5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

[oldwrench]

Well, this chapter was going to be longer, but with the grandkids here and grandma sick, I haven't the time. I guess I'll just have to leave you wondering what it is about Tarsonis that has Georgianna upset, what has the colonel upset, and what did the colonel call them together for.

Chapter 25

Aiden sat down in the ready room, he was first of the captains to arrive. He and the
colonel went way back. They’d come up through the ranks together, and if it hadn’t been for his
injury, this might have been Aiden’s command. He was glad Dan got the command, he deserved
it. But right now, he saw concern on Dan’s face, and that bothered him. Dan wasn’t usually
bothered by anything, and this was supposed to be an easy run.
Colonel Hellwind stopped, he realized he’d been pacing in front of the room. He didn’t
want to look agitated to the captains. Well, he was sure Aiden could tell, but that was alright. Dan
was just about to talk with his old friend. Aiden had always been a good tactician, it would be
good to get his input on this mission. He looked up as the door opened and Georgianna entered
the ready room. Dan didn’t know what to think of the tall woman. Her credentials as a pilot were
top rate, she was a skilled and tough fighter, but she was also unpredictable as a leader, and
seemed to carry a chip on her shoulder. She was undeniably a beauty, with the eyes of a predator.
Dan just hoped he could rein in her wild nature, and, keep her from shooting Crichton.
Georgianna nodded to the other two as she came into the room. Her thoughts were still
occupied by the conversation she’d heard. Sure, they all had there reasons for being here, but
Arisa just didn’t understand. Just what was she thinking, getting into the military? Also she was
to naive to understand what Chad was like. She didn’t know about grounders, especially gang
members....... Georgianna knew about them. She had never told anyone, that she was a grounder
too. She’d grown up on the earth, in a happy home, her parents were wealthy architectural
engineers. She’d been happy, till she was thirteen years old. She shuddered as she remembered
coming home that day, the crowd of people, the police, the ruined mess of her home.............. It
was a break in by a gang, her parents had been brutally murdered, all for the few things the gang
had stolen. She’d been sent to live with her aunt and uncle on one of the space colonies. Her
uncle was a layer, a shrewd man. He had been executor of the trust her parents estate had left for
her, and when she finished college, she was to have received the fund. She found the trust fund
was empty, and worse, the papers her uncle had her sign for college, were loans. She’d tried to
find out where her inheritance had gone, but she had no money, no way to get help. She was in
debt up to her ears. She’d jumped at the military offer, to get her loans repaid. It had been her
only real choice.
Colonel Hellwind thought he could feel dark clouds around Georgianna, that didn’t bode
well. There would be enough trouble ahead without poor moral in his command. The door
opened and Dominic entered, looking a bit sheepish.
“Ah, sorry I’m a bit late,” Dom told them, “nature call...... I really had to......”
“That’s enough,” Dan cut him off, “we don’t need details. Just sit down.” He waited
while Dominic sat and then looked around at the three captains. “I trust you all have read the
mission profile.” They nodded.
“Just an escort for some repair boys, in case the miners start throwing rocks or
something.” Georgianna smirked
“Right, and it’s all garbage,” Dan growled. “You might as well trash can it. I have word
that it’s a lot worse than that. There have been heated communications between the empire and
Sar Mara. The empire’s regent and his family have been abducted and the offices ransacked. I
just sent a message to headquarters, confirming the mission, they replied that there is nothing
going on, that our mission is a simple repair escort. That there are no problems at Sar Mara, but
they changed our co-ordinates for dropping out of warp........... It’s all a load of crap, we’re being
set up. This is just the way it started at Tarsonis.
Georgianna paled............... Tarsonois!

[oldwrench]

I'm trying to get some of this written, I'm just a procrastinator........... when I get around to it. This chapter just came to mind, hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 26

Chad walked with Arisa back into the ship. He was getting hungry so he stopped at the
cafeteria-lounge as Arisa continued to her room. Chad looked over the food selections and was
about to grab some candy bars and chips when he remembered the words of Captain McFairlane.
Chad frowned, if it was good for you, it probably didn’t taste very good. Well, he took something
called a taco salad and a cup that had layers of what appeared to be fruit, cereal and white stuff
that looked like that stuff the captain had taken. Chad saw Ben and Rose sitting at a table so he
went to join then. He’d have preferred that Rose hadn’t been there, but, she was part of his group,
so, he’d just have to get use to her being around. He wasn’t going to take anyu crap from her
though. Chad greeted them and sat down.
Ben grimaced at the food Chad set down, “What the heck is that? Rabbit food? You
should be eating something real, like a hamburger or pizza or something.”
“I just thought I should eat some of this stuff that’s supposed to be good for you.” Chad
answered, poking at the salad. He took a bite and found the stuff wasn’t that bad at all.
Rose giggled, “Chad must be trying to take better care of himself, since he’s got a
girlfriend.”
Chad’s head popped up, his fork half way to his mouth, “huh?”
“You’ve got something going with that cute pilot from the Red Phoenix group.” Rose
stated
“What? No, I mean, I just said hi to her a couple times.” Chad claimed, turning a bit red
faced.
“Oh yes,” Rose assured him, “I saw you two by the observation port, gazing at the stars
together.” Rose giggled again.
Chad looked up, starting to get angry. Women, they were always trying to cause him
trouble. But Chad didn’t see any malice in Rose’s smiling eyes. Maybe she wasn’t trying to hurt
him. “She just showed up, and, well, I, ah.” Chad stammered, turning even redder.
“Hey, you like the little girls, huh.” Ben laughed, a bit to loudly. “She looks like she could
be a middle schooler, you must go for the loli’s.
Chad poked furiously at his food, not looking up at Ben. He sure couldn’t start anything
with that big guy. “No, I know she’s little, but she’s a pilot, I mean, she’s not that young.” Chad
finally got his fork full of salad, “besides, you seem to have a thing for that Asian girl, Megumi,
and she isn’t much bigger.” Chad stuffed the fork full into his mouth.
“All those Asian girls are small,” Ben claimed, “and I don’t have anything going with
her.”
Rose poked Ben, “You were sitting awfully close to her last night when you shared your
pizza with her. And your stories were getting pretty good. I’d say you were trying to impress
Megumi, Ben.”
Now it was Ben’s turn to blush. “I was just being friendly, and besides,” Ben noticed
Megumi come into the room, followed closely by John Crichton, “I think she already has a guy. I
wouldn’t have much chance competing with him.” Ben sighed.
Rose watched Megumi make several selections at the food vendors then walk their
direction. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Ben,” she advised him.
“Would it be alright if I sat here by you, Ben?” Megumi asked.
Ben looked up, “Oh, hi, sure, you can sit with us any time.” Ben was smiling from ear to
ear as he pulled out the chair next to his for Megumi.
Rose winked at Chad and giggled.
“John gets a bit pushy at times.” Megumi told them. “He’s a nice enough guy, but he just
gets a bit overbearing.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Rose told her. Rose had been the target of the amorous
Mr. Crichton a couple times too.
Chad finished his salad and started on the parfait cup. This stuff wasn’t bad at all. Maybe
eating healthier wouldn’t be that bad. He started to think about Arisa. He didn’t know why she
made him feel the way he did when he was around her. She really was small, like a school girl.
Damn, she hardly even had any tits......... But, when she looked at him with those clear blue
eyes........... Chad sighed, women had always just been trouble for him.



I know, I left Georgianna, and the rest of the officers hanging. I promise I'll let you know why Tarsonis is important, and why it bothers Georgianna so much.

[Zeratul2k]

Good to see you are back to writing this! Keep it up!

[oldwrench]

I'm trying Zera.

[Kira]

Haha so, John, is now just a drunken womanizer?

[oldwrench]

almost Kira, but not quite. More on him later.

[Kira]

Haha, I tease you ^^ GPA!!! *big ol' Gkid hug* How ya been old man?

[oldwrench]

I been good....... mostly, good to see you again, kid. Hope all is well with you.

[Kira]

I'm Doing good. A lot better then the past oh three months, haha.

[oldwrench]

So, the long awaited next chapter....... no, I don't have writer's constipation.......... I'm just lazy. Well, now you get to find out why Tarsonis caused such a reaction in Captain Georgianna. I just hope she doesn't come unglued over this. I'll really try to write more often. On to the story.

Chapter 27


Georgianna shuddered, Tarsonis! Why did he have to bring up that name? She’d spent the
last two years trying to forget that nightmare.
The colonel saw how the name had affected Georgianna, He hoped there wouldn’t be
problems. Some people had very strong opinions about the Tarsonis affair. “I trust you all have
heard of the Tarsonis incident,” He stated.
“I only heard a little about it,” Dominic replied. “Ah, wasn’t that the planet that was
developing illegal biological weapons, and the empire shut them down?”
“That’s the official story,” Dan replied.
“It’s a lie.” Georgianna’s voice was quiet. She looked up at the colonel, and then at the
others, she told them in a much louder voice, “It’s all a damned lie.”
Georgianna’s mind was racing, all the horrors coming back to her. She’d been a
lieutenant then, a good soldier. She did as she was ordered. ‘Ours is not to reason why. Ours is
but to do and............’ Hell! There was no opposition, those farmers had nothing but a few
varmint rifles. The empire bombed their cities to ashes, they sent the mechs to finish the job, to
burn the research labs to the ground. She could still see the frightened faces, the flames from the
flame throwers their mechs carried, the charred bodies. How many had died? How many had she
killed?
Georgianna’s voice was harsh, accusing, “there weren’t any weapons. You know what
they were doing in those labs? Breeding better strains of wheat and corn. The empire destroyed
them because they made some stupid protest. Who knows what it was about. They killed
hundreds of thousands. Innocent people........ children.......”
“Alright, that’s enough captain,” colonel Hellwind barked. “You’re right, there were no
weapons there, and it was all a terrible disaster. But, the empire didn’t order the attack. The truth
is, there was some protest by the government of Tarsonis, over the rights of the empire’s regent.
The subspace communications were cut off and a ship was sent to investigate. The EDF lost
contact with that ship and sent a second ship to find out why. They lost communication with that
ship too, and sent in a battle fleet. The battle fleet received word that the planet was developing
biological weapons and were ordered to completely destroy the insurgents. The officers carried
out those orders, to the letter. You’re right, they found no evidence of illegal weapons, and an
investigation turned up no clue of where the information of the weapons came from, or who gave
the order to attack. All they found of the two ships that had been sent first was debris. They still
haven’t a clue how they were destroyed, it almost looks like they self destructed. Now we are
heading into the same situation. A friend sent me the communications the empire was having
with Sar Mara, it followed the same pattern, and now, the subspace com is down.”
“We can’t go there,” Georgianna yelled out, “we can’t allow this to happen, not again.”
“You’ll do as you’re ordered captain.” Dan glared at her, then his look softened. “We’ll
do what we have to, this isn’t Tarsonis and I don’t intend it to be. We’re being sent into a trap. If
my friend hadn’t warned me, it could be the same as Tarsonis. But, I am not going to lose my
ship!! Got that? I want all pilots in their suits and ready at 500hours, when we drop out of warp.
Make sure they’re rested up........ and sober.” The last he directed at Aiden. “Any questions........
Then you’re dismissed.”

Dan watched the captains leave the room, especially keeping an eye on Georgianna. So
she’d been there, he thought, that could make things a bit touchy, I hope she can hold it together
till we get through this. Aiden was the last one leaving and the Dan called out to his friend.
“Aiden, could you stay for a bit? I’d like to talk with you.”