FREESPACE 2
MASQUERADE
SEASON ONE
EPISODE ONE

CHAPTER ONE

 Captain Micheal Norson Stashef of the Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance Corvette Aurora starred out the rectangular clearplast window in front of him. The bridge of the Aurora like that of all Deimos class vessels had a flat gray flooring and ceiling with large clearplast windows on the front and sides which all angled at their edges where large hull support beams were which were designed to hold the windows to the hull and to be support for the bridge.

 The bridge was cluttered with panels and chairs, all with large holographic overlays and starcharts overlapping one another, though it seemed like utter madness the crew knew what their mission was and where their duty lay.

 The Aurora emerged from subspace, followed by a swirl of light and unimaginable forces, of course the text books claimed that subspace’s so called ripples were formed from a process called matter catalyzing, but none paid attention as the Aurora emerged amidst a field of debris and plasma which slowly began to fade as the metals it burned from cooled.

 “Damn, we’re too late,” Stashef mumbled only for his attention to turn to a console to his right where sensors detected incoming contacts,” seems they knew backup was coming so they hid for an ambush…”

 Stashef was wrong as soon as he saw one of the massive pieces of debris subside, he saw  the Argo class transport which he was ordered to defend it’s cargo shortly after a distress call from it stated that it was under attack by pirates.

 The contacts that were hiding behind the debris were standard issue Hercules heavy assault fighters, which were harassing the transport, Stashef looked keenly through the window and then to the sensors, the sensors did not detect an Elysium transport which was slowly reaching the transport.

 Stashef became alert and began to tensely give out orders,” Get all gun batteries on line and charge primary weapon systems”

 An officer quickly turned to him and stated,” But sir, if we charge our main banks, they would be aimed at the transport.”

 “That is the idea,” Stashef mumbled and afterwards swore under his breath he then spoke again,” hold primary gun fire until that transport docks, aim for the engines.”

 His first officer, Hale Taluet turned to the Captain and said,” If we fire on the engines, that reactor with it’s damage will overload and destroy the cargo, even with the armor on it, and then the civilians aboard sir.”

 “I know you have the authority to cancel the order, but we don’t have the time, we cannot let that cargo fall into pirate hands at any cost,” as Stashef spoke he turned his eye to the transport, and it surely was beginning to dock where it would steal the cargo which was deemed classified level Omega, which was the highest used by the GTA and meant it had extreme importance, and extreme would not even be a good enough word to describe the necessity to keep level Omega cargo secured and unaltered.

 Stashef then calmly and coldly muttered,” fire” 

 Then the Aurora’s main beam cannon fired, massive amounts of energy surged into an already weakened hull and came in contact with the reactor of the vessel, the result slowly tore the vessel and then a shock wave emanated from that same transport which then shattered it’s heated brittle hull into nothing but mere molten plasma, any trace of any cargo was eliminated.   

 Though the cargo was destroyed, pirate fighters still harassed the Aurora, but then when the vessel brought it’s full power upon the aging Hercules fighters the anti-fighter beam cannons tore through hull and shield and quickly the remaining vessels attempted to flee, only to be annihilated by the several flak cannons mounted on the vessel’s hull.

 The captain knew he would have much to explain to his superiors, but he did follow his orders to keep the cargo from being captured at any cost, in which he added the cost of the cargo itself.

 Until when he would have to explain himself, Stashef walked off of the bridge and the door to the back of the bridge slid open violently, Stashef walked through it into a corridor which then lead to further corridors and lifts that formed the frontal living and command section of the vessel.

 He slid open the door to his quarters, rubbing his eyes from fatigue, he then entered a small room that had no light until he gave a voice command that then turned on one flat overhead light panel on the ceiling of the room. The room had no windows, simply a bed and an old hardwood desk with a standard flat portable compiler terminal set upon it.

 He then heard a noise and a small flicker of movement in the corner of his eye and turned around, he saw Hale Taluet standing in his doorway.

 “May we speak sir?” he asked.

 “I’m tired and I will answer your questions in the morning,” Stashef replied, rubbing his eyes and not even looking at the stern faced first officer.

 “In the morning we will be in the Delta Serpentis system, where you will be answering to an admiral,” Taluet stated,” why in the hell did you destroy that transport, we could have boarded and retaken it.”

 “The loss of crew would be to great,” Stashef replied.

 “and so it’s alright to kill the civilians aboard?” the first officer asked with a sarcastic tone.

 “They would have died anyway, and we would have been able to save them if their escape pods were functioning,” Stashef replied.

 “How in hell do you know the escape pods weren’t working?” Taluet sternly stated while his eyes drew close together for a scrutinizing look.

 Stashef leaned his entire body over the panel for the door, his first officer was still outside of his room, and when Stashef slammed the panel the door slid tight quickly, and then Stashef hit a red glowing light on the bottom area of the control pad and then spoke,” lock”

 He then heard pounding on the door, which eventually faded, Stashef then collapsed on to his bed, where his dreams would be filled of what he was sure would happen to him at Serpentis.

CHAPTER TWO

  The GTCv Aurora emerged from subspace into the Delta Serpentis system. The aged red star dimly projected colors across the hull of the ship as it sped on it’s course towards Delta Serpentis IV, capital of the GTVA.

 Captain Stashef awoke from his quarters and then set foot towards the bridge, when he arrived the crew was nearly absent except for a handful of members on the bridge keeping watch as the vessel drew closer to it’s rendezvous point with the Delta Serpentis spaceyards.

 As the Captain sank into his cold duraplast chair, a droning voice chimed over the communications saying,” Serpentis Installation to GTCv Aurora, as soon as you dock Captain Micheal Norson Stashef is to report to ready room 4,1b”

 Shortly after the communiqué, the Aurora entered a parallel course with the aged Arcadia installation, which showed it’s age and countless refits. The Aurora came to a complete halt and then Stashef could hear the sound of the engines powering down.

 Then, a docking extension came from the installation’s bulkhead, it was an airlock door attached to a clear elastic but strong material and uncoiled as it extended to meet a matching airlock on the side of the Aurora. When the two airlocks met, a heavy clang noise could be heard throughout the entire ship and then the monotonic voice spoke again,” docking sequence completed.”

 Before his first officer would even reach the bridge, Stashef quickly walked out of it and headed towards the airlock where he knew he had a meeting to attend.

 When he reached the airlock, he was quickly let pass by the handful of lightly armed security guards, it would be after the Aurora was refueled that the crew would be allowed on the installation and planet below for R&R. The corridor connecting the airlock latched on the Aurora and the installation was made of a dense, semi-transparent material that was quite flexible. Even then the material was brittle and could be easily torn, but it not only was safe and flexible for airlocks, but it also gave one of the most amazing views that any Terran could ever see of space outside of a ship.

 He quickly reached the end of the corridor, and the airlock opened after a moment of pressurization so that the corridor’s pressure would match that of the installation. Once the airlock opened he was saluted by two security guards which were on duty within the airlock room and then he quickly found his way to the door that slid open to corridor 2b, one deck above the corridor where the room his conference would be at.

 The Captain then made his way through the labyrinth of gray bulkheaded corridors with their flat white deck panel lights until he eventually found a door with the label “lift” upon it in large bold letters. The door slid open, and he was in a cylindrical chamber with one circular flat panel light above him. He pressed the control panel which was in front of him and then spoke “down, deck 1b” as he held the panel. After a moment’s hesitation, the lift then descended rapidly and then came to a stop, the door slid open and he was on deck 1b and the door to the right of him was ready room 4.

 As soon as he walked up to the door to ready room 4, it slid open to reveal a man in the full uniform of a fleet admiral and then a woman who surely was his aide who quickly walked out of the room through the door that Stashef just entered through.

 The middle aged admiral then spoke,” I believe you are Captain Micheal Norson Stashef, is that correct?”

 Stashef replied,” Yes it is, sir.”

 “Good,” the Admiral responded,” I am Kyle Barrett, commander of the allied forces in the Delta Serpentis system and have been given jurisdiction over the growing situation in the Polaris system which I am quite sure you are aware of.”

 “Sir, if this is about my decision to destroy the cargo which I was ordered to..” Captain Stashef began, only to be interrupted by Admiral Barrett.

 “You have been given this new assignment because of how you handled that situation, by the book. Your orders were to keep the cargo from falling into enemy hands at all costs, and that you did. Allied intelligence grieves for the loss of the crew of that transport, but you did what needed to be done,” the Admiral stated.

 “I’m glad that you’ve seen my actions better than my first officer has,” Stashef replied.

 “We need someone by the book for this assignment, for we have no degree for allowing error in this,” the Admiral began,” I am quite sure you are familiar with the destroyer Excalibur, are you not?”

 “Yes sir, I have heard about that vessel,” Stashef replied,” was she not put into decommission two years ago?”

 “You should consult the GTVA database Captain,” the Barrett replied,” The Excalibur was not decommissioned, but has been in refit for three years, we have quite literally rebuilt the vessel, and our refit has cost more than building her in the first place.”

 The Captain had an expression as if he was insulted when proven wrong but replied,” Still… a command such as the Excalibur… that is generally reserved for fleet admirals such as yourself.”

 “You have been assigned as per request of Senator Michelle Talvart, and I fully support her decision after meeting you,” the Admiral replied.

 Stashef then paused for a moment, but then spoke again,” I should be flattered sir, when will I be departing to see the Excalibur?”

 “07:30 hours GST,” the Admiral replied,” That is 3 hours from now, and I expect you at docking bay 2,3a  because from there an Elysium transport will take us to the Excalibur.”

 “Us sir?” Stashef asked,“ I thought it would be a private tour for myself to meet the crew.”

 “That you will,” Barrett stated,” But Senator Talvart will want to speak to you on your mission that you will be undertaking during your assignment to the Excalibur. You are dismissed until 07:30.”

 Stashef then thought to himself as he left the room, I’m sure she’ll want to speak to me… 3 months without a reply from her and now she’s giving me command of one of the GTVA’s most respected destroyers. Talk about unstable relationships…

CHAPTER THREE

 The Captain arrived at docking bay two, deck 3a, briefly after 07:30. He saw Admiral Barrett was waiting patiently for his arrival.

 “Good to see that you try to make sure not to be too late,” the Admiral stated with a smirk.

 Both Stashef and Barrett entered an Elysium transport through it’s cylindrical docking ring, when they sat down they were in two long cushioned seats attached to the left and right bulkheads of the transport, each designed to hold several people seated in a row.  In front to the two seats were two chairs positioned in front of several control panels and a large clearplast window, the two seats were for the pilots of the transport and both seats were manned.
 Stashef sat in one of the long seats and quickly grabbed one of the overhead harnesses, pulled it down, and secured himself in it. The Admiral repeated this action and as soon as they were both fastened into their seats the Admiral spoke,” We will be launching towards dry dock C-9 which the Excalibur is presently located.”

 The Captain turned himself to face the forward clearplast window after he heard a brief shudder which signified the transport’s undocking, he noticed that the transport quickly accelerated and then suddenly turned to reveal a massive space dock of unmatchable proportions.

 Massive destroyers, cruisers, frigates, and corvettes were all encased within massive pylon structures to the left and right sides of the vessels, the transport was soon caught within this maze of pylons and drifting automated construction drones and then a destroyer parted out of their view to reveal the Excalibur, a juggernaut in it’s time spanning over three kilometers long.

 Stashef quickly noticed the primary weapon construct, which had two massive “prongs” which bulged out from the underside of the ship which then formed a triangle (if the vessel was viewed from the face on) to meet with a massive towering construct which was over the main hull, this so called tower was where the main weapon would emanate from and the two “prongs” below were coolant devices so that the main gun would not overheat and destroy the Excalibur.

 He then noticed that the front of the vessel had two massive primary gun turrets added per each side which though were weaker than the primary weapon system, were still the highest grade beam weaponry in the GTVA arsenal.

 The transport began to maneuver to the underside of the frontal section where the landing bay was, Stashef glimpsed at a myriad of turrets and flak cannons protruding from the Excalibur’s hull.

 As the transport entered the docking bay and two massive blast doors opened to reveal one of  several large loading arms which lowered to grapple the transport and bring it into the docking bay, Stashef spoke,” My god, this ship has more firepower than the 3rd fleet and the GTD Aquitaine!”

 The Admiral smirked as the transport was lowered to one of the few empty landing pads, all of which were stacked in rows on the sides of the flight deck.

 “Follow me, Captain,” Admiral Barrett replied as the transport’s docking door opened onto the landing pad.

 Both Captain Stashef and the Admiral emerged from the transport onto a bustling flight deck, a lift was on the pad that led to the base of the flight deck and they both stepped onto it. The Admiral hit a button on a control panel attached to a thin vertical panel that was designed to raise the control panel to chest height so that it could be used with ease to control the lift. The vertical panel was fused onto the base of the lift pad.

 As soon as he hit the button, the lift rapidly descended to the flight deck, where Stashef finally noticed all of the craft within the landing pads were some of the most recent GTA fighters and bombers such as the Hercules MKII and Perseus.

 He then turned to notice a man in his early 60s who was within an officer’s uniform with the patch “Hellcats squadron, GTXD-01Excalibur” he was in the middle of an argument with an engineer from KresCo engineering which designed the Hercules MKII.

 Stashef stopped to observe the argument, and Admiral Barrett halted and glanced at Stashef, knowing that this would be his first meeting with a crew member.
 “Now back in the great war, when they built a second generation fighter, it lived up to the first one’s namesake,” the man in his 60s lectured to the engineer,” now you are either going to give me 5 more meters per second on this damn piece of Vasudan Ha’pastal, or you’re going to add in two more primary banks.”

 “Sir, that is not within the design specs, I am not authorized to make any modifications on this craft, only to maintain it,” the engineer replied.

 “To hell with your specs!” the 60 year old man that Stashef noticed was a Commodore by the rank pennants on his collar hollered,” I want that ship to either have two more gun banks or a higher max speed, if you don’t do that I’ll strap you to my afterburners on my good old Han Ronald made Hercules MKI!”

 Captain Stashef cleared his throat, which quickly gained the attention of the Commodore.

 “Umm err..” the Commodore replied has he looked over Stashef’s name which was over the front  left pocket of his uniform,” Micheal Stashef… so you’re the new fly boy for the Hellcats, eh?”

 “No Commodore,” Stashef replied with a smirk,” Captain Micheal Stashef, I’ve been given command of this vessel.”

 The Commodore cleared his throat,” Commodore James Smith, callsign Omega, commander of the Hellcats squadron.”

 “It is a pleasure to meet you Commodore,” Stashef replied. 

 He turned around began to walk off with Admiral Barrett but quickly turned again to Omega and spoke once more but this time with a smirk on his face,” and I do agree with your opinion on the Herc MKII, I hope you convince him to add two more guns.”

 Admiral Barrett lead the Captain to a door which led out of the flight deck unto a corridor, Stashef noticed that the corridors were identical in appearance as those on an installation, but saw on one of the bulkheads a GTVA logo above a sword aimed vertically with GTXD-01Excalibur written across it. Barret led to captain to a lift, and as soon as it’s doors opened he hit it’s control panel and then said “bridge.” The lift then accelerated to an extreme speed, and the Captain could feel the speed the lift was reaching in the bottom of his stomach.

 The lift finally reached the bridge, and it’s doors slid open to a massive cylindrical room with a flat roof, the outer edge of the room was surrounded by a raised platform upon which a handful of stairs went to the base of the room which was a brief and subtle drop, on the upper platform were control panels which lined the room behind which rotating seats were attached to the flooring of the platform. The very center of the room had a massive holographic projector embedded into the floor which projected a massive starchart with the galaxy slowly rotating within it. Upon closer examination the galaxy had stars within it surrounded by circles and then lines connecting them, they showed the subspace nodes and one system was highlighted in red, the Delta Serpentis system.

 “Douglas Aero-Space Celestial Navigation MK IX projector,” the Admiral stated as Captain Stashef looked in awe of it all,” It is in direct link with all GTVA craft, vessels, and installations, to give an up-to-date accurate starchart that shows the Excalibur in relation to it’s sensors and those of all other craft. Unless the ship suffers from a massive systems breakdown, you can’t get lost, even inside of a nebula.”

 The front of the room, which was opposite of the lift had rows of massive rectangular clearplast windows that if viewed from an angle large retractable blast doors could be viewed, Stashef noticed that the bridge was half embedded into the hull of the ship, which is why the rows of windows ended slightly before they were at the mid point of the bridge’s sides.

 Near the navigation hologram, Stashef spotted two women, one was wearing a GTVA uniform and had a rank pennant that signified the rank of Colonel, on her arm patch was the Excalibur’s mission patch and below it “executive officer, GTXD-01 Excalibur.”

 Beside her was a woman in the formal regalia of the senate, Stashef quickly recognized her as Michelle Talvart.

 The conversation that was to come would change Captain Stashef’s career forever.