FREESPACE 2
MASQUERADE
SEASON ONE
EPISODE THREE

CHAPTER ONE

 Senator Michelle Talvart sat in front of a circular table within her quarters, upon the table was a single candle and the room was darkened. Seated across from her was Admiral Barrett, and her arms reached across the table grasping his wrist.

 “Michelle,” the Admiral began,” I just want to know why you are doing this when I thought that you… cared for Captain Stashef.”

 Her eyes scanned the room, and then she replied,” Kyle, I haven’t spoken with him in over three months before earlier today… and then I haven’t actually been with him for over… two years…”

 The Admiral swallowed,” Though I believe that business should be our top priority, and I am glad that… choosing Stashef wasn’t… a personal preference… if any… relationship between us… would not get in the way of our business…”

 She then calmly stated,” It won’t…”

 “Very well, then…” Barrett replied as Talvart rose from the table and then walked over to the door that would lead to her bed chamber. The Admiral then followed her leave, and they slipped into the room as it’s door subsided, and then they faced each other as it closed shut.

* * *

 The Excalibur emerged from subspace into the Vega system where as soon as it jumped in an Elysium class transport escorted by two Loki class fighters approached the vessel and then glided into the Excalibur’s docking bay.

 As soon as the transport was within the flight deck, it’s hatch hastily opened and equipment was being pushed onto the lifts to be lowered to the main deck. Armed men wearing black uniforms with no noticeable patches other than an arm patch with ‘Black Omega’ written upon it emerged from the transport, each one carrying a Subach HL-7c heavy pulse assault rifle which was held in their palms and also by a shoulder support strap.

 Colonel Paula Morrison stepped forth into the flight deck, and observed the chaos of the transport’s crew members unloading their equipment into the heart of the flight deck and disturbing the usual routine.

 The Colonel hastily chased down one of the transport’s crew members and sternly stated,” What in the hell is the meaning of all this?”

 The man she was talking to did not reply, but carried on with his duties, however a man from behind her spoke,” Ma’am, that is classified under Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance counter intelligence initiative one, section 3a.”

 She then turned around to the man who spoke to her,” And who the hell do you think you are doing this to my flight deck?”

 The man replied with a smirk,” Technically Colonel, this is not your flight deck, and also I do not have to reveal my identity. However since you are so adamant I am Vice Admiral Aaron Japak, callsign Hellion.”

 “Alright,” the Colonel replied as her eyes narrowed,” You still haven’t answered why the hell you are here?”

 “As I said before, classified.” Hellion replied,” Now Colonel you are not to ask any other questions about the operations of Black Omega squadron on the Excalibur, that is an order.”

 Morrison cringed her teeth,” I suppose I cannot do much in a battle of orders against a Vice Admiral..”

 The Vice Admiral then turned himself around to attend other duties, and the Colonel caught a glimpse of a device being carried on a rolling steel framed cabinet covered by a black cloth, whatever was contained within it was spherical, but it was quickly tucked and hidden away within a fortress of cargo containers and compiler terminals which was quickly growing within the flight deck.

CHAPTER TWO

  Paula Morrison stepped into the Excalibur’s bridge, deep amber light penetrated from the clearplast windows, and she squinted as she saw the star Vega itself and a silhouette of a man directly behind the window with his arms crossed behind his back.

 She walked up to the man and she saw that it was Stashef she could also see that his eyes were closed, he then spoke, still facing the window,” I’ve always wondered what Earth was like…”

 “Sir?” She asked with a strange expression.

 Stashef turned about to face her and opened his eyes, ”We’ve all seen the archives, the stories, but what is Earth really like? Is it what they claim, almost a paradise, or is it simply exaggerated legend?” his voice then began to trail off.

 It was almost like he gathered himself together in an instant, Stashef spoke once more,” Forgive me; I believe that we have a meeting on the engineering deck about the final part of my tour of this ship?”

 “That is what I came up here for,” the Colonel replied.

 The Captain took a deep breath and followed the Colonel towards the lift which then sped through decks and then suddenly shifted to a horizontal motion.

 Paula then began speaking,” The engineering deck is separate from the antimatter reactor, primary weapon, and engine systems that form the entire rear section of the ship, engineering is directly above the reactor and,” the pod violently shifted for a second,” the entire section of the ship is able to be cut off from the rest by blast doors like the one we just passed on the lift incase of reactor overload.”

 “Is it true that the reason this type of reactor wasn’t placed on other GTVA ships because of it being unstable?” Stashef asked.

 “That is true, we’re sitting on a time bomb, we have to have full crew watches to keep this thing from tearing itself apart…” Paula replied.

 The Captain nodded, and then the pod came to an abrupt stop. It’s door slid open onto a small narrow corridor, not unlike all of the others aboard the ship.

 A large bulkhead was at the end of the corridor, which slowly slid open vertically as the Captain and XO approached.

 It opened to reveal a large room which the opposite end of it from which they were from had a massive clearplast window that was slightly shaded, it viewed into an almost endless pit that at it’s end glowed a bright pulse of slightly greenish-white light. A deep rumbling sound filled the room with each pulse of the light and many men and women were within the room working at consoles mounted on it’s walls and a handful with hand held compiler pads stood in front of a large rotating hologram of the Excalibur which was similar to the holographic projector on the bridge.

 A man who was of slightly larger proportions than the other crew members walked from the crowd of crew members, he wore a standard GTVA uniform with merely an arm patch with the words ‘chief engineer’ upon it. His face had a short well kept beard around his mouth and his skin was of a slightly darker tone than of the other people within the engineering deck.

 “Good day Captain, I was hoping to meet you earlier but… well this ship, she throws tantrums…” the man said with a pleasant chuckle.

 “Commodore Valadmir?” Stashef asked,” Are you the man who was chief engineer of the GTD Agamemnon during the Terran-Vasudan war?”

 The man put a smile on his face,” Yes I am sir, I was her engineer up until her destruction in ‘36” 

 Stashef quickly noticed his light Terran Celtic accent and his mere appearance reminded him of blacksmiths of the early 13th century when combined with his accent.

 The Colonel had a smirk on her face during the entire time since Commodore Valadmir spoke, but she then stated to Stashef,” Well, I suppose it’s time we should be getting more or less into the specifications of this vessel.”

 “I’d be glad to show her about,” the chief engineer replied.

 All of the sudden an alarm sounded followed by a man’s voice,” Captain Stashef, report to the bridge immediately. Repeat, report to the bridge immediately.”

 The Captain and Colonel quickly turned about and departed from the engineering deck.

CHAPTER THREE

 The lift’s doors slid open and Captain Stashef violently thrusted himself into the bridge, the man who spoke over the comm system then saw the Captain.

 “Sir,” the man began,” We’ve received a distress signal from the GTI Yosemite in the Capella system, it’s under attack by NTF forces.”

 Stashef had a grim expression on his face and swore under his breath,” Set a course immediately.”

 “Aye captain,” the officer replied and then turned towards a console.

 Then the lift opened and Vice Admiral Aaron Japak emerged with a cold stone expression on his faced, he then screamed at the Captain,” What the hell is the meaning of all this?”

 Stashef turned to the man,” and who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing on my bridge?”

 “Vice Admiral Aaron “Hellion” Japak,” Paula Morrison said with a sneer.

 “Captain,” the Vice Admiral began,” I have supplies that MUST reach Manda in the Epsilon Pegasi system under orders from GTI, that is why you have a scheduled resupply in that system.”

 “Go on,” Stashef replied coldly.

 “I cannot be delayed, much is at stake and I must reach Manda on schedule,” Hellion replied.

 “and why is so much at stake?” Stashef asked.

 The Vice Admiral sneered,” classified.”

 “Damn you,” Stashef said with a deep sigh,” I don’t have time for this, we’ll reach Manda AFTER we respond to the Yosemite’s distress signal.”

 At the moment that he spoke, a blue vortex expanded into sight, Stashef turned himself to view the blinding white light and for a split instant the Excalibur was consumed within it, when the light subsided to show a long winding corridor of twisting blue lights and energy.

 Vice Admiral Japak silently departed from the bridge, however the Excalibur almost instantly reach truespace and then an artificial jump was initiated.

 “What is our ETA to the Yosemite installation?” Stashef asked.

 “Estimated time of arrival is in 45 seconds,” an officer replied.

 Stashef rubbed his face with his hands and stationed himself in front of the vast holographic nodemap located at the center of the bridge.

 “Compiler,” the Captain began,” Bring up the GTI Yosemite.”

 All of the sudden the vast galaxy with a web of lines and dots within it dissolved to a large image of stars and nebulae with in the center of it a massive grid work of an Arcadia class installation.

 “The reason why it is a grid, not the actual object in view,” Paula Morrison began,” Is because we have no scans of the station or it’s position, the grid simply shows where it should be in relation to our starcharts.”

 “Understood,” Stashef replied.

 Outside of the bridge’s clearplast windows it could be seen that the Excalibur was quickly reaching the end of the subspace corridor, where a massive white light protruded. 

 The Excalibur soon drifted through the blinding light, and when it subsided the Excalibur was alone in the void with a charred cinder that was once an installation.

 “Sir,” an officer speaking to Stashef began,” EM scanners are detecting an atmosphere within the installation it appears that only the outer hull was incinerated.”

 The Captain nodded, but his nod was followed by another officer speaking,” Sir it appears that the temperature within the installation is negative thirty celsius and dropping, also it appears that the atmosphere is only being contained by structural forcefields and bulkheads.”

 Paula then spoke,” Well… it seems we’ll need environment suits if we investigate.”

 “Sir,” yet another officer stated,” IR scanners are picking up three large areas with a massive heat signature, one is the reactor, and the two other areas may include survivors.”

 Stashef rubbed his chin and then replied,” Alright, I want three teams with environment suits prepped and ready to board the installation, we need to find survivors, if any. Also, I will be leading one of the teams aboard.”

 Colonel Morrison erupted almost in anger,” Sir! That is entirely against protocol you are not allowed to simply go waltzing into installations when there is this high of a..”

 She was quickly interrupted by the Captain who replied with,” To hell with regulations! I’m sure as hell curious about what happened and it is my responsibility as to what happens to my men out there and I sure as hell won’t sit on my ass here if something goes wrong.“

 Paula then sternly replied, “If something goes wrong you’ll die with the rest of them, we can’t..”

 The Colonel was once again interrupted,” That is why you’ll be aboard the Excalibur, and I would rather die with them if something went wrong than have it sit on my conscience.”

 Her eyes narrowed and she coldly replied,” Alright… I can see nothing that I do will convince you to stay, but don’t go risking your ass off again…”

 “Colonel,” Stashef stated,” In all of my career I have made both friends and enemies, but I’ve never been lectured about risking my ass off for my own crew.” 

 “Things are a little different on destroyers than corvettes Captain,” Paula replied,” There is a lot more at risk…”

 “I know Colonel… I know…” Stashef replied as he turned his back to Paula and stepped out from the bridge.

CHAPTER FOUR

 Stashef entered an Elysium class transport with a contingent of marines each armed with a Subach HL-7 standard issue pulse assault rifle. The transport he was within was quickly launched from the flight deck, and as the transport was lifted by a loading arm he glimpsed at the encampment created by Black Omega squadron on the flight deck and saw Vice Admiral Japack starring up at him, even glaring into his eyes.

 As the transport was dropped and shortly after clear from the launch tube, the Captain could see the vast hulk that once was the GTI Yosemite come into view. The installation was surrounded by an impenetrable cloud of shrapnel and even the small lights fitted upon the transports created a fog as their light reflected off of the dust like debris.

 The small argon laser turrets mounted on the transports fired to clear the larger debris, and the transports slowly advanced towards the installation.

 “Mother of god,” Paula slowly spoke over the intercomm,” what in the hell took out that installation.”

 “I don’t know,” Stashef replied over the comm,” But I’m afraid of what we may find…”

* * *

 Vice Admiral Aaron “Hellion” Japak was within the encampment created by Black Omega squadron stationed in front of a compiler terminal. Upon it’s screen was the face of Admiral Weathers of the GTD Vengeance and it was clearly an intercomm frequency.

 “It appears that the test has gone according to plan,” Japak stated unemotionally.

 “What of the GTI Yosemite?” Admiral Weathers asked through the intercomm.

 “The Serkr is fully functional to our specifications, Admiral,” the Vice Admiral replied.

 “Excellent,” Weathers replied with a grim smirk upon his face,” We will gain quite a sum of Triton Dynamic’s profits for this… that old man Dryer will be quite pleased that we’re saving his… investments…”

 “Agreed,” Japak coldly replied,” However Stashef is presently aboard the Yosemite trying to find evidence of it’s attackers… and trying to find survivors…” 

 Admiral Weathers then spoke again, ” Prepare for phase two as soon as Stashef returns, and be sure that they do not gain any evidence, if they do immediately proceed with phase three. Remember, they cannot find survivors, and they cannot bring the bodies to the Excalibur, we want it to destroy the NTF, not the GTVA.”

 The Admiral took a deep breath, but then continued to speak,” I cannot wait to see the expression on Barrett’s face when his precious Excalibur is destroyed by the NTF…”