Rotten to the Core

[Implosion]

Chapter 8: Break of Dawn
825 A.S.

-Don't trust her, Danny boy. She's a lie. An overly glorified dictator from Malta. You should've pulled the trigger when you first met her, you fool. Instead, you fly out here looking for her. You complete imbecile. How stup...

-Enough! - Yelled Daniels.
-B...but sir, I'm just getting started...- Scarlet was perplexed. -I...
-Sorry, sorry...I was thinking about something else...what do you have so far?
-Well, nothing much sir. I'm probing all communication buoys and data hubs in Coronado. Not a word about Loyola.
-I figured as much. That Crayter also had no reason to lie to me. I'm certain he genuinely didn't knew anything about Loyola and her abductors. How's the blacker part of our black ops going? Did you transfer the data to Marquez and the 13th?
-Yes sir, I did. All schematics, including those of Dagger's and it's security protocols, Perditrix, Battleshark, Athena, Anseris Mons, Tigris, Deadly and Anassi have been relayed. -Scarlet was unsure why she was ordered to hand over such information to the people that nearly killed them a few years ago. -Sir, with all due respect, are you sure these are the right folks to trust? I mean...
-They're the only people we can trust at this point. -He leaned on the consoles and gazed towards the fragments of what once was an alien jump gate. He kept at it for a good hour before his datapad lit up with a high priority alert. Daniels reviewed it carefully and then abruptly pushed himself from the illuminator. After carefully adjusting his blazer, he issued a ship wide alert.

Ladies and gentlemen, brace for hyperspace. Destination - the Omega-55 system!

The ship's drive core roared under the strain, but there was plenty of power to spare. Everything blurred as the vessel jumped halfway through Sirius.

-Jump successful, hoss, orders?-Jessica anxiously awaiting Daniels' command. There was fire in his eyes, a fire that she hand't seen in a long while.
-First, speak to Rayne, our contact in the APM. Tell her to prep enough supplies for a small battlegroup, enough to last a month. Have them stashed at the usual spot in Omega-55.
J-What Battlegroup, Jack? The majority of Ehrgeiz is back to Delta. We don't nee...
Open a channel to Dagger. - He calmly interrupted her. This wasn't the time for stupid questions

Scarlet nodded and patched the Guildkeeper through.

Dagger Command, this is Guildkeeper Daniels. I want Vagabonds and Morays, 1 through 4, to be fully stocked and transferred to the Perditrix within the hour. I want Gunship Tigris and Battlecruiser Anseris Mons from Battlegroup Ehrgeiz to be permanently tasked with protecting and supporting the Perditrix. Add log entry. Creation of Battlegroup Perdition: Flagship WV-Perditrix. Battlegroup Commander: Guildkeeper Jack Daniels.SIC: Paladin Jessica Scarlet, flag as highly classified black ops taskforce and do not send updates to Rho about it.
Ye...-The man was, however, interrupted as well.
Good. - Daniels cut the comm channel and handed his holopad to Scarlet.

The woman took it with a bit of hesitation, but after a minute she looked back at him, rather surprised. What she just had read, truly came out of nowhere.

-Sir, is this legit?
-As legit as it can be.
-So she ain't dead?
-No, she's not...not yet anyways. Open a direct channel to her.

Scarlet nodded again and opened another high priority channel. The following conversation was somewhat shocking, yet nothing too different from the usual way people in Core HC communicated. As the verbal skirmish ended and the comm was cut, Daniels let out a very loud and raw symphony of swearing, cursing and insults. He then calmed down, took a deep breath and leaned on the consoles again.

-Scarlet, hyperspace as soon as we RV with our escorts. Anassi on ten o'clock, Deadly on six and Anseris Mons at two. Oh and uh, transfer some of Anseris' nuclear warheads to us. We might have atom's support for this one.
-Deadly, sir? What's that?

Daniels looked at Jessica, but this time, there was a wide smile on his face, almost smug.

-Tell me, Scarlet, did you really think I'd let my own daughter steal a Mako, crash it in a Freeport and die? Come on... She was with the 13th all this time. Why do you think we made a stop in Tau-37 before going to Coronado? Why do you think I let their flagship roam around Delta? We covered it up, of course, as much as we could. I had them contact Loyola and pretend they came to offer their support for her. Their loyalty. Good joke. In reality, they came so I can ship her out in secret. The Deadly, Scarlet, is Gabby's ship. I had to make sure she's well protected and nimble enough to avoid trouble. The very definition of a Thresher. Now then, any questions? Good. Let's go.

He then returned to his seat, which was also incidentally , located at the highest place of the bridge. He looked towards Dagger through the illuminator, just as a Thresher uncloaked and entered formation. Gabrielle's voice was heard over the comms, which made the Guildkeeper's smile even wider.

-You done fracked up now, Jackie. Last time you went against a girl, she nearly tore you apart. This time, you're going to get eaten alive by a maltese vixen, you moron. What are you going to do? Rebel? Defect? Oppose? Resist? You can't do jack squat, boy.

-Watch me.

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