Taylor of Clan Wolverine, and unless you belong to the clan you don't need to salute me, not that I don't appreciate the gesture though" the man Taylor said almost as if it didn't even mean anything,
"May we show you to the officer's mess hall so we can speak about what you plan on doing with us?" Jim asked,
"Rest easy son, we'll see what we can do for your people first" Taylor said and followed Jim
"There's been an awful lot off traffic to the mess hall lately?" Ben mumbled annoyingly, which made Taylor look at him with curious eyes
"Please excuse my baby brother, he's a little tense with strangers" Jim excused and got a glare from Ben at the baby part and Akiko to giggle and place a soothing hand on Ben's shoulder to try and stifle the angry retort he was no doubt preparing to fire off at Jim,
"No need, young warriors are always the most impatient" Taylor said with an amused smile at Ben who looked a little embarrassed at the whole situation.
As they came to the officers mess, and Jim and Taylor plus their respective company entered as Taylor's warrior that accompanied him were about to enter himself when first Zoe came running with Maddy at her heels, Zoe managed with the near miraculous grace that only a small child could ran in between the large warrior and the door and into the mess hall straight for Jim who caught her in his arms, Maddy was NOT as lucky and crashed right into the warrior who looked as surprised as she was,
Maddy fell backwards and landed on her backside and looked up and looked into the most wonderful eyes she had ever seen, they seemed tri coloured with blue, grey and green warring for dominance, and he looked down at her a few seconds before he with an embarrassed smile bent down and offered his hand,
"Please forgive me" he said, Maddy noticed his face seemed to be going a bit red, she herself was blushing, as she took his offered hand and he practically hoisted her up which made her squeak loudly,
Both Taylor and Jim was watching the scene unfold and they saw both Maddy and the warrior seemed to be competing about who could go the most red in the face,
"Reynolds, stop bothering the young lady and get in here" Taylor said, Reynolds obeyed after a last look at Maddy who was still blushing and looking at him with wide curious doe-eyes that Reynolds had a real hard time tearing himself from, until Khan Taylor cleared his throat loudly,
and he took his place behind Taylor as everyone sat down,
Kara came running no doubt looking for Maddy and Zoe,
"Kara could you be kind and take Zoe back to the cabin, and also make sure to keep Josh inside?" Jim asked, and Kara nodded and took Zoe's hand
"Maddy I need you here to help with things here" Jim then told her, and she nodded and walked up to the table, but before she could even touch the chair, that big warrior Reynolds pulled it out for her and she again blushed as she sat down "Boys never did this for me at home?" she thought as she was trying to reign in her blush,
"Let me introduce my eldest daughter Madelyn and my youngest over there" Jim said and pointed first at Maddy and then at Zoe who was unwillingly led back out by Kara, Taylor smiled at Zoe's whining,
"I may have a proposition for you Khan Taylor" Jim said
"What is it?" Taylor asked politely
"Before we left Panpour we raided an old Star League cache, that's when we fought a battle against some bandits in the employ of a planetary criminal" Jim started
"I hope that's not going to be a problem, us raiding a Star League cache?" Jim queried, Taylor chuckled
"Well our ancestors did the same thing when they fled clan space about three hundred years ago so no problem at all, plus the Star League weren't there to complain anyhow, AND I don't see defeating bandits as a crime" Taylor explained
"But, please continue" he then said, and Jim continued
"We found a lot of treasures there including what must have been some sort of memory core and we are willing to share any and all knowledge from the core, if you are willing to let us stay on your planet" Jim said with his best poker face,
"You know we could simply take it by force if we wanted to" Taylor stated deadpan
"Then even if it will break my daughters heart we could simply destroy it" Jim also stated deadpan, and Taylor smiled at his determination
"I like that, you are willing to bargain AND you can play hardball if you need to, we will not take it so you do not need to destroy it, but I request you share it with us, though I was about to offer you to stay here anyway, especially since it would take you at least a year to get back to any marginally inhabited systems, and because we know you're carrying refugees so I do not have the heart to send you away" Taylor declared and then extended his hand
"Well do we have a deal then, Captain Shannon?" he then asked, whereupon Jim took his hand and smiled
"Deal" he said
"Well bargained and done" Taylor said.