Marcus "Scarecrow" Scarman, Tyrant of the Black Flag Corsairs sat in his cockpit, casually observing the readouts before him. The small group of ships he and his war band were following definitely seemed lost. A battered Liberty Dreadnought, a medical ship and a science ship. Marcus had no idea why they were out here and what significance they had. But considering everything that had happened to him since he had followed those Freedom Fighters, he was ready to believe anything.
Robert Merlow was the man's name, Fleet Admiral Robert Merlow. He had been there when Marcus had accidentally shot the previous Fleet Admiral. Victoria Wade had not been his target, but her selfless act had saved that bastard Freedom Fighter and smudged out her own existence. Oh what he would have given to have taken her with him and had his way with her. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, and now she was dead because of him. No, it was Merlow's fault, not his own. Robert Merlow was the cause of her death, the reason Scarecrow had been denied his prize. When Marcus had sworn to kill the Fleet Admiral however, he had not taken into account what exactly that would entail.
They had been quite literally dragged across the space / time continuum in an effort to keep up with the Freedom Fighter ships. When the fleet had first jumped, Marcus had ordered his wingmen to stealthily engage one of the Liberty ships. Like barnacles to a whale, they had been transported across warp space along with the Freedom Fighters in unanimated zero-tau status. Once they had finally arrived in a universe that didn't seem hostile, they had detached from the FF vessels and floated adrift, some engaging stealth modes, others blending in with clouds of garbage discarded from the careless Liberty ships. Once Merlow and his fleet had jumped out, Marcus had revived his crew of pirates and set about searching for the nearest colony or outpost.
Unfortunately for the Black Flag Corsairs however, they seemed to have exited voidspace in a completely remote area of space. The FF had used their jump drives to get away, but Marcus and his comrades had no such means to their aid and had been forced to roam unchartered space, searching for signs of civilization. By chance they had happened across the three beaten ships now before them and had been following ever since.
The Liberty ship had to be trying to regroup with its own, so Marcus had ordered his men to follow, keeping as quiet as they could. For several days now they had been trailing the Dreadnought and her escort and Marcus was getting worried. They would be discovered sooner or later, and at the current rate of progress, it would be long before they managed to arrive at any civilized colonies. For the moment, Marcus had placed his personal agenda on hold and intended to dock for supplies at the first sign of human colonization. Robert Merlow would have to wait.
***
Victoria sat alone in astrometrics, absent mindedly observing the small gaggle of ships following their trail several light years behind in their wake. She had marked each of the ships and had been unable to match them with anything in the database. They definitely looked like trouble to her however, especially the lead ship. A jet black Sabre? Followed by other ships bearing skulls, lightning bolts and other such markings. She was looking at a pirate war band and she knew it.
The door behind her clicked back into its berth. She turned around just in time to see Marcus enter and walk over to one of the adjacent consoles. There seemed to be an awkward air about him as he tapped away at the console. He looked over at her and gave her a curt smile before turning his attention back to his console.
"Alright, what is it?" Victoria turned away from her readouts and looked directly at the Admiral. "You've been funny with me all day, what is going on."
Marcus turned to her, looking quite sheepish. He said nothing.
"Marcus, have I offended you? Please speak to me, we are practically best friends."
Marcus opened his mouth as if to speak, but thought better of it and turned back to his console.
"Its nothing Captain," He finally replied, "Don't concern yourself, I've just been preoccupied..."
"Don't give me that," She interjected, "For the past few weeks we've been attacked by wraith like creatures that shouldn't exist, encountered parallel versions of ourselves, thrown them all back into their own dimensions and almost lost the ship. You cant be seriously thinking that all of that has finally got to you today."
Marcus remained silent, tapping away at the keypad. A galaxy map flickered to life on the wide circular holo-pad before him and a purple line stretched out from a blue triangular mark, arcing its way across the hologram.
"I am sorry Victoria," He began, "I am preoccupied, but perhaps not with the events this ship and her crew have run into recently."
"Then what," Victoria asked, leaving her station and walking over to him. Marcus silently noted that there was no one else on the deck.
She came to a stop beside him and placed her hand on his, stopping him from using the console. She slowly turned him to face her and ran her hand up the length of his arm. He closed his eyes and slowly placed his hands about her waist. He opened his eyes again and found himself confronted by her deep blue sapphires. He gripped her waist and took a deep breath.
"This is the problem Victoria," He said apologetically, "I have a wife and a son,"
With that, he slowly let go of her and backed away. Her gaze followed him, her face not showing any emotion.
"But you are attracted to me," She said, her voice nothing but a whisper.
"Nothing can happen," Marcus said, trying to sound as resolute as he could. "Please, return to your duties."
Victoria looked at him for a moment longer before turning slowly and walking back over to her console. The door to Marcus' left clicked open and Lucas stepped into the room.
"Admiral, I have the latest sensor data report," He trailed off towards the end and followed Marcus' gaze. He felt his stomach twinge slightly and he stepped a little closer to Marcus. "What happened?"
"Nothing Lucas, I'll explain later," Marcus looked away from Captain Wade and took the data slate from his old friend, "Let me see that report,"
"You go review it on the bridge sir; I can finish up here,"
"Okay, thank you Lucas," Marcus smiled at Anderson before swiftly leaving the room. Lucas watched him go before turning to Victoria, he gave her turned back a sour look before turning his attention to the console Marcus had been working at.
Sayne counted three ships, and a gaggle of fighters in tow behind them. The side of the lead Liberty Dreadnought read "Avalanche". Sayne smiled. That was indeed Scarecrow. He couldn't ignore the fact that he commanded that very same dreadnought. Sayne knew that the fighters trailing behind obviously either had an agenda, and were lost as well and simply following. He could tell they wern't apart of the group. They were using thrusters and engine kill to keep up with the Freedom Fighter fleet, masking their Ion trails.
A jet black sabre eh? He reconginized that quickly. That was the alternate Scarecrow. With the events that passed in the other universe, he was sure he was either after Scarman, Merlow, or both. He quickly calculated the chance that the black sabre would spot him and deemed it slim to none. He quickly alalyzed the chance that an attack on the pirate fighters would suceed and deemed it a failure. Too many loaded out fighters and too much of a chance that the Avalanche would detect the scramble. His best chance was to bounce a transmission off the engine of the Liberty Dreadnought and bounce it back to the black sabre. That's when he noticed it.
A field around what looked like a totaled Liberty Dreadnought. Whatever hit that thing totaled it. It looked like a debris field in the middle of a force field. Sayne thought quickly and decided he would place that aside for later calculations on stealing it and using it for his own devices. He rigged up a feed and bounced it off the engines of the Avalanche and fed it back to the Black Sabre.
"This is Sayne Jyant Jadyn. I've piggy backed this on your slim ion trail mask. I believe we met in the other universe. I have some coordinates on a station or two that can get you restocked on ammo and batteries if you are interested. I have a lock on their position constantly. But do not think this information is free Marcus. I do require something in return."
I've lost people who meant the world to me...and I'm still doing just fine. I'm coming for everything they said I couldn't have.
"I've checked over everything sir, the tractor beam on the remains of Wilder's ship is still secure," Lieutenant Kaye smartly reported before Admiral Scarman.
"Good work Lieutenant, how about our company?" Marcus handed the data slate back to Kaye.
"They are still following us, but they haven't portrayed any further provocative behavior,"
"Alright, maintain a vigilant watch, I don't trust them." Admiral Scarman nodded at Kaye and spun his seat back around to face the main viewscreen.
"Does the course Rear Admiral Anderson and I devised in Astrometrics shave off any time at all Ensign?"
Jessica Powell tapped at her keypad for a moment before answering. "Your course ought to cut off an extra five days from our journey Admiral,"
"Excellent, implement it at once,"
"Admiral," Victoria spoke from a console behind Scarecrow, "After studying the data in Astrometrics I have managed to make a rough triangulation on our position,"
"Go ahead," Marcus turned to face Edge. Ever since their encounter in Astrometrics, she had been stiff around him, almost tetchy.
"Admiral, I think we are somewhere near the Sigma - 17 system," She tapped the controls of her console and brought up a small star chart on the screen above her head. It showed Sirius space, but with added details. "I have made a localized scan, there seems to be a greater number of colonized systems and it was difficult to pinpoint direct familiarities, but I think that is definitely Sigma - 17,"
"Good work Captain," Marcus smiled at her as she turned to face him, "To say you're specialist field is combat, you're proving to be a half decent navigator,"
Victoria gave him a hollow smile and returned to her console. Marcus knew he had blown it with her, she would never come around. He had decided to shut out his feelings for her and only prayed that in doing so he didn't silence their friendship. However that seemed to be turning into a reality as Victoria seemed more bitter by the hour.
"Once we enter the Sigma - 17 system I want to send out a low bandwidth message, seeking only Freedom Fighter frequencies," Marcus turned back to the con, "Even if our allies are not in this universe, the chances are there will be an alternate version of the FF. Seeing as we have no knowledge what so ever on universal politics, I don't want to bring an armed Dreadnought into non-Liberty territories."
"Good idea," Admiral Wilder said from the communications console, "I'll begin composing a message for the Freedom Fighters,"
"Thank you Admiral," Marcus turned to the rest of the bridge crew, "If anyone needs me I'll be in my ready room."
***
Marcus almost jumped out of his skin as his communicator alarm went off. He hammered his fist down on the receiver irritably and scowled at the console.
"I told you not to contact me unless it was an emergency,"
"This is Sayne Jyant Jadyn," A familiar voice spoke through his speakers. Marcus' anger rose. "I have managed to unmask you Scarecrow, you remember me right?"
"Sayne," Marcus growled, "How could I forget?"
"I can help you Marcus, I see you are running low on fuel and supplies, I have an extensive knowledge of this region of space," Sayne's voice was almost patronizing.
"How could you possibly know, and how the hell did you get here!"
"Calm down Marcus, I hitched a ride with the Freedom Fighters, as I'm sure you must also have done, somehow." Sayne's voice became serious. "You want resources and a good bed to rest in, I can give you coordinates to the nearest populated star system."
"Why would you help me Jadyn," Marcus spat.
"Not out of the kindness of my heart Scarecrow, don't worry." Sayne took a deep breath. "I need you to do something for me..."
After a moment's pause, Scarecrow replied bitterly. "Speak your piece Hacker."
"The Freedom Fighters know of my betrayal. Back in my own universe, before I split off into other realms, they implated software into me, which went haywire with out my ability to shut it off. When things went aray, I left the Freedom Fighters in order for me to keep control of the software. Overtime I saw what they truely were. Simple law enforcement. I eventually joined the black sheep of my family, becoming somewhat of the menace that would lead them all."
"I asked for your piece not a history lesson." he interupted with a snide.
"You wanted to know my piece, I'm getting there you pompus swine." I replied with a snarl. "I came back in Evolved, your universe, when the Zeta began to attack and destroyed the Texas system. They updated my software, and put me in a new program, FAZ01 Project, or Fahrenheit Zero-Alpha Project. This updated my software and added new things to it, including several key components that allowed me to see much more than the normal human. That's when I began to see that the Zeta that eventually allied with them had taken them over, similar to a Nomad. I got out just in time. They're infected Marcus, all besides your alternate self. We have to take them out."
All this of course was a lie. The truth behind it was that while the Freedom Fighters were distracted by the alternate Marcus, I would have a straight shot at Admiral Scarman. And would be able to dispatch him myself with out having to worry about this pirate Scarman taking my kill. It was a perfect plan, and it would work well.
"I see..." Marcus said trailing off.
I smiled. All was going to come together just fine.
I've lost people who meant the world to me...and I'm still doing just fine. I'm coming for everything they said I couldn't have.
"I want Robert Merlow, it would do me great pleasure to instigate his death," Marcus replied, thinking deeply. "If he is playing host to the Nomads however, then the chances are he is already dead."
"Merlow has not been infected," Sayne's voice replied over the communicator. "They have managed to take several of the leaders, but since we entered sub-space they have not had any reinforcements and they were forced to leave some of their targets."
"Interesting," Marcus gave it another moments thought, ever suspicious of the ex Lane Hacker. "A deal Mr. Jadyn, I will assist you in bringing down the Freedom Fighters on two conditions."
"State your terms," Sayne's voice portrayed no emotion.
"You leave Robert Merlow to me, and you take us to the nearest colonized system right now, this instant."
Sayne sat back in his seat. He wanted to trail the Avalanche, but if he were to truly manipulate the Marcus Scarman of the previous dimension, he would have to be patient.
"I can give you coordinates to the nearest populated star system," He began, "And don't worry about Merlow, he's all yours."
"Acceptable," Marcus' voice crackled over the speakers. "Lie to me Sayne, and I will kill you myself."
The commlink went dead, leaving Sayne alone with his thoughts. He would probably have to deal with the Black Flag Scarecrow as well at some point, but for the moment he would be valuable. Sayne began compiling his navigational data on the region, ready to be sent to Marcus.
"They have moved out of range," Lieutenant Kaye looked openly at Admiral Scarman, "They changed course and left, it was as if they just got bored."
"What, all thirty seven ships?" Marcus folded his arms, observing the sensor data before him.
"All of them, they dropped out of stealth mode and blasted away at full cruise." Kaye slid a dataslate across the console to Marcus. "I took the liberty of marking each of their ion trails however; we now have accurate data on their ship's output."
"Good idea Lieutenant, feed the data into Avalanches main computer so that we'll be able to detect them should we come across them again,"
"I'll get right onto it sir,"
Lieutenant Kaye stepped to attention smartly before swiftly leaving Astrometrics. Marcus turned to face the single wide angle viewpoint. He clasped his hands behind his back and sighed. Hundreds of stars lay before him, twinkling in their own luminescence.
The twin bulkheads opened once more behind him, turning him around to face the newcomer. It was Rear Admiral Anderson. Lucas walked into the room and headed directly for a console. He began tapping at the controls, bringing a large schematic up on the main holo-projector.
"Shouldn't take long before we get to Sigma - 17," He said, looking over at Marcus. "We're making good progress and we've had no problems as of yet."
"Good," Marcus said, sounding absent minded. "Good,"
"Sir?"
Scarecrow turned around to face his friend, "What is it Lucas?"
"Marcus, you seem distracted."
Marcus turned back to the viewport and sighed again, "I am Lucas, I'm thinking about home."
Lucas remained silent, prompting Marcus to continue.
"Tomoko, little Matt, am I ever going to see them again?" He turned to face his old friend, "I mean, look at the probability, we've passed into another dimension, and after what happened I can't go tampering with the space / time continuum again."
Lucas stepped away from the console and walked slowly across the room. He stopped just short of Marcus and looked him squarely in the eye.
"I know, I miss Faye," He began, "I'm sure we will find a way to see them again, what you have to do is to make sure you don't begin to forget them."
Marcus looked at Lucas, keeping his mouth closed. He knew what Lucas was getting at, and despite the anger he felt, he couldn't disagree.
"Don't worry," Marcus turned away from Lucas, back to the window. "I won't forget."
Lucas stayed put for a moment longer, staring into Scarecrow's turned back. He eventually turned on his heel and exited the room, leaving Marcus alone once more.
I landed my bird on the tarmac, the green lettering on the side briefly illuminating in the light which read "The Trueblood Raven". I opened the cockpit and climbed out to the ground, dusted myself off and caught a repairman just walking out. I told him the damages and paid him accordingly. He nodded and my ship got placed on a portable mover and moved into the shop. The Black Flag landed near the tarmac I had landed on. It was a pitch black sabre with only the red flag on the side. The man was impossible, and more headstrong than his lawful counterpart. Bastard...
He gave me a brief stare before telling the repairman the damages as well, and then briefly threatened him if anything were to happen to the ship he would have him killed. I rolled my eyes, typical stereotypical pirate behavior. One of the main reasons I departed that lifestyle. I shook my head and walked into the bar, where I was intercepted by Marcus. He grabbed my shirt and slammed me against the wall.
"You better have a good explination for being here in the same universe I'm in Sayne." he snarled. I pulled out my gun and put placed it just under his ribs and armed it. The whine of the plasma conduits warmed up and then stayed at a steady high pitched drone.
"But for some reason, I don't have to tell you do I? Scarecrow." I replied in a jeer.
He winced at the name and pulled back, I kept the blaster trained on him for a few seconds after and placed it back in it's holster, keeping an ever present eye on him the entire time.
"We may not like each other, and I certainly don't like you, but in this time, we need to work together, but if you get in my way for the revenge against Merlow..." he started.
"Keep your pants on Scarman. I won't interfere." I replied. "Only one I'm after is your alternate ego. And even if I did get in your way for revenge against Merlow, there isn't much you could do."
He snarled and walked back out to where the rest of his crew was, he turned around before exiting.
"You're a bastard Sayne Jadyn, but..." at the next words he squinted his eyes down. "...well played." and exited back to the tarmac. I smiled and ordered a drink to go before walking back out towards my ship, with an ever present sneer on my face.
I've lost people who meant the world to me...and I'm still doing just fine. I'm coming for everything they said I couldn't have.
Merlow's Ready Room, Tuatha de Dannan
Silverton Asteroid Field
Colorado System / Liberty Space
Merlow sat in his chair, looking over a few datapads. The reports from all over his Migrant Fleet were positive, the casualties low from the trip in void space. The end result was satisfying, but he was distracted. He was pulling three ships out of the Migrant Fleet, his fleet. Drawing out vital members of the leadership wasn't be the best thing he could do for the Fleet, but he had a feeling that space had something in store for them. He looked outside his window, a large plasma field that kept the vacuum of space out. He looked upon the shimmering of of the stars, seeing through the invisible hulls of the Yukon and the Data Entity.
I'm taking out the three ships that lead this Fleet. I hope it's not a mistake
There was a ring at the door. The figures of Captain Tokhia Mai and Rear Admirals Nagato and Testarossa walked into his ready room standing before his desk. Merlow motioned them to sit down.
"I take it you're all briefed in what exactly is going on right now?" Merlow asked.
"Yes Sir," replied Captain Tokhia Mai, Commanding Officer of the Yukon, "We're ready to roll out as soon as you are."
"Admiral Nagato?"
"Ready." RADM Nagato, CO of the Data Entity replied quietly, almost inaudible.
"...Right. Tessa, how are the systems on all three ships?"
"Running cool and quiet, Sir. We're ready."
"Give the order. I want all ships moving now."
"Yes Sir!" The three of them saluted. Nagato and Mai flickered out, their holograms disappearing from his room. Tessa approached Merlow cautiously.
"...Sir? Can I ask you something?" Tessa asked, her voice a little uneasy.
"Shoot, Tessa."
"I'm just a little uneasy about this mission. I don't know what it is, but it's nagging at me that we're going to run into something out there."
"Tessa," Merlow replied, grasping her lightly by the shoulders, "Don't worry about it. We're going to be fine."
"Alright Sir, if you say so. I'll get this ship moving." Tessa smiled and saluted, turning about and walking out of Merlow's Ready Room, leaving him alone once again. He turned around to watch as the Danaan engaged it's FTL Warp Drives.
I know what you're talking about, Tessa. There is something out there, something that just doesn't feel right, but we have to meet the Avalanche and I have to come back, we all do. We have to...
He stood there watching time and space rush by his window, watching the Universe flash before his eyes.
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--
Marcus followed Sayne into the bar, scowling as he went. He didn't trust the ex Hacker one bit. At first the man had claimed to be Marcus' brother, which had turned out to be one of his schemes. If it werent for the simple fact that Marcus and his Black Flag Corsairs were hopelessly lost in this new dimension, if that was what it really was, Marcus would have killed Sayne the moment he saw him.
Sayne indicated several seats in the corner as he went across to the bar. Marcus walked over to the table and pulled out one of the chairs. It grated across the metal decking, turning the heads of some of the closer patrons. Marcus scowled at them and sat down. His palm computer began beeping quietly at his belt. He removed it and flicked it open.
"Scarman," He said bitterly.
The voice of his comrade Zed Raphael crackled over the speaker. "Where abouts are you sir,"
"I'm in the local tavern, to the east of the landing platforms. I'm with Sayne Jadyn. Tell everyone to spread out through the city and find out as much as they can about where we are. You and Skyler get to this bar; we're going to have a chat with our old friend."
"Understood," The communicator went dead just as Sayne returned with a couple of tumblers.
"Lets see if the Dublin Malts are any different here,
Marcus' face portrayed no emotion as Sayne dumped the tumbler in front of him. He didn't even glance at it.
"Come on Marcus, lighten up," Sayne grinned. Marcus remained still.
"I'm here to talk about how we get to the Freedom Fighters Jadyn, if you insist on attempting to engage me socially then I will simply get up and leave."
"A man of business," Sayne said as he took a sip of his whiskey. "Alright then, we'll talk about the Freedom Fighters. I have a plan..."
***
The LNS Avalanche sped on at maximum cruise speed, the majority of her crew asleep in their bunks. It was the middle of the night cycle and Marcus had given his crew some well needed resting hours. He was running his ship on a skeleton crew for the night, hoping that they didn't run into anything serious. He sat in his command chair, leaning on his chair arm with his chin on his fist trying desperately not to fall asleep. Captain Wade and Ensign Powell had the helm, whilst Lieutenant Kaye stood at tactical.
We are approaching a class J nebula, Victoria said smartly, breaking the silence and jumping Marcus out of his sub-conscious. She was still ignoring him as she had been since their encounter in Astrometrics.
Anything out of the ordinary, Marcus asked, sitting up in his chair.
Nothing, Victoria replied as she ran a sensor sweep through the nebula. Wait,
Marcus raised an eyebrow as she tapped away at her console, What is it Captain,
Sensors are picking up several antimatter distortions. They are ships, at least, I think they are ships, but they seem to be shielded by some rudimentary cloaking field.
Go to yellow alert, Marcus spun around to face the tactical console, If they are trying to hide themselves from us then they give us reason to be suspicious.
He turned back around to face the helm. Open all sub-space frequencies.
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--
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