The Fleet Saga

[FyreeTSG]

More of Part 1:
------------------------

---Medical Transport 84--1000 hrs

Lokna and Jacklyn approached the small hatch leading from the ship's interior maintanence system, referred to as a ship's "Walk", and waited for a a pair of Medical troopers to join them "What are your orders Cadet Raht?" one asked Lokna.
"Any word on the Detox?" Lokna asked back,.
"Mulitple spotted..." the second trooper replied. "Your orders?"
"Find them, try to retake the primary sections...and find all crew." Lokna instructed.
The troopers saluted, then entered the maintanence hatch.
"Lokna, you okay?" Jacklyn asked.
"Fine...." he replied, a bit nervous due to the current situation.

Over 20 Detox had managed to beam onto the Transport, and since that time, nearly 100 Fleet had been killed. On the Bridge, Tahiri was approached by a crewman, "Cadet Tahiri. Chief Taknar is in the Emergency Bay."
"Good, Ensign Calahan, have Ensign Ruiz or Cadet Raht reported yet?" Tahiri asked.
"Not yet sir, but reports have come in....nearly 100 crew dead, 20 Detox--maybe more, are still on board..." the ensign reported.
"Hell....Ensign. take the Bridge--have any reports transmitted to me..." Tahiri instructed as he slapped on his Trooper helmet, and accessed his arm guard.
"Sir..." a trooper ran into Tahiri, "May I be of some assistance?"
"Sure thing Jackson...hand me that side arm. Let's go see how many Detox we can take out..." Tahiri smirked, as the two entered a minimally-powered lift.

They made it a few meters down the corridor from the Bridge, but found the path was blocked. "Try to find a way to the Walk...we need to make it to the Emergency Bay." Tahiri instructed.
The trooper began to search around the corner, but all of a sudden was hit by a stray blast, dropping him to the deck. "JACKSON!" Tahiri yelled, as the trooper fell, limp. Tahiri suddenly saw a shadow behind the debris blocking the path.
He fired his side arm, and blasted the debris, causing most of it to scatter, but also finding his intended target. Walking towards what he'd hit, he saw the body of the Detox that had killed Jackson, and kicked it's lifeless body. Next to the corpse was a Fleet M-Class, which Tahiri picked up, and sided his other weapon, readying the M-Class.

Entering the Emergency Bay, Tahiri had to duck as a conduit pipe was swung towards him. "Whoa!" he yelled, barely missing being knocked out.
"Leo??" the pipe-wielding Medical tech asked.
"Delin??" Tahiri asked back, seeing who'd tried to take off his head.
Delin Radcliffe, nursing a few wounds from fending off the couple of now dead Detox in the Bay, looked at Tahiri.
"We got power?" Tahiri asked.
Delin nodded, walked over to a still-functional console, and hit the panel. A small flicker of power came to life, bringing a few other systems back on-line. "Back-up....standard for Medical Transports...."he explained.
"What are you still doing here?" Tahiri asked the brave Medical Tech.
"I'm not headin' out into THAT mess....Detox roaming wild....and well..." Delin led off, feeling much safer where he was.
"Well what...?" Tahiri, a bit confused as to Delin's meaning, asked.

Delin walked over to the Stasis Chamber, and Tahiri immediately followed.
"What is it Delin?" Tahiri asked, as he could tell Delin was a little more anxious then he was.
"You hear that...?" Delin asked back. A small tone, beeping, pulsating softly, was audible.
Tahiri looked at the drawer, incasing the Detox drone he'd seen earlier, which had brought back horrible memories of his past.
Delin slowly pulled the drawer out, and pulled back the protective material covering the drone. "It's.....alive...?" Delin asked, not understanding how such a thing could be.
"Breathing....how can it be...wait..." Tahiri led off, "..scan it."
Delin grabbed a scanner. and ran it over the semi-live body, getting a noticeable reading.
"Anything?" Tahiri asked.
Delin nodded, "I'm picking up new structures...almost as if his body is....active." Delin stated. "They didn't teach us about this in the Academy..."
"Active?" Tahiri asked.
"Yeah....I'm getting an open link....somewhere inside his cerebral cortex. It's a Biological Transponder....a, basically, frequency channel....he's transmitting a basic signal..." Delin added.
"Can you stop it?" Tahiri asked.
"I can...except it's embedded deep in his brain...I'd have to send a strong energy blast into him...to short it out..." Delin explained.
"Do it..." Tahiri demanded.
Delin nodded, then worked quickly, grabbing an Emergency generator, and ripping off the side panel, pulled out a pair of conduit wires, and in a swift move, attached them to the Detox's helmet. "Here we go....stand back..." Delin told Tahiri, as he turned on the generator, sending a strong jolt of electricity into the Detox.
"Did it work?" Tahiri asked.
Delin scanned the smoking husk of a drone, and nodded. "Yep...signal gone...."
"Good....I've gotta find the Chief....I thought she was here..." Tahiri explained.
"She was....but, well, she went out looking for someone..." Delin replied.
"What...? Well, stay here...I'll comm you as soon as I can..." Tahiri nodded, as he rushed out of the Bay.

Tahiri approached what seemed to be another block in the road, as more rubble from the earlier Detox attack, was in the corridor in front of him. He used his arm guard to scan the debris. "Hell...2 meters...." he muttered, finding the road was impassable.
On a further scan, he detected a few lifesigns on the other side, but haulted. A noise was coming, from not too far away, causing him to ready his M-Class. "This is Tahiri, to anyone....please respond. I'm on Deck 4, blocked by debris..." he said over an open comm.
He waited for a response, when suddenly his comm beeped. ".....Leo? This is Lokna....where are you? Ruiz and I are blocked by a pair of Detox on Deck 3. Our weapons are low....other supplies are gone..." Lokna replied over the comm.
"Lokna!? Get to the Bridge as soon as....no wait. Scratch that, head to Emergency Bay, minimal power there...can re-establish controls from..." Tahiri led off, but heard a pair of blasts on the other end of the comm.

Lokna and Jacklyn blasted at the Detox, who were now 4. "Look out!" Jacklyn yelled as a Detox jumped on top of Lokna.
Lokna struggled to push the large enemy off of him, getting a grip on the soldier's neck, "Get....OFF!"
Jacklyn blasted the Detox, then shoved him off Lokna, who looked at her. "Lets go...." she told him, but was cut off as another blast nearly hit her, from the remaining Detox.
"How?? We're pinned down....and my weapon's out!?" Lokna asked, as the futility sank in.
"This is stupid..." Jacklyn muttered.
"I know, but Leo told us....he gave us an order..." Lokna reminded her.
"You're the same rank? Can't you have a say...?" Jacklyn asked.

Before he could respond, a volley of shots were heard from the other end of the corridor. "Will you two stop the chit-chat, and get in gear? I'm not about to lose my ship to those drones!" Chief Larian Taknar, barely phased by the current stressful situation, asked.
"Chief?" Jacklyn asked.
Larian smiled, holding a smoking Detox rifle against her hip. "You know me Ruiz, I'm a trooper at heart...let's go you two." Larian ordered, as she and the two troopers with her, led Jacklyn and Lokna down the corridor.
"Where to?" Larian asked, as she was feeling the same passion and energy for the fight than she had in years.
"Emergency Bay...." Lokna replied.

Back in the Emergency Bay, Delin was still alone in the dimly lit room. Trying to figure out how the Detox's systems became active suddenly. Using a lazer scalpel, he slowly cut a hole in the Detox's helmet.
Knowing the rumors and myths about the Detox, he was curious to get a look at the face of one of them. He slowly cut the helmet, as it began to crack open, when suddenly he jumped as he heard his name.
"Delin!!" Tahiri exclaimed, taking Delin by surprise.
"Cadet....I'm working...." Delin scoffed.
"Sorry. The hall's blocked, but I got ahold of Lokna and Jacklyn...all available personnel are on their way here." Tahiri explained.
"I guess if you're in command, I should be greatful. Give me a hand, will ya?" Delin asked, as he grabbed the scalpel. "You ever see a Detox's face before?"
Tahiri walked over to the body, hesitantly. "Huh?"
"Take the scalpel..." Delin told him.
"Why?" Tahiri asked.
"Make an incision....from here to here..." Delin instructed.
"That's a Detox head? I didn't..." Tahiri managed to begin, amazed at seeing the actual flesh of a Detox. There was a hint of sour and sweat in the air, coming from the now dead body of the "faceless" soldier. "Is that the....Detox?" has asked.
"I think so...it's...already decomposing, I think....but, that doesn't make sense." Delin questioned, as the smell was almost too much for both of them. "I'm sorry...Leo....for earlier. I had no idea of your past..." Delin apologized.
"Huh...? Oh, it's alright Delin...just a lot of bad memories swelling back." Tahiri sighed, trying to look past it. "Here to here. right?" he asked, changing the subject, as he aimed the scalpel at the Detox head.
"Wow....good skill." Delin watched the flawless incision being made. "How about a cranial suture...?"
Tahiri nodded, took the correct tool off the medical tray, and made a suture, to patch the incision.
"You have surgeon's hands..." Delin chuckled, surprised by Tahiri's skill with the suture.
"Coulda been. But I joined Command instead." Tahiri explained.
"Not much for being low-ranked?" Delin asked.
"No...but..." Tahiri led off, remembering spending most of his life in and out of hospitals, as he walked over to a functional console. "Are the interior sensors back up?"
" I think so..." Delin nodded.
"Good..." Tahiri replied, as he began a scan of the ship's interior.
"You get it? Anything?" Delin asked.
"Yep...interior scans show 8 Detox left...on decks 1 through 4..." Tahiri read off.
"2 per deck..." Delin noted, walking over to the console, and seeing for himself.
"72 Fleet left...39 Lunarrs, 12 Artise, 14 Martonians, 7 Velorran...good God...but atleast we have a clear upper-hand...but according to the scans, nearly 40 people are trapped in Engineering...we got a comm?" Tahiri asked Delin.
Delin nodded, "I think so....nope. Comm's offline again...must be system-wide."
"Try my arm guard, there must be a trooper, or someone else there..." Tahiri handed Delin his arm guard. "Transmit a Priority Message." Delin took the arm guard, and accessed it's comm link.
Just then a trooper ran in, along with a couple officers. "We got injuries, Radcliffe!" the trooper reported.
"You okay trooper?"Delin asked.
"I'm fine....Cadet Tahiri...." the trooper saw Tahiri, and saluted.
"At ease. Where are you coming from?" Tahiri asked.
"Deck 2. There's about a dozen of our people trapped in a downed lift." the trooper replied, trying to remember to stay calm, despite the dispare.
"What is it?" Tahiri asked.
"We've lost 8 more...I had 10 with me. All but these two....God. Sir..." the trooper, in noticeable pain, sighed with grief.

Tahiri accessed the scanner, and saw the display was showing much different readings now.
"Leo?" Delin asked, looking up as he worked on one of the injured officers.
"22 Detox now....what?" Tahiri saw the scan, but couldn't believe it.
"Sir. Permission to speak freely?" the trooper asked.
Tahiri nodded.
"We must abandon ship...make course for Tifki...or all hope is lost." the trooper stated.
"Tifki? That's not a Fleet world...and for all we know it's FULL of Detox! We will not abandon ship, Trooper. You hear me?" Tahiri got in the troopers face, speaking with stern courage.
"Leo...." Delin looked at the slightly angry Tahiri, and shook his head. "This man is gone...the blast pierced his lung..."
Tahiri sighed. "How about her?"
Delin walked over to the other officer. "Stable. The wound is from a Detox rifle--which emits a far greater energy yield, but lucky for her I've managed to save what I could...our supplies are low..." Delin explained.
"Where are Medical Supplies?" Tahiri asked.
"Well, normally on this deck, in the auxillary Bay...but due to frantic departure..." Delin began to explain.
"Where are they?" Tahiri wanted an answer.
"Deck 5, Cargo Bay 10..." the trooper replied.
"Great...back into the fire..." Tahiri groaned.

---Northern route, old Telorran Bunker--1300 hrs

Lieutenant Will Avers, and 10 of the "Alpha" platoon, made their way to the old weathered metal doors of an old Telloran bunker. Which was at one time part of a larger trading post, for the planet's native species, the Telorrans, who by the end of the Zylon Wars had already been extinct for over decades.

Will led 5 troops, while the other 5 split behind, and watched the perimeter. "Clear..." Will signalled, as the full group rejoined, and quickly made the journey down a slanted path, heading into the bunker.
Old boxes of supplies, some from the old Allied Fleet base, some from Telorran trade routes. Will motioned hault, drawing his blaster, followed by the platoon. Standing guard at a corner of the corridor, he waved for two scouts to go ahead, scanning all the while. Looking around as the platoon waited for the scouts to head back, Will could see some old machinery, and equipment, part of an old refinery.
"Sir..." one of the scouts ran to Will.
"Anything?" Will asked.
The scout shook his head. "There's not much here sir..."

Walking through the barely lit area, using their helmet's scope lights to see their way. Will, at the lead, aimed his M-class down each little corner and cranny down the corridor. "Lay Black Bombs....3 move ahead, position them every 3 meters..." Will commanded, telling his team to put Signal Boosters, also known as "Black Bombs", along the way.
The assigned troopers did so, and slowly, but stealthly, lay the Boosters.
"Lieutenant..." a trooper approached Will. "I'm getting a strange reading...an energy source."
"What kind?" Will asked, using his scanner to detect anything.
"Photonic..." the trooper replied.
"It's pretty strong...but how? Photonic energy out here?" he led off, "You two...you're with me..the rest, maintain this position." Will instructed.

Will, slowly approaching the energy reading's location, led the 4 troopers
"Sir?" a female trooper asked, as she was detecting something on her scanner.
"I know...I'm getting it too.." Will nodded.
"LIEUTENANT!!" another trooper yelled as a blaster shot ricocheted off the above rock wall.
Will ducked down, and looked a few meters in front of them. It was a Detox, who Will quickly blasted the soldier, but missed.
"Sir, I'm getting atleast 6 Detox readings...that direction..." a third explained. "Should we get the rest...?"
"No...you two stay here..." Will commanded, as he headed down the corridor, ever the definition of a Special Ops Trooper, and tracked down the enemy soldiers.
Seconds later a Detox sprang out, and knocked Will over--lucky for him the first trooper had followed, and blasted the enemy off his commander. "Thanks Denna..." Will smiled.
"Sir...didn't want to lose you..." the trooper saluted, as she helped Will up.
"Right....have the rest coordinate, we're moving in..." Will explained.
"Sir..." a trooper, running up to the pair, began, "...Comm silence...no response..."
"What?" Will asked.

Rushing back to where the rest of the platoon was positioned, the group looked in shock. A couple of troopers bodies, but not much was left.

"f***...." one swore.
"Comm's down....and a sandstorm is picking up, Sir." Denna reported, scanning the area.
"Looks like we're on our own..." Will shook his head, grabbing a fallen trooper's side arm, and readying it.

--At the Forest Edge

"Sir, Detox posts along the ridge have been spotted...they're moving this way..." a commander reported to General Calson, who was ducking back down into a bunker, readying to get a report.
"How many?" Calson asked, as he checked his arm, which had been clipped.
"Over 100...Detox out-number us...over 900 detected...but the scanners still have problems." the commander replied.
"sh*t. Any news from the Command ship?" Calson asked.
"No sir. Comm is down, systems are still sporadic." the commander shook his head.
"Did they ever get our request for more reinforcements?" Calson asked.
"Negative." the commander replied.
"SIR!" a Command trooper ran over to Calson. "Detox cruiser is heading down cliff ridge...nearing the Forest edge soon!"
"Contact the 4th and 5th Battallion...Tell Commander Patricks to prepare. All defenses!" Calson commanded.

At the 5th Battallion, Commander Patricks ran over to an approaching trooper, "Commander. The General has ordered us to keep a close eye on the ridge. A cruiser is on approach." the trooper reported, saluting.
"Prepare the defenses!" Patricks ordered loudly.
"Sir....scanners picked up a Detox signature--but we've lost it...?" another trooper suddenly reported.
"What?" Patricks asked. "Get me the General..."

A sudden, large blast hit the battallion's line, sending debris and troopers into the air. "SIR!!" a trooper yelled, looking down at Patricks, who lay dead on the ground. "FIRE AT WILL!!" the trooper yelled, taking command.

"General Calson! The 5th Battalion has opened fire! Patricks is dead!" a commander exclaimed, running up to Calson.
"What? Get the field generators back up!" Calson ordered, running back to the line, to fire towards the approaching Detox, taking a few down, and then glanced back at a few fallen troopers.
"Sir! The generators are still off line!" another officer replied.
"Damn....send the 4th in, brace the front line--get a field UP!" Calson demanded, as he grabbed his M-Class and headed towards the line of his Battallion, the 1st.

---Strategic Command Command Ship, passing Dien Beta

"Sir. Comm blackout on Telorn....still an energy signature...." an officer reported, as Derricks walked over to a post.
"How's our speed?" Derricks turned around to ask the helmsman.
"More subspace radiation--Warp 4 is all we can handle without engines fluctuating." the helmsman replied.
"Have the TPF's launch....will they handle the radiation?" Derricks asked.
"They should be able to...they're too small to be affected." the officer explained.

---Medical Transport 84--1700 hrs

"Cadet..." Delin looked up from a patient, in the Emergency Bay, as Tahiri entered. "How's it going?"
"Delin....any word from anyone?" Tahiri asked, as he exhaled loudly.
"A few--" Delin began pointing at a few crew, and a trooper, who were nursing wounds.
"You alright, crewman?" Tahiri asked an officer.
"Fine, Sir....just worried a bit..." the officer replied.
"Did you find Jacklyn, or Cadet Raht?" Delin asked Tahiri.
"No, they're still on Deck 3..."Tahiri stopped, to sit on an empty medical bed.
"I checked the interior scans, 12 Detox left. Looks like we're knockin' them down..." Delin tried to smile.
"Yeah, except we're not fully-stocked, and our weapons are low on power...." Tahiri shook his head, having doubt.
"Hey, atleast you're still here...right?" Delin asked.
Tahiri just nodded. "How many We got left?"
"46..." Delin read off the console.
"An advantage....but not much of one. I'd rather use a stick, or club, then this weak weapon.." Tahiri tossed his side arm down. "...those Detox are ruthless...one didn't even think before it...God...!"
"I know...." Delin shook his head, "I've seen them up-close before. You okay?"
"As good as I can be..." Tahiri led off, as suddenly his comm beeped. "This is Tahiri..."

"Leo! This is Ruiz...Lokna and I are on Deck 2! Detox down to only a handful...we're using THEIR weapons...Detox Rifles! We'll be in the Bay in 20 minutes...Chief Taknar and 3 wounded are on their way!" Jacklyn exclaimed over the comm.
Hearing Jacklyn's voice helpef relieve Tahiri's stress.
"Ruiz....ask Lokna if he's having fun!" Tahiri joked.
"Jacklyn, how's the Chief?" Delin, standing next to Tahiri, asked over the comm.
"She's okay..." Jacklyn led off. "Ruiz out!"
"Trooper, let's go..." Tahiri looked at a healed trooper.
"Sir?" the trooper asked.
"We're heading up to the Bridge..." Tahiri explained.

20 minutes later, and a crawl through the Walk, Tahiri and the Medical Trooper arrived at a pile of rubble, blocking the direct path to the Bridge deck.

"Get your blaster ready...we've gotta clear this debris." Tahiri stated. The trooper nodded, and the two blasted the debris pile, blowing a path through it. "Good shooting..." Tahiri coughed, as dust flew everywhere.
"Forgot your helmet..." the trooper smiled, getting a laugh from Tahiri.

On Deck 2, Jacklyn and Lokna were still blocked from the lift, by a group of 3 Detox, who were exchanging fire with each other. "Hell!" Jacklyn ducked, as a Detox rifle blast nearly hit her. Then she fired back, blasting the easy-to-hit soldier.
"The scanner!" Lokna exclaimed as Jacklyn tossed it to him, as the two were on parallel sides of their end, both behind fallen pylons and wall plating.
Lokna scanned the perimeter. "There's a Bridge junction, a few meters back that way..."
Jacklyn motioned to turn around, but suddenly a large group of Detox appeared behind them. 8 Detox behind them, and 2 in front.
Lokna looked back, seeing Jacklyn standing up, and dropping her rifle. "What....oh....sh*t..." he saw the enemies surrounding them.
The closest Detox grabbed Lokna's weapon, and motioned to another soldier to take Jacklyn's. Another grabbed his Tark-Na-Kol, and aimed it at Lokna, as a loud battle groan was made by the Detox.
Lokna quickly ducked, as the taser neared him, and swiftly punched the Detox in the chest, making it fall to the deck. He then grabbed the taser, and used it on the soldier, knocking him out. A pair of Detox looked to attack Lokna, but Jacklyn grabbed a rifle, blasted them both, then another. But was pummeled by a Detox fist, collapsing her to the deck.
Lokna, a proud Martonian, fueled by rage, jumped on top of the Detox, grabbing a discarded Fleet side arm, and blasted the soldier in the chest, then 2 more. Helping Jacklyn to her feet, Lokna saw the remaining Detox were growling at each other, communicating in some sort of language. "What are they saying?" Lokna asked.
"Don't know..." Jacklyn shook her head, as she didn't waste time, and quickly blasted another soldier, followed by Lokna--clipping the rest down.
"Quick!" Lokna yelled as they ran down the corridor, towards the Bridge Junction--a Walk route that would lead up to Deck 1.

As they ran, they saw a pair of Medical troopers. "Cadet Raht. What are your orders?" one asked Lokna.
"Take Ensign Ruiz to the Bridge. I'll head back to the Emergency Bay..." Lokna commanded.
"No way Lokna...I'm not leaving you..." Jacklyn declared.
"It'll be okay Jacklyn, tell Leo, if you see him, I'm having fun..." Lokna smiled, as he continued down the hall.

On the Bridge, Tahiri and a few crew, who were still alive, tried to get systems back online. "Sir. We have some power back..." one reported.
"Good....can we transmit?" Tahiri asked.
"I think so..." the officer nodded.
"Great, send an Emergency Transmit to the nearest Fleet vessel..." Tahiri stated.
"Sir!" another officer blurted. "There are 9 lifesigns approaching....Detox!"
"Get ready....can we erect a force field?" Tahiri asked.
"90% power...but it's not fully stable..." another officer reported.

The comm beeped suddenly.
"This is Medical Transport 84...Cadet Tahiri commanding." Tahiri said over the comm, as he activated it.

"This is the Strategic Command Command Ship!" the Fleet officer on the other end replied.

"Good to hear from you...." Tahiri began.

"Cadet Tahiri? What are you doing on a Medical Transport?" another voice, that of Lieutenant General Derricks, asked.

"Long story, Sir. Right now we have more pressing matters. Detox have boarded our ship." Tahiri replied.
Before they could hear a response the comm went out.

Location: Strategic Command Command Ship

"Cadet Tahiri! Come in!" Derricks exclaimed, as the comm had gone out.
"Sir. It's not a blackout...LOOK!" the helmsman yelled, as on the view screen, a large vessel appeared.

The bridge crew all stopped what they were doing, and looked to see an approaching enemy ship. "Scan it..." Derricks turned to an officer, and stated.
"Similar energies to a Detox ship...." the officer replied.
"Detox?" Derricks asked. "I've never seen a Detox Cruiser like that....Activate all defenses, Shields, weapons...."
"Ready, Sir!" the tactical officer exclaimed.
"Good...lets send these sons of motherless b****es packing..." Derricks muttered, "FIRE!"

The Command Ship's full force of weapons fired at the Detox ship, which was easily twice the size as the standard Detox Battle Cruiser. Even a full wave of weapons, phazers and torpedoes, had little affect, as the Detox hull was minimally damaged. "Sir...no effect....Detox ship still fully stable..." the tactical reported.
"What? Re-target! FIRE!!" Derricks yelled.
More torpedoes launched, and slammed into the side of the Detox vessel, but once again, were basically deflected. "Sir...the energy readings on the Detox ship....are, well...impossible!" the officer at the Sensors console exclaimed.
"INCOMING!!" another yelled, as the Command Ship was blasted by a huge Detox phazer cannon.
The entire Ship shook, as a large hole was blown in the port side. Crew flew from their posts, as smoke and debris flew everywhere on the Bridge. "Sir! Damage!! Structural Integrity at 78%! Shields offline! Weapons at 42%!!" tactical reported, as the ship was hit again.
"HELL!! RETURN FIRE!!!" Derricks yelled, as he sat back down at command.
"That energy reading...Sir. Targetting the upper portion of the Detox ship should, in theory, work..." tactical looked at Derricks, who nodded. "Aye!"

More shots were fired from the Command Ship, this time finding their mark, with impact!
"Keep it up! Target again! FIRE!" Derricks calmly commanded, feeling they had finally gotten an upper hand.
"DIRECT HIT!!" tactical cheered, as did the crew, as more Fleet torpedoes blasted the Detox ship.
"Sir....LOOK!" another officer pointed out.
Looking at the still intact Detox behemoth, Derricks paused for thought.
"More energy readings....but sensors can't determine what type." the Sensor officer explained.
"I'm not sure what I'm seeing sir..." tactical began, "...but whatever it is, this Detox ship has NO crew..."
"What?" Derricks asked.
"Sir. If the Fleet Intelligence reports are correct...Detox don't normally show up as lifesigns, under NORMAL Sensor scans....right?" tactical asked.
Derricks shrugged. "Do a deeper scan....and...." leading off, as the Detox ship suddenly jumped to warp.
"Sir?" an officer asked.
Sitting down, after brushing some debris off his chair, Derricks sighed a heavy sigh. "Get repairs underway, once we have Warp, make course for Telorn." Derricks nodded, as he waited for the next Move in the ongoing battle. He wanted to pursue the fleeing ship, but he knew that the battle on Telorn was the more pressing matter.

---Telorn Outpost, Telorn Forest

By now, the once 9 Platoons of 50 Command troops each, had been taken down to a mere 340 troops, as the Detox remained strong.
The troopers, now re-assigned into 7 Platoons, were anxiously waiting for another eventual fire fight, as the Detox attack had come to a sudden hault.

"General, Sir!" a commander saluted, as he walked over to Calson.
"Any word from the Command Ship?" Calson asked.
"Yes, Sir. Lieutenant General Derricks is on his way." the commander replied.
"Good to hear. Any word on Commander Ulkari's unit?" Calson asked.
"Nothing so far..." the commander led off, as a Cadet approached them.
"Sir. Major Ellson has reported that the 6th Platoon is ready." the cadet saluted.
"Any word on the Detox?" Calson asked the cadet.
"No sir, but we've suffered heavy casualties..." the cadet shook his head.
"Have the 6th join with the 3rd...and take aim towards the approach location..." Calson explained to the Cadet, handing him a padd.
"Aye!" the cadet saluted, then ran off.
"Sir. Incoming comm!" an officer reported, getting Calson's attention. "It's a squadron of TPF's!!"
"About time...contact them, have them land and re-strengthen the 5th and 2nd platoon..." Calson ordered.


------------

Gonna keep updating this more often--got a lot of stories to post

[FyreeTSG]

More of Part 1:

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---Telorn Bunker

Will, and the 8 remaining "Alpha" troopers had established a contact base at a junction west of the old Telorran refinery.
"Lieutenant, the field generators are up...but not for long if this energy disturbance is getting stronger..." a trooper reported.
"Gotcha....just keep that scanner working...as soon as we can find a communication console, or hell anything to get a transmit out on, we'll be set..." Will nodded, as he bit into a bar of food rations.
"Sir?" Denna, Denna-Martka, asked, getting Will's attention.
"What is it?" Will asked, as Denna motioned him over.
"I'm getting a small craft overhead...it's a TPF, Sir..." another trooper, scanning, replied.

Making their way back up to the surface, a pair of troopers saw the TPF had landed, but suddenly exploded, sending debris and shrapnel all around. "Holy sh*t!" one yelled, as they ran over to the wreckage, and found the pilot, still barely alive.
"Pilot!? Can you hear me?" the other trooper, Denna, asked.
Will ran out, and immediately over to the burning TPF. "What happened?" he asked, but before he could say much more, he heard the charging boot steps of 3 Detox, rushing towards them. Quickly he tossed a grenade at the 3, blowing them into the air.
"Sir!" Denna looked at Will, who was irate.
"d*mmit all...." Will muttered, as he found an intact supply crate, from the TPF, and opened it.
"What is it, sir?" the other trooper asked.
"Lucky for us....basic field kit, supplies, and a couple M-Class..." Denna noted.
"Get it inside..." Will began, but heard a rustling in the wreckage.
"H...Help..." a coughing voice pleaded.
Will ran over, and saw the Pilot was alive...and breathing. "Let's get him out...and into the bunker. I think there are some Med supplies..." Denna helped Will lift the injured, but alive, pilot.

Making their way back into the sanctity of the old bunker, the TPF pilot was scanned by Denna, acting as Field Medic. "You got a broken leg...but it'll be fine." she smiled."Thanks..." the pilot sighed, as Denna gave him a quick pain killer.
Will walked over checking if the pilot was alright, but saw he was, and took comfort knowing that some hope remained.

The troopers began to take shifts, watching for anything, while the others began to rest, waiting till the weather cleared to get a signal out. Denna stayed by the pilot, checking his vitals, when all of a sudden she heard something. "Lieutenant Avers..." she began, waking Will up.
"Huh? What is it?" he asked her.
"I hear something..." she began.
"Sir. Scanners are picking up 2 biosigns on the surface..." another trooper, on Shift, reported.

Running outside, Will and another trooper saw 2 Detox scavaging the wrecked TPF. Blasting at them, Will scared them off, but not before the Detox had grabbed a few chunks of the ship's hull. "Scavengers....?" he questioned, never seeing Detox do anything like this.
"Sir?" the trooper asked.
"No idea...let's just head back down...we'll try a transmit when the weather is clear..." Will shook his head.

---Forest Outpost

"General..." an officer ran over to Calson, who was reading a padd.
"Just a minute, ensign...." Calson was busy working on a small fragment of a silicon composite. "It's....a matter of concentration..." he slowly used a precision fusing iron to weld a few connections.
"Sir?" the ensign looked at what Calson was doing. "What...is that, Sir?"
"A piece of a Detox...one of their "control chips"...it was removed from a Detox soldier an hour ago." Calson replied. "Now, what is it?"
"3rd and 4th Platoons have reported multiple Detox cruisers have left their battle lines...the Platoons request permission to set up a Emergency Operation..." the ensign replied, handing Calson a padd.
"Tell them to take 6 skid bikes....let their C.O. know that he is to maintain position along the Northeast edge of the forest line...." Calson instructed.
The ensign saluted, and left, as a Major walked over. "Sir." the Major saluted.
"Major Dexx, what is it?" Calson asked.
"The 6th and 7th Platoons are ready...and the Detox gunners are still up..." Dexx reported.
"Major, how many troops are in the 6th?" Calson asked.
"39, Sir." Dexx replied.
"Join with the 5th...have Commander Alran lead 15 troops up to the ridge. Try to take out a couple gunners..." Calson commanded, handing Dexx a padd.

Major Dexx made his way to his platoon, as they joined with Commander Alran's 5th. "Major?" Alran asked.
"Orders from the General..." Dexx handed Alran a padd.
"The ridge....roger that..." Alran nodded, as he walked over to his platoon.
"Commander?" a lieutenant asked.
"Get the defensive perimeter up!" Alran ordered the lieutenant.

---Telorn Bunker--1900 hrs

"Lieutenant, we've got work that 4 Detox land cruisers are approaching the area..." a trooper explained.
Will was looking over an old map, made of a Telorran paper material, that had been found a few minutes earlier."I'll be up in a minute.." he replied.

Up on the surface, Denna and another trooper, her husband Haled-Martka, were on scout as they began to search the area for any signs of the Detox. Suddenly a pair of Detox lept out at them, knocking Denna to the gravel, but one was quickly blasted by Haled.
"Thanks Haled..." Denna smiled, as she spotted the second Detox, and fired at it, dropping it to the dirt.
"Denna... Look!" Haled exclaimed, pointing to a spot in the distance.
"Go get the Lieutenant!" Denna ordered.
Will, already on his way, popped out and saw the pair looking into the distance. "What is it?"
"Sir...Detox. Two cruisers approaching." Haled reported.
"Get the supplies, tell everyone we're packing up, and heading out...." Will instructed.

A few minutes later, Will alone on the top of a small hill, looked as the pair of Detox cruisers made their approach. Gaining speed. He readied his blaster, and prepared to clip the lead cruiser, when all of a sudden a Detox jumped out at him, pinning him against the dirt.
"GET THE F*CK OFF!!" he yelled as he tried to push the much stronger soldier off of him. The Detox grunted and growled, as he was flipped off of Will, and stood. Will saw the soldier grab his Tark-Na-Kol, and readied to zap Will with it, but Will was faster and grabbed onto the taser, causing the two to wrestle for it.
An elbow by Will caught the Detox, and gave the advantage to the much smaller Fleet Special Ops, who tossed it aside, and once again got tackled by the soldier. "EAT ME!" Will yelled again, as more grunts and growls erupted from the Detox, who tried to choke the life out of Will. Finally free, once again, Will, not taking any chances grabbed his still attached side arm, which he'd completely forgotten about, and easily finished off the unarmed Detox.

As "Alpha" quickly left the bunker, with the TPF pilot using a make-shift crutch, they approached the foot of the same cliffs they'd scaled down over a day earlier.
"Looks easier on the way down..." Will scoffed, as he stood point, letting the others begin the slow walk up the cliff. "Easy...easy now....here...let me help Major." Will assisted the Pilot, who nodded in appreciation.
"Thanks Lieutenant...." the Major smiled.

Reaching the top, after the much tougher ascent, especially with the arid heat of Telorn, the group found themselves back in an old ship yard. "Looks like a graveyard..." Haled noted, seeing dozens of old, hollowed-out ships from days gone by.
"Allied Fleet mainly...some Zylonian, a few Vegan...." Denna easily spotted out.
"Look alive people....stay alert..." Will haulted the platoon, as he came to a stop and checked his scanner. "15 Detox...I want Trooper Denna and K'sarn to stay with the Major."

Slowly marching through the ship yard, Will in the lead, the familiar sound of Detox became present as a pair of soldiers began to fire at the Fleet, from atop a high perch. "sh*t!" Will yelled, as he looked up, hiding behind a ship's wing, and saw the enemy, but was spotted as well, and a sniper shot hit his leg.
"Sir...you okay?" Haled asked.
"I'm fine..." Will cringed in pain.
"Two more sir....looks like we're in a tough spot..." Haled added.
"Great...keep your eyes peeled, fan out...target them if you have one." Will nodded.
"Sir. My scanner detects more Detox in the area. Atleast 25...as well as more Cruisers." another trooper reported.
"Re-group...and someone find me some painkillers!" Will exclaimed.

The group reformed, behind a large hunk of an old Allied Fleet vessel. "Sir...?" Denna asked.
"Fine..." Will felt better after Denna had handed him a small hypospray. "Alright, we need to make it out of here alive. The forest is only a few kilometers away...and so is safety..."
"Orders?" Haled asked.
"Split up...You 3, head with the Major..." Will began.
"Sir? What about your leg. You'll need better attention than I can give..." Denna questioned.
Will shook his head. "I'm staying back, need to check out those readings...Haled, and you 4 are with me..." he replied.
"Yes, Sir." Haled saluted. "Be safe Denna..." he told his wife.

Location: Medical Transport 84
Date: 2092:04:11--0300 hrs

It had been hours since 84 had made contact with the Command Ship, and Tahiri was getting more anxious by the second. Especially as 84 was slowly drifting out of Fleet space.

In the Emergency Bay, Tahiri arrived to see most everyone left was there.
"Cadet Raht?" an ensign asked Lokna. "What are we waiting for?"
"Just a minute ensign..." Tahiri replied instead, as he was getting a small abrasion on his arm fixed by Larian.
"Hold still Cadet...this wound is deeper than it looks..." she held his arm tight, so he couldn't move it.
"Lokna....tell them.." Tahiri looked at Lokna, as did everyone else.
"Okay....now we currently have 39 crew on this Transport. Tech Radcliffe disabled the Detox signal that the drone we had in storage, was transmitting...but we have over 20 Detox left on this ship, BUT they're in one of the auxiliary storage bays, and behind a Level 5 force field..." Lokna began to explain.
Tahiri stood, and walked over to a console display. "Cadet Raht is correct, but we are also still without engines, and sensors indicate we're out of Fleet Space..." Tahiri added.
"What?" an officer asked. "Sir??"
"We're less than an hour away from Fexlran-Tifki..." Tahiri replied. "Which is why I'm ordering all crew to Emergency posts, and prepare for anything. Once we arrive at Tifki, we only have two choices." Tahiri continued.
"What are those, Sir?" another officer asked.
"We sit in this ship, and let the Detox take it--fighting till our last breath. OR we head down to Tifki, and try to find some source of power....and use it to get ourselves back to Fleet space." Tahiri finished.
"What about the comm?" the first officer asked.
"Down...too much radiation from the surrounding space." Jacklyn explained.
"I need a platoon of 6, to head down to Tifki with me, and Cadet Raht, and the Chief." Tahiri explained.
"No, I'm going too..." Jacklyn suddenly declared.
"Jacklyn...." Lokna looked over at her.
"Why not? I was..." Jacklyn was interrupted.
"Cadet, I'm not leaving my ship. I've told you this before....this is MY ship, no matter what Command says!" Larian demanded.
"Fine, then only 8 will go down..." Tahiri responded.
A few crew began to chatter, as Tahiri looked over at Larian who was whispering to Lokna.
"Now...we need to..." Tahiri began to speak above the rest, but was cut off.
"I was Ops!!!" Jacklyn yelled, getting everyone's attention.
"Jacklyn?" Lokna asked.
"I was Special Ops...for a year. Well, until I crashed a skid bike into my C.O.s office..." she replied, with a bit of a chuckle.
Tahiri looked at her. "Make that 9...." he smiled.
"Thanks Leo..." she smiled back, catching his eye with a wink.
"Okay...the 9 of us, in what Trooper gear we can find, with supplies, will go down to Tifki's surface...." Tahiri explained.
"But sir...why?" an officer asked.
"Show them..." Tahiri told Lokna.

Lokna walked over to a wall display, and activated a schematic on the screen. "This is a Detox power plant...well, a definite source of useable energy--compatible with Fleet engines..." Lokna began to explain.
"We've planned to transport to it, and find any sort of reactor that we can syphon energy from...with this power we should be able to restore primary systems, and get the hell out of Detox space." Tahiri added.
"What about guards? Isn't Tifki a Detox planet....won't you be walking into a big hot spot?" Delin asked.
"We'll beam down in 3 teams...Group "A" will head into the tower--me, Cadet Raht, and.."Tahiri looked over to Jacklyn, who smiled, "...and Ensign Ruiz. Group "B", Ensigns Lonar and J'dai, and Lieutenant Valah will be on lookout. Group "C", Lieutenants Tohma and North, and Ensign Denhi will be "A"'s back up....is that clear?" he asked.

After a 20 minute preparation, the remaining crew prepared themselves, as Fexlran-Tifki, the supposed Home World of the Detox, became larger and larger on screen. Tahiri and Lokna were on their way to the Transporter Bay, meeting the rest of the Ground team, while Larian sat at Command of 84.

"Leo, what about the Detox still on board?" Lokna asked.
Tahiri walked over to the comm, "This is Cadet Tahiri, Chief Taknar, go ahead..."

"Acknowledged..." Larian stated, as she stood outside the cargo bay, and began to decompress it, letting everything inside of it get sucked into empty space. Including several Detox soldiers.

"How many were in there?" Lokna asked.
"17...the others are still trapped..." Tahiri replied. "You ready?"
Lokna nodded.

As the 9 Fleet beamed down to the cold, dry surface of Fexlran-Tifki, they split up.
"A", comprised of Tahiri, Lokna, and Jacklyn, rushed towards the large tower structure, the idenitfied source of the power they were looking for.
"Sir..." a member of "B", Lieutenant Vallah, said over Tahiri's comm.
"What is it?" Tahiri asked, as he halted Jacklyn and Lokna.
"I'm not detecting ANY Detox...." Vallah replied.
Lokna began to scan. "He's right...but I am getting over 190 structures...none with lifesigns though..."
"No Detox? Who maintains the planet?" Jacklyn asked. Wondering who, if anyone, was actually in control of the Detox.
"Lets just go...keep your eyes opened..." Tahiri shook his head, as they continued. "Group "C", head down..."B", head to the main entrance, maintain comm silence, and keep tabs on us..."
"Yes, Sir." "C"'s leader, Lieutenant North replied over the comm.
"Let's go..." Tahiri smirked, as he and his friends made it into the tower.


---Telorn Outpost, Telorn Forest

"General, we have word from the Command Ship!" a lieutenant reported to Calson, as he was relieved to briefly be out of the fire.
"What is it?" Calson asked, as he
"The Command Ship is nearing Telorn...we've got a low bandwidth comm open....shall I transmit now?" the lieutenant asked.
"Not yet...I'm still waiting for news from the front line." Calson shook his head.
"Sir, a report!" a trooper ran over to Calson.
"The 4th and 5th? Dear God....how many are left?" Calson asked.
"After the Detox attacks...barely 20, Sir....they're in the Medical Camps..." the trooper replied.
"Lieutenant, contact the Command Ship....have them send all available troopers down, full equipment."Calson commanded.
"Sir!" the lieutenant saluted.

Meanwhile, the 1st and 2nd platoons had combined, and a squad of 15 had made their approach up to a Detox gunner post.
"Sir, we have word from the line...General Calson has sent word for reinforcements from the Command Ship..." an ensign reported to the Major in charge.
"Acknowledged...." the Major led off.
"Sir! LOOK!!" a trooper yelled.
Two Detox tanks were moving back up to the Detox line, re-strengthening their defenses.
"All back! All back! Contact the Line!!" the Major yelled.

"General! Major Nerris has recon position--report's in....there's more Detox along their line." an ensign reported to Calson.
Calson looked up at the cliff. "Looks like atleast 25 cruisers...Notify all troops, get Nerris back here. Notify the Command Ship as well..."

Just then a Detox gunner blasted the front line, destroying the outpost, sending Calson, and nearly a dozen others into the air.

"He's coming to...." a Medical tech said, as Calson began to open his eyes. "Sir, are you okay...?"
Calson, head-throbbing, sat up slowly. "What....?"
"You were knocked out, Sir." the tech replied.
An ensign helped Calson up, who looked at the remains of the Outpost, and saw bodies lying on the ground.
"Sir?" the tech asked.
"Bring me Trooper gear..." Calson instructed.
"But sir, I strongly recommend you...." the tech tried to say.
"I'm not gonna lay down, and let these b*stards wipe out MY troops....recommendation appreciated..." Calson scoffed.

---the Ship yard--0700 hrs

Will blasted a pair of approaching Detox, as he found himself down to 3 troopers, Haled Martka, and a pair of ensigns. Grabbing a neumo grenade, he hurled it at another Detox, blowing them to the sky. "Haled!? You okay??" he asked Haled, one of his good friends.
"Fine....Sir!" Haled yelled, as he blasted a few Detox himself, then ducked down, as another Detox tried to attack. "Just....like old times on Exarx!"
"Sir, the Detox are retreating!" a trooper exclaimed.
"Can we get a comm out?" Will asked.
"Negative, Sir. Comm is down...." Haled shook his head.
"What about that cruiser we saw earlier....which way did that head?" Will asked.
"Sir?" the other trooper asked. "Due east...."
"You 3 head back up to the Line....tell Calson I'll be there as soon as I can..." Will instructed, as he split from his group, and ran east, in the direction of the cruiser.

Knowing he should have backup, he also knew he worked best, as he made his way down a well worn path, heading east. The Telorran terrain was mostly rocky, mountainous, but for the large forest that covered nearly 1/3rd of the planet's surface.

Walking up a small ridge, he flipped over a boulder as he narrowly missed a pair of blasts, from an approaching Detox tank. "sh*t!" he yelled as it fired at him again, and once more as he had been spotted.
Pulling his M-Class, he fired back, nicking the metal hull, but merely grazing it. A Detox looked out of the top hatch, grunting something, but was soon blasted by Will, who laughed as the body fell out, and hit the terrain below. Suddenly the tank blasted the area around Will, then launched a small missile at him, exploding, and sending him rolling down the hill.
Back on his feet, he ran as fast as he could, but suddenly cringed in pain, as his leg began to swell up. "sh*t..." he grimaced as he tried to keep his pace.

Thinking he had a little distance between him and his pursuers, he stopped briefly to notice his left leg was bleeding a little. A quick limp was all he could manage as he began to head towards a large rock formation, hoping it could provide him with the cover he needed.

He glanced up, from behind the formation, trying to spot the tank. But nothing was visable in the distance.
Without looking forward, he accidently lost his footing, and took a tumble down a steep hill, rolling down the gravel embankment. He stopped rolling eventually, and noticed the clear sound of metal clanging as he came to a hault.
His leg had bled a bit more, and he took off his helmet, stripped a layer of padding from the inside, and used it as a way to stop the bleeding. Checking his arm guard computer, he did a scan of the area, which showed an underground mine shaft, and a whole series of substructures under the surface.
He limped over to the large metal door, and tried to budge it open, but couldn't get a good grip. Just then the doors shook, and began to open slowly. He quickly flopped to the dirt, and could hear the unmistakeable sound of Detox "chatter" as he saw a pair of Detox soldiers peer out of the doors.
One soldier walked over to Will, who remained motionless, acting dead, who grabbed Will, and took him to the second soldier, who grunted something.

As Will, pretending to be "dead" lay on the platform of an outdated lift, being used by the Detox, he could tell they were travelling down, deeper under Telorn's surface. And by the noticeable sounds of machinery, and other equipment, he was picked up and tossed into a small prison-like room.

"Lieutenant....?" a woman asked, as she immediately knew who the man, tossed in, was.
Will opened his eyes, "Falkar?" he asked, as he looked up at the familiar face.
"I thought you were dead..." Bais-Falkar sighed.
"Shh...as far as they're concerned, I am..." he replied, but before he could go back to being "dead", a Detox, on guard, spotted him, and rushed into the room.
Bais looked up at the guard, who didn't do anything, then left. "He's gone..." she told Will, who sat back up.
"Is there anyone else here?" Will asked.
"A couple...in a holding cell a few meters up, on a different level. This is a Detox camp...there's about 80 people here, mostly passing freighters and civilians. But a few Fleet. Some from as far as the Harzn system..." Bais replied.
"Have you seen any Fleet?" Will asked again.
"A pair of cadets....Kinoll, and Ruiz..." Bais replied.
"Ruiz!?" Will asked.
"You know him....oh geez, Lieutenant, your leg is bleeding....what happened?" Bais asked.
"I was shot..." Will led off.
Bais walked over to a small Medi kit she still had, and grabbed some fresh gauze.
"Painkiller?" Will asked, as she used it to replace the now blood soaked padding Will had used in a pinch.
She shook her head.
"....sh*t!" Will exclaimed as he turned his head to see a Detox was staring right back at him.
The soldier rushed in, and grunted loud Two more rushed in, and picked up the NOT dead Fleet, and then grabbed Bais.

Making the two walk down a short mineshaft, the lead Detox opened a set of doors, and the other Detox forced the Fleet inside. "Where are we?" Will asked.
"I think this is called the "Chamber"....well, in Martonian it would be the "RXAL TGAR"..."Bais replied.
Will was pushed towards a large machine, but held his ground.
The Detox yelled at him, but Will turned around, kneed the soldier in the chest, and managed to grab a grenade hanging from his belt, and tossed it behind him as he and Bais ran out of the room, it exploded shortly after
"Let's GO!!" He yelled, as he grabbed a Detox rifle.

Will and Bais approached a cargo lift, 20 meters down the shaft. "Look!" Bais pointed at a few rushing Detox.
Will crouched in formation, and blasted 3 quickly, but 4 still came towards them. They hopped on the lift, and Bais hit the control panel, getting it to move.

Minutes later they arrived a few meters up, on another level of the Prison Camp. A pair of Detox spotted them, but were easily shot down by Will, as Bais grabbed a rifle for herself. They ran towards a row of prison cells, and one-by-one opened them, rescuing who they could.
After 10 cells, they'd found 24 prisoners. But not all were alive.
"We're Fleet Special Ops....anyone see any other Fleet?" Will asked the prisoners, who were greatful to be free. "Lieutenant Avers, this is Trooper Falkar...."
"I'm Fleet..." a Martonian, who was helping another prisoner walk, looked over at Will.
"Good..." Bais smiled, handing him a small Detox blaster. "What's your name?"
"Ensign Rahn-Calot..." the Martonian saluted, "glad to see another Martonian..." he smiled at Bais, who smiled back.
"Have you seen a Cadet Luis Ordonez-Ruiz?" Will asked Calot, who looked down the way to spot Detox were on their way.
"Lieutenant....there are more Detox coming this way..." Bais interrupted.
"Hell...Ensign, take the civilians to the lift, a few meters that way--head up to the surface...we'll be up there shortly..." Will ordered, as he readied to take on just abotu anything.
"Sir!" Calot saluted, as he led the prisoners down to the lift.
"Let's go...." Will told Bais, who fired a few shots and knocked down a Detox.


Will and Bais kept checking cells, only a few more civilians. Quick, head to the lift....down that way" Bais told them. "I'm not sure if Ruiz is here or not, Sir."
Shaking his head, not wanting to think of anything that could have possibly happened to the cadet, Will just continued to search a few more cells.

---Fexlran-Tifki, Tower Structure--1000 hrs

Walking down a wide corridor, full of large computers, power conduits running from from floor-to-ceiling, and barely lit, Tahiri, Jacklyn and Lokna walked down towards what appeared to be an operations console, as the lit display looked familiar to what would have been found on a Fleet ship.
"What is this place?" Tahiri asked. "Looks like this might help us locate a power source..." he pointed at the large console.
Jacklyn tried to access the systems, but it wasn't clear what anything said, with a very primitive, or possibly too-advanced group of characters appeared on the screen. "Is...this their language?" she asked.
Tahiri looked at it, trying to figure out anything on the display. "Looks like it...is there anything on a power source. Something we can use for the transport?" he worked the console, finding countless file screens, but nothing sticking out at him.
Lokna opened his arm guard, and tried to scan it. "I'm getting a signal from the Transport. They're getting a signal from a Fleet channel..."
"Anything?" Jacklyn asked him.
Lokna shook his head, "....crap. Lost the signal...."
"Now what?? Leo?" Jacklyn asked Tahiri.
"You two stay here, try to find a way to figure out where the Energy source is." Tahiri replied. "I'm gonna head back down that corridor we passed a few minutes ago...."

As Tahiri approached a door leading into an area that his scanner couldn't read, he was suddenly shot at. He hopped behind a metal crate, and looked to see a Detox, who he aimed and fired at, but missed. "Hell!" he yelled, as looked back to fire again, only to find the Detox wasn't there anymore.
He made his way into the room, and saw what looked like a fusion reactor.
"Gotcha..." he nodded, as he opened his arm guard, but got no reading.
He then saw a console, and tried to access it's files. Nothing clear, so he used his arm guard computer, and accessed a translation subroutine, finally getting a Basic text readout. "Let's see....Identify Energy Type..." he said aloud.
"PHOTONIC" a repsonse appeared on his screen.
Just then a Detox soldier approached, and was shot at by Tahiri. Somehow the blast was deflected, as was a second shot. The Detox drew his rifle and fired it at Tahiri, knocking him down.
As he lie on the metal floor, Tahiri looked up to see the lone Detox standing over him, almost staring at him, through the thin slots of the helmet where the eyes of the faceless soldier could see. A small grunt was all Tahiri heard as he slowly passed out...

------------------


More later

Feel free to comment, discuss, etc

[TheFiredragon222]

This is a looong story and there is a lot to read, but a Good Read though! Really worth your time. (unless you hate reading)

[FyreeTSG]

(and this is only like 3/5ths of the way through Part 1)

More:

---------------------------
(picking up immediately after Tahiri passes out--see previous Story post)


---Outer Corridor

Lokna and Jacklyn had been waiting for a response from Tahiri, for nearly 20 minutes, but hadn't really noticed the time.
"I think I've found something...looks like a main conduit. A few meters down the east corridor..." Jacklyn stated as she had found something on the console.
Lokna looked at the display. According to my scans, this energy is similar to what we need. 25 meters...okay..." he paused, then looked at Jacklyn. "Jacky?"
"Where's Leo? It's been...well..too long." she replied, a little worried as to where Tahiri was, or what was keeping him. "Should we go after him?" she asked.
"Lets focus on finding the energy....if we can't get off this planet, and out of Detox space, then Leo won't be the only one missing..." he stated, as he looked back at the schematics, and looked for a safe, quick route.
"I'm going...I need to find Leo. We can't leave him--regardless." she declared.
"No. Leo gave us an order..." Lokna led off, then realized the orders didn't really matter in the current situation.
"Again....same rank..." Jacklyn reminded him.
"He's got 2 days seniority...." Lokna explained.
"Well, to hell with seniority...I'm gonna go look for him." Jacklyn shook her head, unclasping her side arm, and walking towards the direction Tahiri had gone.
"Wa...Wait for me!" Lokna ran after her.

After walking for a while, they arrived outside a room. "I'm picking up HUGE energy readings from this room...." Lokna explained.
"This must be the place Leo was checking out..." Jacklyn nodded.
"Well, then we're checking it out....and THAT'S an order..." Lokna smiled.
Jacklyn saluted him, "Yes Sir!"

Entering the room, they saw the fusion reactor. "What is it?" Jacklyn looked back to see Lokna had stopped.
"Weird..." Lokna led off.
"What?" Jacklyn asked again. She checked her own scanner, getting a faint reading.
"I'm getting a Fleet energy....weapon signature..." Lokna replied.
"Fleet? Leo??" Jacklyn asked.
"Could be....wait, whats...." Lokna led off, as he walked over to a crate, and picked something off the floor.
"What is that?" Jacklyn asked.
"Leo's Pocketknife..." Lokna replied, now worried about where his friend was.
"He must've been here....but where is he?" Jacklyn asked, feelings of sadness beginning to swell, as she was trying not to think of the worst.
"Good question--he never goes anywhere without this though...." Lokna stated, as he pocketed Tahiri's knife.
Just then a Detox fired at them, from an upper balcony. Lokna fired back, missing, but fired again, yelling a Martonian swear as he blasted the Detox, who fell to the floor below.
"Nice one....we need to find Leo..." Jacklyn reminded him.
"I know...." Lokna nodded, as he tried to scan for a human biosign, when his comm suddenly beeped. "This is Cadet Raht..."

"YZZZ......R....T...CA..L...T.....F...E...MMM....ZZZZ...." a garbled voice came through the other end.

"Can you reformat it..." Jacklyn suggested.
Lokna did so, but it still wasn't working. "Nothing....incompatible...wait...", when suddenly his computer blinked off. "What the hell?"
"What happened?" Jacklyn asked, as her computer did the same.
"Power surge...now what?" Lokna asked back.
"Use the emergency chronometer..." Jacklyn activated a low-powered clock, on the inside of her arm guard.
Lokna nodded.

They left the fusion reactor room, and headed into the corridor. "I'll check this way." Lokna said over his helmet comm.
"Gotcha...I'll meet you in 45 Minutes." Jacklyn nodded.



"TAHIRI...." a voice said.

Tahiri looked up to see where he was. It was a strange looking, dimly lit room, similar to the fusion reaction room, but bigger. Noticing he was lying on his back, in just his trooper gear, he motioned to move. "Who...who's there?" he asked, knowing he'd heard a voice.

No answer.

He sat up and leaned against a wall console. Looking forward he saw a large, dark metal sphere, connected to a system of tubes, wires, and pipes. A blue panel of glass was glowing brightly, along the diameter of the sphere "What is this...?" he asked.
"TAHIRI" the same voice stated.
"Who's there?" he asked again, now sure he wasn't alone.
"To-Hiri." the voice replied.
"To-Hiri? You mean Tahiri??" Tahiri asked.
"To-Hiri-Kati." the voice stated.
"To-Hiri-Kati...?" Tahiri asked.
"To-Kati, Tahiri." the voice stated once more.
"To-Kati?" Tahiri asked.
"TOKATI DI UNU ALD DUN-KIL." the voice stated loudly.
"To-Kati...is that who you are?" Tahiri asked, "Do you speak Lunarr?"
"Lunarri-Kati." the voice, identified as "To-Kati", replied.
"Lunarr. My language..." Tahiri explained.
"Language is punctuation, syllables, alpha-numeric characters grouped together to communicate." To-Kati stated.
"Yes..." Tahiri agreed.
"Yes, the opposite of "no". A word used to respond commonly to a question or inquiry. Normally a correct response." To-Kati explained.
"Where am I?" Tahiri asked.
"You are in To-Kati. To-Kati is life." To-Kati replied.
"I am not in you. You are not life....I am a Lunarr, and you may be life to the Detox, but not me, not my people..." Tahiri claimed, not sure what the voice was trying to say.
"Tahiri, incorrect. No, To-Kati life. Detox life To-Kati. TOKATI DI UND KIETA-PANUV!" To-Kati yelled.
"Are the Detox controlled by you?" Tahiri asked.
"Detox are not controlled. They aren't sentient. I bring their chaoticness to MY order." To-Kati replied.
"Do they have faces?" Tahiri asked.
"A face is unique. A face is imperfect. Faces are two sided. Detox face is no." To-Kati explained.
"Who were they?" Tahiri asked.
"Tahiri would like to know more?" To-Kati asked in response.
"Who were the Detox, before now, before the War?" Tahiri asked again.
"In 2041, Orr Leom began construction on Katon. The Tower of To-Kati. Central Core was too powerful. Leom began to mutate. Over the next 20 years he spent his life, no longer the same he once was. Tracking down more for this army. He sent them to the Central Core and they also mutated. The result was Detox." To-Kati explained.
Tahiri looked doubtful, he thought he knew the History of the Prime One system.
"What happened to Leom?" Tahiri asked.
"Died." To-Kati replied.
"And the Central Core?" Tahiri asked again.
"The first Detox took it offline. Turned it into an Energy Source. Un-natural." To-Kati stated.
Tahiri didn't respond at first, as he looked at To-Kati, the pulsating light of the Detox Super Computer was almost staring back at him. "Who did Orr Leom hunt? Who became the Detox?" Tahiri, still trying to process all this new, never-before heard information, finally asked,
"Lunarr, Zornian, Velorrans, Altorians, Asorians, Soati, and Tavian...as well as some other primitive, lesser species. All became Detox." To-Kati explained.
"Why? They were innocent..." Tahiri began.
"Tahiri is experiencing many emotions." To-Kati stated.
Tahiri looked at the Super Computer. It was scanning him, as an attached console was processing. "Why am I here?" Tahiri asked.
"To-Kati is curious about Tahiri." To-Kati replied.
"To-Kati is curious??" Tahiri asked. "How can a computer have curiousity?"
"Tahiri is now experiencing confusion-anger-fear-worry-hatred..." To-Kati began to list.
"Stop! No more analyzing me!" Tahiri yelled, not liking being a test subject.
"Tahiri is now experiencing anger-fear-frustration-pain-hatred..." To-Kati began again.
"No more analysis To-Kati." Tahiri demanded, as rage began to fill him.
"Tahiri is no loner wanting to experience emotions. Begin test Beta-Pi-Delta." To-Kati instructed.

Suddenly the room went black, the only visible light was that coming from To-Kati's light bar. Tahiri couldn't see much of anything, until he could adapt his eyes. He heard the sound of a side door opening, and a pair of bootsteps.
"MAL!" To-Kati ordered loudly.
Without hesitation, Tahiri ducked, felt a hand grab him, but easily flipped over the attacker, kicked a second unclear attacker, and knocked that one to the floor as well.

The lights turned back on, Tahiri, panting a little, looked down to see two unconscious Detox.
"Tahiri now experiencing exhaustion-anger-fear-pain-self doubt..." To-Kati began to scan again.
"No more To-Kati! What the HELL was that?" Tahiri, now pissed, asked as he reached down and picked up one of the downed Detox's rifles and aimed it at To-Kati.
"Anger is the basis for hatred. Hatred is a result of negative impulses in the cerebral cortex..." To-Kati replied.
"No sh*t." Tahiri glared back.
"sh*t is a term used for the solid waste of most animals...slang..." To-Kati replied.

Tahiri had enough, tired of the questions, and ready to get a clear answer from the mysterious, source-less voice, aimed a Detox blaster at a console attached to To-Kati, which caused a slow-whirring noise and a flickering of the room's power.

"Tahiri is now experiencing anger-hatred-fear...." To-Kati began again.

Tahiri fired again, this time at a power coupling. Realizing a possible solution to his problem, and noticed To-Kati's light was beginning to fade.

"Detox....have no face....." To-Kati began, almost repeating what he'd said minutes earlier, "They are...." a slow whirring noise began to wind, as To-Kati started to lose power.

Another rifle blast, this time to more wires and tubes, on the top of To-Kati's structure.

"Orr Leom....DU KAL...SEK....VOKAS..." To-Kati began to lose translation, speaking what sounded like a form of Zylonian, as the light began to lose power.

Tahiri aimed the rifle at the main sphere of To-Kati, and pulled the trigger, but it jammed. "What the hell...?" he asked, as he tried again, but with no success.

To-Kati's light suddenly came back on, even brighter than before.
Tahiri looked in shock as To-Kati spoke:

"Tahiri now experiencing fatility!"


---Detox Prison Camp, Telorn Wastelands--1300 hrs

Still unable to find Luis, Will and Bais had found themselves at a dead-end of a corridor, where a group of Detox had trapped them. "Duck!" Will yelled, as the Detox began to fire at them, but he quickly fired back, using his nearly-dead blaster he'd found.
Bais grabbed a grenade from Will's belt, and activated it, chucking it at the Detox. The large explosion killed 8 Detox easily, wounding the others.
"sh*t! You could've..." Will began to yell, but was cut off.
"Sir, these cells are all empty...if there's anyone left there's still a few more cells that way." Bais explained. "If they're alive..."
"Luis is alive...the kid's too tough..." Will nodded as he ran over to the last group of cells, and found only a single Martonian pilot.
"Who are you...?" the injured Martonian asked, looking at his two rescuers.
"Wil Avers, Fleet..." Will replied, helping the man, missing a leg, and joining up with Bais.
"Sir..." Bais helped Will. "We have to head out...the free prisoners are waiting..."
"I know....You head out, I'm gonna find Luis..." Will ordered.
"But Sir..." Bais tried to convince Will.
"That's an order, Trooper. Get them to safety. I'll stay. Notify the General about this Camp..." Will commanded, as he grabbed another rifle, and headed down another corridor.
Hesitantly Bais did as she was told, not wanting to leave Will on his own again, but knowing that the freed prisoners would need someone to accompany them.

Rushing down the old mine corridor, Will found himself looking down at a large underground mining quarry, where he spotted a few Detox, as well as a few prisoners who were being forced to work.
Will walked quietly towards the ledge, scouting the area, and as he slowly approached a Detox, as it stood guard, unaware if Will's closing in, who tapped in on the shoulder. It wasn't quick enough, as Will blasted it with his rifle, and sent it falling off the ledge, and down onto the rocky ground below.
The other Detox saw their fellow soldier fall, and looked up to see Will, holding the rifle. One blasted towards Will, but missed, then was blasted back by Will, who quickly hid behind a boulder. The Detox began to make their way up towards Will, who knew he had to find a way down.
Spotting a floating Mine platform, he ran quickly, and jumped onto the platform, where a Detox was, who he quickly wrestled with, and managed to flip off the platform. Another Detox fired at the platform, knocking it's power out, causing it to lose balance, and sending Will to the rocks below. A 6 meter drop.

Will, dazed a little, looked up to see a pair of Detox, armed and aimed at him. One grunted at the other, who picked Will up, took his helmet and weapon, and chained Will's legs. "What the hell? I'm not doing a thing..." Will demanded, as he got in the Detox's face, but was met by a rifle butt, knocking him down.

Looking around, as he held an old pickaxe, Will saw around a dozen prisoners, a few Velorrans, Artise, and some Lunarrs. "You okay?" an Artise asked Will, placing his own axe next to a rock.
"Fine..." Will shook his head.
"Name's Delu....Delu Manst, used to be a cargo runner..." the Artise, Delu Manst introduced himself.
"You see any Fleet....?" Will asked, as he looked around, trying to see how many Detox were around.
"A couple...one was taken to another mine, a Cadet Ruiz...I believe." Delu explained.
"Ruiz? Where?" Will asked.
"There's a security field..." Delu led off, talking closely to Will, as a Detox walked by.
"Where?" Will whispered, curious as to where Luis was.
"15 Meters east....the Super Computer is keeping him..." Delu explained. "Why?"
"I feel responsible for the kid...he's just a cadet...wait. Super Computer??" Will asked.
"Work...!" Delu grabbed his axe, as a Detox walked by, turning to look at Will. "Work!!"
Will grabbed his axe, and cracked it against a rock, as Delu looked over at him.
"It's not here...it's on Tifki." Delu finally replied.
"The computer? I thought it was a myth..." Will questioned.
"No...it's on Tifki...in the Tower of Katon. The one here is linked to the one on Tifki, To-Kati..." Delu explained, but didn't help clear Will's head.
"The security field...15 meters? Great, now all I need is a distraction..." Will sighed.


---Forest Outpost

"General!" a trooper ran over to General Calson, "...no update on Lieutenant Avers."
Calson was looking over a recent sensor sweep of the Detox defenses, which had perplexed him. The Detox's last few attacks hadn't been what he was used to seeing from the enemy. They seemed to be shorter, and not as specifically targeted.
"Sir?" the trooper asked.
"Status...?" Calson looked at the trooper, who handed him a padd.
"Detox have resumed their previous stations along the cliff side, but no reports of much else." the trooper replied.
"Alright. Send a comm to Command that we're about to make an offensive move." Calson instructed the trooper, who looked confused.
"Sir?" the trooper asked.
"Ensign...tell me what you hear?" Calson asked back.
The trooper listened to the noise of the forest.
A few native birds, and some small mammals had begun to move about the trees, as the battle had been silent for hours. "I don't hear anything, Sir." the trooper shook his head.
"Exactly." Calson smiled.
"Sir...Avers' platoon is back...Trooper Falkar has a group of rescued prisoners..." a lieutenant ran up to Calson, saluting.
"What? Prisoners?" Calson asked.
"Yes, Sir. Falkar was rescued, she and the "Alpha" platoon are back. So are 15 prisoners." the lieutenant replied.
"Do they have word on Avers?" Calson asked, as he saw Bais running over to him, followed by Haled.
"Sir." Bais saluted, as a pair of Medical troopers began to scan a few of the surviving freed prisoners.
"Trooper....what's Avers up to?" Calson asked, with a bit of an uncertain smile, knowing full well that Will was more-than-willing to stick his nose in more trouble that what it was worth.
"Off...he arrived at a Detox Prison Camp....found me, and we saved a group of prisoners. But he stayed behind...tracking down some Cadet..."Bais replied, sipping water from a canteen. "What's the word on the Detox line?" she asked.
"They're stationary--and not attacking like I'd expect from Detox...Have a shuttle prepare to track down this Detox camp, and find Avers." Calson ordered Bais and Haled.
"Sir!" Haled saluted, as he and Bais headed to a shuttle pad.


---Detox Prison Camp

Will, and the Artise, Delu Manst, had been busy "working" all the while they'd been trying to come up with a solid plan to escape, find Cadet Luis Ordonez-Ruiz, and get out of the Camp.

"Does your computer still work?" Delu asked, pointing at Will's arm guard, as he cracked a rock with his axe.
Will nodded, then activated the computer. "Hell.." he muttered. "What are the Detox doing here...?"
"Mining for ore...same thing the Fleet want...What is it? Can you get anything?" Delu asked.
Shaking his head, Will looked down at a few rocks, blackish-blue in color, the color of the same ore the Fleet was looking for on Telorn. "Psshh...this is what we were after." he said as he tossed a rock on the ground
"If they get this stuff up to their ships, they'll be able to do what they want. But if you're not getting a signal, I'd say it was probably the computer....the Detox one." Delu clarified.
"Looks like we need to get out sooner than later..." Will led off, as he and Delu turned to see 2 Detox grab one of the forced workers, and for no clear reason executed him.
Delu then surprised will by walking up to one of the Detox, and said something in Artisean. The confused Detox looked at the prisoner, and before he could fire his disruptor, Delu swiftly grabbed it, and blasted BOTH Detox.
Will hopped into action, grabbed the other dead soldier's weapon and blasted a rushing Detox, and another. The prisoners cheered as Will and Delu blasted the chains, freeing them.

"Did you have a platoon?" one of the laborers, a Velorran, asked Will, noticing his Fleet uniform.
"A platoon...but they're back at the Line...do you know a way out?" Will asked the man, a Velorran.
Delu grabbed his longcoat off a rock, and slipped it on. "Jaxir...how about that downed shaft corridor?" he asked the Velorran.
"250 meters west..." Jaxir nodded.
"Good, you head west..." Will explained.
Jaxir nodded again, grabbing a Detox rifle, and led the other prisoners westward.
"Delu?" Will asked Delu, who wasn't heading with the rest.
"We still have to find Ruiz, don't we?" Delu asked.

Will and Delu made their way down to the location of the Super Computer, when Will scanned for Luis. "Anything?" Delu asked.
"I'm getting an impossible reading..." Will replied.
"What?" Delu asked.
"P.R.E....Photonic Radiation Energy...." Will answered.
"It's the computer....we know that..." Delu explained.
"No. It's more than a jamming signal. These readings are off the charts, beyond normal jamming signal range. It's almost like it's providing...." Will, unclear as to what the readings were telling him, led off.
"Lets see if we can shut it down..." Delu suggested, as he found an access panel, and opened the doors.

Inside the small room, Will and Delu saw the sphere-shaped Detox computer.
"That's it...? It looks like its...losing power...?" Will asked, as Delu walked over to it, and stared into the Computer, identical-looking to To-Kati.
"Seems so..." Delu noticed, as the room's lights began to dim and flicker as well, until all power crashed.
"sh*t...." Will swore.
"You getting any readings?" Delu asked, in the darkness.
"Lemme try a comm..." Will began, "...This is Will Avers, Lieutenant, Fleet Special Ops. I'm in an underground Detox Camp. Looking for an Ensign Ruiz, Luis Ordonez-Ruiz, Medical Ops..." he said over his static-filled comm.
No response.
"Jammed still?" Delu asked.
"Plus we're still too deep, we need to surface. Where's that way out you know?" Will asked.
"What about Ruiz?" Delu asked.
Will shook his head, then looked over at a console, that still had power. He walked over to it and used his arm guard computer to translate the read-out to Basic, getting a rudimentary translation.
"Can you use it?" Delu asked.
"Looks like its a basic core console....should have Comm signal receiver subroutines....Here..." Will accessed the console, and found a small reciever port. "Lets try a Code-Signal..."
"Code Signal?" Delu asked.
"Emergency Transmit....just a series of tones used to mean each letter in Basic, easy to do, Fleet Academy elective course." Will replied, as he began to repeatedly tap a single panel, sending a Code-Signal message.
"What are you sending?" Delu asked again.
"I'm not sending, too far underground remember...but I'm trying to track down Ruiz." Will explained. "I'm searching their records...if Detox even keep them. Seeing if I can track down anything..."
"They should. At least ID records....this is a prison camp, so they'd scan each prisoner, and determine DNA, and other key factors..." Delu explained.
"What for? Would their be a way to identify anything that would help us track down Luis?" Will asked.
Delu nodded, "Fleet records have DNA tags, right?" he asked Will.
"Standard Identification backup..." Will replied, having a better way to search for Luis, when suddenly the console had stopped, and his armguard blared, giving him a match of the two records. Luis' DNA record had been found on the Detox system, and it was a perfect match for the Fleet file. "Got him...now...lets see where he is."
The Detox system gave Will a rudimentary readout of the location of Luis' DNA signal, coming from the surface. More importantly a Detox ship.
Delu looked at the display, recognizing the ship Luis' signal was coming from. "The Maklavu? That's a Detox Prison Barge. It normally orbits Dilite Beta, and the asteroid fields, for stray ships and shuttles. That's where I was taken..." Delu remembered.
"Where does it take the prisoners?" Will asked.
"Normally to the old Zylonian freighter docks, on Vega Prime....but that's halfway across the System." Delu replied.
"If Luiz is on that ship, then I'm going after him!" Will exclaimed, as he readied his disruptor and ran over to the doors.
"What about going back? To the Front Line??" Delu asked.
"No...once we surface I'll try to contact them, then you can show me where the Prison Transport lands..."Will demanded.

Once on the surface with Delu, Will tried to get a clear signal to the Fleet Line, but a sudden sandstorm had kicked up. "Anything...!?" Delu asked, squinting his eyes, and trying to cover his mouth.
Will, using his other arm as a shield, tried to hail anyone. "This is Avers! Jamming Signal is down....I'm going after Cadet Ruiz. Command, Detox have been spotted...!!" Will exclaimed over a fading signal, as the weather became a problem.
No immediate response.
Then, suddenly a reception tone beeped. "Got it....signal's been sent, no reply, but I know it sent cause this code is a Fleet one..." Will happily sighed, as he knew his message got through, then looked at Delu who was pointing off in a direction.
"This way!" Delu shouted over the wind, as they slowly traveled through the near-blinding sand storm.

----------------


More soon...gonna try to get Part 1 finished

[FyreeTSG]

A bit more--hope you're still reading:
------------------------------------

---Forest Outpost--1500 hrs

"General!" a trooper yelled as he ran over to Calson, down in the bunker.
"What is it?" Calson asked. "
"It was a short message..." the trooper replayed the comm, "...from Avers."

"This is Avers! Jamming Signal is down....I'm going after Cadet Ruiz. Command, Detox have been spotted...!!"

"Have we traced his locale?" Calson asked, as he grabbed his sidearm.
"Near one of the old shipyards, like his team said...but a storm has popped up, we can't track him anymore..." the trooper replied.
"Sir! Preliminary scans confirm the jamming signal is down..." a Major reported.
"How? Never mind...contact the Fleet--and have a shuttle prepare to track down Avers....as Trooper Falkar to assist, and someone get me another ammo clip.." Calson ordered in succession as he tossed his empty clip onto the ground.
"Sir. The Command Ship has sent a signal. But the reciever is still experiencing a localized disturbance..." a trooper, at a comm console, looked up at Calson.
"Get it up. Send a transmit to the Command Ship when you're able..." Calson ordered.


---Medical Transport 84

Larian looked up at Lokna, who was sitting on an empty biobed, lost in somber though. "Lokna...?" she began to ask, when the Emergency Bay doors opened.
Jacklyn walked in. "Any word on Leo?" she asked Lokna, who just shook his head.
"It's been hours, anything on the sensors?" Lokna asked another officer, who was at a functional console.
"Nothing....no..wait! I'm getting something...something faint..." the officer began.
Jacklyn looked at Lokna, who quickly hopped up, and grabbed his helmet. "Lokna?"
"It's been too long. Track down Cadet Tahiri....I'll be in the stellar cartography lab, trying to find us the safest route out of Detox space, and someone prepare the auxiliary power cells. As soon as we locate Tahiri, we've got to head back and find some energy to get us the hell out of here." Lokna commanded.


---Katon, the Tower of To-Kati, Fexlran-Tifki

Once again finding himself disoriented, Tahiri looked to see himself lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling of a room, covered in tubes, wires and conduits, all leading to the center of the room he was now in.

"CERAK DU INLAN!" To-Kati ordered aloud.
A pair of Detox nodded in compliance, and lifted Tahiri onto a type of Examination table.
"What...what did you do to me?" he slowly coming to, asked as he tried to move.
A tentacle-like tube extended from To-Kati's main console, causing Tahiri to gasp as he once again tried to escape, but found his legs and arms limp, "What....I can't move...!" he yelled as he watched the tube plug into the Examination table. "What are you doing!?" he asked.
"RA HUN TIAM CAZRI!" To-Kati loudly commanded.
Tahiri looked at the console next to To-Kati, it was displaying his nervous system, and an x-ray of his body. "Answer Me!!"
"Tahiri will become Detox!" To-Kati commanded again, as a green liquid began to flow through the tube, and Tahiri felt himself getting weaker, as he could barely keep his eyes open. A pair of restraints clanked over his body, as he suddenly felt the prick of a needle over his heart, and gasped.

Suddenly To-Kati blinked off, as the blue light faded into blackness, causing Tahiri to think positively, but then realized it wasn't over. Able to see again, Tahiri looked up to see all was dark, and dead. But a pair of Detox marched in, and lifted him off the table.

A few minutes later, being dragged into a smaller room, similar to the previous, Tahiri saw another To-Kati.
"Tahiri is surprised?" To-Kati #2 asked.
"I..." he led off, barely able to speak, as a sedative had taken affect. "You..."
"Yes Tahiri. I am To-Kati mark 2. Fexlran-Tifki is equipped with 4 To-Kati. The To-Kati you saw was mark 1." mark 2 explained.
"How..." Tahiri barely began.
"DETOX! FRA DUX!" To-Kati ordered the soldiers, who nodded and then dropped Tahiri to the cold floor.

"Why am I here?" Tahiri, still alert, asked, as he slumped against another Exam table.
"To make me become humanoid. I need a vessel to be born as a humanoid lifeform..." To-Kati responded, sending a chill down Tahiri's spine.
Tahiri looked at his legs, as it suddenly moved. Then his other leg, feeling his weight begin to shift as he slowly, but not by his own control, stood up.
"You see, Tahiri....Leonard Nagata Tahiri. I am To-Kati. I am Tahiri. Your legs are now my legs. Soon your arms. Then You...." mark 2 eerily explained.
Tahiri tried to regain control over his body. Forcing himself to move on his own. His arm flung forward, as it began to get feeling again, "Not a F*CKING chance...." he declared as he was able to grab his left leg, and move it to step forward, defying To-Kati's control.
He slowly made it, under his own power, and tremendous physical stress, to a small console, then leaned forward, out of exhaustion, breathing hard.
"Tahiri is Strong. To-Kati is STRONGER!" mark 2 exclaimed.
"F*ck You! This is MY body!" Tahiri yelled in demand, as he moved his other arm, and got his legs to bring him over to To-Kati mark 2. "You are NOT Stronger!! You are a f*cking machine! A piece of technology! You, To-Kati, are an object! Not Alive! Not EVER!" Tahiri yelled as he picked up a metal pipe, and took a big swing at the console, smashing it to pieces.
"To-Kati is ALIVE! I am STRONG!!" To-Kati claimed.
"F*CK YOU!!" Tahiri yelled again, bashing another console, shattering it as well. He was furious at the Detox computer for trying to control him against his will.
A Detox soldier rushed into the room, but Tahiri easily saw it, and smashed the soldier's leg, dropping it's blaster, which Tahiri picked up. He blasted the Detox, killing it.
"TILRA DUX NARTIL!!" To-Kati ordered.
"SHUT! UP!!" Tahiri yelled as he blasted To-Kati, causing the sphere to explode with huge force, sending Tahiri in the air, and against a far wall, and triggering a chain reaction, destroying all the consoles in the room.

---Medical Transport 84--1800 hrs

"Chief, we've just detected a huge explosion on the planet...no...two, three...? Four!? Four explosions, in rapid succession!" an officer reported, on the Bridge.
"What?" Larian asked as she nearly dropped the scanner she was using.
Lokna looked at Jacklyn, who started wide-eyed at the display screen, tears swelling in them. "Leo....?"
"Lokna, Jacklyn....go find Tahiri!" Larian commanded.

Minutes later, Jacklyn and Lokna, as well as two more troopers, arrived back down on Tifki, just outside the Tower of Katon. Lokna began to scan. "I'm reading over 200 dead Detox...and a fading energy signal."
"What kind of energy?" Jacklyn asked.
"Not too sure...I think this thing's malfunctioning....cause it says...Photonic...?" Lokna slapped his scanner, trying to get it working.
"Never mind....can you detect Leo?" Jacklyn asked, as she looked down a corridor, and tried to see anything, but only saw a few dead Detox on the floor.
"He's in a small room...or what's left of it...45 meters east..." Lokna explained.

Tahiri, still lying on the floor, opened his eyes. He was still in the room, and saw that To-Kati was destroyed. Struggling to sit up, he could feel his limbs going numb again. Reaching for his arm guard, still attached, he activated it, but it was dead.
"God...where are you Lokna??" he asked aloud, but stopped as he suddenly heard a rustling from under a pile of rubble. He still had the blaster, and aimed it towards the movement.
It was a single Detox, missing an arm, but still alive, briefly, as Tahiri quickly blasted it, then felt his arm go limp, and dropped the weapon.

A pair of footsteps came closer, getting the light-headed Tahiri's attention, as he tried to reach for the blaster. A person peered in, barely visible to him, as his eyes were half-open.
"Leo??" Jacklyn asked, as she slowly pushed a door open, shoving rubble aside, and saw Tahiri.
"Boy...are you a sight for sore eyes..." Tahiri half-chuckled.
"What are you doing here?" Lokna asked, as he looked around to see the amount of damage in the room.
"To...To-Kati..." Tahiri replied, looking over at the shattered sphere.
"Huh?" Lokna asked.
"The...Detox Super Computer....it's destroyed." Tahiri replied.
Jacklyn ran over to Tahiri, a tear running down her cheek, and began to scan his body. "Lokna, help me get him....his legs have no impulse....neither do his arms..."
"How?" Lokna asked both.
"To-Kati...deactivated them, somehow...I can't move or feel them. My arms are fading too...." Tahiri explained.
"How could a computer do that?" Jacklyn asked.
"The same way To-Kati controlled the Detox." Tahiri began, "Mind control..."
Lokna looked at the destroyed computer. "Let's go...." he looked back at the other two, as he helped lift Tahiri.


---Strategic Command Command Ship, approaching Telorn

"Lieutenant General, we're getting a transmission from General Calson." a commander on the Bridge reported, as the Command Ship had been joined by 4 other Fleet Transports.
Derricks looked at the view screen as Calson appeared. "C.C. report!" Derricks stated, glad to see his friend was still alive.

"Derricks, the Detox jamming signal is down. Bring in reinforcements. My original defenses are down to just over 100 men and women. And Lieutenant Avers is M.I.A...." Calson reported. "Glad you finally showed up."

"Matka-Lean's not going to be happy. You've lost his best Ops go...I'll send down a pair of Command Transports. 1000 strong!" Derricks replied.

"Acknowledged, Calson out!" as the comm ended.

---Telorn Canyon

Will and Delu Manst were travelling through one of the larger canyons on Telorn, which was littered by small and large pieces of metal, hull debris, and other bits from years of back-and-forth battle over the planet. The more they walked, the more they found. Even seeing a few remnants of Fleet ships, as well as a few other makes and models of spacecraft.

"Lieutenant?" Delu asked, as he looked back to see Will had stopped, as he tried to get his arm guard working again.
Will tapped the computer, and cheered, "Aha!", as he got a signal.
"What?" Delu asked.
"I'm picking up a source of water...2 km west..." Will replied.
"We can go without water...if I remember the launch schedule correct, the Prison ships leave at sundown..." Delu explained, as he pointed to the setting sun.
"Artise can, but Lunarrs need water...besides..." Will led off as they continued to walk, but he stopped.
Delu looked where he was pointing. It was an unnatural structure, jutting out from the canyon. "Can you scan anything?"

Will shook his head, but looked at the structure. "That's gotta be it!" he exclaimed, glad to have spotted something.
"Yep..." Delu nodded, as the two hurriedly ran towards the large metal structure.

Minutes later, they slowed down, as they both saw a small group of Detox grunting and nodding. "Hell..." Will muttered.
"This must be it. The refueling site is nearby, the prison ships land here..." Delu led off, but was interrupted as a Detox ship flew overhead, and blasted at the two.
Will fired back, missing, but giving their position.
"Don't!" Delu yelled.
"They saw us...." Will fired again, getting the ship's attention, as it turned back, fired, and a pair of Detox saw them, and rushed to them. Will grabbed onto one, as it tackled him. The two stumbled down a hill, rolling a few meters back down to the canyon.
Delu looked down at Will, but had to quickly turn his attention to the other Detox, who tried to grab him.

Will, lip bleeding, looked up at the snarling Detox, who pulled out a jagged-looking dagger, and took a swipe across Will's chest, slicing the padding he still wore. Crouching momentarily, Will jabbed his shoulder into the Detox, who missed with another swipe, and drove the Detox down to the gravel, then picked up the dagger, stabbed the stunned soldier in it's chest, then looked up to see Delu wasn't fighting the Detox anymore at the top of the hill.
"Delu!?" Will asked aloud.
Peaking his head out, over the hilltop, Delu looked down at Will. "Got mine!"
Will chuckled, then made the climb back up the hill, meeting back with Delu, who stood over a lifeless Detox, handing Will his blaster.

---Forest Outpost

"General Calson. One of the Command Transports has landed. 500 Troops await orders." a Major saluted, as they all prepared for the final offensive.
"Sir, the Detox have been spotted along the ridge, 400..." a cadet, running over to Calson, reported, nervously waiting for the next battle.
"Get the troops at the line, set up formations, have them re-strengthen the Front Line. No time for details, we need to maintain our line...." Calson ordered as he looked at the two troopers. "Let's see a little more confidence troopers. We have the advantage..." he smiled.

A few minutes later, the combined Fleet line was stationed along the forest edge. All were more than ready to defend Telorn, and keep it under Fleet claim. As they slowly marched towards securing Fleet's future as well.

Calson, holding his trooper helmet, looked down at the recent sensor sweep, as another cadet walked up to him. "Sir. Word from Medical Transport 84..." the cadet began.
"84....the one that got lost from the first convoy?" Calson asked.
"Sir, they were near the Detox planet--Fexlran-Tifki. Reports say the..."To-Kati" was destroyed..." the cadet nodded.
"To-Kati?" Calson asked.
"The...Detox Super Computer...." the cadet replied.
"How was it destroyed?" Calson asked.
"A Cadet. Leonard Tahiri....from Command. He and another Command Cadet, Lokna-Raht, were accidently assigned to the Transport during the emergency launch on Tal Prime." the cadet read off the report.
"Tahiri....?" Calson asked, knowing the name.
"Yes, Sir. His service record is...."colorful"..." the cadet handed Calson the padd.
"Thank you, Cadet. Rejoin your platoon." Calson nodded, as he slapped his helmet back on. Calson looked off in the distance, as he had a regained confidence about him. He knew if the Detox had any potential weakness that the Fleet would have to take every advantage they were given.


---Medical Transport 84, entering Fleet Space--2100 hrs

Lokna and Jacklyn were in Larian's office, as they waited for news about Tahiri. There was a beep at the door, and Delin entered. The mood was somber as Jacklyn tried not to break down, as Delin entered.
"Delin..." Larian looked up from her tea.
"Chief. Cadet Tahiri is stable. I had to re-attach his muscle fibers at a microscopic level. Whatever that Super Computer was, it doesn't look like it did much permanent damage...it'll be a few hours until he can walk again." Delin reported, handing Larian a padd.
Lokna sighed. Jacklyn wiped her eyes, and tried to hide her obvious feelings about Tahiri.
"Good work Delin. You've got a promotion in the future, as do you two....once we get back to Tal Prime...." Larian smiled, proud of the 3 junior officers in the room.

Down in the Emergency Bay, a pair of nurses kept a check on the sleeping Tahiri, when Jacklyn entered, and sat on an empty biobed. "Jacky?" a nurse asked, seeing a saddened Jacklyn.
"How is he?" Jacklyn asked.
"Who...the Cadet? He's sleeping...but he'll be fine." the nurse smiled.
"Leslie..." Jacklyn looked at the nurse, who noticed more tears in her eyes. Her feelings for Tahiri were solid as she looked down at the unconscious cadet.
"You okay?" Leslie asked.
"I...I think I love him...." Jacklyn admitted.

Delin entered, and saw Jacklyn sitting near Tahiri. "Jacky, what is it?" he asked her.
"Can...can you wake him up?" she asked back, sniffling a little bit.
"Not yet. But I'll let you know when I can..." Delin replied, as Jacklyn sighed sadly, and left.

Down on Deck 2, in the Cadet Barracks, Lokna was sitting on his bunk, looking at Tahiri's pocketknife, when Larian entered. "Ch..Chief? What are you doing here?" Lokna asked.
She sat next to him on the bunk, and looked at the knife. "Is that Leo's?"
He nodded, "Yep....he got it confiscated a year ago, back at the Academy...a week later he stole it back from the Major's office...who found out, but decided to not pursue further action. Leo always bugged him..." trying to chuckle.
"You know how lucky he is? Having a friend like you...?" Larian asked.
Lokna smiled, and then changed expression, "I'll make the Detox pay...!" he punched the above bunk, getting the bunk's occupant to look down, and see Lokna's face. The angry look was enough to keep the above cadet quiet.

Larian opened the door, to see an ensign running to her. "Ma'am!" the ensign saluted.
"What is it ensign?" Larian asked, standing up.
"Word from the Command Ship!" the ensign happily reported, as Larian followed out into the hall.
"What?" Lokna asked, stepping into the hall.
"Sir, Command is on Telorn...all available ships are to report to the Line." the ensign reported.
"Then have the Helm plot a course for Telorn..." Lokna began, but was stopped by Larian, who was giving the command.
"Belay that order!" she demanded, looking at Lokna.
"I gave you an order, Ensign..." Lokna re-ordered. He tried to hold back, but his Martonian rage was clouding his logic.
Larian stared at Lokna, "Excuse me, Cadet. This is MY ship!"
"Command out-ranks Medical..." Lokna reiterated.
"I am hereby relieving you of duty, Cadet Raht!" Larian exclaimed.
Lokna looked at her, furiously. "You can't relieve me of duty! Nor can you order me!" Lokna yelled.
"Ensign, head to the bridge, tell Helm to maintain course..." Larian pointed towards the ensign, who saluted and ran off.
"You don't have the Rank!!" Lokna yelled again, defying Larian.
"As Chief Medical Officer of THIS Transport, and of Fleet Medical Ops, I do! You are hereby relieved of duty, and command, due to mental stress and fatigue, as well as instability. Doctor's orders! Return to your BUNK, Cadet! Or you can head to the Brig! Consider yourself lucky I don't have you CONFINED....!" Larian berated Lokna, making him speechless, as she waited for him to head back into the barracks.


Location: Telorn Forest
Date: 2092:04:12--0400 hrs

"General Calson! All troops ready, Sir!" a Major reported to Calson, who readied his M-Class, and nodded.
"Status of Detox?" Calson, ready to begin their own attack, asked.
"Sir, they're in attack formation!" a trooper reported.

Calson stood towards the Line, and joined a group of anxious troopers. They were all looking up at the line of two dozen Detox tanks, all in battle formation.
Suddenly a single tank's cannon aimed towards the Fleet Line, blasting towards it, but missing short. Giving the Fleet their reason to launch their offensive, when Calson loudly yelled "FIRE!!!"
The overly-ready Fleet forces began to fire towards the Detox tanks, who began to make their way to the Line. Fleet blaster shots ricocheted off the armored vehicles, doing little damage, but the firing continued.

"AAAHHH!!" a trooper yelled a battle cry as he blasted repeatedly at a tank. More joined in, finally able to take a stand against the Detox, and try to defeat the enemy before more could be done to damage the Fleet's strength.

Stray blaster and pulse cannon shots were flying, each one just as deadly as the next. The Line was thinned as the cruiser tanks began to break formation, and break through. Some troopers motioned to retreat, but the Senior officers kept them together, as they tried their damndest to blast through them. "HOLD THE LINE!!" a Commander yelled, seconds later a cannon blast blasted him, and 4 others, killing all instantly

"Get Medics here!!" Calson yelled, in the heat of a firefight, as he ran to check on an injured Major.
"Sir....te..tell my husband..." the Major slowly spoke, as she faded.

A pair of cruiser tanks, going on a rampage, suddenly sped right into each other, almost unmanned, and crashed. The explosion almost stole the attention away from the nearby troopers. It was turning quickly into more of another defensive stance, but the Fleet were far from done.

"Sir...look...the cruisers.." a trooper pointed out a pair of Detox cruisers which were heading towards each other.
"Get it together.." the Major told his team, as they made a path up towards the Detox line. A pair of Detox were spotted, then quickly downed by the Major, and another. "Ready the charges...we need to clear this gunner out before..." he stopped, when the Detox gunner fired again, blasting the Fleet line.

"Report, Commander." Calson told a trooper, as he had quickly blasted a few more Detox.
"Sir, those two cruisers just slammed into each other..." the commander replied, looking at Calson, with a look of confusion.
"What the hell...?" Calson asked.
"I'm not sure..." the trooper replied.

Moments later, another cruiser tank aimed it's torpedoes towards the Line, preparing to fire, when suddenly they jammed. The large explosion, which took 2 more cruisers with it, shook the forest, as another Detox tank had mysteriously malfunctioned.
5 Detox tanks gone, without a single Fleet shot.

But a group of still functional, and deadly, Detox tanks broke off towards the north edge of the Forest, near a base camp of Fleet's 4th platoon. "Lieutenant! 4 Cruisers on approach!" an ensign pointed out.
"Ready! FIRE!" the lieutenant yelled.
The 4th opened fire, blasting at the Detox tanks, but were easily shot down by a few cannon blasts. One by one, the 25 troops were shot down to less than a dozen!
"FALL BACK!!" the same ensign, now in command as the lieutenant had been killed, ordered the rest of the 4th. They all ran, deep into the forest, but were quickly pursued by a single tank, who kept firing at the fleeing Fleet.

Meters away, the remainder of another platoon of Command troopers were being blasted at by another cruiser, when a huge cannon shot took out 5 more troopers. "FIRE!!" the lead trooper ordered his unit.
They began to fire back, with little effect, until their line was knocked down to 8 troopers, who had no choice but to retreat back towards another platoon's line. The cruisers kept coming. It looked to be no better, even with their, now gone, advantage.

"Sir! The Detox are breaking into the forest!" a Major yelled, as Calson readied himself. "Sir??"
Calson, not looking, clipped on his helmet, and grabbed a spare sidearm, and a hookshot-attachment for his M-Class. "You, come with me." he ordered a group of troopers, who followed. He wasn't gonna go out easily, remembering his own training as one of the first members of Fleet's Special Ops.

They arrived a minute later to see the cruisers ravaging through the forest, killing more Fleet. "Sir, we're losing too many!" an injured ensign ran towards Calson.
"Ensign, we will NOT give up...Troopers, get ready! You 3 take those cruisers to the left. You 2 with me...use hookshots, blast up to the roofs, take em' down!" Calson ordered.

Calson and the troopers, Special Ops, ran towards a cruiser, and used their hookshots to jump up on top of the cruiser. Blasting the top hatch open, Calson looked to see a pair of Detox jump out, but were easily shot by the troopers, and he jumped inside the cabin.
"Sir?" a trooper asked sticking his head into the cabin, to see Calson at the helm.
"Hop in....try to take out some of those cruisers!" Calson ordered the 2 troopers, who smiled.
"Gladly, Sir!" the other trooper saluted, then quickly found the right controls and began to target the Detox.

The Fleet-borrowed cruiser flew towards the other Detox tanks, and took aim. One-by-one, 3 Detox tanks were blasted, causing the surrounding Fleet to take notice, and cheer.

Back at the edge, the remaining cruisers began to dispatch Detox soldiers. The Detox, now on foot, began to blast the individual Fleet that they spotted. Fleet troopers fired back, now finding an easier target, but were in for more of a shock, when down from the cliff, more Detox approached.

A stray trooper was lost, deep in the forest, the last of his platoon. Panting, and only armed with a low-energy side arm, ran into a dead end, and turned around to suddenly see a growling, gnarling Detox. His chest pounded, as he aimed his weapon, nervously at the Detox, who merely grunted, as he remained still.
The trooper suddenly felt the presence of someone behind him, and could feel the stale breath of a Detox, as he quickly had his neck snapped.

"Get on the COMM!" a Major yelled, as his platoon kept getting hit hard. Still in heavy fire, the troopers fought their way through a platoon of Detox soldiers. Blaster fire knocked down the Detox, one at a time, but the Fleet dropped as well.

"WAHOO!!" Calson yelled, as his cruiser made it's presence, blasting the soldiers easily, and flying towards the Fleet Line.
"Ready, Sir!" one of the troopers exclaimed, as the cruiser tank's torpedoes were on target.
Calson pulled the controls, and made a swoop back towards the still present Detox gunners, "FIRE!" Quickly the cruiser blasted 3 gunners.
But the remaining gunners began to aim, and fire at the Fleet Line.

The 9 remaining Detox cruisers made their way further, sending the Fleet deeper.
255 Detox now on foot.
A mere 203 Fleet.

The 6th Platoon, 47 Fleet Troopers found themselves bunched together, as over 100 Detox surrounded them. One Detox made a grunting noise, as 2 more came front, and the nearby cruisers stopped.

"Where's the General?" a trooper asked.
"Not sure..." a lieutenant replied.

The Detox in lead, had the pair of Detox, who were carrying something, come forward, and set a small crate on the forest floor. Opening it up, the lead Detox set what was inside, on the ground.
A Detox super computer, smaller than To-Kati, but pulsating with a blue light, and beginning to hover. One Detox spoke, "TO-KATI DETOX!", more a grunt than clear speech. The rest of the Detox all stood and stared at the computer.

"To-Kati...?" a Major asked, but was suddenly shot by a Detox.

The Detox all stood silent, as the computer floated above the ground. The lead Detox fired it's rifle into the air, and grunted something loud, making the troopers fearful.
"Lay your weapons....down..." a Commander, taking charge, ordered.
A Detox looked at the Commander, noticing He was in charge, then walked over to him. "What?" the Commander asked, sternly, as he was grabbed around the neck, and the troopers all squirmed when a SNAP, then dropped to the ground.
A quick shot blasted the Detox, sending everyone running, as 3 large Fleet shuttles appeared, and opened fire at the scattering enemies. "THIS IS FLEET STRATEGIC COMMAND!!"

The Detox all began to fire at the incoming Fleet, but the shuttles easily stayed undamaged, and in a few large shots, killed nearly all the Detox, and destroyed 7 Cruisers.
A large group, of over 200 Fleet Troopers were beamed down, surrounding the Detox, and quickly blasting the soldiers. The other troopers grabbed weapons, and began to fire as well, easily out-numbering the Detox.
Nearly 400 Fleet now took the offensive, as the Detox began to retreat.

----------------


Almost done, will finish posting it in the next few days

[FyreeTSG]

More of Part 1:
----------------------

---Telorn Canyon--0600 hrs

Will and Delu Manst arrived at an old Telorran Refueling station, now patrolled by Detox soldiers, and a pair of Prison Transports. "I'm reading a few Lunarr biosigns...one of them has to be Luis." Will started, as he read off his arm guard.
Delu readied his Detox rifle and began to creep towards the Detox ships.
Will remained back, as he watched Delu. His leg, still not completely healed, had begun to hurt again.
Waving him over, Delu looked up to see the Detox were moving towards one of the ships. "You okay?"
Will, noticeably limping, nodded. "I'll be fine...lets check out that closest transport..." he replied, motioning towards a ship.
"No. Look, there are only a couple Detox on patrol. I think there are probably more around, waiting for us to move..." Delu explained.
"What do you suggest then?" Will asked, fresh out of ideas.
"We surrender..." Delu suddenly stated, as he stood up, dropped his weapon.
Will turned around, and saw 3 more Detox, aiming rifles at the pair, and stood up.
Delu suddenly changed his look of surrender, into a smiling glare, as he quickly turned to Will, and slammed his boot into Will's injured leg.
"You MOTHER FU...!!" Will yelled, as he dropped to the ground, looked back up, and saw Delu once again holding a rifle.
"RAUT-RAUT! FLEET RAUZA DUKLAN! MU UNTA CRIKK GALDI!" Delu exclaimed in Zylonian, towards the Detox, who nodded. Then kicked Will in the chest. The Detox lifted Will off the gravel, ripped off his arm guard, and grabbed his weapon.
"You should NEVER have let me lead you here...you idiot!" Delu sneered.
Will looked angrily up at Delu, a traitor to Fleet, and spat at his feet.
Delu just laughed, and aimed his weapon at the injured, and angry, Will.
"Traitor!" Will exclaimed.
"Traitor? Hmph....I am no traitor. I merely exchanged MY freedom for My family's freedom. I am a martyr, a hero to my people. Delu Manst, freedom fighter!" Delu explained, in an egotistical point.
Will, hobbling, began to stand up on his own, "You b*stard...I wish I never met you..." he cursed.
"DETOX! THARK...MARAN ZIA! SNO-INA'OHT! KETOL TO-RAH!" Delu ordered loudly at the Detox, who carried the injured Will over to one of the Prison transports.

Once on board, Will was tossed into a holding cell, already with several captured Fleet inside. "Lieutenant? Lieutenant Avers, is that you?" one asked, as he moved over to Will, who was holding his badly-injured leg.
Will looked at bruised, and injured Fleet trooper. "Luis??" Not believing his eyes.
"How'd you wind up here...?" Luis asked.
"Yes, tell him Avers...." Delu grinned at Will, as he began to close the side door.
"Sir? Who was that...? Luis asked, as he looked back at Will.
"Delu Manst. I freed him from a Prison Camp, but as soon as we got here he turns on me, nearly breaking my leg. I think he's allied with the Detox...which makes sense, cause he knew WAY too much about them." Will replied. "I can't believe this..."
"Let me take a look at your leg." Luis instructed, being a Medical trooper.
"Delu slammed his..." Will cringed as Luis physically inspected it, causing some pain, "his boot into it..."
"Sorry, no scanner..." Luis apologized. "I can make a splint...my suit pads aren't gonna get much use."
"Do it.." Will replied, as Luis began to dress his broken leg, making a simple splint, to keep Will's leg straight.

"Tafka marn..." an Artise looked over at the pair.
"Who are you?" Will looked at the man, and asked.
"Delu Manst..." The Artise began, but saw Will try to hop up.
"WHAT?" Will asked angrily.
"...The REAL Delu Manst. That man, the one who led you here, was my clone. A year ago I was shipping some medical tech near Titans, to an Artise Camp on the east hemisphere. My people had lived there for years. I was boarded and taken by Detox, then I was cloned. My clone took my place, and I was sent here. My clone was then planted in the camp..." the real Delu Manst explained.
"Glad to meet you....the name's Will Avers. This is Cadet Ruiz..." Will introduced himself.
"We've met....need help?" Delu asked.
"Sure. Help me get him over to that crate." Luis replied.

As the Prison Transport made its journey away from Telorn, Will, Luiz, and the real Delu Manst, were amongst over 30 prisoners. Will was sleeping, still in pain, but comfortable.
"How's he gonna be?" Delu asked Luis.
"If I can find some painkillers for him....but otherwise he'll be fine in a few days. Well, he would...'cept I'm not sure where we're going." Luis shook his head.
"Probably Detox space...I'd say Xala or maybe Tifki...but I don't want to go to either..." Delu replied.
"Tifki? Isn't that where the Detox computer is...?" Luis asked, knowing the rumors and myth from his sister.
"Where'd you hear that from?" Delu asked.
"My sister, Jacky...she's...hell, for all I know...dead. She was supposed to be on my transport, but she was re-posted on another ship. Heading to Telorn...I...I wish I could at least..." Luis led off, as his fears were taking ahold of him.


---Medical Transport 84

Tahiri, finally able to resume duty, headed towards the bridge lift. As he arrived, the officers applauded and saluted the heroic cadet, who walked towards the helm. "How are we doing?" he asked as he looked to see the crew was staring at him, proudly.
"Cadet Tahiri, glad to see you Sir." the helmsman looked up.
"You too Ensign. Status?" Tahiri asked.
"On course to Dilite Alpha..." the ensign replied.
"Very well, continue as you were. Where's Cadet Raht?" Tahiri asked aloud.
"...Cadet Tahiri, I wouldn't worry about the cadet." Larian, walking back onto the bridge from her office, looked at Tahiri. "Out of sickbay?"
Tahiri nodded, "Thankfully, where's Lokna?"
"He has been relieved of duty, by Me." Larian, abruptly stated.
"You can't dismiss a higher-ranked officer!" Tahiri shouted.
"Cadet! In MY Office!" Larian yelled back.

"Look, Cadet--we need to head back into the safety of Fleet space. This ship can't handle another direct attack, and we'll be lucky to make it back to Dilite Alpha's orbital station---" Larian began to explain, trying to maintain her calm.
"We need to get to Telorn, if the Fleet has any hope of defeating the Detox, we need to lend as much support as we can..." Tahiri interrupted, then saw Larian was reading a padd.
"...Cadet Leonard Tahiri, cited over a dozen times for conduct unbecoming an officer. Contraband, theft, breaking in to a C.O.'s office....need I go on?" Larian, sitting at her desk, slammed a padd onto the desk.
Tahiri picked it up, "...how did you...?"
"It's an OPEN Record to Ranked officers." Larian tried not to yell.
"You're not a..." Tahiri began to say.
"CHIEF Medical Officer of Fleet Medical Ops! Which is a COMMAND Rank!" Larian shouted.
"You...you're no better than the rest of those....Ranks! But atleast none of them ever did something like this!" Tahiri yelled back, as he rushed back onto the bridge. "Helm! Set course for Telorn! I'm sure they could use all the help they can get....and someone get Cadet Raht!" Tahiri ordered, as he sat at command.


---the Battle of Telorn

The Fleet Front Line had been re-established at the forest edge, as they had managed to push the Detox forces back towards the cliff, where they'd launched their attack from.

"KEEP THE LINE STABLE!" a commander yelled as the remaining 6 Detox cruiser tanks continued to attack.
"Sir! We have word of Detox transports leaving the planet. Location, a canyon system..." a lieutenant reported. "Prison Barges!"
"Prison Barges....? Notify General Calson!" the commander ordered, "...and KEEP pushing them back!!" as he fired a few more shots, knocking down the closest Detox.

Calson was busy, with 30 troops of his own, were defending the landing area for the Transports, as a few tanks were beginning to close in.
"Sir! We're getting word that Detox barges are leaving the planet!" a major reported, as the troops continued to fire at the approaching Detox tanks, and soldiers.
"Gotcha...send word for a shuttle!" Calson yelled, blasting a few Detox, then running back to the remains of the Fleet bunker post.

Back in the heated battle, a group of Detox soldiers made an attack run back towards the forest. A Fleet trooper fired his M-Class, killing a single Detox, but was unaware of the Detox gunner, positioned up the cliff, aiming at the forest.
One HUGE blast took out nearly 40 Fleet!

"Get those gunners!" a Major yelled to her troops who began to return fire.
"Major! We have major casualties!" a trooper reported, as the platoon took out a couple gunners.
"Get a shuttle down here! We've got to evacuate!" the Major ordered.
"Ma'am!" another trooper saluted.
"And keep the Line stable!" the Major continued, as she blasted a few Detox who were still marching, but was suddenly clipped by a Detox, who rushed a group of troopers and was quickly shot down by a lieutenant.

A Detox tank crashed into a large row of trees, exploding. The lone Detox alive, stumbled out and shot by a trooper, as a unit of Special Ops moved into the area, and looked to see more soldiers approaching.

---Orbitting Telorn--0900 hrs

A pair of Command Transports had already been destroyed by a large Detox Battle Cruiser, when a squadron of 12 TPF's swooped in and began to make their attack run. The Battle Cruiser was too much, and easily wiped out half the squadron in a few minutes.
But it was long enough for another Fleet Transport to fire a direct hit at the weakened Detox vessel, hitting it's engines, and destroying it! "Get back to the Command fleet!" the Transport commander ordered as another Detox ship appeared, and blasted a weakened Command Transport.
"Ma'am! The engines are failing! Structural Integrity compromised!" an officer on board the damaged transport yelled, as it was hit again.
"Prepare to evacuate! All hands to escape pods!! Give the..." the Major in command began to order, when she was interrupted.
"Negative! Emergency Systems down!" another officer yelled.
"Send a transmit to the rest of the ships--tell them Transport 19 won't be coming back...!" the Major ordered. "Set helm for collision run!"
"Transmission sent, Ma'am!" the comm officer exclaimed.
A mere few seconds later, #19 slammed into a Detox Battle Cruiser, and caused both ships to explode.


---Detox Prison Transport

The Prison Transport was nearing the outer border of Detox space. Will, Luis and Delu Manst weren't sure where they were going, but they knew they may never see Fleet space again.
Will and Luis were talking, when the Holding Cell doors opened, and a pair of Detox entered, followed by the clone of Delu Manst. "Avers....how's the leg?" the Clone asked, sneering as he approached Will, who glared back at him.
"d*ck...." Will muttered, as he wanted badly to kill the man that had deceived him.
"Ah! My life giver..." the Clone walked over to the real Delu, "...So you've told them about Me? Too bad neither of you will be seeing Fleet space again, as we're on course for Fexlran-Tifki."
"What...?" Luis asked, "Tifki...?" he realized that his fears might be coming true.
"Why yes. WE need to rebuild..." the clone cackled, knowing he wasn't helping Luis, as he grabbed Luis' sleeve, looking at the frightened young man, almost scanning the cadet with his eyes.
"Leave him alone! You b*stard!" Will got in the Detox's face.
"JUKA NA!" the Clone yelled at the Detox, getting him to maintain still.
"I apologize...Cadet. We'll be there shortly...enjoy the trip." the Clone chuckled, as the left, and pushed Luis down.
The real Delu ran back over to Will and Luis, who was helping Luis up. "You okay?" he asked Luis, then looked over to Delu, "Where were you?" Will asked, getting in THIS Delu's face.
"Thinking..." Delu explained.
"Too bad my arm guard's busted..." Luis stated.
"No way of getting a comm out anyways, the hull's too thick. Only way to get a signal out is via the command deck." Delu explained.
"How do you know that?" Will asked.
Delu turned his back to Will, and took his small Artisean cap off. They looked to see a computer port, installed into Delu's mind, was busy processing.
"What's that? Is that a Binary data port?" Will asked.
Delu nodded, "Yes. I can tap into most Computer Cores, Data Ports, whatever...I've been using it to learn about the Detox...there's a terminal a few meters over there." he pointed, explaining things.
"You're....a Cargo Hauler? Right?" Will asked.
"Cargo Hauler, Father, Husband....mercenary for the Fleet Sub Group." Delu listed.
"Fleet Sub Group?" Luis asked.
"The Koh'La'Nor?" Will asked back, knowing the name of the sub-group well, from his brother.
"How do you know about them?" Delu asked, confused as to how Will knew.
"Special Ops recruited my Brother. He was Koh'la'Nor until he was killed...on a mission to Titans..." Will remembered his Brother's death, years earlier.
"Was his name Samuel? Samuel Avers?" Delu asked.
Will nodded, "You knew him?"
"I did. Good man. He led my Ops Team...I was assigned to guard an Artise Freighter that was shipping some essential components and supplies to Dilite Alpha. I wasn't on Samuel's ship though. I could have died, honorably, instead of being experimented on, and worse." Delu clarified.
"Where were you cloned?" Will asked.
"The Camp...where you found my clone..." Delu replied.
"The....camp....the....To-Kati!" Will pieced it together.
"To-Kati?" Luis asked.
"Its this super computer....I saw it, well, not it, but another like it. A Detox Super Computer...in the Camp...." Will replied. "But it was destroyed....your Clone told me that all the computers were linked to To-Kati, the one on Tifki...."
"Of course...the Super Computer was destroyed on Tifki...I tapped into the Detox's jamming signal, they picked up an old comm from a Fleet transport, that was heading back to Fleet space, after leaving Tifki." Delu added.
"What are you saying?" Luis asked.
"Don't the Super Computers control the Detox?" Will asked Delu.
Delu nodded, "yeah, and if the one was destroyed, than by all definition they should be....out of commission. Unless someone...."
"Does your clone have a port?" Will asked.
"I wouldn't be surprised." Delu shook his head. "He's probably using it to control the Detox...which leads me to think that we're part of his plan..."
"Plan?" Luis asked, almost shaking.


Location: Medical Transport 84--1100 hrs

Tahiri was in command, when Lokna came onto the bridge. "What is it Leo?" Lokna asked.
"We're here...." Tahiri pointed at the view screen display, as the transport arrived in orbit of Telorn where nearly a dozen Fleet ships, and 8 Detox ships had been destroyed, as their wreckage floated in orbit. "God...can we can for Fleet signals?" Tahiri asked.
"Sir, a pair of TPF's are on approach, they're hailing us!" tactical reported.
"Have them dock in Shuttle Bay 2..." Tahiri replied.

Tahiri and Lokna entered the Shuttle Bay, where a few Medical Techs were taking care of the TPF crews. "Who's in-charge?" one of the Pilots asked.
"I am, Cadet Tahiri, Command." Tahiri replied, "this is Cadet Lokna-Raht", introducing Lokna.
"What's a Command Cadet....?" another Pilot asked.
"Never mind that, Cadet. If you're in command, then I'm glad to report we're all okay...all that's left from a squadron of 12." the first Pilot reported.
"Good to hear. Names?" Tahiri asked.
"Pilot Major Philip Dawson." the first pilot introduced himself first.
"Pilot Lieutenant Timothy Calhoun." the second.
"Pilot Major Rotta Dinkar, Sir." the third saluted.
"Pilot Ensign David Ross." the fourth saluted, last.
"Glad to meet you. How's it going on Telorn?" Tahiri asked.
"Not great, obviously....but we've got a good defense force down there..." Calhoun replied.
"If they can hold..." Ross sighed.
"That's enough ensign, Cadet Tahiri....I take it you're gonna send a group of field medics?" Dawson asked.
"Once we get a platoon ready." Lokna replied.
"Good. The Line needs all the support it can get." Dawson nodded.
"Since you're command, Major, you're in charge..." Tahiri offered command.
"Nah, this is your command, Cadet. I'm a pilot...just get the fighters refueled..." Dawson shook off the offer.
"Not a problem, Major." Tahiri smiled at the gruff-looking, brave pilots.


Location: the Battle of Telorn

A Detox cruiser tank slowly rumbled as it made an attack run on the Fleet Front Line.
A squadron of troopers on skid bikes flew in formation towards the cruiser, as it made its way towards the forest.

Blasters fired from all directions!

BOOOMM!
Two skid bikes were hit, exploding as they were sent flying into the ground below. Adding to the list of the fallen, which was growing more and more rapidly.

The cruiser slowed down to a halt, as it's upper hatch opened. A single Detox climbed out, blasting at the still speeding skid bikes , hitting a few, but was then lined-up and blasted by another skid bike, as the pilot hit his target. The skid bikes then opened fire on the cruiser, piercing the thick metal armor with their detonator missiles, and destroying it easily.

A platoon of 55 troopers rushed up to the now weak-guarded Detox defensive line, and began to aim their M-Class blasters at the few remaining enemy gunners. CLICK sounds were heard in near-unison. "Commander..." an ensign ran up to his C.O., of the 2nd Platoon.
The Commander-in-charge looked at the ready battle line of the 2nd. "Have all targets locked in." he ordered as he grabbed his blaster, and joined the rest of the 2nd.

Up on the cliff ridge, the Detox gunners began to target the Fleet down below.

"Sir! All ready. We have confirmation from Platoons 3, 4 and 6 as well." the ensign reported.
"Sir?" a trooper asked.
"All Fleet Ready! This is the final hour! Whether we live, or whether we die! This Day will be the day ALL will remember as the day the Fleet defended not only this Planet, but all of Prime One--against the enemy forces of the Detox!" the Commander exclaimed, in a heroic address.

The Fleet line, just over 400 troopers ready for the oncoming storm, looked at the approaching army of Detox. 6 Detox Cruiser tanks as well as nearly 600 soldiers, were coming towards the line.
"Sir?" a trooper asked a lieutenant standing next to her.
"Get ready--this is Vale, have all ready...watch out for those cannons..." the lieutenant ordered the remaining troopers in his platoon.

It was silent on the Front Line...
It was silent in the forest...

Too silent.

A Detox soldier, the obvious general of the Detox forces, grunted and growled, getting his soldiers to take notice, giving a command.

"FIRE!!" the Commander yelled.

The entire Fleet line began to fire, blast after blast! Horrific screams, yells of rage, and growls of Detox sounded through the forest edge. Dust blew through the trees, as another sand storm came through, giving little visibility, but not haulted the impeding battle.

Bodies dropped to the field, Detox soldiers made their attack run. Fleet troopers stood ground, lining up in formation, cutting down the moving targets as soon as they got one in their sights.

A team of half a dozen troopers hurled grenades at a group of Detox, and a cruiser, each grenade blew in succession, destroying all in their path.
The Commander-in-charge stood with 15 troopers, all making their way to the Detox, but a cruiser stopped them, aimed, and fired--killing all in one blast.

In only a few minutes, over 100 Fleet lied dead. But nearly 70 Detox as well. The Detox were winning....

A make-shift Fleet platoon, left over from the 7th and 5th, pushed on towards the oncoming Detox, as the winds kicked up. The commanding officer was dropped by a Detox rifle, but a trooper retalliated, shooting back. The platoon made it's march towards a cruiser, as it lowered it's pulse cannon.
Taking cover as best as they could, the 27 troopers fired at the armored tank, doing little damage, as they prepared for the cannon blast. "TAKE COVER!" one yelled to the rest.
Suddenly the cruiser exploded, sending a few Detox skyward, as a pair of TPF's freshly refueled, blasted it. The Detox remaining, fired up at the TPF's, distracted, and the troopers opened fire, killing the last few Detox.

Back at the Front Line, which was losing the battle with heavy casualties. Within less than 30 minutes after the engagement of battle, Fleet forces were down to barely 200.
Detox still had the advantage, 450 left.

A cruiser blew into the forest, ramming into the trees, as it made its erratic flight path. Troopers running in retreat, tried to keep distance, and finding places to jump out of the way. With a LARGE blast, the cruiser suddenly exploded, as another cruiser made it's presence known.
Some troopers looked back, seeing one cruiser destroy another. The top hatch opened, and General Carl Calson, having been delayed for a while, popped out smiling. The troopers cheered at their general.

"Sir! There's still a few cruisers nearby..." a trooper said from inside the borrowed cruiser.
"Good! Take us there..." Calson ordered, still standing as he was in the top hatch. "Let's get some of those soldiers while we're at it..."


---Medical Transport 84, orbiting Telorn

Tahiri and Lokna were in the corridor outside one of the transporter bays, as well as 40 Medical Troopers, all preparing to beam down to Telorn.

"You are all here to lend aide, and get those Detox! Cadet Raht and I are in command, the Chief's taking the ship back to Fleet space--which means we're not coming back..." Tahiri explained to the platoon.
Jacklyn ran down the corridor to the platoon, trying to find Tahiri, who was in full gear. "Leo..." she tried to spot him.
He looked, before he'd entered the transporter bay, "Jacky?"
"You're....not coming back...?" she asked, trying not to cry.
"No....we have to defend Telorn...and save as many as we can....we..." he stopped, knowing she didn't want him to go.
"What...what if you don't survive...?" she asked, head lowered.
"If I survived the HELL on Tifki....I can survive this..." he picked her head up, and smiled.
She smiled, "I'll wait for you on Tal Prime..."

The last of the platoon prepared to beam down, as Tahiri joined them. "You sure you're not going...?" Tahiri, looking at Lokna, who was deciding not to head down, asked.
"Positive...gotta explain to Command...well, US." he chuckled back, as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out Tahiri's pocketknife. "Hey Leo..." he tossed Tahiri the knife. "Catch!"
Tahiri caught it, smiling, as he was beamed down.

Back down on the battlefield, a cruiser tank blasted a crater into the forest floor, killing at least 5 more Fleet. The Fleet line was dwindling, but luckily their lone advantage, the cruiser commanded by General Calson, was getting the upper hand. Within the last 20 minutes 3 cruisers, and over 100 Detox had been taken out.

Tahiri, and his platoon of Medical troopers regrouped, and awaited orders. "Half, head east--the others with me. Try to keep the Line, and maintain the Medical support..." Tahiri instructed, as the platoon split.

"Medical?" a commander, spotting Tahiri and his platoon, asked.
"Cadet Tahiri, Command." Tahiri saluted.
"Command? With Medical?" the commander asked again.
"Sir, it can wait. We're here to strengthen the line..." Tahiri explained, but stopped as a cruiser approached their position, and looked to fire. Tahiri fired his side arm, hitting a fuel conduit that was easily visible through a hole, from earlier damage--and the cruiser exploded!
"Nice shooting Cadet." the commander applauded.
"I've been waiting for this..." Tahiri chuckled.

Meanwhile, Calson's crew, in the acquired cruiser, made a few more blasts at the suddenly retreating Detox forces, fled, but not before a few were shot down. The cruiser came to a halt, and Calson popped out.
Tahiri, seeing the Fleet in a Detox tank, ran over. "Sir?"
"Ahh...looks like we did it, doesn't it...Cadet..." Calson stopped, then looked at Tahiri.
"Yes, Sir....uh, Cadet Tahiri." Tahiri saluted.
"You're that Command Cadet....right?" Calson asked.
Tahiri nodded.
"In Medical Gear...?" Calson asked again.
"Sir, a report..." Tahiri was handed a padd, from one of his Medical platoon. "Reports are in. The remaining enemy cruisers are in retreat, as are less than 50 Detox. And the gunners have been destroyed."
"You were on Tifki....? To-Kati...." Calson led off.
Tahiri paused. To-Kati FLASHED before his eyes.
"Cadet?" Calson asked, trying to get Tahiri's attention.
"Huh...uh, yeah...yes, Sir. I was...I destroyed the super computer..." Tahiri nodded.
"Good work, Cadet...consider yourself in-line for a promotion..." Calson smiled.

Nearly an hour later, as the remaining 196 Fleet Troopers, over 50 injured, let the calm of the victory slowly wind themselves down. None of them would forget this day.

Calson, pacing back and forth, coming up with what to say, stopped and looked at the brave Fleet. "Fleet Troopers. Today, this day, is the day that we will all remember. We have witnessed what we can do as a single, yet-powerful force. We have reclaimed this world, and are one step closer to achieving peace through-out this System. Consider yourself proud, take honor and grace that we have done what many of us thought wouldn't be possible. We are Fleet!" Calson declared proudly.
Troopers applauded, lined up in casual salute.
"Now...will the following officers approach." Calson smiled, as he was handed a set of small, finely made boxes. "Major Anthony Randall."
A Special Ops trooper approached Calson, saluting, then feeling proud as he was pinned with a new rankclip. "Congratulations, Commander Randall." Calson saluted back.
"Thank you, Sir." the newly-promoted Commander smiled, as a few of his friends patted him on the back as he walked towards the crowd.
"Ensign Dala-Kinna." Calson called the next officer. The anxious ensign, crying a little as she walked up to Calson, saluted. "Easy...Consider yourself proud...Lieutenant Kinna..." Calson smiled, as he pinned the new rankclip on the happy woman, who was speechless.
"Cadet Leonard Tahiri." Calson began, as Tahiri approached. "You...surprised us all. For great duty, as acting command of a Medical Transport, for destroying the Detox Computer on Fexlran-Tifki, and for providing necessary assistance in the Battle...you are hereby promoted. Congratulations, Major Tahiri." he saluted Tahiri, who returned the salute.
The troopers cheered, as the 3 promoted officers were applauded.

Tahiri couldn't believe it--going from Cadet-to-Major, in one promotion. He couldn't wait to show his old C.O. on Dien Alpha. He couldn't wait to see Jacklyn....

----------------

I'll be finishing it up in the next few days...then start on Part 2!!

Comments appreciated

[FyreeTSG]

and now the end of PART 1:
-----------------------------

Location: Tal Prime
Date: 2092:04:13--0500 hrs

It was the day after the Battle of Telorn, and all were in celebration as the Fleet were victorious over the Detox. With such a solid win, they knew that they were finally one step closer to wiping out their enemy, and re-establishing peace in the Prime One system, which hadn't been seen since before the days of the Zylonian Wars.

Tahiri's transport was late, after being detoured to Dien Alpha briefly. "Jacky, calm down..." Lokna said, as he and Jacklyn waited on one of the Landing Platforms.
"I can't....he's late..." Jacklyn nervously replied.
"He'll be here..." Lokna put a friendly hand on her shoulder.
"Ensign Ruiz, Cadet Raht... the Lieutenant General wants to see you." an officer came up to them.

As they entered Derricks office, he looked up, smiling, at the two junior officers.
"Ensign. Cadet. I've recived word about your exploits, brave, but dangerous, on Fexlran-Tifki...and I'd like to congratulate you two." Derricks smiled.
"Thank you, Sir..." Lokna saluted.
"Now..." Derricks began, pulling open a drawer, and taking out two boxes.
Jacklyn knew what was inside. She tried not to smile.
"You two are to be promoted. For, well, obvious reasons...Ensign Ruiz." Derricks looked at Jacklyn proudly. "Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander Ruiz"
Jacklyn looked at her new rankclip, proudly beaming.
Lokna smiled, and looked back at Derricks.
"Cadet Raht....congratulations...Lieutenant Raht." Derricks pinned the new rankclip.
"Thank you, Sir." Lokna saluted.

Exiting the office, the two happy officers arrived, via the lift, at the Landing Platform, where Medical Transport 84 was being repaired.
"Chief?" Jacklyn asked.
"Jacky...Lokna? What..." Larian looked at them.
"Anything on Leo?" Jacklyn asked.
"He was re-routed to Dien Alpha...." Larian replied, getting back to inspecting supply crates.
Jacklyn sighed.

A minute later, Delin Radcliffe ran over to them, "Hey guys..."
"Hey Delin..." Lokna smiled.
"I just heard about your two promotions..."Delin smiled back.
"Yep." Lokna nodded.
"Chief..." Delin handed Larian a padd. "My orders..."
"Medical Tech Radcliffe...assigned to Medical Transport 61...? I hate to lose you Delin...but give Deputy Chief Cratann hell, would you?" Larian chuckled.
"Will do, Chief." Delin saluted, "guys...see you around." he smiled, as he left.
"We're ready...Chief?" an officer walked over to Larian.
Larian nodded, then looked up at Jacklyn and Lokna.
"You two coming?" she asked.
"No...we'll wait for Leo..." Lokna replied.
"Okay...see you two around. Be safe..." Larian smiled, saluting them, as she walked to 84.


---Dien Alpha, Fleet Academy

"Major Martin...there's a Major here to see you..." a voice said over the intercom.
Major David Martin looked up, to see Tahiri enter. "Cadet?", he asked.
Tahiri walked forward, and flashed his new rankclip, without even saying a word, knowing what Martin's reaction would be.
"M...Major?? How...what...?" Martin asked.
"Yep...and I've recieved my new orders. I thought you might like to see them...Sir..." Tahiri tried not to laugh, as Martin read the padd.
"Major Tahiri....assigned to a Command...WHAT? You're...commanding a Command Transport??" Martin asked, in 100% disbelief.
"Is THAT what it said..? Well I'll be..." Tahiri smiled, biting his tongue.
Martin sat back down, dumbfounded.
"Well, have a nice day Major..." Tahiri chuckled, as he left the office.

---Fleet Command Offices

General Calson, having arrived back from Telorn, entered an unmarked door, and began to walk down a corridor.
"General." an officer saluted, surprised to see Calson.
"Where is it?" Calson asked.
"In there, Sir." the officer pointed to another door.

Calson entered the room, which had a pair of Security Troopers stationed by the exit. A light turned on, as he walked over to a table. On it were an assortment of metal fragments, and pieces of something obviously bigger. "Has Derricks seen this?" Calson asked aloud.
"Negative, Sir. The Lieutenant General is unaware of it's existance. As are all non-essential personnel. Highest Classified Level." one of the troopers replied.
"Sir, I've scanned the 11 fragments. There's still a positive reading of a Photonic energy source. The alloys are trilithium based, all signs of Detox manufacturing. Possibly Titans, maybe Xala..." another man, in an all black uniform, came into the light, explained.
"...is that where this was found? I thought the Super Computer was on Tifki..." Calson questioned.
"No...Sir, this is not To-Kati...General. This is something else...not from Tifki...it's not like any we've seen before..." the man added.
"Well, what it is, Major Phelos?" Calson asked the man, wanting a clear answer.
"Delu could tell us...? Phelos replied.
"Well, you forget Ezra....Delu Manst is now a clone...and we can't be sure which one to trust. Remember??" Calson asked.
Phelos nodded.
"Send a team to Titans, Major...." Calson ordered, as he quickly left the room.

As Calson headed back towards the Fleet Main Office, in the Dien Alpha Complex, he ran into Tahiri.

"General...I'm sorry." Tahiri apologized.
"Major Tahiri? What are you doing here?" Calson asked.
"Looking for you, Sir." Tahiri replied.
"You were? Why?" Calson wondered.
"Sir. Would it be possible to get a transport to take me back to Tal Prime? You see...my friends are..." Tahiri was stopped.
"Say no more, Major....infact, there's a transport leaving in an hour...could I have you run something for me?" Calson asked back.
"Sir?" Tahiri asked.
"Can you deliver this for me? There's a room in corridor "L", give this to the Major there...I'd greatly appreciate it, I'm in a bit of a hurry..." Calson explained.
"Sure thing, Sir." Tahiri nodded.

Tahiri walked down to corridor "L", which was strangely empty. At the end of the hall was a pair of black-clad officers. "Sir." one saw Tahiri, and walked to him.
"I'm here to deliver something from General Calson..." Tahiri stated, holding a padd.
The officer nodded, then opened a door for Tahiri.

Walking in, he saw another man, all in black, who turned to look at him. "What do you want?" Phelos, the man, asked.
"General Calson..." Tahiri led off, as he handed Phelos the padd.
Phelos read what was on it, and typed something on it, before handing it back. "Take this to Calson..."

Tahiri quickly exited the room, and made his way back to the Main corridor, where he saw Calson talking to a few Fleet Ambassadors. "Sir..." Tahiri walked over to Calson.
"Ahh...Major. Is that it?" Calson pointed at the padd.
Tahiri nodded.
"Good work." Calson read the padd.
"May I ask, Sir....what's on that?" Tahiri asked.
"Just some readings from a recent scout mission...." Calson lied.
Tahiri nodded, not positive to believe Calson, detecting something was off, but didn't want to risk losing his recent promotion.
"The transport will be landing on Platform 67...." Calson suddenly stated to Tahiri.
"Huh...oh, Thank you, Sir..." Tahiri saluted, then headed off.


---Tal Prime, Platform 21--0900 hrs

Hours had passed, and Jacklyn sat on a bench outside the landing platform, when a voice came over the intercom. "Attention! Command Transports arriving on Platform 21!"

Lokna, who'd heard it, ran down to Jacklyn, as they went out to the platform as a pair of transports were unloading. Tahiri, along with a few hundred others, walked towards the Fleet Complex, and saw a pair of familiar faces running towards him.

"What's up?" Lokna asked, suddenly hugging his good friend.
""Not much...whoa! Lieutenant? Congrats Lokna!" Tahiri smiled at his friend. "Where's Jacky...?"
"Behind you..." Jacklyn tapped on his shoulder, and jumped into him, as she kissed him.
Lokna looked away, not wanting to view such an act.
"Miss me??" Tahiri asked, smiling.
"What do you think...?" she asked back.
"Major?" Lokna asked.
"Yep..." Tahiri nodded.
"Wow..." Lokna smiled.
"So...Lieutenant Commander Ruiz...huh?" Tahiri asked Jacklyn, who was blushing.
"Uh-huh..." she smiled coyly.
"You guys get assigned yet?" Tahiri asked.
"Not yet...why?" Lokna asked back.
"I got my own ship..." Tahiri answered.
"What?" Jacklyn asked.
"I got a ship. A Command Transport...heading out to the outer perimeter..." Tahiri chuckled.
"You need a crew?" Lokna asked.
"You volunteering?" Tahiri asked back.
"I am!" Jacklyn exclaimed.
Tahiri looked at Lokna. "Well...?"
Lokna shrugged. "Why not? When do we leave, Major?"
"A few hours...still need to get a few crew together...300, or so. Meet me at Platform 14..." Tahiri ordered, for the first time as a Major.

Tahiri, a proud Command Major, made his way to the Fleet Medical Building.

Entering Chief Larian-Taknar's office, she looked up and saw him. "Major, huh?" she asked.
Tahiri smiled, "Look....Chief...I'm, well, sorry...obviously..."
She shook her head, "Look, Major...I'm not one who usually bows down to a Command-Takeover of my ship...but I knew you had it right in your head...and with all you, well...lets just bury the hatchet, as that old Lunarr saying goes...congratulations..." she smiled. "Especially with all that's happened to you...Major Tahiri..." she paused, getting another feeling coming back from her past.
"Chief?" he asked her, catching her pause.
"Hmm...nothing. Just lost in thought....trying to piece together my report from our "mission"...guess you were right about making that course correction..." Larian smiled, trying to remember where she'd been before losing her place.
"Hey, thanks...Uh...I also came here to recruit a few Medical officers...for my Command.." Tahiri admitted, handing Larian a padd.
She read it, "Wow...okay, now I'm impressed..." she hit the comm, "Send in a couple Cadets, please."

A minute later a pair of Medical Cadets came in. Tahiri walked over to them.
"Sir." one said, as they both saluted.
"Names?" he asked.
"Cadet Paulsen Barrat, Sir." the first replied.
"Cadet Mahri-Tolorn, Sir." the second did as well.
"I'm Major Tahiri, glad to meet you. I hope you can serve honorably on my ship. Please report to Platform 14 in 2 hours. Good day." Tahiri explained


---Detox Prison Transport, orbiting Fexlran-Tifki--1200 hrs

Will, Luis, and Delu Manst were lying unconscious in a different section of the Prison ship, after being knocked out hours earlier by some sort of gas.

Opening his eyes, Will looked up to see he was lying on some sort of examination table, but soon realized he couldn't talk, feeling some sort of medical tube in his throat. Looking over, he saw Luis and Delu in similar shape.
"Ahh...you're awake. Good. Don't try speaking, Avers." the Clone explained, holding a disruptor.
He watched as the Clone approached him. Will tried to move, but the Clone aimed the disruptor at Luis.
"Move, and the Fleet child dies...." the Clone threatened, getting Will to take notice, ans freeze. "Better...now relax, Will. I'm not gonna kill you...besides, you can't move. Your leg's broken, you pitiful man. Fool..." chuckling.
Will wanted to reach up and snap the Clone's neck.
"TAKAK DIV! KLUNA!" the Clone yelled, ordering, as Will suddenly dropped back into unconsciousness.

Waking up a few minutes later, Will saw he was no longer on the ship, but in another room, on Tifki's surface. Delu and Luis were still on beds next to him.
"You are in Katon..." the Clone, who appeared, explained.
Will, now able to speak, swallowed a sore throat. "Wh...where are we?" he coughed.
"Katon. The Tower of To-Kati...down on the planet...Fexlran-Tifki..." the Clone explained, "your FINAL resting place, Avers."
"Never..." Will claimed.
"You Fleet fools..." another voice suddenly said.
Will looked over, and watched as Luis suddenly sat up. "Luis??" Will asked.
"My Master is here..." the Clone fell to his knees. "The end is near...." almost praying to whatever Luis now was.
"The Fleet will DIE!" Detox will LIVE!" the voice, coming out of Luis' mouth, declared.
"What the hell did you do to him!" Will yelled.
"To-Kati is alive in him! Praise To-Kati!" the Clone bowed.
Then Will, still staring at the possessed Luis, saw the real Delu Manst stand up, and approach his bed. "To-Kati lives! We will live!" Delu, now possessed, exclaimed, as he walked over to Will.
As if things couldn't get worse, Will watched as several Detox entered. Surrounded, he had to think of a plan.
Luis, standing still, no longer Luis, was suddenly injected by a tube in his neck, and began to stop breathing, and collapsed to the floor. For a brief glimpse, Will could see a lone tear falling down the young man's cheek. But now he lie motionless on the floor.
"Luis??" Will asked in shock.
"He is dead! Unworthy!" the Clone explained.
The other Delu, the real one, still possessed, approached Will, and un-clasped the restraints over him. Will looked at Delu, who maintained his silence, as he turned to face the now dead body of Luis Ordonez-Ruiz.
It was then Will noticed that the implant on Delu's head was blinking erratically. The Clone walked over to the Detox, ordering them, which gave Will a chance. He hopped onto the floor, putting sudden weight on his bad leg, but shaking it off as he soon saw the Detox rush towards him. Dodging arms and knees from the Detox, Will managed to grab a Detox disruptor, and blasted 2 quickly.
"AFTER HIM!!" the Clone yelled.

Will ran out, into a narrow corridor, limping as he was chased by Detox. Pushing anything he could into their path, he made his way to an air vent, and blasted it open, dodging a few blasts as he crawled inside. Figuring out where he may have been, he made a slow crawl through the vents, until he looked a few meters ahead, and saw possible freedom.

Using his good leg, he kicked the vent open, and found himself on the planet's surface. Limping as he ran, he turned back to see he wasn't being chased. Sighing in relief, he limped down towards a shuttle pad, but was tackled by a Detox, who caught him by surprise.

The Clone approached him. "Ooh, so close, huh Will?" the Clone chuckled.
Will looked at him, as the Detox picked him up, then took the disruptor.
"JUK!" the Clone ordered.
"What...?" Will asked.
"I told them that you are to be executed." the Clone sneered.
"Good, then at least I won't have to look at your face again..." Will blasted back.
The Clone slammed his fist into Will's chest, dropping Will to his knees. "Now...anything else?" the Clone asked.
Will, looking down at his still equipped belt, saw that there was one thing no one had bother to remove. He laughed.
"What the hell's so funny?" the Clone asked. Will just chuckled, getting the Clone angrier. "WHAT?!" the Clone yelled.
"Just....THIS!" Will yelled back, as he unclipped a small detonator core, and chucked it at the Clone, who held it in his hand, then looked up, as Will had made a break for it.
"SHOOT!! JUK!!" the Clone demanded the Detox, but heard a loud beeping noise. "What is...?" It was the detonator core--which had gone active. "NO....!" the Clone yelled as he and the Detox exploded.

Will, hearing the explosion, laughed as he made a slow jog down to the landing pad, to find an old Artise shuttle. "Thank God..." he sighed, as he entered the empty shuttle, and prepared to leave.


---Tal Prime, Platform 14--1500 hrs

Tahiri and Lokna walked onto the Platform, where Jacklyn was, looking at the latest group of crew for Tahiri's first Command. "Major. All crew present and accounted for." she saluted.
"Good to hear, Lieutenant Commander..." Tahiri nodded.
"Which one again?" Lokna asked.
"Transport 45..." Tahiri replied, still amazed as to his miraculous survival of all he'd been through, and even more amazed of his new post as a commanding officer of a Transport.

The two old friends walked towards Command Transport 45.
"You look like a new man, Leo." Lokna commented.
"I feel like one..." he smiled. Tahiri's mind wasn't thinking about his first REAL Command. Instead, it was centered around General Calson, and what was going on in Corridor "L".
"You okay?" Lokna asked, as he noticed the strange silence.
"Yeah...just nervous." Tahiri shook his head.
"Your first command?" Lokna asked again.
Not answering at first, as Tahiri stared at his new ship. Nervous indeed, but about many things, as his future awaited.
"Leo?" Lokna asked, "what's with the sudden silence?"
"Heh...just thinking. You know me...you ready?" Tahiri asked Lokna.
"Uh....No...unless you are." Lokna chuckled.
"No. But I'm gonna go for it...why not?" Tahiri laughed, as they made their way into Transport 45.



THE END OF...

THE FLEET SAGA--PART 1

-----------------


Part 2 starts soon, and I'll post the NEW characters for "THE CONSPIRACY WITHIN" before hand

[FyreeTSG]

FLEET WARS--MAIN CHARACTERS
(Part 2)

Lieutenant Denna-Martka
Age: 24
Born: 2068
Height: 6'2
Weight: 184 lbs
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Skin: Brown
Species: Martonian

She is a one of Special Ops finest officers, having served most of her Fleet career with Will Avers. She is married to Haled-Martka, and due to Martonian Betrothal laws, they are allowed to serve on the same assignments. Her parents still live on Exarx.

------------------------------------

Ensign Haled-Martka
Age: 26
Born: 2066
Height: 6'4
Weight: 219 lbs
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Species: Martonian

He is one of the most skilled technicians in Special Ops, and has two years experience in Medical Ops. He's lower ranked than his wife, Denna-Martka, due to serving in the Martonian Miltian briefly. His parents both died during a Detox attack on Exarx.

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Cadet Tanner Jensen
Age: 21
Born: May 15, 2070
Height: 6'2
Weight: 211 lbs
Hair: Light-Brown
Eyes: Blue
Species: Lunarr

He was once the pride of his Senior class at the Academy, until he got into a fight with a few other cadets, including Leonard Tahiri. His father, Warren, served in the Allied Fleet, his Mother, Eleanor, was killed on Dien Alpha. He has great computer skills, and a short temper as well.

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Cadet Paulsen Barat
Age: 19
Born: March 19, 2073
Height: 6'1
Weight: 209 lbs
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Green
Species: Lunarr

He is one of the finest cadets to come out of the Medical division in years, being trained personally by Larian-Taknar. His Mother, Kathleen, serves in Fleet Science, while his father, Jonathan, died in action on Xala. He's trained to be a field medic, and is one of the few Medical cadets to take Command classes.

-----------------------------------------

Cadet Mahri Tolorn
Age: 19
Born: 2073
Height: 5'10
Weight: 156 lbs
Hair: Green
Eyes: Blue
Species: Artise

She is one of the top-graduates of her Academy class, as a Medical Cadet. Her parents weren't happy when she left Soa to join the Fleet, leaving her nearly-shunned by her family. But she is still proud to serve in Fleet, and looks one day to advance to Command.

---------------------------------

Major Ezra Phelos
Age: 41
Born: June 4th, 2051
Height: 6'2
Weight: 212 lbs
Hair: Black
Eyes: Green
Species: Lunarr

In the Fleet Subgroup: Koh'la'nor--Not much is known about Ezra Phelos. He's served since before the end of the Prime Wars. He currently serves under the command of Carl Calson.

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Thomas McClay
Age: 22
Born: April 14, 2070
Height: 6'0
Weight: 202
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Species: Lunarr

He was once in the same Cadet class as Leonard Tahiri and Lokna Raht, and never liked Tanner Jensen as well. His parents served in Fleet, but he distanced himself from them shortly after he was kicked out of Fleet. He was trained in Special Ops.

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Delu Manst
Age: 31
Born: 2061
Height: 6'2
Weight: 211 lbs
Hair: Green
Eyes: Blue
Species: Artise

He formerly served as the captain on an Artise Hauler in the Prime One system, until he was drafted by Ezra Phelos, and became an operative in the Koh'la'nor. His family, wife Lorra, and son Thomi, were killed in front of him, by Detox. He was cloned, and then sentenced to a Detox Prison.


---------------


Part 2 STARTS Tomorrow!!

[FyreeTSG]

Who's ready for Part 2?

--------------------

THE FLEET SAGA--PART 2
CONSPIRACY WITHIN


Prologue

After the Battle on the Fleet planet of Telorn, the Fleet's Strategic Command had decided to send forces to the outer perimeter of the Prime One system. One of their goals was the empty, desolate world, Vega Prime, which was still unclaimed after decades. The Fleet wanted to stake claim, but they knew that the asteroid field, which was the boundary to pass, along the way, was near Detox space. Unknown to the Fleet was that the Detox had begun to set up a blockade. Another mystery was who, or what, was in control of the Detox...


Location: Fleet Strategic Command Command Ship, in orbit of Velo Alpha
Date: 2092:04:29--0800 hrs


"Lieutenant General Derricks, all crew report! Systems ready!" a bridge officer reported, as she looked up at the leading General of the Fleet's Strategic Command.
"Very well, lieutenant. Set a course for the Nebula Outpost near Telorn. Someone bring me a coffee..." Lieutenant General Caplan D. Derricks ordered, as he sat at the command chair.
"Sir, reports from the battle..." an ensign handed Derricks, as he sipped his coffee, a report padd. Reading the numbers from the Detox attack on Tal Prime, and the Battle of Telorn, Derricks sighed seeing how many had died, knowing far too well the high price of the ongoing war would only get higher as the days became weeks, and so on.
"We're getting an incoming message from Command." the comm officer stated.
"Lieutenant General, Sir." Sub-Admiral Balt'cor Delin'ki saluted, as he appeared on screen.
"How is the re-building going, Delin'ki?" Derricks asked.
"Fine, Sir. Nearly complete." Delin'ki replied. "Repair teams have begun to rebuild the cities, and we're getting reports that planetary defenses will be back to operational within a few days."
"Keep us posted while you can. We're heading out...we'll be in comm range until we reach the Outpost." Derricks explained.
"Good luck, Sir." Delin'ki nodded, as the comm ended.

Derricks, well aware of how much damage would have yet to be dealt, looked out the young ensign sitting at the helm. "Ensign, take us out..." Derricks ordered, sipping his coffee.
"Aye, Sir." the ensign nodded as she hit helm control, and jumped the ship to warp speed.


---Command Transport 45, nearing Dilite Alpha

Major Leonard Tahiri sat at the desk of his new office, of his first-ever command, and thought back to his childhood, and tried to remember his late parents, Lan and Tina Tahiri.
The office door buzzed as Lokna-Raht, his Lieutenant, walked in and saw Tahiri was lost in though. "Leo..." he began to interrupt.
"Major Tahiri...? Anyways, what's up? We ready...?" Tahiri asked as he was handed a padd.
"Sir...? The convoy has sent a comm, waiting for orders. Don't forget, you're in command of the entire squadron..." Lokna reminded him.
"Yes, I know...in a minute." Tahiri explained as he continued to read, then looked up at Lokna. "You ever hear of the Koh'la'nor?", he casually asked.
Lokna looked at him confused.
"I'm guessing not..." Tahiri laughed.
"Why?" Lokna asked.
"I just read this classi...classified document I found....it's about something called the Koh'la'nor..." Tahiri explained, as he pointed to his display console. "N...never mind..."
"Anyways. We just did a sensor check, everything should be working fine." Lokna explained.
"Tell the squad to maintain course, and have the Cadets meet me in the wardroom in 15 minutes." Tahiri, standing up, tucking in his uniform, finally instructed.

Minutes later, as Tahiri entered the ships wardroom, Lokna saluted. "Attention Cadets! Major on Deck!" he exclaimed.
Tahiri walked up to the front of the room, and looked at the new Cadets. All saluted, standing, while Tahiri approached. "Eight Cadets, huh? Please state your names." Tahiri instructed.
"Cadet Nevic-Ratna, Command, Sir."
"Cadet Paulsen Barrat, Medical, Sir."
"Cadet Lauren Davids, Command, Sir."
"Cadet Mahri-Tolorn, Medical, Sir."
"Cadet Robert Mayer, Command, Sir."
"Cadet Marion Rush, Command, Sir."
"Cadet Selis-Oami, Command, Sir."
"Cadet...Leo?" the last cadet asked, looking right at Tahiri.
"Jensen?" Tahiri asked.
"What are you doing in Command?" Tanner Jensen, once in the same Cadet Barracks as Tahiri and Lokna, asked, not expecting to see one of his most-hated peers.
"I'm the Major, I'm IN Command!" Tahiri exclaimed, pointing at himself.
"No way...this is a lie. A joke...you can't be....of all people....this is bullshi..." Jensen led off.
"Cadet! Report to your quarters!" Tahiri yelled, looking at Jensen, who acted like he hadn't even heard him. "You heard me Cadet! Report to the Cadet Bunks! Deck 3, Section 4! At once!" Tahiri yelled, again.
"Yeah right...I don't have to listen to this....there's no way you're in command..." Jensen scoffed.
Lokna approached Jensen, staring at him.
"Lokna-Raht, not you too...?" Jensen asked, in even MORE disbelief as one of his fellow Barracksmates was staring right at him.
"It's LIEUTENANT Raht! Cadet Jensen! Now do as your C.O. ordered, or you can spend this trip in the brig!" Lokna yelled, right in Jensen's face.
Jensen, still in disbelief, saluted, half-nodded, then left the room. "Aye...sir...."

"I apologize Cadets, but lets focus away from Cadet Jensen. We've had problems in the past...please report to your assigned posts...." Tahiri, tried to change to a smile, looking towards the seven other cadets, not sure what to think of what had just happened.
"Sir?" Mahri asked.
"Nothing to worry about...I'll see you on duty when your shifts start, until then, you're all dismissed." Tahiri tried to reassure them, as they all saluted, then quickly left, not trying to rush, but also not wanting to incur any wrath directed at them.

"Jensen...what an a**...now I know why you never liked him, Leo..." Lokna scoffed, as he stared back at Tahiri, who was trying to calm down.
"I'll get to him yet. I don't need someone like HIM on this ship, not now..." Tahiri sighed, as he sat in a chair, and pounded his fist into the table. "Lokna...how'd you manage to deal with him in the Academy?"
"Well, for starters I didn't prank him, you and McClay were always, whats the phrase, "ragging on him"...we always got along just fine..." Lokna explained.
"I know, I know. But he was one of THOSE cadets who went through the Academy as part of the "Advance" Class---he is older, remember. And his parents both served in Fleet...." Tahiri began to drift, as he still remembered what it was like the first few years in the Academy, knowing he was jumped up to his Class, due to his "abridged" training. "Besides, you remember what it was like..."
"How could I not, Leo...it was only like a month ago..." Lokna smirked. "You need to remember though, that some of us DID actually respect you...it was just kinda weird, I guess, seeing you come into the Class....I mean..."
"...I get it. I really do...I didn't go through the training like the rest of you guys did. I got this promotion--and even I wonder why. Hell, I'm a bit frustrated myself. I still feel like a cadet, but then General Calson promotes...." Tahiri led off.
"Leo?" Lokna asked, noticing Tahiri's look.
Tahiri's previous thoughts came back, slamming in his head, making a sudden connection that made himself begin to question things he hadn't thought about in weeks. "Look...I gotta go check something out. Let me know when the Engineer Techs get the engines back to full..." he said as he ran out of the room.



---Fleet Science Complex, Tal Prime—1000 hrs

General Carl Calson entered an unmarked room, in a static-white corridor, and walked over to an examination table, that was covered with the metal debris and fragments from Dien Alpha. He stared at the curiously, wanting to know as much as he could about whatever they came from. And infact if they were truly a part of something much greater.

"General...welcome. All personnel have arrived, we can get underway." Major Ezra Phelos, dressed in an all black uniform, stated as he approached Calson, in the completely white room.
"Major, what is it you wanted?" Calson asked.
"Sir, the Fleet subspace channels have been scanned, someone's trying to access them." Phelos replied.
"What? By whom?" Calson asked, concerned.
"I'm having an ensign do a detailed investigation." Phelos explained.
"Those channels are encrypted...how can anyone even know....unless..." Calson led off, lost in deep thought.
"What?" Phelos asked, catching Calson's look. "General...?"
"Never mind...Find out the source of the scans, then report to me in my office." Calson shook his head, then instructed, as he headed out of the room.

Phelos looked behind him, as an ensign entered from a second door, hidden in plain sight.
"Sir." the ensign handed him a padd.
"Is this it?" Phelos asked, hoping he could serve his own interests by doing all he could to keep his own goal reachable. By being a Koh'la'nor.
The ensign nodded, then walked out of the white room.
Phelos looked down at the padd, reading the report, which he planned to keep as secret as he did most reports, despite being demoted years earlier to a Major, under the order of Calson. He also knew that soon HIS time would come.


---Artise Shuttle, near Dilite Alpha

"This is Special Ops Lieutenant, Will Avers. Fleet emergency channel 5-AD-Alpha..." Will Avers, still nursing a nearly broken leg, stated over an open comm channel. "I am in need of medical assistance--to ANY Fleet vessels who hear me."

Will waited, but not for long, as a voice came back over the comm.
"Lieutenant Avers, this is Command Transport 45. Major Leonard Tahiri here, what is your location?" Tahiri, on the comm, asked.
"Glad to hear someone finally...I'm nearing Dilite Alpha, but my engines are down." Will replied.
"Acknowledged, we'll rendezvous in about 30 minutes. Can you confirm the readings I'm showing?" Tahiri asked.
"Readings? Negative, the systems on this shuttle aren't all operational. Can you specify?" Will asked.
"There's a small trace of photonic energy...? I'm not sure how..." Tahiri led off.
"Let me do a check, hold on." Will replied.

Will, barely able to stand, using some emergency medical supplies he'd found in a storage cabinet to make a better leg brace, and some painkillers, walked over to a tall storage crate, and heard a beeping noise.
Holding an old Artise disruptor, carefully opened the crate, and looked down to see the source of the noise. Delu Manst, the real, not the Clone, who was barely breathing. "Delu?" Will asked, not believing his eyes.
Suddenly Delu opened his eyes. "W...Will...?"
"But you were...what, what happened? How did you...?" Will asked, as he helped Delu out of the crate.
"I was. But I used my mind link---to regain myself, and I managed to escape, and find my way to this shuttle...I think it used to be mine..." Delu explained, as he showed Will the device installed to the back of his head. Not sure of all that had happened, Delu looked around and tried to get a grip on all that had happened.
"Good to see you...what all do you remember?" Will asked, as Delu stood up.
"Not much--how about you?" Delu asked back.
"Seeing Luis....he was under some sort of control...he, your clone, said that To-Kati was in Luis' body..." Will tried to explain, not completely comprehending what had happened on the Detox world, weeks earlier.

The comm beeped again, it was 45.

"This is Avers." Will said over the comm.
"This is Tahiri, we're not detecting the photonic energy anymore....we'll be at your location in a few minutes, Tahiri out." Tahiri re-explained.

Will looked at Delu, who was trying to piece the last few days together. You sure you're alright?" he asked the blank-looking Artise, who just nodded.
Delu was far from alright, as he kept trying to access his recent memories, knowing what had happened somewhat on Tifki, but not able to piece much together. "...I'm fine. Just still a little woozy...we heading to a Fleet ship?" he asked.
"Yep--I gotta get this leg fixed, then try to get ahold of General Calson..." Will replied, as the shuttle made it's way towards the approaching transport.

Transport 45 arrived at Will's shuttle, and it had docked inside.
"Lieutenant Will Avers." Will stated as he left the shuttle, and was met by a couple of officers, glad to be back on a Fleet ship.
"Sir." an ensign saluted. "Are you injured?"
Will, still nursing a potentially broken leg, nodded, then noticed Delu was slow to head towards him, looking as if he was in pain, or even confused. "You okay??"
Delu didn't say anything, as he joined Will who walked into the corridor outside of the Shuttle Bay.

"Excuse me, do you know where the Major is....uh..." Will began asking, as he approached Jacklyn, who looked back at him.
"You Lieutenant Avers? I'm Lieutenant Commander Jacklyn Ordonez-Ruiz. The Major is on the bridge." Jacklyn replied, "Weren't you on Telorn?" she asked him, recognizing his name.
Will just nodded, "Ruiz...." he made the connection, as his heart sank, remembering Luis Ordonez-Ruiz, who'd mentioned his sister, Jacklyn. "I...I'm sorry..." he slowly said.
"Will...?" Jacklyn asked. "He's dead...isn't he. He wasn't found on Telorn...they never found his....body..." she tried not to weep, coming to terms with the worst possible things.
"It was on the Detox world, I...I'm sorry miss..." Will apologized, feeling nothing but remorse, as he had felt completely responsible for what happened to the young cadet, who was on his first mission.
Jacklyn tried to hold back from losing it, nodding her head, and getting a friendly hand on her shoulder from Will, who knew well what it was like to lose a brother.

On the bridge, Tahiri heard the ship's intercom beep. This is the Major...has Lieutenant Avers reported?" he asked.
"Sir, the lieutenant is in the Medical Bay." an officer reported.

Tahiri looked at Lokna, "you have the Bridge. Set course for Vega Prime, Warp 4. We need to help while we can....and contact the Lieutenant General." he ordered as he left the bridge.
Lokna nodded, sat at command, as he watched as Tahiri left the bridge.
Despite their friendship over the past few years, going through the Academy together, Lokna had lingering thoughts that his own career may always be in Tahiri's shadow.
He was incredibly happy that Tahiri had made the jump from Cadet-to-Major in one promotion, only months earlier, and that Tahiri had survived the hell he'd go through on Fexlran-Tifki--but he also felt that Tahiri's sudden fame was dragging on him.


Down in Medical Bay, Tahiri entered a few minutes later, and saw Will was having his leg repaired. "Sir." Will saw the Major, and saluted.
"Lieutenant Avers. How's the leg?" Tahiri asked.
"Better than it was." Will smiled, as he was quickly fixed, and finally able to walk normally again. "Ahh...been days since I didn't have to limp..." he chuckled, walking towards Tahiri.
"You're one of the M.I.A. from Telorn, aren't you. I'm sure Special Ops will be glad to get you back..." Tahiri smiled.
"Yep..." Will nodded.
"What happened?" Tahiri asked, more curiously, and less like a Major.
"A ton...Sir. Survived a Detox Camp, made it out, except got captured again...then made it to Tifki...and some weird Detox tower...Sir" Will explained, feeling his stomach gurgling.
"Tower?" Tahiri asked.
Will nodded, "...I was there with a Cadet, Luis Ruiz...and an Artise named Delu Manst."
"Did either survive?" Tahiri asked, getting a sad look from Will immediately.
"The Cadet was lost....but Delu Manst was with me on my shuttle....he should be somewhere on the ship..." Will explained.


Location: Tal Prime, Strategic Command Offices--1200 hrs

Calson was up in his office when Phelos and two other men, all in similar black uniforms, entered. "Major, report." Calson stated as he looked up to see the men.
"General. Scans of the metal fragments have been confirmed. There are trace amounts of photonic radiation...it is defintely Detox in design." Phelos explained.
"Wait--wasn't this found on Vega Prime? But how? The Detox have no claim to that planet, hell, the Fleet unit just made it out there last week. We just put an outpost up last week, but the planet's conditions are making it nearly impossible..." Calson stated.
"Sir, I have people investigating it." Phelos reassured him.
"Okay, just keep me up to date. And did you discover who had been accessing the classified files?" Calson asked.
"A Major. The access code was that of a Major, that's all we know so far, Sir." Phelos explained, as he nodded, then left the office. "I want you two to track down this Major..." he told the men.

As Phelos and the two men with him, entered the lift, Phelos re-read the investigation's results on a padd, he'd purposely not given to Calson.
"Sir, last reports tracked him to a Transport, out near the outer perimeter..." one explained.
"Then FIND him for me...I'll be heading out to Outpost Station 83 in a few hours." Phelos stated, as he became irate, and had to hold back from doing something. Both officers jumped, Phelos just shut his eyes, as he regained himself.
"Sir, we'll find him." the other man saluted, as the lift stopped, and the men left, leaving Phelos alone.
Once a man who was all about serving for the best interests of Fleet, Phelos had begun to focus less on serving FOR Fleet, but more for having Fleet serve him.


---Strategic Command Command Ship, nearing Outer-Perimeter

"Lieutenant General, we're out of comm range to Outpost Station 74..." an officer reported as Derricks came back on the bridge.
"Acknowledged, keep us steady, the asteroid field is nearing...and someone bring me the last reports from the Vega Prime outpost..." Derricks nodded, sitting down. “Let me know when the rest of the convoy is…”
"Sir, Transports 16, 19 and 29 are reporting in Detox attacks, near markpost 62...Transport 84 is off radar, last known report was of a tetrion field...and 45 has passed Dilite Beta." an officer reported, handing Derricks a padd.

All of a sudden a pair of Detox Battle Cruisers dropped out of warp, and opened fire.
"SIR! Two ships, on our tail!" Tactical exclaimed, readying for the inevitable conflict against the Detox. “They’ve locked on, and are in pursuit!!”
"Shields! Ready all weapons!" Derricks commanded, as he stood up, “Can we contact any of the ships on the sensors?” he asked, hoping for a stronger defense.
“Negative sir…we’re getting a lot of interference…” the comm officer explained.

The Command Ship was blasted on it’s portside by the Detox, causing serious damage to the hull, and weakening the engines and shields. "Shields at 78%! Returning Fire!" tactical yelled as he fired the Command Ships aft weapons, and hit the lead Cruiser.
"Good shooting, turn us around, take that lead ship out!" Derricks ordered, but was shortly cut off as another blast hit them. “Do we have a lock?” he asked tactical, who merely nodded, then fired back.
The Command Ship turned about, then fired again at the lead Detox ship, destroying it. But one enemy ship remained. "Sir...the readings from the Detox ship....they're similar to readings from a previous encounter." the Scanner officer reported.
"What?" Derricks asked, as he turned to look out the view screen, at the vessels floating a few meters off their hull. He stared, trying to figrue out the next move of the enemy, knowing every tiny move was yet one more larger step towards one of two endings. Fleet winning, or Fleet losing.
"Sir. It's got similar markings to the ship we fought a few weeks ago..." the tactical explained.
"Impossible....scan for a weak point..." Derricks began to instruct, but was cut off as the Detox ship opened fire. “
"DIRECT HIT! We're losing engines!!" tactical yelled, as he was thrown from his post, and collapsed to the deck. Another officer quickly took the station, and readied for the next command.
"Return Fire!" Derricks yelled.
“Sir! We’re losing engine stability…weapons at minimum…” the officer at tactical explained, as he fired back at the Detox, but the small blast did little to the enemy.
"Are we still out of comm range?" Derricks asked.
"Yes, Sir....no...wait..." the Comm officer led off, “I’m getting something…it’s faint, but I can pick it up.”
Derricks walked over to the post, "what is it, lieutenant?"
"There's a signal coming in....on an open frequency..." the lieutenant explained, “I’m not sure what it is…trying…to identify the type…”
"Is it Fleet?" Derricks asked.
The lieutenant shook her head. “It’s…something I…” she couldn’t tell what it was.
"SIR! LOOK!" an officer yelled as on-screen, a second ship appeared and attacked the Detox vessel, easily destroying it, surprising everyone on the Command bridge.
"Scan!" Derricks ordered, as he looked at the mysterious ship, as it flew away from the Fleet ship.
"I'm not getting anything...." tactical reported.
"The signal, Sir, it's coming from the other ship..." comm interrupted, finally getting clarification.
"Can we hail them?" Derricks asked, as he looked at the mysterious ship.
"Sir! There's an energy wave coming at us from the ship!" tactical yelled as a shockwave hit them, knocking out all systems onboard the Command Ship. Power suddenly shut down, leaving the ship in the dark.
“Sir?" an officer asked, amidst the darkness. Getting nothing.
“Are we getting anything?” another asked, as he made his way over to the officer at the scan console.
“Negative….systems down, I can’t determine what hit us…but…” the scanner led off as power came back on, as the bridge crew looked around, and saw that Derricks was gone. “Where’s the Lieutenant General?” he asked as all looked to see Derricks wasn’t on the bridge anymore.
“What the hell? Can you track his ID tag? Any signs?” a lieutenant asked, as she walked over.
"He's not on board...where..." an officer began to scan for Derricks, who had mysteriously vanished.
"Scan that ship!" the lieutenant ordered, taking command, as she checked her own console.
"Ma'am! They're locking onto us!" tactical yelled, as the ship’s alarm began to blare/
"What? Shields!" the lieutenant yelled.
"That energy wave knocked out our defenses..." tactical began to say, but before anything else could be said, by anyone, the mysterious ship fired at the Fleet’s Command Ship, easily destroying it, and killing it’s entire crew—in ONE high-powered shot.

------------------------


More coming later, who's reading it?? And lemme know anything you like about it

[FyreeTSG]

Hey guys, I'm posting more of PART 2 again:

--------------------------

---Command Transport 45, passing Velo Alpha


"Ha! Tahiri, you're alright!" Will laughed as he and Tahiri were chatting in the Mess Hall. The two were sharing a few stories from their respective days in the Academy, Will being Tahiri’s senior by a few years.
"Call me Leo....all my friends do...and to be honest, being a Major isn't all it's cracked up to be..." Tahiri chuckled, as he sipped a glass of fruit juice.
"Hmm, I bet...but I bet it's still better than the crammed barracks at the Academy..." Will smirked, amazed at the Major’s young age, but not overly jealous of Tahiri’s position.
"Anything is, really..." Tahiri nodded.
The two looked up, as Lokna rushed in. "Major!" he ran over to Tahiri.
"What is it Lieutenant?" Tahiri asked, changing his expression, as he nearly dropped his juice.
"Detox ships! Heading this way...from the outer perimeter!" Lokna reported.
Will jumped up. "Detox?"
"Lieutenant Avers, go with Lieutenant Raht to Engineering, get the chief to coax as much speed out as we can....we need to outrun the Detox as long as we can...." Tahiri ordered, as they split and Tahiri headed back to the bridge, ready to take out a few more Detox.

Getting back to the bridge, Tahiri sat down at command, and saw Jacklyn was working on a malfunctioning console. “Anything?” he asked openly.
"Shields still down, Sir. But weapons are back up..." Jacklyn reported, as she walked over to Tahiri, “…but they don’t seem to be coming this way.”
"Can we scan the Detox?" Tahiri asked. He wanted to pursue, but he knew the Fleet’s small outpost and limited crew on Vega Prime, needed all the help they could get.
"Negative, Sir." Jacklyn replied. “I’d say we should pursue them…I know you want to…” she could tell by Tahiri’s look, and all she knew about him now.
"I’d love to…but,” Tahiri shook his head, “…but we have to get to Vega Prime. How close are we to the asteroid field?” he asked another officer, who was checking the sensors.
“A few more hours. But once we get there we’ll lose the comm signal.” The officer replied.
Tahiri nodded, “Lt. Commander, where’s that Medical ship we passed a few hours ago?”
“Just outside of Velorran space…” Jacklyn replied, as she checked the sensors.
“Take a shuttle, and bring us back the supplies we need….” Tahiri explained as he handed her a padd. “The Medical crew will need all we can get, especially with the good chance that Detox will be around every corner once we’re our in the Outer Perimeter…”
“Right away, Sir.” Jacklyn nodded as she left the bridge.

As soon as Tahiri made his way to deck 5, to check on Engineering, he was met by Delu Manst, who seemed too quiet, as he tried to regain the clouded and missing thoughts in his head.
"Are you Major Tahiri?" Delu asked, as he looked to see Tahiri was walking towards him.
"I am....you're that Artise, right?" Tahiri asked back.
"Delu Manst, a friend of Will Avers. Can I speak to you for a minute?” Delu asked, as he thought he recognized Tahiri’s face, just not sure from where.
"By all means." Tahiri nodded.
"Somewhere private?" Delu asked, almost worried about someone overhearing what he wanted to say.

Entering Tahiri's office, minutes later, Tahiri sat at his desk. "Please sit..." he offered Delu.
"I prefer to stand..." Delu half-smiled, as he couldn’t shake the feeling of recognition from Tahiri’s face.
"What is you wanted to talk about?" Tahiri asked, as he instinctively grabbed a random padd from off his desk, and began to skim it.
"The Detox super computer..." Delu abruptly replied.
"The....super computer?" Tahiri asked, shocked at the response. “How do you know…wait, you were with Lieutenant Avers? Weren’t you?”
"It's still alive..." Delu stated.
"What?" Tahiri asked.

To-Kati flashed in his face.
"Tahiri!" a voice called his name.

"Major?" Delu asked, seeing Tahiri was staring blankly.
"Huh?" Tahiri asked, shaking his head, trying his best to forget what had happened weeks earlier, sending a cold chill down his spine.
"What happened?" Delu asked.
"To-Kati..."Tahiri remembered vividly, no matter how hard he tried.
"How...do you know it's name?" Delu asked.
"I destroyed it...on Fexlran-Tifki." Tahiri explained.
"You couldn’t have. There was more than one To-Kati on Tifki…” Delu explained, unsure if Tahiri knew.
Tahiri nodded, “To-Kati….told me. There were 4…but I destroyed them all.”
“How did you destroy it?” Delu asked.
“I…I just did. I was under it’s control, but I managed to take control back, and…I destroyed it.” Tahiri replied, still a little unclear himself of what happened.
“Even if you destroyed To-Kati, and the auxillary spheres, I think part of To-Kati still lives…” Delu replied.
“How? It’s just a computer---sure, it….he…seemed sentient, which defies what I thought I knew…I mean the Fleet has always held it’s position on sentient lifeforms, like androids…but…how can….?” He questioned.
Delu remained silent, also trying to piece the bizarre facts of the what happened on Tifki, taking into account what Tahiri had done. “I’m not positive Major…” he began, but saw Tahiri was standing at the replicator.
"Pineapple slices." Tahiri instructed the replicator, which beeped as it created a plate, 3 pineapple slices, and a fork in a matter of seconds.
"Major?" Delu asked, as Tahiri sat back down.
"I have a question for you, if you don't mind, Delu..." Tahiri changed the subject.
"What's that?" Delu asked.
Tahiri took a bite a slice of fruit, but didn't find the taste to be sweet enough, or how he remembered it. "Do you know about the Koh'la'nor?"
Delu was shocked to hear the name. "Yes. How do you know about that?"
"I'm not at liberty to discuss that, Delu. Fleet Command confidentiality....how do YOU know about it?" Tahiri asked in response, as he looked at Delu, now more intrigued to learn more.
Delu didn't respond, but looked at a framed picture on Tahiri's desk. "Who are they...?" he asked Tahiri. The faces in the image both struck his thoughts, as he began to make another connection, from his past.
"My parents, Lan and Tina Tahiri." Tahiri explained, as Delu held the image.
"I take it they're gone..." Delu noticed Tahiri's look.
"Detox attacked my home colony on Dien Alpha. Olnar Colony....we always called it "Base 2"...don't ask me why..." Tahiri began, his eyes beginning to water.
"What happened? If you don't mind me asking..." Delu wondered, not remembering the connection completely. Something was eating at the back of his mind, but for whatever reason he couldn’t click things together.
"It was a couple weeks before the Day of Tarren. Our colony was getting together with the Praxil Colony for the annual Swap Fair, which we always did before the celebration. Then the Detox came...10 full armored, Detox Battle Cruisers--Over 1100 people....dead--including my parents, nephew, aunt....nearly everyone I knew…
Only a few hundred survived...I was one of them. But I'd end up spending most of the next 12 years in hospitals. One of the nurses took me in, I don't remember her face, but she looked after me, kept me safe, until I was old enough to enter the Junior Academy.
Two arm surgeries, one so extensive I had to have my whole left shoulder replaced and welded--titanium alloy--same stuff the transports are made of. Two lower vertebrae shattered a few years later, during a rehab. I wound up needing a heart transplant too....during my time in the Academy..." Tahiri began to recall.

Delu paused, "...the Koh'la'nor...I was responsible...I was on assignment the day of the attacks."
"What? What are you saying?" Tahiri looked right through Delu, feeling the returning rage he’d felt as he destroyed Detox Super Computer. The same rage he’d been bottling up inside since the day he joined Fleet.
Delu, piecing the connection together finally, couldn’t tell Tahiri, so he just fled the office.

Tahiri ran after him, catching up, and slamming Delu into a wall. "sh*t!" Delu yelled.
"What did you mean--YOU were responsible!?" Tahiri demanded, trying to hold back from committing a terrible act against the Artise.
"It was....I...I need to find Will..." Delu began to say, but looked over to see a pair of cadets coming towards them.
Tahiri looked at the cadets, then back at Delu, who had ran into the lift. "Son of a b****..." he swore under his breath. He knew he had to try to calm down, and take the time to possibly learn more about Delu Manst, the man, he thought, might finally provide some of the answers he needed.


---Outer Perimeter of Prime One system--1400 hrs


A pair of Fleet Transports were slowly navigating through the wide asteroid field that separated the Inner planets from the Outer planets. Communications were down, due to the asteroid field's mineral composite. This was also one of the most treacherous stretches of the system, being so far from known Fleet space.
Command Transports 16 and 29 were two of the first Fleet ships to make it out this far in over a decade. As they journeyed along, floating remains of the wreckage of dozens of Fleet, Detox, and other ships from earlier conflicts, during the Allied Fleet wars of the past.

Commander Gerald Cooper was in command of 16. He had served years in Fleet, well experienced from serving during the final years of the Prime Wars, ending with the disaster on Dien Alpha in 2080.
"Sir, we're getting some strange readings..." an ensign, at the Scanner post of 16 reported, as Cooper came onto the bridge.
"Right. What's the last location of the rest of the convoy?" Cooper asked, as he braced for anything.
"Long-distance sensors are having trouble working past the asteroid's radiation.” The scanner explained. “There are some strange readings I’m getting….but I’m not sure where they’re located…it could just be residual from the field…”
"Sir, we're nearing the outer perimeter. Getting some comm traffic from Vega Prime..." the Comm officer reported.
"Fleet?" Cooper asked.
"Negative sir...it's...not Fleet....but I'm..." the Comm began, when suddenly all sensors went down. “We’ve lost the comm---sensors are offline as well…”
"Report!!" Cooper exclaimed. “Were we hit by something?” as he looked towards the still working view screen, to see if anything was out in space.
“Sensor weren’t picking up anything noticeable, Sir…” the scanner began, when suddenly the power went offline, as the bridge went black.
"Status!" Cooper yelled. He looked around, but didn’t get a word from anyone else.

A second later, power came back online. Cooper looked around, seeing the entire bridge was empty. "Hello...?" he asked, waiting for someone to say something. Walking over to the active sensors, he scanned the ship.
It was completely empty. He quickly had flashes of his days as a cadet, serving in one of the last battles of the Prime Wars. He walked towards where a sidearm was hidden, in case of need, and grabbed it, readying to fire at anything. He suddenly heard a pair of bootsteps walking behind him, getting closer. A loud growl was all he heard, coming from behind him…he knew he didn’t have a chance to turn and fire at whatever was on the bridge with him.
A pair of hands grabbed him, seconds later he dropped to the deck.

On Transport 29, the ship's crew were trying to get a reading of what was going on.
"Report!" the ship's C.O., General Young, ordered, as he looked at one of the officers trying to gather information.
"Sir, the 16--the crew, is gone!?" the Scanner questioned, as he kept scanning the crewless transport, floating idly a few kilometers off their bow.
"What? How can that be?" Young asked. “On Screen!” He looked over, and saw the ship. “Are we getting anything?”
"I'm picking up over 100 biosigns....all Detox. Aboard 16...." the scanner explained.
"Detox!? What happened to the crew??” Young asked.
“I’m not sure, Sir. But….I’m not getting any readings on the Crew…” the scanner replied.
Young knew there wasn’t any hope, “Can we target their engines?" he asked.
"Affirmative, Sir. Targeting now..." the Tactical nodded.
"Fire!" Young commanded.
The tactical officer fired at the transport, easily destroying it.
“Sir! I’m picking up incoming ships—Detox Cruisers! Two on intercept…” the scanner suddenly stated.
“Get us out of here…we’ve been ambushed…” Young ordered, as the helmsman hit the warp controls.


---Fleet Remote Outpost, Vega Prime


Vega Prime, once the native world of the Vegans, one of the earliest allies of Mel Tarren and the Lunarr colonists, 50 years earlier. But it was during the beginning of the Zylon Wars that the Vegans were nearly all killed, from the Zylonian forces invasion of what had once been the Hub of the Prime One system’s space exploration.
Now, years later, the barren deserts and rocky mountain terrain had made Vega Prime a mere shell of what it had once been. Only a few now inhabited it, as a Fleet Outpost had been constructed months earlier, but was still in need of constant repairs, and only had a limited staff.

Haled-Martka, now an ensign in Medical Ops, being transferred for this specific mission on Vega Prime, walked into the main Command room of the Remote Outpost, and saw his wife Lieutenant Denna-Martka. “Hey Denna…” he smiled at her.
"Yes....ensign?" Denna-Martka, now a Lieutenant, asked her husband. She sat up, and saw Haled was holding his hand out, obviously wanting something. “What?”
"The, uh, hyper-spanner...if you don't mind?" Haled asked.
She handed it to him, then went back to activating her console. "Is it installed yet?" Denna asked.
"The outpost's systems are fully up....now!" Haled smiled, as the outpost's environmental systems came online, providing breatheable air to the officers inside.
Denna could feel the fresh air, filtering through the outpost. “Phew….” She breathed a sigh of relief, as she wiped her sweaty brow. “Now if only we could get those supplies we need…”

As the Outpost became more comfortable to work inside, the rest of Vega Prime was still as humid and dry as ever. The planet’s atmosphere was thin, and due to a lack of surface water, there were seldom any clouds or precipitation. Those who were on shift to work out on the rough terrain had to wear air filters with their trooper gear.

Back inside the Outpost’s Medical Bay, Chief Larian-Taknar, head of Fleet's Medical Ops, looked up from installing some new medical equipment, and saw Denna enter. "Denna....I hear we have air..." Larian laughed, as she took in a big breath, and sighed.
"Yep...how goes the installation...I told my husband to help you...maybe I should've ordered him..." Denna laughed back.
"It's fine...besides, once we get this place fully crewed, I'm heading back to Tal Prime..." Larian led off, as the Outpost's C.O., a Velorran Admiral, came in.
"Chief Taknar..." the admiral, Renn-Oliz, nodded.
"Yes, Admiral..." Larian looked up at him, as she checked a system.
"We've received word from a Transport, it's not going to make it to Vega Prime. It was part of a team, but one somehow boarded by Detox...and was properly destroyed. The whereabouts of it's crew is unknown, but we can assume the worst...." Oliz explained.
"What about the crew and supplies we were supposed to be getting? We can't maintain this outpost on a skeleton crew...!?" Larian, a bit mad, asked.
"I understand Chief, but..." Oliz stopped, as he watched Larian leave.

Larian walked into her office, and pounded the desk. "...please. Let him NOT have been on that ship..." she prayed, as she looked down at a framed image on the desk.

A Medical Tech entered the Medical Bay and looked to see where Larian was. “Where’s the Chief?” he asked.
Larian, hearing the ensign, came out. “What is it?”
"Ensign Martka…he had an accident.” The ensign replied, as Haled came in a few seconds later, being helped by Denna.
“I said I was fine….just because you’re higher ranked…” Haled began to scour at his wife.
“…and your Wife. Hey Chief, this foolish DUTAK slipped on some leaked coolant…” Denna smirked as she saw Larian approach, and led Haled over to a biobed.
Larian began to scan the fractured ankle of Haled. “Just a small break—“ she led off as she easily repaired the fracture, and looked to see Denna was lightly kissing Haled’s cheek, then looked away quickly, “…there. Now try not to fall again. Ensign. Maybe Lieutenant Martka can assign you to an easier job.” She laughed.
“Thanks Chief…” Denna smiled, as she playfully slapped Haled on his head. “Let’s go ENSIGN…” she lightly-demanded.

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I'd really like some feedback--and if you guys wanna read on ahead, or have the entire first few stories in the series, I can send you the files.