---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sitting on a couch, in an unfamiliar room. Michael waited for his host. Well, hosts. One being that of his Friend Ankiah, the other one Lieutenant-Commander Antigone Caithen, a woman he's never really had the chance of speaking with as of yet. "She's just on her way back from her station, Captain." Ankiah said, sitting opposite of Michael. "We're in your quarters, Ankiah. Feel free to speak freely with me.... It's still kinda weird being the Captain and all." Michael replied, hoping to calm Ankiah. "If anything is on your mind." Michael began, pausing as the door slid open. Thinking to himself for a moment, Michael decided to stand and greet the woman he would be discussing Ankiah's deployment with, knowing she would most likely be against it as well. "Lieutenant-Commander Caithen. It's good to have a proper sit down with you finally." "Shove it. I don't know what strings you pulled to get me reinstated as a Lieutenant-Commander. But I will not let your charity sway my thoughts." She spat, sitting down next to Ankiah. "I'm still mad about all this." Michael scrunched his face in confusion at the statement and decided it would be prudent to inquire about the miscommunication. "And what strings would I have to pull to get you reinstated?" Caithen walked over to the couch and gently sat next to Ankiah with a smile, holding it for a moment before turning to Michael and quickly shifting to a neutral expression. "I wouldn't know. But the Adjudicator had stripped me of my rank a year ago. And then suddenly you show up with a ship and my lover and all of a sudden, I'm a Lieutenant-Commander again. I will not accept your charity." She shot back calmly. Michael sat on the couch with a confused expression, quickly looking through Antigone's file once again but finding nothing but that one assault trial where she was found guilty... "Ahh... So. Let's start from the beginning. Pretend I don't know what happened, and you tell me what you think happened. I want to sort this out quickly, so we don't have any miscommunications." Lieutenant-Commander Caithen took Ankiah's hand into her own and began to think heavily on the events that lead up to her demotion before looking Michael in the eyes. "Well. I was an instructor at Luna base a little over a year ago. My job was to teach the qualified personnel, that even though they were the best of the best in their squad or division. They weren't worth shit on Luna. So I broke them down and remade them into the best weapons the Terran navy can produce. I taught them how to properly fight with their hands, how to out-think their enemies, repair a ship with a toaster, so on. Then one day, a new group arrives, and this punk wouldn't shut up about how great he was, thought he was hot shit or something because he slept with his previous instructor for a recommendation or some crap." Taking a deep breath and a drink that Ankiah had provided for her, Antigone continued her story. "Then, one day after a spar, he grabbed my ass. I told him it wasn't appropriate and that if he did it again, I would rip his arm off... After I broke his nose, that is. A few days later, after armour practice, I was walking to take my mesh off, and he came up behind me and grabbed my chest, told me he wanted to show me something... So I turned around and ripped his arm off. Broke his leg with his own arm after." Antigone laughed out. "He screamed like a little bitch... The next day I was found guilty of assault and stripped of my rank, busted down to private. Don't know what happened to that prick." Michael sighed and rubbed his face. " He was found guilty of sexual assault. Branded one so anyone with an implant could see his crime, sentenced to seventy-five years in a rehab colony, and is denied the use of clone or cyber arm replacement until his time is served." Antigone sat there with a dumb look on her face as if realizing she missed something important. "Come again?" "So... You missed a lot then, but I'm not going to blame you. Adjudicators take that shit so seriously the kid was probably pulled out of his hospital bed the moment they stopped his bleeding. You weren't guilty of assault based on his actions. In fact, you weren't even charged with ripping his arm off. That was written off as justified self-defence. You were charged with breaking his leg. The Adjudicator only revoked your rank as a show that he punished you for excessive force. From what I see in his personal notes, he was going to reinstate you at the end of the week. Did you not read that part of your punishment?" Michael replied, double-checking the notes just to make sure. The reason you were still a private is that you took the position Soto offered you when he swooped in to scoop you up. Honestly, I don't know why you took the position." Caithen groaned and leaned back into her couch in frustration. "I thought I was going to be shipped off to some backwater outpost, so when he offered me a job as a boarding marine, I took it. I'm a fucking idiot. I could have been a Commander by now." She lamented. "Hey now!" Ankiah complained, leaning into Antigone. "If you didn't take his offer, you wouldn't have met me. That's something, right?" Caithen coughed and put her arm around Ankiah. "Are you alright?" "No. But it would help if you talked to the Captain properly and not be so hostile." Ankiah replied. "You're right. I'm sorry, Captain. I was out of line. And stupid apparently." Lieutenant-Commander Caithen stated, meeting Michael's eyes. "Well, now that that nasty bit is out of the way. Tell me what you think of deploying Ankiah on this mission. Did you receive the report? And do you think she's ready?" Michael asked, somewhat knowing the answer but needing to hear it. "She is not." Caithen replied sternly, earning a look of disappointment from Ankiah. "She is not ready if this was a Terran mission. But it is not. It is Terran led but on her planet, and her planet needs her. If it's just standing in front of a wall and supporting ground troops with anti-armour and artillery. She can do it." Michael nodded in understanding, looking over her sim score and time spent. "She's worked hard but still needs training. Continue until rest time. Get her ready for the mission. I'll talk too Soto and make sure her part just support, nothing else." "I appreciate that, Captain." Caithen replied, ruffling Ankiah ears. "I'll be on the surface too, so I'll be sure to make sure she is up to the task... And thank you for setting my whole mess straight... I was always to... scared to find if I really was charged with defending myself, you know? So I never looked and just kept my head down. I appreciate it." "We do not tolerate that as a people anymore. Remember that and don't be afraid of shit, people." Michael responded, rising from his seat. The two females nodded in returned as he left the room. Taking in a deep breath, Michael Turned to his left and walked a bit down the hall before entering the lift and leaning against the wall, exhaling a long breath. "Holy shit, this Captain stuff sucks." "I do not know what is wrong, partner, but your vitals are very high. I would suggest relaxing before your next task." "Thanks, Jack." Michael breathed out, keying the lift to the barracks where he would find Soto. "Work is needed to be done. And I am the doer." Michael replied, exiting the lift with his head high. Jack quickly took form beside Michael and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I am here to help if you require assistance." Michael shrugged, beginning to make his way to the tactical room in search of Soto. "It's fine. Lieutenant-Commander Caithen is just a bit scary, is all. She's one of the most dangerous Terrans alive and she'll literally rip your arms off if you make her angry." "I see." Jack replied, stopping for a moment. "I would like to see her reaction when pulling one of my arms off. I would think it to be funny." Michael laughed at the thought as he turned into his destination, walking up to the table as Soto and Sergeant Aleyn worked on a battle plan. "What do you have for me?" "They have about twenty thousand troops surrounding the city. Most of them are concentrated around their camp here." Soto stated, pointing to the obvious Briolb camp. "From that camp, they roll out a few tanks every three hours or so and fire at the same point on at the wall, like they're trying to drill through it. They do that until they run out of energy retreat then repeat." Taking a breath, Soto keyed a few controls, displaying the full tactical map."The plan so far is to bring the ship into the atmo so we can drop off a mech, make it look natural instead of orbital. Have it fire a particle caster to create a trench as it lands just as the tanks are running out of energy. Then proceed to have it shell the camp and surrounding areas as the troops grav chute in. After that, if they're smart, they'll run. If not, the ground pounders will use heavy weapons to take out any attackers while the Mech provides cover." Commander Soto finished, playing the sim of the battle. "This is how it would work if it was Terran soldiers. The retreat bit is where things get fuzzy. I'm not sure if they're smart enough to run away from overwhelming firepower." Michael nodded and looked at both Jack and Aylen. "Thoughts?" "I would suggest placing team A2 here and A7 here." Jack added, moving the teams slightly. "It gives you a better firing arc by one point eight three degrees." Soto nodded his head with a chuckle. "Leave it to the AI to make use of all the options. Anything else you can see? It helps." Michael sighed and watched the sim play once again. " So we drop and shoot until they run?" "Most plans involve shooting your enemy better than they shoot you, Captain." Sergeant Aleyn replied, happily nodded at Jack. Michael sighed and accepted the plan as the sim finished, turning towards the door. "Alright. Do you think the equipment will be ready in time?" "That would be up to Rowan. But he assures me it'll be done on time. He said he'd even add ears to the Mech." Soto replied, continuing to study the map. "Great, that's all I need." Michael laughed out, waving to the two men as he left the room. "What do you think so far, Jack? I know we need to save this Lunouri guy, but where do we go after that?" Michael asked, stepping into the lift and keying the hangar. "We can decide that upon seeing their reaction to aliens. It will most likely be negative regardless of our help as the Briolb have not treated the Voktlix well." Jack stated evenly, stepping through the door as it opened. "MICHAEL!!" Rowan bellowed from across the hangar, waving some sort of tool at his, Captain. "Hey, Rowan. How are you, friend?" Michael asked, holding out his hand. "Busy as shit, thanks to you. Who's idea was it for tails anyway?" Rowan replied, taking Michael's hand into a firm grip. "That would be my idea, Quartermaster Rowan." Jack responded, watching as the man studied him closely. "What's this, and why is it made of hard light?" Rowan replied, poking jack with his sharp tool. "Seems pretty smart. Some kind of new captains assist program?" "I am not a program. I am an AI, and my name is Jack." Jack responded, finding it rather satisfying to be the one finally correcting organics on his origin. Rowan's spine straightened as his movements became stiff at the comment. "So.. Uhh.. An AI, is it? Friendly AI...... You! You're the fucker that helped Tanda program the Voktlix armour so quickly, aren't ya?" He nearly spat out. "I knew that guy was up to something when he was mumbling to himself. Going to have to teach him a lesson on honesty when I see him next." "That is correct. Now, what is the status of your work?" Jack replied with a slight grin, finally happy to get some recognition. "Ahh yeah. We're about fifty percent complete. We'll definitely be done on time at this rate. Though it's the mech that will take the longest, and we're just starting. You see, It's balanced to move without a tail, so we have to counterbalance it properly, or the pilot will fumble around." Rowan answered, guiding the two towards a torn apart Mech. "Good to hear, Rowan." Michael answered, watching as the fabricator continuously spat out parts. "How's our mass?" Rowan shrugged and pointed over to a large pile of coloured bricks. "We're eating through a large chunk for the mech, but we won't be using too much overall." "I had figured as much. We may be able to reclaim Briolb debris in orbit if mass becomes a problem." Jack stated, using his E-war station to monitor the surroundings from his projected position. Michael breathed out a long breath, stretching his back and arms as he looked around the hangar and the busy crew. "Let me know if you need anything or any help." He said to Rowan, making sure the man knew he was serious. "Aye, Captain." Rowan replied, unexpectedly bursting into a laugh. "I remember when I outranked you. What the hell happened?" "I didn't bang that one Captain who thought we were dating and finally got transferred to be a test pilot. Remember?" Michael replied with a laugh, turning to walk towards the lift. "Yeah! Now you're banging a hot alien babe." Was the reply he got from Rowan as the lift door closed. "Bridge." Michael spoke to the lift, leaning up against the wall and closing his eyes, letting the slight hum relax him. "You require rest. You have been working non-stop all day." Jack stated as the lift sped towards the bridge. "It's only been... Eleven hours. That's not too bad, Jack." Michael replied, ignoring the look his second was giving him. "Eleven hours since we entered the system. It has been quite stressful. I can monitor your vitals. You require a nap." Jack replied as Michael slowly dozed off. Shaking awake as the lift finished its journey, Michael walked out into the hall with a yawn. "I can just get my nanites to stimulate my brain if I get sleepy. I'll be fine." "No. Rest now so nanites will not harm you later when they are needed. I can mind the ship while you rest." Jack returned, stepping in front of Michael. "You also require sustenance. I have summoned Srettia as well. You two will rest now." Michael nodded, looking towards the door as Srettia exited and gave Michael a warm smile. "Alright, you win. I sleep now." He stated as Srettia walked up to him. "Hello, Captain. Care to take me to my quarters?" Srettia asked, taking Michael's hand into her own. "Perhaps you can join me for a meal as well?" Michael nodded and finally let a proper yawn slip by. "Eat and Sleep. We go." ----