I was able to get Chapter II out fairly quickly. Hope you enjoy. I'd love some feedback with these stories!
Chapter II: The Nemesis II
As Captain Ellior fastened the last button on his uniform, he looked in front of the mirror before him. Finally. Finally he can prove himself in battle. He had always wanted to head off to the Terran Sector to fight the war and now was his chance. He expected himself to be excited about the upcoming mission, but something loomed in the back of his mind. James couldn't quite put his finger on it, but an uneasy feeling choked away what excitement he did feel.
No, he couldn't let fear overcome this. This was what he always dreamed of doing. Here was his moment, his dream come alive. He must concentrate on the mission, not of feelings that stirred inside of him.
Stepping away from the mirror inside his small apartment, he took one last glance around at the familiar surroundings, Ellior had always been a fairly clean person, and the last remnants of clothing had been hung up or placed inside the suitcase that now lay open across his bed.
Walking over to the suitcase, he gave it a hard shove and released the pressure as the lid clicked shut. Grabbing it in his left hand, he strode out of the apartment with his pride and dignity held high. None of his neighbors knew where he was going or what he was doing, yet still he felt proud to be finally able to make a difference even without the publicity of his actions.
Within ten minutes he had arrived via public transport to the UED HQ. Entering the level that would take him up to the hangar, the lift rapidly began its ascent.
As the doors to the life opened, a young assistant took the suitcase and walked briskly to the APOD-33 dropship that sat inside the hangar. Captain Ellior strode towards the shuttle slowly. James made his way up the ramp that led into the APOD-33 shuttle and as the doors hissed shut behind him, he whispered a silent goodbye to the world around him and prepared to enter a whole new world.
Ellior glanced out the window of the shuttle as the Nemesis II came into view. Battlecruisers had always fascinated James Ellior with their size. The titanic ships held thousands of crew personnel and even a full garrison of marines within its holds. The hangars were capable of holding three squadrons of Wraith fighters, yet only one was to escort this particular battlecruiser.
They could have equipped us with at least one more squadron of fighters, James thought to himself. But you can never get what you want from the UED, unless it somehow lowers expenses on their part.
The huge Behemoth-class battlecruisers were littered with laser turrets and had countless armor plates of hard neosteel protecting the hull that could withstand multiple hits from gunfire and missiles alike. A unique feature found only on the Behemoth-class battlecruisers was the Yamato cannon. This new device attached onto the nose of the ship and fired a small, concentrated nuclear blast in a laser shot that did devastating amounts of damage on the target it hits, without doing any damage to the surrounding area, unlike conventional nuclear warheads. The downside to the cannon was the tremendous use of energy required to fire it, which drastically reduced the rate of fire down to nearly three to five minutes per shot. Yet with a large fleet of these cruisers, a colony or military base could be destroyed within a matter of minutes.
After a few minutes the shuttle docked with the slow-moving battlecruiser that orbited the planet. Admiral Cyric, who was escorted by four armed marine guards, greeted Captain James Ellior as he exited the shuttle.
"Welcome aboard the Nemesis II," stated the Admiral, "It is an honor to have you and your squadron with us."
"I thank you for your kind welcome. The rest of my squadron will arrive in a few minutes."
Admiral Cyric nodded his head. "Very good. Your fighters have been transported to the ship already and are prepared for whenever you might need them."
"If all goes as planned, then that will not be the case." James replied.
Cyric nodded and gestured with his hand into the depths of the vessel. "Allow me to give you a small tour of our little ship."
"I would be delighted," said the Captain with a smile.
Ellior had been inside plenty of battlecruisers in the past, so he expected to see the usual. The corridors were fairly tight, just enough for two men to pass each other, unless they were suited up inside their standard issue combat armor. Should such a need arise, various arrows pointed in different directions through the corridors signifying what direction the hallway was meant to be used for, as to avoid confusion in a state of battle.
As they winded through the various hallways they finally came to a halt at a large door. Cyric entered some numbers into a keypad to the left of the door, which beeped in response to the Admiral's input. The door parted and revealed another vast hangar that seemed almost empty except for the Captain's squadron of fighters and a few technicians milling around tinkering with the ships.
The fighters looked like an upright T with the cockpit located in the crossing point of the T. The ships were armed with three burst laser cannons, one on each tip, and a full load of Gemini air-to-air missiles. A few of the fighter squadrons, including James' own 21st Reserve Squadron, had been recently upgraded with the fairly new cloaking device. This device, using a standard, compact, nuclear generator, had the capability of rendering a ship completely invisible to the human eye and even sophisticated radar. The lasting time was only about ten minutes, but was enough to get the job done undetected.
Admiral Cyric cut the silence. "Captain Ellior, this is Hangar B. This is where your fighters will be stationed at all times. You and your squadron will be given clearance codes to enter this hangar as soon as the rest of your men arrive onboard. Only your squadron and the technicians assigned to your fighters, along with me, are given access to this hangar. Understood?"
"Yes sir, perfectly." James replied back.
After the Admiral showed Captain Ellior the rest of the ship, including the command bridge, mess hall, and various other small parts that made up the ship, he escorted James Ellior to the room that he was going to be staying in.
The room was rather small, yet included what looked to be a comfortable bed, a small table in the corner, and a few pictures of various places on Earth. The washroom was located at the far corner and included the basic necessities.
The Admiral looked at Ellior. "This is where you'll be staying. If you need anything, there is a phone on the table there where you can call my assistant, Lieutenant Emmit. She will get you anything that you require."
"Thank you." was James' reply.
"We will head out towards the Terran Sector in a few hours. You may call a meeting at any time with your squadron mates and fill them in to what our mission is. There are a few training simulators for your boys if they need to brush up on their skills before we enter the Terran Sector. At top warp speed, we will arrive there in about a month. I'll inform you when we are near. Good day to you, Captain." With that the Admiral exited Ellior's room, shutting the door behind him.
The Captain, out of curiosity, decided to pick up the phone and immediately was greeted by a female voice. "Hello, Captain Ellior. What may I do for you?"
"Uh, yes, hi. Do they serve good coffee at the cafeteria?" "Let's just say that the coffee won't kill you, sir." She replied with a light chuckle in her voice.
"Well, right now my craving for a cup of coffee is strong enough that I think I will manage it."
"Very well, sir. Oh, and by the way, sir, the rest of your squadron crew has arrived onboard one of the shuttles. Just thought you might like to know, sir."
"Ok, thanks for the info, Ms. Emmit."
"You can call me Maria, sir. I've never cared for the formalities."
"Then in that case, you can call me James."
"Ok, James. I hope to see you around some time."
"I'll be looking forward to it." James then hung up the phone and headed towards the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was fairly empty when Ellior entered in, with a couple hours to go before lunch was served for the crewman of the Nemesis II. Captain Ellior walked up to the counter and asked the server for a mug of coffee, straight black. James grabbed the mug when it was brought to him then sat down in one of the chairs that surrounded many small rectangular tables placed about in the room. The coffee looked hot enough to melt his skin and indeed it felt like it when he brought it to his mouth to take a sip. The almost boiling, watered-on down coffee made Ellior believe that the UED would do almost anything to cut down costs if they couldn't even have it so you could get a decent cup of coffee.
A man then walked into the cafeteria wearing a formal marine suit, his markings on his shoulder signifying his rank of Lieutenant. The man was short, with slightly broad shoulders, and looked to be in the late twenties. He had blonde, cropped hair with a small goatee on his chin. His blue eyes were fixed on the server at the counter as he walked over to order something. Captain Ellior immediately recognized his wingman and long-time best friend. He waved in the direction of the Lieutenant, who responded with a nod, picked up his own mug of coffee, then went to join the now standing Captain.
"Lieutenant Greg Hammel," James acknowledged with a shake of Hammel's hand, "It is good to see you made it up here fairly quickly."
"Well, it would've been much quicker if the stupid shuttle pilot hadn't accidentally deleted the clearance codes off his memory computer that was needed to grant access to the battlecruiser. After finally being able to land, every person aboard the shuttle had to be checked because of 'security measures'," the Lieutenant said with a shake of his head. "And quit the formalities, James. We've only known each other for what, fifteen years?"
"Yeah, yeah, don't remind me," replied the Captain with a sarcastic grin on his face.
Looking down at his coffee, Greg asked, "So how's the coffee here?"
Ellior gave a small chuckle. "Let's just say if I happened to spill the coffee, it would melt through this table."
"That bad, huh?"
"So how's your family doing?" James Ellior asked curiously as they both took their seats at the table.
"Eleanor is doing just fine. Our son just turned one month old. I just wish I could be there with him, watch him grow up."
James looked at Greg. "Hey, you know this is the right thing to do. You're protecting his future. I think he will understand that when he's older."
Greg nodded in agreement as he took a sip of his coffee. "I know. I try to remind myself that what I'm doing here, leaving my family behind to go fight a war against two seemingly unstoppable enemies, is to try and protect my son's right to live, his rights as a human being. What we do now can save humanity for eons to come."
Ellior replied with a slap on Hammel's shoulder. "Now that's the kind of talking I like to here. See how much better things look when you're more optimistic?"
"I just hope it's not all in vain." "Ah, man!" Ellior replied as he slapped his forehead in frustration. "You just blew it!"
"Yeah, well, you're overwhelming optimism needs to be balanced out every now and then with my pessimism," Greg replied with a small, sarcastic grin.
James laughed in response and then they continued to talk about various things at home that they were now leaving behind because of the mission that loomed ahead of them.