Adrian Morton was worried. He didn't worry often, but now was one of those times. He lit a smoke and paced around infront of his desk.
How long has he been out there?
The thought wasn't a comforting one.
That message could have been sent a week ago or more... He could already be dead for all I know.
That was less comforting. Adrian looked over the report again, looking for clues, ideas, locations... anything to help sort this mess out. Any soldier knows you lose friends sometimes, and Adrian wasn't any stranger to that. Grace Callahan had been his mentor, drinking buddy, and closest friend. She was gone.
From: Major Carl J. Anders
To: Hellfire Legion HIGH COMMAND EYES ONLY
Subject:
----------------------------------------------------
Good news and bad news. The good news is Meallan Dagon is somewhere in Colorado. Where exactly, I don't know. His systems seemed to be fried. He said that his life support should be online for at least four more days. I think anyway. The bad part is before his comm systems are down and he said that we have a Class Alpha 7 security breach. What that is, I don't know. But I'm betting it isn't good. Attaching comm logs. Major Anders out.
Star Captain Meallan Dagon Wrote:[29.05.2011 02:30:47] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: This is Sta***********STATIC**********agon of the Hellf************STATIC***************y day! May day! My shi****STATIC****
[29.05.2011 02:32:11] [HF]-Carl.Anders: *Taps his commlink* That sounded an awful lot like the Colonel.
[29.05.2011 02:32:17] [HF]-Carl.Anders: Colonel? You out there?
[29.05.2011 02:32:41] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: *******STATIC*******usted! Need supp*****STATIC*****gational computer is down and the engines are de*****STATIC*****
[29.05.2011 02:33:04] [HF]-Carl.Anders: Colonel, can you give me a location set?
[29.05.2011 02:33:48] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: *****STATIC*****ow where i am.*****STATIC*****vigational comp is down.
[29.05.2011 02:34:43] [HF]-Carl.Anders: Navigational Computers down
[29.05.2011 02:34:49] [HF]-Carl.Anders: That sucks.
[29.05.2011 02:34:52] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: Life support still func*****STATIC****lert HC for a class Alpha 7 security breach.
[29.05.2011 02:35:16] [HF]-Carl.Anders: That doesn't sound good. Want me to send out a rescue team?.
[29.05.2011 02:35:40] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: ******STATIC******ck this piece of comm******STATIC*******
[29.05.2011 02:36:48] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: Just aler*****STATIC*****for a Alpha 7 security breach. My life su*****STATIC****** still funct****STATIC***** four days
[29.05.2011 02:37:52] [HF]-Carl.Anders: *Sighs* Got it.
[29.05.2011 02:37:57] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: *****STATIC***** energy batteries.
[29.05.2011 02:38:24] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: *****STATIC****omm link is going do****STATIC****
[29.05.2011 02:38:28] [HF]-Carl.Anders: I suppose.
[29.05.2011 02:38:40] [HF]-Carl.Anders: Comm link going down? Crap.
[29.05.2011 02:38:42] [HF]-S-MealIan.Dagon: *****Signal ended*******
It could have eased his mind, but it didn't. At least Meallan had been responding, after a fashion.
It's only Colorado Adrian... Only Colorado. Only a few hours. Nothing more... He's out there Adrian.
Morton stubbed out his cigarette, and stored the message on his datapad. This was a second chance for him. One lost, one to find. He walked down the coridor to the comms room.
"Meg, I'm gunna need you to put a tracer on this. See what tri-angulation data you can get on the transmission."
"Adrian, I can't, I mean... Everything's got to be cleared with..."
"Screw clearance, this isn't Hellfire business. This is mine damnit."
The young comms officer just looked at him sternly, her eyes the very picture of disapproval.
"Just do it Meg."
"I'm gonna be forwarding all this to the Star Colonel, you know that, right?"
That's what the poor girl said. It only took half an hour to convince her to run the diagnostics without the Colonel's go-ahead, but he managed it. Only owed a few drinks into the bargain, which, knowing Meg, wouldn't be a totally unpleasent experience.
But still, the two words didn't fill him with any comfort.
Planet Durango.
They rang in his head.
The tiny volcanic hellhole Fleet Admiral Hale had named his pride and joy dreadnaught after... It wasn't a name any Legionaire liked the sound of. The sulphurous gasses it spewed into the vacuum around it made navigation in the area difficult, and could clog up your engine if even the slightest particle got into your filtering system.
The planet's weak gravitational pull was enough to suck a sabre down into it, but not enough to hold any atmosphere. The vast volcanic plumes spiraled way above the moon's surface as a result.
Adrian Morton lowered himself into the flight seat of his sabre, and send the request codes to launch control. SAD were often seen leaving the base without any priororders being issued, so it was no surprise when the launch bay doors on America Base opened.
Here's to a spec-ops badge.
The sabre sped from the launch bay out into Vespucci space, and headed for the Magellan jumphole.
Not a lot of time Adrian, but play it cool... No need to land yourself in a firefight this time, just stay quiet. Play it safe.
He plotted a course to Colorado through Ontario, avoiding most of the Navy's patrol paths. Five hours had passed since the transmission was received, and he wouldn't arrive in the system for another two.
Seven hours is a lot of tme Adrian. Lot can happen in that time.
He pushed the thoughts out of his head and checked his nav-map again, wishing his sabre was just a little faster.
Meallan thought as he browsed that old issue of Sirius Bunnies again. Every detail of the those gorgeous women skin was already known to him. The magazine was already over-used and he closed it and threw it to the side of his cockpit chair.
He looked at the console's HUD again.
Life support: 39%
Those numbers made him queasy.
The whole operation was a fiasco. All he could do in that hell forsaken place was running, and trying to find the smallest intel of where his sister was.
And with that, her knowledge of the location of the Vespucci Jump-hole and many other things that could off-throw the balance of a lot of things.
Meallan reached under his pilot chair and pulled a bottle of Jack Wanniels. He caressed it and opened it. The sound of the liquid hitting the metal glass was relaxing. He suddenly raised it in the air and proposed a toast to himself.
To the Legion. And my sister.
He drank the whole glass in one gulp, feeling the burn down his throat and a ton of burning steel hitting his stomach. That felt real. That gave him a small semblance of focus.
Now.. If i get out of this, the HC is going to pick my brain apart for the truth. And gods, they will be pissed.
He poured more whisky into the glass and took a mental note of all the leads he could scrape from Gallia and around.
His sister, in the brig.
Probably being tortured.
She wouldn't break.
She's tough as the Taus.
But even so, the Legion's security couldn't be jeopardized. He had to know. That's why and many other reasons that he left Liberty in a hurry.
She's tough as our mother. Hells, even worse.
He tried to convince himself that she would hold until he found a way to get her back. And with that, everyone would be safe.
With that, he swipped more whisky and grabbed that magazine again.
Pushing that life support energy meter away from his mind.
Adrian's sabre sped through the Ontario system... Fast, but not fast enough for his liking.
Eight hours Adrian, too damned slow
He tapped his fingers nervously against the flight stick as the Colorado jumphole loomed up infront of him. He slowed his engines to a stop and checked the data readings from Ouray base. the system looked empty.
Well at least I can count that as a blessing.
He guided his ship into the wormhole and closes his eyes. Jumpholes had always scared the hell out of him. Gravitational anomalies which hurled you lightyears in an instant... Not the nicest of thoughts.
He opened his eyes again as the violent shaking stopped and looked around. Space is never really black when you look at it. Purple, with shades of red, distant and in the background... If he hadn't been in such a damned hurry, he would have sat and appreciated it a bit.
No time... Durango...
He fired up the cruise engines again and sped off towards the tiny dot of a moon in the distance.
[color=#FF9900]Adrian Morton slowed his sabre to a stop, feeling the mild gravitational pull of the little moon on his ship's controls. He checked his scanners.
Nothing...
Banking around to port he entered a slow orbit of the moon, flicking his comms from channel to channel, hoping to hear something, watching as the volcanic clouds sprayed sulphur out into space around him. Then he saw it... A flicker on his scanner. He turned his sabre towards it and kicked in the thrusters, dodging another cloud of suphurous gas, and heading directly towards the blip.
"Meallan, wake up."
No responce.
"Dagon you great drunken moron, WAKE THE F&*^ UP."
He yelled over local comms, seeing his old friend's head jerk upright in the cockpit.
"Need a lift? I basically came all the way out here on my own to save your drunk ass. I'm probably going to get fired for doing it... now eject from that old heap of crap and I'll tractor the pod... Not that I'm not glad to see you, just, this place is a f*&%ing hellhole, and I really don't want to get caught out here by some overzealous navy patrol and have to kill a bunch of people."
A rough ride in a pod. Crammed until it that blasted 1x1 space was opened by the automated
robots. And the there it was.
The sight of eight gun barrels looking down on him.
Hello Legionnaires... Err, what's up?
One of the gun barrels flashed. And soon a tranqualizer dart was sticking out of his neck.
He slowly retrieves it and looks at it. His vision going on blurry.
Oh this is gorram gr-
Then his body slumped to the floor. Four arms picked him up and dragged him to a near 'debriefing' room.
I don't care how or who. I want to know everything.
Grand Admiral Locklear said to the nearby officer.
Star Captain Morton walked down from his Sabre and witnessed the whole scene, and just shooked his head at the whole display of security.
This was my business.
He walked down the hall, looking for the nearest route to the bar.
Said Star Colonel Hunter to Locklear with her usual smile.
A shame Voss is not here, I am sure he would have had fun with Dagon. But well, I guess we will have to take care of that.
With that, Hunter entered the room, in which Dagon was sitting half destroyed on a chair. It seems the tranquilizer was a bit too strong for him.
Awwww c'mon, I didn't expect the tranquilizer to knock you out for so long.
She received no reaction, which made her angry. She walked to him and gave him a huge slap in the face, so loud that it could be heard outside of the room. Dagon fell off the chair but he was at least able to talk now.
Good. Now that you are fully here, tell me why did you dissapear some months ago, what did you do in that time and why the hell do we have a major security breach ? I want to know everything...
His ears were ringing hard from the slap, and hitting on the cold floor, face first, just woke him up even more. As two of the security guards propped him up again, he shook his head, trying to shake of the numbness and the pain.
Hello, Cupcake... Missed me much?
He knew he hit a nerve, as her cheeks flushed red, as they always did when he called her that in the old days.
His eyes ran her body and the glint of the 3 Star Wing on her lapelle summoned his attention.
Alongside her ever breath-taking bossom.
Congratulations.. Star Colonel.
He smirked while saying that, but quickly she slapped him again, this time slightly harder, and down he went again.
Oh for frack sak-
The cold floor greeted him again, and the metallic flavor of blood was felt in his mouth.
Hunter chuckled a bit when she saw Dagon lying on the ground. He has not changed at all, he was always up for trouble.
I am indeed the new Star Colonel, because you thought it was alright to dissapear, leaving the SAD without a leader. But that is not important at the moment as it has been solved already a couple of weeks ago, but let me tell you my dear Dagon, this is not the time for jokes. I suggest you to be serious now, I will not hesitate to use a chair to test its durability on your head...
She watched him slowly getting back on the chair, his mouth bloody from the times he hit on the floor. He still had that careless grin in his face even though he knew that he was in a miserable situation. Maybe he just needed a little motivation. She took a bottle of Jack Wanniels, as far as she knew Dagon's favored drink and filled a glass with it and placed it on the table.
Now, let's start again, I hope that I won't have to use the chair so make sure to be serious now. So would you please answer to the questions I asked you, I am sure you still know them...
She walked arround the table, watching Dagon and slowly losing her patience...
He flexed his mouth to ease the pain of his face, grabbed the glass and gulped it down in one go. Feeling it burning the wound in his lips almost felt like bliss... And his grin just got bigger.
Such a pitty, Hunter... So professional now.. I do miss the old days.. And the cold nights in Ouray..
He let that one go slowly..
And it hit the mark.
The guard's eyes betrayed them as they imagined now the Star Colonel in an.. embarrasing position, to say the least.
Her eyes however spelled murder with capital M.
Now now Hunter... Violence isn't the way. I thought i taught you that.
You have my file, and you know well i'm thick skulled enough to take on that chair of yours and to take torture to the end.
He smirked, and poured another shot of Jack's into the glass and slid it to her corner of the table.
It only takes a nice chat to open my mind. Or do you have anything else to offer, Cupcake?
He looked at her again and sighed. That was one mighty fine Legionnaire. In all senses.
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