Dark Haven 2 - Chapter 6

[crunn]

Chapter 01 (Survivors)
Chapter 02 (Excursions)
Chapter 03 (No Place Like Home)
Chapter 04 (Rising)
Chapter 05 (Politics)

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DARK HAVEN 2

Chapter 6 (Seepage)


Argon Fleet Command

Admiral Illandas' Office


Illandas taps the comms.

"Commander Reamus"

"Yes Admiral?"

"I want you to get the latest log updates from each of the Corvettes.
Sector information mainly. Go through it all then report to me in around two hours.
Also, could you prepare a ship for me.
I'll be going to TerraCorp Headquarters shortly."

"Yes Sir, right away."

'So how many credits do we have?' The admiral thinks to himself as he brings up the information.
'... Like she said, just enough to replace the lost ships and a little extra for upgrades.
Not enough. Not enough atall.'

Illandas reactivates the communications.
The TerraCorp logo replaces the Argon Fleet logo on the screen.
The image is a slowly rotating representation of Earth.
A moment later a cheerful young secretary answers.

"You have reached TerraCorp Headquarters. How may I help you?"

"Hello. I would like to speak to Kyle Brennan please."

"I'm afraid Mr Brennan will be in meetings all day.
Could I take a message?

"Yes. This is Admiral Illandas, Argon Fleet Command.
I need to meet with Kyle Brennan as soon as possible concerning a matter of some importance."

"Hold a moment, I will send this to his personal data pad."

"Thank you."

...

"Ah, we have an answer Admiral. Short and sweet as usual.
'50miz my office.'"

"Thank you, I'll be there."

'I'm actually a little nervous about meeting him.'
Illandas returns to the comms menu.

Argon Prime > Shipyard > Station Commander

"Admiral Illandas, I've been expecting your call.
The President herself called earlier and ordered we handle only military orders from you.
So how can we help you Admiral?"

"Well, I need a new fleet." Illandas says almost joking. He pauses a moment and a smile briefly crosses his face, the first in some time.
"First I need a Colossus, a replacement for the Argon One, So all the extra communication and command features, you have the blueprints.
Then a Titan.
I need both to be fitted with maximum shielding and weapons. Plenty of those nice Delta HEPT's. All the upgrades and equipment, Triplex scanners, everything. Anything you don't have in stock send out ships to get.
Oh, leave the Jumpdrives and Transporter Devices, I'm dealing with them."

"No problem, except I'm afraid there's some bad news about the Deltas. The few that had been produced were recalled, some flaw. R+D can give you the details."

"Oh?
Pity, well GHEPT's all round."

"Ok.
The entire staff will be on it round the clock.
It will still take over a week to complete each."

"Excellent.
Let me know as they are complete so I can have them crewed.
Illandas out."

The Admiral repeats his call, this time the Omicron Lyrae Shipyard and two Titans.
Next the Argon Prime Wharf.

"I need twenty Discoverers, twenty Busters and sixty Elites. All maxed. All equipment except trading, Jump Drives and Transporter Devices."

Finally the same call to the Omicron Lyrae Wharf.


'Ok, that's done. Now the research department, I need to find out what happened to the DHEPT and give them the data on the new Aliens. Oh, and that new Xenon Beam weapon.'

The Admiral goes back to the comms menu then stops.

'What am I thinking. It's only two floors down, I'll use the stairs.'

He stands and moves to the door, then there is a bleep and Commander Reamus is heard.

"Admiral, your ship is ready. Docking bay nine, an Express.
There is a pilot available if you want him."

"Thank you. It's only one jump, I'm sure I can manage myself.
I'll be leaving in about twenty five mizuras."

...


Pegasus (Olrasin)


'I spotted an asteroid field not far from the second nebula. I'll check it out first.'

...

'Nearing the asteroids, scanning...
Twelve total... All silicon... All low yield.
Nothing unusual... Nothing of any interest.
On to the nebula.
Thirty K.'

...

'Nearing the second nebula.
I can now see two more nubulae, large pale green some distance ahead and a smaller orange and black around fifty K diagonally above it.
I'm now well over two hundred K from the destroyed gate and a little over one hundred from both the spore and the planet.
Only one of their ships is still in my scanner range.'

'This nebula is much larger than the previous.
Dark grey colour, very dense. I can only see a few meters.
I'll go around first then through...'

'I'm almost at the opposite side, nothing yet...'

'I'm back where I started, still nothing.
So through I go.
I'll try a zigzag pattern, cover it as quickly as possible.'

The tiny Paranid ship slowly creeps in to the thick gasses.

"Very slowly, I don't want to hit anything."

There is an obvious motion in the gas cloud as the ship passes through giving away its position. It could almost be a bubble passing through liquid.

...

'Turn again here.'

The Pegasus turns for the fourth time, covering the volume of the nebula a few meters at a time.

"This could take a while."
'But there is no easy way to do this.'

Just then an enormous shadow looms ahead.

"Woah! Stop."
'A roid. Scanning...
Silicon, 32 yield.
Nothing unusual.'
"Round I go."

'There, another, smaller...
Silicon, 30 yield.'

...

'I'm over halfway done now.
Just the two roids so far.'

'Wait, make that three, another dark shape coming up...
No not a roid, I think...'

"Yes it is a gate.
And operational.
I have a way out."

...

'I have all the data I care to gather here.
I think it is more important that I get out, try to get home and report in.'

"I'm jumping."

The white vortex of the wormhole engulfs the ship.
A flash then back to normal space.

'I wonder what and where this sector is.
I'm in a dark grey nebula, the same.
Scanning... Exactly the same composition of gasses.
Coincidence?
Or has the nebula somehow seeped through the gate?
Interesting...'

"Ahhhh!!!
Strafe."

"What was that, I nearly hit something there."

'Stopping, turning back to look...
A ship...
Moving closer...
A Discoverer...'

'An Argon ship, that's a good sign...
Maybe not, it's not moving, no power, the engines have taken damage.
Have the Black ships been through here already?
I don't think so.'

"There, something else...
The pilot, outside."
'Is he trying to repair the ship?
No, he's not moving either, life signs are not strong. He must be unconscious...'

'That's odd, his leg is artificial.
Wait... That ship... The registration... It belongs to the Jubilee...'

"No way!! That's Monroe!!"

'But how?
Scanning...
A Jumpdrive. Ah... That'll be what fried the engines.
Fitting a Jumpdrive to M5's tends to be an explosive experience.
Though this time it has saved his life. Jumped out just as the Hornets blew.
Impossibly lucky.'

'Quite an engineer too. He's maybe eighty percent done with repairs, or at least patching things together enough to get it moving.
Looks like he was reconnecting the fuel lines before something happened to him. Again.
Monroe really is having a bad day.
Or should be a good day? He has cheated death four times that I know about.'

'Anyway, I'll pick him up, see what’s wrong. Then see about finishing the repairs on the Discoverer.
Two ships are better than one, we can search the sector twice as quick.'

'I don't need to drop the cloak to open the cargo doors, but the interior of the cargo bay will be visible.'

'Closing in, a few more metres.'
"Got him."

'Ok, back off a little then stop... Ten metres from the other ship, that's as far as I can go without loosing sight of it.
Now let's go see what's wrong with our Captain this time.'

Olrasin reaches the door to the cargo bay and opens it.

...


Discoverer (Monroe) (A stazura earlier)


"Warning Jumpdrive is not compatible with this ship."

'Override.'

"Jumpdrive charging at ten percent, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty percent..."

"Warning cargobay doors are open. Shields are down."

"Eighty, ninety..."

The Discoverer, flying at top speed towards the gate, spins moments before impact.
A large number of armed Hornet Missiles drift out of the cargobay and momentum carries them on and into the gate.

"Jumping"

Two simultaneous white explosions fill the view. One destroying the gate the other carrying the M5 to safety. The radiating light blinds anyone who might be watching.

Another flash and the Disco appears inside a dark grey nebula and stops.

'Engines not working.
Must fix.
Must get back.'

The Captain stands, walks through the back and puts on an EVA suit.
He then walks to the hatch and exits the ship.

...

(A stazura later)

'Red light.
Incoming ship.
Play dead.'

Monroe lies still next to the M5
Watching.
Waiting.

The vortex opens then closes.
Nothing.

'Nothing?'

Then a small disturbance in the nebula can be seen moving towards the Discoverer and Monroe.
Almost like a bubble in liquid.

'There is something.
Coming this way.
Invisible.
Lie still.'

The bubble veers sharply aside then stops.

'It has stopped.
It is coming for me again.
A cloaked ship?
Lie still.
It is opening its mouth.
What is it?
Lie still.'

[FourFingers]

great stuff!!!

Damn but Monroe escapes again... death must be very put out with him by now.. declining so many invitations.

[KiwiNZ]

Excellent! Very nice twist to have Monroe live through this all. After all, he may be the key to defeating the aliens! How did he know of the gate? Does that mean the aliens know, too?

Looking forward to the next chapter!

[crunn]

Thanks guys

Very nice twist to have Monroe live through this all. After all, he may be the key to defeating the aliens! How did he know of the gate? Does that mean the aliens know, too?

Since DH1 It was always my plan to keep Monroe alive, at least for now
Though I was getting a bit worried that bringing him back now would seem... eh... cheap somehow?
'Oh he can't think up any new characters, so he's resurecting the old ones now.'

So, yes, plenty nasty things in store for him, I'm sure you're glad to hear.


"How did he know of the gate?"
Welllll....
I'm not too sure of the technical specifics of how the X-Universe gate network actually works.
So I went with how the StargateSG1 gate network works.
When in transit between two gates and the energy is disrupted (an explosion, one of the gates is destroyed, whatever) the gate network knows and redirects you to the nearest gate.
Monroe was aiming for the Teladi Way gate, but was redirected to the gate north of Dark Haven.


"Does that mean the aliens know, too?"
He still has the link which he hid from the Doc and Illandas.
So yes, they know...
They know...

[KiwiNZ]

Nice

You shoul possibly add this info about the gate at some later point in the story. Doesn't need to be immediately because it only appears missing because we get the story chapter-wise and cannot keep reading to find out. So no sweat

[crunn]

You're right.
I'll have one of the Tech Wizards at AFC explain it when/if Illandas hears that Monroe is alive.

Cool, thanks KiwiNZ.