Magistrate to Commander
Chapter 16: Ghost of a Chance Meeting
The dropship touches down, the faceless soldiers eager to get into the fight, the ramp lowers and before us is New Gettysburg, waiting, and falling apart around us crawling with Zerg. "Alright everyone, Search and rescue." The soldiers rush out around me, vanishing into the rubble. "We're finding everyone we can, no matter… what." The worm breaches through the same part of New Gettysburg, becomes translucent, and then vanishes, only to breach again.
I should have done more, I don't know how, but I should have. She's dead because of my weakness. "You're not to blame for everything, Max." Serah said.
Before I knew it I turned around, looking back into the Dropship, seeing it empty.
"What more could I have done?" I beg the empty transport.
"You are to blame, Max." A distorted voice shouts, and I snap awake with a start.
"-as I've said, Magistrate Dirge is resting… I don't care if your Siege Tank is missing a tank tread Sergeant Graves, you can bother Simmons, it's his job to maintain the Magistrate's hardware." There's a woman in my room, pacing around a table with my earpiece. "One moment."
"I don't remember recruiting a secretary." I say sitting up, wiping away the sleep from my eyes. What time is it? "And more importantly, how'd you get my earpiece?"
"I'm sorry, allow me to introduce myself." She bows deeply. "My name is Kare Vaessen, my apologies for not making your acquaintance earlier, I was asked to manage your calls and appointments while you slept as the Captain felt-."
"Great, another babysitter who'll soil themselves whenever I'm not in a safe house." I say in a deadpan, at least this one is better to look at…. I'm too tired for this. "Are you kidding me?! It's been three hours!"
"I'm sorry, sir… Hold on." She puts a hand on my earpiece. "Kare here."
"Well who is it?"
She doesn't answer me. "I'll let him know." She takes her hand off of her ear. "Captain Horner would like to inform you that Dominion scouts have been spotted warping in and out of the system, if you want to leave with the Jackson before another engagement it will have to be soon."
"Great, here I was hoping to get a full night's rest." I get up and put my suit on. "At least have the decency to look away."
"Sorry sir." She turns around quickly, keeping her cool.
She's probably stayed on board most of the time, wonder if there's a lucky bastard on board who's seen more.
"Get me some coffee, if I'm going to leave within the next hour I need to be alert, not… sloppy." I stretch.
"Yes sir." swiftly she leaves the room and I rub my head.
"Should have asked for my earpiece back." I grumble.
Three hours rest, why couldn't she be taking care of business somewhere else on the Hyperion, and not in my room?
She's back five minutes on the dot with a cup of coffee on a coaster. "I'm sorry, the damage from the fight hours ago has left some paths inaccessible for repairs."
"What isn't damaged?"
"Not your pride."
"Ouch, fiery one I see." I take the coffee and sip it. "I give this a good... three, out of ten." It tastes like water.
"Ready to escort you out when you're done."
"No thanks, give me my earpiece and I can find my own way." I hold a hand out expectantly.
"When you're boarding the Jackson, until then I'll take care of business." She puts a hand over her ear protectively.
I let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm not about to wrestle with a woman."
"It won't be long, ten minutes at most."
"Ten? Is there a shortcut to the hanger bay?"
"It's the route, maintenance corridors have been opened so the crew can still get around." She explains.
"Alright." I take the untouched bottle of rum on the night stand and stuff it into the drawer, and pull out the pistol stored inside and hide it in my jacket. "Lead the way."
She nods. "Gladly." And opens the door.
There are bodies moving down the corridor, making it congested. "Keep up now." Kare calls over the noise.
"I'm not a child." I grumble, but follow nonetheless.
I thought the Hyperion looked bad before, but now that repairs are underway it looks even worse. Maybe Simmons was right. "Sorry sir, this corridor's closed for repairs, expecting a heavy load to come through." A security guard says, ushering us down an alternative path.
"You weren't kidding about the Hyperion being shut down for repairs." I note as another security guard ushers us into a maintenance shaft, and if I thought the main corridors were cramped, the tiny maintenance corridor's filled with engineers.
"It'd be worse if the Refugees were still on board." Kare mentions. "Security personal has caught several trying to steal rations."
"Can't say I blame them, we'll need to make a stop at a farming colony and stock up on supplies, take note."
"Yes sir." She opens a door and ushers me through, I was busy thinking about where to get food for three colony's worth of people that I didn't notice that the room was pitch black until the door closes behind me.
A light flickers on, revealing a table and two chairs, someone is already here waiting for me. "Maxton Dirge, Magistrate of Mar Sara and quite possibly the last authority the Confederacy has left." Her face is obscured by the darkness, but her legs are on the table. "I'm glad we're finally able to meet, take a seat if you'd like."
Without a word I comply. "You must have pulled quite the stunt to get me here, miss…"
"Saura, Bell Saura." She pulls her legs off the table and leans forward, chin resting on the backs of her hands. "And I've heard that you've been looking for us."
I can hear Kare strip behind me, I look back to see the staple Ghost suit under the uniform, not the same as Serah's, but it's definitely a Ghost's. "Thank you for the compliments."
And I groan internally, and since she's reading my mind, I might as well say it and not think it. "Why are all Ghosts attractive, is it a requirement or something?"
"Ghosts are required to have a psionic score above five, along with physical training to perform a multitude of assignments."
"And I'm sure one of those 'assignments' is to look sexy, gotcha."
Saura gives me the stink eye, and I ignore it.
""I've heard that you've been looking for the Ghost Academy, and we're willing to join you on one condition."
"Shoot."
"I want to be the head of your Ghost Program."
"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow.
"I've spent a few years looking into how the Umogan's and the Kel-Morian's handle their Ghosts, and I've come to the realization that we've been putting too much resources into turning our personal into mindless, emotionless drones."
"You say it as if they wipe the minds of the ghost-you're kidding me… they actually wipe the minds of their agents!"
"I've brought this up with the board but they tossed the idea aside as it was 'too risky to allow autonomy amongst the agents', though given how Arcturus Mengsk managed to get his hands on one of the highest level ghosts makes their worry understandable ." She spits. "But now, things have changed."
I sit back and let out a sigh. "I hope you understand that I'm placing a whole lot of trust in you, and if you betray that trust I'll be forced to execute you."
"Can you win without us, Magistrate?" Bell asks with surety.
"Most likely if Ghosts aren't involved, but I know that they will, so I'm not as certain, so I'm in a grey area in that regard." Do not let them dictate the terms, or else I'll be little more than a puppet. "It's not just me that you'll have to convince that your on the side of, there are about forty thousand other people you'll have to convince."
"The Colonists, am I correct?" Bell asks, and I nod. "That's fine, the Ghost Program wasn't popular with the masses to begin with."
"How many ghosts are on board?"
"Six, they're in hiding but Agent Kare found them easily enough and brought them over to our side."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that, Another reason why the program needs changing, if I can take command of ghosts out of contact of the academy then anyone with the right tools can." Saura says, making sure I understand the severity of this flaw. "I'll need resources to undo the alterations, and ensure the loyalties of the confederate Ghosts."
"You'll have them, and if Agent Kare will give me my earpiece back- thank you." I put the communicator in my ear, and turn it on. "Matt?"
"Yes, Sir?"
"Did you assign me an aid while I slept?" I ask
"No sir, I got a message with your signature stating that you were assigning Ms. Kare to take your calls while you rested. I take it that wasn't the case?" Matt replys.
"It's not every day someone wakes up with a Ghost in their room." I admit.
"Are you okay?" Matt asks with increased worry.
"These are ghosts, if they wanted me dead then I'd be dead, no, they wanted to make a deal."
"Deal, sir?" He asks suspiciously.
"I'll explain later before I leave for Tarsonis." I say, turning my attention back to Saura, and leaving my earpiece on transmit.
Saura gets up from her seat and walks over to Kare "I'd like to offer Agent Kare to be your bodyguard for the foreseeable future, she's already infiltrated your ranks and presented herself as your aid, only the leadership of your group needs to be aware thats shes a ghost… Although I can promise that you that you won't wake up every day to a rather attractive ghost in a tight dress." She laughs at my expense, while the Ghost maintains a straight face.
"In all honesty, I was hoping you'd come to me, but in a less… Kidnappy way." I admit.
"This was the only way we could while maintaining privacy, for both parties."
"You say that right next to one of your agents, and I'm here sitting alone with just a pistol."
"Kare needed to be here so you'd believe me when I said that I was part of the Ghost Program." Saura explains. "We also took the liberty of setting up a meeting between the Armada leadership and the Shipyard Foremen, you are not an easy person to 'work for'."
"I was asleep for three hours, and yet you already had people thinking that I had a secretary?" A sigh escapes my lips. "I guess a debriefing is necessary, I just wish we had time to recuperate."
"Magistrate, you know better than anyone else that time is of the essence." Both Saura and Matt say in unison.
"Are the two of you twins or something?" I tap my earpiece in confusion, I'm the only one in the room that can hear the captain.
Saura tells me. "I've already got teams ready to aid you on the mission."
I turn off my earpiece, I want this to stay between the three of us, who knows who else's listening in. "Have you killed anyone from the Ghost Academy before you met with me?"
"Yes, I had Kare kill an agent tailing me before we joined the refugees board the Hyperion, the head director probably assigned him to watch me for my 'controversial' ideals."
"So you're serious about these changes." I note, and she nods. "Let's get going then, I'll have to make an announcement that we'll have Ghosts joining us on the trip." I stretch my back. "And they'll want to know who the director is."
I stand and face the two.. "Agent Kare, would you mind escorting us to the bridge?" Saura asks Kare.
"Yes ma'am." Kare opens the door out. "Right this way."
Waiting for us in the Hyperion's bridge is Raynor's familiar black marine suit, Simmons, and captain Horner of course. On the comms console are the other battlecruiser captains taking up half of the screen, and the foremen who agreed to meet on the other. Out of the twelve shipyards, only four showed up. Saura clicks her tongue in disappointment.
"You need a different look commander, nothing screams 'I'm a Pirate' more than a black suit with a skull on the visor." I tell Raynor.
"If you say so." The commander shrugs.
Saura hangs back while I approach the meeting, Kare at my side. "I was hoping to be on my way to Tarsonis when I woke up, but it appears that someone decided to delay that with a meeting." I glance over my shoulder at the administrator, who doesn't react. "But let's get this underway nonetheless." I was hoping to do this after I came back, but if people are so determined to plan miles ahead, fine.
"The Dominion are coming back, and we saw the damage they've inflicted on Shipyard three-" The foreman of the shipyard the Hyperion is currently getting repairs at nods. "We can't sit around twiddling our thumbs waiting for them to come back."
"Unless the shipyards can enter warp space, we can't go anywhere until repairs are complete." Athena states.
"Most of the shipyards were built here, the rest were warped in." One of the Foremen says informatively.
"Are the warp drives active?" I cut in.
"No, they're based on older designs so we'll need to spend time making sure they can work."
"Looks like you know what you're going to be doing while we're at Tarsonis."
"We're going to flee?" One of the Foreman asks hesitantly.
"The ships here are all we have, who knows how many the Dominion has, we have to get somewhere they won't care about for the time being."
"Sir, are you sure that's wise? Dylar is a resource rich system, if we surrender it to Mengsk..."
"I know." I let out a sigh. "I know, and giving up Dylar is massive, but we don't know how big the Dominions fleet is, and I'm pretty sure it's more than five fully functional Battlecruisers. It's better to fall back and lick our wounds than have a last stand." If fighting the Zerg has taught me anything, it's that victory isn't about winning the battle.
"What about the shipyards that don't have warp drives?" Matt asks.
"..."
"Sir?"
"... we'll think of something." I already know what has to be done, and it ties my stomach into knots thinking about it. "For now get whatever warp drives ready, and if you don't want to stay here when the Dominion comes to claim the system, you'd better be on a shipyard with a warp drive when we're ready to leave."
"Try convincing the undecided shipyards to join us, it'd be a shame to leave everyone behind." Matt pipes up.
"Should be easy, we make a living off of making warp drives." Foreman of Shipyard two jokes.
"Knock it off Terry." Foreman of Shipyard three scowls. "It's not going to be easy, but we'll do our best."
"My 'secretary' here is a Ghost, and my new Bodyguard, her handler is Saura-" I point back at the Administrator. "Who has graciously volunteered to join us in raiding the ghost Academy." I manage to hide a grin. "We've already talked about who's going, so I don't need to repeat myself… I want everyone who's staying on alert just in case."
"Yes sir." Several Armada captains say in unison.
"Dismissed." I say, and the screen goes black, leaving just myself, Simmons, Raynor, and Matt on the bridge.
"Simmons how's my Goliath looking?"
"It's working."
"Good, load it on a dropship bound for the Jackson, and make sure we have working vehicles for the mission."
"Will do." The engineer briskly walks out of the room.
I turn to an annoyed Saura and approach her. "You may be in command of the Ghosts, but I am still in charge of the Admada, you would do well to remember that."
Bell gives me the stink eye. "Yes, sir." She sighs.
"I'll leave a detachment of Rangers on the Jackson." Raynor says.
"Much appreciated, are you staying behind?"
"Someone's gotta manage the ground defences."
"I wish you luck." I say, and the commander laughs.
"I'm not the one going to be fighting Zerg."
"True enough." I say as two rangers enter the bridge and salute us.
"Whenever you're ready, Magistrate." One tells me.
"Lead the way."
"These the engineers you promised me?" I ask as the dropship ramp closes.
"Indeed, a good number of the installation's engineers managed to get offworld, I've yet to sift through the data they brought with and was hoping to get that done while you were gone."
"Plans change-" The dropship takes off. "You know the Academy better than anyone else in the Armada, anything we don't take is destroyed, If nothing else you can stay on the ship while on Tarsonis."
Saura doesn't say anything, but nods in understanding.
Not a minute later we're touching down again. "Welcome aboard the Jackson, Magistrate." The captain greets as I step off the Dropship ramp. "I am Jessica Farmer, and I'll be your captain for this journey." She's a twig of a woman, but there's a commanding air about her.
"Thank you Farmer, are we ready to depart?" I ask, following the captain away from the hanger.
She nods. "Yes sir, The Jackson, the Minotaur, and the Jormandr are ready for the mission."
"Oh? That leaves two combat ready Battlecruiser's at the dock in case The Dominion attack while we're away." I raise an eyebrow.
"All the Battlecruisers are repaired enough for a fight if needed, the Jackson's a Carrier-class, not a Minotaur-class, we'd be massively outgunned if the Dominion are already there." She explains. "The Minotaur and the Jormandr will more than make up for the Jackson's lack of assault batteries."
I nod slowly, kicking myself mentally for not preparing for that possibility. "Alright, good thinking."
She beams with pride. "Pilot, take us away from the docks, it's time to be underway." She barks.
"Jackson moving."
"Help me sync my earpiece to the Jackson, having a direct line will help loads for the ground mission." I say taking out the device in question, and clicking a button on the side that faces the ear.
"Ping detected." The Jackson's Adjutant pipes up.
"Handshake." Jessica orders.
"Handshake successful." The Adjutant says in my ear.
"Perfect." I nod in approval.
"Ready to warp when you are, Jackson." The Jormandr says.
"Minotaur here, coordinance are locked and ready to go!"
Space distorts as the warp commences, and then stabilizes within a few minutes. "Jump is good! we should be in Tarsonis Orbit in a couple hours." The Navigator announces to everyone.
"What forces does each ship have for us to work with?" I ask the Captain, we can't afford any screw ups in the logistics.
"Each ship has a full regimen at minimum, enough to take a base or two but given the chaos Tarsonis was in when we left, plus the dangers of leaving the Shipyards undefended we can't afford a prolonged engagement."
I nod, rubbing my chin in thought. "Once we're at Tarsonis, Minotaur and Jormandr will stay in orbit and keep our exit window open and provide emergency orbital support, The Jackson will be providing active air support.
A yawn escapes me once more. "I'm going to take a nap, wake me up once the warp ends, or if something pops up." Not sure how, as we're in warp.
"Shouldn't you be preparing for Tarsonis?" Saura asks bitterly.
"Actually, I need to survey the Jackson's Hanger, see what we have available for the battle." I should have taken stock earlier and transferred forces over as needed.
"Raynor assigned a detachment of Rangers to leave with you." A Ranger tells me.
"I'm glad someone's picking up the slack I'm leaving." I let out another sigh and rub my eyes.
"Transmission intercepted."
"Fellow Terrans, I come to you in the wake of recent events to issue a call to reason." Mengsk, he sounds like he's already won. "Let no human deny the perils of our time." I rub the sleep from my eyes and stretch, listening to the intercepted transmission, chances are it wasn't even encrypted.
"While we battle one another, divided by the petty strife of our common history, the tide of a greater conflict is turning against us, threatening to destroy all that we have accomplished." I have to stifle a laugh, if anyone doesn't fall into line, they're killed.
"It is time for us as nations, and as individuals to set aside our long-standing feuds and unite. The tides of an unwinnable war are upon us, and we must seek refuge upon higher ground, lest we be swept away by the flood. The Confederacy is no more!" About time he tried convincing people that we're gone.
"Whatever semblance of unity and protection it once provided is a phantom, a memory. With our enemies left unchecked, who will you turn to for protection?" I'm still here, you bastard. "The devastation wrought by the alien invaders is self-evident. We have seen our homes and communities destroyed by the calculated blows of the Protoss. We have seen first hand our friends and loved ones consumed by the nightmarish Zerg."
"You brought the Zerg on Antiga Prime and Tarsonis!" I shout with a fury.
"-unimaginable though they may be, these are the signs of our time. The time has come, my fellow Terrans, to rally to a new banner. In unity lies strength; already many of the dissident factions have joined us." I was worried about that, which is why we're abandoning Dylar as soon as we're done at Tarsonis.
"Out of the many we shall forge an indivisible whole capitulating only to a single throne, and from that throne I shall watch over you. From this day forward let no human make war upon any other human, let no Terran agency conspire against this new beginning, and let no man consort with alien powers, and to all the enemies of humanity: seek not to bar our way, for we shall win through, no matter the cost!"
"You and me Both, Mengsk." The Confederacy is still a contender in this conflict, you'd better not ignore us.
"The Dominion's transmission is on repeat, cutting transmission." The Adjutant automatically says.
"Farmer can you hear me?" I call out.
"Loud and clear." Her voice rings out on the intercom.
"How much longer until we're at Tarsonis?"
"Five minutes."
"Where's Saura?"
"On the bridge, we've been discussing our battleplan while you slept." Saura informs me on the same intercom as the captain. "I hope you don't mind."
"Sorry I wasn't present for it." I stretch my back. "It had been a long time since I last slept, well." I feel much better after that. Kare's sitting by the door reading a book, her rifle by her side, and secretary disguise on the table next to her.
Where's my Portable- here it is. I pop open the briefcase I keep at my side always, and the holo of the Adjutant appears as I click some buttons. "I'm going to try and sync my Adjutant to the Jackson's, going to need permission."
"Permission required."
"Yeah I know."
"You got it." Jessica says after a delay.
"Connecting to the Jackson's mainframe, displaying visuals of the surface of Tarsonis."
It's a ruin, I already knew that, but there's a lot more Creep covering the buildings, it's disgusting. "Where's the… Hive Cluster?"
"Multiple Zerg Hives located." The Ship's Adjutant says, showing the mass of hives. "Detecting Confederate distress signal."
Automatically the recording plays. "If anyone can hear this, we need immediate evac, there's Zerg everywhere and we can't hold out for long, they've been sending increasing numbers at us and we're low on everything, we don't care who you are, just get us out of here!"
Wait a moment. "Gregory?" I breathe out.
"You know this man?" Saura asks.
"Yeah, last time I saw him was during the celebration of my being elected candidate for the Magistrate position." I say. "I haven't seen any of them since I woke up in the Tarsonis System." How is he still alive? I saw the body bags.
"You left the Sara System while campaigning to be Magistrate?" Saura asks.
"Yeah, when I woke up there was a Couple Ghosts in my face, and I was terrified… They could have executed me on the spot without needing to be told, but here I am." I still don't know why I was spared.
"Do you know the name of the Ghosts?"
"Tosh, but I don't know the other one's."
"Ghosts normally aren't supposed to introduce themselves, we can find his mission files and see for ourselves." Saura tells me.
"We can do that?"
"Yes." Saura responds to the stupid question for what it is.
"Okay, but we're saving those people… wait what's that?" There's a Zerg structure I've never seen before near the edge of the hive closest to the Terran outpost, I don't need to see to know that they're still battling it out. "Is that a… Zerg Cerebrate?"
"What's that next to it?" Jessica points out.
An egg, but it's not like the ones the Larva turn into. "Unsure, maintain visual for now, and contact the Confederate survivors."
"Transmission established."
"Finally! Someone answers the call." Greg lets out a sigh of relief. "We've been trying to hail ships coming through the Tarsonis System all day!"
"Hey Greg, it's been a few years." I can't help but grin.
"Max is that you?" Greg asks, not believing his ears.
"Yes, I became Magistrate by the way, and now I'm rallying what's left of the Confederacy, are you up for it?"
"Of course! Man I missed a lot stuck here on the capitol."
"You've been on Tarsonis for the past few years?"
"As touching as it is to listen in on two friends reimencing, we're on a timer."
"Right, Greg we're going to land some troops, our main objective is to salvage what remains of the Ghost Academy, and if you want to get off Tarsonis alive you'll need to randevu with them, Administrator do we have the coordinance of the-"
"Three steps ahead of you."
Of course you are. "We don't have long to embark, we need to get as many people as we can down there… Jackson have your strike craft strafe the Cerebrate, get it to recall its forces to protect itself, where's my Goliath?"
"Wraiths away." Jessica informs us. "All dropships prepare for departure, load up on supplies, armor and bodies because we're heading planetside."
"Do we still have control over the orbital defences?" I ponder.
"Pinging… no response."
"The Zerg took them out already." There goes plan B. "We'll have to get this done fast if we want to avoid being overrun."
"Simmons had your Goliath loaded before you arrived." The Dropship pilot tells me.
I slip down into the vehicle bay to claim my new piece of hardware. "I missed sitting in this thing." I say, bringing the mech online, and stuffing the portable unit into the mini fridge. My goliath's the only one in the dropship's vehicle bay, there are Rangers in the upper part.
"We're maintaining contact with commander Greg, and he says that several ships have touched down ignoring his men, Pirates salvaging what's left or the Dominion." Saura informs me.
"Out of the frying pan, and into the fire." I mumble.
A war on two fronts, one against the Zerg and one against The Dominion… Both will have to be eliminated if humanity's to survive, but which one goes first?
Special Thanks:
l3lood_Knight: For helping to storyboard, lore check, and grammar correction, thanks buddy!