Moiraine Damodred was watching from her vantage point on the bridge. That was mostly what a Captain of a starship did. The individuals operating their consoles were highly trained professionals, and all the Captain does is to channelize their efforts in the right direction...then watch. In times of quiet, that was all she would do for hours yet.
Combat situations were different, but the Immortal was not looking for action. The blanket of secrecy around Mu held, for now. The Nomads being unable to locate it, or unwilling to. She did not want to know. In her head, Ishamael murmured and chanted the names of those lost.
Private Ryan Stone, Corporal Jason Turnbridge....
A tap on the shoulder broke the chant. She turned, it was an Ensign...Yelena, was it? She prided herself on remembering everybody's name on the crew.
"What is it, Ensign?"
"Ma'am, encrypted comms for you. It's from Taweret."
Moiraine nodded, and got up. What could Taweret want? She'd not had much contact with the 'right hand' of Eriksson Ravenov..and even more unsettling, nothing was known about her, barring the fact that she was female. At least the voice made it seem so. Ishamael quited down in her head, and she walked into the comm room.
The scanning began immediately, signs of a Holographic call clear. A few moments of lag, and then it was clear.
A woman, seated in a chair, many terminals pulled up around her. In the background was an amazingly lifelike portrait of Toledo in it's current state. She looked up as the connection stabilized.
It was the first time Moiraine had seen the other. Short black hair, on a sharp angular face. She looked middle-aged, but fit. Her sharp green eyes met Moiraine's own, and then she began.
"Miss Damodred, I'm Taweret."
"Apparently. What is the reason for this call?"
Taweret smiled slightly.
"Straight to the point, Good. Very well...I trust you're aware of an individual named Michal Golanski. He was one of the leaders of our outfit before the...incident."
"I am."
"In the battle, he was caught under a bulkhead collapse. He has several bone fractures, a punctured lung, and a twisted vertebrae among other injuries. He is currently stable, but comatose. It'll take a spirited effort to restore him to full capability...and you are the one that can do it."
Moiraine was slightly surprised, but did not react outwardly.
"I'll assume that fixing him is possible, but not an easy task. What leads do we have?"
Taweret tapped a few buttons on one of the terminals before replying.
"I've forwarded likely leads to your private neural net. The documents will erase after a single reading. I have also taken the liberty to give you a cadre of Order agents under your direct command. Together, they represent all skill sets and stratas you are likely to need..and will follow you implicitly. Make good use of them. Also...I want you to run extensive psych-analyses on him, determine how he'll be the most effective."
"What do you mean?"
"Simply put, whether letting him retain his free will is preferable to us implanting a control chip in his brain. Michal Golanski is a skilled individual, but we need to make the most of him, morality be damned. That'll be all, Miss Damodred. Good luck."
Assault Carrier Immortal - Docked at Thebes station, Omicron Mu
Damodred read the documents sent to her and watched them deleted by the security protocol program. She didn't have any particular idea about what kind of a mess she was pulled into, though she was sure that something more than meets the eye was in motion here.
"Lieutenant Vorn, I want you to send a priority one message to all security, medical and R&D divisions' leaders. Eyes only, high level security protocol."
"Yes Ma'am."
Moiraine waited for a brief moment to collect her thoughts and began dictating the message;
To all division leaders;
You are receiving a priority one order. Eyes only.
You are required to supply specialized personnel and equipment for a GRADE-A assignment. Expertise on tactical assets, medical assets, high-end technical assets, neuro-enhancers, post-trauma behaviour are necessary.
You are ordered to submit the list of personnel suitable for this mission by 06.00 hours tomorrow, standard time. Additional details will be given to the selected personnel as briefing on board the Immortal, after their evaluation.
Commodore Moiraine Damodred
Lieutenant Vorn wrote the message and sent the signal to all involved party contacts.
"One more thing Lieutenant, contact these personnel and inform that they are to report for briefing to Immortal by 10.00 hours, tomorrow, with all their field equipment ready for assignment.
Jason Angelus, Vet Agent- Tactical
Raoul Duke, Vet Agent- Tactical
Ellie Hunter, Vet Agent- Medical
Kate Miller, Agent
Johan Lennox, Medical"
"Yes Ma'am, anything else?"
Damodred looked at ship's onboard time stamp and gave a curt not,
"Yes, please inform my assisant to fetch some dinner, I am hungry."
Ellie sighed, checking the diagnostic. After welding a few more circuits, she hopped off the Nu, Jeremy's "Seth" Onuris variant. She had joking called it that after she had upgraded it. She sighed, scooting underneath the Nu to unscrew the panel where she found the broken fuel line. Sighing as s bit of H-fuel dripped onto her cheek, she fixed a patch onto the line and began to clean the area. After she was done, she scooted out to find her AI's avatar hovering over her, looking impassive. She frowned.
"What."
"Priority transmission from Immortal."
"My eyes only?"
"Yes."
Ellie sighed, wiping her hands on a towel and headed for her room. She sat down at her terminal and keyed it on.
Quote:RECIPIENT: Veteran Agent Ellie Hunter
SENDER: From the office of Commodore Moiraine Damodred
RE: Project: Sentinel
Report to the Immortal by 10.00 tomorrow for Peoject: Sentinel. This is classified.
Ellie sighed. She sent a message to Whitemane to get the Nu ready, then took a long shower before gathering her field equipment and crawled into bed for a long rest.
Ellie woke up at 7.00 and took snother shower before gathering,her things and climbing into the Nu. It was hers as much as her brother's, so he could deal with it. She lifted off of the landing pad and rocketed up, exiting the atmosphere and pointed her way to the Thebes, where the Immortal was moored.
One hour later, Ellie docked onto the Immortal and climbed out of the Nu with her things, and then sat on the wing, waiting for the marine detail to take her to wherever she was suppose to be.
 Raoul Duke's cabin was dark save for the dim light shining through the big window with a spectacular view of the barren planet Braga, and the thin stream of light coming from underneath the closed door to his bathroom. A muffled sound of running water was the only audible background.
Inside, surrounded by falling water and steam, Duke was standing, his hands propped against the wall. His body savoring every soothing drop, his mind wandering. Eventually, he turned the faucet and stepped outside. Looking at the foggy mirror, he made a single sweep with his hand. The face looking back at him bore a still fresh scar. It wasn't long since he was released from the medical bay. Although out of order for almost three weeks, he could consider himself luckier than the majority of survivors of the battle. Not that it meant something special, but at least he was standing on his own legs. He averted his gaze and stepped outside.
The dim yellow ambience of the room seemed to be disturbed by a greeinsh glow. The screen of his terminal was suddenly bright, with a new message notice flashing in the middle, followed by a big exclamation mark. His brow furrowed, he sat in front of the lit screen.
With a prod of his finger the message opened. After reading the name of the sender, his eyes narrowed a bit. His hand reached out for a pack of cigarettes. With smoke rising from the glowing tip, he read the rest of the message. Leaning back in his chair, Duke was pondering on the contains of the message. There were no details about the assignment itself, but if Damodred asked for him personally, it shouldn't be taken lightly.
He added the cigarette butt onto the top of an overfilled ashtray next to an empty glass and a bottle of whisky. After pouring himself some, and drained it in one shot. After rolling the liquid on his tongue and enjoying the refined taste, he gulped and stood up. Tomorrow's bound to be exciting.
______________________________________________________________
 The next morning, Duke woke up, feeling anything but rested. A splash of cold water on his face helped him to keep his eyelids apart. After he put on his flight suit, he grabbed his helmet and made his way to the Lisbon hangar. His Bastet, scarred in countless battles, was re-fuelled and ready for launch. It felt good being back in the familiar cockpit. He made his way to Mu, dodging the mines around the jumphole and setting course through the Wall of Seth.
After gliding into the docking bay of the Immortal, he landed his craft into one of the fast-launch docking clamps. He always enjoyed the g-force pressing him into the seat when being launched from a carrier. When the cockpit opened with a hiss, he slid down the starboard wing, landing on the deck of the hangar. After taking down his helmet, he noticed Jeremy's sister sitting on the wing of an Onuris. He waved at her ad started walking her way.
Kate Miller rejoined the Order recently after a classified incident. All charges of treason were dropped without explanations and her reintegration even less explained. It doesn't mean they all forgot who she used to be and who she became. From a nice, friendly and reachable person, she became the coldest individual they ever had the chance to meet in their life. The presence of something even their scientists couldn't explain and just dubbed as an "Hybrid MK2" used to leave many agents in doubt, feeling as if they had a traitor home, untill they saw her courage during the battle of Minor. But human nature never changes. The unknown has always been mankind's greatest fear. She was the incarnation of the unknown for many agents. Something they didn't know what to do with, how to behave with, how to approach, and moreover how to consider.
Retrieved after the battle of Minor by a team of Order scouts, her isolationism only became greater. She found herself in the void, missing two years of her life. Two years where she met people and did things she can't recall.
No one really knows what happened in the medical lab of Camp Giza, The Order's main installation on Akabat, when they decided to wake up Kate Miller from the cryogenic pod they found in her ship. However rumors circulated saying she knocked out several people that were in the lab when they unfroze her before taking back control of the situation. Of course, everything related to that incident became classified as well.
Nowadays, Kate Miller lives apart from the rest of the agents in a relay station five kilometers from Camp Giza. Few dared approaching the station, and even less dared knocking at the door. The very few that did, for the sake of curiosity or simply knowledge reported one of the walls was covered with odd papers of diagrams written in an odd language they couldn't understand, and weapons they've never seen before on a table.
This, was one of these extremely rare visits as someone knocked at the outpost's door.
As Kate opened the door, she saw a young ensign that didn't seem very confident, with two guards and a jeep a few meters behind.
"Agent... Miller? You've been called by Tawaret and you are to report as soon as possible to the Immortal. Tawaret also precised to come with your gear." he said, as Kate looked at him emotionless. "Go back to Camp Giza and get my ship ready on the landing pad. You have thirty minutes. Not one more." replied Kate, closing the door afterwards. "Well. That's different." thought the ensign, as he jumped in the jeep, heading back to Camp Giza.
Exactly thirty minutes later, Kate arrived at the landing pad. It was always a rare sight to see her with that armor they all used to fear, and her Bastet with the little nomad organisms all around it's hull. Setting course to the Immortal after she undocked, she didn't know what to expect, but they wouldn't send someone if it wasn't very important.
Laying in a bed, his own bed after a long time, Lennox stared at the ceiling of his room. He slept some hours after he returned back to Akabat from Liberty together with a special friend, someone he didn't see for too long. For some reason he was able to sleep without his nightmares about the "incident" he had when falling asleep before he saw his 'friend' again.
He got up, moving out of the bed, dressing himself with his standart clothes he's normally wearing off duty. Then checking his old mobile computer around his arm, he saw a message directed at him personally. When reading it was about Golanski, he looked a bit surprised. It had been some time since he last was ordered to take part in an 'operation' as medical 'supporter'.
After reading the message completely, he began to search something in his room, looking like some kind of case. After some minutes of searching in the mess in his yet untidy room, he finally found it, briefly opening it to see if everything is there. Nodding to himself, he closed the case again, slipping into his shoes, equipping himself with his plasma handgun and leaving his room.
With the case in his hand, he went to the landing pads where his Eagle was stationated. He opened up the cockpit and got into it. Securing the case in his cargo hold, he ignited the engines, closing the cockpit again. Slowly lifting up his ship, he left the atmosphere of Akabat, heading to the Omicron 100 jumphole. After some minutes of flight, Lennox entered Omicron 100 with his Eagle. Checking the last known position of the Immortal on his mobile computer, he set a new course.
Not really knowing what he had to expect exactly, Lennox docked his ship with the Immortal after some time of flying through space. He went back into the cargo hold of his ship, grabbing the large case, the opening the cockpit once more. Getting out of it and closing it after doing so, he leaned his back against his ship, not really realizing who might had been around already.
"Seven-Three-Four you are cleared to dock. Welcome home agent."
Another patrol done.. Zeta's incredibly quiet nowadays. And that's good, I prefer it that way..
Taba's Bay was busy as usual. It's from where some of the fighters
were launched for routine patrols and in emergency cases. Engineers were preparing ships,
pilots were preparing for another long and dangerous flights..
_______________________
Angelus never was one of these people who had to take rest. He was ready for service soon after. Alright, Three-nine still needs checking. Saying that, he got to his comm panel and sent short message.
"Sanchez, get my ship ready for depart in three hours. I'll check Zeta."
He was about to get to the bar, this place did wonders when you lived in stress.
"You have incoming message." Could be heard from the console.
Now what the hell is it again? He glanced at the console. Let's check what is this all about.
You are to report to Immortal by 1000 hours tomorrow.
Damodred wants to see me.. This are getting interesting.And she doesn't like to wait..patrol will wait.
Angelus cracked his fingers."Delaying last transmission. Chief, get Seven-Three-Four ready for flight in one hour."
After over one hour. Angelus' fighter was preparing to dock on Immortal.
Angelus was still wondering who he will meet here, but more important what would someone like Damodred want from him.
Damodred was called yet again. As the comm channel opened, instead of Taweret another individual appeared. Wearing customized full combat armor, standing in dark room, person presented himself as Amduat. Cough could be heard getting out via helmet of his as he started to speak.
'Commodore Damodred, I know about your mission and revieving mission parameters I noticed lack of some certain personnel that might be highly recommended for this operation.'
He raised personal computer, clicking on one of it's buttons confirming data transfer.
'I am sending you two contacts you may have use of. I covered all financial matters so it is not concern for you. Their current speciality are logistics and aquiring specialized equipment without uncomfortable trails leading to us.'
'Mercenaries?' Commodore was not pleased. 'How far our trust towards them will go?'
'They are soldiers, not mercenaries. Costs cover mostly operational expenses as we are their 'favoured customer' so to speak. Call what you need and they will try to get desired item with nearest shipment. As for their military history, both of them have certain abilities that might find use in other fields if neccesary. First one is a skilled hacker and technician while second used to be field surgeon who gained experience with working in conditions within so called Corsair empire. Do what it takes, commodore. And finaly one more thing: what you accomplish here may help thousands of other survivors today and widely understood tommorow... Amduat out.'
As communique has ended Damodred checked on new data that has been received. Dossiers with two names:
Moiraine checked the contact information and profile data that Amduat sent her. She wasn't happy about working with mercenaries, or whatever tag the command wanted to stick on them. Moiraine was never happy with anything at all. There was always something to displease her, something out of synch with her thoughts and vision.
She made her way to the main hangar bay with her escorts to see the new arrivals. She disliked working with other people, especially with people outside of her crew but she had to.
"Attention, Commodore on deck!"
"At ease Chief, where are the new arrivals?"
Chief pointed towards the end of hangar bay two,
"We have them waiting you in bay two Ma'am!"
She waved the chief to carry on.
As she came near the new arrivals, the new *visitors* of Immortal took the saluting stance and stood ready to be debriefed.
Moiraine looked all the agents in the eye, one by one, and started to explain the situation.
"You are summoned here for a GRADE-A mission. You are not to discuss this mission. This includes your superiors. You are not to leave the Immortal unless the mission dictates otherwise. You are not to communicate with the outside world without using the Enigma Security Protocol."
Enigma protocol required all agents to have their communications logged and recorded to be overseen and analyzed by the spec-ops wing. It usually put some stress on the agents, to know that whatever they say was being listened by a room full of operators and their superiors.
"I am given the task to oversee the mission and you will report to me unless stated otherwise.
Now, I don't like you. I have no reason to like you. I have no reason to trust your efficiency. You are asked to perform admirably. Try to do so and this mission may succeed."
Immortal's crew liked Moiraine Damodred. They were used to her harsh tone, her iron character. They knew that she cared for her ship and her crew. However, the agents summoned had no idea about her methods, except for her "Iron Lady" fame in the Order.
"Our mission is of great importance. We are asked to perform a certain medical procedure on a rather important figure. According to your divisions, you will be asked to perform special duties. These duties will involve security, spec-ops, medical care, post-trauma care, revival and restoration and if seen necessary, black ops. You will be dictated on your methods and certain things may be asked of you that could be seen as *unorthodox*. If you have a problem with this, you can pack your stuff and leave with the next launch shift in 20 minutes."
Moiraine awaited for them to understand what kind of a mess they were pulled into.
"Good. You will be operating under Project Sentinel. Each objective assigned to you will be sent to your personal PDA seperately and encoded. Unless seemed necessary, you will not be informed of other wings' assignments. The quartermaster will provide you with seperated rooms for the duration of your stay. The mission will take place at some other place. You will be transferred there via the Immortal and not by your own means.
Welcome aboard."
With that said, Moiraine turned around and walked out of the hangar bay without even looking back, her security following her.
Moments later, each agent's PDA started to beep with message warnings. Each message was encrypted, suggesting that they will be provided with the necessary encryption key upon their arrival to the project site.
Before Moiraine arrived, Lennox glanced around again, looking who was there. Seeing Ellie Hunter and Raoul Duke, he nodded as he looked at them. Checking his mobile computer around his arm, he took another look around, noticing something odd around a Bastet in the hangar. He frowned and gave himself a push with his back, standing straight. Then taking a closer peek on the strange ship, he saw Kate Miller standing there as well. He smiled to himself, then a bit at her. Closing his eyes briefly, he thinks something in a rather actively unused part of his brain, trying to direct it directly to her only.
***Unity...(joy)...'here too'[?](curious)***
Then opening his eyes back up, he kept his smile for a while. Then seeing how Moiraine, the possible commander of that operation, was arriving, he walked to the others, grouping up with the after giving a brief nod.
Standing straight as she spoke her words, he nodded afterwards, receiving the orders on his PDA, checking it.
![[Image: rand-back.png]](http://www.oganalp.com/rand-back.png)
![[Image: getCrossPlatformImageCAK51VJP.jpg]](http://halo.xbox.com/Content/assets/en-us/blog/HaloWaypointSchedule/2.27.11/getCrossPlatformImageCAK51VJP.jpg)
![[Image: jeremy10.png]](http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/16/80/35/65/jeremy10.png)
![[Image: 1305716827478.gif]](http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy173/majoj/1305716827478.gif)
![[Image: E9d8RnV.jpg?1]](http://i.imgur.com/E9d8RnV.jpg?1)