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*Rise of the Warspite*
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by HappyTarget: [QB] *Authors note: I realised I goofed a bit. Admirals don't have tac officers, they have operations officers. sorry, my bad! Also, chapter 21 is slightly gory towards the end, so consideryourselves warned. Let me know what you think. CHAPTER 21 [Flag Bridge, PNS Lion, Hyperspace] All activity on the Flag Bridge slammed abruptly to a halt. Sarah continued to stare at her tactical officer. His Adam's apple bobbed as he tried to swallow, but his mouth had ran dry. Breaking eye contact briefly in order to glance at his console he looked back up at Sarah's still fiery visage. "Destruction of bogie five was tasked to the Integrity, the Ulysses, and escort squadron 109.03 Citizen Admiral." His voice rising to a squeak at the end. Seeing the effect her anger was having on her people and Gunther's cautioning hand on her shoulder, Sarah made a conscious and visible effort to bring her raging emotions under control. "Orders from the flag, to all units: sound off damage reports to the flagship ASAP." She turned to everyone present in turn as she spoke her next sentence. "Rest assured, I will get to the bottom of this. And those responsible are gonna wish they were never born." With her voice leached of all emotion, it was almost worse than her anger. [Two Hours Later, Flag Bridge, PNS Lion, Deep Space] Well that was somewhat of a relief. It was no fault of her people that the Manticoran destroyer had nearly slipped away. Those she considered her people anyway. Tactical had assigned the targets correctly, and Mr. Bellows had issued the correct orders, despite his initial worries to the contrary. He had shown unusual courage to come forward with his concern, but it had proven unfounded, just as Sarah had known it would. Her people were just too good to screw up by the numbers like that. The same had proven when the sensor records of the battle were reviewed. The battleships Integrity and Ulysses had fired on the Manty. Escort squadron 109.03 had not however. Apparently, someone on the destroyer squadron's flagship had transmitted faulty targeting orders to the rest of the squadron. Hence they had fired on a destroyer already targeted by two battleships and a full cruiser squadron. And in the back of Sarah's mind, a voice shouted told ya so. It was the same voice that had told her to refuse State Security's offer of giving her a extra squadron of destroyers for her important mission. Sarah was really going to enjoy tearing a strip off of that sorry excuse of a Commodore, Charles Braganovich. She rubbed a pair of mental hands together gleefully at the thought of seeing him squirm, but her face remained impassive as she scrolled through the after action report. BG 109 had gotten of pretty easily in the damage department. Only one of the escort destroyers had been hit hard enough to be considered combat ineffective, but it could be repaired. Three other destroyers, as well as a single cruiser, had minor damage, which was nearly repaired already. None of her battleships had been even hit, the Manties instead concentrating fire on smaller fry which they had a realistic chance of hurting. Even without their sidewalls, battleships mounted a heck of a lot of armor. PRH design philosophy stated that they were capital ships and made them to lie in the murderous fury of a wall of battle. Not that something as small as a battleship could realistically go into a major fleet engagement between capital ships and expect to survive. Tough as a battleship was, it still was no match for a Manticoran, or even a PRH dreadnought. And heaven help them if they came across a super dreadnought. Unfortunately, the powers that be had not bothered to consult her when they wrote up the doctrine for battleships. But even though they had no real place in a modern wall of battle, the made for some kick a$$ raiders. They could outrun anything that could hurt them, and had the weight of fire to kill anything smaller than they were. Unfortunately, those same characteristics applied perfectly to another, virtually opposite, mission. Battleships were all to often tasked with suppressing dissident elements of the Peoples Republic. And that was the reason that they were so prevalent in the PRH while virtually nonexistent in the SKM. The gorged, lumpy sphere that was the PRH needed a lot of ships to ride herd on its conquered populations. She turned to her operations officer. "How long till the Peoples Valor is ready to return to hyper?" Citizen Lt. Ingrid Haffner's face scrunched up like it had tasted something sour. "I'm sorry Citizen Admiral, but their alpha node damage is slightly worse than they initially thought. Its gonna require complete replacement of two of them. Luckily one of the fleet train has a few in stock, as well as the maintenance techs to help with their removal and installation. Their best estimate is that it will be ten days before they are ready to go." "Tell them they have six and not a second more." Then she turned to Citizen Lt. Bellows. "Tell Commodore Braganovich that he is to report to the flagship with his senior officers immediately." [Sickbay, GSN Warspite, Grayson Orbit, That Same Time] Both individuals lying on the examination table looked like death warmed over. Thad's skin had taken a distinctly unhealthy gray pallor, and it was clammy from the constant stream of sweat fleeing his tortured body through his pores. There were purple/black bags under his sunken eyes, and those eyes which were normally so lively held none of their customary spark. A bystander might have mistaken him for dead but for the steady beep from the monitoring equipment. The sorry looking treecat sprawled on his abdomen barely stirred as the Warspite's CMO entered the white walled room. Taz wasn't in much better shape than his adopted human was. He hadn't eaten at all in the three days since Thad had gone catatonic. In fact, he had never been out of physical contact with his person since Thad's pinnace had docked in Boat Bay One. When one of Viola Romanoff's staff had tried to remove him, the cat had snarled and bared his needle sharp predator's teeth at him. Since the tests could be done around Taz, and because no one wanted to aggravate the distressed cat further, he had remained draped over Thad ever since. When Viola had heard the cause of Thad's condition, she had not wanted to believe it to begin with. But then her tests started uncovering more and more peculiarities and things that just shouldn't be with her patient. For starters, but not that unusual in known genetic modifications, were his increased intelligence and more efficient musculature. From then on, things got more and more strange. Although Thad's eyes appeared normal, and the left one actually was for the most part, his right eye could see into the infrared spectrum much like a crocodile. It could also see just as well at night as it could in day. It had binocular functions similar to a bird of prey's. And at the base of each optic nerve, there was a small machine. It was essentially a heads up display projected directly into the optic nerve over the rest of the visual input. And this heads up display also had limited x-ray ability. Thad's hearing and sense of smell were far beyond any normal humans. His bone structure was especially dense and strong, and the organs they held were considerably more efficient than was the norm. His immune system was also turbo charged, and his white blood cells had killed every virus and bacteria she had thrown at em. Upon finding the cybernetic implants behind Thad's eye's, Viola had followed the connections back to a small master implant inside Thad's brain. From there she had followed other leads to the enhanced auditory pickups in his ears and to powerful sensors in his nasal passages. When the true extent of Thaddeus Armstrong's genetic and cybernetic modification became clear, Viola found herself questioning weather the stories the newsies had been circulating could be true. They said that he had killed many times in the past. They said he was a psychotic killer who could strike with the least provocation. That he was a time bomb waiting to explode. Yet almost as quickly as the doubts had surfaced, they left. She felt that she had gotten to know Thad as a person quite well since he had assumed command. Viola considered herself a good judge of character, and her gut was telling her that Captain Armstrong was a decent, kind, quiet man. Now if only she could figure out just what was going on so she could do something to help him. Her scanners told her that there was still considerable brain activity, especially in the areas usually associated with memory. Those same scanners also told her that that brain activity was also odd. Normally, the scans showed just a general area highlighted when it was in use. Thad's brain on the other hand showed much more clearly defined boundaries, especially in his memory centers. It seemed as is there was a tug of war going on inside his head, like part of him was fighting another part. And all of Surgeon Commander Viola Romanoff's eighty six years as a physician told her absolutely nothing as to how to help her patient. And being that she was currently the senior physician in the Yeltsin system there was no one else to turn to for guidance. A specialist had been called from Manticore, but he wasn't due to arrive for another six days. She looked down at the sleeping Lt. Cmdr sitting next to his bed. Jennifer Yuki had been sitting with Thad every free moment she had since he had returned to the Warspite. [The Mind of Thaddeus Armstrong, Captain (Senior Grade), Grayson Space Navy] Thad was on a narrow path, sheer drops on both sides and darkness all around. There was no light, yet both him and the path were highlighted in a reddish/orange light. He was clad in the spotless uniform of a captain in the Grayson Navy. As he walked down the path, a series of branches at right angles to the path appeared in the distance. He walked further, and was soon up to the first set of branches. After a short distance, both terminated in a plain door suspended in space. The other branches ended similarly, and the path branched until it disappeared into the distance. Thad turned and approached the door to his right. He grabbed the knob and turned it. The world went white, then faded in to the slightly blurry effect used to denote memory scenes. Part of Thad acknowledged that that was probably due to the thousands of classic cinema shows he had watched. In fact this entire place was probably the construct of his subconscious in an effort to make some kind of sense out of what was happening to him. The scene before him was from when he was a small boy. He and his parents were having a picnic in the park. Even as he watched the happy day, he heard a whispering voice coming from all around him. In a voice very much like his own it said, "This is all a lie you know. None of it ever happened. It was all just made up by some tech at Manpower Incorporated so you would act like a normal human, not the high-tech mannequin you really are." "Shut up, get out of my head! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Thad screamed at the disembodied voice. As he did so, the memory faded and he found himself again on the path. "Ah," the voice said, "if only it were that easy. But you see these memories aren't really yours. They are the property of Manpower, just like you are. And since you did a very bad thing, Manpower has decided your services are no longer required. That’s why I'm here." "Don't you think I know these memories never happened?" Thad pleaded. "That doesn’t matter, they are MINE! I choose to keep them, and there's not a damned you can do about it! I control my own destiny, not YOU, and certainly not FUC%!NG MANPOWER INC!" The path started to quake, nearly throwing Thad off and into the abyss. The voice boomed so loud that it brought Thad to his knees from the shock and pain. "YOU THINK SO LITTLE MAN!? YOU DON'T HAVE EVEN THE FAINTEST CLUE AS TO JUST HOW POWERFUL I AM! I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU, WHERE EVERYTHING YOU ABHOR ABOUT YOURSELF IS BURIED. I KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO BREAK YOU!" The path widened as rock shot up along the sides. After a few seconds the narrow walkway had widened to the size of a small arena. It was like one that would be in a dungeon, with rock walls hidden in shadow and lit by elaborate candle chandeliers. Then people started to appear. More and more came, walking in from all four sides towards Thad, who was standing in the middle of the arena. The voice continued, "Look at all those you have failed. Look at all those you have KILLED! You were their commander, you were supposed to protect them. Yet unsurprisingly, you failed them. They were killed because of you, o holier than thou Thaddeus Armstrong!" By now the people, if what remained of some of them could be called that, were pressing up against Thad, crushing in from all around. Their wails of terror and pain alone were almost to much to bear. Thad felt his conviction falter, felt all the pain their loss had caused him welling up, threatening to explode. The air around him grew thick with an eager anticipation. The voice was waiting for him to break down, biding its time till it was in an optimal position to strike. And despite himself, Thad knew that he was done for. The voice really did know how to break him. It had done the only thing that could unbalance him. Thad took the losses among his people, and to a lesser extent the enemies, personally. Although he didn't allow it to affect his public life, there were nights when it all caught up with him. Nights when the faces of the dead cornered him. And there were so, SO MANY! So many souls he had been forced to sacrifice, so many people he had lost. So many people he had killed, either directly or indirectly. The fact that he felt remorse and regret at all was an error on Manpower's part. They had designed him to be incapable of them in regard to killing. But fortunately for Thad, they had failed. Yet that same beneficial error was now being used against him. The voice had found his Achilles Heel. Thad felt his defenses crumbling, and was almost to lost in sorrow to care. "Yessssss!" the voice said in a quiet, soothing voice. "Just let go, and I can make the pain go away forever. Think of it, you will never again be bothered by all these ghosts. Just let go and it all stops…" And Thad was all too willing to do just that. The promises the voice was making sounded so good! What would be the harm to just give in and bring an end to his pain? Suddenly there was another presence in his mind. One at once familiar and alien at the same time. It came to his side and manifested itself as a column of light. The bodies that had been pressing against him fled away into the shadows and the arena became still once again. The presence seemed to reach out, grab his shoulders and give him a few shakes. Thad could feel the unconditional love and support flowing into him, rebuilding his ragged defenses, giving him strength when he thought he had none left. "You again!" the voice raged. "When will you learn to mind your own business." An indistinct figure began to form along one shadow shrouded wall. It spoke in a ragged approximation of Thad's own. "So subtlety won't work eh, guess I'm left with good old fashioned brute force." The figure strode into the lighted area in the center of the arena and sneered at Thad. Thad's eyes narrowed as he stared at the figure. It resembled him, but wasn't all that human. Instead of a regular jaw and teeth, it had an extended jaw filled with pointed canines. It's body was covered in coarse hair and its limbs ended in razor sharp claws. It held a large knife in either hand. With a flick of its wrist, one flew through the air to land at Thad's feet. "Pick it up!" the beast ordered. The alien presence retreated to the border of the arena. Thad knew that this was not because it was giving up on him, but because this was something he was going to have to do for himself. It would still be there to offer its support and love, but it could not actively interfere. Crouching to pick up the blade, Thad gripped the leather wrapped handle. Turning the knife blade up, he saw that it had been honed to a razor sharp edge. The blade flashed in the diffuse light that filled the center of the arena. Turning back to his opponent, he extended the knife towards him and bowed. Then he was flying backwards through the air, gasping for breath. Pillars sprang up from the floor. One just happened to come up behind him. He smacked into it and fell to the floor. "Honor is for sissies and losers! Terribly surprising that you have it isn't it." The beast said with a curl of contempt playing at its lips. Thad struggled to his feet. The beast waited till he was almost fully up, then charged towards him so fast it was a brown blur. It's hand/paw exploded into his belly while his left leg streaked down and around to sweep him. Thad landed on his back, the force of the impact making him lose his grip on his knife. It skittered away from him far out of reach. The beast straddled Thad, taking its time now that it had Thad defenseless. It slowly began to bring the blade of the knife down to Thad's ribcage and the beating heart that lied beneath. Thad grabbed the beast's hands in a vain effort to try and stop the blade from falling. The beast merely laughed at his efforts. Still moving the knife with a steady pressure, the beast stopped when it touched Thad's uniform. Holding the knife perfectly still, the creature leaned close to Thad's ear and whispered to him. "I told you that I could break you. The easy way or the hard way, you're still Manpower's property in the end." Something snapped inside Thad. As the beast prepared for the final thrust that would end it all, it uttered a shocked gasp. Thaddeus forced the blade slowly away from his chest. As it gained height, the blade began to twist it around towards it owner. The beast fought for all it was worth to force the blade down, but Thad never gave an inch. The beast's wide eyes grew even wider as the cold steel of the blade pierced into his flesh. Forcing the blade sideways, Thad felt the beast's warm blood flood over him. Its heart was cut in half, and blood seeped out of the wound in a steady stream. Thad pushed the now lifeless body off of him. As he stood the dungeon arena was blown away like so many grains of sand. It was replaced by a colorful mountain meadow. The bright yellow sun was high over head and there was nary a cloud in the sky. The craggy, snowcapped peaks surrounded the lush valley. Staring down at the body Thad said, "I, and I alone, control my destiny!" As he spoke the words, the body turned to sand and blew away just like the dungeon did. [Sickbay, GSN Warspite, Grayson Orbit] Viola ran to the examination room after she heard a surprised cry. She stopped at the doorway, jaw dangling almost to her ankles. Taz was sitting up on Thad's chest, staring intently at his now healthy pink face. His buzzing purr was literally shaking the tray of instruments nearby. Jennifer was smiling so hard she was dangerously close to splitting her face. Thad's eyes fluttered open, and he looked around, eyes settling on Taz, Jennifer, and Viola in turn. "Would one of you stop looking at me as if I came back from the dead and please tell me how I got here?" [/QB][/QUOTE]
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