Bretonian Armed Forces Defense Intelligence Staff (DIS) (iRP) (AO)

[Dab]

(Co-written with cshake)


Jay sees a message pop up on his pager - "Report to Captain Hunter's Office Immediately". He sighs, "I knew this was coming". He walks down the hallways from the flight deck and knocks on the door. "You wanted to see me?"

Inside the room, Captain Evyn Hunter pressed a small button on the terminal built into her desk. The door slid open to reveal an apprehensive-looking officer standing outside. Evyn shot him a glare that she had developed over two long years of dealing with the Armed Force's miscreants. "Come in Commander."

"Thank you Captain." Jay walks in, keeping his chin up. He thinks to himself, Hey, it's not like I helped him, I'd hate to see what Aleski has to answer to over this...

Evyn felt a sense of irritation rising in her. Practically in a whisper she said, "Attention."

Jay stands up straight, looking ahead, hand up in a salute. "Captain."

Evyn returned the salute, but did not motion for the Commander to sit down on the room's spare chair, which was tossed into the corner. Instead she opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out two small pieces of paper. "I assume you know why you're here Commander." She swept a hand towards the two reports placed in the middle of the desk. "I would like to know just what you were thinking when you made the decision to neglect your duties."

"Yes, it is true that I did not immediately arrest Goodmen when I first saw him, there's no denying that." "The decision was made because I did not feel that I had the force to take him into custody when he came into range, so I attempted to gather reinforcements to assure a clean arrest, while trying not to let him figure it out."

"When he first arrived in scanner range, outside Freeport 1, I had Ensign Keevan next to me, and HMS-Vesper was standing by as well. I had never interacted with HMS-Vesper before, I assume he is from the TA, and as such I did not fully trust where his loyalties were."

"Goodmen exited the trade lane in his Templar in formation with Deneth Aleski, who I immediately recognized as an ensign that had flown with me previously, but had gone missing along with Goodmen. He was not wearing his uniform, and was missing his tag, so I assumed he would put up a fight on Goodmen's behalf if we tried to make an arrest."

"I talked to Aleski over local comms, addressing him as 'former ensign Aleski', to which he seemed to take issue and told me that 'former' was a harsh word to use. This made me think he still had ties within BAF, but was obviously working with Goodmen, lending more suspicion to the involvement of the Vesper. I had never seen it before, and it was just waiting there with Keevan when the fugitive (and apparent accomplice) returned." "Also, ma'am, I forgot to mention that Aleski was flying a fully armed and armored Eagle."

"This all made me uncomfortable trying to make an arrest just then, and the only other backup I knew I had was Ens. Haynes in Dublin who was reconning the Gaian situation there. I knew that his loyalties were true after so long working behind the scenes for us, and that coupled with 4 Gaians who were sure to be hostile to Goodmen, it seemed like a much safer plan than possibly finding myself outgunned. I know Goodmen's skill in his Templar, it is above mine, and while I trust Keevan, it is above his as well."

"I informed our assembled party over local comms the situation in Dublin - Vesper and Keevan already knew from squadron comms - this was for Aleski and Goodmen. Goodmen seemed to suggest that he was always willing to defend the Crown, and Aleski seemed to think he would fight as an Ensign in his current ship, so I told them to follow the 3 of us to Dublin to meet up with Haynes.

This was exactly what I had hoped, albeit Aleski's company was not required. We flew to Dublin, hearing intel from Haynes as we approached, and I created a battle plan that involved Goodmen and Aleski targeting the gunboat that was carrying Cerbs and Razors, so the fighters and the Solaris-carrying Claymore to do the most damage to them while the rest of us were to target the other gunboat so we could destroy it within time to leave Goodmen damaged but not destroyed, perfectly weakened so he couldn't put up a fight for the arrest."

"Unfortunately, when we arrived, either our reputation preceeded us, or the Gaians knew they were outgunned, so they fled as soon as we got within scanner range. At this point I was about ready to tell Keevan and Haynes to assist me in arresting Goodmen, and would have told the Vesper the plan as we acted, to allow for him to assist but without the risk of him possibly warning Goodmen and Aleski.

The plan to make the arrest was cut short however, as we discovered an immensely powerful energy signature above Graves station, where we were, which upon scanning appeared to be one of the inert nomad power cores that we've seen smugglers carrying, except it was active, and was adding massive power to the attached ship's guns and shield. We looked on in surprise for a few seconds, then heard it speak in local comms, something about 'Momma', to which Goodmen started replying and talking to it."

"The rest of us talked among ourselves wondering what was happening, and suddenly another being appeared out of nowhere, not as powerful but just as unexpected. At this point the foolish Goodmen said 'No momma, your momma is dead!', and the being unleashed a short but intensely powerful beam from the front of it, and suddenly Goodmen's ship was gone, leaving behind some ammunition and nanobots."

"Not wanting to have this happen to anyone else, I ordered a full retreat back to New London post-haste, and headed here to Derby to file my report."

"I do realize that I should have arrested Aleski, but when the rest of us cruised back to the NL gate, he must have taken a different route, and did not follow us. I didn't want to risk coming into contact with the apparently now-angered being that had simply removed Goodmen, so I felt it unsafe to turn around and make chase."

"That is all I have to say about this, and I hope you can see that I was not intentionally letting him go."

He took a deep breath and a step back, looking down at Evyn's desk, wondering what was going to happen to him.

Evyn let him stand there a few moments while she methodically tapped her fingernail on the desk, making a rythmic tap marking the passage of time.

"What an exceptionally droll reiteration of the report which I have already read Commander. If I wish to die of motonous dialogue, I'll be sure to call you for it."

"Unfortunately, none of it has solved this problem. The base facts here are that you had contact with a Bretonian fugitive within Bretonia sovereignty and acted in a manner that allowed him to escape arrest or death, both of which his desertion has justified."

"The other is that you had evidence, circumstantial but significant, of an Armed Forces Ensign colluding with a deserter, using unauthorized equipment, and neglecting his duties in the arrest of a fugitive. Ensign Haynes, while scouting several hostile forces, was not in immediate danger, and capable to falling back from his current position and either grouping up with ships from the Essex' force or allowing it to handle the threat while he rendezvoused with you in Omega-3."

"Considering the Gaian threat will be there regardless, and that we have forces that could deal with, or at least delay, those threats long enough for you to handle them later, the most prudent action would have been to attempt to apprehend Mr. Goodmen. While I recognize his piloting abilities are beyond those of most of our lower-ranked pilots, it is why he was made a Commander afterall, it isn't sufficient to stop two Templars and a Gunboat. While you have expressed suspicion on the Vesper's loyalty, you had no evidence to support that view, and thus, no legitimate excuse in not utilizing the ship's power towards your duties."

"As a result of these ill-thought out decisions, the Gaians escaped, Goodmen escaped, and Ensign Aleski vanished to God knows where, preventing us from finding out the truth of his actions. Your taskforce was then in danger of being destroyed by what I assume to be a Nomad-controlled Sea Serpent and forced to retreat from Dublin."

"Am I correct in how things turned out Commander?"

"Well, when... yes, you are correct." Jay's posture visibly sags, but he remains in place.

"I acted and thought wrongly in this situation."

Evyn leaned back in her chair and laid her forearms on the armrests. "And what do you think should be done about this situation?"

"I ... am not quite sure. I understand the severity of the situation, but feel that what happened was primarily a result of bad tactical decisions - incorrectly assessing the strengths and usefulness of the assembled ships, and what I see as the largest error, assessing the aid of civilians against Gaians to be of significant importance to stop an all-out effort to apprehend the fugitive."

"I feel that I would have acted differently if I had been given the information about the nomad energy signature before deciding to move to Dublin. As I found out later that it had been there before we arrived and Haynes neglected to mention it in his intel, so once we were in Dublin I feel that I did do the right thing given the circumstances."

"I am prepared to be reassigned to a position of, shall we say, less responsibility, if that is what you wish, or other punishments you deem appropriate, but I do not feel that what I did was quite worthy of a firing squad."

Evyn closed her eyes and thought for a minute. Making a decision, she opened them and began speaking.

"What you did was foolish and dangerous, both to yourself and those you were leading. I cannot simply allow you to go unpunished. Which fleet were you assigned to Commander?"

I was assigned to the Suffolk Fleet by Commander Cromwell when I joined, ma'am.

Evyn nodded. "You will be transfered to the Derby Great Fleet, the 7th, under Admiral Hobart. You will be placed within my taskforce of the 7th Fleet. You will be under my command, and Admiral Hobart's, should he have direct orders for you. I will be watching you until I decide if you should be allowed to keep your current rank. Return to the Suffolk and gather your things. You'll be transfered a few hours from now. Dismissed."

Jay salutes, "Thank you ma'am, you have been kinder than I expected. Good day." He turns on his heel and leaves to begin transferring his belongings to the Derby.

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