Shade  Bleeped   and Gave  Roy a Thumbs Up

  Dusk  said,I am Glad i could Help..Now..i must see to  getting our  Vessel  put back toegther..

 ...............

 McCloud   COMed  Roy,..SM.. we're goign to get the Wound and dead into the Diamond, along with about 10 people  to watch over them until we reach home.... the rest of us  will have to jam in  the other  two shuttles

 two felrites  were sent up to the shuttles   along with the GAva.. three of the SEC  folks  went up along with two  angels  and 3  Burians

 Andre now stood   watch over  the intersection the felrites  and Gava held, while the Burners  were almost   done with the  doors

 The Burners   kicked the   doors   in  and slid the reminder  parts out, tossing them in the Hall..

 A SGT  and a Chief  walked up the Ramp,..Its   opened  now?...We're takign out machine  back up..there wa alot of verians trying to get at us from the spine... saw alot of  bodies in the  Passage wat too.. The  Burian Med Trech , Tenk, is   getting them settled  got about 10  wounded .. 12 Dead  from what  I Heard Shoey say.. one Angel  wascappoed   on the spine  and   drifted off, , we  couldn't reach her...

 Nifty took  a Verian   side arm..it looked  sleek he looked at the rounds.....well? Lookie here?  Silver rounds?... they going after  were wolves?

 Jax looked at  Roy.....Vampics   right?

  Larry  had his head  laying on a Console ..his eyes  moving abck and forth as he watched everyone.

Zob walked over by Nifty and took a look at it and nodded his head, "Yep... as if the black didn't have enough filth with Creshain's and the like"   he then took the opportunity to look for anything of interest discs,paperwork,credits etc it wasn't likely there would be anything of the sort but it never hurt to look.

    Nifty shook his head,so why does a Verian Officer  have  a Vampic  weapon, and  Ammo to kill the  types of  folks whose weapon..it is

 Zob can see   the arms  cabinet, it is open, there are two Vampice, Hard  Ammo  rifle  and one  Verian Pusle rifle

 There  are  8 bodies    on the Bridge,  Counting, the  Captain whose  head, Zob  waved aroudn   is  embedded  with Frag bits, as is the chest of the Body.

 There  are  Discs  in a  sections   area of the NAV. station. one is missing, most likely in the  drive.

 Over ESN ALL-COMs,Major  FDrobes here... Colonel Cummings left to clean up the bloody Mess General Higgins left behind.. I am to tell you.. drop shisp are landign on the  spine  Now.. Hermes  Teams  May   get your wounded to safety.. That is all... The   voice  sounded like an Older Woman with a posh English accent,  her voice …almost bored  with her report.

"At a guess, I'd say not all the Verians are made of the same chicken-shit as Adem...probablybeen skirmishing with the Vampics prior to Adem throwing in with the Empire.  And, in the same way that we take weapons as trophies, they probably have, too."  He paused, then added, "Either that, or the weapon was a goodwill gift between Fleet officers to symbolically strengthen their alliance.  Doesn't matter much either way, now."

He nodded at the reports of collecting the wounded.  "Get the wounded back to the Hermes ASAP, then come back so we can load up our dead.  They don't need to be rushed back, but we're damn well not leaving them behind, either.  If the dead are already aboard, take them, but make the wounded the priority.  Not gonna hurt any of the dead ones to wait for a few more minutes."

At Forbes' report, he nodded again.  "We'll hold the bridge until you relieve us, Major. If you enter the same section we cut into, you can enter without concern and organize your forces to go out in sweep teams to mop up.  If you want to hit the Hangars first, you should have minimal resistance.  Internal bulkheads are sealed, so it's not as if the Verians can mass a large force unless they've got a quick way to manually override the doors...which kinda defeats 5he purpose of being able to seal them in the first place, so we should be good."

Looking around the bridge,  he seized the loose disks.  "Zob, Larry, keep an eye on the main hatch.  Everyone else gather up any potential intelligence materials...see if we can locate the Captain's log, that should give us more info on who Adem's been talking to and where they've been meeting.  Try and locate navigation logs, as well."  He began looking over the computer systems for any sign of a log or for the drive which might hold the missing disk.

Zob decided to take one of the Vampic hard ammo rifles with him as a trophy he set the captain's head off to the side as it was starting to get rather gross, "Sure thing SM" he then moved over by the main hatch to keep a eye on it.

   there is a total of  400 loose  creds from the bodies.  soem overs  have Verian Pusle sidearms,  only two had the Vamopciu   silver  weapons.. the Captain and the XO.

   Shade pointed to the slot in the  command   chair and got out his  Vidboard  and   inserted  a  card.  ad  began to  down load Information

   McCloud   COMed Back,will keep loadin' the wounded an' the Dead, we  gotta go back together , since  the fighters have been Recalled, We have Captain Nilsson to  'elp us back.. but we gotta  stay together , so's the Guns  cover   each other.. Tow of Me Lads  are gonna  man  weapons fer the Diamond, they lost two gunners

With the situation under control Kira went to assist mcloud and them getting dead and wounded back to the shuttle for extraction.

  the  dead were loaded. back of the shuttle.. the wounded  to close to the Ramp  The  Angels   all went into the shuttle along  with Tenk, the Burian  Med tech.   Supe  went in to operation the  Side Bubble of the Diamond.. Minute, being smaller    did the top  Bubble,  Both had to keep there  head  gear on and  seal the  doors, since  thier Metglass was  gone.or mostly gone.

   Hodden stayed  down with Tucker, Lirg and GArrat  to  keep watch over  the intersection.  Burians  were starting to go up the hole. McCloud   stayed  near the  room  that held the crates.

   Morgan came over   All-COM.....Drop ship landing  near us....   two at the Stern.. if there is  any Verians left.. they won't be walking around for long.

 The First  Trooper  down  was a Tall darkskined Woman  LT.....I'm  LT Brunni , from the Tesla... we  are here to relieve  you and   get the ship moving to Uden  Space.

 McCloud  returned her   Salute.SM  Spencer  ion the Bridge with a fire Team.. we're  waiting  for  him before  we return to the Hermes..

 She pointed to the Burners....leave your machine.. an extra   one will help us get the job down... we'll make sure the Hermes  get another one.  The  SGT looked at McCloud  who nodded, Brunni   gave  McCloud wry  smile,your  people always   question orders?

 Lass?...If you took any handful  of  Hermes  troopers  and put them on another vessel, they would follow orders  to a T....but Ye have  Hermes Officers  around, they are  always gonna look to  us first, ain't nothing bad.... but its  kept them alive this long..

 The  LT  snorted,..not all of them... she nodded   and  made her way towards  the  Bridge.

 Hemsly looked at Hawkes,,,..now? why'd she  wanna be like that?

 Hawkes   shrugged as he  put patches on his   armor...Boarding Envy.. we always  get first, they  have to clean up our mess.

Melia tossed a grenade along with Roy's and then once Larry dove into the fray took her time with her shots, ones and twos.

Then came the order to split. It was clear she'd be with McCloud's group so she backpedaled and joined him in his group.

----

Suddenly things were quiet, well as quiet as they could be. She rushed about providing aid, stabilizing and sealing wounds, and sending walking wounded that were out of the fight back with the non-ambulatory patients to be be shipped back to the Hermes. She hoped she'd not run out of medical supplies, and was thinking she could really use another medic with her.

Then all hell broke loose as the Verian's breached the bridge in a wild attempt to retake it. Melia took a position behind a console and fired bursts around it finishing off her magaizine relatively quickly, leaving her with a little more than 200 rounds left, as she slammed a new mag home.

Once the order to disengage under relief came, Melia set to work getting the worst wounded sent across first, followed by any others, as well as KIA casualties for the send off later.

Once the casualties were cared for and sent back she stayed with the rest of the Hermes team waiting for the final orders to come to board the shuttle.

   Shade was  watching  his  Viud Board, he Bleeped  and hed up  three fingers  once and  2..  for the Vine as he watched  the   bar fill.

 Larry thumped his tail from time to  time as he watched people  move  around..

 Jax  took  Verian Pulse  rifle from the rack. Figuring to add it to his  Locker in the QMs

Roy's expression soured as he overheard the lieutenant's snide comment to McCloud.  Shaking his head, he glanced over at Nifty.  "If you're gonna grab a souvenir, you better hurry.  Once the relief team gets here, we're leaving, unless Shade's not done with the download, but that's looking iffy."  For his own part, Roy looked utterly uninterested in any of the exotic weapons...he already had more souvenirs than he could shoot in a week, and so far, the Vampic weapons hadn't impressed him and the one Verian weapon that had was only good for extremely close range engagements.

Still looking in Nifty's direction, he continued, "It's kind of tradition that loose credits get split among the group that found them.  I don't need them...Jax can have my share.  I get the feeling he better start saving up for some major life changes..."  He gave Jax a knowing smile.

  LT Brunni  strode up the Ramp,SGT MAJ  Spencer? I am LT Brunni.. my people are dropping down through the  boarding  holes you made  I have  two shuttles   worth of people going into the Stern..Two more   landed in the Hanger.

 Shade  Held up  2 Fingers  as he watched the Bar.

 Jax  sorta grinned a bit.  Nifty  took the last  Vampic hard Ammo from the  rack and shouldered it.

 What is he  doing!.... he could be sabotaging  the ship!

 Shade  looked at here, his eyes  flashed Black for a Moment, then  turned green as he watched the   Bar.

 The  smeared  bloody helmet Rose  from the   console 's below the Captains Chair,  What the   9 hells is that!....

 Nifty and Jax looked  at  each other  and shrugged
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:47, Sat 17 July 2021.

Zob moved to put himself in front of Shade if anyone was gonna try and give him trouble they would have to go through him, "He's doing his duty..." only thing more scary then a demon was a pissed one with a 60 cal.

Roy gave the lieutenant a long, calculating state.  "I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you're new to the Fleet...probably fresh from the Academy.  HE," and Roy gestured towards Shade, "is the Ambassador from Uden, and already a decorated war hero, and if I thought you knew your own ass from a hole in the ground, I would put a boot up your ass for even suggesting he'd be sabotaging the ship.  I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming it was an honest mistake on your part, though, rather than intentional stupidity."

Without missing a beat, Roy gestured to Larry.  "That is a larg, his name is Larry and he's also a decorated hero who's killed more enemy troops than you've even seen, yet, and has personally protected Captain Si's life on more than one occasion.  Don't piss him off, because you're on thin ice already and if you're stupid enough to provoke him, I'm going to let him teach you better.  If he's in a good mood, you might crawl away with all your limbs and be able to fight again before the war ends."

In a voice that could have put frost on the windows, he added, "And if I ever hear you lip off to Captain McCloud again, I'll have you doing guard duty on a reserve latrine in the Delta Colonies.  Have I made myself sufficiently clear, lieutenant?"

Without waiting for a response, he looked to Shade.  "We're ready to as soon as you finish the download, Shade."  In marked contrast to his tone with Brunni, his voice while addressing Shade was the voice of a peer, camaraderie apparent in the sound.  It was the same tone he normally used with Shade...but it was readily apparent that he respected Shade far more than Brunni.

  Larry thumped his tail.. the metal ball at the  end of the suit  whacks  agains  the body of the Verian.

 She  titled the screen just a bit to Roy   and the LT.  the BAr  finished  larding...and beeped.

 with an exaggerated amount of Movement , Shade took his time to  removed the  cord , take the ship end off and place it in the slot and retract the   thing  cord. we rolled the Vid board up  and   placed it   in his pack., taking his time to pick up his  weapon.

 Then Bleeped  and gave  Roy a thumbs up, and a friendly pat on nthe Back to Zob.

 Ma'am?  That's Zob.... He's a Demon...

 Nifty grinded  as he had his 'ready ' weapon  laying on his shoulder , his trigger  hand   in place.

 I Know what a Demon is!.,,.., she sounded Miffed

 a voice getting  Louder  was saying Hey?  SM?   we got about  10 of us  waiting on you... Just came back down from the  spine... CAptain McCloud  said one of those  ;LTs  with  her underwear 3 sizes too small  was  coming up here and..., he stopped , his head showing at the  ram, a Yard or so from  Brunni ,..Oh?..and there she is...  his smile  grew  as  he chewed his gum.

 Shade  bleeped  as he   slung his weapon. and gave   Roy a nod.

Roy nodded.  "Okay, people, our job here is done.  The lieutenant can oversee the mop-up...let's go find out if the Admiral has any other impossible tasks for us to accomplish today."  He said it all matter-of-factly, as if commandeering alien ships with a relative handful of troops was a daily thing.  Despite the word choice, he even sounded respectful of Admiral Hack.

He turned to Brunni.  "Lieutenant, the ship is yours.  See you on Uden.  Make sure she gets there in one piece...this one's a special prize for the Udenese Warlord."  With a wave to his people, Roy turned and headed for their shuttles.

Melia didn't bother to enter the pissing contest with the trooper LT and Roy. The SGT MAJ was more than capable and additional comments would only serve to exacerbate things.

Once it was time to extract she did, leaving any additional weapons behind. She was nearly over stocked on the things and unless she saw something of particular excellent quality she felt comfortable with her loadout.

Zob looked over the vampic rifle one last time and ultimately decided against it and just tossed it on one of the dead Verian's on the floor before making his way back to the shuttle to head on home he didn't need anymore vampic garbage.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Thu 23 Jan 2020.

  The Diamond took off first.. followed by the Club, Stoly left  last to   swing out to the  startboard side  of  the Diamond.. the clob ong the Port side,  with  Karl   about them.

 Hermes?  This is Stoly... comign  back... the Diamond  will enert first, she has the wounded and the dead...  we'll come  in when Cued...


 the  two other shuttles  were a bit less  crowded  now... Shade  sat on the  Floor  leaning  against Larry who seems to be sleeping... The..he Bleeped  and showed  Roy  the screen and opened the Voice.

  Ge-Fi's  face appeared....and.. I do not care, what the Cost is... if you cannot   win the battle , the Hermes  and her crew must die!..the  screen  split to Maris...

 ..Yes sir..but...but   we are gettign  hammered..our  reserves are being attacked by HAck's reserves.... The VAmpic   flew past Hyira  without a thought, but thier  Navy   surged from behind  them will Everest's  Home Defesne  harrassed them..Hyria was supposed to be  dead!

 A Voice  titled ad Admiral Petr in the Log  file.Adem is , even now, being pounded  by Ion rounds  The Homeworld  hgas been attacked  for the first time in Millions, and Millions of  years... people are dying in the streets..we are uncertain if   Adem Lives

 ..you have your tools..use  them.. if you fail in this..you  fail the Empire , and your Homeworld is forfeit!


 *********

 end log one. key Log  2..

Zob out of curiosity leaned over to watch the video, "What an asshole... I hope we get to kill his sorry ass someday" once they got back to the Hermes Zob would need a nice cold one and a smoke.

Melia leaned back. In her seat for a moment. Listening to the recording. They're damn pricks but the only shame is the ESN and innocent lives they take in the process. Other than that it's just fewer assholes for us to kill

She says without looking away.

Roy's expression grew very thoughtful.  "Well, now...isn't that interesting...Ge-Fi giving orders in the name of the Empire?"  He sat back, his eyes glittering with contained malice.

"Be a REAL shame for him if that clip happened to find it's way to the media..."  He glanced down at Shade.

"How soon can you burn me a disk of that,  once we're back to the Hermes?" he asked.  It seemed look a good time to throw fuel on the fire, now when Maris' reputation was shot and Ge-Fi was floundering in the controversy surrounding the newly-released recordings about the demise of the Neutron.  Even if it was contested, a recording of Ge-Fi speaking on behalf of the Empire, giving orders to a disgraced traitor, would definitely have an impact on Earth's political leanings...

Melia glanced over at Roy. "This would be a hell of a thing for the media to break followed by the ESN verifying the recording was taken from Vera 1. Kinda a coup de grace for that reporter lady."

  Shade    stuck his three fingers up.. then two more... then pointed in the direction of the Hermes  as he bleeped.

  Shoey  shook his head,so?  let me get this straight.... Ge-Fi was training and outfighting us to  fight the Empire..... But when i was ..what?  1 year old?  He send the Neutron out...without the Captain... to make  patrol to  what?... Not see.. the demons?..then  right about  the  Time   the Hermes  is  ready to go... we run into  to one of the Demons ships  that was left there?.... and GE-FI  all this time, frying to be a Hero?

 weren't no  hero to Most of Europe , I was  a SGT MAj..when  he was sending thsoe  ships out....then we go and have that  thing in Paradise? What, With  us savin' the  day?

 Hemlsy smiled  just a pit  and Patted  Larry's helped  head as the LArg look around at all the talking...Think.. right now..what we're all sayin' in this   shuttle?... An' we  know alot... Imagine the talk that goes  with that information, if it gets leaked..

 Jax  and Niftly  were checking out there new weapons, Jax  said,,,that information..might be worth more, that that whole ship?

 Hodden smiled,..out of the mouths  of Babes...

Roy smiled unpleasantly.  "I'm not about to try and puzzle out why he's done what he has.  I do know that one good action doesn't excuse a dozen bad ones, especially when the bad ones come later.  Right now, I'm not interested in finding out why he did what he did, way back when...just interested in seeing him pay for everything he's done in the last...oh, say, twenty years?"  He shrugged.

"I'm sure the Angels, especially those that have thrown in with the APF, have their own tally sheet to settle with him, but since we're here, and they're not, we're gonna get the first crack at him with this."  He looked at Shade.

"I want two copies of that, first thing after we get back...you go straight to Security and make 'em.  One is for the Admiral, and the other is for that reporter...assuming she didn't spend the whole battle sulking in her quarters.  If she didn't care enough to get her story first-hand during the battle, we can always find someone else who takes the job seriously enough to do some good with it."  When their shuttle left the Hermes, Izzy had still been withdrawn off to one side...

"That everything you got on there, Shade?"