She ducks her head, ears drooping. She heaves a big sigh as she flops back down by the chop.

 No praise and no reward toy meant she had failed her mission somehow. She lays her head on her feet trying to figure out if she has missed the signal causing her failure. Maybe she was suppose to not allow rescue of her human?

 She watches the men eyebrows moving up and down as she looks between them.

  Garrat figures, he can secure the human, lying down on  the seats. The Doggie  will need to be moved to the  front, or the cockpit.

  Bringing the Hyrian Pod aboard still only leaves about a foot , around the hold for  garret to try to  squeeze around.

In reply to pods (msg # 5):
   When Garrat Receives the toy he holds it and looks at the canine expectantly, she will do what she is trained to do, he holds it a little longer to make sure she isn't doing it half way then gives it to her.



   Garrat pulls the pod in trying t figure out how to handle it back in the hanger deck and can't come up with any easy solutions.  Especially none that don't get in other people's hair.  "Ah, to heck with this." Garrat curses. He locks his helm back on and pops the hatch leveling his rifle to the inside.  He doesn't squeeze the trigger quite yet but it would be easier if he just eliminated the threat.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:03, Thu 10 Nov 2016.

   Inside the Hyrian Pod...still floating outside the shuttle... Garrat can see three  Hyrians.

 One   has  collar pips of  an higher officer. She appears to be slumped over the controls.

  There is  a Non-com laying  towards the back... seems to have  died  from wounds.

  another officer  with only one pip on his collar, lies on the floor, hit had suffered  worse wounds, and appears to have died  from them

   Garrat Zip ties the officer's hands buckles him into the shuttle, he's about to send the others into the void but decides to bring the cadavres home to Dr. Christie and buckles them in as well before kicking the pod into the void.

  "We're ready to go home Bo."  Garrat says closing the hatch door.  He braces for movement as he checks to make sure the two Hyrians are dead.  Then takes the chair next to the Human comforting the dog if she will allow it.

   The two  dead  Hyrians..are..well....dead.

   The Officer   does not seem to have weapons wounds, but  does have a massive, bloody bruise next to her left ear.

In reply to pods (msg # 9):

Garrat takes some time to check her vitals.  Does she come to on the trip back?

    He also gets on the com. "Dr. Christie, I have two Hyrians here dead from GSW's are you interested in dissecting them?  Stefi, we also have a high level officer Hyrian with a banged up head.  I have her disarmed and zip tied.  Don't bother with a stretcher, I'll just toss her over my shoulder.  Should I take her to the brig or the med deck?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:35, Thu 10 Nov 2016.

  Stefi COMs  back,..take it to the Brig, we'll see what the Admiral says  about it..i don't want that thing in the Med tech with all our wounded there.

Garrat smiles faintly. "Already done."

   While this was going on, Bo brings the shuttle into the Hermes and lands by the med tech entrance.

 She happily receives her toy and proceeds to chew on it. After watching Garrat struggle with the pods, she picks up the chop and her toy and moves out of the way.

 Lying down behind the pilot's seat, she eats the chop with quick efficiency then lays her head on her toy and goes to sleep until they arrive at the docking bay.

The Ironwood stood off in Space docked again in the same location as before. This time though there was less of an air of rush and bustle. However the quiet hum of efficiency could be discerned by the well trained observer. Following the battle and the end of the meeting Sarah had hosted a get together for the entire crew in the mess hall. Crew members cycling through grabbing food socializing before rotating back onto duty. It was the curse of running a smaller ship fewer people meant that when you went to minimal manning you still never actually got a break. Sarah had stayed nearly the entire time speaking with and socializing with the vast majority of her crew, before retiring for the night.

The following morning the Ironwood held their own send off toasting the lost sailors, pilots, and marines of the combined fleet from aboard their ship, a leave roster had been approved and those that wished were taking their leisure aboard the carrier station. Sarah mulled over paperwork, and other  documents needing signing. So far the post battle assessments were promising efficiency was up, the engine problem had been resolved to the point there was little risk of problems, and the ships MedLab was up and running smoothly, it'd only taken a little bit of tugging to get things to a level that Sarah required, and so far it seemed her medical team was coming together nicely.

Setting aside the paperwork she makes herself a cup of cocoa, and considers the Admiral's stated plans for the upcoming operation. Certainly it made sense for the Ironwood to escort the shuttles in, and CPT Nilsson had done well with his Close Air Support craft against the larger ships of the Hyrian's, but there was much that could go wrong as she started to review the intelligence the fleet had on the Nivarian's, as with any problem it didn't hurt to do ones homework.

Sarah sat back in her chair, after spending the last several hours pouring over the data they'd compiled looking for weaknesses, and opportunities that the Nivarian's had shown in the past and trying to anticipate the mistakes they would make this time around. She glanced at the empty cup of hot cocoa that had been filled a few times already. She'd made some headway, but not as much as she'd wanted, though rarely did a commander get all the details possible on their enemy, rather they got good intell on their opponent which was predicated on a series of hypotheses about courses of action and responses and the like based on similar circumstances in history. A bit of a tall order considering this was going to be the first major confrontation between the Nivarian's and humans. She checked her comms, to find them full of various standard requests for each of the sections of her ship. She worked through them quickly trusting LC Harrington's judgement in pushing the requests on to her. Once she finished she logged off her vidboard and changed into workout clothing deciding perhaps a bit of a workout would be good for clearing her mind.

Sarah runs through her forms and various techniques of the coup de visse martial arts. Though it was difficult to fully practice without a sparring partner. After a few warm up runs she slips over to the small bench and runs through a fully body workout feeling her muscles cry out in protest was refreshing and helped shake the cobwebs from her mind.

Returning from the workout she decides on a nice long refreshing shower and dons a fresh uniform. Stepping out onto the bridge she waves off the OD and does a few checks of the leave rotation. Seeing that LC Harrington had just returned, she sends him a quick comm letting him know she's stepping off the ship. Not waiting or needing a response she quickly heads to the small hanger and onto a waiting Everest shuttle to be taken to the station.

--Everest-->

As the end of shore leave alarms had sounded LC Harrington arrived with a pair of ratings who'd gotten into trouble at a local establishment. They'd gotten so intoxicated that they were trying to fight with anyone who spoke with them including each other. Rather than watching the fleet depart and over seeing that Sarah was left cleaning up that mess, in an effort to not start the op short handed.  LC Harrington was on the bridge and had been read in on the Ironwood's special circumstances. As the ships of the fleet broke away from the docks blossoming away like a deadly steal and metaglass flower, dancing to an unheard and silent ballet. Sarah sat in her wardroom with the two gunners standing stiffly at the position of attention, "Seaman Apprentice Perez, and Seaman Hernandez," she starts without looking up as she finished reading the dossier. Setting it down on the table she lets them simmer for a moment, "Explain yourselves." She states, an order not a request. Hernandez opened his mouth to speak, but Perez cut him off. "We were having fun, Captain'. Drinking and carousing and such." Sarah's eyes lock onto the female gunner and seem to stare into the woman's soul. Perez faltered a moment, before continuing. "We was having fun, and the folks we were insultin the fleet and well the delta folk they're allowed to defend the fleets honor ma'am..." The muscles in the right corner of her mouth twitching, her voice adopting a chill. "Stop, right there. We pulled the vids, unaltered vids. Perez, you threw the first punch... and intentionally hit Hernandez. There wasn't anyone around you. Everest SEC pulled you off of each other." While she speaks, LT Termaine slips into the back of the room. "You two are gunners aboard this ship, the Alpha Fleet envoy to the Delta Fleet and the APF. In case you haven't noticed we do not have the same number of ratings as a standard corvette considering our layout. As such we have no room for such abysmal behavior.  Your crew mates rely on you, to be here or their pulling extra duties in combat. Seaman Hernandez you will be docked 2 weeks pay, and Seaman Apprentice Perez you will be docked 1 month's pay for your behavior you each will also serve extra duty during the next leave rotation. You are both lucky to still be considered part of the crew, I better hear nothing but good things about your behavior from here on out or I'll personally see you to the colonies with a permanent guard duty rotation." She takes a breath, and sees LT Termaine arms crossed in the back of the room waiting for his turn. "Do I make myself clear?" Her voice deadly calm, and deceptively soft. Both ratings manage a  choked "Aye Aye ma'am." Rising from her seat she nods to LT Termaine, "Mr Termaine, they're all yours," she says heading to the bridge closing the door behind her letting Scotty have his go at his ratings.

As she finds her seat on the bridge the transmission comes in from the Hermes, "Helm, acknowledge Hermes control and set out on our new heading," she orders sitting back. ENS Klattenhoff comms back, "This is Ironwood helm acknowledged, happy hunting and I just wanted to say your sounding lovely today Hermes Comm." In the corner of her eye Sarah was sure she saw LC Harrington smack his forhead with his palm, as she rolled her eyes, "Let's keep it professional Helm, and ask her on a date if you like her when we get back." ENS Klattenhoff grin sheepishly, "Sorry Cap'n."

The Ironwood peels off from the fleet on it's predetermined patrol path.

  There is  a quick COM, Lily answers,..um... thank you..um..Ironwood?...I..think?
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:28, Sun 15 Jan 2017.

ENS Klattenhoff, starts to reach for the comm but glances back. Sarah rolls her eyes, "you have 5 seconds." Klattenhoff blushes, "Aye, Ma'am." He says hitting the comm button, "Aye, confirming this is the Ironwood Helm." He says in reply to Lily's question. He goes back to tracking the course, tapping on his console between course corrections.

Eventually he sends a text message to Lily, "Would you like to get dinner with me?  ENS Klattenhoff Ironwood Helmsman."

 it  takes a bit... but  a COM  text come  back,..would like  that./. if not  Everest?  Maybe the Pulse..on the Hermes?

ENS Klattenhoff's response comes back: "Sounds good I'll pick you up."

  The  Corvette, with its  extra  Hermes folks in the hold, are clearing   the Fleet's pickets .

 The teak flashes  a COM  code to the Ironwood, but other wise 'ignores '. Any one   tracking the  Corvette would seem to be  slipping  past the  fringe ships.

 Ahead was a good 10,000  miles of  empty Black...but also..out there where, was the Contact.

 About an Hour out  from the  last ESN ship...the Ironwood  gets a COM, asking for  some help, from a small freighter....

Out on patrol the ship hummed business as usual, in the hanger bag with the two shuttle SSG Morin quickly briefed the group on the nature of their mission. The Operation was scheduled to go exactly like they were responding to a aid request to a mutiny.  There were four teams total a team for bridge, two for engineering, and the fourth for clearing and rounding up any and all of the black market racketeers. The Ironwood herself would stand off to slightly above and ahead of the enemy ship, while her fighters would flank it on either side watchful for any hostilities. Sarah would go on the shuttle that would dock with the freighter at the docking bay to "receive" the package. The second shuttle would be hiding in the shadow of the ironwood and breach an exterior airlock near the engineering compartment opposite the freighter if possible. If not they were going to open the hull like a can opener with a torch.  The members of the prize crew had been given Marine uniforms to better blend in.

When the Ironwood received the call ENS Montgomery responded as per protocol requesting coordinates, vector, nature of the aid needed. Sarah passed the Helm to LC Harrington, nodding to him as she checked the .45 she had on her hip patting it twice before slipping down to the hanger to wait. The second shuttle with the engineer 1 team from the Ironwood, and 1 from the Hermes slipped out the doors and took up position opposite the direction of the call.

   in another  40 minutes o9r so, they saw a freighter. The markings   were of Earth, but there  was a halfmoon insignia  behind the normal Earth  decal.

   The Ironwood was closing in on the huge ship, Red Distress lights  flashed slowly  on the ship.
 Aadi Araras stood   with the  extra Hermes  troops , to run the Help, if they were to take the  Friegther


 The large Vessel was at least as Long  as The Hermes,..its  Hanger  Bat door  was open, a shuttle seemed to be waiting.

 Aadi said,..i do noit think...they  can see us on thier screens?... if this nis so/ They do not have ESN Tech aboard.

Sarah nods, "Indeed, we're also doing what we can to try and keep them blind as long as possible here."

She steps onto the shuttle as it starts buttoning up, "This is CMDR McKeon, Chief Volkov take us in hard and fast I don't want that shuttle to get away, Mr. Mayhew if they do try and get fancy ensure they are sheparded back to the frieghter.

With the Ironwood only 5 short minutes away the shuttle leaps from the hanger bay closing rapidly. CPO Volkov flies hard and fast attempting to use her shuttle as blocking mechanism to keep the other shuttle from departing swinging into the other hanger sideways giving one of the bubble gunners an unrestricted field on fire on the hanger that included the enemy shuttle.

The doors open and the squad spill out immediately headed for the various exits seeking to control the hanger bay as quickly as possible using surprise to their advantage. No quarter is given unless the opposition lays on the ground hands behind their head, and submits to being bound in heavy wire cuffs designed to hold stronger species than humans.

  The Shuttle  that  was on the  edge of the Hanger bay, had its  ramps down, it appeared  not to be in a Hurry to leave.

   about three Minutes out, a guard-type on the hanger Dec pointed  at the  Shuttle  Coming in.

   Guards  began to run around  the dec as the   bubble gun opened up, chewing up  5 or six guards  as  other s ran  for  cover.

  Return  fire came  as  the  troops rolled out  pulse runds , nard around and lazars hit the walks and some people.. That is   , until a  singing  sound  zipped  past and a Hermes  sailor  screamed  as a footlong Blade quivered in his chest.  through him to the Dec.

 The freighter's  shuttle was more or less quiet... from where they were, they could see a 'special' crate, Just inside the ramp way, a Human body in a black uniform laid on the ramp

..on the back of the freighter, cutting  had  began, the COM ,,.,Cutting Team..we'll be through in 5  minutes... no sign of aircraft or even crew out here...

  Sarah's fighters    flew  around the freighter, they couldn't see in the  reflective Metaglass  of the Bridge.