"Warning From Home"

The trip home was not as bright as one would expect from a victorious battle, the back of the Goblin dropship was silent and empty save for the two Pilots sitting opposite sides of the ship. Alan wasn't the one to often strike up conversation, but now would be the worst time for it anyways. The only other survivor had her head buried in her hands with her helmet thrown to the back of the vessel out of rage some time earlier. She had no words, no tears, not even the face of confusion and pain, Katie, after realizing everything going on, sat with a blank expression while her mind did its best to process the sudden information and stress.

Alan rested his eyes and leaned back into his seat while the ship dodged and weaved around bits of debris here and there but it did not disturb him too much. Almost asleep, it wasn't until the transport jerked to a halt and gently touched down. After a few moments of waiting, the doors hissed open and the two Pilots were greeted by the surroundings of metal and machine. Crew paced back and forth getting prepared for yet another fight should it come, but the hangar was otherwise rather calm. Unfortunately for the two Pilots, a mixed entourage of Spectres and security were the first to meet them first.

"Miss Goodwin, Alan," Vanessa greeted, the latter of the names being spoken with disdain and displeasure," Welcome back from the operation. 'Security Team Two', please escort our new guest to her temporary quarters until I call for her, I must speak to our own Pilot for just a moment." She ordered, holding her hands behind her back while the security team left the Pilot, Commander, and the team of Spectres alone. After a good minute or two their little 'talk' began, "Come with me, Pilot, I believe we must discuss the… 'Terms and reasons' behind your actions." She stated as the four Spectres still around her then surrounded the both of them.

"I don't follow." Alan admitted, "You mean missing evac?"

"Partially." Vanessa answered before starting her walk out of the hangar while the Spectres pushed Alan along quite forcefully. "I gave the instruction to withdraw from the field due to the unforeseen arrival of that new Militia Carrier, but still you continued to search for a fight."

"Well I found a few answers to our problems."

"I am well aware, I watched through the sights of your friend's Titan."

"They got away, what else could I do?" Alan asked, telling his friend and commanding officer about his findings during the battle. He can't say he was surprised or necessarily cared, but to even go as far as to backstab and kill their own friend and leave another alone to mourn while they escaped was heartbreaking to say the least. At least for Alan, his team still respected their comradery enough to let each other go when they declared their defection, but meeting them on the battlefield again was just a stroke of bad luck.

"Nothing. If I were any other officer, I might be in admiration of your willingness to fight and get the job done, but I'm not." The woman said as they both continued to march on to whatever their destination may be. The rest of the crew went so far as to actively avoid getting in their way for one reason or another, others, such as the combat personnel of regular pilots and grunts stood at attention until they passed. Vanessa must have certainly done something while Alan was away because not another soul dared to look her in the eye when she passed.

"I don't like where this is going."

"Oh please, I can forgive the slight insubordination," She began with a raised, but irritated voice, "All things considered: Our history, your achievements, revealing the mercenaries that broke contract, even the sudden arrival of the new enemy vessel that more or less smashed through what resistance we had left. But I cannot tolerate anyone disobeying orders this early in my career, even for you, there must be some punishment." She said as she began typing away on a datapad she had with her, "You're lucky, Alan, you are an asset that even I myself consider too valuable to simply be locked away while we suffer considerable defeat after defeat. Either way, I'm assigning you a personal escort of Spectres, they can keep up with your movements, and won't waste valuable manpower. Everywhere you go, they will follow and drag you back if need be." She finished, taking the Pilot to her personal quarters.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Commander, but you do know that they can be destroyed pretty easily."

"Oh, I know, but they aren't going to be there to overpower you, they're going to be there to tell me about what happens to you. If they are all destroyed, so be it, I trust you enough to still follow my instructions unless a there is a sufficient reason not to."

"Alright, well what now?"

"Now, we wait. We are down to fifteen percent of our supplies, the rest of the damaged fleet needs protection while they repair, and we have lots of wounded to take care of. Just do what your normally do between deployments, I'll be somewhere around carrying a few others on my back because they can't do anything themselves."

"Did something happen while I was gone?" Alan asked, taking the obvious bait for conversation.

"Oh, there are lots of things going on in the background while the rest of you are on the ground: Bargaining, insults, criticism, debates, that sort of thing. I've learned that there aren't too many officers willing to take even the smallest of risks."

"And you?"

"I have played the greatest card in my hand. Although our results from the operation were 'meager' at best, with the number of losses and all, we did achieve our goal in crushing a vast quantity of the Milita's forces here. Any future invasion or takeover have been postponed for now."

"What about the ship that got through?"

"We've identified it as the 'MCS Stockton', destination and point of origin are unknown, but wherever its going, it will meet its demise by my command."

By now, they arrived at Vanessa's office, two of the Spectres remained outside while the other pair stood close behind Alan as both the Pilot and officer found seats for themselves. "Probably not the best idea to let a personal grudge get to you." Alan suggested to Vanessa.

"It's not, but when I said the ship smashed through our defenses, that was somewhat literally. It rammed and ultimately destroyed one of our sister ships. Personally, I don't mind one way or another about how that carrier is destroyed, but I do hope we come around and meet them again." Vanessa agreed, "Now, run along and do whatever it is you do while we wait, but prepare yourself for future deployments, I feel that it may be sooner than either of us expect." She said as Alan turned around to leave. "Oh, one more thing, I know you received just a slap on the wrist, but next time I will not hesitate to use force, understood?"

The Pilot nodded, walking out the door and was followed by the four Spectres who would be keeping a watchful eye on him for as long as they were operational.

- ( o ) -

In the heart of the ship was the buzzing and screeching of engineering equipment moving crates of supplies around to be unloaded while torches and other tools for repair worked tirelessly. The ones in charge, the engineers and other assisting crew, seemed to have been working non-stop by the evidence of a few individuals sleeping on chairs, the ground, their breakroom, wherever they could that wasn't in the way of their work. Those that were up were not very pleased with the workload thrown on them, but even they kept their senses sharp and worked hard to maintain their reputable status regarding their high 'quality' of work.

"Optics are almost shattered, gyros in the joints are cracked, and you managed to slightly fuse the reactor together to the chassis." The engineer said before turning to Alan, "Do you have any idea how hard it's going to be to get this thing operational. We're already running low on supplies, and the ship comes first, you do know that, right?" Alan was asked. He came to engineering to see if his Titan had survived or was even extracted from the field and fortunately for him, it was, but in a poor condition.

"It was necessary." Alan defended himself. He probably could have played it a little safer in hindsight, but at the time his only support was a handful of infantry squads and a long-range sniper, had he not gone out and dealed what damage he could, they might have been wiped out in the process.

"it's reckless! These things don't just shut down and turn off, if you run them hot, they explode." The engineer went on.

"But you can fix it?"

"Christ." The man mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose, "The best we can do, with the resources we have, it will be about a month before she's fully done again, so be grateful next time. So help me, if we have to fix this kind of damage again I'm just going to label her 'totaled'."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Alan waved away as he gave up and started to leave with his escort of Spectres in tow.

As he left, Alan thought about checking on Katie to see if she was still faring well, but ultimately decided not to, but once again, he was left alone save for the soulless machines that watched him go about his day. Perhaps he could just rest and recover just like everyone else on the ship, his job was done after all and he felt that he earned some respite. However, he and those of the I.M.C. Security Detachment would never expect to be ordered for redeployment days later days later, they weren't fully resupplied, nor fully repaired, but when the Miss Fortune and a handful of other capable vessels were recalled to Typhon, they departed without hesitation…


A.N.: Have to cut it a little short sorry to say.

As always, enjoy!

~Firetoast312