Traverse (Tim)

[Tikobe]

In the distance you see a geyser of water erupt as you and Henry wandered down the halls of the Enceladus space port. It's not like you chose to be here, so if you liked it or not, it wasn't by your hand. The Keepers felt it would be best to hold a going away party for you and Henry, your second-in-command, on the moon where you were born. Far up into space you saw numerous lights, and one of those would the Magellan.

"Well, from what I've been told," Henry says, "the rest of the crew should be in there. Now we just gotta wait for one-"

"Actually," a female voice says from behind, "you two have kept me waiting. For a quarter of an Earth hour."

Turning around would reveal a very small, 5'4" small if you wanted specifics, human woman with blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, cut to military regulation length. Despite the fact that you and Henry were out of uniform and definitely had hair that fell out of regulation, she wore her uniform and her medals, which were small in number. She clearly hadn't been in the Keeper force for very long.

"Lieutenant Miranda Greengrove, your third-in-command," she says, giving a solute.

"Third-in-command? I've never heard of a ship this size having a third," Henry questions.

"Yes," she smiles, clearly not willing to elaborate on the subject further.

"I didn't see you at the party either."

"Yes."

[Bannanachair]

"Pleased to meet you, Lieutenant. I'm certain that you've read the dossier about this mission before arriving, though I would still like to introduce myself formally. I am your commanding officer, Captain Robert Edwards, and this is my second-in-command, Lieutenant Henry Edwards."

[Tikobe]

"Indeed. I'm happy to be working with someone so distinguished. And his brother," the lieutenant replies.

"How about you?" Henry asked. "We're gonna be with each other for a long time so might as well get along. Any distinguishing marks on your records?"

"No."

"Any experience commanding a ship?"

"No."

"Piloting fighters?"

"No."

"Then why were you...?"

"Ah hem. The shuttle is this way. If you'll please, gentlemen," Miranda says, walking towards the shuttle.

"Alrighty then," Henry awkwardly says to you.

[Bannanachair]

"On the bright side," I say to Henry, "The faster we get to the ship the faster we can leave this god-forsaken snowball behind."

(I edited my first post because I think I screwed up the ranks. I mistakenly wrote that Captain was a higher rank than Colonel. I think where I went wrong was I was thinking of BSG where the second in command of the Galactica is the Colonel, but the first in command is the Commander, and of Star Trek, where the first in command on board the ship is the Captain.)

[Tikobe]

Henry sighs and you two approach the shuttle. The flight, while it took only five minutes, wasn't very pleasant. Unsurprisingly, the lieutenant wasn't very talkative and eventually Henry fell into silence as well.

After you reached the ship, Lieutenant Greengrove escorted the both of you to the command deck. When you arrived, Miranda shouted "Captain on deck!"

It was met with no salute. They all looked at you, some nodded, but that was it. From what you could see, none of them were military like you, your brother and the lieutenant. They probably received just enough training to man their stations and that was it. Hopefully the other group that was off duty had some military in it. What was on now was relatively unimpressive.

"Alrighty, captain," the pilot, a very unkempt human male. "Let's get this started."

"Where are we going?" the man at the information desk, a Zathrelle, asks.

"Orders say to stop by the Schallan homeworld to pick up the rest of our supplies and then fly towards a uh... I think they said it was Avesh-8? Some star. Coordinates are already in the system. It'll take a few minutes to reach the Sol slingshot, and then 30 minutes to reach the Schallan home system."

[Bannanachair]

"Alright then. The sooner we can get this started, the better," I say to the pilot. I then reach for the ship-wide speakers. "Hello everyone, this is your captain speaking. I want everyone to be in their flight positions ASAP." This was my first command of this size (I had formerly been a Lieutennant-Major on board the KSS Prometheus in charge of their fighter squadrons), and I hope to hell I'm not screwing it up.

[Tikobe]

Your ship reaches the slingshot, a massive black orb.

"Latching on," the pilot says, as he rears the ship ever so slightly so that the back connects to the slingshot.

"Moving position towards Schallan home system. Checking for any obstacles. Obstacles clear. Reversing poles. Release," the pilot says, as your ship suddenly is fired into high velocity towards the Schallans.

"Alright, if anyone has a song, story or joke to kill a half hour, now would be the time," the pilot says.

"That was done very well," the Zathrelle says.

"Yeah, congratulate me now. There's no slingshots out of Keeper space. Once we're done with the Schallans we're on our own."

Henry looks at you and says, "I think I'm gonna check to make sure everything else on board is okay."

"Will you need assistance?" Lieutenant Greengrove replies.

"Why thank you, but I'll be fine. It's just a checkup on the things around here."

[Bannanachair]

(The blue server bear tried to eat me.)

"That's a good idea. Henry, go do a full search of the ship to ensure that everything is in working condition, manned by people able to work it. Information, get me the files of everyone on the command deck, everyone qualified to fly the fighters on board this ship and of everyone ranked Sergeant and above. Miranda, feel free to wear your plainclothes - I evidently am not going to be enforcing a strict uniform policy for our mission."

[Tikobe]

As Henry walks out, Miranda looks to you.

"No can do, captain."

"No can do? Girl, it's your clothing! It's not that hard to change out of it," a person, a female alien with red skin and green hair, known as a Themali, working one of the two weapons stations retorts.

"I don't have any other clothes packed."

"What?"

"I was told this was to be a very highly regarded military position. I refused to be caught doing something as embarrassing as being dressed unprofessionally in front of my crew, so I thought I wouldn't need to pack any clothes other than my uniform."

"Your mistake," the Zathrelle, who'd look incredibly human if it wasn't for the fact that his ears were replaced by three holes, says, handing you the info you asked for. "I checked along the parameters the captain gave to me. It appears that any military personnel with the exception of the three of you was either honorably or dishonorably discharged before being placed onboard. The only other group of people still working under the capacity of any other division are the security personnel onboard."

"Speaking of those guys," Henry says as he pops his head back into the command deck, "Robert, were you aware that we have a prisoner in cells right now?"

[Bannanachair]

"This is just great. We've been assigned a crew of retirees and those deemed unfit for service and now we have a prisoner." I get up. "Miranda, take over my post until I get back. Henry, show me where this prisoner is."

[Tikobe]

"Sir yes, sir!" Miranda salutes. Odd, that was used only by the infantry these days.

"Follow me," Henry says.

The walk to the cells wasn't long. It seems that the designers placed it near the command deck for your convenience. However, it was a whole different world in there.

The door was a large metal wall, with a door handle. When you opened it, you saw the security man working on a desk, writing things down on paper. Next to the desk was another door, likely where the cells were. The only electronics in the room were the lights and the ones that you and Henry carried. These days, precautions like this were necessary in the event that a cell had to detain a technomancer. It was safe to bet that the power grid for the lights in the cells was separate from the rest of the ship for the ship's own safety.

The security man, another human, stood up and saluted you.

"Officer Hollis," he introduces himself. "Nice to meet you captain. I was going to send for you soon."

[Bannanachair]

"At ease. The last thing I expected to find upon boarding my ship was a prisoner already in the holding cells. What's he in for?"

[Tikobe]

"He can't speak about that in front of your second," a voice says from behind. Turning around will reveal an older gentleman, one who's also in a security uniform, just with a different badge.

"Hello captain, my name is Security Chief Kaminski," he says. "I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet myself, the other two members of the security team and I are working out a schedule for shifts. Now as for the prisoner, how is she, Edward?"

"I had her readied for visitation as I heard that the captain was ondeck," Hollis replies.

"Good. I'm sorry captain but information about the prisoner is highly classified at this time. Right now the only ones authorized to know her name and history are you, Hollis, the other security guard and I. No one else, regardless of relation, is to know anything about her."

"You mean me?" Henry asks.

"My apologies. These orders come from high up the chain of command."

"How high?"

"How high can you get?"

Henry looks to the ground as if in thought, and then nods.

"Well," he begins, "they're only doing their job. I'll be waiting outside, Robert."

[Bannanachair]

I dismiss Henry and then speak to Kaminski. "It seems as if everyone here has proper clearance now. I had not been informed of this prisoner prior to my arrival on board this ship - what has she done to make her status here so highly confidential?"

[Tikobe]

"Probably best that you see for yourself," Security Chief Kaminski replies. "Edward, open the door."

"Yes, chief!" Officer Hollis says as he tries to find the right key.

"Now, understand captain, you can share this with the crew how you see fit, but only after two conditions are met," Kaminski explains. "The first is that you must meet with her yourself. The second is that you must wait until after we leave Schallan space. If the Schall found out who we have here it'll jeopardize the Magellan's safety. Once that is done, who knows about her and what happens to her is your choice, as long as she is not allowed to leave the ship and as long as you don't kill her. Believe me, if the Keepers were to authorize that, they would have already given her the Venus Drop. Actually, as far as anyone outside the four of us are concerned, they already have."

Now that was serious. The Venus Drop was the highest death sentence given, done only in cases of "extreme violation" of KOMC's principals. They put the sentenced into a pod and drop it from a space station and onto a planet high in greenhouse gases like the penalty's namesake, Venus. It wasn't instant either; the pod was built to last through the atmosphere and safely land so the sentenced would die of the acid rain and heat.

The door opens and you see a woman in a prisoner's outfit strapped to a chair outside of the cell. You could tell by the fact that it was open that she was normally housed in the middle cell. She was also blindfolded, a trademark of a technomancer prisoner, as it was deemed more convenient to blindfold the prisoner than to frisk the one visiting for any technology. But there was more. You recognized her on sight.

She's a human, black, shoulder length hair, incredibly pale complexion. Her name is Andrea Weber, and she cause a helluva uproar in the Keepers. You see, some Keeper races don't look at technomancers as an equal being, even though it violate's the Keepers' principles. Some races are especially bad at misusing them, going so far as to buy them from other races on the black market. Andrea, who was later found out to be one of the strongest technomancers to date, led an insurrection against all of these races, one of these being the Schall. The insurrection was defeated by the Keepers and Andrea's execution was filmed and broadcasted live for all to see.

Or, so it would have seemed, if she wasn't sitting there right now, remaining completely silent.

[Bannanachair]

"Oh my god..." I say. "I would have been certain that she'd gotten the Venus Drop. What is she doing alive and on my ship? And why are we taking her to the Schall's home planet if we're meant to keep her alive?"

[Tikobe]

"Wasn't my choice," Kaminski replies. "I was there as an adviser when the Keepers picked out where they wanted us to go. I argued against the route we're going through right now. It was too much of a security risk. But, the thing is, apparently Avesh-8 is the farthest we could get from Keeper space, and a lot of people were hellbent that would be our target, even if the only slingshot that could get us to Avesh-8 was in the Schallan home system. They said that as long as we kept the highest security clearance that we could on her while we were in their neighborhood, we would be fine. That's why you can't talk about it until we're through. As to why they want us to take her, no clue."

"They want to use me," she finally says. "That's why they authorized this mission, you know. They need a safe pocket to keep me tucked away."

Kaminski raised an eyebrow. Clearly this was news to him.

"Well, on a good note, that's the first thing she's ever said since she was imprisoned. Trust me, the entire security team, with all three of it's members, have been the only guards keeping track of her imprisonment since the day she was imprisoned."

[Bannanachair]

"Very well then. Aside from myself, I want everyone who knows who she is to be in this room watching her until we arrive at Avesh-8. Once there I'll give you further instructions."

How much time is left until we arrive at the Schallan's home system? If there's more than ten minutes I'll go for a walk through the rest of my ship and plan to be back in the command room by the time we arrive. If there's fewer than ten minutes I figure I might as well get acquainted with my chair.

[Tikobe]

"You heard him, Edward! Go get Clare!"

As Edward leaves, Kaminski looks at you and says, "I feel I should apologize by the way. My two subordinates are husband and wife. That's why I don't call Officer Hollis Officer Hollis. With two of them it'd get confusing as hell."

You have less than ten, so you sit in your chair. In front of you is the datapad that you requested from the Zathrelle who was working information if you think you have enough time to scan that over. It'd be helpful to know your fighter pilots if something goes wrong with the Schall thanks to Andrea.

[Bannanachair]

I'll begin reading, first the file on my third-in-command and then the files on the pilots and then, if I have time, the files of everyone else on the command desk.

[Tikobe]

Miranda's record was surprising. Her record suggested a hard-nosed, jarhead from the infantry, which would explain why she didn't know much about ships. Of course, contrary to what she told you, she was a superb soldier, so much that she even earned a place as a squad leader despite such a short time in the military. She was even considered for a promotion from an ordinary grunt to a Hound, the name for the Keeper special ops. However, what made her seem so fresh wasn't that she was new, but that she was inactive for most of her career. Two years ago, she and 16 others, all 16 being full fledged Hounds, were tried. For what, you couldn't tell, it was all blacked out. However, you do know that the other 16 were sentenced to death, not by a Venus Drop but by a firing squad. Only she lived, but that's because someone powerful within the Keepers obviously protected and delayed her trial. Since then she was under house arrest. It would seem this was her first assignment since the house arrest, which ended as did the trial for mysterious reasons yesterday, which would also explain why she missed the party. Whoever protected her had clearly won out. Of course so much on the record wasn't recorded and a lot of what was is blacked out so you couldn't pull the full story on it.

You have two fighter pilots. They don't have very many duties beyond personally repairing and maintain their fighters and the shuttle so they are on twenty-four hour call unlike the rest of crew which worked either twelve or eight hour shifts. One, named Ulysses Wiseman, was a human. The second was named Jakti Nem, a thin, reptilian alien with red scales, race named Lakto.

You didn't have enough time to go further, but you did grab the pilot's name, Howard Wilson, as well as the Zathrelle's name, Kem Argi. You were also able to find out that even though Ulysses and Jakti were both clearly skilled pilots, they weren't anywhere near as skilled as Howard with a fighter. Actually, from what you could see, very few people in the entirety of Keeper space were capable of out-qualifying Howard in piloting just about any ship that was related to the Keepers and that needed a pilot. His credentials were staggering.

The Magellan slows down, allowing you to get a full glimpse of the Schallan home world. In front of it was a Schallan battlecruiser, as was protocol when a Keeper military related ship touched based with a Keeper homeworld. You should be comforted that even though the Schall were a vengeful people, they knew not to openly defy the Keepers. They wouldn't attack you with something as noticeable as a battlecruiser.

"KSS Trachk hailing us," Kem says, nodding to the battlecruiser. "Accepting now."

On a screen in front of you was a blue-green amphibious man, one of the Schall.

"KSS Trachk to KSS Magellan. The Schallan Homeworld is glad to receive you on your maiden voyage. Your supplies have been readied on the space station Bashrek. Sending coordinates to your ship now. Good luck on your mission, Trachk out."

"Coordinates received, processing them with the pilot's booth right now," Kem says. "Ready to board the KSP Bashrek on your orders, captain."

[Tikobe]

(My apologies. I was rereading this and I forgot a part of that last line. Editing it now.)

[Bannanachair]

"Board the Bashrek," I say, before reaching for theannouncement thing. "We are docking on the KSP Bashrek. This is not downtime; we should not be any more than several hours at the most, if all goes well."

[Tikobe]

Howard smoothly flies and docks the ship at the Bashrek. As soon as he lands the ship, a man crawls out of the maintenance booth.

"Well, sorry for being so unfriendly, but you looked busy. I'm William Judge, one of the two heads of maintenance, and the one in charge of the day shift. I'll be heading down into the Bashrek with you. Gotta get my boys all organized so we don't take too long with that cargo, y'know?"

William smiles as he holds his hand out for a handshake. It occurs to you that's the first hand shake you've received since coming onboard.

[Bannanachair]

I take his hand. "Good to meet you, William."