Valhalla Rising

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Chapter 5 - Suspicions


*Captain Decker's Office*

Captain Decker sits at his desk, looking through mission reports, ship status reports.... most notably the report on the recent engagement with an Order Osiris known as "Lee". The Thunderbay had managed to severely damage the "Lee" when backup arrived, in the form of the new 106th Battlecruiser, Captained by Captain Patterson. The combined firepower of these two ships along with the fighter squadrons were able to easily take down this ship.

Though the Thunderbay had taken minor damage, repairs would only take a few hours and the shields were already at full strength.

"Captain, we are receiving a priority one message from Admiral Garner, directed to you" the Ships comms officer reported

"Put it through to my office" the Captain replied as he turned on his computer monitor, looking intently at the message that appeared.

*Meanwhile on the bridge*

Commander Porter stands in front of a group of new recruits

"Listen closely, I know you've all been training on the Yellowstone for quite awhile and feel you know everything about how to run the Thunderbay, but you don't. They say the Yellowstone is a perfect training ship with all its advanced simulators, but there is no way to simulate the real thing, and you are on it. On the Yellowstone mistakes could easily be compensated for, here mistakes will cause good men and women to lose their lives. I'll only stand for perfection, if you don't feel you can do the job, let me know and I'll set up extra training, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the recruits respond in unison...

"And please don't call me sir.... on off time call me Jessica, on duty Commander will do, dismissed!

John Bertrand looked up from his console "Bit hard on them Jess?"

"Maybe, but this is serious, we can't afford any mistakes out here, they need to know we count on every move they make" Jess replied with a shrug.

Captain Decker stepped forward onto the bridge, "I see you are busy with the training Commander, however I have a new assignment for you, just now I received encrypted orders from Admiral Garner"

"We'll have the ship ready to leave in an hour's time, sir" replied Jess as she moved to her station.

"No your assignment is to take command of the Thunderbay while I'm gone, the orders are for me only."

"What are these orders?"

"I can't say, top level clearance required... have the hangar deck prep a fighter, I'll launch when its ready, oh and Commander, she's all yours" he motioned towards the Command Chair, as he walked off the bridge....


15 minutes later Captain Decker launched in his fighter and headed off without disclosing his destination nor his orders.

Code:

*OPEN LOG*
*ID VERIFIED* Commander Jessica Porter
*LOG START*

The Captain has been gone for 2 days now, still no word on what the orders were, nor where he went. Everything on board the ship is going fine, the new recruits seem to be getting into the groove of things and there have been no major problems.

It seems recently the Order has invested quite the interest in NewYork, we've had to defend the area from at least 3 of their Osiris class ships. Somehow they are able to open the Alaska gate and move though all our defences undetected...

The scientists think they can use some of the particles we found in the badlands to power our jumpdrive, hopefully allowing the ship to jump from one side of the sector to the other, they are busy making the modifications. This mission will be a go once the captain returns.

Finally looking through fleet reports, I noticed the Navy made an error and named a cruiser LNS_Yellowstone, the same name as the prototype gunboat in this program. I'll bring it up with the Admiral, though I suspect it may be on purpose. Perhaps that way if any civilians happen to see the LNX_Yellowstone, the navy can easily deny it exists and claim that civy instead seen the Cruiser Yellowstone and is mistaken... maybe..
*LOG ENDED*

*Onboard the LNX Thunderbay*

Commander Porter walks down the busy halls of the engineering deck; she had just stopped by and spoke with the Chief regarding the modifications being made to the jump drive. It seems everything is on schedule and they are ready for a test, but the Captain is still missing and now she would hopefully find out why. After climbing several decks, she reached deck two where her quarters were located. As she slipped behind her desk, she punched in her access codes into the computer terminal and opened up a comm link with Juneau station.

"Ah Commander, what can I do for you?" Admiral Garner asked as his image appeared on the screen

"Well, sir our jump drive modifications are complete, and we are just about ready to do a test run, but the Captain is still away on the mission you sent him, I was hoping---"

"Excuse me Commander? But you must be mistaken, I never ordered the Captain to go on any missions"

"Oh, perhaps I heard wrong then"

"Its quite alright, though do me a favour and let me know when the Captain returns, till then hold off the jump drive tests"

The Comm channel closed and her computer screen went blank..

So the Admiral never sent the Captain orders? Yet the Captain had said the orders came from the Admiral... maybe my clearance isn't high enough to even know of the mission and the Captain accidentally mentioned it?

She sighed and headed for the shower, it had been a busy day, one she wanted to just let the water wash away, but the conversation with the Captain before he left stayed in her mind... if it wasn't Admiral Garner giving orders who was?


*On board the LNX Thunderbay, off hours*

Jessica slowly moved down the hall towards the mess hall, it had been a long day, but the new recruits are finally showing promise, she'd found herself particularly attached to a young ensign by the name of Michelle. Michelle reminded Jessica of herself, from when she took her first posting onboard the LNS Ontario. Full of energy, not a care in the world... maybe she could shield this kid from the troubles she encountered, certainly she didn't plan to lose the Thunderbay anyway...

As she walked down the hall, she noticed someone familiar by the doorway, it was Captain Decker.

"Captain, when did you get back?"
"Just now actually"
"Why didn't the bridge crew inform me you were returning..."
"I wanted to keep things quiet; no point in creating a stir, anyways tonight is the weekly poker game isn't it?"
"Yes, it is actually" replied Jessica
"You wouldn't happen to have an open seat?"
"I thought you said you hated card games?"
"Hmm you must have heard wrong, I love card games!"
"Yeah, of course, there is room, come on in".

She opened the door and let the captain enter first, but hesitated before she herself entered, something was off. She remembered all too clearly, the last time she invited the Captain in for a game he declined saying he hated cards... She cleared her mind and entered the mess hall, taking her seat at the head of the table, greeting Sharon and John as she sat.

A few hours pass, the game has been going on for awhile, John has swept the table, having all the chips in front of him.

"Whats wrong Jess? This is the first time in awhile that you've lost, maybe I've gotten better!" John shouted from across the table, a cocky smile appearing on his face.
"Huh?" replied Jessica startled from being brought out of deep thought.
"Jess you ok? Sharon asked, looking a bit concerned.
"Yeah, its been a long night, I think I will retire to my bunk for the night, goodnight everyone".

She then stood up, gave a final glance over the table and headed out. She was sure that the Captain hated cards and disliked playing. Maybe he changed his mind? He was sure good at playing anyways... She sighed and headed to her quarters, trying to clear the thoughts from her mind, but they still lingered.



It had been a long sleepless night, she yawned as her alarm clock chirped at her from the other side of the room and slowly got up to turn it off. Today would be interesting, perhaps she would find out where the Captain has been, but then again, her security clearance may not be high enough. Besides that, preparations were underway for the jump drive testing. For the test, engineers were plotting course for the ship to jump from Alaska to a far away system, devoid of any planetoids or life, then back. This jump drive should not be confused with the old jump drives that the Sleeper ships limped into Sirius with. This would be an almost instantaneous jump. If this works, nothing is out of reach for humanity.

Before heading to the bridge she made a stop over at John's quarters and knocked.
"One second" a voice shouted from inside and a commotion could be heard, John obviously had slept in and was rushing to get ready.
"Take your time John"
The door opened, and John stood there, with his uniform half on
"Hey Jess, come to ask for your money back from last night?"
"No, but I need to talk with you"
"Umm, alright come in, just ignore the mess..."

It looked like someone had tossed a live grenade into his quarters, clothes and papers were scattered everywhere, not very tidy for the Navy, he'd better get it cleaned before the next inspection... Mind you he is the one that runs the inspections...

"John, did you notice anything odd about the Captain last night?"
"Yeah, sure, he played poker with us, why?"
"Well, a good while ago, I had invited him to a game and he declined telling me he hated card games."
"Maybe he changed his mind"
"Add to that his recent disappearing act, he told me it was orders of the Admiral, but I talked to the Admiral and he claimed he gave no orders to the Captain for any solo missions. I'm sure I heard the Captain say the mission was the Admiral's orders."
"Maybe you didn't have proper clearance"
"John, we have basically the highest clearance there is, you can't get much higher then Z-21 clearance"
"Ok, so you think he lied?"
"I don't know... Look I want you to check his fighter, find out where he went."
"Ok, I'll do it, but only for you"
"Thanks, keep it between you and me please"

She walked out, and headed for the medical deck, there was someone else she had to talk to. She entered Dr. Valdores office, finding it empty, she must be in the lab... As she started towards the lab, Sharon came out.

"Jess, what brings you here, not sick are you? You didn't look good last night" Sharon said as she walked towards Jessica, looking concerned.
"Sharon, when Captain Decker returned, did he report here for a check-up? As standard procedure says he should?"
"Let me check the log book" Sharon tapped a few buttons on her computer "No, he didn't, he should have though..."
"He came in during off hours, and ordered the bridge crew to keep things quiet, look I'll talk to him and have him come in for a check up"
"Alright, though as Captain he should know what the procedures are... all crew members returning from leave or missions are to be scanned and checked up on, for possible medical problems and---"
"I know..." Jessica turned and left Sharon's office.

She headed for the bridge, intent now on finding out what this secret mission was.
"Jess, hold up a second" came a voice from behind, it was John.
"Whats up John?"
"I just checked the Captain's fighter, nothing too curious about it; he left the ThunderBay, did a loop around New York then landed on Pittsburgh, somewhere remote."
"Thats all it says?"
"Yup... sorry if it doesn't help".
"No it doesn't".

They continued walking towards the bridge, duty calls and her investigations would have to wait for now.