The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 4: State Of Alert

Peters was not a happy Captain. The fire in Devonshire's graving dock was easy to put out, they just exposed the area to vacuum as soon as they could, and the SAR Paladin variant had successfully rescued all the construction workers before their skinsuits went OBE, though eight of the crew would be spending a lot of time in sickbay recovering from a combination of frostbite and heat burns, a combination that could only happen in space. But Devonshire was wounded, fire damage had destroyed a lot of cabling and the primary computer core, which would have to be completely replaced. Not only that but the graving dock itself would need to be completely refitted before it could be used again. Not just because every safety system had been deliberately compromised by persons unknown, but Peters was willing to bet on a group of NID operatives, but they had left several 'surprises' behind for the repair crews. Her best engineer, a Commander Hutchinson, a man who was often compared to Star Treks Scotty for his genius for engineering matters was dead, killed by a claymore hidden behind an extinguisher access panel. Several more such devices had been found, and EOD were having a field day all over the station. Who ever the moles were, and it could only be a group, no single person could manage this much chaos, had obviously been putting pieces into place for months.

Peters sighed as she felt the station give the characteristic shudder which meant a large vessel was cutting loose from the station, which would be Persephone, taking another group of non-essential personnel to a secure facility, RSS Coalmine she thought it was for this group. All non-essential personnel were being evacuated, with so many unauthorised explosive packages being discovered, with safety systems across the station in doubt, hell with security so compromised Peters was half expecting to see Thundersdawn's spec's in tomorrows Times newspaper, it was the only choice really. Thundersdawn was effectively off-line.

GC, RSS/RAF St Athan

Admiral Thompson was not a happy bunny either, in fact he was way beyond angry, in that small grey area where the voice is calm, the manner controlled, the senses clear and only the slight tic of the eye muscles, and the red fiery glint in the eyes to let the world know that this four star Admiral was ticked off. The Williams twins had seen all the signs and were trying hard to point the fallout in a meaningful direction, which they were beginning to think, would be any direction where they weren't and where the NID was, preferably.

"Any idea whom the NID agents on Thundersdawn are?" Thompson said his voice too calm, his hands folded placidly on the desk.
"Analysis suggests at least one person in every department, Admiral" Sarah said, watching Thompson carefully.
The Admirals eye ticked, that was a Bad sign.
"Every department you say? Including security?"
"Yes, Admiral. Probably several in security"
Thompson smiled tightly, "Several in security, which makes sense I suppose" The Williams twins glanced sideways at each other, mentally making the same comment, 'he's smiling? Oh shit!' There was a reason Thompson had been given the call sign Elemental by the flyboys, he was the perfect incarnation of the old saying, "Beware the fury of a patient man". He could take anything, all the crap that would cause most people to lose their cool would be water of a ducks back, but push the right button… The flyboys of the RAF and the RNFAA had found this out the hard way, and afterwards, when they recovered they had called him the sixth elemental after Water, Air, Fire, Earth and some parts of the world would add Wood. Right now, the Admiral was heading towards Elemental. "Remind me again, what's the penalty for sabotage and arson in space?"
"Depends on when and where they're caught, if they caught whilst the ship is in combat or on mission, they will taste vacuum. Still could, even if that's not the case. It wasn't that long ago that you can hang for arson in a naval dockyard dirtside"
The tic returned to Thompson's face, and the Williams twins almost breathed a sigh of relief, the explosion had been averted for now at least.
"Good, what about the other facilities?" Joan reached for her PDA and began glancing through the reports that were coming in, "Coalmine reports all clear, no indications; Minehead reports all clear officially but there's a P4 tag, requesting further background checks on 7 enlisted and 3 officers in particular"
Joan looked up from the PDA, "There has to be NID on base here, it doesn't make sense for there not to be, we're running another set of background checks and security will be doing a round of surprise inspections and random searches but we don't expect any immediate results"
"Keep security on an increased state of alert, and co-ordinate with Taskforce Lucifer, and remember to keep the buggers away from me 'cos I'll rip them apart with my bare hands if I get a hold of the bloody bastards!" Thompson spat out, his eye ticking like crazy.
'You and everyone else' Joan and Sarah added silently.

Notes:
OBE: Overcome By Events
EOD: Explosives Ordinance Disposal, the 'bomb' disposal experts.
RNFAA: Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
P4: Personal For