CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

...Roderick closed her eyes for a second as she listened to the radio traffic and
watched the tactical plot - a silent prayer going through her mind as she absent-mindedly
gripped the small cross that was around her neck. She listened as Warseer cleared the
fighters to engage, and brought the shuttle in
Banick picked up a headset from the console dash and put it on. “Bouncer, this is
Commonwealth-actual. How many bandits?”
“Unknown, Commonwealth. I‟ve got at least four in this sector alone, Dark Angels five
and six report similar contacts from multiple headings. Warseer is relaying to you now.”
The three officers watched silently as multiple contacts lit up the tactical board,
closing from almost every southern approach vector out of the ravines. Banick didn‟t bother
counting them – there were too many for a pair of half-strength fighter units to deal with in
time.
“Twenty miles and closing,” Warseer reported.
“They‟ll hit us in four minutes,” Callaghan said after running the numbers through his
head. “And that‟s conservative unless Coyle can hold them.”
Roderick moved like a gun that had just been fired and moved from the plot to the
EVA station a few meters away, virtually jogging up the steps as Callaghan threw her a
headset that she caught and quickly put on. “Bouncer, this is Archangel. You need to get
them out of that trench any way you can. You don‟t have time to pick them off.”
“Archangel, with respect, if even one of those fu-“
“-Dustin, this is not the time to argue with me! Now give them something else to think
about and get those bastards out of that trench! And that‟s an order!”
Roderick removed the headset and tossed it on the console as she leaned over the
flight director‟s shoulder. “How far away is that shuttle?”
“They‟re on final approach now for airlock two. They‟ll be here any second.”
Roderick nodded and then turned to Banick and Callaghan. “Do you remember what
we did at Marinduque two years ago?”
The Captain and his XO paused for a moment and then went wide in realization of
what she meant. Banick slapped Callaghan on the shoulder and immediately started back to
the bridge deck. “Callaghan, with me. Captain Roderick? Coordinate our fighters from here.”
The UEO battlecruiser continued to form up with her escorts as she slowly
approached the ravine crossing. The shuttle that slipped between the escorting SSN Fall
River and the cruiser Tripoli was dwarfed by the three capital ships as it pulled alongside the
battlecruiser‟s aft quarter and steadily approached the external airlock. It took only a few
seconds for the pilot to manoeuvre his craft in to position, although the docking was anything
but smooth. The speeder hit the airlock hard, the magnetic locks immediately gripping it and
forming a soft-seal nearly instantly. It took only five seconds for the speeder‟s airlock to
pressurize and the passenger was already bolting through the door before the speeder had
even really settled. The speeder was not staying, and its engines continued to be heard
through the Commonwealth‟s hull as they spooled up again, the airlock sealing once more
and closing quickly to allow it to leave just as quickly as it had arrived.
The man who now walked quickly down the battle-ready port side corridor of the
battlecruiser left many marines turning in wide-eyed wonder at what they had just seen, the
mess of gold braid on his shoulders and cuffs betraying his rank and adding further to their
confusion.
Bells rang as the clam-doors of Commonwealth‟s bridge opened with the whine of
hydraulics, and the man stepped on to the command deck, still in full-dress frock. Captain
James Banick almost fell over as he saw the sight, and Admiral Mark Ainsley walked up the
stairs to the command deck and turned straight to the tactical plot as if the more junior
Captain were not even there.
“What‟s the situation?” he asked simply.
It took Banick and Callaghan a moment to gather their thoughts as the Captain
regarded Ainsley with an equal measure of both bewilderment and annoyance. He bit his
- 56 -