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*Rise of the Warspite*
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by HappyTarget: [QB] CHAPTER 14 [Brig, GSN Warspite, three hours later] Captain Thaddeus Armstrong strode towards his ship's brig with a scowl on his face. The treecat on his shoulder mirrored his mood. Thad had put off meeting the fanatics that had wreaked havoc among his marine detail for as long as possible. He had hoped that the extra time would have improved his mood, yet it wasn't nearly enough. Thad had initially been upset with himself for causing those casualties. Oh Thad knew that he hadn't actually killed those marines, but he set in motion the chain of events that had caused them. Thad had been perfectly willing to beat himself up emotionally over that choice, but Taz hadn't let him do that for long. The assurance and love that had flowed through their link had been a godsend. It allowed Thad to redirect his feelings towards a more productive end. Instead of blaming himself, Thad began to transfer his guilt on to those truly responsible. Although he had issued the order, it was the zealots on the Styx that had caused those casualties. They could have surrendered peacefully, yet they chose to do things the hard way. Most of them had paid for that mistake with their lives. Considering the weapons used against his boarding parties, Thad was relieved that there were only 20 dead marines. Modern weapons in the hands of those who knew what to do with them could have wiped out every one of the boarders. Fortunately for the Warspite's marines, the way the Masadans had used them showed their lack of expertise. The Masadans had wore unpowered armor over their skin suits. Skin suits would protect the wearer from hard vacuum and moderate amounts of radiation. Unpowered armor would protect much of the wearer from flechettes and small pulser fire. While nowhere near as good as power armor, it was still excellent protection when compared with fighting in shirtsleeves. If the Masadans were better trained in modern weapons and tactics, they could have set up a very nasty ambush in the main cargo area. Using the unpowered armor's ECM suite set to max, they could have remained hidden until the trap was ready to be sprung. While the ECM power would have not lasted very long at that power setting, it may have been long enough for such a plan to work. Emerging from behind various cargo containers and pallets, they could have taken the entire party by surprise and caused much greater casualties. Thad thanked God that they had adopted a more sequential and divided series of ambushes. The casualties even they had caused had been bad enough. As he entered the brig, Thad noticed that his XO and Col. van Yurgen were already there. They both turned and nodded to him as he entered. "Well exec, what do we have so far?" "Not much yet skipper. After we explained the severity of the charges against them, most of the merchies crew spilled what little they knew. Most of them were ignorant as to just what the Styx was carrying. The manifest said that it was modern farming supplies and machinery, along with a few luxury goods. Once the ship was underway, there was no need to check inside the cargo bays. Thus, what the cargo containers really contained remained hidden from the crew. Only a few of the officers even knew what it truly was." "After a little… persuasion by some of my marines, even they talked. I am positive that both the Star Kingdom and Grayson will find what they said very interesting. They apparently had a rather large sum of credits for use as bribes to certain customs officials in Masada. With the bribes, they would only do a cursory examination of the cargo before OKing it for offloading." Linus said, his face getting angrier and angrier with every word. "Once it was offloaded to store houses on Masada, we don't know what was planned for it. The few Masadan prisoners we captured are not talking." "Nor did I expect them to captain" Cmdr. Custer explained. "They do not fear death, so very little we can do to would cause them to talk. We Graysons have had a long and not particularly pleasant history with the religious zealots of Masada. Even though it pains me to say it, we come from the same stock. Both peoples originally came to Grayson on the same colony ship. Grayson's ancestors were members of the 'Church of Humanity Unchained'. They wanted to escape the evils of technology on Old Earth. But God the Tester has a strong sense of irony. When my ancestors finally reached our new Eden, it was found that it had a high concentration of heavy metals. Thus we were forced to continue to use the evils of technology to ensure our survival. Yet this caused an ideological split among the original colonists. The anti-tech faction became 'the Faithful', while the pro-tech side became 'Moderates'." "Once the Faithful were forced to accept that Grayson needed technology to survive, they set their sights on creating the perfect godly society. Everything from dietary laws to ritual cleansing was set down into their ideology. Deviation from their doctrine was punishable by stoning. Eventually civil war erupted between the two factions. After five years of hard fighting, the Faithful were finally defeated. Yet just as victory seemed assured the Faithful unveiled their doomsday weapon. If they couldn't have their version of a godly society they would destroy the planet. In order to save Grayson, the Moderates cut a deal with them. Every single one of them was exiled to the nearest habitable system, Masada. Once there, they proceeded to set up the society God had intended for them." Custer went on grimly, "Unfortunately that didn't solve the problem. They see it as their mission from God to fix everything that is wrong in the universe. This includes forcing Grayson to toe their doctrinal line. There have been several wars down the centuries since then, even including the odd nuclear strike. Their doctrine completely removes the entire New Testament from the Bible. This is because they don't consider Jesus Christ to be the messiah. If he truly was, then technology would never have arisen on Earth, they would never have been kicked off of Grayson, and Woman would have been put in her proper place throughout the universe." "I had a general history as part of my brief before I came to Grayson, but I had no idea. How can any God sanction such acts?" Thad replied, shock spreading across his face. "Our religion was almost as… well I suppose backward best describes it, as Masada's is today. Until recently, Grayson women had no legal rights. Thanks in no small part to Steadholder Honor Harrington, these views have undergone a radical change. Due to Manticore's garrisoning of Masada, a large portion of the population have become even more rooted in their religion. They see the Star Kingdom of Manticore in general and your queen personally as the servants of Satan. Your technology and medicine are perceived as evil bait to suck in those whose faith is not strong enough." "Unfortunately for both Grayson and the Star Kingdom, many of the real troublemakers disappeared before we were able to get a hold of them. They have gone underground, and are being hidden by like-minded individuals until they have an opportunity to strike. If they got a hold of the weapons the Styx was carrying, things would have gotten very bloody on Masada." Thad merely nodded. He had already talked with Col. van Yurgen as to just what havoc the weapons could do if they had made it to Masada. If the Masadan's chose to use the weapon systems in cities, then Manticore would have no choice but to execute an orbital bombardment. Kinetic strikes had the power of a small nuke, but didn't cause any radioactive fallout. They would be forced to take out large sections of a city, and Thad knew how the government's enemies would spin that news. Cerberus had thought their plan out well. The civil unrest that such a strike would cause would destabilize the government. In and of itself it wouldn't be enough to bring it down, but Thad had no doubt that Cerberus had other plans laid out. They would continue to whittle down confidence in the government, eventually kicking out the last support. Then they could put someone they controlled in power. Thad smiled to himself. Cerberus had made one fatal slip-up though. They had counted on him to let the merchie go free and clear. They had thought they had him cowed by threatening to reveal his past. What they hadn't counted on was his being adopted by a treecat. Because of his bond with Taz, Thad had been able to accept what he had been. Acceptance had removed the fear of his past being revealed to the entire quadrant, and thus the control Cerberus had tried to exert over him. "This is what we have been able to piece together from what the crew has told us." Julius broke it down for his CO. " The starting point of the merchie was in the Silesian Confederacy. She then proceeded to the pickup point in the Casca system. As well as the cargo of weapons systems, she also picked up 60 'passengers'. The crew described them as keeping mostly to themselves and rather rude. They turned out toAfter loading the disguised weapons containers, the Styx started out for Masada in the Endicott system. While in hyperspace, three cruisers intercepted them. They claimed to be Manticoran units heading for the Yeltsin system and asked if the captain would like an escort as far as Grayson. Being that Endicott was just a stone's throw away astronomically, the Styx's captain agreed. What the crew didn't know was that they were really pirates masquerading as the good guys. Why they waited so long before making their move is beyond me though. They could have taken the ship when they first met and no one would have been the wiser." "I think I can help you there. I just received a situation report from the marines aboard the captured pirate. In it they said the crew claimed to have been employed to guard the Styx. But instead of taking his half payment, doing the job and then getting the rest, their commander got greedy. He hoped to take the half payment, then pirate the merchie as well. They said it was sheer bad luck that the attack was finally launched so close to Yeltsin's hyper limit. It was that slipup that allowed the Styx to crash translate back to n-space to seek aid." Thad explained to his XO and Linus. What Thad left out was what he had deduced. Cerberus had wanted to use him to cover up their prior miscalculation of hiring a pirate squadron as escort for their Trojan horse. They wanted the cargo to be safe, but rather than delay the shipment they chose the more risky path and let it go anyway. There was just one minor alteration to that part of the plan. A warning was sent to the Styx's skipper, allerting him to the danger the pirate cruisers posed and instructing him to revert to n-space as near to a certain set of coordinates as possible. That was why Cerberus had been so adamant that Thad go through that volume of space. He was supposed to kill the traitorous pirates when the chased the merchie across the hyper limit. Then Thad was to let the Styx make the short hyper journey to Endicott. Once there, the Bribed officials and inspectors would let the cargo down to the planet undisturbed. No one would be the wiser until the weapons were used against the troops garrisoning Masada. "I want to see one of the Masadan prisoners." "Are you sure Skipper. They ain't exactly what you'd friendly." "I still want to see one. I need to see just what kind of person can so blindly follow something as screwed up as Masadan theology, even if it means they have to die." Julius shrugged his shoulders at his captain, then told the brig guards to bring out the prisoner in cell A-12. From the instant the cell door opened, a nearly screaming voice was heard. The combination of words sounded like a prayer or chant of some kind. "I'm sorry sir, but they all have been doing that since the stun wore off." The guards had to physically drag him out because he wouldn't use his own legs to stand or walk. With a guard on either side, the prisoner was hauled roughly up by the shoulders, still chanting, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. Thad walked up to him, seeing an animal look of rage flash in the Masadan's eyes. Thad had to yell to be heard above the din. "I just want to know one thing… WHY?" The prisoner stopped yelling and stared harder at Thad. "Wouldn't you do everything in your power to free your home from Satan's devious influence? No, you wouldn't because you are a HERITIC, someone who follows the Handmaiden of Satan HERSELF!" And with those words, the Masadan sent a huge glob of spit directly onto Thad's face. Taz tensed and bared his needle sharp fangs, letting out a sibilant hiss, but a strong thought by Thad stopped him from shredding the prisoner where he stood. Yet Thad didn't have such a link with the humans with him. "Why you…" Julius screamed in rage as he made a lunge towards the prisoner. A surprisingly strong hand gripped his arm, pulling him up short. "NO! Can't you see, it's what he wants! Don't give him the satisfaction." Looking down at the vise like hand on his arm then up to the stern face of his CO, Julius felt the rage that had exploded in him because of the insult deflate like air from a leaky balloon. The Masadan prisoner began to laugh. "Ah ha, I knew you would be unable to strike one as filled with the true word of God as I am." Then the prisoner started laughing again, growing louder by the second. "Return that vermin back to his cage!" Thad said as he wiped the disgusting mass off of his scarred face. "With pleasure sir!" one of the guards said. The prisoner had both arms pulled a little more than necessary as he was roughly manhandled back to his cell. Turning back to the Col., Thad spoke vehemently. "I want you to personally make sure that everyone of those animals is safely transferred to Grayson Planetary Security. If anyone can get information out of their sorry hides, it's them." "You have my word on that Captain." Nodding to van Yurgen, Thad motioned for his XO to follow him. "Come on exec. We should be back in Grayson orbit shortly, and I have no doubt that many people will have lots of questions for us when we get there." Thad, Taz and Julius stalked out of the brig without a backward glance. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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