CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

Callaghan stepped up quickly, lowering his voice to a growling whisper. “Captain,
Admiral Ainsley is aboard that shuttle...”
Banick was flustered, ignoring his first officer. “Rapier One, Commonwealth-Actual. I
say again – you will intercept the launch and force it to return to the Commonwealth. If they
do not heave-to, you are ordered to shoot them down.”
Callaghan‟s heart skipped a beat, his jaw clenching until his teeth started to ache. It
was the reply from Roberts that astonished them both.
“Negative, Commonwealth,” said the voice. “We will not engage.”
Banick‟s mouth was agape as he looked at his first officer in shock. The Captain took
a moment to compose himself. “Rapier Two,” he said, changing tack, “You will relieve
Commander Roberts and assume command of the Rapiers. Do you understand my orders?”
“Your orders are clear, Captain,” replied the pilot confidently. “I am therefore relieving
myself of command.”
Deadly silence followed that message, and Banick removed his headset calmly and
set it down on the plot before sitting down in his chair in silence. He rubbed his face slowly –
the murderous glint in his eye speaking volumes for his unspoken rage. Callaghan stepped
up to the Conn, almost bravely considering the Captain‟s mood, drew his finger across his
throat with a sharp look to the Chief.
Once the chief had nodded, he sighed. “Launch the Alert-Ten,” he ordered.
“Aye sir,” the EVA station reported. “The Angels are launching now... They‟ll be clear
shortly. Intercept should be in about one minute and forty five seconds.”
Banick looked up suddenly, a glint of revelation in his eye. “The Dark Angels?” he
asked curiously. “I thought the Alert-Ten was rostered for the Griffons?”
“It was, sir,” confirmed the EVA station. “The roster was amended last night.”
“Who gave that order?”
“Checking...” the EVA liaison said distantly, pulling up the roster on his screens with a
cursory flick of his hand. “...Signed last night at zero-one-thirty hours by Captain Corinn
Roderick, sir.”
Banick had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he picked up the data slate he‟d been
given at the outset, and re-read the shuttle‟s launch clearance. The authorization had been
redacted by a command-level officer... but the clearance was issued separately by
Commander Raincastle. The Captain picked up his headset again and dialled in an ID
extension before pulling up the flight roster himself.
...Rebecca Raincastle continued to watch the flight deck as the last of the Dark
Angels fighters was pushed in to position on its launch rack. The black, polished hull of this
fighter appeared older than the others that had preceded it – its pilot arriving on the flight line
just as the squadron‟s CO, Dustin Coyle, disappeared in to the drop shaft.
The new pilot received a few coy smiles and respectful nods as they climbed in to the
cockpit of the craft and strapped themselves in with the aid of the ground crew. The phone
beside Raincastle‟s station chirped and she picked up the handset quickly, her eyes not
moving from the scene on the hangar deck. “Raincastle,” she said sharply.
“Commander, this is Banick... I want the Dark Angels pulled from the flight line,
immediately.”
“The Dark Angels have already launched, Captain,”
“Is Captain Roderick with you?”
Raincastle hesitated a moment as she watched the pilot on the deck pull their helmet
on and adjust the last of her instruments before giving the plane captain a quick thumbs up.
“No, Captain, she is not.”
“I want her detained, Commander,” snapped Banick.
Raincastle continued to watch as the pilot on the flight deck prepared the fighter‟s
systems in a final checklist, its engines whining up to power as it prepared for launch.
“I believe she went to brief the Dark Angels before their sortie, Captain,” Raincastle
explained truthfully. “I will notify her as soon as she returns to flight operations.”
- 175 -