Hey you, sorry for being a bit late again :( luckily for you as a compensation I made the chapter a bit longer than usual. So sit back enjoy, and maybe even find some easter eggs ;D
and before I completly forget: Congrats to Wotter for guessing a Easter Egg in the previous chapter with the name Montressor!
Boarded? What! How! When? Now? I was completely perplexed, stunned even, how did they manage to do this?
I managed to regain my bearings quickly and turned towards the Ensign who gave the news: "Okay, how many people boarded the ship? And what is going to be their entry point, we need to be prepared!"
He gulped and answered with a slightly shaky voice: "Captain, the sensors have detected around forty five to fifty lifeforms aboard their ship. And... " he gulped again "and they're anchoring their ship against the back of the bridge!"
Damn! Damn them all! Those bastards, how dare they attack my ship!
"Men, I want the Main Corridor's blast gate sealed, at the double! Lieutenant Watson, send as many stormtrooper squads up the Turbolift as quickly as you can, I want reinforcements right now."
While officers and ensigns were scrambling around to get some cover and preparing to defend against the Boarding I walked to my personal locker taking my Heavy Repeater and my custom made blast armor to protect my upper body. Meanwhile the squad of Navy Troopers stationed on the bridge were setting up some of the moveable barricades to protect defenders from incoming fire.
"Captain! By boarding just below the bridge they managed to disable the cables connecting the Turbolift with the power generator. We're cut off from the rest of the ship!"
"Did we get any reinforcements up here at all? "
"No Sir."
"Damn it. This is getting worse than I first thought. Okay, we can't compromise any of the bridge's quarters so we'll set up defence close to the door."
While I said that many officers were close to panicking. Most of them probably hadn't been the best trainees at the shooting range so they were not really used to having a blaster in their hands. And those Navy Troopers weren't in the Stormtrooper corps for a reason; they weren't good enough. If I could've replaced even half of them into stormtroopers then we might have stood a chance. But now it's mostly standing a last stand, hoping they would be merciful. Sadly the chances on that are so low not even a gambler would want to know those odds.
"Captain, the enemy's boarding party is now on the ship. They'll probably start breaching the door in a few minutes time."
What should I do? We have a defensible position and more cover, but my positions are undermanned and most of them aren't really capable of surviving even a short engagement. Should I surrender? I know that it wouldn't be honourable and bad for my image, but what about my crew? Would at least they be left alive? Or are we all doomed to die in this fight?
I nervously licked my lips, while I looked around. Many crew members had already taken positions behind the barricades but there were some of them that still weren't ready.
Suddenly a loud screeching noise came from behind the closed blast door, followed by sparks and smoke on a small patch of the metal. Everyone tensed up, expecting a thermal detonator or something likewise devastating to be thrown through the small hole. Instead a loud voice resonated through the gap: "Listen up you Imperial bastards, you're trapped on that side of the bridge with no means of escape. On top of that we have you outnumbered and outgunned easily, so if you want to live then you'll be dropping all your weapons in a pile in front of the door or else…. We shan't be merciful with any man or woman who tries to resist. Furthermore, your captain shall hand over the whole ship, if your captain or any of your crew will not oblige then we'll ram the ship into the surface of Montressor. You get a few minutes to decide your fate: death or staying alive!"
After these terms there was a deafening silence on both sides of the door. But that was only for a short time, after that the room descended in a hubbub of people trying to make a decision and conferencing with the others. Me? I was standing alone at one of the foremost barricades contemplating my options. I could of course turn down their offer and just fight till the last man, in the hope of routing the boarders. However the chance of us winning was far too low, we stood no chance at all against a completely outfitted and trained boarding party, which they probably were.
Of course I could also simply capitulate and give up. But could I trust this rebel scum? Were their words as trustworthy as any other person, or was I just condemning my men to a fast and humiliating execution? Would my decision even be followed by them? Or will it result in a mutiny? And my crew in the rest of The Trireme, will they agree with my decision, or would they rather escape a ship heading to a rapidly approaching planet surface?
So many options and so few of them good, if any. Probably the best is to at the very least find out what opinion the crew with me on the bridge has, that way I can base my decision on more than just selfish reasoning. So first I walked up to lieutenant Watson:
"Lieutenant, right now I'm at a crossroad, not able to decide what I should do. So I want to know what you think is the best solution for this dilemma."
Watson looked around checking if anybody was listening before answering:
"Well Sir it might be craven what I've to say but I think the best for all of us would be that we'd first of all evacuate all the soldiers and crew members down in the rest off the ship and that we're after that going to surrender the ship to the rebels, that's my humble suggestion captain."
"Thank you Lieutenant, I'll be considering your suggestion"
After that I consulted a few more people, some of them willing to fight a last stand, while some of them even dared consider joining up with them rather than be prisoners. So I thought deeply about the best solution but none came. Except for lieutenant Watson's idea, that idea would lead to the least amount of men dying and also the least amount being captured by those terrorists.
After I came to my decision and I ordered an evacuation. Luckily nothing went wrong and all of my crew members and stormtroopers not on the bridge were able to leave the ship without encountering any problems.
So when the time came for me to give them their answer I walked up to the small gap:
"Okay, this is the ship's captain that's speaking, is there anyone else on the other side?"
There was the negotiator's voice again answering my call:
"That's good to hear, have you made a decision about our ultimatum?"
"Yes.. yes we have." I inhaled some air "we've decided that we'll capitulate. At least if your promise of no harm will be held. "
I heard him breath out a sigh of relief "Yes yes don't worry, we'll be keeping our promise as long you're keeping yours. Now I expect of you to drop all weapons on a pile right in front off the door, after that open it slowly, we don't want to be surprised. Is that clear?"
I swallowed a rebuke, not used to be ordered around but I complied, and ordered my men to drop their weapons. Some of them complained a bit, but luckily most of them saw the wisdom in my decision. After that we slowly opened the door, revealing the rebels.
I was impressed. Even though most of them had no complete armour set and there weren't any matching colour schemes, they still looked professional. The armour and weapons were mostly good quality and their postures and looks gave me the impression of battle hardened men, women and aliens. They looked first warily at the pile of weapons and after that to my men.
After that one of them said: "Okay, Track Jack Squad go to our captives and search them for any hidden weapons. "
While that squad moved out and started to systematically search my men, a small ping of recognition came from that voice. Even though my mind has never failed me yet, I still couldn't believe myself. It just couldn't be her!
Well, that was it again. You've finished the chapter, well done! Now submit your guesses on the eggies. And if you've any suggestions for other fanfics to write or want to see something in the story, just say it. Maybe I even might use your idea…..
GGSauron out!
