PARIAH: AP Peace keeper start. (DID)

[Sabrina Bergin]

Prelude: Sorry I just had to start editing this as when I kept rereading it through it just felt to stilted and forced. That comes from trying to get the plots out of the way and then rushing to catch up but all done now I hope you like the alterations

Circle of Labour.

Kurt swung round to take up the next start point of his patrol pattern a quick glance at his grav showed Val had followed suit as they started the next leg.
So far the patrol had been without incident, not surprising after the pounding the few terran ships in system had taken when they had arrived they had been annihilated by the RRF fleet their carrier and support squadron had arrived to relieve just yesterday.
The M4's that should have been doing this scut work were being upgraded which meant they had two more days of this crap till the main fleet arrived hopefully then they would get to see some action.

"I have something" Val announced pulling away from him he checked his Grav and saw nothing.

"I have nothing on my screens Val resume formation"

"That's a negative Kert I got a glimpse of something in the wreckage bearing 035 north vector 210, I'm going to check it out"

Kert ground his teeth Val was even keener on coming to grips with the enemy than he was and trying to get her to resume the patrol would be pointless, so he accelerated hard after her sending a possible sighting report in as he did so just in case.
Val slowed a little to let him catch up then rolled back to her position just of and back down his starboard side.

After a few mizura he was going to call it off with his screens still showing nothing except the wrecks of the terran fleet. Val insisted they go on further beyond their patrol range adamant that she had definitely seen something. If she was wrong they would both catch hell for going of station.

"There 3 o'clock down do you see it" Val called.

Kert did see something though it was just a glimpse of light possibly the result of the suns glare bouncing of plex glass, but they had to check it out he altered course and went to full throttle switching his missiles to armed noting that Val was following his lead.
The sensors still showed nothing and he was going to call it, and return to the patrol route when he caught a glimpse of it again
Kert saw it on his gravidar now flickering on and of the screen by his right knee just a sensor ghost or maybe not.

"Val this will be by the book if there is something we scan it and report it is that understood ?".

"Affirmative sir by the book"

She did not like that he could tell hence her crisp academy style response but as he was the designated patrol leader for this op he knew she would follow his lead and obey his orders if this turned out to be something after all. the ghost on the gravidar became more persistent as they neared it there was definitely something there using the debris field as cover perhaps a terran spotter was a strong possibility in either case they now had to check it out.

They entered the edge of the debris field then went vertical to get an angle on whatever it was. Kert spun his ship to get a good look out his port window and felt his blood turn to ice in his veins as he took in what he was seeing.

"Val break hard left" he screamed over the com running a full sensor sweep over the ships that had been hiding from their sensors. There was a bloody
fleet assembling here and they had been spotted.

The Tokyo along whith its escorts that had been hidden completely hidden by the debris field began launching it's fighters and Kert didn't need to guess who they would be coming after. They would try to prevent them from alerting the Resolute obviously they were still in the early stage of bringing their ships into the system before moving south in force. Kert tried contacting their carrier but heard just white noise as he tried to get a warning to the Resolute.

"Val we are being jammed long range comm's are out I want you to launch all your missiles save your MDM's then go full defensive and make a break for the carrier it's a sitting duck for that task force is that understood ?".

Val did not like it but they had limited options in a few mizura at most the fast fighters would be all over them. The only chance they had to warn the fleet was if he turned back and engaged them even then they might not make it but they had to try and with luck he might cause enough confusion to get the hell out of here.

"Understood Val" replied hitting full emergency thrust launching every missile she had at the oncoming swarm as Kert did a one eighty and turned to engage the nearest Terran fighters.

Kert accelerated at an angle back towards the carrier he was carrying enough missiles to hurt it if he could get close enough or at least distract the fighters that had seen him react and aim for the Tokyo.
The pursuing fighters obviously saw the danger and swung onto an intercept course with the fighters filling the space around him with missiles that had betty screaming warnings faster than he could acknowledge them so he shut her of and began his attack run twisting all over as he sought to evade the incoming fire that was impacting his shields at first from the fighters but then from the Tokyo as its anti fighter weapons opened up.

Val he noted had fired of a nav sat a for the squadron to use as a beacon and could only hope the terrans hadn't see it being launched he tried to come up with a plan. He twisted and turned through the streams of fire being directed his way the only option was to get in really close to the damn thing if he lived that long that would make the fighters wary of hitting their own ship, as he rolled out of the way of another stream of blue white plasma headed his way he made it inside the effective targeting range of it's turrets he realised as the carriers guns stopped firing and was stunned to see the carrier was still launching fighters which meant he had a chance to really hurt this bitch.
He headed straight at the open hanger bay he was to close to it for them to close it in time then armed the missiles still in the racks knowing the auto loaders would not be able to bring them on line in time.
As time slowed down around him he locked onto his missiles and set the Nova to follow them in and got ready to bail, his own death was almost a certainty but the manner of it would be his choosing.
Screaming insanely he then went full turbo boost into the hanger following the course of his missiles yanking desperately at the ejection grip then the universe exploded around him and he knew no more.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Val woke to the sound of monitors beeping in the background for a moment she was confused not understanding where she was knowing only that she was hurting deep inside and that the skin around her face and neck was feeling cold and damp.

Then the memories came back, the EMP cannon fire all around her and then from behind her some where that awful blinding light that had caught her Nova like a leaf in the wind and thrown it across the sector.
There could only be one explanation for that she cried quietly to herself the tears pouring down her cheeks.

The bastu had done it deliberately sending her off like that he must have known it would be the only way.

Then she felt her hand being squeezed startled she looked up to see her father sat at the side of her bed his eyes dark with concern.

"Hey Val it's okay you're safe now he whispered so is the Resolute they got your message in plenty of time".

"Where am I"? she managed to ask angered at how weak her voice sounded in her ears

"Black hole sun MO you got yourself pretty banged up, We were worried about you for a while" he replied

Val wiped her cheeks her thoughts filled for a moment with memories of Kert that ready smile of his that never seemed to leave his eyes and the pride he took in wearing the uniform they had graduated together and served in the same wing for nearly two Jazura now and they had worked almost as one together, she had thought that one day they might be more than just friends now she would never know, she was going to miss him in the day's ahead.
Her father must have guessed who she was thinking of for some reason he had never seemed to get on with Kert. Perhaps it was because he was from Elena's fortune and not Argon prime well that didn't matter now she realised feeling as slow steady ache begin in her chest.

"Want to talk about it her father ?" asked not unkindly

"What is there to say dad the Bastu tricked me I thought he would be on my six right after distracting those fighters otherwise I would never have left him".

"That's why he had to trick you then her father agreed and I am sorry Val but I thank the god's he did or you wouldn't be here now, that's selfish I know but it's the god's honest truth. For now the fleet have asked you to attend the memorial service for Kert I said I would ask to see if you were up to it the fleet want's to give him some sort of recognition for his actions.

Val considered that at first she resented the idea of the fleet using him for propaganda but they would be doing that no matter what her decision and she knew it would be her only chance to see him given the respect he deserved she owed him that much she realised. "Okay when is it ?".

"Tomorrow 1600 hours here on the station the Doctors have said its okay for you to get up but no overdoing it they sent a uniform for you just in case. I'll be there as well Val".

"Thanks dad" she said grateful for his presence.

He stayed with her till it became clear she was almost falling back intio sleep" I'll be back tomorrow in plenty of time to get you there Val" he assured her giving her a hug mindful of her injuries and a gentle kiss to her cheek.

As soon as he had gone a nurse came in and helped her out of the bed and into a shower unit then helped her get into the necessary it was awkward with her arm in a sling and her neck braced with some sort of frame for the bandages which the nurse told her had to stay on no matter what. When the nurse had gone she took a moment to inspect herself She looked terrible her hair was all a mess where they had cut it away.
The nurse came back after a while then helped her get back into the cot but despite feeling more tired than she could ever remembered sleep eluded her till long into the night.


Checking the time she left the room and made her way down to the hospital foyer in the chair they had provided her where her father was waiting with his body guard in tow as always. Hello Cal she said simply acknowledging the man who gave her a short nod of recognition before helping her into the transport. and getting into the drivers seat.
After a brief journey they arrived at one of the main hanger bays where many of the station marines and crew of the Resolute were on parade for the service as well of course as the media. fortunately her father and Cal were able to keep them away from her as she was led to the front of the parade to join her Squadron.

Captain Sillarn made the presentation of the Silver leaf which an aid placed around the framed hologram of Kert that stood upon the empty coffin. She saw Kerts parents standing near the Captain on the platform that flag and medal would be all that they would have of him to remember him by.
The Captain made speech praising him for his service in the fleet and for his last act of valour that averted a danger to not only his ship bit to his friends and comrades.

He Saluted the coffin then turned to signalled Val to she was startled as he summoned her to the platform and placed an identical medal to the one awarded to Kert on a ribbon around her neck.

"Please the Captain whispered if you could say a few words it would mean a lot to his parents ".

Val was stunned she had not expected this and her first thought was to decline but then she saw Kert's parents look to her and she knew she could not, so with some trepidation she took the Captains place at the microphone. At first the words would not come she had still not come to terms with his loss yet but after a moment they came to her unbidden.

"I am honoured she began to be able to speak of my Wingman and more importantly my friend Kert Dannar she began shakily. Many of you knew and respected him as I did. What I never knew till this moment was what a heroic man he was or that I would miss him so much she then went on to describe Kert to them his quick smile and ready wit all the things that had made him who she was finally she ran out of things to say so ended simply I am forever in his debt". Val stepped forward and saluted the coffin as did every soldier and pilot present whilst taps was played by a lone bugler.

A detail approached the coffin and folded the flag placing the hologram with the medal around it and presented it to Val who then turned and strode to Kert's Parents where she presented it to them both before saluting them. They whispered their thanks to her before she about faced and returned to her place in the parade uncaring that anyone should see the tears on her cheeks.
The coffin was born away on a carriage Kert's parents following behind with others from the stage only when it had left the hanger was the parade dismissed.
Her father came forward at that point and took her back to his quarters where her personals had been delivered from the Resoloute.

"It's not permanent he assured her but you have medical leave coming and I hoped you would come back home with me just until you are fit for duty".

Val agreed to that she had been told it would be a three wozura before she would even be considered for duty and it would be good to go home if only to give her time to come to terms with Kerts absence.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Val climbed out of the cockpit and dropped to the hanger floor eschewing the ladder that was being rolled into place for her.
Her team were already heading for the showers and she was looking forward to one herself after this last gig running a prisoner exchange mission in Heretics end where she had been told in no uncertain terms to avoid any untoward incidents. And then she had to escort the terran transport back to the north gate with her team when what she had wanted to do was blow them to atoms.
She had not liked that one bit but she had followed her orders she took off her helmet and gloves placing them inside it as she walked towards the crew quarters easily avoiding the deck handlers who were taking her fighter onto the cargo lift only to be intercepted by a messenger who gave her instructions to report to the medical bay.
Val cursed the delay but made her way across the busy deck and took the lift to level two to where an armed marine escorted her to the Captain. Sir she said snapping a salute

Sillarn returned the salute then looked back through the observation panel where one of the exchange prisoners was being attended to.
Val followed his eyes to the figure on the cot she noted the heavy bandaging the burns on what was left of the man or woman she could not tell which wondering if it would not have been kinder to end the prisoner rather than send him or her back like that.
The medics had obviously done what they could, but nothing could hide the damage his or her body had suffered she also saw the fresh scars some of which were still swollen with surgical stitches.

"Did the Terrans do that ?" she asked appalled by such treatment of an injured person there could be no excuse for that.

"Not all of it Val they found him in what was left of his escape pod in Circle of labour a Jazura ago it's only recently they have been able to identify him as one of ours apparently the people that got him out of the pod had to strip everything of him and jettison it into space he was that hot. The doctors tell me that they went to a lot of effort to keep him alive but once they knew he was one of ours they opted to send him back".

Val's heart sank there had only been one casualty unaccounted for in circle of labour a Jazura ago. "That's impossible" she whispered "I saw the ship explode Captain there is no way he could have survived".

"By rights he shouldn't have" the Captain agreed "but he did Val apparently he came out of a coma a few wazura back and once they realised he was an Argon, they opted to send him back".

"Val it is Kert and he's asked to speak to you, now I've told him I would ask but it is up to you".

Val tried to say no but she didn't have the heart to do it not to Kert. Bracing her self she stepped into the room .

"Captain ?" he breathed his voice barely more than a whisper

Oh gods he was blind she realized seeing only now the damage to his eyes biting down on her fist so as not to cry out in horror.
She took a moment to pull herself together before answering.

"No its me Kert though you are somewhat of a surprise".

"Yeah to me as well he admitted, thanks for coming to see me I know I'm not looking my best".

"That's one way of putting it Kert I thought you were dead, I went to your memorial for gunnes sake".

"Yeah that's why I need to speak to you I know why the Terran's sent me back Val they want to use me as a propaganda weapon against the fleet to show what can happen to us in this war try and shake peoples confidence I've spoken to the Captain and he agrees with me, that's why no one must know I survived it would do to much harm".

"But your parent's surely you want them to know ?".

"Them least of all Val let them keep the memories they have of me I can't face them like this it would destroy them and me" he admitted "there is also the fact I have been told I still might not make it".

"Alright but how the hell did you survive last I saw from the data recorders on the beacon you followed those missiles in".

"Don't know he admitted the Terrans figured I must have been caught between the two blasts and my ejection module got squeezed out of the ship and rode the blast wave through a quadtrilllion to one chance event, last thing I remember was a blinding flash of light then nothing till a while back.
Of course the Terrans were not best pleased when they found out it was me that had destroyed their carrier and got that task force swatted with your help of course they thought at first we had some new sort of missile they had to worry about and things got unpleasant for a while he admitted but they eventually realised I was telling the truth and sent me back".

Val knew there was a lot he had left unsaid about that last part but it was to much to go into just then.

"So what now Kert ?".

"Well for now I am scheduled for a lot of work at the Main hospital down in M148 skin grafts and the like if it all works out okay then maybe I will be able to go home one day just not yet please just don't tell anyone okay".

"I promise she said seeing a group of doctors hovering to one side waiting for her to leave, if you ever do decide to go home call me okay".

"I promise he said and thanks for coming to see me my asking you was selfish but it was only thinking of you that kept me sane during the worst of it I wanted to say thanks for that".

Val kissed him on the cheek then left before she totally lost it the Captain saw her distress led her to his office where he sat her down and poured a whiskey for her and then one for himself.

"God's thanks Captain I needed that".

"I'm sorry for having to have put you through such an ordeal Val but you understand the importance of his request to you".

"No doubts on that Captain last thing I want to do is help those bastard's he did not say it directly but I gathered they tortured him".

"There is evidence they did" the Captain admitted as he took her by the arm and led her to a lift. The main thing to remember Val is that he is safe now and he will receive the best possible care we can give him and Gunne willing he might be able to go home one day".


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[Sabrina Bergin]

The Peacekeepers:

Kert struggled out of the simulator his body drenched in sweat making his flight suit stick to his skin.
The session had not gone well he knew it not only by his own opinion but by the looks the operations crew were giving him.
He shut down the machine and went to get a shower waiting for the debriefing that would be bound to follow. He grimaced as he saw the fine tracery of the scars where countless skin grafts had been made.
They had done far better than he could have hoped but it seemed to be cosmetic he did not feel that much better than he had when he arrived here so nearly two jazura ago.
Perhaps it was the eyes he thought looking into the mirror for some reason they had not been able to give him biological replacements and when he looked at the black orbs they had grafted into his eye sockets they just felt wrong alien even.
On the fith level of the station in an office of the main training area Commander Braks was studying the reports on Dannar with irritation.

"These numbers can't be right the man has Jazura of experience as a fighter pilot are you seriously telling me that we have spent millions of credits to produce a pilot that would barely qualify as a freighter pilot".

"Its not the Hardware sir the interfaces are working exactly as anticipated we have to accept the issue is psychological he may never be suitable as a candidate for the program" the team leader replied.

Braks looked down at the reports again he had spent Jazura getting funding for this project he could not afford failure.

"Suggestions I need that pilot fit for duty and to be honest I don't care what it takes he is the case study by which the powers that be have decided will determine wether this project is to continue or not so give me some answers people".

The scientists huddled together for a few minutes going over the data yet again Brak's ignored them as he watched the pilot leave the simulator bay the man was obviously aware of his failure Braks could see it in the way he walked off the deck his body language was screaming failure to anyone who could read it. But why that was the question after the initial surgery he had passed every test effortlessly it was only recently that his scores had started to drop below the line. Braks sensed he was onto something he ignored the group at the other side of the room and called up Dannars medical records then compared them to a timeline of his deteriorating standards.
There after that last operation the optical implants. "gentlemen why was this subject fitted with prosthetic optics I told you I wanted only the best if you look at the time since they were fitted he has shown a steadily increasing decline in ability and confidence".

The senior of the medical staff turned to reply " If you recall sir we had intended to use bio replacements but the schedule was advanced so with the complications involved we opted for the prosthetic units "

"You stupid fools he screamed at them, the biological replacements I assume you still have them well hoorah for small mercies get that man into surgery at the earliest possible moment these men are fighter jocks if they are not happy in any way they cannot perform". It was Braks himself who had shortened the timeline on this project pushing for results to show to his superiors but he saw no point in admitting that.

A Tizura later Braks was looking down on the display's Dannar had recovered from surgery and was back on track at the rate he was progressing he would soon be out performing every other candidate in the program He signalled for the man to be sent up to his office when he was ready and sent a request through channels for the Admiral to contact him.

The Admiral replied within a few moments and for a change Braks was glad he had good news for the man.

"Sir I am happy to report the Peacekeeper project is ready".

"I take it the issue with Dannar has been resolved then I don't have to tell you that he is the key for this to happen Braks we are going to make the terrans regret they ever tried to use him against us".

"I will be speaking with Lt Danner in a few moments Sir once I have a time line I will forward it to you"

"Do that Braks" the Admiral advised closing the link.

Dannar refused of course Braks expected nothing less but Braks knew what buttons to push with this pilot how to get him angry at the terrans for not giving him the treatment he needed when they had the chance and then trying to use him against the fleet, and finally in the end by appealing to his loyalty to the men and women who still served on the line.
That was the clincher and Braks used that ruthlessly in the tazura ahead when he was hailed as a returning hero by the media as he was reunited with his family in Elena's and then returning to greet his former colleagues aboard the Resoloute where He was formaly awarded the medal he had earned for his actions in Circle of Labour it was announced that a new corp of fighters would be formed to fill the gaps left by those who had volunteered to serve in the fleets front line the Peacekeepers a force that would come down hard on anyone who tried to take advantage of the main fleets absence from its civilian roles.

Kert was actually relieved when the media circus left the ship he had been actively hiding from them at the last ignoring Braks who wanted to wring every last opportunity out of the situation until Kert had said no in no uncertain terms simply demanding there ships and kit be delivered to the Resolute where they would formally begin active service once again under the gaze of the media but at least that would be the end of his personal involvement with them.
Captain Sillarn had welcomed him back aboard and assigned him and his team accommodation on level four where the Media were not allowed access as a result he had spent a lot of time here in this mess hall just looking out over Circle of Labour where old memories had risen to haunt his sleep at nights.

"Mind if I join you ?" Came the question

Kert did not even have too look up to know it was Val he had been avoiding her as well but he did not know why he nodded and sat back in his chair leaving his coffee on the table.
Val studied him trying not to be obvious he looked a hell of a lot better than he had when she had last seen him on this ship and they had managed to restore his sight but even though they were the same colour as they had once been there was no hint of warmth in them perhaps that we would come in time or was it a result of the surgery they had performed to restore his face to the way it once had been. She pushed those thoughts away not wanting to hurt him by prying into things she sensed he would rather not discuss.

"You are a hard man to find is that because of the media circus or is there more to it than that she asked taking a sip of her coffee as she stared him right in the eyes waiting for his answer.

"A lot of the former and a little bit of the latter, I wanted to see you to speak with you but I panicked every time I tried" he finally admitted.

Val took that in it was the truth and she could see he was tensing up with her just being here. "Okay spill it Kert no matter how bad you think it is we are still friends aren't we ?".

"Always Val it's just hard being here knowing that I can never be part of the squadron again not properly hell even the ship I've been given had to be tricked out just so I could fly the damn thing".

"Hey Val said taking his hand a couple of jazura ago you couldn't even walk and now you're back in a fighter no matter if it's tricked out or not that's a better result than any of us had a right to expect, so don't beat yourself up over what you can and can't have okay promise".

"I promise" he said taking a sip of his coffee to seal his word's.

After the initial awkwardness was out of the way he finally opened up not all the way there were some things he would just not discuss but Val was pleased to see him relax a little become more like the Kert she had known she was even able to get him to smile occasionally not often but it was a start he even stayed relaxed when her team arrived and joined them and greeted them all warmly obviously accepting the fact she had arranged it, and easily brushing aside any reference they made to the medal ribbon she was glad to see he was finally wearing though she suspected it was his superiors who had made sure he did.

His com link beeped at him a little later "Sorry got to go my planes arriving he announced".

"I'll come with you if you don't mind" Val asked rising.

"No please do" he replied allowing her to take him by the arm and lead him to the hanger deck.

Val waved to the Hanger chief who was taking the planes on board making sure they were moved to the elevators as soon as they were clear of the docking area.

"They are here primarily to be loaded with munitions" Kert explained as they stepped onto the elevator and went up to the upper hanger with the most recent arrival "after that we will be deployed wherever we are needed we will have a TM eventually but the Brass want's to see how effective we can be before they commit themselves to that sort of expenditure who knows one day we might even have our own carrier".

"That's mine over there" he pointed to a brand new ship that looked liked it had just come of the line It was a Nova but it had a lot of differences to her own ship the lines were different and it had a larger hull than her own though the weapons ports seemed the same the biggest difference was in the size of the Cargo bay which had a life support system and access to the cockpit through a hatch at the front of the bay.

"It's a prototype the fleet thought we could test them out before they went to mass production it has an extra shield slot, a few interesting toy's and can carry a wider range of ordinance than the model you fly at the moment.
You'll get to see how it performs tomorrow when you come after us. We are slated for a combat exercise and I wanted us to be up against the best that's why picked they picked your team I suppose".

[Sabrina Bergin]

The Peacekeepers:

Well that came out of nowhere Val realised he had been keeping it from her perhaps worried about her reaction.
"Okay Kert why my team and spare me the bull shit"

"No bull shit Val half my team have never seen real combat and I have been restricted to exercise areas that are well of the grid against forces that I know don't compare with a fleet combat unit like yours. I need to see if they are as good as I think they are before we go operational. I did not ask for you specifically I just asked to be put up against the best".

[Sabrina Bergin]

The Media would be recording form the Resolute's support ship where they would have a clear view of the exercise.
They were not told that there Novas were not the same as the ones the fleet used and to balance the exercise the extra shield slot had been disabled on the prototypes and to level the playing field further they had even been restricted to the same weapons load outs so if things turned out as they should on paper hers was the better more experienced team Val realised.
The only worry she had was when Kert had said quite bluntly they did not play by the rules.
Was he just playing mind games with her she could not be sure certainly he would do everything he could to win, he'd made it clear the future role of the Peacekeepers was being decided here.

"I have a possible bogey" Keswan called in bearing 250 at 1 o'clock range 25 klicks its stationary.

"Roger that" Val replied glad that Kert had decided to get started "Log its position and we'll drift over that way when we get a bit closer, for the moment we'll make like we have not seen him".

There was a series of rapid clicks from her team as they acknowledged her orders she had told them she wanted minimal chatter over the com's till they were about to engage.
After a mizura she checked on the bogey it was running parallel to them now matching speed and course she looked up a head and decided she would swing to attack it when they got near the gate.
The Gate she looked at her Gravidar and realised what was about to happen.

"All units follow my lead course 175 about then go vertical full throttle" even as they turned she could see the flash's of collapsing jump fields as the nine missing Prototypes emerged and set of in hot pursuit.
She had nearly walked right into that as it was she had only bought them some time the prototypes had a slight speed advantage over her teams fighters so it was time to take the fight to them before they managed to dictate the terms of the engagement.

"Ruben, I want you to break left and target the left echelon of the pursuers Beswan you go with him and cover him the rest of us will break hard right follow my lead we will punch through the middle of them, Ruben once you've dealt with your targets see if you can get rid of that spotter for us".

Once again there was a swift acknowledgement of her orders and she led her team at full thrust towards the centre of the targets.
They took multiple hits as they made their run but her team were experienced in this sort of combat and it showed as they managed to down two tango's on that run as soon as they were clear she looped over and around expecting to see the targets come after her instead they had targeted Reuben and Beswan. She sent them a warning and they altered course to give her team a chance to intercept the tango's once they were engaged Reuben and Beswan put up a good fight but by the time her team arrived they were dead in space. Her team scattered in pairs and selected their own targets as they engaged eliminating three more tango's before clearing the combat zone and reforming after that it became a war of attrition as her team numbers shrank from multiple damage reports at a similar rate to the Tango's eventually there were just the two of them left it was Kert of that she was certain something in the way the fighter was being handled reminded her of his moves.
She could use that she realised as she began what was to be the first of many attack run's eventually the exercise was called of neither of them was inflicting enough damage on the other to suggest a conclusion anytime soon so Val swung her fighter clear of the Zone and waited for her team to bring their now reactivated ships into formation.

The Tango's lead fighter pulled up alongside her and the pilot saluted her before pulling of to rendezvous with his own team after which they were all ordered back to the station.
After cleaning up she met her team in the briefing room where they reviewed the combat as recorded by the multiple satellite and media feeds they had.
Her team herself included had made few mistakes Val gave advice on those they had made and suggested alternative options for the future.

It was Reuben's who asked the question "Skip no offence but who are these guy's they just handed us our butt's there's no way they are not combat vet's they knew every move we had and if you hadn't called it at the gate we would have been well and truly reamed".

Val considered that and it was true they had been up against the best the Peacekeepers had and Kert would have advised them on the likely tactic's they would use so she considered it a result. Kert had obviously hoped for a devastating first strike that would have left her team crippled well he had warned her he would not be playing fair.
Having jump drive equipped fighters certainly fell into that category.

"What we learned today people is that we have become careless to set in our patterns and these people took advantage of that we need to look to the next mission we have against the Terrans and consider that they might recognise this flaw as to the Target's today well I only know one of them we all met him last night".

"Oh for Gunne's sake no wonder the bastu knew our moves" Reuben groaned remembering the skip had told them she had flown with him previously.

"Okay team that will be all I'll be reviewing possible changes in tactic's over the next couple of tazura so I will keep you posted when we have something solid to work on dismissed".

After that she went to see Her Co with her operations summary for him to look over, that was not pleasant, but he listened whilst she made her report and said he would consider her recommendations once she had them ready.
When she got to the canteen it was late so she just took a ready meal and sat down with her data pad trying to come up with a strategy that would have been more effective today but there did not seem to be one.
Kert joined her at some point he didn't interrupt her and waited till she noticed him.

Val took in the grease stained coveralls and the tired look about him. guessing that he had been carrying out maintenance on his fighter himself it was something he had always insisted on doing which had often led him into contention with the hanger chief. "Long day huh".

He nodded his agreement sipping his coffee. "Are you mad at me Val I told you we don't go by the rules in my unit".

"The exercise hell no it taught us a lesson you won't be able to pull that stunt on us again though" she replied laying her data pad aside .

"No I guess not, your team were impressive though Val I have to give them that!".

Val accepted that as a compliment thinking it was a shame her Co hadn't thought so earlier but Kert was here for a reason she could sense it and she was going to wait for him to spit it out. He must have caught that because he went to freshen their coffees and when he came back he got straight to it.

"We will be staying with the Resolute till my people have had a chance to gain some actual combat experience on the line. We will be operating independently of the Resolute Command structure though".

"Meaning what exactly Kert not liking where this seemed to be going ?".

He took a moment to answer "meaning once we are fully operational that we will have our own mission objectives and we will complete our primary mission objectives before any other considerations".

Val got it then his people would not back her people up if they had other matters to attend to no matter what the situation was. That was hard she realised, harder for him to put it to her so bluntly and she could see what her people would think of it, Hell what the rest of the fleet would think of it if pilots were lost because the Peacekeepers were engaged in something else.
This was spook type stuff only they would come up with such a rigid don't give a frak to any other consideration but the mission policy.

"You won't win any popularity contests with those mission guidelines Kert you know that don't you ?".

"Yes and I have voiced my objections but they have been ignored Val, now the Peacekeeper program has been given the green light my superiors do not want us becoming just another arm of the fleet. Later on that policy may change but short term it won't I just wanted to give you the heads up on the way it's going to be and to let you know it is not personal".

Kert finished his coffee then left her with her thoughts he had made a point of bringing this to her before it became widely known was he trying to warn her so that she would not resent him for what their orders might insist they had to do that would not help him no matter that she would know why he would be tarred with the same brush as the rest of the Peacekeepers and knowing how he at least felt about the fleet he would not enjoy that.

Val's concerns as to the way the fleet would regard the Peacekeepers became all too true over the coming mazura so much so that they were now based on the Military outpost in Black hole sun. There had been incidents there as well between the regular fleet members and the Peacekeepers some of which had required the intervention of the Marines on station and had resulted in a lot of fleet members facing charges as a result.
That of course had exasperated the situation till it came to a point where the two combat arms were kept totally isolated from each other on different levels of the station when the fleet came in for resupply.

Kert looked up from the report he was reading it was not pretty Povi one of his own unit was stood to attention in front of him the station marine waiting by the door.
"Impressive Povi you put two Fleet pilot's in hospital, you trashed a bar and then decided that you were good enough to take on the marine corps as well".
Kert waved Povi to silence as he made to reply and stood up the anger building in him as if their job wasn't hard enough without this sort of problem. He was going to have to teach his people a lesson. Fortunately they had a wozura downtime before their nest mission and Kert decided he knew just how his team should spend that time they needed taking down a peg or too he signalled the marine to escort Povi back to the brig then put in a call to Braks.
He outlined the problem and advised Braks on how to handle it Braks wanted to throw that right out but Kert made it clear that if they did not take action they would make an already bad situation untenable possibly endangering the whole program.
He was given the orders to proceed as he outlined under the provision that his team remain available for duty.
Kert looked down on to the hanger deck where his support teams had taken over a lot of the duties in prepping the fighters that the fleet had once done for them.
It had meant a lot of extra work for all of them but it was too late to change that now the damage was done no doubt before the end of the day he would receive yet another complaint from the Fleet commander on station regarding this latest incident. That it involved Povi was a point of concern he had thought him sensible enough not to let himself be provoked and had refused to discuss how it had come about just admitting to his actions.
Kert heard the printer kick into life as it started issuing hard copies of the complaints he had been expecting.
Once he had sent back acknowledgements and assured the senders that punishments were being handed out he shut down his desk and made his way to his quarters wondering if they would ever be in a position where they might be accepted at least by the fleet, it was unlikely and that gave him cause for concern that troubled his thoughts long into the evening.

So it was that the next morning at 0500 the entire Peacekeeper squadron were down in the exercise yard with the marines who had been given instructions to get them into shape without inflicting injuries that would bar them from their combat duties.
The station Marine chief himself had decided to supervise the detail he obviously had strong views about people who attacked men under his command and Kert almost felt sorry for the squadron. Once he had made it clear that this was not something his people were going to evade and that he had already deducted the cost of damages to the bar they had trashed from their pay which really hurt them. He left the Marine chief to it then returned to his office looking over the mission request that were slowly being forwarded to him by Braks staff.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Clearing a path:

The Wozura passed all to quickly but after the initial gripes from his own team at least his team had got into it Brannl the man who Brakks had appointed to lead the Beta team hadn't and would be in his office every day demanding that his team be excused which Kert had refused every time he had asked.
Kert had a good idea why the man wanted his team released he had studied the mission reports his team had handled for work when not on active duty the man seemed to be more a mercenary than a Peacekeeper going after the easy high paying jobs rather than following the guidelines that clearly advised them to do any tasks that would aid the war effort.
He had voiced his concern to Braks and had pointed out that the man did not care what his actions were doing to their already poor relationship with the fleet. Braks response to that was that a least Brannl's team were operating self sufficiently unlike his own team choosing to ignore the fact that his team at least were accepting mission request for the fleet so Kert just gave up on the man at that point.

One such request was why they were all gathering in the early hours in the briefing room.

Kert strode to fron of the briefing room with the mission data pad in his hand which he plugged in to the desk terminal to display it to his team.
"Heads up people we jump for Circle of labour south gate our task is to ensure the gate transit area is clear and deploy fleet tactical buoy's at these locations. At some point after that a fleet will jump into the system. We will then Patrol northwards to ascertain the presence and strength of any and all hostile forces while the fleet makes it's preparations.
I am going to say this only once people this mission is of the utmost importance and it will be overseen not only by Argon Fleet command but also by our superiors if anyone steps out of line they will find themselves back here in the hands of the Marine corp again who assure me you have a long way to go to attain even their minimum standards.
If you speak to a member of the fleet you will be respectful and polite anyone who can't adhere to these basic rules will also find themselves back here Our command and myself are fed up of complaints from the fleet as to our behaviour people and have told me that it will no longer be tolerated.

On the up side it is not all bad Povi we will receive combat pay bonus's and salvage payments for any salvage we can return to the EQ dock in Omycron or here for the duration of the mission. Any ship captires we will also receive bonus payments for to be allocated to unit funds based on ship value. Any questions ?.

There were none as he had anticipated he hoped that now they were going operational they would moderate their behaviour if not he had been told to ensure the fleet knew they would be punished if they stepped out of line.

Kert Joined them in the docking level and launched to the designated jump point where his team formed up on his ship before he set the jump timer that meant they would arrive as a unit not as individual ships which were easier targets.
As soon as they exited the jump field they scattered to predetermined points a move they had developed to deter attacks from gate hangers who the terrans liked to put in place to catch the unwary. They deployed the buoys before Kert ordered his team to swing back around and eliminate all hostiles in a twenty click radius there were four of the sods two scimitars and two mojhineer scout ships which they vaporised before moving to their patrol start point.

As soon as the Fleet Capitals started transiting the gate they moved out further expanding the area of the sector they had under active surveillance searching for any spotters or satellites to eliminate before they could report on the fleets arrival. they were near the north gate when they. came across a terran fighter wing that was moving towards them obviously to determine why they had lost sensors to the south.

"Alpha team this is Alpha one I want all hostiles eliminated before we assume patrol duties at the North gate" Kert ordered assuming an attack vector on the nearest Terran ship. He knew the plan was to let the Terrans assume this was just a standard patrol which is why they had to move so far north of the fleet proper His team barely exerted themselves in the brief combat that followed and continued unimpeded to the Gate.
Once there they began a patrol pattern that let them form an effective blockade Two terran scout ships tried to slip through but they were unable to clear the gate transit field before alpha teams missiles took them out.

After a predetermined interval with their Fleet replacements arriving Kert led his team through the gate but instead of attempting to accelerate clear they turned to pass across the gate and slip behind it where they engaged the Gate defenders in a short and bloody battle they also took out the satellite that had been positioned some distance above it to further impede the Terrans ability to see what was going on. Now the mission would be gin in earnest Povi flew back through the gate and sent the prearranged signal to the fleet that was assembling in the north of circle of labour and as soon as he returned they assumed a standard fleet patrol formation and headed North eliminating anything that registered as hostile their support freighter taking up a trailing position to their rear which they would use to replenish missile stocks as necessary.

the sector was quiet and they reached the mid way point in the sector without incident Ahead near the north gate he was begin to make out the Terran task force they had been briefed on. With their diminished sector surveillance they would know something was going on. Kert waited for the terrans to respond he did not have to wait long fortunately as soon as they started to move south he knew it was time He had Gillarn deploy the Nav-sat that also housed a jump beacon before they resumed their northward course pausing only to eliminate any terran satellites or ships that they detected one of them must have got an alert through though as they detected the response from the Terran Bombers who began launching missiles at their maximum range. It had been anticipated but he would like to have been a bit closer to them before it had happened to reduce their options.

"Okay Alpha team he called time to start anti missile protocols formation Gamma" The team separated into two man pairs putting plenty of space between each other to avoid proximity blast damage they dropped their speed to minimum and began selectively targeting the incoming missiles as they came into weapons range, their tender drawing up to replenish stocks almost as fast as they were used.

[Triaxx2]

Is this a DiD?

[Sabrina Bergin]

Sorry Triaxx yes it is all normal DID rules taken as a given.

I will start putting up stats for those who like them once I have got past these initial stages of my current play through.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Heretics End:

The next few mizura were hectic to say the least and each of them had to drop back in turn to restock on missiles. The Claymores must have had full payloads with the amount of ordinance they were launching at them.
With so many missiles inbound despite their best efforts some did get through and Kenan's ship was hit my multiple strikes that sent his reactor critical Kert did not know if he had managed to eject he was too busy himself using his guns as well as his missiles to try and clear the inbound targets hopefully he had made it clear and that the supply ship would be able to pick him up. He had Beswan join his pairing not wanting to leave him isolated and vulnerable he had got some shield damage from the blast but they were recovering slowly.

The barrage eventually ended a fact confirmed by his cockpit screens switching out of antiglare mode letting him see the sector ahead of them more clearly.
The Capital class ships were definitely moving on their position now a Tokyo which was there most immediate worry with its fighters that in number would overwhelm them but also six Katana's that were acting as an escort to the slow moving Osaka and more of those still holding position near the gate.
The Osaka was a serious worry that thing if it got in range would unleash hell on them all by itself.
Kert signalled his team to fall back and switch to their second missile load out this would reduce the number of antimissiles they had but would give them a chance to really hurt those corvettes.
As soon as the change over was complete he ordered their supply tender to fall back a little taking them away from the combat area.

"This is Alpha one we go to plan Delta Povi take your fighters and irritate that station for me, I want its tactical ability eliminated".

"Roger that" Povi replied taking half the fighters on an attack run on the huge Terran station.

The man was a lunatic Kert thought just as well because no sane person would attempt to attack a station that size in a small fighter group.

He then had the remaining fighters form up on him and they accelerated towards the north gate. trying to return to the schedule he had been instructed to adhere to. He suspected the fleet had something planned that they had not chosen to brief him on but he suspected the timing they had outlined and emphasised to him were critical.

The Tokyo launchd its fighters ahead of them but they had taken the bait and set of hard on the heels of Povi and his men leaving them just the Katana's to avoid, Kert changed course giving those corvette's the option of chasing him or maintaining a defensive screen around their Capitals as he had anticipated they chose the latter.
As they got within sensor range of the gate he could see it was not undefended The claymores were still there along with some Katana's, Scimitars and Thor's and two Sabres, The fighter screen came right at them which actually made it easier for them. "Okay people you know the drill for this we let them get to spitting distance then we go after those bombers make sure you have your targets preselected we will have a Mizura at most to make the strike and get clear".

A brief acknowledgement came from the tem as Kert waited for the advancing fighters to get in range the M5's were decimated by the combined firepower of all five Nova's but the Scimitars and the Sabres advancing on them would not be so easy to deal with.
Kert initiated the jump checking his teams status on his command screen, no damage to any of them and their shields were fully charged as they jumped to the North gate. Before the Terrans could react to their sudden appearance amongst them they launched their missiles and drones and accelerated away from the gate area at maximum thrust.
Callon launched the second jump beacon as he hit the designated range point then they all turned and sped for the south gate maintaining a steady gap between themselves and those Terran fighters.
Their attack had succeeded better than he had hoped as all the claymore bombers and their guard ships were destroyed. At the north gate a second fleet jumped in en masse using the beacon rather than the gate itself as an arrival point.

"What the hell is that" Callon asked stunned by the size of the ship that had arrived first.

"That Callon is a Boron Megadolon I guess the Boron have now officially joined the war and I think its about time we taught these guy's chasing us some manners". Kert replied turning back to deal with them and signalling Povi and his people to join them.

There were some chuckles over the com at that as they about faced and took it to their pursuers. The Thor's and sabres went down swiftly but the Scimitar's were a much harder proposition and they got into a protracted dogfight, Kert was sweating and tired by his muscles aching from the constant exertion by the end of it when their last target had been destroyed.

Kert shut down his engines and ordered his team to form up on him from his position now high above the ecliptic he could see the Terrans had been engaged by their fleet and The Boron's were heading for Terran base to the east. As to his team that dog fight had taken its toll on them they had all sustained a fair amount of damage that would require some repairs before they were combat ready again. Kenan had fortunately managed too survive and had been picked up with only a few minor injuries.
Looking around there was a lot of ordinance floating about so I ordered the team and our supply ship to collect it whilst I moved in on a bailed Scimitar I noticed on the Gravidar.
It took a few minutes EVA for me to plug in my suit and override the Fighters security to gain access. to the cockpit the pilot hadn't bailed but been killed killed by shrapnel which explained the Hole in the Cockpits side.
That explained why he hadn't been able to set the autodesruct for the ship which I found when I had made a few basic repairs to the power feeds meant it was still packing its shields and it's weapons.
Pay dirt the Fleet would be keen to get their hands on this ship.

I got the Pilot out of his seat and dragged him to mine and put him in the Cargo bay no doubt at some point he would be sent home.

The guy's arrived back on my position just as I was getting back into my own ship and powering her up. I took a few moments assessing our condition before addressing them all.

"Alright team we need some repairs before we are done here so we'll be landing Resolute". From their silence I could tell they were looking forward to that as much as I was but we were out of options.
I hadn't wanted the Resoloute as an alternate base for this but the fleet had insisted that as it would be acting as the only support carrier in this op it was the only choice.

The Resolute was standing at one side of the gate in a position that would give it a clear field of fire as well as the ability to launch it's fighters clear of the transit zone. When we were five clicks out we were intercepted by a wing of M4 fighters who escorted us in I had the scimitar dock first before we were landed remotely by the Control tower on the Resolute.
That was a deliberate slap in the face to us but it was no less than I had expected we were not exactly popular with the Fleet, still our time here would be as brief as I could make it.
The frosty reception was evident again on the flight deck where after getting out of our ships we were escorted by two marines to a debriefing room and just left there to wait.
We all just sat down in the seats to tired to do much else it had been a hard day and I did not have the energy left to get angered by our treatment.
It was Beswan who after nearly ten mizura spoke out aloud what we were all thinking.

"This sucks Sir no disrespect but can't we just get back in our birds and make our own way back to base "? he asked.

There were mutterings of agreement from the others and I can't say I blamed them we had been in action for pretty much the whole day and if they were going to keep us waiting this long they could at least have let us hit the showers first or at least made sure there was a coffee pot on the go in here.

An officer entered a while later and called out my name and asked me to accompany him which request I refused point blank the man was utterly taken aback by my refusal so I decided to explain it to him having decided to make my feelings clear.

I noted his id badge as I stood just inches away from him my displeasure evident " Lt Enan I am going nowhere until my people have had a chance to take a piss and a shower and get out of their combat gear and given a chance to eat, we have been operational since before you arrived in this sector so once you get those basic requirements provided to my pilots then I will consider your request is that understood Lt Enan ?".

The man was so stunned he simply nodded without answering and went back out the door. My team let out a round of applause for my handling of the request.
That of course had the predicted result as a short while later The Resolute's operations commander came into the room and demanded to know what I thought I was doing ignoring his orders to meet him".

"Sir with all due respect I do not take orders from you except insofar as they are detailed within my orders for this operation now,.. we have been operational in this sector since before dawn both me and my men are tired, in need of a shower and something to eat. If that does not happen soon we will get back in our fighters and take our chances on returning to the equipment dock at Omycron where we might get treated with the respect we are entitled to".

He was pissed at me for that little speech but instead of flying of the handle he considered what I had said and consulted a data pad before ordering the marines to get my team to the pilots quarters and get them billeted.

He waited till we were alone before he turned back to me "Okay Dannar you have made your point and my apologies you should have been treated better... I will have word's to make sure it does not happen again but whilst you are on my deck you will obey my orders is that understood "?

"Crystal Sir" I answered as he turned to leave the room signalling me to follow him.

Instead of his offices he led me to the Captain's briefing room where Sillarn was studying a sector map and giving orders over his head piece.

"Take a seat and help yourself to some coffee Kert I'll just finish up here then I'll be with you".

Captain Sillarn finished of his orders and poured himself a coffee before sitting down behind his desk.

"Damn good job you did out there today Kert by the way laying those beacons and making those bombers go away made things a lot easier than they could have been but now I'll cut straight to the chase. What are your orders regarding that Scimitar you bought in, you know my people are just itching to get their hands on it "?.

" I anticipated as much Captain my orders are simple I can salvage captured enemy vessels and if feasible return them to the shipyard in M148 or the nearest base of operations which until I hear otherwise is your ship. I am afraid I will have to have a receipt for the ship though sir it will avoid paperwork down the line".

It would also as Sillarn knew prevent me getting any flack from my superiors who would have wanted me to get that ship into their hands before the fleet got even a sniff at it.

He Just grinned at me and made the necessary transfer documents happen.

[Triaxx2]

In that case, added to the DiD list.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Thank you Triaxx.

The Spoils of War:

As the Captain was taking care of the transfer of the Scimitar to the fleet I got a brief message from the supply ship and a welcome surprise counting what we had transferred to it before docking we had over a million credits from the sale of the missiles and weapons gathered after the combat had ended. The salvage on the Scimitar matched that figure near enough and I was happy to accept the fleet rate for it. Sillarn knew I was trying to make some form of amends for my teams behaviour in the past but we did not go into that. I could tell he was busy and was taking the time to be polite so after a few mizura I thanked him for the coffee and asked to be excused to see to my team.

We shook hands and I was escorted back down to level four where we had been billeted perhaps it was wishful thinking but the Marines who escorted me did not seem so hostile to me as they took me to the entrance to our quarters.

I spent ten Mizura under the scalding hot water washing the smell of my own sweat away before donning the in ship coveralls and boots provided before heading to the mess hall to find my team.
Not good I decided as I saw them sat at a table at the far end of the room that was given a wide berth by the ships crew who were using the canteen. I grabbed a ready meal and a coffee flask of the line and joined them. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife it was that heavy.

I chose to ignore it till I had finished my meal and cleared my empty plate from the table. "I hope this is not going to be a problem people, ignore them and that is an order you knew this was how it was going to be so just accept it. I do not want any of you reacting if you do that they win is that understood ?".

They did not like that but they sucked it up and promised they would not react to the comments that were being made just loud enough for us to over hear.

"Now people the good news as of this moment we have two million plus in credits coming to us for today's efforts and by rights you can draw your share of it or you can listen to a proposition".

"Boss I think you must be part Teladi because all of a sudden I get the feeling I should check my wallet now I just know you want that cash for something and I am trying to see the catch there has to be one right".

"No catch Seldon but between ops we are allowed to take on private jobs in the commonwealth now to be able to do that we are going to need our own carrier say a TM to start with maybe something bigger down the line. We all know what a team like ours can expect to get in payments for that sort of work so at least consider it, I don't want you to make a decision now but it is my intent to go down that road at some point anyone that is interested let me know if not you can take what you've earned so far no problems it is your money after all".

There was a lot of debate at that point which I kept out of I figured they would go for it they knew the numbers involved better than I did and as we had licences to operate as marshals with all the races any op we took would be sanctioned.
I figured another jug of coffee would be needed whilst they discussed the idea and was caught by surprise when an ensign managed to pour his coffee all over my coveralls the fact he was nowhere near the refreshment unit and a long way from his friends told me clearly it was a deliberate act. My team noticed and stood up ready to take on the room but I waved them down and looked at the ensign with the stupid grin on his face it I could hardly take a swing at him after ordering my team to ignore the jibes and comments earlier but I was annoyed, no more than annoyed as I looked the fool in the eye. Fortunately the matter was taken out of my hands as I was slowly counting to ten.

"Ensign I suggest you find a mop and clean that mess up, and once you have apologised to commander Dannar you will report for defaulters parade to the CAG is that understood ensign Nedley". Val asked.

The Ensign knew he was in it up to his neck and apologised then got out of there as fast as he could after mopping up the spilt coffee.

"In fact Val continued after he had left I can see that ensign Nedley may need some company she told the men and women he had been with why don't you all join him ?... now would be a good time shift your backsides all of you" her voice roaring to a command. Val waited for them to clear the room before turning to me.

"My apologies commander Dannar gentlemen ladies, I was informed a while ago that you rescued a number of pilot's today once you had completed your mission my team has asked you to join them for dinner later today. Commander perhaps a change of clothing would be in order. I'll send an escort to show you to our canteen later".

Val left the room my people were as startled by her actions as I was. I returned to my bunk and had a quick shower and change and managed to grab some sleep before I was woken by a steward who had entered the room he told me that dinner would be in twelve mizura and hung up the uniform Val had sent for me to wear before leaving.

I had only worn the uniform I was entitled to previously when I had been used by my superiors to wave the flag as it were for the media and it set my teeth on edge but I knew it was important to Val for some reason so I put it on and was guided by the Marine who had been stationed at my door down to the operations deck where her crew were quartered.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my team were actually pretty relaxed and were mingling with Val's team.
Val saw me and crossed the room and dragged me of to meet her people now I saw why she had made sure I was wearing the fancy uniform it was fleet and had that nice shiny ribbon on it that matched the one she was wearing on hers, her people noted it they did not enquire but it made it easier to for them to accept us amongst them as combat pilots not just glorified mercenaries. We had a fairly formal meal attended to by the ships stewards before we entered their mess room where we were able to relax.
Once I had done the rounds so to speak Val took me to one side something was bothering her but I waited for her to say what it was I knew I was not going to like it but I also respected the fact she had gone out of her way to make my team welcome so I figured I owed her. She wouldn't or couldn't say it so I bit the bullet and asked her outright what it was telling her nothing could dent our friendship.

"I've met someone a while ago actually" she said simply and I felt it like a dagger in my heart I wanted to hurt her when she said it, there were a hundred things I wanted to say to make it not so but I bit them back her friendship if not her heart were more important to me than anything. For the first time I could remember I managed to fool her or at least I hoped I did. I put on my best I am so happy for you face and asked who the lucky guy was".

"You've met him It's Tom the CAG here on the Resolute, Oh my god Kert I am so sorry but I thought ".

"Hey Val I lied this is not a problem I am glad you have met someone seriously and he seems like a good man. The only question is are you happy ?".

Val looked at me closely trying to find some sign I was lying but she couldn't I was pleased for her and the man seemed solid from what I had been able to gather when we had met earlier so I waited for her to relax a little.

"Yes I am happy" she finally answered "he is a good man Kert".

"Val if you are happy then so am I so relax a little and lets rejoin the others before they start to talk okay".

She gave me a brief peck on the cheek then led me back into the room her man arrived at some point after that and I was more than civil to him considering but I accepted the facts when I saw how she just seemed to sparkle when he came near her it would have been easier on me if there was something I could find to dislike about the man but I couldn't. So I stayed till it became clear that we were all tired and had duties to attend to the following day that meant it was time to call it a night.

[Sabrina Bergin]

I couldn't sleep of course which why I was down in the hanger deck before dawn making repairs to my ship.
I dropped out of the missile rack onto the hanger floor and saw the flask of coffee and the crew boots which was all I could see from where I was. I got out from under the wing and rolled clear before standing up taking the coffee with me to find myself staring at an old friend.

"Chief good to see you, I thought you might have retired by now though"

"You wish" the chief answered moving forward to inspect the repairs I had been making but not commenting.

"So what is it with you and these Peacekeepers you know the fleet don't exactly hold you in high esteem".

"I gathered that chief but as it stands the fleet won't let me fly for em and these guy's will so you know whose getting my vote there".
The Chief turned from his inspection of my ship and reached into a pocket and added a drop to my coffee before doing the same to his own.

"The fleet are not pleased with your guy's Kert not sure if they can rely on you not to leave them in a pinch".

"Chief I wish I could say that will never happen but I can't It won't happen on my watch but as to the rest" and there I let it hang.

"Glad to hear you say that Kert but you know you belong here on these decks you were born to be fleet son knew it first time I saw you climbing out of that Elite you started off in just remember that son and you'll be okay"
I raised my flask to that which the chief acknowledged before wondering off leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I left the deck eventually and had a quick shower before settling in at a table in the mess hall where my team joined me.
It was Povi who had been elected to speak for the others basically just to agree in principle to my idea that I had put to them the day before.
" Okay we'll consider it a go then now we have a tour of duty here to complete, I don't think it would do us any harm to put ourselves out for the fleet at the moment these people will return the favour down the line of that I am certain. So regardless of what our so called superiors think we should do I want us to... do what is right

"Boss you know Braks ain't gonna like" that Cornell put up.

"No he won't I agreed Braks want's his own little task force his to do with as he see's fit like a little tin god well excuse me ladies but I am no one's bitch I will follow mission orders to the letter but if he ever ask's me to cross the line I am out". They took that in and they knew exactly what I meant perhaps last night had shown them that they were not universally reviled or looked down on by the fleet and that we could work harder to improve relations with the fleet at least for our team.

"You got my vote Povi said at last but now if you will excuse us sir we arranged to meet with some guys on deck three".

They trooped of without another word and it took a moment for it to sink in that deck three was the Marine deck, I just said a silent prayer that they were going for a workout nothing more.

After that I went to the hanger deck and got involved in the repairs to my teams ships the chief stepped in at one point and made it clear that fighter ship repairs overrode the necessity for fixing a shower stall on deck two and after that it was just logistics I had our supply ship running all over to replace the stocks the Resolute expended but at the end of the day it all got done. As a thank you I left a bottle of aged whiskey on the chiefs locker then headed for the mess hall only to be intercepted by the CAG who led me to his office high up in the control tower.
He sat me down then took his own seat before pouring us both a drink which surprised me I had taken him to be a by the book man.

"Kert" if I may he began which showed me straight where this was going so I decided to cut him off before he got started.

"No you may not, Tom if I may I have had this discussion Val has told me that you and she are an item perhaps more than that and yes that get's to me in way's I can't describe but I love her Tom I always will and I am glad she is happy that means more to me than I can tell you so all I ask of you is that you take care of her promise ?."

The man looked me in the eye and raised his glass which to me said it all he would take care of her and he cared for her which was enough for me".
I left him and went back to my rack cursing the gods for the injustice of it all and did my best to finish the bottle of whiskey I had opened earlier.

The patrols over the next few days went well my team synched in well with the fleet and by the time we got the order to return to M148 I felt we had at least made a few friends.
That I think was Braks problem when I reported in. The Beta squadron seemed to have gone out of their way to irritate people not just the Fleet but the Boron and Split as well. plus they were taking casualties at a higher rate than expected and Braks wanted me to tell him why so I did just that and he did not like it. Looking at the patrol reports Beta squadron were no more than a bunch of mercenaries they went after mission first salvage second and anything else was way down on their to do list.
At the rate things were going the whole Peacekeeper program would be shut down sooner rather than later.

I had the man I knew how to resolve the problem it would be ugly but it would work but I demanded a free hand and ten disco's to be made ready at the EQ dock. Braks had no choice really he had made this project his own which meant that if it failed as it was about to he would be consigned to obscurity.
So I found myself down on the Hanger bay waiting for the Beta squadron to at least acknowledge my presence. When they didn't I sent in the marines to make them form up for inspection. I had given the marines leave to do what was necessary as long as they didn't permanently disable someone and it said a lot to me what they had had to put up with as they carried out my orders with some enthusiasm. The Beta team lead pilot Brannt showed himself a short while after and I ignored his protests at his treatment. I had him escorted to a waiting Disco and informed him his services were no longer required his licences were revoked and that he was persona non grata in M148. That got the rest of Beta teams attention.

"Ladies" I said pleasantly turning back to them "your former commander has just found out what it costs to piss people of. Now any of you that think this is unfair please speak up as of this moment I am your new CO until I can select a suitable replacement or advise that you be replaced en masse and I caution you based on your record to date I do not like you people .
Just so it is mutual the salvage you have acquired to date is confiscated, any future salvage payments depends on wether you are able to complete your missions in a timely manner without upsetting our brothers in arms or our allies. The free ride is over ladies you will find me a hard task master and many of you will fail to meet my standards but that is of no moment as you have seen a Disco awaits any of you who fail".

I turned to address the marine who had escorted me to the hanger "Master sergeant these people are unfit for duty I will leave them in your hands till that is rectified."

[Sabrina Bergin]

You have just got to love Marines I thought a wozura later when the Beta team were declared to be fit for duty and were awaiting my inspection.
I ordered them to their ships and launched in my own, I gave them a few mizura to form up then gave them the briefing we jumped to Nyana's East gate where some would be pirates were attacking fleet convoy's.

"Heads up people I said over the com we have some scum in this sector who are stealing war supplies from the fleet. We are about to teach them that is a bad idea and one I find particularly offensive we will begin a patrol from here to the west gate we will intervene in any situation where we find hostiles attacking transports.
Be on the look out for a pilot by the name of Lukmanstat a Paranid who seems to be the one behind these raids there is a bounty on that nids head which I intend we should collect do not concern yourself with salvage your supply ship will take care of that for you is that understood ?".

They got it all right and after a week of being given a hard time confined to base they were eager to get into action fortunately we did not have long to wait as we closed rapidly the pirate ships harassing a trio of freighters ahead.
We accelerated into the thick of it and we were soon engaged in a brief and bloody combat. The pirates did not have a chance really they were uncoordinated and what combat experience they had was limited to attacking escort fighters who were just mercenaries and would bug out under pressure. The first combat had the desired effect though and a short while later the Paranid showed up in a Centaur which I doubt he acquired legitimately and headed straight for us with half a dozen fighters acting as support. I had half the team target them whilst I took the rest in and started pounding on that centaur's shields.
I don't think the nid knew what he was up against as he kept yelling threats and obsceneties at us as we ripped his ship a new one. He'd made a big mistake in equipping it with the biggest weapons he could which was okay right until he ran his power supply down which was when we went in for the kill and blew that ship out from under him.
Once the sector was clear of targets we began a patrol to PTNI taking out anything that flagged as hostile en route as well as taking on station protection missions. They did not pay much but as I explained to the team it gained them reputation which meant that down the line they would be paid more for any future missions we did for the Teladi.
They got it then Brannt had just been an out and out mercenary and didn't cared who he pissed off as long as he got paid as a result they had a lot of work ahead of them to fix that but it was doable and they were surprised to find the Teladi were actualy pleased to see us when we finally docked at the PTNI equipment dock where I made sure they got the upgrades they needed for their ships at reasonable prices.

We sat down in one of the dockside bars whilst the equipment was being installed on their ships. "So ladies gentlemen can you see the way things should be done now ?. Not only have you got decent rep with the Teladi now but you've managed to make a tidy sum in the process. It's down to you now you can go back to the way Brannt was doing things or you can do it my way it's your choice".

It was not much of a choice and they knew it I don't think any of them had been comfortable with Brannt but he had been their team leader and they had not questioned his methods no matter their own thoughts on it.

"Does this mean we get paid for the targets we eliminated on the way here ?" asked Erinn whio I had already pencilled in as the new team leader she was one hell of a fighter pilot but tended to stay in the background I intended to change that.

"Yes all payments for this mission are going to the your teams account as are the bounty payments for targets eliminated as we speak that Teladi who pilots your support ship is selling of the salvage he collected for you.
You have to pay him and his crew of course and when he does a really thorough job throw him a bonus he will be an asset to you so you take good care of him and he will return that in spades especially if you make him feel he is part of the team".

They got that bit alright especially when the Teladi who I had decided to call Lupo abbreviating that name tag of his drastically presented his data pad showing them just how much money he had earned for them. I've no doubt he had skimmed a bit of the top but he was Teladi after all but he had sold everything he had salvaged and made a fair amount of credit's for the Beta team doing it.
They were impressed and bought the man a drink and he liked that I figured Brannt had just used him as a tool and wondered how much that had cost them.

"Okay people that about wraps it up here for me Erinn you are the new commander of Beta team effective immediately I want you to keep a tight grip on your people if you need any help or advice call me otherwise you are good to go and I want to get back to my people".

That shocked her and the team they must have thought I intended to hang around for a while to watch over them but I figured if they couldn't get it together and do things the right way my presence would not help them.

"You're making me the Co why ?" Erinn asked as shocked at my choice as the rest of the team.

"Simple answer because you are the best pilot amongst this bunch and I think I can trust you to get the job done, try it and if you can't handle the job then let me know we'll find someone who can but I think your up for it Erinn".

"So boss where do we go next ?" Lupo asked her at which point she really got it and I saw her straighten up a bit as the mantle of command settled on her shoulders.
She looked to me but I just shrugged I had my own people I wanted to get back to the choice was hers now.

I left them to it and went back to meet with Braks and gave him my report on Beta team which he was fairly impressed with the actions in Nyana's had gone along way with the fleet and they were no longer howling for blood.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Perhaps he was not that impressed or maybe he just wanted to show me he was still the Man in charge so he had me do this stupid eaves dropping mission for him over in Albion in a bare bones Disco.
But I got it done which seemed to placate him and I finally got back to my team who were busy dishing out justice to a pirate group in Black hole sun.
I left them to it as they were obviously enjoying them selves and docked at the outpost.
The station commander had assigned us our own offices and quarters adjacent to the hanger deck which was a lot more convenient for us and also kept us separated from the fleet personnel stationed here which was probably for the best the Peacekeepers had got of to a bad start with the fleet and it would take a while if ever for that perception of us to change.
It's big advantage was however that people who needed our help now knew where to ask and I sorted through a bunch of requests and selected several to follow up on later.
I sent a message to Braks detailing what we would be doing and where so he would know where to find us in case something came up and waited for the team to get back.

They saw the lights on in the briefing room and after changing reported in. I bought them up to speed with the state of affairs with the beta team and the consensus was that Erin was the right choice as the team leader none of my people had liked Brannt and they would not miss him in the slightest.
After they filled me in on what they had been up to in my absence I put up a proposed extended patrol route on the displays highlighting the contracts I had agreed to undertake on the way.
It would mean an extended amount of flight and combat time but would extend our operations to the east where piracy had risen to unprecedented levels since the war had started and was now becoming a serious problem.
They were all up for it the action was thin on the ground in this and the surrounding sectors. We finalised the details and arranged our flight schedule which we sent to the station flight control tower. That done we called it a day and headed for a bar to get a meal and to unwind.

It was after the meal that Povi put his idea to me and for a moment I thought he was insane but he had obviously thought it out and discussed it with the team before putting it to me.
Apparently he had done more than just keep up his training regime with the marines which had started out as a punishment but one that the whole team seemed to have taken on as part of their training.

They all looked at me as I took it in Povi had it all worked out the numbers the costs everything. More importantly the team wanted it I could see it in their faces and at that point I knew I had to go with it would add a whole new level to the team as a whole with it's own set of problems but I had a hunch Povi had thought of that as well so as soon as I said it was a go he signalled to a another man in the bar who joined us at the table.
I recognised the man despite the fact he was wearing civvies he was one of the Marines stationed here one of Povi's exercise instructors in fact.

"All right Jak Mr Povi here has put a lot of work into this so tell me what you think you can bring to our team and why you want to".

"Simple answer Sir is that in a few Tazura my tour is up and I won't be offered operational deployment again if I reenlist I'll be given a post at a training barracks or as CQP operative behind the lines and that sir is just not good enough for me, Povi tells me you have ambitions to make your team more than just a sideshow and me and my people can help make that happen in a whole bunch of ways other than the obvious ones also you would be getting people with a unique set of skills who like me don't want to quit we want to make a difference sir".

"When you say people how many of you want to sign up for this Jak, and bear in mind that we that we are not loved by the fleet and that will rub off on you".

"Understood sir at the moment I have ten of my people who will sign on right now me included and we did not join the marines to win any popularity contests".

That was putting it straight enough the man had considered all the angles and my head was exploding with possibilities.
"Your people have any experience in Nova's Jak because I am sure Povi has told you we don't have gunners assigned to our ships".

"Yes sir we are all fully trained in tactical weapons operations and we are a damn sight better than your ships AI at dealing with enemy action".

"Alright Jak I'll set it up report to me at my office at 0700 hours by then I should have it settled".
I left them at that point and went back to my office and started the ball rolling getting the unused sections of the level we had been allocated up and running it was not ideal by any means and there were a lot of rough edges to be taken care of but at 0700 when Jak reported for duty I had the back of it broken I even had Braks backing for it which I guessed was down to his wanting to expand the Peacekeepers remit as hard and fast as he could.

Jaks saluted me as he came into the office and took the seat I indicated. I outlined what I had arranged so far and asked him to go over it to see if there was anything I had missed that would need taking care of he made some minor changes and noted a few areas that would need further evaluation but I got the impression he was happy with things for the moment and that any changes could be made as and when necessary.
That just left the details "Alright Jaks I assume that you are the lead man on this so how do you envisage this working we have to have a clear command structure in place and I assume you have given that some thought ?".

"I have sir I suggest we maintain the fleet ranking system it is what we are used to and requires no changes I will be your Chief of marines as I am now with the fleet marines on station. I expect you to let me handle my people as I see fit overall mission directives will of course come from you"

"That seems to fit the bill Chief okay lets make this happen I have accommodation available any thing that requires my attention you let me know otherwise I expect you to handle it just keep me informed as to what you are doing so I don't go stepping on any toes".

He grinned at that and excused himself to get his people together. I went through another load of paper work before I got a call requesting my presence on the hanger deck.

I was startled to see not ten but twenty marines in full combat gear waiting for me Jaks rather the Chief walked me through them detailing their ranks and specialist skills, it was a formidable group of people.

"Okay Chief I am impressed I assured him so bring me up to speed here because I thought this would be a gradual process".

"No sir the chief replied we have effective of 0900 hours been transferred to your command".

He handed me the orders which I knew would be solid and told him to get his people settled in then report back to me. I returned to my office and went through the orders confirming them on my terminal as I did so every last one of them had put their papers in for the transfer to my team. That was one hell of a statement in itself but we had less than a Tazura to get things up and running before we had to leave to begin our next mission.
It was a point I put to the Chief as I had now come to regard him when he reported back just before lunch and it was one he had anticipated.
"Sir it will take a while for your fighter jocks to find someone they can work with effectively I have selected the ten people I think can work with yours for the moment final selection will be down to the pilot's themselves".

That I could work with so I accepted his assignment list figuring that we could adapt down the line as needs be.
It also meant I had a lot of work to do and not much time I left the Chief to take care of everything else and after stopping for a quick lunch I headed for the hanger deck where my team and their gunners were mounting up.

I climbed into my own cockpit shocked to find a young woman sat in the right hand seat and already powering the ship up which should have been impossible without my access codes.
I settled in and caught her name tag Sladon "Okay Sladon or would you prefer guns how the hell did you override my access codes"

"Sir the Chief determined that we should be able to operate regardless as to the status of the pilot so we arranged access no disrespect was intended Sir".

"None taken Sladon sorry Guns but we are going to be in this fighter for extended periods and I am not going to keep calling you by your surname so what would you prefer I call you ?".

[Sabrina Bergin]

"Guns is just fine sir" she replied waiting for me to take the controls I settled in to my seat and began the pre-flight checks and cued in the launch sequence. Glad to be in space once more and out of that officeI headed for the south gate and my team followed my lead forming up behind me . Our first op began as soon as we entered Nathans voyage The chip plant manager had been threatened if he did not invest in some protection. He had of course us, but the hostiles positioned just of his station were trying to make him change his mind.
I preselected the targets and spilt the team up to go get them whilst setting course on the Nova that seemed to be the leader of this pack, He saw us coming and tried to make a run on the west gate but I wasn't having any of that and soon had him in my sights. He was pretty good and I had to do a lot to keep on his six as I tore down his shields whilst he was screaming for help from his buddies, they had their own problems though and he soon realised he was on his own and that I was not letting him go. In a desperate act he decided to launch some heavy missiles at me which I targeted almost as soon as he did so the result was a brilliant fireball in space as his ship was caught in the blast and was shredded to atoms. I turned back towards the team who were mopping up the stragglers. I took a defensive position over the station and waited for them to finish up calling our support ship to jump in and sweep up the ordinance and salvage that had been dropped. The Chip plant station manager was more than happy with the result as his supply freighters undocked to go about their business and wired our payment through.

Once we were all done I led the team east Our next port of call was the Wastelands trading station who had a similar problem to the one we had just dealt with and I must admit I was looking forward to taking care of that problem for them it got my back up when some scum decided they could threaten any Argon station and not be punished for it.

The action in Wastelands was a little more intense the local scum had a Viper pounding on the station and a large number of escorts protecting him which made him a bit cocky because as soon as I got in com range he advised me to leave the sector. That just plain irritated me so I started taking out his escorts leaving guns to take care of the missiles he was launching at us. Pretty soon he found his fighter screen was gone and he started begging for mercy as the team moved as one to tear his ship apart.
One of us must have hit a munitions bay as the Viper went critical and a brief sun grew in the dark. I pulled clear of the blast wave and checked the teams status all of us had taken a hit to our shields but no major damage so I ordered the team to dock at the trade station calling it a day.
The station manager must have been impressed because he put us up in a fancy hotel on station for gratis and had his people taking real good care of us from the moment we docked.
Once we had all had a chance to get cleaned up and changed we all met in the hotel restaurant for a late meal and a few drinks, I got the impression the Station manager was using us to advertise to his guests that we were there to protect the station which as he was looking after us so well I had no problems with.
The team were pleased as well we had all earned a fair bit of change for our efforts and the patrol had just begun. After the meal I excused myself and began catching up with the messages that had piled up for my attention. Rider our supply ship Captain had docked briefly and replenished our missile stocks and had then taken of to sell the salvage he had collected in system I figured as he knew our patrol route he would be back in good time. Braks had been in touch of course so I sent him an action report that would keep him out of our hair for the moment. other than that it was just routine housekeeping the chief had made some changes at Black hole sun MO which I looked at and signed of on.
Once that was done I poured myself a whiskey and just sat on the balcony my rooms came with and watched as the stars passed overhead as the station rotated.

I finished my drink then turned in arranging an early morning call from room service.
Once I'd had breakfast I made his way to the station docks and got into my fighter to give it a pre flight check. Guns came onto the dock just as I was wrapping up and stowed her gear in the cargo bay before joining me in the cockpit.

"So what's the plan for today" skip she asked checking her weapons console and missile load outs.

"More of the same as yesterday as I explained in the briefing I intend to go all the way east then south now the Boron are actively involved in the war Braks wants us to wave the flag as it were he's also asked me to do some running around for Jonferco but I figure that once I've checked out their needs and see if they have any decent tech worth buying I'll let Rider handle that side of things.

"You don't much care for Braks do you every time you mention him I can almost see the contempt you have for him. Is it personal?".

I thought about it for a moment before answering "not really he's just another ranker trying to get up the promotion ladder that's all the Peacekeeper project is to him and I kinda resent that. That and the way he treats people makes him kind of hard to like".

I looked up to see my team arriving on dock and began the launch sequence, they would join me once they had checked their ships out and I would then give them the next assignment details I could have done that on the dock but I preferred not discussing missions except over secure channels and certainly not on an open station dock where anyone could be listening in.
As soon as they formed up I sent the destination to them and set course for the trading station in Midnight star guns was keeping an eye on the sensors but yesterday must have been a deterrent to the local low lives and the Local border control ships were keeping up patrols near the gates.
We slipped into Midnight star unnoticed by a small group of pirate fighters who were creating a nuisance of themselves in the trade lanes I did not even have to give an order as the team broke formation and started taking them down. Rider appeared at the edge of the system behind us a while later just as the team were dealing with the remaining Buzzard and began collecting the goods that had been strewn across the area.
I contacted Lanner the man at the station who had contacted me originally and started a patrol between the two gates. The station had a problem not just with local pirates but with the Yaki as well what they were doing so far east was a mystery I couldn't even begin to guess at but they were creating a problem for the local stations and shipping through the sector.
The Yaki showed up a while later a group of four susnowa's and six fujin raiders which was pretty much their standard raiding party make up. What was not normal though was A Yaki Centaur that came through the east gate after them.
I ordered the team to take out the fighters I had a surprise for that Centaur though I had not anticipated having to need it so early in the patrol and sent a coded signal to the EQ dock at M148 the ship had been assigned to me for a mission by Braks and I had taken it on myself to get it upgraded and fitted out for just such an occasion as this. I kept the Yaki Centaur occupied as my own Centaur came in behind the Yaki and opened up on it at close range. It was a fairly brief combat the Yaki ship had its shields and a good percentage of its hull damaged before Erin and her team in the Centaur opened up with the missiles that turned the Yaki into a fireball.
The rest of the team were dealing with the remaining Yaki so I ordered her to dock at the Trade station. Once my team had finished playing I ordered them to follow her in whilst I went high above the ecliptic to drop an advanced satellite of before heading into the dock myself. I wanted a word with the station manager this whole situation felt wrong and I had my suspicions about that.
As soon as I stepped out of my cockpit I headed for his office those Yaki had not just been on a raid they had been intent on attacking this station I figured the station manager must be involved somehow perhaps having dealings with them it was not unknown unfortunately. The fact that I suspected he had used me to deal with a problem of his making got my blood boiling a station security guard tried to stop me going into the mans office but stood aside as Guns who I had not realised had followed hard on my heels powered up her assault rifle. I looked back to see she had donned her full combat rig and just nodded at her.

"You I told him picking him up by the throat and throwing him back him back into his seat that slid backwards and slammed into the bulkhead behind him are going to tell me all about the Yaki you just had me kill for you, you made a mistake mister you thought you could risk my peoples lives to get you out of whatever shit hole you've managed to put yourself in so before I decide wether or not I want to kill you I want to know exactly what you have been doing to get the Yaki after you".
It was typical the weasel had agreed with the Yaki to let them use his base as a staging area and had done a few deals with them but then he had gotten greedy and stolen from them.
I put in a call to Braks using the mans terminal and explained the situation
as gun's had surmised I did not really like Braks but he was a ruthless bastard in a matter of a mizura the man was fired and his replacement was on his way.

"But what am I supposed to do?" Lannar asked as I turned to leave wanting to leave the room before I did kill him.

"Let me give that some thought you've made deals with the yaki which you have reneged on, you've then arranged to have a whole bunch of them killed when they came to punish you for that so if I were you I would start running mister because as far as I can tell the only place you will ever be safe from them is if you can get accommodation on a xenon station". The man looked at me taking in what I had said and then ran from the room probably heading for the docks for his ship I had no doubt he would be running for his life from that point on and I did not rate his chances.
So I turned back and took his chair knowing that gun's would have questions for me.
Guns powered down her rifle as I took the seat behind the desk, even through her visor I could see the questions in her eye's she had seen me lift the fat frakker with one hand and thrown him like he weighed nothing. She shut the door behind her and stood facing me across the desk. "I guess now I know why you don't work out with your team skip care to explain".

I did not want to but she had not run of or turned her gun on me which was what some would have done so I decided to tell her the truth I had kept from everyone even Val. " A while back I got injured pretty badly in combat and got captured by the Terrans anyway they went to a lot of trouble to keep me alive, once they found out I was not one of them they exchanged me and I got shipped to M148 where they finished what the terrans had started doing to me or at least tried to I was an experiment that failed they thought they could turn me into some sort of super soldier but instead all they managed to do was make me a little bit stronger than I was with only marginally better reflex's.
Problem I had was that I had been exposed to a massive blast of radiation and it was killing me slowly the tissue damage was simple to deal with but the rest well that was more complicated as the radiation was in my bones. So they made me better, they didn't ask if it was okay by me they just went ahead and did it this was before the Peacekeeper project, at the time they were looking at using xenon tech till they got shut down. At which point Braks took over the project and came up with the Peacekeepers so I got shifted into that program I think he thought I would be the first of many but for some reason they couldn't duplicate what they had done to me for that they would need the tech the terrans had used which they couldn't get so they just decided to use me as I was".

"Jesus no wonder you don't like Braks".

"That's part of the reason" I admitted " remembering the countless operations they had performed on me, its also because I failed the tests they put me through later when they tried to see just what I was capable of doing. I think Braks suspects I did that deliberately but I didn't. I don't think he believes that though.

"So how much of you is ?."

She couldn't finish the question which was not a surprise it was a lot to take in.
"Machine just the Skeleton and not all of that most of it is just coated with some sort of alloy that blocks the radiation but a lot of my bones are made of that same alloy with micro servo's and power cells to operate them so at a guess I would say about twenty percent overall and I weigh about twenty kilos more than I used to which is damn uncomfortable at times".

"So how does this work now skip do I get shipped out to M148 or the far reach's of Argon space so no one knows what they did to you".

It was a fair question and I have no doubt it would be Braks solution to the problem but that would give him an opportunity if I told him I had been compromised, that I did not want as it might make him think about resurrecting that project.

"No guns that is not going to happen but I will ask you to keep it to yourself okay".

She gave me that stare that all marines seem to learn in the first tazura of training then simply nodded at which point I left the office and headed for the docks where the team were waiting for us.

[Sabrina Bergin]

The team had taken over a bar near the docks the place was a bit run down and had obviously seen better days which meant it was nearly empty except for us which I guess was the reason she had chosen the place. Erins people were with her. When she saw me she made her way to join me at the bar and indicated we needed to talk and led me to a the back of the room away from the others.

"We have a problem" she announced after we had sat down at a table that was pretty isolated from the rest.

"The fleet have taken over the Peacekeeper program with Braks approval as far as I could tell. I've pulled all your people of the outpost in Black hole sun and brought them with me seems the fleet don't think we are suitable anymore and have cut of our access to funds and supplies from Argon facilities"

That was a kick in the face it had always been likely to happen once Braks had got what he wanted from the program but it was happening sooner than I had expected.

"What about your ships Erin ?"I asked knowing Braks would have tried to get them back.

"They are safe enough in PTNI the Teladi really love my guys there at the moment and those ships are all registered to us so the fleet can't touch them not legally anyways. I think Braks was a bit pissed when I took your Centaur out of the sector but there was not a lot he could do about it at the time so I am asking you Kert what now your people tell me you have a plan in mind so I assume you figured this was going to happen at some point."

"Yeah I knew it was always the way Braks was going to go it's just a little sooner than I thought it would be so he must have figured to catch me off guard which means that I think we need to get out of Argon space PDQ. At this moment there is a TP on route to this station with a new manager on board and I imagine he has a lot of fancy orders from Braks or who ever is running things now and will try and commandeer our ships so I think its time we left before things get ugly ".

Erin wasted no time and had her people running for the docks with my team hot on their heels ignoring the stares of the station personnel we passed on the way. I climbed into my cockpit with guns hitting her seat as soon as I did we all powered up and I sent the team a set of jump coordinates and within a mizura of leaving the station we were sectors away. We all docked at the Teladi trading station in Tears of greed and I arranged accommodation for everyone.
It was expensive on short notice but we all needed to get together and decide where we went next I had my own plans but I had to give them all the option of staying or leaving the other reason for docking was that I knew all our ships had locater beacons on them that we would have to get rid of before we set out again.

I entered the room we had booked for the meeting and went to the front to get their attention I had fifty people who needed answers, wanted to know what the hell had just happened and what their choices were.

They all waited for me to speak "Alright people listen up as of this moment the Peacekeepers are now a part of the fleet which was always going to happen but we now have a choice we can quit and anyone that wants to leave can do so with their share of what we have earnt so far or you can join me, you all know I have had plans for us since this started those that want to leave can do so now because what I say next will affect only those who stay". I waited for a mizura but no one left so I moved on. Now Commander Braks has decided that he wants that third ring on his sleeve and we are the price he is willing to pay to get it. But I am not done I took an oath when I joined the fleet and I intend to stand by it regardless of fools like Braks I won't make you rich but I will give you what he promised a chance to make a difference.
We ladies and gentlemen are the Peacekeepers a point we will prove to anyone that gets in our path".

There was a loud cheer from the people in the room at that point and I was overwhelmed by their response.
We had been cast aside by the military but we would make our mark.
There was a lot that would have to be organised but that could wait I signalled to guns at the door and she let the serving staff in and soon we were all sat down discussing the future.

We had a sizable force here twenty pilots and the same number of skilled marines plus the crews of our supply ships who had also opted to stay with us. What we needed now was a base of our own a carrier eventually yes but short term a mining station would be big enough to give us the room we needed.
As I sat back and sipped at the beer I looked around at my people as I now thought of them wondering just how far we could go down the path I envisaged.

We set out the next day with most of our people in the support freighters and with Erin in the Centaur watching over them whilst I took my team out on the first of a series of the contracts I had arranged that would have us ending up in the far south east of the commonwealth about as far from Argon space as we could get.
We made a lot of credits getting there enough for us to do something about Beta teams fighters as they were they were a temptation none of us wanted leaving lying around for some one to make a grab at so once the people were all in accommodations on the Atreus HQ Me and Erin took the Centaur and Lupo and jumped for Legends home. We purchased a Magnetar and got it all kitted out then used it to ferry her peoples fighters back to Atreus HQ it took tree trips in all but it was worth it just to get those fighters back it meant we could now rotate between combat ops and as soon as we had them kitted out they started a Patrol for the Boron taking care of the lowlife that tried to pass through the sector. We stayed there until the work began to dry up then we headed West keeping four fighters on the Magnetar and rotating the fighters through it so everyone got a chance at some rest between op's it was not ideal but until we could afford something better it would have to do.

We moved from one sector to another taking on missions that were starting to pay more as our reputation grew. Even the Paranid were being polite to us and were paying in hard credits to for us to deal with people who were trying to put the squeeze on their stations. The teams had been a bit wary of working for the Paranid but when the credits started rolling in they changed their minds about that. The thing is with the Paranid is that they really do think they are better than any other race and as long as you go along with that they are actually good people to work for they never haggled on a deal and always paid promptly. So we did a lot of work for them and got to use their military outposts as supply and stop over points which let the Chief get his people some much overdue training using their facilities at every opportunity.

It also did not hurt that we managed to claim a lot of ships that we sold to them all except that Xenon L which I held onto. I had heard that the people at Jonferco were desperate to get there hands on one and as soon as I had got it docked they were sending me messages asking me to sell it to them even Braks got in on it so I loaded it into our fighter bus and with the list of other stuff they wanted. Me and Lupo jumped for Albion space in the Magnetar.

There was a catch of course once we had given them what they wanted for a start they stiffed us on what they paid for the L and then asked us to take care of some pirates who were playing silly buggers in the construction yards in the adjacent sector.
I had the Magnetar pull into the Jonferco equipment dock and launched in my Nova to take care of that problem for them till a Jonferco Centaur pilot took exception to us doing his job for him making him look bad in the process and told us to piss off. That was when the People at Beryl came up trumps and gave us three deca café fighters the only problem I could see was that they did not have more than a handful of MAM rounds for their weapons but I had them kitted out and docked on the Magnetar and once I was on back board we jumped back to join our people in Preachers refuge figuring we could sell those Café fighters or go and liberate some supplies for them from the terrans down the line.
That we could decide later the ships had pretty good specs but limited shields and the weapons ammunition requirements could be more trouble than it was worth to obtain still that was a problem for another day.

Erin had not been idle in my absence and had taken on half a dozen missions that had given our reputation with the Paranid a major boost. Which meant we could take some time to consider our options. The Paranid had given us the use of this level on the outpost complete with accommodation though they had insisted that our marines carry stun weapons only on station which our Marines were not entirely happy with, but as The Paranid security teams were making sure no one but us got into this level of the base they accepted it.
As soon as we hit the dock I told guns I was going to get cleaned up and asked her to contact the team and let them know we would have a meeting that evening to decide where we went next.
As I showered I considered our options we had basically pacified to use the chiefs words this and surrounding sectors to a point that as soon as we appeared the pirates would find they had pressing engagements elsewhere which was good for the locals but meant the number of missions we were being offered was falling of. The Paranid were grateful for our help of course hence the use of this base but that would change if they thought we were just using them something I did not want to happen.

I was still in the shower when guns came in to tell me the teams were waiting for me in the common room how long she had been there before speaking I don't know guns can move without making a sound when she wanted to as I had learnt on that trading station in Midnight star which was quite a trick when wearing a full combat rig. But as she already knew about me it was not a problem I shut of the water and grabbed a towel to preserve some modesty and dried myself of. I was not a pretty sight I know whilst the scars had faded and healed my flesh was crisscrossed like a spider web pattern with the reminders of what I had been through. She didn't flinch though just gave me a towel and began briefing me on what was going on so I changed into a set of coveralls and went up to meet the team.

Something had been going on in my absence most of our people were elsewhere leaving just the Chief Erin Povi, Lupo Hang and Rider at the meeting.
I took it in and knew that these people were the spokesmen for our people which simplified things most of the guy's did not want the hassle of command. These people were the ones they had decided to let make the decisions for them. I grabbed a flask of coffee of the side and joined them at the table looking them over and taking it in. They had all given thought to our current situation and it was Erin who started the discussion she knew that we had done what we could locally and had picked up on the fact that we should not become a burden for the Paranid suggesting we should move on before they began to resent our presence. So we looked at our options we had a lot of contracts being offered which we discussed selecting those that would be worth doing and rejecting those that were just undoable or a waste of our time.

Short term we decided to head back to Queens Harbour via the route we had come by we still needed some sort of base to work out of and We all decided that Distant clouds offered interesting possibilities we had enough funds to build a fair sized complex now and Lupo and Rider could help with that between missions and it would save us having to rely on the good will of others.

I was more than pleased to be honest Braks had kicked us in the teeth by selling out but we were still a force to be reckoned with a force I intended would grow in stature in the days ahead. Once we had got the bones of the plans laid out we joined the rest of the crew in a room we had converted into a common area and relaxed I planned a two day furlough here before we moved on so that when we went back out there we would be refreshed and ready for anything.

I had a meeting with the station master the next day and told him we would be moving on making sure he knew how grateful we were for his hospitality and assuring him that we would answer any request for assistance we might receive from the Paranid. That did not displease him and he was almost civil when I left his office and went back to our level where the team were beginning to load up the ships for tomorrow and I must admit I was looking forward to getting of station myself.
There was something about feeling trapped behind walls I always had been and had never given it much thought.

I went back to my quarters and began looking at possibilities on my terminal I had an idea that the Distant clouds sector could support a fair sized complex it was also at the very arse end of commonwealth space and as it only had a single gate could be fairly easily defended I had no doubt that in the future we would have people coming after us and I wanted to make sure we would be able to handle it. Guns just sat watching me work and she was beginning to be a puzzle to me she knew all my secrets well most of them and it did not seem to phase her.
Eventually I had a broad outline drawn up of what I intended doing and turned the monitor around so she could get a look at it she was pretty damn smart and I wanted her to point out any flaws before I proposed it to the rest of the squadron.

"That complex will produce a surplus to what the Boron need in the surrounding systems" she stated after studying the numbers.

"It will but I intend to expand the complex later and start producing stuff we are having to buy at the moment missiles, weapons shields what ever any surplus we can sell to the Boron they are pretty much damn short of everything now they have stepped into the war and within a Jazura we will be able to remedy that".

"That is going to take a lot more credits than we have to hand Kert, hell even the start up complex is going to take most of our funds".

"You're thinking short term Guns look at the bigger picture once that initial complex is up and running we will have a steady income that will cover our operating costs and a bit more besides. it will not be easy I agreed but with a few more missions we will really start to get where we need to be".

I opened the cabinet under my desk and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and poured us both a drink as she looked at the plans again. I could almost see it come together for her the way it had for me she took a sip of her whiskey and stared at the numbers looking for some flaw.
Eventually she realised that the proposed complex was a go and we just sat back shooting the breeze discussing possible options for the future, to be honest by the time I called it a night I was pretty hammered and would have to catch some serious down time to sleep it of so I excused myself and went down to my quarters and climbed into that Paranid sized bed and closed my eyes.
I woke up in the early hours grateful that I didn't have a hangover to worry about but also aware that I was not alone at some point gun's had decided to join me and that confused the hell out of me but I was grateful for the company and settled into her warmth trying not to disturb her. Where this had come from I had no idea and I decided I did not want to know so I just accepted the gift of her presence and willed myself back to sleep which was not easy.

I awoke again to the feel of her hand caressing my face and I was as confused then as I had been earlier I had not looked for this, nor expected it after she had found out the truth about me.
"My names Bekka" she whispered as she moved closer to moulding herself into my back and settling back into a deep sleep.

When I woke up I was alone in the room but I could hear her in the small galley and could smell hot coffee on the go I washed and dressed before joining her.
She smiled sadly at me and for a moment I felt stung had last night been because of pity. That would be to much. She must have seen me react to that perhaps sensing my thoughts.

"Sorry she said sitting down at the breakfast bar with her own coffee and a rack of toasted oat bread I needed company I'm not a tease Kert and I wanted more than company last night to be honest but you were a little on the wrong end of a bottle as was I to tell the truth. I didn't want to you to think I was pushing myself at you".

I felt calm wash over me at her words and realised I was being hypersensitive and poured myself a coffee and joined her perhaps things would develop between us perhaps not but I had already decided I did not want leave any bad feeling between us so I just accepted her words and last night as I had perceived it a rare gift I also pinched a slice of her toast which she laughed at that dispelled the tension that had started to form between us.

Once we had cleared away the dish's we headed down to the docks where the team were waiting to launch. Lupo and Rider had already jumped for Distant clouds to begin scanning the asteroids in that sector and a Boron Orca was en route to the shipyard to collect the first stations for our complex.
As we made our way back to Queen's harbour it became apparent the local pirates on our course had grown bolder due to our absence a fact we soon remedied with both teams on hand we cut a swathe of destruction all the way from Paranid space to Queens harbour the result being that the Boron were more than happy to trade with us at reasonable prices for the stocks we needed to replenish our supplies, and every time Lupo or Rider called into the Atreus HQ they had no problems unloading what we did not need.

When we had arranged a Mazura of accommodation at The HQ me and Bekka jumped to Distant clouds and began to do a detailed study of the asteroids in sector I noted the Nividium roids but I knew that stuff was difficult to sell but I kept them in mind my primary concern was making sure any mines we set up were on high yield asteroids that could be gathered into a complex.

I finished the sweep of the sector then jumped back to Atreus HQ with all the data I needed now I just needed our people to give me the go ahead to commit our resources to it. As soon as I laid out the plans Bekka had reviewed with me previously they gave me the nod so I ordered the two mines and a complex hub to be loaded onto the Orca waiting at the Queens Retribution shipyard for my order and had it head south to the construction site where I would be waiting for it.

I had expected the Orca to be there before I was but he was taking his own sweet time about it so I took a patrol to the Outpost in Faded Dreams to pass the time. Once there I got another request this time from the Paranid that took us back into their space. I could hardly refuse the job having promised to respond to any request they made of us and besides which the money they were offering was to good to turn down having spent a large portion of our credits I needed to earn enough to pay our way till the station started making a profit. As soon as The job was finished I loaded up on E-cells and jumped to Distant Clouds, The Transport was still making its way to the co-ordinates I had given the Captain I had him drop the Silicon mine first and directed him to head for the Ore asteroid I had picked out then got Erin to start hauling the silicon mine towards it. Once she was close enough I had her cut the tow and jump back to Atreus HQ The Captain of the Orca waited till she was clear and then dropped the ore mine and the hub to link the two Stations together he thanked me for the contract and began making his way back to his base. I had the Mistral that was loaded to the gills with energy cells jump and fly to the station then told the Pilot to make sure he kept it supplied transferring another large chunk of credits to the station account to make sure he had the necessary funds.
Then satisfied I had done all I could for the moment We jumped back to Atreus HQ for some well earned rest.
I had lost track of time so it was in the early hours when we docked and we both headed to my quarters for a late supper which we shared as well as a bottle of a decent wine I had picked up somewhere along the way. Bekka had been a bit cold to me over the last few days and I considered the possibility she might have regretted what had occurred on the military outpost me so I gave her the chance to end it right there before it went any further.
I will caution anyone not to make a marine as angry as she was when she realised what I was doing it was to say the least a painful experience.
Thankfully when she saw that I really did not want her to go she relented and stopped hurting me for which I thanked gunne marines know how to hurt people in all manner of ways.
She looked at me after she had stopped throwing the furniture in my direction and just reached for me and kissed me soundly before heading back to her own quarters.

[Sabrina Bergin]

I finished of the glass of wine I had poured myself earlier and put the furniture back roughly where it had been then stripped of and climbed into the shower accepting the fact that I would probably never be able to figure women out though to be fair I had only ever looked at one woman that way before and events had come between us with a vengeance.
I dried myself of and climbed into bed thinking ahead to the morning when we would be starting to earn our keep again. I figured maybe Erin would take the team out this time I definitely needed some time to get my head back in the game. Plus we would have to relocate to the complex and the sooner the better the Boron were hospitable enough but they charged high for their services. With that thought running around in my head I tried to force myself to sleep. I didn't hear her come in I just felt her as the mattress shifted slightly I turned to face her only to find her placing a finger to my lips as she moulded her self into me.
I reached for her just knowing that she wanted this as much as I did which had me totally confused for a moment I gave up thinking about anything a moment later except the passion that was raging between us.

It was mid morning when we joined the rest of the team and began making preparations for moving into our complex I intended to leave one team based there pretty much full time which was why I had made sure one level of the hub was sealed of from the rest of the station for our use exclusively which meant we had more than enough room to house all our people without affecting the Complex's ability to operate effectively.
It also meant we would not have to go through the Boron sections of the complex which would have required a lot of tedium transiting the areas they had set up for their own use. To be honest it was also the underlying smell of damp all Boron stations had to some degree and whilst one could tolerate it for a while I preferred it if we did not have to.
As it was it still took some time till we had the necessary equipment set up the way we wanted it and a lot of the basic stuff I had Lupo get from Terracorp which put another hole in our finances but it was worth the cost I decided as I sat down in our new briefing and command centre whose walls were covered in monitors and tactical display's that could give us live data from any of our satellites. The chief had with the help of his marines provided us with military grade secure communications which he assured me no one would be able to hack into.

With the teams settled in we began to get ready for out next set of operations, which is when we discussed the request we had received to contact Braks in M148. We were all wary of the mans intentions he had tried to cut our legs from under us in the past but the wording of his request indicated he was desperate for our help so we decided to see what he had to say for himself. First thing the arrogant prick did was to tell me to report to the Military base for a mission briefing well that was not going to happen which I made clear to him in no uncertain terms letting him know if he wanted any help from us it would be on our terms or not at all, at which point a Fleet Admiral took over the com link and gave me the briefing ignoring Braks protests which I could hear him making in the background.

It seemed Braks had not endeared himself to the people at Jonferco which came as no real surprise and it was they who had requested our assistance to provide security for a briefing on the results of their investigation into the destruction of their HQ in Aguilar that enabled them to develop some intel that the terrans had not given up their attempts to destroy their research facilities in Albion.

"I will be blunt Dannar the Jonferco people want you and your team for some reason they trust you more than they do us and I can assure you it is of vital importance to the fleet".

"Give me just a minute Admiral" I asked ordering the com to be put on hold.

I looked around at the rest of the team and waited for them to give me the go ahead whilst we had no love for people like Braks we still wanted to support our people on the front and as they nodded their agreement I had the link re-established.

"Okay Admiral me and my people will do this for you but we don't want any interference in our operations".

The admiral obviously knew what or more specifically who I meant might try to create problems for us by that and considered the implications before answering.

"That is acceptable Dannar I am sending you the coordinates of the rendezvous point now".

The link ended immediately after that and we looked at the sector Harmony of perpetuity on the display it was North of Elysium of light and was pretty isolated due to the on-going hostilities in the surrounding sectors. Fortunately even though we did not have a Satellite feed in Elysium we did have the coordinates for the North gate so with a point jump to there we should be able to avoid unnecessary interference in getting to Harmony of perpetuity itself.
Erin suggested we use the Magnetar and four Nova's for the mission but it was too risky the ship was a good fighter bus but if we ran into heavy opposition it would be at risk as would the fighters which we could not afford to lose.
I decided to take The Centaur to do the job it had a fair load out of weapons and missiles more importantly it could carry enough jump fuel to get me out of there if things went awry. The teams were reluctant but once they accepted my reasoning it was just a question of working out the details.
I boarded the Centaur and after ensuring everyone was ready I jumped for the SPP in Nyannas Hideout before making the jump to the north gate in Elysium not surprisingly there was a heavy fleet presence in system and I turned us about and slipped through the gate without incident.
I must admit to wanting to jump straight back out again when I saw that Braks was the Captain of the Cerberus we had been tasked with escorting but for a change he followed his orders and got the information he wanted from the Teladi before jumping out of the system.
That was when the Teladi called me and offered me the job in Albion. She even suggested I would be well rewarded for my efforts which was surprising considering the Teladi's instincts in that regard so I took her up on the mission and jumped to Albion before heading for the orbital accelerator to the west.
It seems our arrival was timely as a Carrack was already attacking the research facility with it's fighters acting as a defence screen.
I got the impression these so called pirates were military they were well trained and were a lot more effective than most of the pirates I had met in the past which was fairly suspicious in itself I suspected that these pirates were all wearing shiny white uniforms despite the fact they were in commonwealth ships you would expect pirates to use.

I ignored the Carrack for the moment and began to target those fighters with them out of the way we could start using our missiles on the Carrack.
It took a while but we eventually got rid of them once our shields had recharged we started on the Carrack keeping out of range of its weapons.
It was telling that by the time his hull was getting critical the Captain of that Carrack deliberately overloaded his reactors when we were fairly close to him obviously trying to take us out in the resulting blast.
More telling was the fact the crew of the doomed ship made no attempt to use escape pods, none of the fighter pilots had ejected either which made it clear they did not want anyone being able to determine where they had originated from.
Bekka must have been reading my thoughts as she checked again for survivors.

"They were military I would guess some form of terran black op's unit" she suggested echoing my own conclusions.

The Teladi Rualis contacted us and seemed to agree with our suspicions and thanked us for our assistance before telling us she had gifted us a ship which was docked at the station I checked it out the Ammon as it was designated was an M3 prototype it carried a lot of shielding but given its realtively small cargo space it was too limited for my taste but I accepted it and arranged to have it upgraded as far as I could and called in the Magnetar to pick it up and get the rest of the upgrades it needed to bring it up to spec.
I sent a coded transmission back to the Admiral in M148 regarding my suspicions about the so called pirates we had encountered before we jumped back to base ourselves to be honest the man did not seem unduly surprised. I got the impression there was a lot he was not telling me.

That was probably because he seemed to be in charge of the base in M148 now which I knew was where the fleets own black op units were based he had also made it pretty clear that he considered us to be outside the fleets structure and would share no more intel with us than he had to which was reassuring in one way but meant we would have to develop our own intelligence sources in the future.
I was also wondering just how much help the terrans might be giving to the pirates supplying them with ships and fighters meant they were being well paid for their support. It was something we would have to watch out for in the future though particularly if the terrans had decided to use them to create disruptions to supply lines and stations away from the front.
With that in mind I decided to look at where those disruptions were occurring once we got back on station if the terrans had started some sort of campaign to weaken the fleets actions then it should easy enough to spot. It was also the type of operations the peacekeepers were originally intended to combat. So it was with that to worry about on top of everything else that once we had docked I headed for our command centre and began looking at stations and supply convoy's that had been targeted recently.
Despite spending a stazura going over the data I could not see any clear pattern to the attacks at least that was until Lupo came in and studied the data I had been reviewing and suggested I use the local stock exchanges to see what shortages were now present in the sectors that had been targeted.

The pattern leaped at me as soon as I took his advice a lot of industry was slowing due to lack of resources and by concentrating on those that were directly involved with producing weapons and ships for the fleet I was able to detect which attacks had inflicted the most damage to the local economy.
It also explained why some of our satellites had been taken out and why I had Rider jumping from sector to sector replacing them. That in itself gave us a means to target who ever was behind the attacks. As soon as we lost a satellite we should be able to review its data and identify the ships responsible and where practical respond to the attacks.
That also raised another possibility that our own base here would have to guarded as with other stations that had been hit ours was not in a core sector but the ore and silicon we were providing the local industries meant that we could well be targeted in the near future.

[Sabrina Bergin]

Over the next wozura we began reacting to the loss of our satellites as soon as they occurred with the Magnetar dropping us into the sectors as soon as we were alerted. Which was why I was running down the Nova ahead of me who had tried with the help of his friends to ambush the convoy passing through Hatvikah's I accelerated hard using lateral thruster's to jink out of the way of his rear turrets fire until I was ready to take the shot. Bekka was busy at her own console taking care of the missiles he and his friends were launching at us as well keeping me posted as to other threats around us. I got up real close then ducked in and fired the Hepts and the PRGs tearing through the rear of his ship till it just blew apart. Bekka snap called the next Target and I swung us onto a new vector identifying the falcon she had put up on my display. He was trying to make it to the west gate but he soon changed course for the north I figured he had just noticed that another four of our team had been dropped in system ahead of him. That made it easier for me as I altered course again to cut him and fired at him as I overshot him slightly, I had wanted a killing shot but had still managed to take his shields down and swung round to finish him of at which point he bailed. I rolled clear of him as he drifted across my path and pulled up barely fifty meters from him and looked him in the eye.

"All targets eliminated Bekka" called which distracted me enough for me to ease the pressure of my trigger finger. I suspected she had done it deliberately and looked at her to give me a reason not to squeeze the trigger.

"Skip if we can get some information out of him like where his base is we could solve all our problems in one go".

I cooled down enough to accept she was right and called Lupo in to pick him up whilst I went to claim the mans Falcon. I glanced over at Bekka and realised there were other reasons for her interrupting me and that at some point we would be having a talk about it. Don't get me wrong Bekka will pull the trigger as fast if not faster than any of us but once her targets accepted defeat and surrendered she wouldn't whereas I would and did more often than not.
I set the nova to Idle and climbed down into the cargo bay and lowered the ramp I spotted the Nova and coasted over to it and managed to get access and claim it. I sent it over to Lupo in the magnetar he would drop it of and sell it which meant we would at least get paid for our work on this occasion and I made my way back to the Nova. Then we began a patrol between the east and west gates to make sure Rider wasn't interrupted as he salvaged what he could.

Once he was done he jumped to sell the stuff we wouldn't want and then Lupo moved into range to begin ferrying us back to base.

When we docked I advised the chief that Lupo had a prisoner for him and he said he would see the man to the brig.

Whilst we were tying down the Nova I expected Bekka to say something to me about earlier but she chose not to, and just finished of and went into the changing rooms leaving me there staring after her.

"Problem boss" asked Endy coming to stand near me as we both watched her leave the hanger.

"Personal" I explained at which point he left it alone sensing it was not something I wanted to discuss and followed his gunner into the debriefing room. I waited a moment before turning to follow them concerned by Bekka's reaction, more so by her putting off talking about it. Normally when she had an issue she would be right in my face and she had a lot of issues with me she had made that clear enough already but this just seemed different somehow and that made me uneasy.

I grabbed a coffee as I walked into the room we had footage of the combat recorded by Lupo and Rider and the guy's were going over it carefully.
Kris Hang got a ribbing as they saw him take a heavey hit to his shields from the Buzzard he had been closing down that had caught him by surprise when it had pulled a one eighty and gave him a face full of PRG from his mains whilst flying backwards before veering of.

"Yeah but I still nailed the bugger" Kris replied.

"That was a clever move though and against anything but an M3+ it could have been devastating it might be interesting to see if we could use it lets try it out". I suggested just wondering how I would be able to duplicate it.
That Buzzard was lot more agile than our Nova's but even so he should not have been able to do that as easily as he had.
We then went through the rest of the op but there was nothing of any real value to interest us just a bunch of scum that got dealt with.
We wrapped it up after that and headed for our quarters I intended to look at that Buzzard's manouver as often as I had to until I figured it out.
I showered in the changing room donning the clothes I normally wore on station and headed back to our rooms.
Bekka was in the kitchen area so I went into the lounge and called up that Buzzards manouver and looked at it again putting it on a time delay loop but I still could not figure it out. I shut it off figuring the only way I was going to learn how to do it was by experiment I had seen it done so I knew it was possible.

Bekka came in a moment after that and placed a couple of trays on the table I went to the cooler and got a bottle and a couple of glass's and poured us both a drink. before sitting back down she had been quiet since I came in so I decided get it out of the way.

"Do you want to discuss it ?." Bekka

"What is there to discuss Kert the man had bailed and he was defenceless and you were going to shoot him in cold blood I mean what is there to discuss and don't give me that excuse about being hyped up Kert you weren't I watched you in fact I can't recall seeing you get hyped up in combat which is wrong. You were as calm in that moment as you are now and that worries me Kert , but what worries me more is that it doesn't seem to worry you not in the slightest".

I was about to refute that statement I had been hyper loads of times in combat usually because I was in a really tight spot and damn near wetting myself in panic. But as I considered the number of times that had happened I realised they were from before, when I had still been in the fleet until that moment I had never realised it. I probably never would have either except for Bekka pointing it out. Which also highlighted the fact that she had only been able to observe it because she was sat in the cockpit right next to me. I had been angry yes but not pumped up the way I remembered being when I had been in combat before. That begged another question was it just me that was like this or was it all of us had Braks people done something to us or if it was just me why.

[Sabrina Bergin]

I had no answer for Her right then but I knew Bekka would want one and sooner rather than later I ate in silence trying to figure out how to get that answer but by the time I had cleared my plate I was no closer to figuring out how to go about that.

I sat back in my chair and sipped my wine sensing that she needed some sort of response from me.

"Alright let us suppose there is a problem in that some one has done this to me and not that its not just something that's turning me into a psychopathic killer whenever I am in a cockpit" I raised my hand to forestall what ever she was about to say trying to make her see that I was concerned about it about us. There was something at the back of my mind that had started to seem as if it had some relevance to the my current problem but I couldn't recall what it was not yet it would have to be teased out so I had to keep talking to let it come out on its own.

"Lets look at this from the point of view of what anyone could hope to gain by doing this that's assuming I am not just a schizoid killer which is still a possibility".

"No its not Kert when you're not in combat you are normal well almost you get angry you laugh you cry and care its real I know it is, otherwise I wouldn't care so much about you".

Bekka had taken hold of my hand and was holding it tight to emphasize her feelings for me and I felt relief in that touch it reminded me how much I needed her and that was real as real as anything I could remember.

"Okay so lets say that this change is imposed lets look at what the change does to me and see what anyone could gain from that. You'll have to take it from there because whilst I now accept it happens I don't feel any different when you say it does than I do now. So in what way am I different Bekka ?".

"Its not easy to describe Kert one moment you are you and the next there's a change that just comes over you your voice goes real quiet and your eyes they turn cold no warmth in them at all that's the scary part its almost as if you were a machine".

That hurt as she had known it would considering that a fair part of me was a machine but I took it in.

"So we are getting somewhere why would you want to turn a fighter pilot into an uncaring machine what would you gain ?".

"Well if you think about it that is something some people would want..... would want to turn any combatant into a machine cold and calculating with no morals to hold him back no sense of right or wrong and no concern for his own safety for someone like Braks there are a hundred uses you could be put to that regular personnel would baulk at even marines".

"Like the crew on that Carrack" I suddenly remembered that battle in Albion "when they had tried to take us out by blowing their own ship up". That was the memory that had been eluding me. But they were Terrans what connection could there be to what I was experiencing unless I realised with a cold feeling in my gut I was the connection.
I had been in Terran hands a long time before they realised I was an Argon they had time to do any number of things to me".
But that was Jazura ago what ever was was happening to me now had been done after that and there was only one place where such a thing would even be considered that base in M148.

"Alright lets say the Terrans did something to me that made me capable of doing what those people in Albion did, whatever it was someone saw it and decided to use it as a weapon, we are still left with the same problem how can they control it. They can hardly just let me loose unless they were certain that they had absolute control, that they had the means to turn it on and off otherwise it would have been noticed something they definitely would not want".

Bekka stood up and called the chief on the com and asked him to join us.

"What are you doing ?" I asked this is not something I want people to know about".

"The chief has been around a long time Kert and worked in a lot of different places and we can hardly ask Braks to tell us what his people have done can we, and its not something we want to start asking outsiders about is it ?. You can trust the chief kert".

I could and she knew it, she obviously knew him better than I did so I got another bottle of wine out and a glass for the chief and waited for him to arrive.
Bekka let him in and explained the problem once she had sat him down and given him a drink he said nothing though he glanced at me occasionally as
he listened to her.

He said nothing for a long time after she had finished talking and I started to wonder if we had made a mistake in letting him in on my 'condition'.

"I've seen it done he finally admitted" his gaze fixed on a point in space ahead of him, " the results were not pretty and I was one of the fire team that were called in to clear it up. It was a black ops project that went south they had trained a team of marines and had them target a station for an incursion op a simple snatch and grab operation but as soon as they hit the station they went crazy and started killing everyone on board and the people running the project had lost control of them and wanted us to clean their mess up. I told them I wanted to know what I was dealing with before I took my people in and they were getting desperate so they gave me the broad outlines nothing specific but enough.
They had used some sort of drug and therapy regime to turn those men into killing machines but once they had started the killing they wouldn't stop or respond to the conditioned response's that were supposed to keep them on a leash if anything they had become worse than they had been supposed to so in the end I took my people in with the order to do what ever was necessary at the end of it I had to evacuate what was left of my team and blow the station. I lost a lot of friends that day".

He drained his glass then while Bekka refilled it he looked me in the eye and I could see he was regarding me as a potential threat like a rabid dog that might attack at any moment.
I figured he was also considering what he would do to take me down if I did so I sat very still whilst he thought about it.

"Alright lets suppose that the terrans have a way of conditioning people that actually works which we can as a given after what you told me about the attack in Albion. Now if what you say is true the people who were involved in that earlier black ops program must have figured out a way to control it, from what they told me it would have to be something very specific something that would not occur in any other time or place".

"That much we worked out ourselves chief but I've been through the operation logs both before and after it occurred and nothing happened".

"Wrong place" the chief replied.

Which made sense they wouldn't want me going psychotic in a debrief session.

"Alright we know when then, in an actual combat situation so where would you put the trigger so no one else would be aware of it even Bekka who was with me at the time" I asked.

"That narrows it down" somewhat agreed the chief " You have to be under imminent threat for it to happen what about when you piloted the Centaur it didn't happen then or we would have known about this before now".

"That was different hell chief I had people manning the guns and a bridge crew taking care of operations all I had to do was pilot the ship".

I stopped then and thought about what I had just said which was perhaps the chiefs intent.

"So I continued it has to be when I am under direct threat in a situation where I am in control of the ship and the weapons from a hostile threat which is most likely to happen when I am in a fighter".

"A fighter" the chief agreed "and we have twenty of those parked in our hangers right now all courtesy of that base in M148. Now it stands to reason that you might have to fly another one of those fighters at some point and that they would want to make sure you would still respond to the conditioning so that tells us where to look".

He was right I recalled myself telling Val that the fighter had been tricked out just so I could fly it not realising then it had been tricked in ways I hadn't even suspected as had the others they had to have been. it also explained why they hadn't tried harder to get them back that was a hundred and sixty million in hardware they had let us keep hold of right there. This had to be the reason. All of a sudden I wanted those fighters gone but that wouldn't change things we had to know what the triggers were or they could still be used. There was also the possibility that I could be used in other ways. I think the chief was waiting for that to occur to me because when I looked at him again he just nodded as if I had spoken aloud.

"Bekka get your kit and get Uma and Flot down to the command centre tell them to bring theirs as well. Now's as good a time as any to take a look Kert most people on station are asleep at this time of the night so we won't be disturbed".

He was right but I felt real uncomfortable as we made our way to the command centre where we found Uma and Flot waiting for us with a couple of cases of tech opened up on the table. Bekka placed hers next to them and looked to the chief for instructions.
That must have been when he hit me and the world went dark around me".