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

[oldwrench]

I am trying to come up with the next chapter...... really. I have constipation of the mind at the moment. I think I need to read the original again, see how far off I've gotten, and how to get back on track.

[oldwrench]

Well, finally, I forced myself to do a bit of thinking and came up with the next chapter........... I think I mostly was just lazy about sitting down and writing it. Plotting and planning, that's what needs to be done now. If you think this looks like it's leading up to more action, you could be right. What is that weapon, who pilots it, and will she use it to destroy the Krikav? So many questions. Well, read on.

Chapter 53


General Edward Geraldine frowned as he looked at the communication unit. He wished
he had a video feed, there was so much more you could gain from reading a person’s expressions.
He wished he could see his commander, for in fact, he had never even met the one who gave him
his orders. He had been angry and disillusioned when the EDF had passed him over for
promotion, again. That’s when they had come to him, the mysterious men that had recruited him.
He’d gone with them, deserted, but they’d offered him great things. It was still a blur in his mind,
the time he had spent at their training facility. He just couldn’t remember any of it. When he left,
He was a general, as they had promised, and he took his orders from the supreme commander of
the Red Faction. He always followed those orders, even if he felt they were wrong, somehow, he
would still follow his orders.
“It seemed they could detect our cloaked mechs, there must be some fault with the
system.” Edward told the commander.
“There is no fault,” The commander bit back, “the cloaking device is beyond their
technology. Your forces are incompetent.”
“We could try again, sir. I’m sure we could capture that ship.” Edward told him. “They
must have just been lucky.”
“Luck, is only an excuse,” the commander snarled. “Destroy the ship. Use the weapon
and destroy them.”
“It may not be that easy, sir. She isn’t ready for this.” Edward tried to find a way to
convince the commander. “That might cause problems. You know she is the only one who can
pilot the weapon. She won’t allow us access. I’ve tried to convince her, even tried to hack into it
but she has that system to tightly locked up.”
“You will convince her now.” The commander snapped. “If she does not follow orders,
then she is useless. If she will not destroy the ship, then you will send her to us and we will take
the knowledge from her.”
“Yes sir, I understand,” Edward sighed. He concluded his conversation and signed off.
He couldn’t allow them to take her. He’d seen what happened to people who had been sent there,
they came back changed. She was to valuable, the systems she designed were a leap forward. He
couldn’t risk them damaging her.


Colonel Hellwind looked at a fuzzy image of Mar Sara overlaid with a grid showing the
population centers. Why, he thought, why are they sending me there? He turned as Captain Pryde
entered the room. “Ah, Aiden, I’m glad you’re here. I want you to look at this.” Dan turned back
to the image. “What’s wrong with this picture?”

Aiden came closer to the screen, “do you mean the fact that there’s something wrong with
the ship’s imaging? The clouds look to dark and uneven............ Wait, those aren’t clouds.”

“Geeze, that looks like the place is covered in rocks,” Captain Torres said as he came up
behind Aiden.

Aiden and Dan turned. “Yes, that’s exactly it,” the colonel told him as he increased the
magnification so they could see the individual rocks., “The planet is surrounded by layers of
asteroids, each layer moving at different speeds and directions.”

“How the hell did they do that?” Aiden asked, astonished. “That’s not really possible
........ is it?”

“I don’t know,” Dan answered. “It must have taken an incredible amount of gravity
calculations. It’s quite a feat of engineering.” He turned the magnification back down. “But, I
wasn’t thinking of that right now. Look at the location command wants us to lock in our orbit.
It’s nowhere near the population centers. It’s way out over a mountain range.”

“Maybe they think the cities have defensive weapons, and they want us to keep away
from them.” Dominic mused.

“I doubt it,” the colonel replied, “these planets shouldn’t have any weapons like that.”

“But we were attacked by advanced mechs, and they had that rail gun in the asteroid.”
Aiden added. “Did command say anything about that when you reported it?”

“They congratulated us on breaking up some remnants of the pirates,” the colonel told
them. “But, the pirates never had advanced equipment like those mechs......... Something just
feels wrong about this.”

“Have you reported on the asteroids shielding the planet?” Aiden asked.

“Yes,” Dan answered, “and all command did was told me to hurry to the assigned co-
ordinates and make diplomatic contact.”

Dominic scratched his head, “something smells a little fishy. There’s been to much going
wrong........” Dominic stopped and turned with the others as Georgianna came in.

“Sorry, I was tied up......... Is that Mar Sara? What’s with that, I thought it was supposed
to be a green planet?” Georgianna questioned as she hurried into the room.

“It might be green,” Aiden told her, “under all those asteroids. They have the whole
planet surrounded by asteroid belts. It must be some kind of attempt at a defense.”

“Wow, now that’s impressive,” she looked closer. “You can’t blame them though, the
empire sent warships, they don’t want to be the next planet the empire destroys.”

“If it were just that, it wouldn’t worry me so much,” the colonel told her. “This wasn’t
something they put up since the EDF ships came, this took a long time to set up. They’ve been
expecting us to come, planning this to happen. But, why? And why are we ordered to park in
orbit at those co-ordinates.”

Georgianna looked closer at the map, then magnified the area of the orbital co-ordinates.
“Maybe because there seems to be a thinner area in the asteroids there.” She told them.

“You’re right,” Dan said looking at the image, “maybe there’s a way in at that point..........
Hmmm, there are a couple other areas that look like thin areas. Those could be places we can get
mechs through.”

“That could be,” Aiden mused, “but if I were setting up a defense like that, I’d
concentrate any weapons I had at those points. I really wish we knew what’s going on down
there.”

“I can help with that, they are defended.” Everyone turned around to see colonel Johana
Kerlov in the doorway, leaning heavily on Ryoko.

“Johana!” Dan cried in surprise, “what are you doing here? The doctor should never have
let you out of ........” Colonel Hellwind bumped into the table, then stumbled around it in his haste
to get to Johana.

“He didn’t,” she told him as he reached out to help her, “I wasn’t about to lay around
when you might be heading strait into a trap” With Ryoko and Daniels help, Johana approached
the map. She marked each of the holes in the asteroid belts with icons for defensive armament.

“Those are the defenses?” Dan asked. “The colony planets aren’t supposed to have any
weaponry like that.”

“They shouldn’t have,” Johana replied, “but they do. That’s part of the reason my ship
was sent here. General Adams of the OMI has had us searching for the truth behind the tragedy at
Tarsonis. He received some disturbing reports of illegal weapons manufacturing going on at Mar
Sara. General Adams sent us on a clandestine mission to investigate the report. We had been here
ten standard days, I had worked up a pretty good report on the situation but received orders to
move to co-ordinates in the asteroid belt between the fifth and sixth planets, and to wait for
further orders. While waiting at the co-ordinates, there was an explosion in the hangar, and we
were attacked. There were enemy mechs, of unknown type. The most frightening part is, we
didn’t detect them till they were inside, they were cloaked somehow. I had to warn you, they
could attack at any time and you won’t know it till they hit you.”

“Ya, we met those guys,” Dominic chuckled, “and we kicked their butts. We have the
Ghost.” Dominic grinned.

“Huh? You fought them?” Johana asked, unbelieving.

“The mobile suits from the Krikav were engaged with the unknown enemy mobile suits
when we were rescued.” Ryoko told her colonel.

Johana looked from Ryoko to the officers of the Krikav, “you beat them? How could you,
weren’t they cloaked? What’s the Ghost?”

“Yes, they were cloaked,” colonel Hellwind answered, “but we were able to detect them.
By some mistake, we ended up with an experimental recon mech, with cloaking and superior
sensors. The pilot was able to keep our units updated on the position of the enemy mechs. It was
that, and the skill of our pilots, that won the battle. Yuki was able to reconfigure the ship sensors
and now she’s able to detect those enemy mechs.”

“You have a cloaked mech?” Johana asked. “I thought cloaking was still years off.”

“Apparently it’s a lot farther along than we knew,” Aiden interjected.

“Right now, we have to decide what to do about the situation we’re facing here.” Dan
changed the subject. “It’s pretty evident, as insane as it seems, that the miners here are in revolt
against the empire. I have orders to take the Krikav into orbit at those co-ordinates, and establish
diplomatic contact. I intend to follow those orders.”

“It’s obviously a trap,” Georgianna claimed. “They’re trying to set us up, to engineer
another excuse to destroy a planet that has some disagreement with them.”

“These people have been planning this for a long time. They’ve built illegal weapons and
defenses,” Johana said angrily. “They attacked without provocation and destroyed my ship.
They’re asking for war, and they deserve anything they get.”

“They’re just trying to keep the empire from bombing their planet to ashes.” Georgianna
faced Johana. “You can’t blame them after we massacred the people of Tarsonis, over nothing . I
won’t let that happen again.”

That’s enough, captain,” colonel Hellwind stepped between them. “I won’t have
insubordination in my command.” Daniel softened, “No one wants this to go that far. I’m hoping
that we can solve without resorting to force, that’s why I’m willing to try diplomatic contact, as I
was ordered. But, I’m not going to let my guard down. I want us to be alert and ready.”

Dan looked at his captains, “Dominic, Blue Dragon is on alert. Red Phoenix is on
standby.”

“Colonel, Dom’s group is short handed, lieutenant Kerlav’s mech is down.” Georgianna
complained. “Red Phoenix should be on alert.”

“I’ve made my decisions, captain,” Dan snapped, “Dominic, since lieutenant Kerlav is
down due to repairs on her unit, I’m moving lieutenant Herrmann to your group. I want
Lieutenant Ross to continue working with the techs, he’ll be close enough there to be on alert.
Captain Pryde will be taking tactical command on the bridge. Lieutenant’s Yamato and Crichton
will be joining Red Phoenix.” Georgianna swore under her breath. Colonel Hellwind looked
directly at Georgianna. “According to Yuki’s data, you’ve been suffering signs of fatigue stress,
captain. I’m ordering you to get some rest.” Georgianna started to protest but he cut her off. “The
last few days have been tough on all of us, captain, and I know you haven’t been sleeping. We
can’t afford you to be at less than your best. We have a few hours till we get to the co-ordinates, I
want you to get a sleep inducer from the med techs and get that rest.”

Georgianna frowned as the colonel dismissed them. She didn’t like having sleep forced
on her, and she was angry that her group was second behind Dominic’s group again.

[oldwrench]

Yes, I'm still working on the next chapter. Just so much SHE wants me to do before winter sets in........ sigh. I'll get it done by this weekend........... Promise........maybe...

[oldwrench]

Darn, I was too busy this weekend to finish the chapter. I'll work on it tonight. It's one of those that just doesn't seem to come out right, so I have to keep rewriting things.

[Zeratul2k]

That happens from time to time, yeah. Keep at it, you're doing a great job.

[oldwrench]

Ok, this finally came out sounding about like I wanted it to. I wish I had the writing talents of my little girl Dinky.......... who better get back to writing herself.
Ok, is colonel Hellwind going to figure this thing out? Can he make contact with the planet and prevent another disaster? And what will General Edward Geraldine do? Will he destroy the Krikav. Who is his commander, and what is his agenda? So many questions, so few answers.......... yet.

on with the story..... Ok, so it's a short chapter, it just didn't want to come out right, but I kept beating on it till it surrendered.


Chapter 54


Colonel Hellwind looked from the map to Johana. “This is insanity. Why would a small
colony of miners want an armed confrontation with the empire? They have to know they
wouldn’t stand a chance. And, how could they possibly have accumulated that many advanced
weapons? The shipping is strictly regulated, what ships could have delivered those weapons?
There are just to many questions, to many situations that just can’t happen.”

Johana sat down heavily. She was so tired. “I don’t know, Dan. They shouldn’t have
those weapons, but unlike Tarsonis, I know they do. The regent of Mar Sara has been to quiet the
last couple years. Something has been going on. Maybe they think popular opinion will keep the
empire from attacking. Well, they’re wrong, If they think they can fight the EDF, they have one
nasty lesson coming.”

“No,” Dan snapped, “I won’t let it go that far. I’m not going to sit back and watch another
planet blasted to ashes. There has to be a way to talk some sanity into these people. Sure, the
empire has plenty of faults, and you can’t blame the colonies for griping about it. But there has to
be a way to improve things without killing millions of people.”

“Maybe, Dan, but they haven’t found it in all these years.” Johana sighed, “We’re just a
ornery race of people. Everybody wants everything their way, I don’t think we’re going to change
it now.”

Dan looked at the map, “For their sake, I hope we can...... What’s the population of Mar
Sara?”

“A couple hundred thousand, plus,” Georgianna told him. “There are twenty cities,
centered around the larger mines. The largest city is Cobalt, it’s the capital, it was the first mining
camp. The colony isn’t very old, and population counts aren’t very accurate out here.”

“So, if they are really starting a rebellion, they might be able to field fifty thousand
soldiers, or maybe a few more,” Dan shook his head. “And we’re supposed to oppose them with
twenty five marines and ten mechs. Maybe the mechs would make the difference, if they didn’t
have heavy weapons. Somehow, I have to stop this before the EDF sends in a fleet and it’s
Tarsonis all over again.”

“Tarsonis had a population of over ten million. This is a different situation. The Empire
wouldn’t bomb a small colony like this.” Johana assured him.

“They wouldn’t?” Dan asked. “Not even a colony that has heavy weapons? They
wouldn’t use nuclear weapons against a world that didn’t have any defensive capability either,
but they did, against Tarsonis.” Dan sat down across from Johana, “There’s something bigger
going on, Johana, I think someone is trying to get the colonies to band together against the
Empire.”

Edward left his office, he had to carry out the orders from his commander, that EDF ship
had to be destroyed. He would have liked to capture the mechs that the ship carried, they would
have been a nice addition to those they had captured at Tarsonis and from the first ship the EDF
sent here. This colonel had the devil’s luck, none of their traps had worked. He’d just have to
make sure the weapon destroyed the ship. Edward ran into Kirk Ashford, who had been assigned
quarters. Kirk had cleaned up and was wearing a Red Faction uniform.
“I hope you’ve found the quarters adequate.” Edward greeted him.

“Adequate? It’s a damn hole in the rock. I even have to use a communal bathroom.” Kirk
complained.

“Well, it’s the best we can offer in this remote base.” Edward told him. “You’ll have to
make do for now. Command is sending ships to move our equipment and supplies off the planet
before the EDF ships arrive.

“Good, I don’t plan to be caught here when they nuke this rat hole,” Kirk grumbled.
“Speaking of EDF ships, have you captured the Krikav yet?”

“No,” Edward told him, “the Krikav is on it’s way to an orbit above us, I’ve been ordered
to use Atropos to destroy it.”

“Destroy it?” Kirk gaped. “You can’t do that, Arisa is on the Krikav, I have to get her off,
she’s my fiancé, I have to marry her.”

Edward looked at Kirk, surprised, “Oh, I”m sorry, I know what it’s like to lose someone
you love, but I have my orders, I have to destroy the Krikav.”

“Love?” Kirk’s laugh sounded evil, “I don’t love that bitch, I just need to get married to
her. She’s the heir to the Higgins fortune, and after she has an accident, it’s going to be mine. ”

Edward’s look darkened, “ah, you were just using her. Well, I’m sorry, she won’t live
long enough for you to enjoy your wedding night. She’ll be dead with the rest of those on the
Krikav.”

“Damn,” Kirk swore, “you can’t do that, you can’t kill her till........... Wait, you said they
would all die, none left, no witnesses?” Edward nodded. Kirk smiled an evil smile, “destroy
them, that would work out just fine. All I have to do is have some papers forged. The only
survivor, grieving the loss of the woman he married on the ship two days earlier. I’ll still be the
heir to her fortune.”

[oldwrench]

I am working on the next thrilling chapter.......... well, the next chapter anyway. It's just having a tough time getting from my head to the computer. Somehow in the translation to the machine, it just isn't turning out right........ I know where I want to go, I just can't seem to get there from here. I'll beat it into submission, one of these days.

[oldwrench]

Finally, I sat down and got this chapter out. Hopefully this will get me going again. It just took a long time to get this to come out the way I wanted it to. It's just harder for me to get things to work out in these slow times between action scenes. I'll get us back to the action soon. As for right now, things are looking up for John Crichton, There are some changes in the groups, and Chad seems to be loosing his anger against women. Now if they can survive the sabotage and smooth things over with the people of Mar Sara, they may come out the hero's yet.

On with the story.

Chapter 55

Dominic returned to the cafeteria and found most his group there. He had to smile at Ben,
the big guy was so close to Megumi that she was almost in his lap, and they both were working
on a large supreme pizza. He crossed over to the table. “Ben, I hate to break things up, but Blue
Dragon is on stand-by. Louis, You’re transferred to my group, you’ll replace Rose as my second.
We better get suited up and in the ready room. Has anybody seen Ross?”
Rose watched them walk out, Dominic and Louis talking and Ben, holding Megumi’s
hand. Without even a word to her, she’d been replaced.

John lay on his bed, looking up at the grey ceiling. He thought about that color,
“Battleship Grey”, used from the very beginning of iron ships in earth navies. The navies still
used it, even in space. They also still used first officers, even if they were mostly useless, at least
useless according to ensign Emily Margraph. John had talked with her after he left Georgianna’s
room. She told him they hadn’t seen first officer Kirk Ashford since they came out of warp drive.
The ships crew members thought that was just fine, he was too full of himself and overbearing,
especially to the female crew members. He’d been trying to get her to come to his room since the
day he came on board.
John sat up, time to do something. He had to find out what was going on with Ashford.
He grinned, he hoped the guy was their saboteur. A guy like that needed to be set down, and John
was just the guy to do it. Time for action! John got up, whipped open his door and jumped out
into the hallway............... almost knocking Rose flat.
As John stumbled, he wrapped an arm around Rose and used his other to brace himself
against the far wall. “Hey!....... Sorry about that. You ok, Rose?” John pushed off of the wall and
got them both on their feet again. “We gotta stop meeting like this, girl.”

Rose looked down as she stepped back, “I’m alright, no harm done....”

John frowned, he thought he’d seen......... John reached out and tipped Roses face up to
look at him. It was tears he’d seen. “What’s wrong Rose? Are you sure you’re alright?”

Rose tried to turn her head away, “It’s nothing, I wasn’t hurt at all...... It’s not your fault
that I’m............... “

John lowered his hand, “There is something wrong though, Rose. We can’t have our
queen in tears. What is it? Did Dominic do something to you?”

“No, he didn’t do anything,” she said quietly, “he never does anything. It’s..... it’s just, I
see how Ben treats Megumi, and, well, Arisa and Chad, they’re getting rather close, but Dom, he
doesn’t even notice me. We were close like that, back when we were in school. That’s why I
joined the EDF, I wanted to be with Dom, but the more I’ve tried to stay with him, the farther
away he seems to become. The only time he knows I’m around is when I’m in my mech.”

John sighed, “Dom’s a blind man. He can’t see what’s right in front of him. Dom is to
involved in being a good soldier. He’s wrapped up in being a captain, that’s why he notices you
when you’re piloting your mech. Sometimes, Rose, you can be to close, for to long. Someday,
he’ll wake up to what he’s been missing, but by then, it might be to late, you might be gone.”
John laughed, if this had been a few hours earlier, he might have tried to be the one to lead her
away from Dominic. “Don’t give up hope yet, girl. He’ll get tired of being Captain Universe.
He’ll realize how lonely he is. Hey, if you ever get lonely, or need a shoulder to cry on, just come
see me, I’ll be there for you. There’s always plenty of old Johnny to go around.”

Rose looked up and smiled, John had made her feel better. He might be a rogue, but he
had a way with words. “I’m sure there is, John. You made me feel a lot better, I guess I owe you
again. I still owe you for saving my life, and my mech. I’d have never figured out I had a fire, not
until it was too late.” Rose had a mischievous look in her eye, she stepped up to John, wrapped
her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. She backed away with a quiet giggle. “I
believe that’s the current form of thank you on this mission.”

John laughed, “well, if it is, I definitely need to find more ways to make you girls
thankful, darlin’. “

Georgianna picked up the small electronic device from the med techs. She really didn’t
like sleep inducers. They were supposed to be so much better than the old method of using drugs,
they didn’t leave you feeling so groggy, but she didn’t like being that deeply asleep. You could
sleep right through a war.
Georgianna turned the corner to her room’s corridor and stopped short, There in the
middle of the corridor, just outside of John’s door, she saw Rose with her arms around Crichton,
obviously kissing him. Georgianna quickly backed around the corner. She stood, her back against
the wall, shocked. That bastard, that damned lecher. He’d just left her a few minutes
ago...........And she thought maybe they could........... He’d used her, and as soon as she was out of
sight, went after the next conquest. She clenched her fists she wanted to kill him........... No, why
should she care? She didn’t want to have anything to do with him, never again. She hoped
Dominic beat the crap out of him. Georgianna’s eyes burned as she turned and walked away
down the corridor.

[oldwrench]

Oh, my...... and the Colonel moved John onto Georgianna's group, this could get messy. That is, of course, if the Krikav and the pilots survive. It sure looks like they could be heading into a trap. Meanwhile, down on the planet......


Chapter 56

General Geraldine led Kirk deeper under the mountain base of the Red Faction. In a large
cavern in the old mine, filled with machinery and parts, they approached a lone figure, huddled
over a desk covered with papers and a laptop computer.
“Hello Rydia,” Edward greeted the young woman.

Rydia turned and jumped up from her chair, scattering papers across the floor. “Edward!“
She cried, with a bright smile on her face. “You came to see me. I’ve almost got the
improvements ready.......” Rydia stopped, blushing. “Oh, I didn’t know someone was with you.”

Edward smiled at the girl, “Rydia, this is Kirk Ashford, his family is the major backer of
our efforts.” He turned toward Kirk. “This is our head of research, Rydia Farrell. She’s the one
responsible for the design and development of the Atropos system.”

Kirk took the girls hand, he looked her over. She was as tall as he was, wavy auburn hair,
tied back in a loose pony tail, with stray strands framing her round face. She had hazel eyes, a
small nose and generous lips. It was a bit hard to tell what her body was like, she wore a loose
fitting sweatshirt and sweat pants, but from the swell of her breasts and the curve of her hips, he
thought there might be some possibilities there. She looked young, but Kirk preferred them
young, and innocent. It made for more fun.
“Hmmm, nice,” Kirk smiled at her. “So, you’re the genius behind our new weapon. We
should get together later, I want to get to know you.”

Rydia took and instant dislike to the man. She felt very uncomfortable at the way his eyes
roamed over her body, and the leering smile he had on his face.
“I’m really busy with coding the upgrades for Atropos. I don’t think I could find the
time..... not now.” She tried to find some excuse to avoid Kirk.

“We’ll see that you have time together later. Right now we have more important
concerns.” Edward told them. “Rydia, the EDF has sent a ship to destroy the planet. You are
going to have to use Atropos to stop them. The upgrades will have to wait, they will be here in a
couple hours. You will have to move Atropos into position so that you can destroy them before
the can launch their nuclear bombs.”

Rydia looked startled, “But...... you told me I wouldn’t have to hurt anyone. You said,
once they knew how powerful Atropos is, they would give the colonies their freedom. I can’t
destroy a ship, I can’t kill all those people. Besides, they couldn’t get their bombs through the
asteroid shield I set up. You said you had the weak areas covered.”

Edward held up his hands, “Settle down now, Rydia. I know you weren’t supposed to use
Atropos in combat. I really don’t want to have to do this, but they sent the ship before we were
able to get everything ready. The EDF could send in more bombs than we could stop, They
would destroy this base, and Atropos.” Edward watched Rydia’s expression, hoping to frighten
her into following his orders. “They would kill all the people, just like they did to Tarsonis. Do
you want that to happen Rydia?”

Rydia had tears in her eyes, “No! I’d never let that happen. But...... I can fire the weapon
and not hit them. I could scare them, then they’d know we can beat them. They’d surrender.”

“No they wouldn’t,” Kirk interjected, “they’d think it was a sign of weakness, they’d send
all the more bombs to destroy you. They don’t care about the people, just about keeping them
under their thumb. They’ll destroy this planet at any cost.”

Edward put his arm around Rydia, “Those men in that ship are ruthless murderers, Rydia.
That’s why I left the EDF. They will turn this planet to ashes without a second thought, just like
they did to the defenseless planet, Tarsonis. You have to stop them Rydia, you are these peoples
only hope.

Rydia hung her head, “Ok, I’ll do it. I won’t let them hurt these people. I’ll get Atropos
ready.”

The men left Rydia to prepare the weapon and headed back to Edward’s office. Kirk let out an
evil laugh. “‘They could send more bombs than we could stop,’ that’s a good one. You played
her like a fiddle.”

Edward frowned, “Rydia may be a genius, but she’s still a naive little girl. She’ll do
almost anything for me. I don’t like lying to her like that, but the leader ordered me to destroy
that ship. He wants this to lead to another colony war. He assured me we will be able to crush the
empire this time.”

“Whatever,” Kirk smirked, “women can’t understand such important matters anyway. All
that matters is, I’ll get what I wanted. Are you sure that Atropos thing can destroy the Krikav?”

Edward stopped and looked at Kirk, the man was a fool, but the Red Faction needed his
backing. “They haven’t got a chance.”

[oldwrench]

We're getting ever closer to Mar Sara. What weapon is being readied for their arrival? There are only a couple hours left till they find out. Till then, What's going to happen with Georgianna? Is she going to take her anger out on John..... Or Rose? maybe she'll just go and use that sleep inducer. And what's going to happen when John tries to find Kirk Ashford? Things could get complicated.

On with another chapter in the thrilling adventure.


Chapter 57

Georgianna fought to calm herself as she wandered down the corridor. Her anger burned,
but she tried to deny it. Why should it matter? She didn’t care about John, she never had........ It’s
very hard to make yourself believe your own lie.
Georgianna noticed Chad and Arisa as soon as she came through the door of the
observation room. “ROSS! What are you doing?”

Chad jerked awake and looked around. “Oh, captain........ I, uh, guess I kind of fell
asleep.” Chad tried to gently move Arisa so he could stand up. Arisa woke up and, groggily, held
tight to Chad’s arm. Chad stood up, dragging Arisa with him.

Georgianna snarled, “If you want to sleep, lieutenant, do it in your own bed..... Alone!”

Chad almost snapped back at the woman, but the anger burning in her eyes made him
hold back.

“Blue Dragon is on deck, and the colonel wants you working with the techs,” Georgianna
informed him. “Get to the hangar, Ross.”

“Yes SIR!” Chad barked, sarcastically. He turned to Arsa, “I’ll see you later.” Then he
hurried toward the hangar.

Arisa frowned as they watched Chad leave, “Geeze, what’s that all about, captain?”

Georgianna snapped around and faced the smaller girl, “I told you to stay away from him.
You should be getting some rest, not fooling around with Ross.”

Arisa’s expression darkened, “We didn’t do anything.......... It’s not like we were jumping
in bed together.” Arisa balled up her fists. “When I’m in my mech, you can order me around, but
you can’t tell me who I can associate with on my own time....... captain! I don’t know what kind
of problems you have with men that you can’t stand seeing us get along, but, you can’t run my
life, you aren’t my father!” Arisa spun around and stalked out the door.

Georgianna closed her eyes. She tried to calm her breathing. Damn, she thought, damn,
she’d done it again. She’s let her own problems affect her performance. She’d have to straighten
that out with Arisa.......... later. Right now, she really needed that sleep inducer. The colonel had
been right, lack of sleep was messing up her mind.


John stood outside of Kirk Ashford’s room. The first officer hadn’t answered the door
intercom, nor had he answered John’s pounding on the door. John wondered what to do next, he
hadn’t anticipated this. John had already called the ensign, Emily, and found out that they hadn’t
been delivering meals to Kirk’s room. John keyed his communicator, “Yuki, can you tell me
where the first officer is?”

“First office Ashford is currently in his quarters,” Yuki answered immediately.

John was about to pound on the door again when he got a call on his com. “Crichton,
what’s going on?” John was caught by surprise, it was the colonel. “Ah...... I was thinking of
getting a game going and was going to see if the first officer wanted in........ sir,” He answered.

Colonel Hellwind had just left Johana off in an officer’s room, to get some rest, when
Yuki had informed him that John was making inquiries about Ashford, and pounding on his door.
“Alright lieutenant, you can cut the crap. I’ll be there in a few seconds.” He ordered.

John was a bit nervous. A first officer was a lot higher up the food chain than a lieutenant.
Would the colonel believe him, or Kirk? But, why wasn’t Kirk answering?

“Alright John,” Dan asked as he came down the corridor, “what’s really going on here?”

John gave a quick account of what he and Georgianna had discovered in the files. He
explained that Kirk hadn’t been seen in three days, and that no food had been delivered to Kirk’s
room.

“So, that’s what captain McFairlane was doing hacking into the classified files,” the
colonel mused.

“You knew about that? Ah, that was my fault,” John confessed, “I asked her to check
those files.” Busted, John thought, I’ll get in all kinds of trouble over this.

The colonel snorted, “Of course I knew. Right now we have a mystery to solve. Why Kirk
Ashford isn’t answering........ Yuki, I want this door open, now.”

They heard Yuki’s affirmative reply as the door slid open. Dan stepped boldly into the
room, followed by John. The room was a bit of a mess, but it was otherwise, quite empty. The
colonel keyed his communicator, “Yuki! Where is first officer Ashford?”

“He is located in the room that you occupy, sir,” Yuki informed them.

“You’re wrong, Yuki,” Dan yelled out, “he’s not here.”

“That is not possible sir,” came Yuki’s unemotional response, “sensors indicate............”

“Wait a minute,” John cut in from over by the room’s built in desk. His hand traced some
wires leading from a small box on the desk to the sensor on the wall. John pulled the wires out of
the box.

“The first officer is no longer in the room with you.” Yuki informed them. “He is
currently not on the ship.”

“What the hell?” Dan stepped over beside John and looked at the box. So that was......”

“Yup,” John told him, “this is first officer Ashford. At least Yuki thought it was.”

“Son of a......” Dan looked toward the door, “That explains the missing life pod.” At
John’s question, the colonel explained the missing life pod. “So, we know who our saboteur was.
I just wouldn’t believe one of the great houses would be behind this. I’m going to have to let
command know about this.” Dan headed out the door, then turned back, “good work, Crichton,
I’ll take care of it from here. You better get some rest, I have a feeling things haven’t all played
out yet.”