CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

Hornsby stood behind him, never daring to make contact for fear of igniting even the
suggestion of an opinion. To their right, seated immediately next to the captain sat a pensive
Commander Ed Richards, and beside him were the captains of the Fall River and Tripoli –
Sean Barker, and Madeline Hayes.
Richards was a wildcard amongst the UEO officers. Banick had already considered
the possible course of events that may play out if Ainsley forced them to choose sides, and
while he was fairly certain he could count on the support of Hayes, Barker and Callaghan,
Richards had been notoriously difficult to predict. His misgivings about Ainsley‟s mission
were on record, as were his emotional clashes with Roderick. More than anything, it simply
made the man an unstable element in an already fractious equation.
Then there was Roderick: conspicuously absent along with the other fighter
commanders after having apparently sided with Roberts and Coyle in their own decision to
support Ainsley. Her action was something that didn‟t so much surprise Banick as it did
upset him. Roderick was renowned as one of the Subfighter Corps‟ most emotional leaders
just as she was one of the most skilled and celebrated, but the fact that she had allowed that
emotion to guide her so demonstrably represented a monumental failure of command. This
alone unsettled Banick, as it brought with it the very real prospect that he had been partially
to blame – and the infuriating aspect of that was that Ainsley had gone out of his way to
warn him of it long before it had even happened.
Rounding out the officers sat a concerned and nervous group of Alliance military
personnel – General Henry Adamson and his senior staff, including the captain of his
flagship, Captain Thomas Blake. To Banick‟s surprise, the General had been the first of his
„guests‟ to arrive that evening, just minutes after Banick had finished speaking with the
Nycarian captain. Adamson was a visibly patient man, with years of service under the
despotic leadership of Alexander Bourne to temper it. Of the impromptu armada they had
managed to assemble, it was the Reprisal, Banick knew, that was having the most difficult
time of the UEO political intrigue. Literally caught in the middle, the General had been able to
do little more than watch and hope that sense would prevail between the warring UEO
leaderships. Any other man in his position would have simply turned around and sailed away
until the situation had been resolved, but something had kept him there, and that frightened
Banick more than the Aquarius herself ever could. Adamson knew more than he was letting
on, and it was a thought that had lurked in the back of Banick‟s head ever since he had
arrived.
William Stiles was the next to arrive, entering the briefing room quietly and with only a
curt nod to Banick who barely even registered his entry. Stiles was the one Banick distrusted
the most. Puppet or puppeteer; whether or not Stiles was ultimately responsible for the chain
of events behind them was beside the point that this was the man who on two occasions to
that moment had driven the Commonwealth to crisis points. Nonetheless, the NSC captain
took a seat at Banick‟s left side in silence, pausing as he did to straighten his uniform and
pour himself a glass of water.
„You pragmatic, self-assured son of a bitch,‟ thought Banick inwardly as he watched
the man for a few moments. Stiles was well aware of the eyes upon him, but didn‟t dare give
Banick the satisfaction of a response.
It was a few more minutes before Captain Rhodes entered the room with Mark
Ainsley close in tow. Banick saw the unease with which the marines outside reacted then the
pair of them passed, and hesitantly came to his feet. It was a motion that slowly rippled
around the conference table when the Admiral entered, but none on the UEO side appeared
to carry any energy with it. Rhodes was unreadable as Ainsley took a moment to draw a
breath and looked at Banick. “I wish to make one thing clear,” he stated slowly. “I don‟t like
any of this. Each and every one of us has been used, lied to and manipulated.” Ainsley
made each point by looking deliberately at Stiles, Hornsby and then Rhodes. “I don‟t know
what game the NSIS and ONI are up to, but the majority of the people in this room are
soldiers, not spies, and there are no gains in allowing such gross deception to rule our
decisions. That will get people killed, and one way or another, it ends now.”
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