The Reunion

[Robert Merlow]

Merlow was sleeping in his quarters, dreaming about home. He dreamed about Liberty, about New York, and all those people that he left behind in the universe the FF called "Evolved." Face, places, objects, things, all seemed to meld together in his unconscious state. His implants began reacting, sending synapses throughout his brain, triggering cascades of memory to activate, all seeming to blend into one, incoherent mess. The dreams began to mount, the memories piling one on top of the other, until...

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*

An alarm came over the Intercom, Merlow rolled off of the side of his bed, hitting the floor with a dull thump. He blinked awake, rubbing his eyes as the room came slowly back into focus. He was looking at the bottom of his table, looking up at one of the numerous weapons he hid about his room. He gave himself a moment before answer the comm alert.

Merlow here.
Admiral, we've arrived at the requested coordinates. Tessa said over the comm.
Well, what did you wake me up for? Merlow asked, greatly annoyed.
Sir, we've detected three ship signatures, not sure about their origin.
Merlow sighed, I'm on my way. He moaned as he rose, and began to dress down.
- - - - - - - - - -
Tessa sat in her command chair, worried. The cloaking systems weren't functioning at full power as most power was routed to the FTL drives. They were passing through a class J nebula in order to hide themselves from scanners. Apparently, someone else had the same idea. The Dannan was the head of the task force, so they were the first target should shooting erupt.

Ma'am, we're closing on the lead ship, the Lieutenant Commander on tactical said, we're less than a thousand kilometers away.
Good. Image it.

In front of Tessa and at the front of the bridge, a holographic image of the ships in the nebula appeared. The holographic images were fuzzy and distorted, a result of the power transfer. She sighed and opened a comm link to Engineering.

Bridge to Engineering, Tessa called.
Engineering here, called the voice of HiME Seras Victoria.
Seras? You're supposed to be looking for Sayne!
Ma'am, we're in the middle of space in an unknown universe. Do you really think we should waste our time on a single man?
Seras, this man has traveled over three universi, two of them chasing Admiral Scarman down. You should be on assignment with Chie.
Seras sighed, Ma'am, that assignment was handed to Isa.
Whatever. Tessa said in surrender, What is the status to the power systems reset?
Whoever was assigned to service this ship at the drydock was sloppy as hell. We have systems crossed with one another that were never supposed to, sloppy rewiring all over the ship. We'll have overpowered engines, but not much else.
Great, Tessa replied, anger and fatigue in her voice, How long before systems are fully restored?
On all three ships? It'll take an hour at the most. We know how to rewire all of this.
I hear ya, Lieutenant. Testarossa out.

The sound of a door opening behind her alerted her to Merlow's presence.
Ah, Admiral. Good of you to arrive. We're closing on the position of the three ships in question.
Good, Merlow replied, straightening the cuff of his jacket, Have we established communications with the ships?
I was waiting on you Sir. I wanted to be sure--

Ma'am, called the LCDR on tactical, they're hailing us.
On screen. The main viewing screen was filled with static, the audio filled with white noise, Can you clean the signal up?
I'm attempting to compensate. The video began to clear up, the audio becoming more crisp. As the audio and video cleared up, the image of a man appeared. He looked a little ragged, but alright.

This is Admiral Scarman of the vessel Avalanche to approaching ships. Identify yourselves. the man said.
Merlow smiled, Admiral Scarman, this is Fleet Admiral Merlow. Welcome back.

---

Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet / Former Fleet Admiral of the Liberty First Fleet
Second Survivor of the Mentat Program.
We must give and take with good measure. Give too much, we become complacent. Take too much, we incur the wrath of our own. Tread Lightly.
--Supreme Bashar Robert Merlow--