Episode Twenty Two: Revelation (Part II)

[Marcus Garret]

0155
Observation Room, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

Marcus didn’t even flinch when Major Oxford addressed him. His thoughts simply changed gears, examining what had occured so that he could summarize what had happened. The closing of the blast shutters over the window in front of him only dimly penetrated his awareness. After a minute of reflection, he half turns to the Major, and answers with a quiet tone, one that only hints at the sadness and grief that was threatening to overwhelm him.

“What I killed was a dark, twisted reflection of a dear friend, a changeling meant for harm that came to a bad end.”

He cringed slightly. There it was, his occasional tendency to wax both philosophical and poetic. No wonder some people gave him the nickname ‘Marcus Aurelius’.

“I’m sorry. That happens sometimes when I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

Fully turning to Major Oxford, he continues.

“It’s a clone, one that was apparently imprinted with many of the memories and some of the personality of Major Logan. If I hadn’t known her, I’d have never known, sir. Her continued existence and presence among the expedition was a threat to the entire unit. So… I did what I felt was necessary.”

His hands shaking slightly, Marcus sways slightly before catching and righting himself. He leaned against a nearby chair to support himself. He hadn’t expected the ordeal to exhaust him, but he should have known it was coming. With the stresses his mind, body, and spirit had been (and still were) under, it was only a matter of time before he collapsed.

“Sir, I recommend that I be escorted to the brig, at least until such time as a full debriefing can be completed.”

The Lieutenant didn’t regret his actions, but he didn’t particularly feel proud of them, either. He’d done what was necessary, and the cost was hard for him to bear.

Just then, a spark lights a fire in the back of his mind. He had to go find the real Katrina. If it was the last thing he did, he had to find her. He couldn’t let things end like this.

<Tag Travis>

[Travis Oxford]

0155
Observation Room
USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit


Travis listened, observed, calculated, asserted the man before him, his expression gave away nothing of what he thought or felt as person or as officer. From Garrett’s tone Oxford knew the choice the lieutenant made had been a fine line between doing what was right to what he had to do. Shooting one’s oldest friend even if it was a clone had to be hard. Plus carrying the decision to keep the expedition safe versus keeping one person alive, all the consequences landed on such shoulder along, he couldn’t imagine. Realising he had moved his hand to the P-90 that still connected to his vest, Travis moved it and placed the weapon at his feet, yet still within reach.

Looking out at the star field for a moment, Oxford gathered his thoughts, “In a way teaming the two of you up had been a blessing in disguise. If what you are saying is true, then whoever has the real Logan, is likely to have the information they could get from her. I understand you did what you had to do, had I been in your shoes I would have done the same. While I’m not the one to do any judging on this whole thing, I can’t say the same for Walker. I can try making him understand, but I don’t count on him not be rational. He has by now likely to have seen Logan lying on the ground.”

The man’s request came as a no surprise, inhaling he radioed the security, who arrived within seconds, “Please take lieutenant Garrett to the brig,” he told them and watched as the two men stood at each side of the officer they were going to escort. Nodding to them he followed after them.


0200
Brig

Once the man was inside the cell, Travis looked at him from the other side, “I’ll do my best to get them to understand. It might take a while for that. We will get her back Marcus.”

<<Tag Marcus>>

After his reply, Travis turned and faced the SF’s, “No one other than myself or Loveridge walks in here. Walker comes here alone; you a lot send him packing.”

Straighten up, “Yes, sir.”

0203
Bridge

Contended he left and made his way to the bridge. Upon entering he noticed Walker’s pale face, and winced. He didn’t want to fight the man, but kept himself braced, just in case. Hearing the announcement that they were under attack couldn't have come at worse time. Lousy, lousy, lousy, he ranted in his head and wondered if the damn contract was the reason.

Exhaling he walked over to Loveridge, “Sir, a word in private, later on sir. After we have dealt with this situation at hand.”

<<Tag Troy/All>>

((ooooooohhhh large post ;D ;D))

[Cara Coyle]

0155-0203
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

Cara pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. This was going to turn into chaos if nothing was done about the situation. Cara saw the pain in Walker’s eyes and could imagine what he was going through. The announcement that they were about to be under attack could not have come at a worse time.

What happen next was just unbelievable. Calmara had guided Walker so that they were out of the way from people working, preparing for battle. Cara could hear what he said to Walker however and was amazed about how thick some people could be.“ Sir I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am. It appears that Lieutenant Garret shot Major Logan in the head. The events surrounding what happened we don’t know, but trying to find out.”

”Well thank you Captain Blunt, why don’t you just add water to the grease fire,” she yelled out across the room to Calmara, not caring how she sounded. ”Honestly, what would you do if someone close to you was murdered and someone told you who did it and how as bluntly as you did just now. It takes very little to set off vengeance in a human being. We’re all very sad at what has transpired, but we all need to keep our heads, or else we’re all dead. If he does do something, I hold you responsible!”

With that little outburst, Cara turned back to one of the consoles where she could do something with the oncoming attack. It was too bad that this ship didn’t have the Asgard technology installed on it yet, or Cara would have been feeling better about their chances of surviving. Not that she doubted that they would survive, just less unscathed than they would with it.

<<tag Calmara and others>>

(OOC: Whoa, don’t hate me for that, Cara just unleashed herself, I had no control!!)

[Kent McKillop]

2003
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

While chaos erupted on the bridge, Kent moved toward the side away from everyone and dropped down onto a step, taking a moment the catch his breath, exhausted from the run he and Oxford had endured to escape from Charon's tower. He'd known Major Logan since his first days on the expedition when SD-2 had been lead by Garcia, though not quite as much as others seemed to have. As her apparent killer exited the bridge and the Olympians opened fire the doctor wasn't sure if he was safer up here or down on the enemy world he'd just left.

Needing to take him mind off matters he withdrew the stone tablet he'd stolen from Charon's tower, a document that seemed the be a work contract between the Olympians and Charon for him to transport their captives down to Tartaros in exchange for the lavish lifestyle Kent had seen him enjoy. While he'd been pressed for time down on the surface to fully go over it he now had the chance.

"Charon is to transport captives to Tartaros by means of his Chariot, to be constructed by Olympian ship builders," Kent muttered skimming down the text. "Tartaros has been constructed to be an unescapable prison to house our deadliest enemy, the Titans." All of this made sense both from mythological background and from what he'd been told by Colonel Loveridge.

Things got stranger at the next paragraph.

The document was dated three thousand years ago, which made sense, but one of the statements stood out. "The immortal Titans, machines crafted by an unknown creator, should be watched at all times... are known to twist and manipulate potential 'allies' before killing them... responsible for the genocide of many worlds, including those outside the Olympian domain..."

Kent placed the tablet down on his knees, and looked around the bridge. noting the two Titans Ria and Kreios had disappeared from the console they were working on. Unsure about how much he could trust the document Kent kept this information to himself, and began to go over the document again."

< Tag SD-2 & Base Personnel >

[Marcus Garret]

0200
Brig
USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

Inside the cell, Marcus straightened slightly. His voice was still quiet, but not simply because of his emotional state. The inevitable exhaustion was rapidly approaching, and to the casual observer, he was still standing from willpower alone. Nodding in response, he speaks.

“Yes, we will… thank you, sir.”

Watching Travis leave, the Lieutenant looked over at the bed. It didn’t look all that luxurious, but at the moment, it was incredibly inviting.

0205

From the moment he’d lain down on the pad, he’d gone limp. Virtually no energy left for anything, it had only taken him a few minutes to fall into a blessedly dreamless sleep. The nightmare that life had presented him was enough for now, it was a welcome change for his sleep to be without further torture.

<Tag all>

[James Calmara]

0203
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

Waiting for a reaction from Col Walker, he received one from someone else, Dr. Coyal a civilian piping up for the second time, making things in Calmara’s mind worse. He couldn’t let that go this time. Stepping away from Walker to her side and snapped “Do you like hearing your own voice Doctor? Cos all you’ve done since this team materialized on the bridge, to find a team member dead, is shout it down and criticize for being insensitive and not thinking. I think the phrase ‘Pot calling the kettle black’ applies here.”
.
He stepped away waving off any retorts. Truth was part of what Dr Coyal said did filter though however and, in hindsight what he’d just told Col Walker was not the wisest thing ever and if anything further happened; well he sincerely just hoped it wouldn’t. But he kept an eye on Col. Walker just in case and readied himself for the fallout hopping for the best.

<Tag Coyal & Walker & Anyone>

[Robert "Scarecrow" Cromin]

0156
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit
As the Captain waited for the Colonel's orders, the Aenied seemed to be taking fire from the Olympian ships. Cromin looked around and it seemed people were involved in order things that he felt could wait and just then they got rocked again, it was sometthing quite unlike regular ship weapons, people fell down and got knocked out, there was fire everywhere, it almost seemed like complete chaos. Captain Cromin looked at the weapons console it seemed like the weapons officer was passed out probably from hitting his head on the console. Captain Cromin rushed towards him and called out to the medical team. "Medical assistance over here" He waited as the medic came to help.

He noticed that the console was empty so he jumped into to fire as commanded but the console was locked. SO he decided to enter his command code "Aenied weapons console authorization code Alpha, delta, charlie, nina, two, nina . . . Captain Robert Cromin" The Aenied recognized his command code and gave him access. He prepped the console for fire and fired upon the vessels as he was commanded to.

<Tag all>

[Nolen "Dragon" Syaira]

0203
'Recon One' EA - 302
Charonium Orbit


Nolen had got as close as he had dared to the target and had now began to send the data that the new recon fighter was picking up. He listened to it as it was recorded and beamed to the Aeneid's computers for Honey to translate. He understood nothing of it. He had only been there for a little five minutes when the space before twisted and swirled. Nolen's gut tightened even before the four cruisers emerged from space. "Oh shi...." he started but was cut off by his collision alarm blearing at him. He dove the fighter causing it to reveal itself to the enemy and radioed the Aeneid. "Recon One to Aeneid, we have four nasties inbound. Repeat Four Crusiers inbound" he said then the fight rattled under a glance shot from one of the crusiers. Nolen watched as his scope showed multible contacts heading towards him. "Aeneid's Squadrons a little help please" he radioed.

<Tag All>

((OCC: Told ya it was a suicide mission ))

[Zarlenka Kirov]

0156
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

Zarlenka had watched the chaos unfold as SD-2 beamed aboard, he himself called the medical team for the bridge. He had wanted to go with the now dead team member to help with anything there but was called back in all the confusion to another incident more needing in his talents in this case. He turned and headed for the former pilot now SD-2 member. "Whats the situation" he asked checking the man that was wearing the Aeneid uniform, he checked the vitals and as the others arrive he placed him in thier care.

<Tag All>

[Matthew Keller]

0156
Engineering, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

Matt wanted to keep himself away from everything and everyone else, he'd heard about some soldier getting locked up in the brig. He continued typing at the console he'd taken a seat at, no doubt a scientist or engineer would question why he was there, but he had his reasons. After his brainwashing he'd become aware that the Olympians were developing a way to lower the ships shields by means of a virus.

Luckily they never got it to work, and so Matt had been working on his own version to take down specific parts of Olympian ships, a bit of a pet hobby. He never let anyone else see it because it was all in his head, and the silence allowed it to be used properly. He wasn't fond of fighting anymore, he'd gained a nack of being able to think his way out of situations. Matt Magic he's called it, something he must've picked up in the time he was captured.

< Tag: Anyone >

OOC: Sorry about vanishing.. got called into work for a week..

[Beatrice "Honey" Cutter]

0155
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

Honey was translating as fast as she could. Most of the messages were battle orders. She would shout them out hoping they helped the defense of the ship.

Her heart was beating fast. She gasped as she heard Nolen calling out there were 4 cruisers en route. Right after that she heard the order beamed out the Aeneid was to be destroyed and no parishioners taken.

Elwood sat with furrowed brow. This ship was her baby. Troy was beside her. He was the leader of the mission but for now he was taking the second position. He was handling many of the lesser matters allowing Elwood to concentrate.

Honey felt her heart stop. She listened as a new voice spoke. It was the captain of one of the cruisers. The voice was familiar. Yet she could not place it. The voice held such malevolence she stood stunned. Sir she called out. The Olympians have new orders. They are now to attempt the capture of as many of us as they can.

<tag all>

[Robert "Scarecrow" Cromin]

0155 - 0157
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

Captain Cromin fired back as he was ordered, one battlecruiser against 4 olympian cruisers, the odds were not looking good. Captain Cromin concentrated his fire on one ship at a time, rail guns, beam weapons and missiles and that took a toll on the shields of the closet ship he concentrated on. Not long after that that one ship turned into a huge fireball and it was on to the next three; but the way the battle was going, it didn't seem that they were going to survive it. It was just then that Beatrice mentioned that the ships were ordered to delay their destroy order and instead carry out their new orders which was to capture at all cost as many of the ship crew as possible.

Captain Cromin at that point spoke up "Well I for one will not be on that train, I have been captured twice to many to ever want to surrender to any other enemy . . . not after what some of us went through at the hands of the nidhogg, i am quite sure some of you remember that. I recommend letting them board us and we capture them instead, that will give us access into their ships. I know it is not my place but i will be more than willing to lead a strike team into their ship, we take it over and we will then have an even hand with this battle, 2 on 2."

<Tag all>

[Robert "Jackal" Walker]

0203
Bridge

Walker did not even realize what was going on around him. He had been thrown into shock at the sight of the clone's body, which he had no idea of its true identity. Finally the world starting swimming back into focus. Something Calmara said popped into his mind: Lieutenant Garret shot Major Logan in the head. Pieces started falling into place, but none of it made sense. Lieutenant Garret ... Marcus ... his dear friend and one of the best men Robert had ever served with. He had killed the Colonel's love.

Get up and get answer! a voice screamed in his head. With the fog starting to lift from his thoughts, he reached his arm up, indicating for someone to help him to his feet. Someone did, and another steadied him as he almost collapsed again. Turning to Calmara, he said, "Sergeant, disarm me." When the man hesitated, the Marine said firmly, "James, take my sidearm NOW." As his friend did so, the Lieutenant Colonel continued to gather his thoughts. Turning toward the front of the brdige, Walker spotted the corner of the sheet covering the body and yelled, "For the love of God, will someone get her out of here?"

The first thing he wanted to do was confront Marcus. But as much as it drove him insane not to, he had a duty to the ship and the expedition. Moving unsteadily over to Troy, he asked coolly, "Where do you need me Colonel?" It was all he could to but stay detached and cold for as long as possible to avoid losing it, and he knew Troy could see that.

<Tag Troy & James>

OOC: I still want to have a confrontation with Marcus but Walker knows where he needs to be right now

[James Calmara]

0203
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

was surprised at his former CO’s request, causing a little hesitation on his behalf. On the second time of asking he unclipped and removed the pistol, and was sliding into an empty vest pouch when his yell for the body to be removed. “I’ll take care of it sir, and anything else you need give me a shout?” He made for the front of the stretcher, waving an airman to come over and give him a hand.

Making his way off the bridge and for the nearest lift to the ships medical facilities, first to the infirmary where they were redirected to the ships morgue. Leaving a teammate’s body there made the painful lose more real, which of course hurt, now though duty was all that mattered.To that end he made his way back to the bridge to await orders.


<tag anyone>

[Travis Oxford]

0206
Bridge, USS Aeneid
Charonium Orbit

After hearing Cutter’s announcement, Travis knew that orders needed to fly out and fly out soon, either from Colonels Loveridge or Elwood. One was the Expedition Leader; the other Lorded over the ship. If either started firing out orders some time in this century would benefit everyone. He knew the colonel was likely to be in some chock over the loss of one of his original expedition members. Darting his eyes to Elwood, “Ma’am?” he asked, not long after that he heard Walker’s voice and cringed a little. The man deserved answers, Travis would give them o him all due in time.

<<Tag Pilots>>

Elwood, asserted the situation on the other side of the star field where the enemy ship waited for their next move, she had been listing to all the talks around. Turning and facing Oxford and the rest of them, “All the pilots in the hanger and on standby for my orders. I give the signal for when the teams fly out.” Facing Loveridge, Walker and Oxford, “Robert, Major, you two will deal with any security breaches that take place in the levels above and below this one.”

<<Tag Walker>>

“Yes Ma’am” Travis nodded and moved to get ready, “Calamara,” he got the Master Sergeant’s attention, then with a hand signal motion for him to watch Walker during the sweep as he headed towards the his team member, “And keep him away from Garret.”

<<Tag Calamra>>

Elwood watched as the members scrambled to their tasks, “Dr Cutter, please continue to monitor the communications. And alter us if there are any changes. If they think they can overpower us, let’s give them something that would make their heads spin.”

<<Tag Cutter/All>>

((OOC: hopefully this will everyone something to do )