Tick follows, tock follows, tick follows, tock. Nash seat in the Pilot seat watching as the stars slide slowly past out the view port. His watch removed and tied loosely around the flight control joystick, showing 3am standard ship time, East Standard Time back home in Florida. He hadn't been home in so long he wondered why he even kept the watch set at EST. In his lap he held the ships sole weapon, a standard issue fleet hand gun fresh from the safe in his safe. With only two clips it wasn't going to hold off the Jung.
The Jung. he groaned. The reason he was still awake. The reason he was alone on this ship. The reason that he had a gun in his hand instead of his hands on the flight controls. A subtle shift caught his eye, yes the ship had dropped out of Warp again. And Port this time, the Jung were really trying to make pursuit difficult. But that was fine with him, the longer they worried about pursuit the longer it took them to board his ship.
And Warp again. Nash's eyes dropped back to the gun in his lap. Wishing for the 8th time that he had something more with which to defend his ship. Jess would probably have been happy with a hand gun or her own hands if half the reports he had read were true. "Jess, I hope you are OK" they were the first words he had said in the last 5 hours that weren't curse words.
Hope threw up a hand to block the bright early morning sun as the shuttle swung around a little to line up with the landing pad. She blinked away the brightness from her eyes as she finally got a clear view of the Space port. Porto Santo! She was almost there, almost at the academy! Alliance here I come!!! she emoted to herself, shrugging her shoulders in excitement, arms straight.
"What is wrong with you girl, did you not like the flight?" Roman, a Mississippi native, turned to look at her like she was crazy.
"No. I mean I liked it just fine. I mean, we're here, Aaah!" Hope threw her hands up and rapped them on the overhead bins.
"Ha ha ha" Roman half smiled and shot her his sweet little dimple. She flushed. "You need to came down, girl, you can't just hit buttons like that, not where we're going!"
Hope stopped, looked up and spotted the call button flashing over her head. She flushed deeper. She stretched to turned the button off and grimaced as she spotted the Crew chief scowling at her. "Woops" she muttered.
Roman Laughed out loud, "You'll be fine, just try to reign it it a little, before the Officers at least", jurking his head to the far front corner of the shuttle. He turned serious for a sec then in a deep low drawl "And if anyone gives you any Heck, you send them to me" He flexed his arms, and popped his Pecks.
My god, I think I'm in love, she thought, Ok, Hope. Seriously, his eyes are up a little higher!
Bump, touched down. And she was back in the shuttle.
Alliance Accademy day one was about to start! Yes!
General Grigory Demenok sat uneasily in the Jump seat of a Zakharov class combat shuttle. Not because he didn't like flying, he didn't like flying, but that wasn't why he was uneasy, nor was it the fact that he knew for a fact that there was still Jung operatives on Earth who would like to see him dead. Not Just the Jung, he mused. It wasn't even his destination that bothered him. It was clandestine nature of his visit.
He took a moment to survey his men in the cabin with him. Colonel Andrei Bortsov was the only one he knew by name, the only one he really trusted. The others were all new to him, but then all of the men were new to him. All the old faces were dead and gone. He did trust these new faces, he didn't have a choice of course, but he did trust them. Colonel Bortsov had vouched for them. That was better then anyone else had going for them these days.
One of the men noticed his look, locked eyes and nodded at him before promptly resuming his watch out the open side doors of the Transport. The new Takaran blaster held with conspicuous familiarity in his hands. Grigory Smiled, these men had been trained to a level few men ever achieved, and they where under his command. Not quite Ghatazach but close enough that it didn't make a damn difference. To anyone but a Gatazach. smile gone he turned to look at the Colonel. The Colonel answered his look with a nod and held up three fingers.
Three Klicks out.
The Combat shuttle touched down a tad to roughly for his liking, but his pilots were all as new has his Birds. A Corinarian Drop-ship but with Russian affectations, dual nose and rear cannons, additional flechette pods on the sides and twin door guns. It was overkill for a transport but he was damned if he was going to get caught with his pants down by the Jung. Again.
Leaving the transport on the first bounce the troops took up position around the Transport in Box formation, apparently a well rehearsed maneuver.
A second later when the shuttle landed proper, the General swung down to the grassy runway. Quickly scanning the topography as he had been trained in his youth, he spotted the men waiting for him by twin flares over by the nearest Hanger, and sweep his gaze past them for sign of any other activity. Nothing- that he saw anyway.
"Clear, sir" Bortsov reported.
"Why the hell are those flares still lighting?" the General Grumbled as he and the Colonel headed toward the oncoming welcoming party.
"General Demenok, Major Lewis, this way please" the General nodded and followed the Major, he was mid thirties, about the right age for a Major, but that was odd in the current climate. Sharp as ever you old byk, he thought. Turning to the Colonel he raised an eye while jerking his head in the Major's direction.
The Colonel Shrugged. He Shrugged! Andrei the old Bastard, he had scouted this meeting for the last three days and he didn't think it important to note the Meet and greet was a professional soldier. Of course he should have expected that. They set off after the Major.
"General Demenok, we are so glade to have you." Dayton Scott President of what was left of the god damn planet.
"Scott, Everybody." The General looked at each of the Old Faces, Presidents, Chairpersons, Admirals and Generals. The leaders of every Country that was a country, and a few that were now just states. A few new faces who represented he was sure the new states that had risen since the Jung were defeated. He really didn't care who they were.
"Are we all here then?" the General asked as he took one of the two remaining seats. A nod from Admiral Lachapelle, which he reluctantly returned.
"What are we here for Scott? You already are President of the god damned world."
Scott had the good nature to smile at that one. It wasn't that he didn't like Scott, but he was fairly sure he knew where this was going.
Scott nodded at the Major, who nodded back and exited, closing the door behind him. Scott waited a few more seconds until one of the newbies squaked. Demenok wasn't good with Languages but he was fairly sure it was at least European.
Scott nodded to the Man, "Your right lets begin." Scott sat in the last seat and looked at a few of the members of the council as he dropped a bombshell.
"I propose that we the leaders and representatives of Earth and its Military forces, such as they are, reform the EDF." and he sat back. Smiling a small smile as if it was the most logical thing in the world. Ok, That was not what the General expected. It was worse.
"What the absolute F*ck, Scott" The General looked around the Room looking for who had spoken then back as Scott as he realized the unmistakable fact that it had been him. Better back that up, he though. "We have the Alliance. You F*ck*n Said we needed the Allinace and now this? What the Absolute F*ck!"
"Seconded" This from Lachapelle
"The Alliance is one thing General, Admiral, but I believe that it is in our collective interest as the powers that be in this system to have our own force that will be here to protect us when the Alliance either takes the fight to the Jung or to deal with the new problem of Takara." Scott tilted his head and steepled his hands, elbows on the armrests of his chair.
The Table in the Middle of the Hanger was a collection of rough Workbenches, they were cleared off and stuffed together, but times were tough even in the Capital apparently. It did gave the General time to digest this farce.
"Scott are you trying to tell me that you cannot order the Alliance to protect this planet. That your own God Damn son would strip this planet of the only ships we have? Scott, I am not happy."
"Well General neither are we but we must deal with this rising crisis! we must take quick desisive actions-" The General ignored the impish man and continued over him.
"What happens when you tell your boy to Heel Scott, will he stay or go?" This brought a quite like news of Jung fleets in orbit.
Dayton frowned as he shrugged. Sh*t
"Merde"
"Please Admiral. General to answer you, I believe my son has the best interests of the Earth in heart, but I can see him becoming more his own man. I believe if push came to shove he would side with the Alliance. AND he would protect the Earth." Scott smiled as if it was of no consequence.
"What of the other one, the Celestia?" one of the Old women questioned, Who the hell was she? Where the hell was she from with that Accent?
Noticing the looks she shrugged and sat up straighter "I'm the Tannan representative to Earth, Emilia Foristine. President Scott asked that I sit in on this... gathering"
A man on the far side from her nodded at her, "I also was asked to join, I am, ah, representative to Earth from Tua Ceti, Jacob Manfelt".
After a pause where it became apparent that no one really objected to they're presents or the question raised by Representative Foristine, everyone turned to Scott. He bloody well smiled again!
"There we have a chance at least, Captain Cameron Taylor will follow my orders, I believe. It definitely helps that most of her crew are actually from Earth, unlike the Aurora which has a mix of two thirds Takaran and Corinarian." Scott shrugged as he leaned forward. "The problem is that if I make that order we loose Alliance support, which we need, badly. We need the supplies from our allies in the PC to help fix the many problems we have here at home."
The General leaned forward slowly to rest his elbows on his knees. "What are you asking for then Scott?"
"General, I propose that we create, sorry, recreate the EDF. The purpose of which is to take over the production of the Eagle Fighters here on Earth, build and maintain an academy here on Earth for training new Officers and Crew for EDF ships. I propose this in conjunction with Tanna and Tau Ceti as our closest Allies in the Core systems for two reasons. Firstly neither has the military experience of Earth, and secondly, both currently have ship building facilities which we on Earth do not.
"I know it sounds radical to propose we do this as an EDF and Ally endeavor as apposed to being under the auspice of the Alliance but I feel compelled to point out that the Alliance was never meant to assume all of the Military might of its members, and that at any time an Alliance member wanted to back out, what happens to all the resources that they had contributed to the efforts, what is there to show for it? Our Safety yes, but the ships we build would belong to a separate entity"
"I don't like this. We rely on the Alliance as it is the most able force to protect us. I did not like loosing our space assets to the Alliance, but its better then the alternative." That from Lachapelle, The man spoke sense for a sailor.
"I think the idea has merit but as soon as we build a hierarchy separate from the Alliance it will complicate everything about the alliance war effort." the General added.
Scott nodded at both men, "I agree, and that is why I am proposing that the new EDF will act as part of the Alliance, as a recruiter here at home, as an academy drawing on formerly EDF and current Alliance officers to train the new officers for particular worlds. To build the ships that the Alliance needs but also assigning the craft to particular planets of the Alliance in accordance with they're involvement in the war effort. But all Officers and Ships would act under the order of the Alliance until such time as those member worlds choose to leave. This would result in the Alliance to better focus on the war effort, while the local forces can focus on contributing in the ways that they can best. Of course if this sounds like a bad idea to you we can postpone this idea until such time as the Alliance has a stronger hold on the Jung situation. I leave this matter fully open to debate."
The General knew this whole idea was a mistake, a god damned mess, but it sounded reasonable and he just couldn't argue with what Scott was proposing. He looked over the assembly and at the two representatives who were all smiling, Ah Progress!.
He looked at Lachapelle who was frowning a mirror for him. "Damn"
Scott closed the Door of his office and sank into his office chair. He was so dog tired that he wanted to sleep for a week. He just sat like that for a while eyes closed, but he really needed to get to work on the next issue, ration shortages in the mid west- Moments later Miri having been informed of his return, knocked on the door and pushed it open. He was asleep! She smiled entered grabbed the throw from the couch and carfully not to wake him gently placed it over him, and tucked it in. kissing him on the forehead. She quietly closed the door to his office and smiled at the officer at the door.
"He's asleep, Tom, could you..." she asked.
He smiled and nodded, "He has three hours before he has a conference call with the Admiral" he said while pointing up to indicate how he meant.
Miri nodded and smiled, "Thanks Tom."
And she walked back to her room to set up an uplink, she had an update to send to her Controller. She patted the Reader in her pocket, with its latest update from Dayton Scott.
