Chapter 24: The Unknown Regions
January 13th 3238, 0941 hours
Coruscant
Senate Landing Platform
The Phoenix and the Acorn entered the atmosphere of Coruscant. The destroyer and her new frigate tagalong had already been cleared by the air traffic control so there was no trouble in getting to the ground. Traffic was, as usual, heavy. The ships were however not bothered because of their intimidating size and weapons.
Chris was still in the tanks. It had been a few days since he was out of surgery and they placed him in here. Reason being was that he needed some time for the new blood and plasma to take to his body, otherwise his body would reject it. He hung in neutral buoyancy just watching the air bubbles rise from his mask. He couldn't imagine Sally spending a night or two in this thing. It was so boring! That and the fact that he wasn't wearing any clothes either. The tubes could be frosted if the user desired but Chris didn't see much point. So, he just floated not caring about who stared at him 'warts and all'. He exhaled and looked around to get something to attract his attention. He noticed a Mobian marine who was looking downright somber in his tank.
"Hey buddy, what's wrong? You're looking a little down." The Mobian looked at Chris. He couldn't tell what its species was but he could see that it was a male and was possibly a wolf or a fox. "Yeah, I am feeling a little bad." Chris said, "Talk to me. Whatcha in for?" "I'm all that's left of my squad, sir." Chris reeled back and slammed his head against the glass by mistake. "Oh…I'm sorry. I meant no offense." "Ah, don't worry about it, sir. Actually I think I'm quite lucky. I just managed to get away with this:" He raised his right leg and showed him a slash on his thigh and on his upper left arm. "Those look like lightsaber injuries, man." "I wouldn't know. All I do know is that me and my squad were ambushed on a hellhole named Raxus Prime by a group of what I think were Dark Jedi." "Did he say anything about a Darth Malak or Admiral Karath?" The Marine scratched his head trying to remember and his eyes narrowed in thought. "Come to think about it, yeah they did. Mentioned Darth Malak wanting to claim us for dead. They were spouting names of members that weren't even in our squad. I think they realized the mistake and killed the others. I managed to get away with these cuts and bruises. I killed him and took his lightsaber! It's in my pouch!" Chris nodded. "Good work. I hope you deliver that to ONI. As a matter of fact, give it to the ONI agent Rouge the Bat. She'll be able to deliver it to the UNSC safely." "Will do, sir."
The Phoenix found a spot where they could land. There was already a small crowd of people there with bags packed. Some seemed surprised to see these ships, mainly the Acorn which seemed like an angular flying 'T'. Some Mobians also lovingly called her the 'T-Bone'. The landing gear deployed and the ship touched down. A couple F-29s coasted over it giving quite a scene. Lieutenant Veers was just showing off when he pulled that double helix corkscrew with an added flourish at the end.
"All UNSC Marines report to either the UNSC Phoenix or Acorn. Accommodations will be made for any extra personnel, limited to two per person. Launch will commence in fifteen minutes. Thank you."
"Damn, it's much more beautiful in the sunset." Johnson said looking out to the horizon. "It reminds me of Chicago. Like home." This sent a wave of homesickness at the men. It had been two years since they had seen Earth. What would their families say to their sons and daughters or spouses who were dead for that time? Sally was in the biggest predicament. Her father and mother loved her to death. What if her disappearance caused them much more than grief? It was too much of a high price. "I'm going to miss this place." Tails said. "Master Kavar taught me a whole lot of stuff. I would hate to put all that to waste." Rouge folded her arms and leaned on the hull. "Well, I get a feeling that we all might be tested soon enough."
"Final boarding call for the UNSC Phoenix! All crewmembers must be aboard in five minutes. That is all." Tails supervised his jet being put into the hold. An F-29 pilot flew the plane into the space and transformed it into its walker variant. The young man had no experience in this type of aircraft and almost accidently crashed it into the Ebon Hawk with the jets still active. He got it under control and parked it next to the Boomer. The 35 ton, 30 foot Mech was almost twice the size of the Tornado. "Now that you have it under control, I want you to get out of the cockpit, walk away and don't go near it again, got it?"
The Chancellor himself watched as the two ships disappeared into the sky. He unfortunately didn't have time to meet with the Captain of the ship but he felt that they had urgent business to attend to. He stood with the senators until they were nothing but tiny dots mixed in with the air traffic. "Safe travels." He whispered to the wind.
Coruscant fell behind them. There was no time to sightsee as time was of the essence. With her compliment of crew, the twin ships kept their distance. The commander of the Acorn was actually Lieutenant Kylie West who was promoted to Commander during the two years absence. She was also the one who controlled her main defenses. She was a crack shot too. About five months ago, she had successfully taken out three pirate vessels as large as her vessel was. Nobody screwed with her.
To replace Kylie was a human Lieutenant named Gev Morrison. Gev was an accomplished TAC officer coming out of OCS. He had served three tours on three separate ships. However, the young man had trouble with alcohol in the past, getting busted down from a Lieutenant Commander to a Lieutenant JG. He was still the best shot in the bridge.
"Sir, Commander West is requesting permission to speak with you, sir." Gerrard Briggs said noting the message. "Patch her through." Perry said nodding. Her hologram appeared on his arm rest. She wore a uniform not dissimilar to his own. "Sir, my crew reports green on all systems. We are ready to make the jump when you are." Perry nodded and placed the cap on his head. "Steady as she goes, Commander. Keep two kilometers off our port hull zero by forty-five degrees." "Aye sir. Relaying orders zero by four five."
The Acorn spun over to her requested position. Alan Perry saw that her helmsman was showing off to the local airspace. Not only was it unprofessional, it was hazardous to other travelers. "Align ourselves with the coordinates." The Captain demanded. "Aye sir. Aligning now." Callows said. The Phoenix spun around its yaw and the Acorn followed suit. As soon as they got into place, both ships simultaneously departed into hyperspace.
"We're getting some help when we get to the Unknown Regions. As soon as we exit hyperspace, they'll find us." Kaiden said. "Who's 'they'?" Jolee asked. "Just some people we've asked to join the cause." "You never answered my question and who the hell are the 'friends' who built the ship?" "I can't tell you that. Captain's orders." Jolee huffed angrily. They were sitting in the mess hall along with other crew that were getting readjusted to being on a ship. Tails leaned forward on his elbows. "You know, I kind of wish we got on the Acorn. I wonder what was different." Kaiden said, "Not much. The only thing that stands out is an observation deck with beautiful 50 inch high window, 360 degree views all around! Eheh, technically non-regulation though."
Sally got up. "Where you headed, Sally-girl?" She hooked a duffel bag over her shoulder. "I'm going to go see Chris. They're supposed to be discharging him today." The other Mobians got up. "We'll go too." Tails said. Ryan nodded. "You guys go. I'll catch up. I don't think I've had a pie this good in years!" Rouge smiled. "Ryan, you may be pudgy, but I'll still love you." "Atta girl, way to accept me for who I am." She giggled and clapped his shoulder. Kaiden also shooed them off.
"Greeting: Mistress I am glad to see that you have finished your consumption rituals. Would you like to see the Captain?" "Please." Sally said. "How's he doing?" "Quite well, actually." HK-24 responded. "The doctors report that he regained consciousness at 0717 Greenwich Mean Time. What is Greenwich exactly?" "It's not important, 24." "Affirmative: I believe I understand."
The LC showed them in. There were much more occupied tanks. Chris was all the way in the corner next to the window. The Orderly was checking on him interestedly, admiring the human's physique. The Captain hadn't noticed them and was talking to the Mobian next to him. As soon as the anthro spotted the Princess he opaqued the glass. Sally scoffed. "Jeez, relax kid."
"Afternoon ladies and gentlemen." Chris said. "And before you say anything, yes I am totally naked not that it matters as 75 percent of you have seen me naked for one reason on another." This got a couple laughs from the group and other patients. Chris had a healthy reputation for making an ass of himself when he wanted to. "For the 25 who haven't, enjoy and comment." Bunnie blushed and looked away. Rouge's ears actually twitched upwards. "How are you feeling?" Sally asked. "I can see why you liked it here. It's soothing, but DAMN it's boring." She smiled. "Yeah that happens sometimes. I hope you've been keeping yourself busy." "Yeah, I never get tired of bobbing up and down, blowing bubbles from my mask and sleeping. I'm good at that."
"When do they let you out?" "Any time now. Are we in the pipe?" The 'pipe' referred to the UNSC's unofficial designation of Hyperspace since it seemed as if they were in a tunnel or a pipe as the namesake suggested. "Yeah, we've been in for around twenty five minutes?" She asked. The others shrugged and nodded their heads. "Twenty five ish minutes." "Alright. Did you figure out where we're slipping out?" Tails shook his head. "Not a damn clue. Republic star charts have never covered that far and the farther back I search, the worse it gets so…yeah, no clue."
Rouge asked Tails, "Is there any other sort of chart you can check?" "Well, if I had my hands on a Sith star chart maybe but what are the odds of us getting one of those?" "Tails, whenever you say that, you scare the shit out of me." "Query: Why do you say that with a tone of worry, Master?" "Well, it seems that our words are cursed. Whenever we say something like that, the exact opposite seems to happen." "Musing: It appears that you seem to have pessimistic mindsets. Whenever you think something horrible is bound to happen, shockingly enough, it does." HK-24 determined "What are you saying? Are we looking for trouble?" Johnson asked.
"Rebuttal: I never stated that, Master. However at the same time, my behavior core is presenting reason to support that hypothesis." "I'm not arguing with a tin can." Johnson said. "Statement: Master you injure me! Prejudice hurts my feelings you know." "That's enough. You two are breaking the seriousness of our situation. With the map in Eggman's hands, we can only hope that he hasn't put together where the Emerald is. I wouldn't put it past Malak either to not check within Sith holocrons for connections." Tails nodded. "I agree. Malak has many arms in Sith teachings. Come to think of it, I think he may already know where it is, he simply didn't think it was too powerful." "Stop saying that!" Rouge begged.
The Phoenix and Acorn emerged from Hyperspace a day or two later. The space outside was much different than the sky that was closer to the galactic core. It was much different. A golden nebula was smeared across the night with several stars shining in its gaseous depths. Close by, there was a shining yellow-orange star that radiated warmth and light. Close inspection would reveal that there were two planets orbiting the star with one being more than five times that of Jupiter. The other seemed slightly smaller than Earth.
"Status report. Where are we?" Perry asked getting out of his chair to march around the bridge. "Analyzing sir. Wait one." Callows said sending out signals and analyzing the distance between their position and the galactic core. "We are well into the Unknown Regions sir. Scans determine we are approximately 50, 421 light years from the galactic core, give or take a couple hundred parsecs. They were long gone from Republic space. "Alright. Do a thorough scan of the system. See if there's an ancient space station or a power surge from any of those worlds. Watch out for Saul. I don't think he knows we're around here but I don't want to chance it." "Yes sir."
The crew had been given free time for a little while wile evaluation took place, specifically the Marines. Some spent most of their time in the bar getting used to being back on their old ship. The Captain and his squad had different intentions. It was around midday that Chris received a message. It was from the Acorn. He answered his COM unit that was in his bunkroom. "Captain Vennettilli here." "Captain, this is Commander Kylie West, UNSC Acorn." "Yes, ma'am. What can I do?" "Actually I was hoping to reach the Princess." "I can pass on the message, ma'am." "Actually this indirectly refers to you as well. You are quite new to seeing our new frigate. I would be honored if your team was to join us for a little tour of the ship." Chris half-smiled. It wasn't every day that you were asked by a commanding officer to board his or her ship. "We accept your invitation Commander." Chris said. "Very well. When can we expect you?" "Best guess, commander? Thirty minutes at least." "Thirty minutes it is, Captain. I'll have the clamp ready for you by then. Your Pelican will have to dock externally. It's not a big ship." "Understood Commander."
Chris spent 20 of those thirty minutes looking for his teammates. They were scattered throughout the ship but he knew where to look. Tails was down in the launch bay of the Phoenix tinkering on the Ebon Hawk. HK-24 was providing assistance by explaining about the ship's class. "Statement: Young Master, a Dynamic-Class freighter has reflective hull platings, extensive point defense weaponry and a Class 3.0 Hyperdrive." "3.0?! What is this, the Freeway?" "Confused Query: Urm...I don't think I understand." "Inside joke, 24. I don't want Freeway, I want the goddamned Autobahn. What will it take to spruce up this baby's hyperdrive?" "Theory: You could fashion a device using some of the technology in this ship to increase the speed of the hyperdrive. Your intelligence in the matter could be quite useful." "Here comes the Captain." Tails said.
"What's going on, Chris?" "Pack up and get moving. Commander West asked us if we wanted to go next door." "And you agreed?" "You bet I did. I want to see what this puppy can do!" "Alright." He said wiping the grease off his hands. "I'll be there in a minute. You coming with, 24?" "Hesitant Answer: If you insist, Master." "What's wrong?" "Well, I don't really like to talk about it but...I deplore space travel quite strongly." That made Tails raise an eyebrow. "That's interesting. A droid who doesn't like space travel. I thought you didn't care." "Well, regardless I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone."
Sally, Bunnie and the Master Chief were all in the ship's dojo sparring with weapons and meditating. Bunnie was fighting the Spartan. In the corner, Chris could see the Chief's new suit leaning in the corner. He recognized it as the current generation of MJOLNIR armor. "Marines, atten-shun!" The Captain barked. At once, they all dropped what they were doing and stood at attention. Saluted snapped and Vennettilli nodded. "Very good. At ease." Hands dropped.
"Master Chief, how are you feeling? Your new suit serving you well?" "Sir, yes sir. I've never felt better in it. Much better than the Mark VI." "Very good. Now all of you will know that we've been invited to go over to the Acorn on the request of Commander West. You are to meet in the launch bay ASAP for a Pelican to take us over." "Yes sir!" they all said and filed out. "Master Chief, if I may?" "Of course, sir." "Where's Cortana, Spartan?" "On the bridge. She and the ship's AI are configuring. Captain Perry thinks that we can optimize the ship's preformance or send her over to the Acorn to provide assistance." "I see. OK Chief, get moving." "Yes sir, thank you sir."
Ryan and Kaiden were down in the firing range. As usual Percy was pumping rounds from every weapon that was available to him. There was so much smoke in the room that the fans couldn't filter all of it out in time. He sent a Marine to the medsuite because of blown ear drums and was threatened to be kicked out five times. It was the Captain who saved his ass on that one.
They entered the range and instantly spotted Ryan hefting his tademark AIE-486H firing full auto. They tried calling his name but the noise of hot gas was blinding him. Finally they decided to just grab him around the collar and drag him protesting out into the hall.
The only ones who refused to go were Rouge and Jolee. Rouge just recently took a shower and said that she had a report to finish up for ONI. She shut the door in their face when Ryan pointed out how pointless it was to write a report when nobody was going to recieve it, plus he made a comment that was never to be repeated about her shower. "I wonder how much longer you're going to keep her for?" Sally said under her breath.
The other person who refused to come was Jolee. He had a much more solid reason. He was in the ship's dojo teaching other Marines and Navy personnel. When Chris saw Corporal Claire Poisson again he realized that he was instructing the Psy Ops Division. He then made connections that Bindo was teaching them about the Jedi training methods. It gave the Captain pleasant thoughts to think that there would eventually be Jedi under the UNSC banner. "I would like to come but my students come first sonny. I know you understand, right?" "I get you Jolee. Make sure they don't kill themselves."
The Pelican Omega 321 was fully repaired by this time and was used to ferry the guys to the other vessel. Flight Officer Gavin "Suicide" Bridge was the man to get them there. The Princess naturally requested that she take copilot since she loved everything about flying, even in space. "You know the ins and outs of spaceflight, Highness?" Bridge asked, himself a veteren on 120 combat missions during his 30-odd years in military service. "Definetly. You're going to want to activate your belly jets and retract the landing gear?" "Correct. Next?" "Next you'll want to bring the dropship a healthy 5 meters off the ground and increase at 60 kilometers an hour before heading full burn when you exit the bay." "Whoa..." Bridge said, impressed. "I've been around Pelicans before Flight Officer. Just need to treat her right." She said tapping the dash.
Bridge raised the Pelican off the ground until the altimeter showed four meters. However, this seemed to fuel the squirrel's smugness. Chris and his team stood aft in the troop bay. They were knocking knees just to pass time while Bridge got them set up. Suddenly, they jerked to the right meaning that they were now on the move. There was a slight moment of freefall but that disappeared when the mini gravity generator kicked in. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be docking with the Acorn in approximately 7 minutes. Get comfortable until then."
Sally got unrestricted view of the space out here. In the distance, the Super-Jupiter planet was illuminated by the system star. The Princess could just make out a beautiful set of rings around it, glowing slightly. She unhooked NICOLE from her belt and used the built in camera to snap a photo. "That's a keeper. Why don't we make that our Christmas card?" Bridge smiled slightly at the AI's humor. "Sorry, she has little quirks in her programming." Sally apologized. "No need. You realize how often we get an AI with a bona fide personality and not a deadpan voiceover? Vegas Odds."
The Pelican did a little roll which gave a cool view from the portholes. The gigantic gas planet dominated the sky with it's blue sheen. A storm five times the size of Earth dominated the lower arbitrary hemisphere. Even from this distance of over 5,400,712 kilometers, lightning strikes were easily visible. The Acorn grew from a tiny dot to a much larger ship. The 200 meter vessel was a little less than half the size of the Phoenix but nevertheless boasted a couple Hellcats for defense. She had an angular but elegant style typical of Mobian/Human hybrids. The bold lettering Acorn stood out with her hull classification FFG-3216. "That's the year I was born." Sally said breathlessly. "Yeah. They missed you Princess. A handful of us humans on board but mainly Mobians. I'm taking us in, hang on."
"Acorn this is Omega 321. Requesting permission to dock, over." "Docking permission accepted Omega 321. Put her down on Pad 2. She'll be illuminated for you." "Thanks a lot. Omega 321 out." There was a blue strobing light ahead. On closer inspection it was actually an airlock that had the number 2 spray-painted onto it. Bridge aligned the Pelican so it matched the Acorn's velocity and inertia. He carefully set down and popped the hatch on the docking tube.
In the troop bay, a hatch cycled open in the center of the dropship and gravity cut out. Everyone yelped in surprise as the slightest motion sent them spinning. "I've never seen a hatch like that before." Miles said using his tails to propel him in freefall. "They're used mainly to dock with ships smaller than a Prowler. Not very stealthy to have a dropship stand out against an ablative hull." Chris said. "We go alphabetically. Kaiden, this may sound silly but I don't even know your last name." "I come from the Mandalorian clan Ordo. Kaiden Ordo's my name."
They all climbed through the bridge in freefall. Each one of them pulled through until they emerged and tumbled from the tube. "First time through the tube?" a voice asked. All of them stood to attention as they recognized the figure as Commander West. The three golden bars and a single star said it all. "Ma'am. Reporting as ordered, ma'am!" The Captain said saluting. West smiled but looked at the Princess. "It's good to see you again, Highness." "Good to be back, Commander. Well let's get this show on the road."
The Acorn would qualify as the smallest ship ever designed for combat. Actually her main weapon was speed and discretion. Since she was 200 meters long, she was fast. Her armament was nothing to laugh at either. The frigate had top of the line weaponry with some indigenous tech sprinkled on top.
There were MAC cannons there that fired a different type of round. The usual MAC slug was a cigar-shaped bar of Depleted Uranium that hurtled at 9/10ths the speed of light. These slugs if they could be called that were cannonball-shaped projectiles that holed ships. Also interesting since the gun was smaller, less time between shots occurred. A rotating mechanism allowed another round to be loaded while another fired. All in total, there were four new MACs. Combinations of Archer missiles and proton torpedoes were scattered throughout the firing bay. Technicians of both species were lifting them into firing tubes. As usual, there were point defense railguns and even pulse lasers. The ship may have been half the length of one, but she could put up as good a fight as a destroyer.
Kylie West's ears twitched happily. "I remember when we picked this baby up from Kuat, we were ambushed by pirates just outside the system. Perry had the Phoenix of on a reconnaissance run so we were pretty much on our own. We held off three ships almost twice our size and we didn't even have a scratch on the hull! They figured they'd had enough of us and jumped out of system. T'was a good day indeed." "Statement: I find the Acorn's arsenal to be quite pleasing, Master. Perhaps we can utilize it in combat? Can I blast the Sith for you?" HK-24 asked with his vocabulator warbling in excitement. "We'll see." Chris said back.
The Navigation room was located dead center in the boat with a holographic galaxy map that was based on existing technology in the ship. It was built entirely by the Earth humans though as they all noticed the UNSC aesthetics. A holographic map of the galaxy was about the size of a small car and was eerily translucent. "Accurate within 57 parsecs, not that we've ever used it much." West said with a chuckle. The map operator zoomed in on their position. Just like the map on the Phoenix showed, they were nowhere special, save for the lonely star system they were near.
"Can you scan for other planet out here?" Kaiden asked. "Occasionally, Mandalorian scouts ventured into the reaches of unknown space for adventure and honor. Sadly, not many have returned." The operator wheeled around at this question. His tail was twitching excitedly to talk about the subject. "We've started searches ever since we jumped in. So far, all we've found was this system. We're supposed to get probes back within the next forty-five minutes though." Then, he whirled back to continue scanning. Commander West then said, "Do you want to see what the Acorn is famous for?"
It was beautiful on the dorsal hull of the ship; there was a thirty-foot room that had 12-inch thick windows all around. The golden nebula showed through and gave the best sight they could have ever asked for. This was the observation dome. Tables and chairs were placed around while potted plants gave some atmosphere. "The Acorn is proposed to be a private military/royal vessel by the senior crew and myself." West said bouncing on her heels excitedly. "The RSS Immaculate also accomplishes that role but the fly in the ointment is that it's too damn big! The Acorn wishes to accomplish that by ferrying diplomats and the Royal family. They'd have great views and great protection." Sally nodded her head. "Father would approve. One question though: What happens when you get in a firefight? I've seen bullets chew through foot-thick windows before."
West smiled. "I'll show you. Stand back behind the line, please." She ordered them all. The Marines got behind the black and yellow line when she slammed a button on the wall. Thick metal plates slammed over the windows in an instant but making minimal noise. There was a humming noise and red light filled the room. "Those plates close on the outside too; six inches thick on both. That humming you're hearing is a magnetic field generated just around the perimeter of the room. There's almost no risk of decompression in case the hull gets breached here. Ironically, it's the safest place on the ship. "This baby's got it all!" Rouge said. "She'll make a fine addition to the fleet!" "Glad you think so, Agent Rouge."
They were invited to stay for dinner as well. Perry was persuaded to keep them on the ship a bit longer. "Have you ever been in anything larger than a skirmish, Commander?" Chris asked in the Officer's club. "No we have not." Kylie said with her ears drooping slightly. "I've fought against the Sith though, so I know what to do, Chris. It's just that the Acorn is a much smaller ship." "Judging from what's under the hood, I don't think you have anything to worry about." "I'm glad you think so. Heh, the last thing I want my first time on the job is to go and have my ship blown up. You know I have to accomplish two tasks at once? I have to fly and shoot! Just like the old fighter sims, huh?" "Yeah, but you're in space." "Fair point. What I'm trying to say though is that the job is just pressuring though."
"Who nominated you for the position then?" Chris asked in between bites of his meal. He had always assumed that West volunteered. "Perry did. He could have picked one of the Briggs brothers but no, he had to pick me." "Why?" Sally asked who too was in the lounge. "Well, I think he thought that a Mobian ship with a largely Mobian crew needs a Mobian captain. He just doesn't learn, does he? You know he's never been to Mobius before?" "No, I never knew that." The Captain said. "I think he's prejudiced against us. I was the only Mobian in that bridge crew and he shipped me over here when he could have taken one of the Briggs. They're more qualified with this job than I am. I'll do it…but that doesn't mean I'm happy with it."
Chris finished. He was sympathetic for the Commander. His inner good guy nudged to the front. "Commander, I'll have a talk with the Captain. Maybe I can work something out and have you transferred back." "Oh, I never said that. I just don't feel right for the command position. Serving on a Mobian ship for me is an extreme act of patriotism!" "OK, I'll talk to Perry. Maybe he'll listen to me. No promises though, Commander." She nodded though. "Thank you, Captain."
"Do you think you can really convince Perry to change Kylie's position?" Sally asked when they exited the O-Club. "Hey, I said no promises. Let's round up the guys before the captain has our ass in a sling."
It turned out that they were all in the mess hall fraternizing with the rest of the crew. Tails, Rouge and Bunnie were happy to be among brethren again. If Chris' eyes weren't deceiving him, he spotted Kaiden talking to a group of females predominantly Mobian with one foot on the table. "Mandalorian! Down, boy!" Chris called. Ordo reeled back at once and saluted smartly, but he winked at the ladies. "This is getting way too weird." Chris said. "We need to get off this ship before us pinkies start going native in more than one way." "Oh, what's wrong with that?" "I'm different. I'm probably crazy for jumping under the covers with you. Ryan I can forgive, but Kaiden is an honor bound creature! How did they break him down?"
He pushed that thought out of his mind. "Marines of the 182nd Division, 5th Battalion! Front and center!" They all grouped in front of the Captain and saluted. "Sergeant Johnson, how were my men?" "Sir, they couldn't have been better. I guess it was a more familiar atmosphere. Are we pulling out, sir?" "Yes we are." "Alright maggots! Haul ass! Move OUT!" HK-24 was last to move but he paused. "Statement: Master, I don't know if this is relevant to our current situation but I am detecting a high amount of radiation against the background levels originating about a few light years away from here. I tapped into the ship's scanner array for this task of course."
"Tails!" "Yeah, sir?" "Do Chaos Emeralds emit radiation?" "Yeah. Beta and Gamma rays. Why?" "It looks like we have a target."
"Bridge. Get us out of here, on the double!" Chris said climbing back into the Pelican. Bridge had fallen asleep at the controls with his visor draped over his eyes. He also polarized the canopy so no wandering eyes could peek in. However, when the Marines climbed back into the dropship and sealed the hatch, the Flight Officer was all business. "Right? Right! Alright, buckle up ladies and gentlemen! How was your little excursion?" "Peachy." Sally said and the Marines scoffed.
The Pelican detached and sped through space. The ships were only ten kilometers distant so it wasn't a long trip. The Phoenix was barely a speck in the distance and they only made her out by the sun reflecting off her hull. "OK, kids. Approaching vector locked in. Flight Tower this is Suicide, requesting permission to dock, over." "Docking permission granted Suicide. Take her in through Door 4. We'll leave the light on for you. Over and out."
The Phoenix activated holographic landing lights which guided slow moving ships, like dropcraft and shuttles into hangers and none of this 'coming in hot' stuff. Flight Officer Bridge guided Omega 321 into the launch bay. A marshal waved his light sticks backwards telling Bridge to keep edging forward. The nacelles tilted upwards pushing them to the deck. The marshal told the pilot to cut his engines before giving him thumbs up. "Welcome home everyone!" "Thanks a lot, Bridge." The Captain said clapping him on the shoulder. Satisfied, Suicide unclipped his safety harness to finish his rotation.
"HK-24 discovered background radiation way higher than the system's standard approximately 3.22 light years away, give or take a few AUs or so." Tails said. "Addendum: It should be known that that approximation does not account for elevation. I was quite specific in my calculations. The radiation emits from a satellite body 3.22 light years away bearing fifty seven degrees by seventy eight degrees." "Callows?" Perry asked. "Hang on, sir. That puts our signal…somewhere around here."
A galactic map appeared on main screen holographically. The map zoomed in on the arm they were in and pinpointed the location in the X, Y and Z axes. "That's not even a full day's trip by Slipspace." Perry said. "How fast can we get there with Hyperspace?" "Five hours." "Hot damn." The Captain said bouncing in his seat. "Get us there." "Aye, sir. Attention Acorn, this is Phoenix. We are sending you jump coordinates. Do you copy?" "I copy you Phoenix. We'll be ready for you in a second." That stirred Chris' memory.
"Captain I was hoping to talk to you for a moment." "Hmm?" Perry said noticing Vennettilli. "I wanted to talk to you about Commander West." "What about it?" "She asked me to talk to you, sir." Perry's brow furrowed. "What for? We can talk over the COM, can't we?" "I don't think she feels comfortable about this. She asked me to talk to you about a possible reassignment."
That raised an eyebrow. "A reassignment? To where?" Chris said, "Well, she does still want to remain aboard the Acorn for patriotic reasons but she doesn't feel ready for the command position, sir." "That doesn't make sense. I thought she would make a great leader." "Evidently she doesn't share that opinion. She believes one of the Briggs would be better candidates."
Perry exhaled and took the cap off his head. He looked at the Briggs twins and said after biting his lip, "I'll have to think about it, Captain. I am the commanding officer of this group but…I…I'll think about it." "And sir? I don't mean to pry but West mentioned you've never been to Mobius." "She'd be right. I've never had the time to go. Sure, call me xenophobic towards those furries but I'd go willingly." Despite his honest words, the Mobians in his squad flinched. "Sir, Anthros." "What? Oh right, sorry!" "Sir, we are ready to make the jump. Awaiting your command." The navigator on the Acorn said. "Let's burn sky, people!" "Confirmed. Lightspeed engaged." The outside stars streaked in fiery lines and a blue tunnel appeared. "ETA five hours thirty six minutes and counting sir." Callows said. "Now, I've already got a plan for this. Three teams go in via cargo drop. Captain Vennettilli, your team goes in first." Chris nodded. "Aye, Captain." The others stood to.
"Second squad is Captain Banks and his squad of Helljumpers. He's looking to repay the favor you did on Tatooine, son." "I'm happy to be working with Tyrell again, sir." "Good. The third team we added in at the last moment. The 5th Psy Ops Division will be deployed as well. Jolee did a good job training them and thanks to Miles Prower and one Mobian Sergeant named Fredric Darniér, we have a chance with some makeshift laser swords. I believe you've met Mr. Dariniér, Captain?" "I have. Nice kid."
"Any questions? Any at all? This is your last chance." Nothing came up. "Very well then. Captain, take your men and suit up. This is the big one. I doubt that we're going to walk away from this unscathed." He held out his hand. The Human shook it. "Good luck, and Godspeed, Marine. To all of you as well." Perry said. The squad saluted. Chris saluted finally and said, "Marines! Let's go, double time! This is it! We're going home soon!"