Please note, this is NOT, I repeat NOT a Robotech fic. And all those people
that said that the Robotech version of Southern Cross was better than the
original
obviously never saw the original. Please send all C&C to
kensu@madison.tdsnet.com due to the fact that, for technical reasons, I am
not subbed to this list. Thanks.
Begin - Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross W: Episode 1
!
SUPER DIMENSIONAL CAVALRY
SOUTHERN CROSS W
Episode One : "Beacon"
Written by: Chris Schumacher
"If Dolphin's are so smart, then how come they live in igloos?"
Cartman/Remark on Wendy's Paper/"South Park"
The Southern Cross Academy was one of the oldest buildings in the
Glorie colony. It had been built during one of the early scouting
expeditions two decades in the past. Unlike most of the other buildings,
which were almost entirely prefabricated, the Academy had been
constructed. Along with the Parliament Building and the Southern Cross
Army HQ, it was the only building to have been built so.
Graduation ceremonies were usually held in the courtyard if the
weather was agreeable, as it was today. It was a beautiful spring day
on Glorie.
Jun Yamashita squirmed in his seat. One of the things they never
tell you when you're growing up that as boring as other people's
graduation ceremonies are, your own are twice as bad.
Currently Jeanne Francaix, the top student, was giving her bubbly
and sickeningly enthusiastic speech from the podium. Sitting in four
chairs next to her podium were Prime Minister Moran, Supreme Commander
Claude Leon, Chief of Staff Rolf Emerson and Lt. Alan Davis of the
GMP.
Davis and Leon looked irritated by Jeanne's speech, though Emerson
looked quite a bit amused. But Moran's eyes were glaring straight at
Jun.
Jun let out a long sigh. It was very hard to be the nephew of the
Prime Minister. Luckily very few of Jun's classmates knew it, so he
had been treated normally and without favoritism or undue agression.
Except for by Moran himself. How could he have graduated second? How
could Jeanne, the airhead Jeanne, have gotten better grades them him?
It didn't make sense.
Then Jun realized something, there was no noise. No noise of any
sort, the courtyard was a soundless void. This had taken place a year
ago, it was spring of the next year. And he had not been at the
graduation ceremony. He had been so angry about being second best that
he went fishing in the New Aegean Sea with some of his civvie buddies.
He had picked up both his diploma and assignment at the Ministry
office the next day. So all this could only be...
2nd. Lt Jun sat up in his bed and his eyes surveyed the darkened
room.
"A dream." he mumbled. He reached over and pressed a button on the
desk next to his bed and a LED display rose from a sheath concealed
in the desk. It was currently 5:15 Glorie Colony-A Standard Time.
Jun reminded himself that it was really 4:15, since Glorie only
had a twenty-two hour day and thus both twelve o'clocks had been
removed. On Liberty the day had only been five minutes longer than the
old Earth standard, so they kept the old system, except for a leap
hour now and then. Jun pressed the button again and the display slid
back into the desk. He sighed as he laid back on the bed. It was
going to be a long day.
<+> <+> <+>
"Hmmm. Hit me." Jun commanded, laying down two of his cards.
Sergeant Malcolm, who was currently manning the deck, chewed on
his cigar and flipped two cards out of the deck over to Jun with his
massive hands.
Jun looked at them and gritted his teeth, luckily he kept his
mouth closed and none of the others saw it. A 7, 4, 2, Jack and 9.
Not good.
"You staying?" Malcolm asked. Jun nodded. He leaned back in his
chair and refrained from sighing.
They were in the Naval Division HQs rec room. One which they shore
with all the other Sea Squad divisions. All four of them. It was the
usual prefab job, someone had attempted to paint the walls marine blue
a while in the past, but it had faded to a nice slate grey over time.
The main bulk of the 45th was sitting at an oaken table and trying to
not remember that they were due for their patrol duty.
Corporal Sophia Jenkins surveyed the cards in front of her and
tried to think what the logical thing to do in this situation. Although
she wasn't aware of it, her set of cards was even worse than Jun's. She
then recalled that poker wasn't a game of logic. She picked up a five
credit chip and tossed it into the kitty pile at the center of the
table. "I raise a quid." she noted, trying to sound serious, pushing
her glasses back on her nose. Everyone else tossed in a five-credit
chip.
Pvt. Edgar Briggs shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Something bothering you Private?" Jun asked, not looking up from
his cards. Briggs was a scrawny one, he also spoke with an irritating
Freedom accent. The colony was gone, so how come people still spoke
with the accent?
"Weren't we supposed to go on patrol by now? It's 13:02." He had
laid down his cards at the outset, not bothering to try and win this
hand.
"Something you learn when you've been with the 45th a while is that
patrol assignment times are simply estimations. If Lt. Clarke says
13:00, she really means 13:30. You've got to learn to speak their
language." Jun replied. If he had heard himself saying that two months
ago, when he himself joined the 45th, he wouldn't have believed it. He
thought his father had raised him better than that.
"Yeah," Malcolm said as he replaced three of his cards. "Flipper'll
wait for us. Nobody in their right mind swims in the New Aegean Sea
anyway. If they get eaten by the Glorie dolphins, it's their own
fault." He blew a long puff out of his cigar.
Jun knew Malcolm long enough to know what that meant. Apparently
no one had a good hand. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten
credit chip and tossed it into the kitty. "In for a deca, anyone else?"
Malcolm laid his cards down backs up. "I fold." he sighed.
Jun looked around the table. Everyone else except him and Jenkins
had folded. He turned to her. "What about it Wizkid?"
Jenkins made a humming noise. "I'm in." she said as she threw in
her last ten-credit chip. She took out two of her cards and laid them
down. Malcolm dealt another pair. Jenkins face lit up as she saw them.
Jun let out a sigh as she dropped in a five-credit chip. "Well?"
Jun laid his cards down. "I fold."
Jenkins smirked and laid down her own. It was a pair of clubs and
hearts. Jun growled. Jenkins smirked as she pulled the pile of credit
chits and other paraphernal towards her. Jun gritted his teeth. She
was so cute when she gloated.
"Up for another game?" she asked.
Jun shook his head. "Don't think so, I've already lost my salary
for the week. And if we skip out on patrol again, Libby'll have all
of us in the brig." He got up from the table and walked towards the
door.
"Oh, come on!" Jenkins called after him. "Just because I was
winning."
<+> <+> <+>
Southern Cross Naval Division patrols were split up into two, and
sometimes three, sections. The most common double patrol consisted of
half of the patrol on recon jet-skis and the other half in the Kraken
Powered Suits investigating the ocean floor.
There was really no official way of choosing who went on which
half of the patrol. As a requirement for being in the SCND all officers
and enlisted men had to learn how to operate both the JSRs and Krakens,
therefore it usually alternates. It was somewhat different in the 45th.
Basically what happened was everyone ran down to the motor pool
and the first people there got the JSRs while the rest were stuck with
the Krakens.
JSRs were similar to twentieth century Earth jet-skis except for
the fact that they actually hovered two inches above the surface of
the water, and were equipped with SONAR and RADAR reconnaissance and
imaging equipment. Aside from the specially built Logan Reconnaissance
Planes they were the best recon vehicles that the Southern Cross Army
had. Of course, there were rumors that some of the Glorie Military
Police had even better equipment, but the GMP was always attempting
to one-up the regular army, and no one paid any mind to them.
The Kraken Powered Suits were for missions which actually required
the Navy to go into the water. They were humanoid in shape, with an
oxygen tank built onto the front and a black rectangular faceplate
built into the front. There were two radio discs on either side of the
faceplate which housed speakers which allowed the unfortunate seaman
within the armor to communicate to his comrades in the sea and on the
JSRs. Kraken Powered Suits were not armor, they were actually diving
suits, so they were also of human size. The Navy was rather irked by
this, due to the fact that Tactical Armored Space Corps and Alpha
Tactical Armored Corps actually got powered vehicles, such as the
Spartas and Logan. There were rumors that there was an actual Navy vehicle in
development called the Kraken-A, or Kraken Advanced. But Jun had been
a test pilot and had worked on the range where all new vehicles were
tested. He knew that there was a new TASC vehicle called an Auroran
coming into development, as well as the Spartas Mark II, but he had
yet to see anything of this Kraken-A.
He didn't believe that it even existed or was being planned, he
knew that the other branches of the Southern Cross Army considered the
Navy a joke. It's only purpose was to fight off the rapidly multiplying
Glorie Dolphins. Due to a waste spill during the early colony days the
Glorie Dolphins had started to reproduce like rabbits. It had been
estimated that there was a new generation of Glorie Dolphins every
two months, as compared to the year of the pre-colonial days.
One of the tenants of the Terran Colonization Deceleration of
Principles was the notion that any colonizing force would have to
repair any damage it did to the ecosystem of any planet they were
colonizing, thus it was up to the military structure of Glorie to take
care of the Glorie Dolphin overpopulation problem while the scientists
attempted to figure a way to control their breeding habits. Jun wondered
why they just couldn't use saltpeter.
<+> <+> <+>
All members of the Southern Cross Army wear a suit of armor called
a doublet. It's main purpose is to protect them from any injury within
their mecha, the space corps doublets provide them with an
oxygen supply, as do the Navy's doublets. Newly initiated Kraken pilots
often complain about the need to wear two suits of armor, but when
their Kraken armor ruptures for the first time they are thankful for
the added protection and air supply.
Jun was fastening the shoulder-straps on his doublet as he was
entering the 45ths motor pool. As expected all of the JSRs were already
taken, but Jun had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he was
a Kraken pilot.
He noticed the insignia on Sophia Jenkins' armor and walked over
to her. "My Kraken ready yet, Wizkid?"
Sophia looked up from the control unit she was spot-welding on
one of the work benches.
"Yeah, old unit 2 is ready for you." She said, pointing towards
the blue armor hanging from a rack in a niche a few feet down.
It's a general myth that many commanding officers use their
positions to get their hands on prototypes when they come out. It's
not actually a myth because most of them actually do, but not Jun.
And it didn't have anything to do with the fact that there hadn't
been a new prototype in the two months that Jun had been commanding
the 45th, he was used to tradition. He dug up the oldest Kraken he
could find when he took command, and stripped it down to its frame.
He then rebuilt it from scratch with recently created parts and
replaced the old armor plates.
Unit 2 (no one quite knows what happened to Unit 1, though there
are some highly entertaining and risque stories circulating) looked
like an old run down Model 3, but anyone within the 45th knew that
it was the best Kraken they had. Jun had even installed two Serpent
Torpedo racks into the shoulders, even though those weren't supposed
to be integrated until the Kraken-A m1 came out. Jun hadn't
felt like waiting that long.
As Jun walked over towards his tried and true armor something on
the far side of the hangar caught his eye. It looked like a Kraken,
it had the same sort of faceplate, same basic design, same steel-plated
oxygen-feed tubes, but there was something different. It might have had
something to do with the fact that it was twice as tall and twice as
wide as any of the other Krakens. It would've taken a giant to fit
within it. Jun took a few steps back and turned around to face Sophia.
"Jenkins, tell me that is what I think it is." Jun said, awed.
Sophia didn't even look up from the workbench.
"Yes, it is what you think it is. A Kraken-A, it got dropped off
this morning by some people from the ministry. Some hot-shot test
pilot is supposed to come around tomorrow and go on our patrol with
it." Sophia finished her welding and pulled the small hatch on her
Kraken control unit shut. She picked it up and headed towards her
Kraken, it occurred to her after a few seconds that Jun was following
her.
"I don't think we should wait that long." Jun commented. Sophia
smiled. She had been hoping for this.
"Naturally, he dropped off these." She said, holding up a keyring
with a blue rectangular key which was made from some sort of hard
plastic, copper wires ran below and on the surface of the bottom part
of the key.
Jun tried to take them but Sophia pulled them back playfully.
"Sure you're up for it Lieutenant?" she asked, smirking beneath
her faceplate.
"Hell yes, it's been two months since I last piloted ANYTHING. I
know they say hovercycles and JSRs are even better than mecha, but I
certainly don't agree." He said, wringing his gauntleted hands.
Sophia dropped the key into his hands.
"It's your funeral." She commented. "I believe that the
instruction manual is in the cockpit. I could be wrong, though."
With that she walked over to her Kraken and began to belt herself
in. Jun looked down at the key in his hand and smiled.
<+> <+> <+>
There was a release mechanism for the cockpit underneath the right
knee of the Kraken-A. Jun remarked to himself silently that it was the
most logical, and safe, place to put it.
The cockpit was about as big as that of a Logan. It was a
different experience though due to the fact that you don't enter the
Logan in Robot mode. The Kraken-As were never intended to be
transformable, so there was no difference in modes.
With the help of a ladder Jun crawled into the cockpit. He surveyed
the control console. All of the controls were labeled in Japanese,
which was not that much of a surprise due to the fact that the Yamazaki
cooperation made all of the Southern Cross's weaponry and they were
one of the last cooperations which hadn't accepted the fact that
English had become the official language.
Luckily Jun knew Japanese, his parents had been rather liberal
and didn't demand that Jun speak Japanese as a first language, they
didn't want to set him out from the others, but they did insist that
he learn it as a second language. This had been a priceless asset in
his short career as a test-pilot, since most of the prototypes'
controls and sometimes even instruction manuals were only in Japanese.
There were also notes scrawled on the console by designers,
apparently it wasn't being tested on the range, since tests by
the science corps were usually done by the time they reached the
range. Jun supposed this was normal due to the fact that there was
no aquatic section of the range testing grounds.
The main gist of the controls was a stick in easy reach of the
left hand and a keyboard in easy reach of the right hand. There were
other controls set about the console, but most of them had singular
and non-critical purposes, such as the temperature of the cabin.
In front of him was a large screen which got feeds from the
camera set into the faceplate, as well as served as the monitor upon
which he operated the various systems of the Kraken-A.
Jun flicked through the manual. It all seemed like the usual
stuff, in fact it was almost exactly like operating a Logan in Robot
mode, except it was equipped with torpedoes instead of missles and
there were several functions which had solely to do with submarine
conditions. He pushed the key that Jenkins gave him into its
corresponding slot on the control console, as he did the control
console began to light up.
A composite image from the two cameras set into the faceplate
of the Kraken-A appeared on the full-length monitor. The image flashed
for a moment and a set of toolbars appeared on either side of the
image. At least the operating system was in English, Jun noted.
He pressed a button labeled "sadjou" in kanjii. One of the icons
flashed and it brought up a display which read "Standby". Jun hit the
up arrow and it switched to "Walking". He hit the sadjou button
again and the display disappeared. He then pushed the throttle up two
marks to where one of the engineers had written "dearuku". Then he
pushed the control stick forward and the Kraken-A began to walk at
a leisurely pace around the hangar.
A few members of the 45th ran out of the way of the walking
Kraken-A, several of the them swearing.
Jun spotted a dial above the keyboard and turned it, two
curving lines shot across the image on the monitor before him, each
cut by a small line ever inch or so. As he turned the dial they changed,
as did the image. Jun had found the camera control. He turned it back
to the default position, it being turned to any other degree a bit
too distracting, and the crosshairs vanished.
He pressed an unlabeled button which had a picture of a gun on it,
as expected the weapons menu came up. It was currently set to
"Auxiliary Rail Gun." Jun blinked, twice.
"Holy shit." He mumbled. They weren't kidding about a more
powerful weapons system.
He opened up one of the panels on his doublet and removed a
fiber-optic cable, encased in plastic and ending in a crystal plug. He
plugged into what he prayed was the communications jack and set the
controls to contact Sophia's Kraken.
"Hey Wizkid, were there any hand weapons that came with the
Kraken-A?" He asked, not wanting to mention what the computer had told
him.
In her own Kraken Sophia shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of, they'd
probably bring the weapons themselves tomorrow. I did, however, put
Serpents into all four of the racks." She said, chuckling.
Jun smiled, how well she knew him. He pressed the down arrow
and the display read "Serpent Torpedoes (16)". Jun blinked as he read
it. Four racks? The Kraken-A was powerful indeed.
Right before Sophia had a chance to switch off her communications
equipment she sneezed.
"You're still not suffering from that cold are you Sophia?" Jun
asked, letting a small bit of concern seep into his voice.
"No, I'm not." Sophia lied, shaking her head despite the fact that
no one could see it.
"I think you are." Jun replied.
"Look Jun, I'm been off the duty roster for a week now, I've been
away from the sea so long now that I'm actually homesick for it, please
don't make me go!" Sophia pleaded.
"I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to pilot a Kraken in your
condition." Jun said reluctantly. But a moment later he hit upon
something. He established a link between his Kraken-A, Sophia's
Kraken and Edgar's JSR.
"Private Edgar Briggs, come in please." Jun called.
Edgar, who had been leaning on the drink dispenser and drinking a
cup of coffee rushed over to his JSR and hit the "Receive/Send" button.
"Private Briggs here, sir." He said, forgetting that it was
standard procedure in the SCA to address people by their ranks and
first names, unlike in the academy where you were supposed to address
them by their ranks and last names.
Jun didn't notice the throwback and continued on. "Swap your JSR
for Corporal Jenkins' Kraken." He ordered.
Edgar felt his heart fall into his stomach. He had never been in
a Kraken before. He knew he was supposed to follow orders, but
still...
"Sir?" He replied.
"Did I stutter Private? I said surrender your JSR to Corporal
Jenkins and take over her Kraken. Which word didn't you understand?"
"Yes sir!" Edgar shouted, switching off the communications rig.
"You really didn't have to do that Lieutenant." Sophia said.
"It's not favoritism, believe me. The fact that you've been off
for a week means your out of practice, and you're not earning your
pay, and I need to rectify this situation. If this means assigning you
to a JSR, then I will do so." Jun said, sounding slightly offended.
"I would've done that for anyone else in the 45th." But would he
really? He wondered.
"Yes, of course." But Sophia didn't sound all that convinced.
She crawled out of her Kraken armor and made her way over to the JSR
that Edgar was reluctantly leaving.
As they passed each other Edgar mumbled something. Sophia hadn't
made it out but got the gist of it from his tone. She thought about
pulling rank for a second, perhaps turning him in to the GMP for
insubordination, but didn't feel like it, the kid was having a hard
enough day as it was.
The thing that Edgar had mumbled was this; "Maybe I'd get a JSR
too if I had slept with the lieutenant once." Apparently their former
relationship wasn't that much of a secret.
<+> <+> <+>
Jun was one of the last to enter the dropship, he nudged past
several JSRs to the back of the dropship where the rest of the Krakens
were. The dropship had originally been built for deployment of Navy
Logans and LRPs so the roof was more than high enough to accommodate
the Kraken-A.
Jun stood next to Unit 7, a blue Kraken that had a red X across
the chest, Malcolm had said that it stood for "eXtra talent". But
Jun knew it was just his way of distinguishing himself.
The head of the Kraken turned up to look at the head of Kraken-A.
"Is that you Jun?" Malcolm asked over the radio. When they got
into the dropship all Krakens tuned into the same frequency. They also
tuned the second earphone to the JSRs frequency and switched it on
when they had to talk to them.
"Yep." Jun said, grinning.
"You've grown." Malcolm commented.
Jun brought up the chronometer on his display. 13:20. Not bad.
Jun hadn't been lying when he said that they had a thirty minute
window of departure for their patrol. The GMP wasn't happy about it,
and one time they arrested the entire patrol. The fact that the GMP
lockup was still standing the next morning was a testament to the
competence of its builders. Ever since then the GMP had been leanent
with the 45th, and if they got caught skipping patrol again only Jun
would end up in the lockup.
The 45th was known for its ability to prepare for battle in
record time. This was due, of course, to the fact that they never
bothered with safety checks. If it wasn't sparking or parts weren't
falling off, it was serviceable enough to go into battle.
The door to the dropship closed and it slowly began to hover a
foot above the ground, it then drove out of the hangar and took off
and flew towards the sea.
Jun noticed the ride was a bit bumpy. "Who's flying this time
around?" he said to no one in particular.
"One of the new privates. Davie, I think his name was." Malcolm
said.
"Does he have any flying experience?" Jun said, concerned.
"I don't know. He seemed a bit reluctant to take the controls,
but I informed him it was dereliction of duty if he didn't. He took
them quite fast then." Malcolm snickered.
Jun wasn't all that worried, after all they were all given
training on dropships in the academy, even though the Surface Ops
Special Forces were the only people who used them.
Jun flicked the communications selector on the radio so that he
was connected with both the JSR and Kraken units.
"All right, this is a normal recon job. The skis are going to be
dropped off at the shore and you're going to fan out, make sure that
the edges of your SONAR and RADAR ranges overlap, we don't want to
miss anything. The outer marker is the Mortimore Reef. You'll be
picked up by the dropship there." Jun spoke without much enthusiasm.
In the old days he used to shout out the commands like the commander
in Starship Troopers, but that had gotten old fast, and it was
impossible to get excited about trampling kelp and blowing up dolphins.
"All Krakens will patrol the region between the coral and the
shore. However, stay close to the dropship, if the JSRs find a nest
of GDs, we'll have to get to them fast before they catch on. Is
that clear?"
There was a chorus of bored and tired "Yes sir"s. There were a
couple that were still enthusiastic and chipper, but those wouldn't
last long.
Suddenly the dropship shuddered as it came to a halt.
"First stop, Sir." A young voice came through Jun's headset. He
nodded.
"All right, JSRs out as soon as the door opens. If you're not out
in ten seconds, you're not the soldiers that I trained you to be! Do
you get me?" He shouted, trying to get back some of that old Starship
Troopers enthusiasm.
"We get you sir!" The voices chorused, getting into it as well.
The door flipped upwards and sunlight reflected off of the sea
flooded the compartment. And at that moment everyone inside the
dropship felt happy that they had been assigned to the navy. The 45th
had its moment of collective pride. They were few, but they did have
them.
The JSRs were off like a shot, being able to tread over solid
ground as well as water, and splashed into the surf. As soon as the
last one bounded out of the entrance Jun glanced down at the timer
he had brought up on his display. 9.5 seconds. He smiled. A small
moment of commander's pride. They were few and far between with this
lot, but they were wonderful all the same.
The doors to the dropship closed and the whole ship jerked as it
shot forward towards the Mortimore reef.
"Hey junior, could you ease up a little? Rapid stops and starts
aren't good for the engine, and they aren't good for us either."
Jun said.
"Sorry sir." Davie replied.
<+> <+> <+>
There are many documented cases of parallel evolution. There are
tabby cats on the world Freedom, even though they tend to be far more
aggressive than Earth normals and refuse to be domesticated.
Since most of the life in the oceans of these earthlike worlds
is only a few steps above the most basic of all life they tend to be
extremely similar. It's fitting that every colonized world which
contains oceans has starfish in them. Another common lifeform is coral,
marine biologists were surprised to discover that Glories oceans had
huge coral reefs in them despite the fact that Glorie's oceans, unlike
those of Earth and 99% of all the other Earth-like worlds they had
encountered, contained no salt. They were even more shocked when they
discovered the Glorie Dolphins, every other marine lifeform they found
was of the fish family and had the same grey texture as freshwater fish
back on Earth.
The Mortimore reef (named after a famous Twenty-first century
science fiction writer) was approximately 4 kilometers out from the
shore of the main continent on Glorie, which was called New Liberty in
reverence of their parent colony.
Since being given this patrol Jun had used the Mortimore Reef as
a natural spot for the dropship to hover while the recon patrols did
their work.
Jun was currently using the jets in his Kraken-A to shoot across
the ocean floor, not taking heed of his own advice to stay near the
location where the dropship was hovering. He estimated that he was
probably halfway back to shore by now, and the battery was still close
to being ninety-five percent charged. The most efficient Logan fuel
tank or the biggest Spartas battery couldn't hope to maintain that
much energy after going so far.
He stopped the Kraken and floated down to the floor, sending silt
up in a cloud as it set down. He opened a channel to the dropship,
hoping that the medium range communications array had been installed
in the prototype.
"Hey Davie, have there been any reports from the JSRs?" Jun knew
very well that they would've contacted Jun directly, but he was hoping
he had been out of range.
"None as of yet, sir." Davie replied in his irritatingly chipper
tone of voice. People like that should be shot, Jun thought.
Jun twiddled his thumbs. He wished there were some GDs to
practice on. He had taken the risk of stealing this thing, and he was
going to be pissed off if he didn't have the opportunity to try it
out.
<+> <+> <+>
A hovertruck pulled up in front of the headquarters of the Southern
Cross Naval Division.
1st Lieutenant Jason Bidmead of the Special Technicians Corps took
off his sunglasses and took in the place. Despite the fact that the
Naval Division had only a third of the number of troops and mecha of
the ATAC they both had almost identical accommodations.
"Sounds pretty quiet." The truck driver noted. He didn't think
that the lieutenant looked much like a scientist. Most scientists
dressed in black sports-coats under lab coats and wore glasses.
This one wore a white suit and sunglasses, not what he was expecting
from the STC.
The scientist ignored him. "Get the weapons container off the
truck and over to the motor pool."
The truck driver nodded and made his way towards the back of the
truck while the scientist made his way towards the motorpool.
Inside the trunk was a huge white rectangular box. It was made
from what the STC claimed was shatterproof plastic. The truck driver
activated the hover units on both sides of the container.
The container began to float a few inches above the ground. The
truck driver pushed the container off the back of the truck and was
turning it towards the entrance to the motor pool when he saw the
scientist returning. From the look on his face it was obvious that he
was extremely pissed off.
"Let me use your radio." He said through grated teeth.
The truck driver nodded. The scientist threw the door to the
cab open and grabbed the receiver, typing in a four-digit frequency
number which the truck driver recognized as the general GMP line.
Someone was in trouble, the truck driver thought. He hoped it wasn't
him.
<+> <+> <+>
Sophia Jenkins was nearing the end of her patrol. It had been
pointless, as usual. Dolphins didn't show up until early summer, and
although that it was the middle of May it wasn't soon enough for there
to be a huge number of Glorie Dolphins near the shore. They stayed out
in the middle of the ocean feeding on all the other fish before coming
towards the shore to look for other food. Glorie Dolphins were
carnivores, when you've been in the colonizing game long enough you
begin to realize that just because something looks like something back
home, it's usually terribly different.
Suddenly there was a blip on her communications scanner. Sophia
sat up and took notice. JSRs were built with scanners which search the
radio wavelengths and search for tachyon emissions. Their main purpose
was to detect enemy transmissions, but since the main enemy of the
SCN were dolphins with big teeth the device was almost never switched
on. But Sophia kept it on because she was a slave to procedure and
the orders stated that it must be kept on while on patrol. She didn't
want to get taken in by the GMP for something so insignificant so she
kept it on.
It was detecting tachyons, small bursts of them, probably some
sort of signaling wave. That was strange, Sophia thought. Tachyons were
only used in interstellar communications, being faster than light made
it possible for instantaneous, or at least short delay, transmissions
with other colony worlds.
But the emissions were weak, in fact they weren't going out for
more than a kilometer before they faded away. Libby looked down at
her SONAR map of the region. The signal was coming in the direction
of the reef. The equipment on her JSR wasn't enough to track the source
of the signal.
She switched on the radio and dialed in Jun's frequency. Needless
to say she was a bit perturbed when nothing came up. She punched in
Malcolm's.
"Hey Sarge, have you seen Jun? He isn't replying to my hails."
There was a long silence.
"Um..Sophia. The Lieutenant hasn't been replying because he's
been detained."
Sophia furrowed her brow. "Been detained by what?"
"The GMP." Malcolm replied.
Sophia blinked. Twice.
Then her signal was interrupted by a call from an extremely familiar
female voice. Sophia gritted her teeth as she heard the voice of Libby
Clarke, 2nd Lt. GMP, recall the 45th to barracks.
<+> <+> <+>
GMP inquisition rooms were designed to invoke fear in their
occupants. They were hot and stuffy, a single wooden table was set in
the center of the room and light by a lone lamp above it so that the
rest of the room was shrouded in darkness. The chair that the suspect
was supposed to sit in was made of hard metal while the one that the
GMP interrogator was supposed to sit in was padded.
Naturally Jun's first action after the GMP officer left was to
switch the chairs around and to prop his feet up on the table. He
closed his eyes and allowed himself to lapse into a state between that
of sleeping and waking. As he drifted closer to the state of sleep
he began to have very strange thoughts.
He was wondering about whether or not penguins had knees when his
feet were swiped off the table and he was pushed out of the chair. He
opened his eyes and saw a face looking down at him. It's nearness to
the light blocked out any facial features but Jun could easily make
out the female figure in the GMP uniform and the long blond hair and
the silhouette of the GMP telecom closing over the officer's head like
a vice. There was only one person this could possibly be.
"Hello Libby. You're looking well." Jun commented.
Libby wasn't amused. "Get up!" She growled.
Jun jumped to his feet and cracked off a phony salute. "Yes
ma'am!" He ran around to the metal chair and sat down.
Libby sat down on the padded chair that Jun had recently vacated.
She opened up the softcover blue binder that she had brought in. Jun
saw that the very unfriendly crest of the GMP had been printed on the
cover. Jun had long ago speculated that the GMP crest had been thought
up by a child psychologist. He had seen plenty of kids walking to
school with the monstrosity on their folders. The GMP had actually made
stickers with their crest on it. Probably so that most of the kids
would want to join the GMP when they grew up. It didn't work, of
course. Most of them ended up in the Space or Tactical corps, if
they didn't decide to become civvies that was. Only people with
inferiority complexes and bullies joined the GMP.
"Well, you managed to top yourself this time." Libby said as she
looked down at the complaint forms. One from the Ministry, one from
the Special Technicians Corps, one from the Navy and one from Rolf
Emerson himself.
Jun shrugged. "I still don't see what the big deal was. So I
test-piloted a piece of military hardware. I'm a test pilot, I can
do that."
Libby glared at Jun. She had such beautiful blue eyes.
"FORMER test pilot." She noted. "Ever since you buzzed the Cold
Squad HQ with that Auroran prototype. I'm certain you hadn't forgotten
about that yet."
He certainly hadn't. It had been hilarious to see them running in
their little fur-lined coats to get out of the way. He probably
would've gotten away with it too. The fact that the Cold Squad was
stationed in the far north reaches of Liberty continent and the test
range was in the south had something to do with Jun running out of
fuel and crashing the prototype into the desert about 200 kilometers
north of the range.
"We thought assigning you to command the 45th would've taught you
some discipline, kept you out of trouble. But apparently it hasn't."
Libby said as she looked as the complaint reports from the last month.
Jun shrugged. He had fit in well with the 45th. Misfits tend to
cling together he had discovered.
"But back to the matter at hand. I think you'll like to know that
the Kraken-A is still a classified craft. It was never to have left
Southern Cross Army grounds without a member of either the GMP or
STC present." Libby said, glancing over the Ministry's complaint.
"THAT," she said, tapping the report with her index finger, "is why
you're in so much trouble right now." She shoved the cover of the
folder up and let it fall close.
Jun shrugged. "So, what now? Solitary? Reassignment? Both?"
Maybe he'd get sent to either the Desert or Forest Squad. He always
wanted to try out one of those Salamander mechs he'd seen in the ASC
Graduation Sourcebook.
"Neither, I'm afraid." Libby said as she shook her head.
Jun felt his blood run cold in his veins. There were only two
things that she could mean. Dishonorable discharge or court martial.
Either way his career was finished. What was he going to do? He
couldn't go back to Liberty, he'd have to charter a flight there or
else stowaway on one of the supply ships.
"Have you ever heard of Karen Knight?" Libby asked.
"Yeah." Jun replied. He certainly had. He'd been at The Academy
with her. She'd originally been in his class but she'd taken so many
credits of advanced classes that she'd graduated a whole year earlier.
Last he heard she had been serving with the Space Corps.
"She'll be taking your place as commander of the 45th Naval
Division. Furthermore, Section Chief Rochiel Antionne has demoted you
to Sergeant Major." She ripped the lieutenant bar from his uniform.
"First Lieutenant Karen will report to the 45th's headquarters
tomorrow morning at oh-six-hundered. You and your squad are to remain
confined to barracks until then."
Jun didn't know what to say. It had been better than he feared,
but far worse than he had hoped. He was at once extremely relieved
and extremely disappointed. He didn't know quite what to feel.
Libby picked up her folder and headed towards the door.
"You will go back under GMP escort. If your career means anything
to you, you will not step out of the barracks until six tomorrow
morning." Libby said over her shoulder as she was leaving.
Jun nodded numbly, he was still in his chair.
Libby opened the door and motioned to the two officers that were
guarding the door. They nodded and walked over to Jun.
He rose, still numb, and allowed them to escort him out of the
inquisition room.
<+> <+> <+>
Malcolm flipped through the inventory notice on the clipboard as
Edgar and Davie used acetylene torches to melt the seal on the
weapons container off.
"I can't believe the brass has the balls to make us do this
weapons inventory after what happened this afternoon." Edgar mumbled
through his welding mask.
"It's called irony, Edgar." Malcolm said, not looking up from the
manifest.
"You think the lieutenant's going to be all right?" Davie asked.
"Jun can take care of himself. He's going to come back here in
a few days and joke about the whole thing. That kid's made of steel."
They all knew he was lying. It would be a minor miracle if they ever
saw Jun again.
Just as Malcolm was saying this he heard footsteps behind him.
He turned around and was shocked to see his CO walking towards him.
He looked crestfallen to say the least.
"Hey boss!" He shouted, obviously startled.
Jun nodded numbly and came over and stood next to him. A moment
passed in silence as Jun watched Davie and Edgar working on the seal
of the weapons container.
"So, uh..." Malcolm said. "What...what happened?"
"Not much." Jun said. "Not much at all."
"Well, that's good to hear." Malcolm said cheerfully. There was
something wrong with this picture. And it wasn't just the way Jun was
acting. Then he noticed it.
Jun was wearing his usual naval uniform. It was the standard
Southern Cross army uniform, two piece with a fake harness and a belt
with a rather large buckle. The buckle was always blue to symbolize
the navy. But then Malcolm noticed what was wrong. One of Jun's bars
was missing.
"Oh my God." Malcolm said, gasping. "They demoted you!"
Edgar dropped his torch in shock. Luckily the safety catch
switched off the flame so that no one would get hurt. Both he and
Davie turned to look at their former Commander.
"Why did they do it?" Malcolm asked. It was like a bad dream,
it couldn't be real. Could it? Jun had been with them for only a
couple of months, but he was so RIGHT for the 45th, from the very
first day he fit in.
"Well, you know how a Sergeant Major can't command a unit during
peacetime, right?" The three nodded. "There's some hotshot first
lieutenant that wants to get some training in the special forces, so
she's taking over the unit."
"Bastards!" Davie shouted, slamming a welding-gloved fist into
his other welding-gloved palm.
"I can't believe they used you like that!" Malcolm said.
Jun shook his head. "No, it's for the best. If this situation
hadn't cropped up they would've thrown the book at me. The Kraken-As
still classified." He took a look at the giant plastic box sitting in
the middle of the hangar. "What's this then?" He asked, pointing at
it.
"Oh," Malcolm said, looking down at the forgotten inventory sheet
"Weapons container for the Kraken-A."
Jun motioned for Malcolm to give him the manifest. He read it.
"Wow, this thing is armed to the teeth. Rail Gun, Particle Gun,
Monofilament Saber, Heat Axe, Bazooka." He whistled in spite of
himself. Most of the stuff would never be used when the Kraken-A was
mass-produced, of course. The Logans were originally equipped with a
particle saber as well as the particle gun, but it had been removed
due to the fact that it used an extremely large proportion of power
and sapped half the reserve after only five minutes of operation.
Jun felt a sinking sensation as he realized that he would
probably never pilot another Kraken-A. After Karen was done with her
little tour of duty there was no chance that they'd give him back
command of the 45th, they'd rather put him in another part of the
Special Forces Corps before giving him back his command.
He handed the manifest back to Malcolm then turned towards the
door and started to walk out. But right as he got to the door he turned
around and faced the three.
"Before I forget; the 45th has been restricted to barracks until
the new CO arrives tomorrow morning. We've pissed off the GMP enough
for today, so don't leave the facility." He said.
"Will do, boss." Malcolm called, trying to sound light-hearted
and failing badly.
Jun spared the weapons container one last look and then left the
room.
<+> <+> <+>
Sophia sighed as she sat back in her chair in the computer room.
The satellite link was certainly taking longer than usual. She fiddled
with a lock of her shoulder-length brown hair as the computer informed
her that it was still waiting for the satellite to respond.
Her first priority upon returning to the barracks was finding out
what had happened to Jun. Apparently he had been taken to GMP HQ.
She probably wouldn't see him for a few weeks now. She sighed as she
thought about it. She hadn't felt that way about Jun for a long time,
but they were still close friends. Closer as friends than most people
were as lovers. They were always unusual like that.
Suddenly the screen flashed and Sophia's eyes darted back to it.
The recon map of the New Aegean Sea, configured to her specifications
came up. And it showed exactly what she had expected to see.
She hit the hardcopy button and waited impatiently as the printer
made her a copy. She ripped it from the printer and ran off to find
Malcolm.
<+> <+> <+>
Jun had wanted a drink, but was irked to discover one of the
officers which had escorted him back to the barracks in the lounge
dumping the last bottle of gin down the sink. He turned to face Jun
when he heard him come in.
"Sorry, GMP's orders." He stated, not managing to keep the pity
out of his voice. The officer saluted and left.
Jun sat down at the bar and looked at the dispenser status bar.
All of the hard drinks had been taken off line. He should call Wizkid
up and have her rig it so that the 45th could have one last kegger
under their old commander.
Jun tapped his fingers on the bar in a slight emulation of typing
at a computer keyboard, something which he discovered all computer
users had as a habit, though few of them ever realized it. He had
never been in a fix like this before. Like most soldiers in the ASC
he had never actually been DEMOTED. How was he supposed to feel? He
remembered being a Sergeant Major. He hadn't been all that fond of
it. That was the rank they gave him when he got out of the Academy
due to his high placement. That's what it said on his assignment
papers.
He had kept the rank despite the fact that he threw the papers
back in the face of Chief Of Staff Emerson and volunteered to be a
test pilot. He never really understood why he had done it. Perhaps he
felt he had something to prove. His efforts had garnered him a
promotion to second lieutenant. Even after the Auroran fiasco, the
CO had liked him and reassigned him instead of making him pay any
real price for his actions. Maybe he could try and get his old job
back. Probably not, this little display probably blew whatever
security clearance was required for such work.
Mountain Squad, that's what the original assignment papers had
said. It was a good assignment, really. It was hard to start out with
an XO position in any unit, much less the illustrious 21st. Plus the
fact that he easily could've been promoted and transferred to either
the TASC or ATAC if he worked hard enough. After all, he would've been
under Captain Sabalolm Glitz, formerly of the Liberty Army Mountain
Squad, one of the most respected members of the entire ASC. It
would've been the beginning of a great and illustrious carrer. What
the hell had he been thinking?
The door to the lounge swooshed open and Jun looked up from the
bar. He had been so absorbed that he had not noted any passage of
time, when he had come in it had been nearing dusk, now the entire
room was cloaked in darkness. He turned around and saw the two figures
framed against door and lit by the light that escaped from the
corridor. One of them reached over and switched on the light. It was
Sophia and Malcolm.
"Hey boss, Wizkid here discovered something that we think you
should see." Malcolm said with great enthusiasm. "Come on down to the
communications room with us!"
Jun blinked several times, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the
sudden lighting from the florescent lights. He looked down at his
watch and saw that it was ten minutes after eight. He had been
considering going to bed early.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait for the morning and the
new commander." Jun said, getting up from his stool.
Sophia walked over to the bar and slapped a prinout onto the
oaken bar. "Look at this." she commanded.
Jun turned his attention to the printout, it was a map of the
Aegean sea, specifically the Mortimore reef region. The map was divided
up by a series of lines which constituted a grid. There was a series of
red concentric circles, which eventually faded after four levels, at a
certain point in the reef. "What am I looking at?" Jun asked.
"This is a Tachyon Detection Map, I used one of the Telcom
satellites to get this image. When we were out on patrol earlier I
detected a tachyon source somewhere in the reef." Sophia said, pausing
to catch her breath.
"But tachyon's aren't a natural phenomenon." Jun objected. Then he
understood what Sophia was saying. "This could be some kind of," he
searched for the right word "BEACON." He finished.
Sophia nodded. "Do you understand the implications of this? If
we managed to retrieve this probe and turn it over the HQ..."
Jun was excited for approximately five seconds, if he had managed
to pull off a discovery of this magnitude, he could get his lieutenant
bars back. But then those five seconds passed.
"Wait a second, this could simply be a crashed telecommunications
satellite." Jun said, feeling his lieutenant bars getting even further
away. "In fact, that's almost exactly what it is."
"If that's what it is, don't you think that Moran would have had
it recovered?" Malcolm asked. "You know the 95% reuse program that all
of the colonies are under, they wouldn't let all this raw material
lay in the ocean when they could've easily gotten it back."
"Besides," Sophia added "I seriously doubt that the communications
systems of the satellite would've been able to survive a plummet from
orbit. Much less the tachyon emitters. Do you know fragile one of
those is? They seal those in foam so that they don't snap during
launch."
Jun gritted his teeth. They were right of course. "But if we go
out and get it, we could all be brought up on charges." Jun sighed.
"I could get drummed out of the corps!"
Malcolm shrugged. "But if we're right, this could be the discovery
of the decade, maybe even the century! Don't you think that it's worth
the risk?"
Jun shook his head. Of course it was. "All right." he said, rising
from the bar. "Let's do it."
<+> <+> <+>
"Are you sure that we should be doing this?" Edgar asked as he
pulled on his doublet helmet.
Sophia looked up from the scanner mechanism she was checking in
the backseat of the Logan Recon Plane. "Of course we shouldn't be
doing it, that's the point." She said, switching off the scanner,
happy that it had gone through the checks with no problems whatsoever.
They were in the motorpool of the naval headquarters, and
currently trying to be quiet as possible as they made their
preparations.
Edgar climbed into the cockpit and hit the button to lower the
canopy. He rushed through the preflight check, and grumbled as Sophia
forced him to go through them again, making certain there was nothing
wrong. He then activated the remote control which opened the doors to
the landing strip and taxied the plane out onto the runway. Once the
LRP reached the point where the motorpool ended and the strip began
he halted the plane and allowed it to idle.
Sophia typed in a four-digit frequency into the radio which was
used almost exclusively for the cold squad, since they were too far
south for the CSC to hear them, and the fact that it was doubtful that
the GMP would be monitoring such an obscure frequency made it the
ideal channel for them to be monitoring.
"Bradbury to Assimov, come in please." Sophia said.
There was a crackle of static and then the reply. "Assimov here.
Are you ready to launch?"
"Yes we are." Sophia said, pressing in the "send" button.
"We'll be waiting for your signal." Came the reply. "Try not to
disappoint."
Sophia chuckled, like she'd have any choice in the matter. "That
we won't."
"Good hunting." Jun said. Sophia switched off the radio.
"All right, you heard the man, take off!"
"Yes ma'am!" Edgar shouted, pushing the throttle up four notches
and pulling back on the stick. The LRP took off into the night sky.
<+> <+> <+>
Inside the dropship Jun shifted around uncomfortably in his
Kraken. As hard as the seat of the Kraken-A's cockpit had been Jun was
missing it already.
The dropship was fairly empty, there was only Jun's Kraken and
three JSRs, but currently only one was occupied, that one by
Malcolm. The other two were for Sophia and Edgar once they splash
landed the LRP.
"Maybe we should've gone with them." Malcolm said from his perched
position on his JSR.
Jun shook his head. "They might find out it was just what we
thought, a downed satellite. A LRP over the New Aegean Sea is nothing
to write home about. A navy dropship, on the other hand, is something
completely different.
"Ah." Malcolm said. "Covering your ass, I see."
Jun nodded inside his Kraken. "Natch."
<+> <+> <+>
It happened on their second pass of the Mortimore reef. Sophia
had finally managed to get the exact coordinate of the location of the
tachyon source, as well as some other interesting information. She
smiled as she looked at the screen. If they recovered this probe, she
wouldn't be surprised if Jun made first lieutenant. She punched in
the radio frequency and hit the "send" button.
<+> <+> <+>
"Not only is it not one of our satellites, the amount of coral
that covers it suggests that it must have been in the reef for at
least two hundred years at the very least!" Sophia's voice was filled
with an enthusiasm which Jun hadn't heard since their days together
in high school. How he missed that enthusiasm.
"How deep into the coral is it?" Jun asked.
"I'd say about six inches in. Some of it might still be exposed."
she noted.
Jun hummed to himself, thinking. "We'll be there soon enough.
Hover around the site until we get there."
"Will do." Sophia said, switching off the radio.
There was a crackle of static in Jun's headset for a moment, then
the voice of Davie broke through.
"Are we ready to go sir?" he asked, almost as enthusiastic as
Sophia had been.
"Not just yet. Open the rear-doors." Jun said.
"Yes sir."
Jun walked his Kraken out of the dropship.
Curious, Malcolm got off his JSR and followed Jun into the hangar.
He found Jun out of his Kraken and pulling off his doublet.
"What are you doing?" Malcolm asked.
"The Kraken-As cockpit is far too cramped for a doublet, I'm going
in in shirt-sleeves." He said, walking towards the changing room.
Malcolm followed him. "You can't be serious Jun..."
"Of course I'm serious. You heard what Wizkid said, six inches
in. We're going to need the equipment of the Kraken-A to get it out."
Jun said as he pulled on his uniform.
"Besides, its obvious now that whatever'd down there will be a
monumental find. So I think in the end we'll be vindicated." He started
to walk over to where the Kraken-A stood.
Malcolm shrugged. Some people never learned.
After powering up the Kraken-A and removing both the heat axe and
monofilament saber from the weapon's container, Jun walked back into
the dropship.
The doors shut behind him and the ship took off.
Not once did Jun suspect that he had tripped a silent alarm when
he had powered up the Kraken-A.
<+> <+> <+>
Miles away Captain Marino of the GMP looked down at his control
board and gritted his teeth. He slammed the intercom button.
"Send Second Lieutenant Libby Clarke in here immediately!"
<+> <+> <+>
Second, soon to be first, Lieutenant Karen Knight whistled as she
packed her belongings into her suitcase. She was happy, she had every
right to be. After the great maneuvers she had put her unit through
she had been promoted, although she had yet to receive the bars and
have her rank officially changed, and she was being reassigned.
It wasn't as if she hadn't enjoyed her stint with Tactical Space
Corps, much to the contrary, she had become so close to the other
members of her unit in the past six months that they were almost like
a family to her now.
But Karen would be happy to be staying on the ground for the
foreseeable future, and she was finally being given a chance to take
command of a unit. There were rumors, naturally, of the 45th being an
omega squad of sorts, but Karen didn't believe a word of it. Though
they had rather bad reputations they had one the greatest records of
excellence in the entire corps. They were better than they thought.
A non-regulation radio scanner was sitting on Karen's desk. She
had gotten one of her teammates to construct it for her. It allowed
her to listen in on TASC, ATAC, and GMP frequencies. Most of which
were restricted.
It was currently set to the GMP frequency and Karen was
half-listening to a report of several TASC members getting busted for
drinking while on duty. One of the prime requirements of being a member
of the GMP was lacking any sense of fun whatsoever.
But her ears perked up when she heard the word "Fortieth-Fifth".
She looked over to the scanner, despite the fact that it didn't
help her hear it any better.
"Repeat, 45th disregarding restriction orders. Also, use of
confidential craft reported." A female voice said.
Karen dropped the package of hair clips she had in one hand and
rushed out the door.
She passed Sergeant Andres on her way out.
"Hey, where are you going? You're still staying for your farewell
party, right?" Andres said.
"Sorry, no time for that now. I've got to save my new unit from
getting taken away by the GMP." She said as she ran down the hallway,
her long black hair trailing behind her.
Andres blinked several times. She had left them behind already,
he thought. Andres shrugged and walked toward the rec room, planning
to get trashed out of his mind.
<+> <+> <+>
Second Lieutenant cracked her knuckles as she climbed onto her
GMP Model Jet Ski. She was going to take care of that upstart bastard
once and for all.
"We don't know exactly where the 45th and the Kraken-A are. We
tend to believe that they will be in the vicinity of the New Aegean
Sea, so we will search it until we come across them." Then she added
"Fire only if necessary." She did so hope that it became necessary.
<+> <+> <+>
The dropship hovered over the spot where the LRP had splashed
down. Malcolm shot out of the back hatch like a shot, the two unmanned
JSRs following him on autopilot.
Sophia and Edgar, who had been sitting on the canopy, gladly
climbed onto them. A few moments passed and then the Kraken A emerged.
"Oh my God." Edgar said as he saw it.
Sophia simply gaped. "There's going to be hell to pay." She noted.
Then she began to blush as she realized that she had brought this on.
If they got caught, it would be her fault, even though she would never
get punished for it.
"There was no other way." Jun said simply. "Besides, this should
be worth the risk, right?"
"Are you sure you don't want me to come down in the spare Kraken?"
Sophia asked. She had left hers on board just in case.
Jun shook his head. "No thanks. I can do this by myself."
The Kraken-A jumped from the dropship and sunk into the water.
Sophia looked at the figure as it slowly became invisible in the
dark water. She had a bad feeling about this.
<+> <+> <+>
Karen ran into the motorpool and found the 45ths dropship missing.
"FUCK!" she screamed. She rushed over to where one of the JSRs
and started it and shot out of the motorpool. The New Aegean Sea was
four kilometers from the base, but she hadn't the time to bother with
a dropship.
As she shot along the road leading to the sea she recalled that
this wasn't exactly an illustrious beginning to her job of commanding
the 45th. Maybe she shouldn't have been so quick to accept this
assignment. She sighed.
The JSR continued to shoot down the road towards the sea.
<+> <+> <+>
Malcolm was making his third circle around the downed LRP when
he saw the army of lights coming in the direction of the shore towards
him. Edgar and Sophia turned to see them as well.
"Uh oh." Malcolm noted.
"I think we're in trouble." Sophia added. When she saw the
doublet of Libby Clarke she knew for certain that they were in trouble.
"Where is the Kraken-A?" Libby's cold voice asked over the com.
"Kraken-A? What Kraken-A?" Malcolm asked. In situations like this,
it was usually to simply admit that you've done something wrong, but
Malcolm wasn't going to give in that easily.
"You know which Kraken-A! You're all in trouble, so make it easy
on yourselves. If you cooperate most of our wrath will be aimed at
your commander." But as usual, Libby wanted them to resist.
Malcolm stopped his circling and sat on his idling JSR. He said
nothing. The two other members of the 45th said nothing. The two
groups faced each other as if a Mexican standoff. But it was fairly
obvious that they were not on equal footing in this situation.
"Jeff." Libby said. "Scan the area."
"Aye, ma'am." Sergeant Jeff said. He flipped on his SONAR scanner.
A few moments passed. "There is a Kraken-A approximately a hundred
feet below us on the reef.
Libby punched in the main frequency of the 45th, which she was
certain Jun was monitoring.
"Jun?" She said.
A moment past and a surprised voice replied. "Libby?"
"You're in a lot of trouble Jun. Why don't you just come up and
surrender. Make it all nice and neat."
"Libby?" His voice echoed through her headset.
"Yes?" She replied.
"Fuck off." He said. Then there was a loud blast of static.
Libby switched off the radio and it took a few moments for her
ears to stop ringing.
"Ooh, you're going to regret that Jun." She typed in the
frequency of her GMP unit. "Send in the..." She trailed off. It occurred
to her that there were currently no GMP submersion units. It had never
occurred to them that they would need them.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" Jeff's voice replied.
Libby drummed her armored fingers on the dashboard of the jet
ski. "Never mind. We'll wait for him to come up. I mean, he'll have to
come up eventually. Right?"
<+> <+> <+>
Deep below, Jun sighed. He was still trying to find the exact
location of the probe. He knew that he was doomed, but he was going to
find the probe, because it was most likely the last thing he would do
as a member of the Southern Cross Army. And he was going to make it
count.
Finally his scanners registered the tachyon source. He switched
on the lantern in the head of the Kraken-A and looked through the
clear water at the reef before him. He could see the object, it must
have been pyramidal in shape, it was submerged in the reef, the coral
growing around it like moss on a treestump.
The beacon was composed of dull grey metal, but the alloy looked
unlike anything that Jun had ever seen before. Jun pulled the heat
axe from where it had been strapped to the back of the Kraken-A and
began to slowly and carefully cut the coral away from the beacon.
<+> <+> <+>
Jeff looked down at his RADAR scanner, turning around to visually
check his readings.
"Lieutenant, there is another jet ski coming this way."
Libby turned her jet ski around and saw the approaching headlight.
"Is it reinforcements?" Libby asked.
Jeff shook his head. "I don't think so."
Suddenly there was a crackle of static in all of the headsets of
everyone in the vicinity.
"GMP, back off! This is First Lieutenant Karen Knight of the
Southern Cross 45th Naval Division, you are interfering with one of
our training exercises. Cease and desist, or I shall file a complaint
with Captain Marino and Chief-Of-Staff Rolf concerning your actions."
Libby stared hard at the approaching headlight for a good five
seconds. To say that she wasn't expecting this wasn't even scratching
the surface.
"Your unit is under violation of orders. They have been confined
to barracks-" Libby started to say, but she was cut off.
"I believe the order stated 'until their new commanding officer
arrived'. You can go back and check them if you like. But I'm certain
that's what it said. And what's wrong with me taking command eight
hours early?" Karen said with an air of confidence that she didn't
feel.
"It isn't that simple, there is a classified craft in use here,
it wasn't taken without permission and without the presence of a member
of the GMP or STC present..." Libby said, Karen had her on the ropes
now. She was really angry, only a minute ago she was completely in
control, and now she had to make excuses for some upstart lieutenant?!
The JSR entered the area and stopped next to the downed LRP. Karen,
who was currently in a drenched Tactical Space Corps uniform, turned
to one of the figures.
"Sergeant..um..Malcolm, what is she talking about?" Karen asked.
Malcolm stared at her in bemusement for a second, but quickly
caught on. "Well, you see the Kraken-A that we took out was classified
and we can't take it out unless under the supervision of certain
parties."
"Why didn't any of you tell me?!" She mock shouted. Sophia noted
that Karen was an extremely good actress. Karen let out a long sigh
and turned towards Libby. "It appears that my unit had decided to
pull a prank on their new commander. Could you please go back to the
shore and wait for us? I want to give them a piece of my mind."
Libby wasn't buying this, but she didn't see how she could have
done anything else. "Fine, we'll wait there. Don't take too long."
Where were they going to go, anyway? Libby sighed and motioned for
the rest of the unit to follow her back to the shore.
As soon as they were far enough way Karen turned towards her
unit, pulling the uncomfortable telecom from her head. She motioned
for all of them to take off their helmets. They did so. Karen flicked
the gain control on her telecom to zero. It was impossible to turn
them off without removing the power source.
"What the hell is going on?!" She shouted.
"We found something in the reef," Sophia sputtered, her
enthusiasm suddenly becoming embarrassing.
"It's a tachyon source, and it's been down there for over two
hundred years. And we didn't want anyone else to find it, so..."
"So you decided to defy orders, is that it?" Karen asked. "Do
you have any idea how much trouble you just got me in?"
Malcolm stared down at the JSR's control panel, ashamed.
Karen sighed. "Where's Jun? Is he down on the reef?"
All three nodded, not reply.
Karen sighed again. "All right, is there a Kraken up there?"
she said, motioning to dropship floating above them. They all nodded
in unison again.
"All right then." She flicked the channel selector on her telecom
to the one she had set for "45th Naval Division" and put it back on
her head, making sure to set the gain back to its usual setting of
five.
<+> <+> <+>
Jun had cut front section of the probe free and he was now certain
that it was shaped like a three-sided pyramid. It was still embedded
in the reef, though. So Jun switched off the heat axe and placed it
down on the reef to cool down and pulled the monosaber from where he
had placed it across his back. As he turned back to see if the heat
axe had cooled down he noticed the Kraken standing next to him.
"Sophia?" He asked.
The figure shook its head. "Guess again."
Jun recognized the voice, and he wished to God that he hadn't.
At least it wasn't Libby, he recalled.
"Look, we're all in trouble, and I don't think it would be a good
idea to keep the GMP waiting so let's go up now." She said.
"No! We can't leave now, don't you understand, this is the find
of a lifetime!" He said.
"No it isn't. It's nothing more than an early colonizing probe.
There's five of them at the Glorie Colony-A museum, one more won't
matter." Karen said.
"But this one is different, it's not of the same shape or the
same material, it's..."
"Alien? Why don't you grow up Jun, there is no such thing."
"No, it IS! This changes everything!" Jun insisted.
Karen sighed. She pulled the bazooka from where it was resting
on her back and shot a rocket at the probe. Jun screeched but was
able to pull the Kraken-A out in time. The rocket exploded on impact
and destroyed the probe completely.
"You bitch!" Jun shouted. "You have no idea what you just did!"
Suddenly a warning light in Karen's Kraken begin to flash. She
looked at the facebowl display and saw that a weapon was targeted on
her. She turned to stare at Jun in disbelief.
"Do you really want to go that far, Jun?" She asked. Trying to
hide the fact that she was scared out of her wits. "Was that piece of
spacejunk really worth it? What was it that brought you here tonight?
Was it the possibility of find a probe from an alien species, or was
it the prospect of getting your promotion back?" She said with a
calmness she didn't feel.
Jun held his finger down on the "Serpent Arm" button. All he had
to do was push his thumb down on the top of the control stick and it
would all be over.
"Did your ambition to get back what you lost make you have false
hope? Did it cloud the fact that if this was an alien probe, it
would've been found during the early probing missions? It's an early
Earth probe Jun, nothing more."
Jun stared at the Kraken in the center of his gun sights. His
thumb hovered over the firing button.
"Disarm the Serpent, Jun."
Jun pushed the button on the control panel and the lock
disappeared. He heard a badly concealed sigh of relief from Karen.
"What...What was I doing?" He asked. "What was I thinking?"
"You weren't, that's the problem." Karen replied. "Look, I know
what's been happening in the past twenty-four hours, so I'll do my
best to forget that this happened. But the fact remains that there
are things in the world above that we have to deal with. Are you
ready?"
Jun nodded. "I suppose so."
The two mechas shot up to the surface. What little remained of
the probe sent forth one final signal and was silent forever. But it
had accomplished its mission, though it would never know it. It's
creators were returning to Glorie.
<+> <+> <+>
For Karen it was Captain Marino's office, not the usual
interrogation room. Captain Marino sat behind his desk and Libby stood
behind him, giving Karen an evil look.
"We have checked the original orders, and yes it is true that it
stipulated that the 45th was to remain in barracks until their new
commanding officer arrived-" Marino stated.
"So what's the problem?" Karen asked impudently.
"No problem, at least with that. And you were officially in command
of the 45th since Jun Yamashita was removed from that position
yesterday afternoon. However, there were two breaches of protocol.
First off you alleged "training exercise" was not reported to the
ministry as is required. The fact that you weren't present for the
majority of it, and when you finally appeared you were in your TSC
uniform does make it curious, but we have no evidence that you DIDN'T
command them to take these actions. And then there was the fact that
you took out a classified army vehicle without proper authority.
Which is exactly the reason why the former commander of the 45th got
removed." Marino cleared his throat. Libby smiled.
"So what's my punishment?" Karen asked, not liking Libby's smile
in the least.
"Well, we've been asked to be leanant. Apparently you have friends
in high places. You'll be fined for the first action. As for the
second, well, we've been asked to let that go." He smiled "You may
go."
Karen knew something was amiss, but rose anyway. She slowly began
to slink away. But she wasn't the least bit surprised when she heard
Marino's voice again.
"Oh, something I forgot. Despite the fact that you're not going
to be reprimanded for what you've done, I have issued a report with
my findings on this matter with my recommendations to Colonel Rochiel,
and he seemed to agree with my recommendation that your promotion to
first lieutenant be denied." Marino said, smiling for real this time.
"What?!" Karen shouted, whirling to face the two grinning GMP
officers.
"It wasn't official yet, you know. And these actions have forced
your new Sector Chief to reconsider these matters. So I'm afraid you're
back to being a second lieutenant." Marino smiled toothily.
Karen groaned and walked out the door. As soon as she was gone
Marino and Libby broke out laughing.
"You know, I'm a bit concerned about giving someone like her
command of a squadron. I think Chief-Of-Staff Rolf's commands were
ill-advised." Marino noted when he stopped laughing.
Libby smirked. "Oh, I don't know. I think she'll fit in fine
there. It is the unofficial omega squad of the Southern Cross army
after all. Funny, someone like HER ending up there." She smirked,
remembering Karen's pretentious speech at her graduation. It was good
to see that she was finally getting what she deserved.
<+> <+> <+>
Second Lieutenant Karen Knight stood behind the assembled 45th
Naval Division for the first time.
They were all in new freshly cleaned and pressed uniforms, trying
to impress their new commander who they had heard was hard to impress.
Karen couldn't help but feel a small tinge of disgust, though she
was rather ashamed of herself for it. This unit was hers, and she was
its. It was high time they started getting along.
"They say that the 45th is the worst unit of the entire Southern
Cross army. It's filled with misfits and losers, they say. There are
even rumors that this is the unofficial 'omega squad' of the SCA." She
said, her voice ringing clearly through the rec room like a bell.
There were a couple gasps and more than a few sighs. No one was
smiling in the entire room, not even Malcolm.
"But I don't believe that. I've gone over your records and
everyone here is of above-average ability and competence. The lax
attitude of this company is the reason for its air of incompetence.
And I will not have that. You, and I mean ALL of you," She spared a
glance at Jun. "are better than you think. We have the potential to
be one of the best units of the SCA. As long as we don't let our
reputation bring us down. From this moment on, things are going to
change around here. Several of you have been stuck in your current
ranks for years despite the fact that your actions have garnered
promotions, I will see to it that you at last get these. There is
also the fact that our equipment it out of date. I will see to this
as well, and I will make certain that there will be at least two
fully operational Kraken-As here by the end of the month. I have
already been promised these, and I am certain that they will be
delivered. I'm not saying that this unit will change overnight, but
I do believe that things will be better from here on in. But this will
only work if we all work together. You alone can make this a better
platoon. Never forget that." Karen surveyed the range of faces before
her. Some of them looked hopeful, others surprised, some looked
cynical but she would take care of that soon enough. But one of them
was smiling, which rather surprised her. The face that was smiling was
Jun's. She wondered if it was because he was believed what she said,
or that he's was making fun of her. She would find out in good time.
Fin
Next Time on Southern Cross W!
Chief-of-Staff Rolf Emerson calls for a series of war games to
commence to aid combat readiness. Destiny brings Jun and Jeanne back
together for a final confrontation as the 15th and 45th are paired for
a game of capture-the-flag on the island of New Australia. Join us
next time for "War Game". The long-standing peace is finally coming
to an end.
-==Kensu==-
kensu@madison.tdsnet.com
Proud Member Of The Blue Cloaks Corps and INARS.
"Those who wish it do not understand that it is not I that possess the
Ability Creative, but the Ability Creative that possesses me."
-The Silver Writer
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