CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

“Like I said, you don‟t know half of what‟s going on. You think I‟ve deserted, run to
the hills and taken up some kind of... mercenary campaign, but it‟s not that simple. I‟ve got
orders too, Ainsley, and we are still on the same side.”
“Who is your commanding officer?” he asked bluntly.
Hornsby hesitated before answering. “...Admiral Jason Hargreaves.”
Ainsley pursed his lips for a brief moment as he again considered walking out before
he realised, grimly, that her eyes were truthful, and he nodded for her to continue. “Go on.”
“...Aquarius has been working with a small group of Intelligence officers, both UEO
and NSC, to combat Section 7. You‟ve already dealt with them, in fact.”
“Keelan,” Ainsley said bluntly.
Hornsby nodded. “Commander Keelan is one of those officers, yes, Admiral. We
don‟t have the resources of a multinational fleet behind us and what we do have is very hard
to replace. I‟m sorry we had to draw you out like this, but it was the only way to make sure
we weren‟t discovered.”
“You keep saying „we‟, Lauren. Are you working for Intelligence now?”
Hornsby looked away and again hesitated. “No, not exactly. My orders do come from
the military chain of command, but... Aquarius no longer has any connection with the Fleet
Command. I would have said that CINCPAC doesn‟t know we exist, but something tells me
you and I wouldn‟t be having this conversation unless you‟d already spoken to Riley.”
Ainsley nodded, but remained silent.
“...And I am also assuming that Riley is hoping to use Aquarius as his ace to try and
take Pearl by the first of August.”
Again the Admiral nodded, and Hornsby‟s eyes turned to plead. “Mark, I can help
you, but Aquarius isn‟t going to be enough. Not if we want to stop the Secretary-General.
Speak to Hargreaves, and-”
Ainsley narrowed his eyes and held up a hand, stopping her mid-sentence, her last
sentence ringing in his head. “Wait, stop. You said stop the Secretary-General... What do
you mean?”
Hornsby did stop, and looked at Ainsley in bafflement, her eyes narrowing as they
studied his. Slowly, her heart sank as she realised what was happening. “Oh Mark... No...”
“Lauren!” he snapped. “Tell me what‟s going on!”
“That son of a bitch,” she whispered, her eyes cold before finally drawing up to meet
his. “Cathgate must have kept it from you, because he knew an attack would fail. I am so
sorry, I should have thought.”
“What does Cathgate have to do with this?” Ainsley urged, stepping closer to the
titanium cage. “What hasn‟t he told me?”
When Hornsby told him, Mark Ainsley wanted to be sick, and without another word,
marched from the cell-block and slammed the door.
~
...The man in the black flight suit stepped off the unmarked personnel shuttle on to
the flight deck of the Commonwealth and looked up at the banners above his head with a
slight smile. The flags of the Rapiers and Dark Angels stirred something nostalgic inside him
that he hadn‟t felt in a while, and a pang of missed opportunity that he knew full well would
never come again.
Several wary eyes meet the man as he walked across the deck, each of them noting
the ghost-shrouded insignia of the Aquarius DSV with suspicion and muted whispers. His
stripes were those of a Wing Commander, although the rank slides that adorned his uniform
were not the sky-blue that was so common of the fleet command. They were black – a tone
used by only two organizations, the enigmatic, wanted rogue arm of UEO counterintelligence
known only as Section 7, and the mistrusted spooks of Intelligence.
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