QL, Semi-Final - Pride Of Portree, Chaser 2
Chasers 2 - Military Science Fiction
Prompts - [character] Minerva McGonagall
[emotion] Fear
[colour] Green
Word Count - 1415 (wordcounter .net)
McGonagall stared out the floor to ceiling window. Her breath was shaky as she took in what would be her future battleground.
The green beret was clasped tightly in her hands. Tight enough to make her knuckles pale.
She was twenty years old. Why had she been chosen for this prestigious position? So many people with more experience, more power, more personality had applied for this. Yet here she was. The chosen one.
She suddenly looked down, as if realising for the first time what she was holding. The dark emerald-green beret. Her initials sewn on with a gold thread. Standing out strikingly against the bold background colour.
No mere soldier received a green beret.
Only commanders.
How was she a commander? How could they have chosen her?
She was to be responsible for hundreds of soldiers. Their lives placed directly in her hands. Her choices could end up as their last moves.
She was terrified, scared of what she knew could happen oh-so-easily.
She looked back out the window. In front of her the vast expanse of space in which for many would be their last sight. A solid blackness. No light to guide them as they took their final breath.
It would be up to her to get them home, to give the orders that could result in thousands living or dying.
She had joined just five years ago, drafted in just like every other able-bodied person. The war left no person untouched. The first six months were in general training like everyone else, she thought that had been tough. But that had been nothing compared to real life. The heat of the battle, running down the corridors to man the guns, taking aim knowing that you had the power to make or break this fight.
It was daunting, stressful, horrifying at times. Yet, she thrived.
Commendation upon commendation as she progressed and was taught maps, engines, thrusters, different battle tactics.
She went from a naive little girl having a vague idea of what the war was to a leading woman who knew what she was doing.
Yet here she was. Clutching the beret in pale hands as she stood fearful of what her next move ought to be.
Move forward, stand her ground, attack, retreat? She had been trained for this, yet internally she was screaming into the abyss thousands of questions as to why this command had been asked of her.
So many lives were at stake. One wrong move and she could destroy a fleet of five thousand soldiers. She was terrified of making a single mistake that could haunt her for the rest of her life.
She stared back out the window. Stars lit up the darkness, small fleeting moments of light to brighten up the cold dark arena of war that was space itself.
She had travelled thousands of lightyears in her time in service already. Hundreds of battles fought and through each and every one she had managed to make it out alive.
If she could do that. Then she could do this.
She put the beret on.
"Report!" McGonagall strode into the bridge like she owned the place, coming to a stop in front of the centre console. Around her were her crew, at her disposal to command and order.
"Four Death Eater Cruisers have been spotted at coordinates 273-864. We have deployed the rapid attack fleet and are awaiting further orders, Commander."
She nodded once and took in the screen in front of her. The map showing the supposed location of the Cruisers and the flight path of her fleet.
"Hold back on the attack for now until we have eyes on them. I want covert surveillance. Keep quiet, keep high."
Was that the right move? What if they attacked? What if she had just ruined this chance of attack?
She stood still. Breathing in deeply, once. Then twice.
No matter how scared she was that she could mess this all up, she could not let it show. She had to be in control; she was in charge, and if she panicked then the others would panic. She could do this.
She refocused her attention back on the screen, it would be two more tense minutes before her fleet was in the same location as the cruisers.
One breath in. One breath out.
She could do this.
"Keep comms line clear and open. If they share anything, I want to be the first to know about it. In the meantime have we had any updates in the dark region?" she asked.
"No, Commander. Nothing as of yet, although we have our cruisers doing a general patrol of the area."
She nodded once more. Good. One less thing to worry about.
30 seconds passed, then another. One minute out.
She stared at the screen showing the coordinates and view from the cockpit. So far it looked clear, but she knew just how easily it could turn sour.
It had been one of her very first real missions. Supposed to be short and sweet, keeping it simple for the new guys.
She had been part of a team of ten onboard a Cruiser. A general sweep of the area, not particularly known for a bad reputation but just enough of one to make sure to have a check-in every few days.
It had been normal, they had joked about, nothing to see outside other than a few stray asteroids to redirect onto a better path. Nothing else around for lightyears.
Then suddenly alarms had blared, the Cruiser had felt like an earthquake had hit, and smoke had risen from the engine room.
It had been so sudden, nobody had expected anything to happen. They had all rushed to their stations; as she had been in the engine room, she had been the first to find her own commander lying dead on the floor, killed instantly by a stray bolt that had struck him. He had never even seen it coming.
Except no matter how shocked, how terrified, how fearful she had been that she would be the next one to fall, she hadn't been able to concentrate on any of that because she had known that if she died, then the rest of her team would die too. She was in the engine room. She had to find the problem and fix it. That was her job.
Later when they finally had gotten back to the main ship, she had found out what had really happened. It turned out a Death Eater ally had happened to be flying in the area, and when they had seen a chance to attack, they had taken it. Nobody could have predicted it. But it still didn't change the fact that ten of them had gone out and only nine of them had made it back alive.
That had been her first real experience, and she wouldn't let herself forget it.
"We have eyes on them, Commander. No logo visible from the outside that we can see. What are our orders?"
"Keep our ground. Remain covert and follow behind at half a lightyear if they move." She wouldn't be hasty, but she wouldn't let a possible enemy slip through her fingers either.
It remained tense in the bridge for the next twenty-three minutes. Watching, waiting, trying to predict a move.
It remained like this until the Cruisers engines were seen to be starting.
Her fleet stayed in position, ready to go into hyperspeed at a moment's notice to follow.
She stared at the Cruisers, judging. What were they doing? Simple people moving place to place and decided to make a pit stop here or travelling for more ominous reasons?
She saw a glint on the cockpit view screen, "Open fire! Full attack! Use all force necessary!"
Her fleet reacted to her command as ordered. The Cruisers now obliterated.
"Search for any remains, retrieve anything of value and return. Mission complete."
One breath in. One breath out.
She turned around and strode out.
She knew she had made the right call. The glint she had seen were the gun turrets powering up and taking aim. She may still be fearful of making the wrong call but she had been doing this for the past five years.
She pulled the beret off her head. Once more staring at her name in gold, contrasting brightly against the green. Higher-ups obviously believed in her skills, so she should too.
She put the beret back on.