Wow, I really didn't think I'd get this out this quick. Author's notes
to follow fic]

Daniel stuffed the rest of his clothes into his duffel, zipping the bag
up tightly as he finished. It was nearly nine thirty and his shuttle was
leaving shortly. He had a couple of things to do before he left. First,
he headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. Dan's mom had been a firm
believer in the principal of Traveling with a Full Stomach, and Dan
agreed. 
	After a quick meal, Dan returned to his room to get his bags. He found
a note, handwritten, from Sakura, sitting on his bag.
	"Sorry I couldn't see you off, but I've got duty in a few minutes and
you aren't here." He grinned, knowing full well how much Sakura hated
morning duty. "I'll be leaving tomorrow for Earth, you know the address.
Drop me a line in you can. Kick a little ass for me, 'kay? And keep your
eyes open. Sakura." He stuffed the letter into his backpack, glancing at
his clock. 
	He left in a hurry, his final duty before leaving waiting for him in
the fighter bay. When he burst through the door, he glanced at his
plane, Tiger 3. One of the techs stood along side the cockpit, scraping
off the decals that reported his kills. His name was already removed,
leaving the pilot unknown for the first time in a year and a half.
	"Good bye girl," Dan said, still convinced that it was indeed a female
plane. Then he left for lock 4, begging lateness as an excuse to brush
off the few people who came to see him off. The one person he really
wanted to see wasn't there. He boarded the shuttle, nestled himself into
his seat and opened his back pack. While he was digging his MD player
out of it, he missed a lone Valkyerie fly by the shuttle, barrel rolling
as it passed by.
	And then he was pressed gently into his seat by the half gee
acceleration that would last for at least an hour. Daniel passed slowly
into sleep as the low rumbling of the rocket engine resounded in the
empty cabin.
	He woke up an hour later, weightlessness gripping his stomach. His
heavy breakfast tumbled in his stomach and he began to disagree with his
mother's advice. The shuttle was in the midst of turnaround, bringing
the big fusion drives into alignment for slowdown with the Damocles. The
engine roared back to life, delivering more than twice its original
acceleration.
	He seems to be in a hurry, Dan thought, switching mini discs. It suited
Dan just fine. Despite his disappointment, he was enjoying the prospect
of another tour of duty as a pilot. Despite his opposition to the idea
of command, he felt a pressure onboard the Vendetta to turn everyone
over to command staff. He was glad to get back to the simple routine of
fighting.
	"As a note  of interest," the pilot said over the intercom, "the
Damocles is off the port side of the vessel. We'll have a good view of
it all the way in to docking."
	Dan looked out his window, curious about the vessel he was joining. The
limited time he had between assignments prevented him from checking up
on the Damocles so he knew nothing about the ship he was about to see.
	His first glimpse was unimpressive, as the Damocles looked more like a
large bulk carrier than anything else. The hull was dull gray, riddled
by micro-meteorite scars and seemed to be held together with duct tape
and glue. 
	"That's the Damocles?" Dan asked, amazed by the state of disrepair the
vessel appeared to be in. He could detect no fighter bays nestled in the
numerous structures that dotted the hull but served no visible purpose.
As the distance separating them closed, he picked out more and more
details about the ship. What he thought were reaction mass tanks were
actually fighter bays, one each along the dorsal and ventral stretches
of the vessels. The useless looking structures that dotted the ship were
a mix of baffles to protect the main hull and house point defense
arrays.
	"A Q-ship?" Dan exclaimed as the docking umbilical extend out towards
the ship. He picked out the small flashes that marked the vernier
thrusters firing. The two objects met with a soft thud that went no
further than the cabin. 
	"All set sir?" the copilot asked, poking his head out of the cockpit.
"We need to get you off as quickly as possible, since the Damocles is
burning out system in a couple of minutes."
	"Sure," Dan replied. 
	"All right then. Right this way," the copilot said, pointing out the
rear exit. Dan walked quickly off the cabin grabbing his bags from the
storage rack and crossed into the umbilical. A second after he exited
the umbilical it retracted and he saw the flame through the airlock
window. 
	His first sight was a man dressed in a captain's uniform, complete with
commendations for valor and injury in the line of fire. He stuck his
hand out and greeted Dan in a familiar voice.
	"Daniel Fisher, 1st Lt. I'm Captain Jonah Fitzroy newly of the
Damocles. I think you deserve a thank you from me for your actions at
Orbital Ring Engagement."
	"1st Lt.?" Dan wondered as he contemplated his new rank.
	"Sure, you'll be in command of Shrike Flight. Can I take you to your
cabin?"
	"No thanks. I'd actually like to see the flight deck if I could. I was
under the impression that the Damocles was a carrier, not a Q-ship." Dan
ignored the question of his new rank for the moment, more interested in
the ship.
	"You know as much as I do that the brass doesn't like to name its
really expensive toys the right way. Follow me?"
	Dan shouldered his duffel bag and followed the man down the narrow,
walls slightly rusted. The passages followed no understandable pattern,
and Dan soon found himself thoroughly lost. The Captain opened a door,
apparently at random, which widened into a full sized fighter bay,
filled with six matte black Shrikes.
	"How did you fit all this stuff in here? Shouldn't you need more
reaction mass?"
	"Not with reflex drives. You'd be surprised about all the stuff they
managed to fit in here. I'll have the full tech readouts for both the
Shrikes and the Damocles on you desk by the end of the third shift."
	"Those are Shrikes?" Dan asked, staring at the new Shrike Mark II. It
was bulkier than the old Shrike, and colored flat black with gunmetal
gray trim. A vicious looking beam cannon sat under the ship's chin, and
the outboard hard-points were no where to be seen.
	"I'll have to check those readouts out," Dan said, strangely interested
in the new fighter. "Could I find my room now?"
	"Sure," Fitzroy said. "I have to apologize for the size though. We'll
try and clean out one of the officer's rooms, but some of the space is
taken over with the lab."

 	The man's breath quickened as he recognized the image before him. It
was his father, hovering threateningly over him. He couldn't understand
the screams of his father, but they were all loud, immediate. His lungs
heaved as his breath came in ragged gasps, a purely irrational fear
filling his soul.
He jerked up just before his father's hand connected with his face, eyes
opening and stinging from the sweat that dripped into them. 
	"I killed you," he whispered hoarsely. "I killed you both."
	"Mr. Alpha!" a voice called from outside his room. "We've gotten a
report from our mole. He couldn't tell us too much, but he managed to
get onboard the investigation vessel."
	"Fine," Alpha said, hating the sound of his name. It was his father's
only gift to him, picked for its superficial similarity to a Zentradi
word meaning strength. "Leave me!" he belted.
	As the man left, Alpha walked to a cold locker on the floor of his
room. He opened it, reveling in the white light released. He reached
into the locker and pulled out a vial, clutching it tightly. 
	"Half of my revenge is at hand. Only a little more time until its all
there."

	Sakura put her bags down on the front stoop of her parent's house. She
knocked politely, vaguely surprised at the lack of a call button. Her
mother had always been traditionalist, and the front of her house was
done in traditional Japanese style.
	Sakura's mother opened the door, dressed in full kimono with her face
painted pale white. She bowed to her daughter, greeting her formally in
Nipponese.
	"Hello Daughter. We have some things to discuss."
	"Certainly. Is father home?" Sakura asked, wondering how her father and
mother managed to stay together all these years.
	"He's out right now, getting the final prints of the last issue of his
manga in to the publisher. I need to introduce you to someone."
	"Oh? Who?" Sakura wondered, her mental alarms going off.
	Her mother gestured inside the house. A man, rather well dressed
compared to what she was used to, stood inside, nervously waiting.
"Sakura-chan, this is your fiance, Mokoto Mizuhara."

Author's Drivel and Technical Appendix
	Not to much to add. This part is mostly a prep for the actual voyage of
the Damocles and some character development. As per request, here are
some rough technical readouts of the new equipment, written up for
Daniel Fisher that day by Chief Engineer Zhi Gang.

TO: 1st LT. DANIEL FISHER, AirCom Section Head
FROM: ENGINEER ZHI GANG, Section Chief, engineering.
RE: Damocles-class Q-ship.

Sorry these are so rough, but I've been busy in preperation for
departure. Any questions you have should be addressed by myself or one
of the tech's in the flight bay.

Built on bulk freighter hull, strengthed to milspec tolerances. Armor
doubled or greater in regions, with Reflex furnaces providing power.
Thirty PDF's and six capitol class turrets make up main firepower, with
a Wave Gun mounted along the spine rounding out the weapons. Two fighter
bays, capabile of handling 12 fighters for extended periods. Certified
low emmissions vessel. Crew: 212 including marines and pilots.

RE: Shrike Advance Fighter System (Shrike heavy fighter)
	(This stuff is from the tech write up that came with the Shrikes.) 

The Shrike is built on a heavily modified Alpha chasis, with increased
thrust and manuverability. THe hull is specially stealthed to provide
minimal observation in any conditions. THe weapon systems have been
arranged to serve the pilot for the longest duration of fighting, and as
so mounts one high powered beam cannon and fifty Spike light missiles
internally. The onboard computer handles ECM and ECCM as well as a full
sensor suite. Special myomar bundles increase battloid strength as well.
The down side to the new configuration is decreased peak firepower, and
a general weakness against capitol vessels. As the other advantages tend
to outweigh this weakness under general battle conditions, the Shrike
has been selected for field testing in three squadrons and one Division
of the Space Marines. Limited field testing has already been conducted
during the Orbital Ring Engagement, with two prototype Shrikes were
employed under duress. These Shrikes lacked many of the 'finishing
touches' that flesh out the design, including lack of the beam cannon
and stealth technology and minimal electronic assistance.

Tech's notes: the tech's like working on this beast. They say against
battle pods it should handle like a killing machine. And everything in
it has been tested on one ship or another.

Jerico (really tired, but happy he got all this down.)