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Part 2: Trials and Tribulations The hanger was awfully busy in the morning. More so than usual thought Ellen as she hurried to hanger 6 for the 'Big Announcement'. Captain Butler had posted the command roster in the hanger and Ellen was more than eager to find out if she was still in command of point group. When she arrived she found Longfeather holding said list with a crowd of people surrounding him. She spotted Mathison and approached him. "Jared, what's going on?" she asked. "Longfeather got here first and ripped the list down. He said he wants the entire squad to get here before he starts to read of the roster. He says its only fair that everyone hear the news at the same time." explained Mathison. Ellen liked the logic, in theory. In practice, she wanted to know right now. However, Longfeather was quite a large fellow and she wasn't too eager to try and take it from him. Everyone else is thinking the same thing I bet. Eventually, everyone did arrive and Longfeather began to read the list out, loud and clear. The commander was no surprise, everyone expected that O'Reilly would get it. Longfeather allowed himself a smile when he read that he would still be the Unit's Gunnery Sargent. Mathison took on a relieved look when he found out he was still with point group, and that he was still the communications specialist. Poedowski let a yell of triumph when he found out he still had his job with point group. Longfeather continued down the list. Most of the original officers got their old jobs back, but he still didn't name off who commanded point group. I swear he's saving it for the end just to annoy me! thought Ellen. She noticed Pellegrino across from her, looking as nervous as she felt. Longfeather continued, "And last, but not least, we have the position of lead rifleman for point group. It appears that command goes to none other than......Lance Corporal Ellen Wright." Pellegrino's face dropped at the announcement. His downed expression was quickly replaced with anger. Ellen didn't even notice as she was too busy accepting congratulations from those around her. At that moment Captain Butler walked into the hanger. "I hope the changes go over smoothly people. I just want you to know that I did not take any decisions lightly, there were a lot of hard decisions to make. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a shuttle to catch. Lt. O'Reilly, I leave them in your capable hands." Butler walked to a waiting shuttle, a duffel bag in each hand. As he boarded the shuttle he turned to speak one last time to Charlie Five, "Any heroes in here?" The response was unanimous and instant, "No Sir!" "Good, then carry on." After Butler's shuttle took off, the crowd dispersed. Ellen took the opportunity to find Pellegrino and offer her apologies. He was checking his gear as she approached, "What do you want? A pat on the back?" Ellen considered turning around right then, but thought better of it. "Actually I came by to say I'm sorry that only one of us could get the job." Pellegrino stopped what he was doing and drew close to her so only she could hear, "Let's not kid each other, I don't like the fact I was replaced by some newbie and I'm not trilled that I have to take orders from you either." Ellen didn't flinch and answered him right back, "All I want to know is, if I give you an order will it get done?" Pellegrino's face grew more angry but he controlled himself, "I've been doing this for years, Wright. The Pellegrinos are a legacy in the Jumptroops and its one that I try very hard to live up to. I've never let a C.O. down and I'm not about to start with you. So yeah, I'll follow your orders, but DO NOT expect anything else! We are NOT friends!" His voice hissed as he spoke, as if it were getting harder to control himself. "That will do...for now." said Wright as she turned on her heal and walked away. A moment later she heard someone come up behind her, she turned to see Lt. O'Reilly. She stood to solute. "At ease, Wright." Colleen said. She motioned over her shoulder with her thumb, "I noticed you had some trouble with Pellegrino." "No trouble, Lt. We were discussing....tactics." Ellen said with a slight hint of uncertainty. "Right. Well, if you hypothetically had trouble with him, then I would tell you not to worry about it. Just give him some time to cool off and he'll be fine. You know, once you get to know him, Vince is one of the best people you'll ever serve with." offered O'Reilly. "I have no doubts." said Ellen. Colleen smiled and spoke, "I expect good things from you, Wright. Butler was impressed with you, and he doesn't impress easily. Don't let me down." "I won't ma'am, don't worry. If I can impress him, then you'll no doubt find me more than acceptable." answered Ellen. "That's what I thought too, Wright." In a matter of minutes, Captain Jamison's face went from nonchalant to concerned. "Let me get this straight," he said, "you want me to allow a recruit, that has not even completed training, to go out on a patrol with you and the new officers from the academy. Are you serious, Sargent?" Sargent Coleman took the comment in stride and began to calmly explain himself, "I know it sounds crazy, sir. But hear me out on this." Jamison nodded and Coleman continued, "I have trained my fair share of recruits and I've come to be able to spot a talented one when I see it. Let me tell you sir, I have never seen anything like this kid. He is the best I have ever seen. There was nothing that I could teach him that he didn't already know. He's disciplined, obedient, and without a doubt one of the most lethal people I've ever met." Jamison interrupted, "But can he fly? And for that matter, how is it he is such an excellent fighter?" Coleman's face brightened, "I know he can fly because I singled him out and took him up in a mock engagement over the northern territories. I know recruits aren't supposed to get into the cockpit that fast, but I had a feeling about this kid." "And what happened?" asked Jamison, who was genuinely intrigued. "The kid beat me in under 2 minutes first shot out. I think I only lasted that long because he was still getting used to the controls of his frame. I went up against him four more times, he beat me faster each time. I was taken out in 30 seconds the last time. I've never been slapped around like that! If it wasn't such a damn fine waste of an enlisted man, I'd recommend him to be an officer!" "And what about his fighting skills?" prompted Jamison. "Are you kidding, Sir? We've been at war for the past few years. He probably picked them up trying to survive." Coleman answered. Jamison brought his hands together in front of his face and thought to himself for a moment. It is only a patrol. The chances of them running into something are nill. But if they should, well, if the recruit is as half as talented as Coleman says he is, then he should do just fine. "Alright, I'll allow it this once, but don't make a habit out of this, Sargent." Nara walked down the hall to hanger five. In her left hand was a slip of paper she had gotten from medical. It read that she had a clean bill of health and was fit to fly, though there were a few anomalies in her blood that they wanted to check out. Personally, Nara didn't care. The anomalies weren't life threatening and wouldn't effect her performance. The med-techs didn't know what the anomalies were, but Nara had a pretty good idea...Ketzer. A by-product of my recent alteration no doubt. No need to worry about it now, I'll take the time to figure it out at a later date. Nara thought to herself. When she arrived in hanger five she immediately spotted J.T. standing with O'Reilly near the entrance. No surprise there. She walked up to them and clear her throat, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." J.T. was a bit startled, as was Colleen, which was appropriate seeing as they were in the middle of smooching. "N-nara, um, Hi!" was all he could manage for a moment. Colleen was a bit more direct, "Don't you make noise when you walk, Burns?" "I made plenty of noise, I just think you were a bit...busy to notice, that's all." she was trying not to giggle as she spoke. Colleen couldn't deny the truth so she changed the subject. "I have to go J.T., but I'll see you tomorrow night, OK?" she said as she started to move away. Finding his voice, J.T. replied, "See you then." As he watched her go Nara slipped a paper into his hand. "What's this?" he asked. "A clean bill of health. So when do I get my squad back?" she inquired. J.T. glanced over the paper, "That's great Nara! I'm sure the squad will be thrilled you're back." He eyed her for a moment, as if he expected her to say something more. When it was clear she wasn't going to volunteer anything, he asked. "What happened in the Amazon, Nara?" "I resolved the situation." Nara answered flatly. "How?" persisted J.T. "What do you mean?" asked Nara. "Did he cure you?" offered J.T. "No" responded Nara, still in a flat, emotionless tone. J.T. looked confused, so Nara clarified, "The alteration is complete." He looked her up and down, "But I thought..." "That I'd turn green and take root?" offered Nara, "I was under that impression myself. Don't let the benign appearance fool you though, I did undergo some drastic changes." "How so?" asked J.T. Nara looked around them for a moment and picked up a metal bar that came up to her waist when tilted on end. It was leaning against a storage crate with several others just like it. "What's this?" she asked. J.T. looked confused as he answered, "Raw material, it gets melted down to make armor plating for E-frames. Why? I don't see..." Nara waved him off and held the bar at shoulder height in front of her. She then proceeded to bend the bar into a U-shape. With one hand, she held it in front of J.T., "Do you see now?" Shanita sat on the floor of the hanger staring at the starry expanse beyond. Baseship 3 had been in hiding for some time now in the asteroid belt. Though she seemed to be observing the asteroids visible from the hanger port, Shanita's mind was a million miles away. She thought of Taqueza and the circumstances of his recent departure. She cared for him like any of her bloodline, and yet. And yet, she felt betrayed by him. Not like some other Eltorians though, they hated him for what he and done and wanted nothing more than to see him dead. Others, however, seemed to admire his audacity, he had done what no one had before. He defied the High Council, and lived. Shanita felt anger toward him, but it was for a very different reason. One that surprised even her, one that she was hesitant to admit. She felt betrayed by him because he left her behind. Taqueza had told her, Jerico, and Kamilia stories of what Earth was like. He had said that one was free to leave the military if they chose to. He said one was allowed to say whatever they wanted about their government without fear of what might happen. And if the people didn't like their leaders, then they would replace them with new ones, peacefully. Shanita never said so, but she very much wanted to live in such a world. But Taqueza never gave her that chance, and she was left to wonder why. Sean Napier sat leaning in his office chair reading a report. It was at this precise moment that the emergency message console to his right crackled to life. Napier, shocked by the implications of its activation, fell backwards in his chair. He immediately scrambled to his feet and hit the 'open channel' button. "Talk to me." he said. On the other was an old friend, Peter Tanaka. "Sean! We got trouble, with a very large 'T'!" Napier approached the situation calmly, "Just tell me what happened, Pete." "About six hours ago a group of Neos broke out of containment camp 16. Security tapes show 20 or so Neos jumping some of the guards during lunch. They killed them outright and provided a distraction for one of them to use the keys to slip into the guard house. He took as many weapons and ammo packs as he could carry and started handing them out to the prisoners. From there they just blasted their way out." stated Tanaka. "How many, who, and what are they packing?" asked Napier. "We counted 28 missing, they have only hand held weapons though, no E-frames." Thank God for that! thought Sean. Tanaka continued, "Here's the list of those that escaped." Sean watched the names scroll across the screen, one in the middle and the last two made Sean very nervous. They read Livia, Draconis, and Typhonus. "This just gets better and better, any idea where they went?" "Now that you mention it, yeah. Latest intell says they raided a biological storage facility 30 minutes ago. They were long gone before our people got there." answered Tanaka. "What did they take?" demanded Napier, fearing he already knew the answer. "They freed three specimens that were in cryogenic storage." Peter hit a few buttons on his end and the files scrolled across Napier's screen. "Oh this is just the icing on the cake! I want an E-frame squad prepped and ready to go, yesterday!" screamed Sean. "Anyone in particular in mind?" asked Tanaka. "I want some of the people from the old cell back together for this one. Contact Hanley, Madison, and Grimley. Tell them to meet me at your coordinates, I'll bring the hardware. Napier out!" Sean watched Peter's image disappear and stared at the screen a moment, "I thought we were through with you." He slammed his fist on the console and rushed out of the room. The computer screen was left on, its file still open. It read: '(Shanita?)' she turned to look at Jerico. He was wearing his new command uniform. It was black, just like his new battle armor. '(It looks good on you, the uniform.)' she commented. '(It does not seem to suit me, perhaps because of how I acquired it.)' He referred to Kamilia's death. Jerico was a capable leader, but he was slightly uncomfortable with the idea of command, especially under the circumstances. '(I wish it didn't have to be this way Jerico, but with Kamilia gone you are the only one with the experience necessary to be my second.)' '(I understand that. But it does not make me feel any better. You were thinking about him, were you not?)' Jerico was trying to change the subject, Shanita played along. '(Yes I was. I was trying to make sense of what he did. I wanted to know before...)' she trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence. '(Before we die, you mean.)' Jerico referred to their newest, and likely last, mission. The orders came that day and would be carried out tomorrow. Baseship 3 was trapped in the Sol system and command needed to find a way out. The escape would require the sacrifice of Section 25. While they distracted the terrans with an all out attack, the Baseship would escape from the system. Shanita and the rest of the section were caught in a no win situation. To go through with the mission meant death, not to meant court martial followed by execution. Jerico took a seat next to her, '(I do not blame him for leaving, he was defending his people.)' '(But aren't we his people too?)' asked Shanita. '(We are. And he defended our people for years, even though we murdered his parents.)' countered Jerico. '(Are you defending him?)' there was no accusation in her voice, Shanita was just curious. '(All I am saying is that I understand why he did what he did. I am not angry for what he did and I would not be angry if you did something similar.)' Jerico's voice was natural as he spoke, indicating no hidden meaning in his words. Still, Shanita was prompted to ask, '(Are you suggesting that I am going to defect?)' '(No. But if you have the opportunity to be taken alive by the enemy, take it. I will not think less of you. You and Taqueza were always too independent minded for this society. I think you would find life with the terrans more suitable to your philosophy.)' Jerico stood and began to leave. Shanita called to him from over his shoulder, '(And what of your philosophy?)' He eyed her for a moment, '(I am not like you. Kamilia and I, we found Taqueza's stories interesting but we - I - could never leave this life. I am a guardsman. I will do my duty and die like one.)' He turned from her and strode out of the hanger knowing full well that the next day would be his last. "Kaz, you're not turning egg-head on me, are you?" Bronski looked at the piles of books that Kaz surrounded himself with. "What is all this stuff?" he asked. Kaz looked up from the book he was reading, "They're books on chess strategy." "Why on earth do you want to study that?" replied Bronski as he scratched his head. "Ellen likes to play Chess and I'm tired of losing to her. Thing is, I never realized how complex the game can be. It really is exciting once you get into it." Bronski picked up a book eyed it skeptically and put it down again, "Does all this studying work though?" Kaz looked at the laptop he had with him, "So far, no. The computer is still whipping my butt." Bronski laughed, muttered "Figures" under his breath and walked away. Kaz sat a moment and watched the activity in the hanger. Weston and Torres were trying to figure out some type of problem with Torres's frame. Kaz sat at the poker table with all his stuff. J.T. and Thrax weren't around and Bronski had just left. But Alec had just shown up, with Nara of all people. When did she get back? Kaz watched them go over to Weston and Torres. They exchanged a few words and made their way over to him. Nara shot him a confused look. "It looks like Kaz, but what is he doing with all these books?" she joked. "Very cute, Lt. Burns, nice to see you made it back by the way." Alec picked up one of the books, noted the title, and put it down again, "You know Kaz, I think this relationship is doing wonders for you. Before you know it, you'll be back at the academy." "Don't hold your breath DeLeon." was Kaz's response. "What relationship?" asked Nara. "Kaz has quite a romance going with Lance Corporal Wright of Charlie Five." answered Alec. Nara smiled and cocked an eyebrow, "Good for you, Kaz." "Thanks, that was far more mature than the rest of the squad's response." noted Kaz. He alluded to the scene they had with Ellen in the hanger bay of the Victorious . Nara shot a questioning look at Alec. "I'll explain later" he said. Nara then noticed what Kaz was working on, "Trying to beat the computer, huh?" "The key word in that sentence is 'try'." Kaz pointed out. "James and I used to play all the time, I could show you a few tricks, if you want." offered Nara. Kaz smiled and offered her the seat next to him, "Please do." "Check." Kaz smiled, clearly pleased with himself. "You've been practicing, haven't you?" Ellen asked. "I had a friend of mine show me some moves. But don't change the subject, your king is in jeopardy." Kaz eyed the board, trying to anticipate her next move. "Your really into this, huh?" noted Ellen. "Uh-huh, Move." was the reply. "You know I've been thinking, you're really one of those people that can do whatever he wants as long as he puts his mind to it. I mean this is a perfect example. Yesterday I beat you no problem, but today you might actually win." Ellen continued. "Uh-huh, Move." was again the reply. "I'm serious Kaz. You've got the potential to be a good officer, maybe you should go back to the academy." Ellen looked up at Kaz, "Are you listening to me?" "Un-huh, Move." was the response. "Kaz!" Ellen slammed her fist on the table. "What'd I do?" asked Kaz. "You're not listening to me." she said. "Look, don't bring up the academy again, OK? I'm sick of talking about it." he pleaded. "I just don't want to see you waste your ability." shot back Ellen. "I'm not wasting anything. I'm in Able Squad and I'm fighting the good fight." Kaz pointed out. "But you could be doing so much more as an officer." said Ellen. "But I'm happy where I am." answered Kaz. "Just promise me you'll think about it, OK?" begged Ellen. "OK, I promise. Now move." he motioned to the chess board. Ellen picked up her queen and captured a pawn. The moment her hand left the piece Kaz smiled. He picked up his knight and captured the queen. "Damn, I didn't see that." mumbled Ellen. "I've got you now." noted Kaz. "We'll see, the game isn't over yet." said Ellen. "It is for now." Ellen turned to see Lt. O'Reilly. "Sorry Wright, we got orders to check out some asteroids. We leave in 20 minutes and will return tomorrow, better get ready." "Right away, Lieutenant. Sorry Kaz, I've got to go." She picked up her coat, planted a kiss on his cheek and left with O'Reilly. Kaz, in the meantime, took the opportunity to write down the exact positions of all the pieces on the board. He then put the set away and headed for hanger five, "We'll finish this later Wright, no way are you getting out of it." |
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On to Part 3 |
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