Hydra and Hardcore hadn't spoken in the last five minutes. Since the Cylons attacked Hardcore had found himself in some terrifying situations, this being the worst of them. He couldn't take his eyes off the DRADIS monitor in front of him. The three trailing Cylon baseships had kept close to them, well within weapons range, but so far not a single shot had been fired, much to his relief.
"For frak's sake Tommy, stop tapping your fraking foot!" Hydra snapped.
"I'm sorry," Hardcore replied, "I didn't realise I was doing it."
Hydra had pushed the Raptor's engines as hard as she could. The controls were beginning to shake in her hands. She noticed the faster she got the more the lightening in the nebula seemed to be striking next to wherever they were. She decided not to mention it to Hardcore, he was already far more nervous than she was and she was very nervous. She watched in awe as the massive strikes hit either side of her at the same time.
On Orion's CIC it was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Bojay watched the DRADIS monitor in an attempt to take his mind off what was currently happening. He looked over at Vanessa who looked way calmer than he knew she must be feeling. He jumped when the silence was broken by a huge creaking noise that could be heard in every corner of Orion. Vanessa let out a deep breath she realised she had been holding in for far too long.
"You know it's only just dawned on me that when this is all over we're going to have to do this again." Vanessa said.
Bojay gave her a nervous smile, he opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by an all too familiar voice booming over the speakers.
"Colonial Raptor, I am the Cylon known as 1 and I am in one of the Baseships directly behind you. We mean you no harm, all we want is to pass through the nebula, the same as you. Once we have reached the other side we will jump away and you will never hear from us again."
Vanessa picked up her receiver, "Cylon baseship this is Admiral Vanessa Garrett of the Battlestar Orion. If you do fire so much as one shot at my Raptor, I will hit you with everything I have when you come out this side."
"Ah Admiral, it's been so long since I heard your voice, you've been promoted, good for you." 1 replied.
"My rank is of no consequence. Did you hear my warning?" Vanessa said.
"Yes Admiral, I heard your threat. For what it's worth, you have my word we will not open fire on your people. When we reach the other side you will never see us again." he replied.
"I find that hard to believe."
"It's been a pleasure to speak to you again Admiral, I hope we never see each other again." the line went dead as he finished speaking.
Vanessa let out a laugh and smiled as she looked over at Bojay.
"So what's the plan?" he asked.
"The moment we know Hydra is on course we hit them with salvo fire and EMP's whether they fire on Hydra or not. They're the enemy and I refuse to let them get away without a fight." she replied.
"What about nukes?" Bojay asked.
"As much as I'd love to, we have no idea what nuclear explosions might do to that tunnel," Vanessa said, "We don't know if we're ever going to need it again and we'll need it if the Icarus makes it this way."
"Well okay then." Bojay replied.
Hydra let out a sigh of relief when she saw the tunnel split into two, they were nearly half way.
"What if we take the second tunnel?" Hardcore asked.
"Not a chance, there's no guarantee we wouldn't get fried by lightening," Hydra replied, "As much as I'd like to see them get hit by it, I don't want that happening to us."
"Well looks like Orion is going to have one less baseship," Hardcore said with a huge smile on his face, "One of them has decided to take a look down the other passageway. We do still have two on our arses though."
"Better than three," Hydra replied, "Orion Actual, Hydra, is this channel secure or do we have unwanted listeners?"
"Hydra, Actual, we've moved this over to a secure line, we can talk freely." Vanessa replied.
"One of the baseships has taken the second passageway. Fingers crossed they won't see the hole until the last moment." Hydra replied.
"Hydra, that's good news," Vanessa said back, "We're in position. Let us know when you make the last turn so Archangel can get into position for you."
Commander Hicks stood at the DRADIS console watching as the ships rejoined the fleet now they were clear of the black hole.
"Stop biting your nails." Colonel Doyle said.
Clara took her finger from her mouth and looked at her nails. She hadn't bitten them since she was in War College and hadn't realised she'd started doing it again.
"It's nerves, not knowing what's going on with Orion is driving me insane." Clara replied.
"A couple of baseships are no challenge for a ship like Orion." Doyle replied.
"Commander," Specialist Walsh said from the COM station, "The first of the ships that were with Orion are about to join us."
"Good," Clara replied, "Let them know to come get into position and inform me when the last of the ships have arrived."
"Yes Ma'am." Wash said.
"If they're not back when the final ship gets here, should we head back to them or at least send a couple of Viper squadrons?" Doyle asked.
"No, the last thing we want is to box Orion in if they end up in a firefight," Clara replied, "Admiral Garrett left two hundred Vipers aboard, they have more than enough fire-power. Plus we're going to need all the birds we have if they get past Orion and pick a fight with us here."
As Hydra brought her Raptor into the final part of the passageway. For the first time in nearly four hours she felt some relief as she saw Orion in front of them. She could see the final NAV marker just ahead of them. Now would be the time when they saw if the Cylons were good to their word. She quickly checked the ammo counter and saw she had just over 800 rounds left on each cannon.
"Orion, this is Hydra, we're in the final section, I can see you dead ahead. I'm about to take out the final marker." she said before taking a deep breath.
She didn't even wait for a response before opening fire with a short burst of gunfire. The small ball exploded and the Raptor's communications cut out.
Up ahead she could see Archangel moving his Viper into position.
"Orion Actual this is Archangel, I'm in position and I can see Hydra. I can see the first Baseship moving in behind her." He felt nervous for the first time in a long time.
"Major let us know when Hydra is in position." Vanessa replied.
"Will do. It looks like she's going like a bat out of hell." Archangel said.
Hydra positioned herself so she was in a perfect line with her CAG.
"Are we going a bit fast?" Hardcore asked as the entire Raptor started to shake.
"Do you want to get out of here alive?" Hydra replied.
Condition one alarms rang across Orion's CIC.
"Jawbreaker reports all Vipers are manned and in the tubes." Bojay said as he put down his handset.
"Here's hoping we don't need to launch them, there's really not much room." Vanessa replied.
"Admiral," Lt. Phillips said, "Archangel reports Hydra and the Baseship are in weapons range."
Vanessa looked up at DRAIDIS and saw Hydra's Raptor start to flicker onto the monitor from inside the tunnel, "Mr Phillips please order the Gun Captain's to open fire with Salvo and continue till they're either destroyed or they jump away."
"Yes ma'am." he replied.
As Hydra flew closer and closer to the threshold, she held her breath as she saw Orion's massive cannons open fire. She let out the breath as the fire sped past them and straight into the Baseship behind them.
"Looks like the Major was right." Hardcore said with relief.
"Isn't he always." Hydra replied.
As the fire continued to rocket past them Hydra flew the Raptor out of the tunnel like a rocket and pulled up just as the Baseship tried to return fire.
"Hydra's clear." Archangel said over the COM quickly following Hydra out of the way of the weapons fire.
"Fire everything." Vanessa yelled.
Hydra, Hardcore and Archangel watched as all of Orion's forward cannon's let rip and EMP's were launched.
The first Baseship started to break apart under the heavy fire, it had tried to return fire, but nothing seemed to be able to break through Orion's weapons fire. Moments later the Baseship exploded. Parts of it's massive arms flew into the sides of the passageway. The second Baseship, still under heavy fire managed to break through the wreckage. Unlike the first one it managed to make it to the threshold and then jumped away in a bright flash of light.
"Well that was more excitement than I needed." Hydra said.
"I hear that." Archangel replied, "Orion the surviving Baseship has jumped away. Wreckage from the first Baseship is starting to drift towards Orion, we need to start backing away ASAP."
"Archangel, Orion," Phillips replied, "You and Hydra are ordered to head back to the barn. We're heading away immediately."
"Orion, do you want me to wait out here and destroy any debris that gets too close?" Archangel replied.
There was a pause for a few moments, "Archangel, this is Actual, what is the status of your fuel?" Vanessa asked.
Archangel looked down at the fuel gage, "Just under quarter of a tank."
"Head back to the barn. We'll launch Jawbreaker and Green wing to cover us." Vanessa replied.
"No problem, we're heading in," Archangel said, "Hydra let's go home."
As Orion began to reverse along the narrow passageway between the nebula and the black hole, Archangel and Hydra headed back to the barn. They watched as Green wing launched and had to immediately pull up before they were caught in the event horizon of the black hole.
Orion's main hanger deck was quiet except for the deck gang who were bringing the Viper's that hadn't launched out of their tubes. As Archangel climbed out of his bird he saw Hydra sitting on the wing of her Raptor, while Hardcore puked his guts up on the floor. She looked up when she saw her CAG and wiped the tears away from her face. She stood up, walked over to him and threw her arms around him.
"Thank you," she said quietly, "Next time you and Bojay can do it."
Archangel laughed, "You got yourself a deal."
"I'm serious though, thank you." she said as she let go of him.
"You're welcome. When we get back to the fleet, get your ass over to the Starburst. Whatever it was that Skeeter asked you, go tell him your answer. Consider yourself off the pilot roster for the next few days, you and Hardcore have earned it."
2 Months Later
Dagger and Tripswitch flew into another planetary system.
"Running scans on the nearest planet." Penny said, sounding completely and utterly bored.
"Did you read the note from the XO?" Alisa asked her.
"Which one?" Penny said.
"The one about the Medlia coming to meet up with us in a couple of days." Alisa replied.
"Honestly, no. Knox sends out and has the XO sending out so many of them since we've been on our own that I'd rather read one of the Chief's manuals."
"Well, if you'd read it you'd know that Hunter is coming with them and he'll be staying with us for a few of days." Alisa said.
"Who the frak has he pissed off to be sent to be with us?" Penny said.
"No one, he's coming to take a look at the squadron for the Admiral. I thought you'd be happy!"
"I'll be happy when he gets here."
"Honestly, I think he's coming to watch Knox." Alisa replied.
Before Penny could say anything, the results from her scan came in.
"Holy frak," Penny said, "We've only gone and found a habitable planet." She sent the scan result forward to one of Alisa's monitors.
"Want to take a look?" Alisa asked.
"Sure do." Penny said getting up and moving up to the cockpit.
As they broke through the atmosphere they flew straight into a storm. The rain lashed down against the canopy. Lightening cracked through the sky and the wind battered the small craft about.
"Wow this is some nasty weather." Penny said.
"No worse than Aquaria." Alisa replied in a matter of fact tone.
They flew on and started to cross a continent. Suddenly a huge flash of lightening lit up the sky as if it was daytime for no more than a second.
"Did you see that?" Penny asked.
"See what?" Alisa replied.
"Bring us about." Penny replied.
As Dagger brought them about, Penny switched on the Raptor's spot lights.
"Well frak me." Alisa said.
In front of the small craft were the ruins of some kind of settlement. While most of the structures were small and it was clear no one had lived there for a very long time, there were some of the stone structures that were simply massive.
"What the fraking hell have we just stumbled upon?" Penny asked, "Do you think it could have been Earth?"
"No this is something else. We can't see the Colonies from here, so it can't be Earth, but someone or something has definitely lived here. We need to get back to the ship and tell the Commander what we've found." Alisa replied.
Archangel lay in bed wide awake. He'd been awake for about an hour but couldn't summon up the energy to actually get out of bed. In his entire career he had never been so bored. Since they made it through the passageway there had been no Cylon activity at all. Everything had been running smoothly, CAP's, meetings, rotas, briefings, training all over and over. He turned to see Vanessa still fast asleep. This was the best part of his day, then it all went downhill until the end of the day when he snuck back into her quarters and then everything started again. He quickly and quietly got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed, is this what a normal life was going to be? He had always wondered what it would be like. What did "normal" feel like? How did people cope? He wasn't sure this new normal was for him. As he started shaving Vanessa walked into the bathroom.
"Morning." she said through a yawn.
"Morning," he replied, "Sorry, did I wake you?"
"I just need to pee and then I'm going back to bed, the Admiral has a day off." she replied.
"Good, you deserve it." he replied.
"What time do you head to the Medlia?"
"After lunch. I need to speak to Wedge this morning and then go pack a bag." he said.
"Will you come see me before you go?" she asked as she nudged him out of the way of the sink so she could wash her hands.
"Of course I will." he replied.
"Good," she said with a smile, "I'll miss you while you're away."
"I'll miss you too." he replied.
"Just don't have too much fun with Dagger and Tripswitch."
"I'll be surprised if Knox doesn't have her in hack." he replied laughing.
"Well if she is, I give you my authority to break her out and bring her back here if she wants." Vanessa replied.
"I'll give her the option, but prying her apart from Stark would be harder than me taking on a Baseship with just my Viper." Archangel replied.
"Well have fun regardless," she replied giving him a kiss, "I'm going back to bed."
Commander Knox, Colonel Adrian North, the Trinity XO along with Dagger and Tripswitch all stood around the command console in Trinity's CIC looking through gun camera pictures of the deserted settlement.
"Fascinating, utterly fascinating." Knox said as he looked through them.
"Were these the only ruins you found?" North asked.
"Honestly, we didn't look very far. We were down to virtually zero visibility and because of the weather it was getting worse. It doesn't look like the weather down there is going to be getting any better any time soon. It might be an idea to get the Medlia to have a look." Alisa replied.
"We should send a Raptor back to the fleet, let them know what we've found." North said.
"No," Knox replied, "By the time a Raptor makes it back there on their own, the Medlia will already be here. They can take their scans and then report back to the fleet."
"Commander, if it's okay with you, I'd like to go back to the planet and see how much further I can get. Any pictures I take won't be anything like the quality of anything the Medlia can do, but at least we'll have a better idea."
"Of course, Captain," Knox said without even looking up, "Just please don't take any unnecessary risks with the weather."
"Aye aye sir." Alisa replied.
Archangel walked down the main hanger deck. It felt odd being there wearing his uniform instead of his jocksmock. He saw Wedge up ahead talking to some of the new Viper recruits.
"CAG ON DECK!" he heard one of them bellow.
All thirteen of them stood to attention immediately. Wedge couldn't help but smirk as he saw how nervous they all suddenly looked.
"Major." he said.
"At ease," Archangel said to them all, "Can I borrow you for a moment?"
"Sure," he replied, "Guys, I'll be back in a moment, take this time to have a look in those Raptors." he said pointing to the three parked nearest to them.
As they all turned and walked away, Wedge let out a little smile, "I do enjoy watching them freak out when they see you or Jawbreaker."
"You just love to play the good cop." Archangel replied.
"Well someone has to." Wedge said.
"Well as of now you're acting CAG, I should be back in about a week." Archangel replied.
"I'll try not to break anything." Wedge said with a chuckle.
"I'll try not to kill Knox." Archangel replied.
"Yeah, that would probably be best. Are you going to see Carrie?"
Archangel shook his head, "No I don't have enough time. I spoke to her earlier, so it's all good."
"Good. You be safe out there." Wedge said.
"You too." Archangel replied before shaking his friend's hand.
General Magnusson stood packing a travel bag in his quarters. His son Maxwell sat on the large sofa in the corner of the room. He was bored, he listened to his father speak but couldn't wait for him to be done.
"Do not forget, soon we are being resupplied with missiles and bullets. I assume I can trust you to shoulder this responsibility?"
"Yes Father." Maxwell sighed.
"DO NOT `yes father` me in that tone of voice, I will not tolerate it of you BOY!" Silas boomed at him.
Maxwell's face changed from boredom to frightened in a split second. He never usually showed this side of himself to his father.
"I am sorry father, you can count on me."
"I better had boy otherwise this time there WILL be consequences."
Maxwell just looked at his father, he didn't reply.
"I will be on the Starburst for five days. I will be speaking to Mr Chiwell every night, he will be reporting to me of the comings and goings on my ship." As he finished packing he closed the case before turning to his son for the first time in the conversation. He looked at him for a few moments, saying nothing, "It is important for us to remain on the good side of both the Admiral and the President. I am now being trusted to be in more meetings, this is a good thing. Anyway, you may go now. I am about to leave."
Maxwell stood up and straightened his suit, he walked towards the door but turned as he opened it.
"Have a good trip father," he said sarcastically, "I'll be counting down the minutes until you return."
He closed the door behind him as he walked away before his father could reply.
The Battlestar Trinity sat in a high orbit around the new planet Dagger and Tripswitch had found. As a CAP launched so did Dagger from the hanger deck of the Valkyrie battlestar. She set a course for where they had already been.
Commander Knox and his XO both watched the DRADIS monitor above the command post as Dagger flew to the planet.
"Please put me through to Captain Stark." Knox said.
Moments later he had been put through.
"Captain Stark, this is Trinity Actual. I don't want you to take any unnecessary risks out there."
"Actual, this is Dagger, you don't have to worry about that. Any sign of anything untoward and we'll be straight back to the barn." she replied.
The small craft once again broke through the planets atmosphere. Alisa noticed that while the weather was as bad as it had been before, it didn't seem quite as dark as last time.
"Starting scans of the planet," Penny said, "I'm not sure what we're going to get, scanners are having trouble fighting through all the weather."
"Hopefully the weather will settle soon. Even of the worst parts of Aquaria have some good periods of weather." Alisa replied. The raptor was being rocked around violently by the wind. Alisa struggled to keep control of the craft.
"Ah Aquaria, the only part of the colonies I don't miss at all." Penny replied.
As they flew through the clouds the Raptor was battered about by the wind, a bolt of lightening missed them by only a few feet. As they approached the co-ordinates of where they'd already been, she began to slow down a little. She could see much better as the Chief had installed much more powerful spotlights to the wings.
"Wow," she said, "It looks like this used to be some kind of stone statue. I think I can make out a face."
Penny looked out of the cockpit window.
"Oh now that's just creepy." she said with a shudder.
"It's amazing, you never have had an eye for beauty." Alisa replied with a laugh.
"Oh I know beauty, do you remember that Pyramid player from Scorpia, now he was a thing of beauty." she said smiling at the thought.
"Well he was till you got your hands on him."
"Yeah, I did kind of break him." Penny replied laughing.
As they flew further they could see more of what used to be a fairly large settlement.
"Fancy putting some boots on the ground?" Alisa asked.
"Why not. I love getting battered about in the wind." Penny replied sarcastically.
Alisa flew over the settlement and was able to make out a large clear area. As she looked at it, if she had to guess she thought it looked like what would have been the centre of the settlement or even a town square. After she touched down and brought the engines to a stop the Raptor rocked slightly from the wind as it battered into them.
"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Penny asked.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Alisa replied with a wry smile.
"We find out what it's like to fly without our bird. We get swept away and smash our heads into one of those stone sculptures. We get hit by lightening. Should I go on?" she replied smiling back.
"Tell me why we're friends again?"
"Because I'm a fraking delight."
"And a gods damn misery!" Alisa replied with a wink.
"Yeah that's true." Penny replied.
"Okay, time to see if we can fly." Alisa said as she opened the side hatch.
As they stepped outside they grabbed hold of each others hands as the wind battered into them both.
"Frak me." Penny said.
The lights from the top of their pilots helmets and the torch in Alisa's free hand did little to help them see very far in front of them.
"I don't think we're going to get very far." Penny said.
"Agreed," Alisa replied, "We may as well head back to the barn."
They turned back towards the Raptor. Even though they hadn't gone far they could only just make out the lights from it. Clutching onto each other they carefully started to walk back, suddenly, after only two steps both the rain and the wind stopped.
"What the frak?!" Alisa exclaimed.
As they turned back around the sky began to get lighter. In front of them they could see the ruins of dozens of stone buildings and half a dozen large stone statues, in the distance they could see even more.
"Trinity, this is Dagger, can you hear me?" Alisa asked.
Moments later she could hear Knox in her ear.
"Dagger, this is Trinity actual, is everything alright down there?"
"Actual, the storm has just suddenly stopped, what we can see here is incredible. There are a lot of ruins and massive statues. I can't see much of the landscape as it's still quite dark, but there appear to be mountains if what I'm seeing is right."
"Captain take as many pictures as you can, there's no telling how long it will be before the storm starts again," Knox said, "When you're finished head back to the barn."
"Yes sir, we're heading back to the Raptor now." Alisa replied.
The following day, the Medlia prepared to make it's final jump before it met up with Trinity. Major Lewthwaite, stood on watch in the CIC.
"Major, the ship reports all decks are ready for the final jump." Ghost said.
"Okay," Short Stack replied before picking up his handset, "All hands this is the Major, prepare for the final outward jump."
"Ship jumping in, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Ghost said across the ship.
Moments later the ship completed the jump.
"Major, it would appear, the Trinity isn't here," Ghost said, "However Trinity Raptor 12 is here."
"Ensign Davis, please put me through to the Raptor." Short Stack asked.
"Channel open." Ensign Annabel Davis replied from the ships COM station.
Short Stack picked up his handset again and spoke, "Trinity Raptor 12, this is Medlia Actual is everything okay out there?"
"Medlia Actual, this Hybrid, everything is fine. Commander Knox asked us to wait here for you because we've found a planet and every one is there. He was hoping you guys would be able to take some detailed readings for us. We're struggling to get much as the weather on the planet is really really bad."
"Hybrid, lead the way. Medlia Actual out. Ensign Davis can you please speak to Major Hunter who should be on the hanger deck and inform him of the situation. Please let him know we'll tell him when he can fly over to the Trinity."
"Yes sir." Davis replied.
Maxwell Magnusson sat in his quarter with a glass of ambrosia in his hand. Sitting opposite him, his most trusted friends who he had known his entire life.
"You know I'm not going to lie to you when I heard the Cylons had gone back to the Colonies and wiped them out I couldn't help but smile, I even laughed when I was on my own. My father on the other hand wept. I've never been so ashamed of him as when I saw him cry over our enemy finally being defeated. After everything, when we had amassed such a huge fleet and we ruled over our own little planet I could let it go, I could have some kind of peace because WE in our own way had won. Now this. It makes me sick to my stomach when I see him going hand in hand with fraking Colonials. Seeing my father play house with their President and their Admiral, it is something I can no longer take. It's taken us a long time to get to where we are now, but we are ready," he took a long sip from his drink before he carried on speaking, "After today, we can put all this behind us. We won't have much time in which to act. The first step is about to be taken. Be ready, do what you have to do, those who aren't currently with us will pick a side. When I give the word, you know what you need to do. I will head to the CIC and then to the flight deck. Benjamin, Catherine, Marcel and Gregor, you all know what you must do, what must be done," he raised his drink, "So here's to the Eastern Alliance, what we were and what we will be."
President Carrie Manning signed the final piece of paperwork she had been handed by her assistant Gwen as they walked between meetings.
"Any more?" Carrie asked.
"Last one for now." Gwen replied taking the paperwork from Carrie and putting it into the overflowing folder she was carrying.
"So what's this next meeting about?" Skeeter asked as he walked along side them down the busy corridor aboard the Luxury liner, Starburst.
"Opening another school," Carrie replied, "We don't seem to be able to build them fast enough at the moment. Even Brother Ramok is letting us temporarily use his prayer sanctuary as a school when he's not using it."
"Yeah that sounds about right," Skeeter replied, "You can always count on Ramok when you need help."
"DIEEEEEEE!" a female voice suddenly screamed from out of the crowd. It parted and at the last moment Skeeter saw a woman running at Carrie with a knife held out in front of her. Carrie and Gwen had both frozen. Skeeter reached out as the woman lunged for Carrie and the knife ended up going straight through his left hand. With every ounce of strength he had in his right hand he hit the woman in the face as hard as he could. From the strength of the punch, the woman was already out cold before her head hit the wall and she slumped onto the ground. Without thinking, Skeeter reached for his side arm and stood in front of Carrie.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
He turned for a moment to see her shaking her head.
"We have to get you out of here." Skeeter replied.
He looked down at the knife still sticking through his hand.
"Pull this out." Skeeter said to Carrie.
"What?!" She replied in shock.
"Pull this out!" he exclaimed.
"Look out!" Gwen yelled.
Skeeter turned to see a man and a woman charging at them, he made sure he was in front of Carrie. He raised his gun and shot the man in the throat, dropping him instantly. As he turned to shoot the woman another unseen man came out of nowhere and knocked the gun out of Skeeter's hand and pushed him to the floor. He grabbed the man by the ankles making him fall to the floor. He looked up for a moment and saw the woman and yet another man appear from the quickly retreating crowd.
"RUN!" he yelled to Carrie and Gwen before pulling the knife out of his hand, he then turned and plunged the knife into the man next to him as he tried to get up. Skeeter tried to pull the knife back out but it was stuck between the mans ribs. He turned and dived for his gun, which was just out of reach. Just as he was about to grab it the woman he'd failed to shoot kicked him in the head. He refused to let this be the end of him, he refused to let these people, whoever they were kill Carrie or Gwen. He ignored the pain and grabbed his gun. As he turned he saw the woman had raised her knife, ready to bring it down upon him. He fired three times hitting her in the chest. The young woman dropped the knife and looked down at her chest before slumping to her knees. He quickly turned to shoot the other man, but he was already gone. After taking a couple of deep breaths he got to his feet and ran as best he could after Carrie and Gwen. Up ahead he heard screaming. As he turned the next corner he saw two more men baring down on Carrie and Gwen, he raised his gun and shot one of them in the back of the head, before he could shoot the second another gun shot rang out.
"No." Skeeter said quietly. Seconds later he was relieved to see the second man slump to the ground and General Magnusson standing in front of Carrie and Gwen, smoke billowing out of the end of his gold plated revolver.
"Carrie, are you okay?" Skeeter said as he approached them.
"Yes, because of you and the General. Are you okay?" Carrie asked.
Skeeter nodded, he knew he could ignore the pain he was in for a little longer.
Moments later two of the ships security officers appeared.
"Madame President, are you okay?" one of the officers asked.
Before she could reply, Skeeter spoke, "Listen to me, I want a shuttle, in the main hanger bay in five minutes ready to take us to Orion, do you understand me?"
The officer nodded.
"Skeeter, I'll be fine here." Carrie replied.
"With all due respect, no you won't. Right now the safest place for you is Orion. We don't know who these people are or what they want and until I know the answer to both those questions you are going to Orion and you are staying there. As your chief of security my word is final," he turned back to the officer, "Also, I want more security officers here to escort the President to the hanger."
Carrie didn't argue, even though she was the President, she knew she wouldn't win this argument.
"Mr Kent, if I may," Silas said standing over the body of the man he'd just killed, "I've seen this man before, he is an associate of my son. Madame President we need to inform the Admiral of what has transpired here immediately. It would appear, my little shit of a son, is up to no good."
Maxwell Magnusson whistled to himself as he walked towards the Richmond's CIC. He was in a very good mood. Even though the risks were high, the rewards were too good not to take the chance. As he walked onto the CIC he stopped for a moment and had a good look around at every face, at every station, he took a deep breath and smiled before walking towards his father's right hand, Andreas Chiwell.
"Ah perfect timing Maxwell, we're currently having problems with our communications. For some reason we cannot send or receive any communications at all. I've just sent a repair crew to see if they can fix it."
Maxwell smiled, "Yes I happen to know something about that Mr Chiwell. Well to be honest, I know ALL about it."
As he finished speaking he pulled out his gun and one by one shot all of the people who were dedicated to his father.
"What are you doing?" Chiwell shouted as he cowered away towards the wall, "Why are you not doing anything?!" he said to the security officers.
"Oh they're not doing anything, because they're with me. You know Andreas, I've always loathed you. You've always spoken to me as if I've been the shit you've just stepped in. I've looked forward to this moment for a very VERY long time." Maxwell replied with a smile on his face, "It's a shame that killing someone with a gun is so quick, in a normal situation I would have made it last, but what can you do? I'll remember it fondly." As he finished speaking he raised his gun and shot his last four rounds into Chiwell's chest. He slumped to the floor, gasping for breath. Maxwell walked over to him and kneeled down in front of him.
"You know, I really do fraking hate you." he said before spitting on the dying man's face.
