Admiral Mark James walked through the hallways and onto the command deck of the H.C.S. Red October, with his usual turbolaser blaster pistol in his belt. "Report?" he said in a loud and commanding voice.
"We are at Deafcon1 status, sir. Holding position at OmegaAlpha Formation Five 1,500 kilometers away from the jumpgate, sir," reported Commander Scorcher, Mark's best friend and most trusted officer. Scorcher had once been a notorious Pirate, but then he became an assassin, working for mercenaries and then the Rebels. Now he was an HC commander.
Scorcher continued, his usual blank look on his face, no matter what the news was. However, through all that suspiciousness, paranoia, and ex-assassin attitude, Scorcher was really quite a friendly guy. "We've also recieved news from the Pirate front. It seems that there have been several major battles recently, and the HC aren't faring too well. They're drawing rather close to Earth, and Palshife. The HC are gonna have to do something to out-do the Pirates, or we're gonna be in trouble."
Mark nodded slowly, thinking. "We may have to be redeployed back to the home front, but I do hope that it doesn't come to that. The aliens are just as big a threat as the Pirates, as far as we can tell," he said, half to himself. He paused for a moment, contemplating his decision. "Change formation, hail all vessels. Move into Reef Formation, now."
"Aye aye, sir," said the helsman.
The massive HC fleet immediately began to reassemble into a reef formation. It looked essentially just like a simple line, but it was curved somewhat into the shape of a semicircle, allowing the formation great power in a large fleet battle. Mark had already used this formation of his successfully against the Pirates and Confeds, in the Great Civil War, years ago.
The fleet was like a school of fish, moving in a complex pattern which you only saw when they were finally all in place. The ships moved quickly, and easily, for Mark had made sure that they all were ace pilots and helmsmen.
"All ships in formation, requesting orders sir," said the helsman as Mark nodded.
"Tell them to all keep their positions, but stay alert for any alien ships. Com, send a message to..."
Suddenly, a marine walked onto the bridge and saluted hastily. "Sir!!! Bad news sir; the aliens somehow managed to get a commando team onto the jumpgate," he said, breathing heavily, for he had run a great distance. "Over 20 men are dead, and many more are probably wounded. All the aliens were killed, however, before they could do any damage to the jumpgate. They could have easily destroyed the jumpgate if they got much farther."
Mark slammed his fist on a railing, enraged at even the relatively small loss. "Dangit!!! Marine; send over two platoons of soldiers to help guard the place, and Scorcher; get over there yourself. I want you to personally make that station as well guarded as possible. I don't really trust Rak with it much anymore now that the aliens have already gotten through."
Scorcher nodded, and he and the marine walked out while Mark turned back to the viewscreen. He stood there for a long while, completely silent. People knew that he was thinking up something, but what they could never tell. Thoughts of new plans and designs raced through Marks head as he thought over the whole current situation. He was a very careful thinker, which sometimes made him look rather mad. Though he was, as some might say, mad, he wasn't mad to the point at which he was thinking up ways to rule the universe every few seconds.
Finally, he spoke. "Com, send a message to Admiral Rak. Ask for our next orders and mission, and make sure the comlink is secure. Understood?"
The com officer nodded as she sent the message to Rak. Then, Mark gave her a datapad with an encrypted message. "That's for my family. Send it to Palshife immediately."
She nodded, and began work on that message as well, while Mark slumped back in his command chair, giving a cold gaze out to the depths of space. Thoughts once again swirled in his head. "...Where do we strike the aliens... what of the alien commandoes... what of the pirates..and earth... palshife may be in danger... what will happen? nobody knows, but I do know that I will win this war. One way or another, I'll win it, no matter what I must do...."
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If at first you don't succeed...Hit it harder! - Me
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Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).
(This message has been edited by Captain Carnotaur (edited 12-29-2001).)
