Cold War
by Warringer
Chapter Ten
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Admiral Bernhard von Bülow stared at the holographic screen in front of him trying to melt it with his eyes.
"Wo zum Geier sind die Kerle hin?" he muttered and his right fist impacted into the projector lens, the force behind his cybernetic arm shattering it.
The holographic screen fizzled out of existence and von Bülow started to grumble under his breath as he tried to find an answer to his own question.
Something was up near Altain and Epsilon Indi. The Soviets were pulling together their forces over the last few weeks. Just three days ago those vessels had entered Jumpspace and disappeared right before the stealthed recon ships of the Navy could follow them.
Those ships could be on their way to anywhere. They could be sitting right on top of the colonies of Tau Ceti, Epsilon and Ceti and no one would be able to tell that they where there before they chose to attack. Well, there was the possibility of attacks against the Narn and the Gaim, but Intel hadn't any pointers into that direction.
He hated the Soviets with his very life. He all too well remembered the 'Red Army Faction' around Bader and Meinhof during 70s of the 20th century and what they had done to Germany and Europe. In the end Bader, Meinhof and most of the leaders of the RAF had been able to get into the USSR and away from justice.
Because of them he had lost his brother and father, because of them he had lost his right arm. Now he wouldn't let them take Tau Ceti or any of the frontier colonies.
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Franklin grit his teeth as he linked to the datanet of the Sanchez, looking for any flag that indicated damages done to the systems.
"Damn," he muttered at the flags that were active.
The sensors of the Fusion Drives indicated that the nozzles had more holes than Swiss Cheese and that the magnetic systems were shortened. Only a complete refit would make it possible to use them, even of the Drives themselves were intact.
He cursed as he noted that the antennas and systems of the tachyon com were busted. The stress that had gone through the ship at the detonation had cracked the tank for the quantum fluid that was used to create the tachyons for the FTL communication.
And they needed to tell the NATO.
"So how bad is it?" Captain Ernando Aquilia, a young Spanish dreamer who had bought the Sanchez to make his dream come true, which happened by the way, asked.
"It looks bad, Cap. This bird will never get into space again, at least without serious work in a dry dock."
"Shit," Ernando cursed," And to get to a dock, we need to get into space."
"Pretty much. But the good thing is that the atmospheric drives are still intact. We could get into the air and get the hell away from here. I'm not wanting to get into the line of fire."
"What about our guns?"
Franklin looked at his captain.
"Cap, those are just a pair of light PPCs. They will work good against Raiders, but they won't work against a MiG or a Suchoi. All we can do is get the hell away from here and look if we can't save a few Narn."
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David sighed as he looked at the large crate that stood in a corner of the main cargo bay of the Sanchez. He never had thought that he would be forced to open it so early. He tapped a small sensory button on the side, causing it to hover an inch above the ground so he could push it into the center of the cargo bay and open it.
"And I thought, I'd never find out what you got in there," he heard a young female voice from behind and sighed.
He turned to look at Ichiko, the quarter master of the Sanchez. She was a cyborg in the body of a Japanese fifteen years old girl and a serve fetish for school uniforms. In fact her entire clothes were school uniforms of several different Japanese schools.
"Well, there was never the need to open it,. Yet anyway."
Ichiko suddenly bounced towards the cargo bay and than around the crate. David couldn't help but stare at her for a moment, as she went from adult to small girl in less than the blink of an eye.
"Can I see it? Can I see it? Can I see it?"
David groaned. Ichiko was very strange indeed.
He shook his head clear trying to ignore the bouncing cyborg and pressed another sensory button as the crate was off the wall and halfway in the center of the cargo bay.
The crate split open at its corners and fell to the ground, the content being bathed in the light of the bay.
"Wai wai wai," Ichiko emitted and lauched herself at the object.
Now David was greeted by the sight on a five foot fifteen year old trying to hug a more than three times as large Guges-D landmate. There was a meaty sound echoing through the cargo bay as David's face followed the gravity of the planet and slammed into the deck.