FREESPACE 2
MASQUERADE
SEASON TWO
EPISODE ONE

CHAPTER ONE

  The Elysium class transport that Captain Micheal Norson Stashef was within slowly maneuvered itself to align with the cindered hull of the GTI Yosemite.

 After a loud clang and then a low humming sound with a great amount of heat emerging from around the transport’s exit hatch, the vessel was secure upon the installation’s hull.

 All of the transport’s occupants engaged the contained atmosphere systems of their environment suits and then the hatch opened.

 Upon the deck directly underneath the circular hatch there were deposits of smoldering metallic alloys which melted when the transport docked and penetrated the hull to allow entry.

 The transport’s alignment to the deck was perfect, however the installation’s corridor was pitch black and devoid of life. Even through the environment suits the cold within installation pierced through into the boarders.

 When lights were engaged, the trails of the lights were made crystal clear by the massive amounts of dust particles that slowly drifted through the corridors, forming a thick even deposit on the interior walls of the vessel.

 “What in hell happened here?” the Captain mumbled to himself, but little did he know at the time his self comment was heard over the intercomm to the Excalibur.

 “Excalibur,” one of the marines began,” There’s no power what so ever, and all life support and artificial gravity systems are off-line. This place is dead…”

 “Confirmed,” Paula Morrison replied over the intercomm from the sanctity of the Excalibur’s bridge.

 “This is team two,” Stashef and the marines heard over their intercomm systems,” We’ve entered the Yosemite and are proceeding to the thermal readings.”

 “Roj that,” a marine from the group Stashef was within replied,” We’re en-route towards the reactor chamber.”

* * *

 Aaron Japak stepped forth from the main lift into the Excalibur’s bridge, he saw Colonel Morrison standing in front a console speaking through the intercomm to the boarding parties.

 “Colonel,” the Vice Admiral began but was interrupted by Paula hostily turning herself to face him and then glaring into his eyes.

 “What the hell are you doing on my bridge?” she spat.

 “Colonel,” Hellion began speaking rapidly as if of urgency,” You must evacuate both boarding parties from the GTI Yosemite and charge the main guns immediately, you must destroy that installation.”

 It took a mere moment for him to realize the Colonel was not going to give the order and then he sternly stated,” That is an order, Colonel.”

 “I have read the GTVA regulations,” she replied,” and… unless given proper authority over an operation you cannot give such orders, it falls to the chain of command. Now I will ask the Captain if he will leave, I would advise leaving the bridge.”

 The Vice Admiral narrowed his eyes,” I do not remember such a section in..”

 The Colonel interrupted his sentence and then calmly responded,” Get off of my bridge.”

 Hellion then turned himself about sneering and tensely exited the room.

 The Colonel took a deep breath and then turned back towards the console, the Captain overheard the conversation and Stashef replied,” Whatever is aboard Mr. Japak is worried we’ll find it, we are not going to evacuate despite his warning. If he tries to do anything to convince us to leave, shoot him.”

 “Isn’t that a little extreme? I would rather keep him alive for questioning and get to the bottom of his damned Black Omega squadron,” Paula replied.

 Stashef swallowed before replying,” Alright then keep him alive… but I don’t want him jeopardizing any of my crew.”

 “You mean our crew…” she replied with a smirk.

 The Captain then smiled, and turned back to the marines who were approaching a lift.

 “Sir, this lift should lead directly to engineering, but we’ll be forced to use the manual railing,” one of the marines stated.

 “Very well,” Stashef replied.

 “If this station was attacked, where is the crew?” another marine asked.

 All of the sudden the intercomm systems were flooded with messages from team two, once the channels were silent the Captain asked,” What the hell did you find?”

 A marine from team two responded,” Team one, get here immediately, we found the crew.”

CHAPTER TWO

 Stashef arrived at the position of team two, there were two marines guarding a sealed airlock, and Stashef quickly said,” Where are the others from team two?”

 One of the guards replied,” On the other side of that airlock, we’ll open it for you sir.”

 The marine that spoke then pressed a key which was upon a wall panel beside the airlock, the lock slowly opened to reveal a massive storage chamber and within it were hundreds of bodies all floating in the zero gravity.

 “My god…” Stashef muttered under his breath as he saw the corpses, all frozen and their eyes gaping open.

 The other marines were attached to the floor much like Stashef by their magnetic boots one of them replied,” Sir the amount of bodies is why there was a thermal reading in here, however they are all dead.”

 “What did this?” Stashef sternly asked.

 “I don’t know sir, but I would advise having these bodies if any are brought back to the Excalibur under heavy quarantine, some of the bodies have blemishes and all of them have severe blood loss,” the marine that spoke before replied.  

 “Captain, I would advise taking a sample of some of the dust that is on the bulkhead walls, it clearly would include particulate matter in the air incase this is a biological or chemical weapon,” Paula stated over the intercomm.

 The Captain nodded,” I was about to say that myself Colonel. Team one, gather several milligrams of the debris as a sample for the medical lab.”

 He then looked up at one of the bodies and mumbled to himself,” Japak, I will have your hide if you’re hiding something from us…”

 He then turned to a marine and stated,” Gather four bodies, put them in type four containment and return them to the Excalibur.”

 “Aye Captain,” the marine replied.

* * *

 Aboard the Excalibur’s flight deck Vice Admiral Japak engaged an intercomm directly to Admiral Weathers through his compiler terminal.

 “Admiral,” Japak began,” They have brought bodies aboard, but they have managed to maintain containment, initiate phase four?” 

 The Admiral furrowed his brow but responded,” Begin phase four, prepare the Serkr.”

 “Yes Admiral,” Japak responded only to be interrupted by a woman wearing the uniform of his Black Omega squadron.

 “Lieutenant?” the Vice Admiral asked the woman as he turned off his compiler terminal.

 “Sir,” she began,” Captain Stashef wishes to meet you in the rec room, it appears that the Excalibur has also reset it’s course for Manda.”

 “It’s about time that he did,” the Vice Admiral sneered.

 “Tell him I will be there in ten minutes,” he then replied.

 “Very well sir,” the woman stated as she walked away.

 The Vice Admiral took a deep breath and then sat back in his seat, with his mind weighed heavily in thought. 

* * *

 Captain Stashef paced the rec room, which unlike the usual bustling place of activity, was empty and devoid of a single person other than the Captain.

 The door into the room slid open and in walked Vice Admiral Japak.

 “You wanted to speak to me, Captain?” he asked.

 The Captain licked the inside of his mouth, but then replied,” Our medlab just finish studying the bodies and samples taken from the GTI Yosemite. We have discovered that the station’s inhabitants were infected by a nanovirus, which is clearly Shivan in materials and structure.”

 The Vice Admiral’s eyes narrowed,” You’re holding back something Captain.”

 “Yes… I am,” the Captain began while giving Japak a stern look,” For over twenty nine years there hasn’t been a single report of a Shivan vessel, this discovery is… anachronistic.”

 “I know,” the Vice Admiral replied,” We hoped to… keep it from the public, but rim systems have been infected by this plague. We believe that the NTF may have manufactured it, as so to make us believe of an immanent Shivan attack and to draw our resources away from engaging the rebellion.”

 “and how can I be sure to trust your information?” Stashef asked.

 “You can’t,” Japak replied,” However that station was destroyed by a virus, manufactured by the NTF, whether you wish to believe it or not.”

 Hellion then turned himself about to face the door,” Now excuse me Captain, I have a transport waiting.”

 He then exited the room, and the door closed fast shut behind him.

* * *

 The Excalibur jumped from subspace into the orbit of Manda, the fourth world of the Epsilon Pegasi system, within the Excalibur’s flight deck Vice Admiral Japak and his Black Omega squadron boarded the transports which they arrived on the Excalibur within.

 In the void of space near the blue marble of Manda emerged an Aeolus class cruiser with no markings other than the ancient greek letter ‘omega’ upon it’s hull, which was painted in the same jet black as the space that surrounded the vessel.

 Captain Stashef was within the Excalibur’s bridge, looking down upon the world of Manda,” There is one thing our friend forgot to explain, why the Yosemite’s main hull as incinerated…”

 “I managed to think ahead of you this time,” Paula Morrison said with a smirk,” I asked for a full analysis of the station’s structure, and clearly enough the outer damage was not caused by a virus, it appears that the total energy of 30 Harbinger class IV bombs was applied on the surface of the installation’s hull, and the surviving crew was infected by the virus we found.”

 “Thirty class IV Harbingers? Those things are reserved for planetary bombardment… what in the hell could focus that much energy over an entire hull?” Stashef replied.

 “Whatever it is, the deuterium residue shows that it is a fusion based device, and uses non-conventional, but Terran, systems.” Colonel Morrison responded.

 “Sir,” an officer stated,” All standard orbital traffic protocol messages have not been replied to by the Manda colony.”

 “What do you mean not replied to?” the Captain asked, while walking over to the officer’s console.

 “Sir, we are receiving nothing from the planet, at all, it’s like the Manda colony is gone.”

 Before the officer finished Stashef saw a blue vortex engulf the unmarked cruiser, which he knew that the transports had docked with.

 “Paula, I want that ship tracked!” Stashef hastily stated.

 She quickly turned to a console and then replied,” That is a negative… the Tarkan system doesn’t even read any subspace variance, it’s like the ship never jumped out!”

 “Damn,” he replied,” Launch a wing of fighters, I want to know what happened to Manda.”

CHAPTER THREE

 Several hours later the Captain was within his quarters, the lights within the room were dim, and in front of his face was an aged book, he then heard a chime from the door in the room and then replied,” Come in.”

 Paula Morrison stepped within the room after the door slid open to reveal one of the Excalibur’s many identical corridors,” Catching up on your reading?”

 “Yes,” he replied when closing the book,” Admiral Wolf’s diary… a history of both the Terran-Vasudan and great war.”

 The XO then nodded,” The reconnaissance of Manda detected several areas of thermal activity within the urban areas, all of those regions were the hearts of the fusion power plant cooling systems and they were all filled with bodies.”

 Stashef’s face turned grim,” Just like on the Yosemite…”

 “We’ve managed to get samples of the virus to function for short periods of time, it appears that it is airborne and after entering the body it immediately passes through the circulatory and lymphatic systems towards the cranium, it appears that it may effect the body’s heat sensory as well as impeding higher thought, in a state like drunkenness,” Colonel Morrison replied.

 “So in other words, it reduces a planet’s inhabitants to cold seeking drunks for lack of a better phrasing?” Stashef replied.

 “That is about right; to be more precise it appears that all higher brain functions are outright disrupted or permanently destroyed by it, also this virus shares several of the characteristics of the Pegasi outbreak in ‘37,” she responded.

 The Captain then nodded, followed by the Colonel speaking once more,” This discovery has led to our being able to create a cure, if we can reprogram the nano machines, then we’ll be able to create a vaccine, also since the systems of the virus are compatible to Terran computer systems, we are quite sure it is not of Shivan origin, but clearly Terran.”

 “So the Vice Admiral was right?” he asked.

 “I don’t think so, there is definitely something he’s hiding, and the NTF surely doesn’t have the resources to create a virus this complex, it would require a group with a great amount of funds…” she stated.

 Stashef was about to speak, but only to be interrupted by the intercomm system,” Captain Stashef report to the bridge immediately.”
 
 The Captain then mumbled to himself,” No rest for the weary…”

* * *

 Stashef walked into the bridge, and he clearly saw Valadmir talking to a woman who was a bridge officer, he walked up to the chief engineer and said,” What is going on? I thought that I made it clear I was off duty.”

 “Sir,” Valadmir began,” I’ve been reading a massive fluctuation in the power grid, and ensign Kemaya confirmed this, whatever is effecting the reactor’s output, it’s located on the flight deck.”

 “How much is it effecting the output?” the Captain asked.

 “About a 15 percent drain, and it’s increasing, soon we won’t be able to power the main gun systems,” the chief engineer replied.

 “Alright, dispatch a team to the flight deck, and find what’s causing this disruption.” The Captain responded.

 “Already ahead of you,” Valadmir said with a smirk,” I sent the team a few minutes ago, right when I had you called up here, they should be reaching the flight deck any moment now.”

 “Good,” Stashef replied,” I want whatever is causing that off my ship.”

* * *

 Aboard the Excalibur’s flight deck, nestled to a plasma conduit was a large cylindrical device with a timer on it’s front, a pilot who was walking towards his fighter then spotted the foreign object out of a random stroke of pure luck. Then the flight deck was bustling with activity as crews rushed towards the location of the device.

 “Sir,” Valadmir hollered over the intercomm system,” We found your energy drain.”

 Within several minutes, the Captain was at the flight deck, he saw the device attached to the conduit and then noticed the timer.

 “That timer is counting down…” the Captain began,” But counting down to what?”

 The chief engineer nodded,” I don’t know, but it was by a stroke of luck we found this damned thing in the first place.”

 An officer holding a portable compiler pad in his hand walked up to the Captain,” Sir that device is giving off a high level of energy.”

 Colonel Morrison then grabbed compiler and looked at it’s display,” It’s energy signature is identical to the plasma residue on the Yosemite’s outer hull, it must be this device or a group of them that were responsible for what happened to the Yosemite, however this has no trace of any biological or chemical container, so it’s safe to say that this device isn’t the delivery system for the nanovirus.”

 “Is it disarmable?” the Captain asked.

 “The timer is directly attached to the main device, and it seems that any attempt to remove the timer will detonate it, and by the numbers that Colonel Morrison has given me, this ship would be destroyed three times over by a detonation from within the ship by a weapon of this magnitude,” Valadmir replied.
 “How in hell is there so much firepower in such a small object? It seems like this is designed as a warhead for within a torpedo like the Helios,” Stashef replied.

 “I think that we might be able to discharge the timer with a high enough EM discharge… but it would take several thousand terajoules…” the chief engineer stated while starring at the device.

 All of the sudden the aged Commodore who’s callsign was Omega charged from the crowd,” Well I think I might have an idea of something that could give the discharge you need…”

 “Commodore?” the Captain asked while turning about to face the old man,” What do you have in mind?”

 The Commodore then replied with a smirk,” Well any plebe out of the academy knows that a shield must output at least 8 terajoules to maintain cohesion, otherwise you’re shields won’t hold against anything but an old V-T war Vulcan cannon. It’s pretty easy to remove a shield from a ship, so why don’t we just place a shield by this little bomb thingy and remove it’s focus elements, it’ll make a discharge and that should fry the timer systems long enough for us to remove it.”

 Valadmir had a grin on his face,” I knew that you would come through old friend.”

 Omega then replied,” Yeah, well don’t expect grampy to save your sorry ass all of the time…”

CHAPTER FOUR

 Several hours later, Stashef was on the Excalibur’s bridge rubbing his eyes and face from fatigue, he knew how close to destruction he and his crew came to, but random chance and luck happened to be on their side today, so he thought.

 “We managed to stop our friend Japak’s little gift, but where is that cruiser?” he mumbled to himself.
 
 Paula walked up behind him and then replied,” I think we might be a little closer to answering that, the celestial navigation module does receive transmissions from all GTVA craft and installations as well as their optical, active, and passive scanning equipment. In the time that passed since the ship jumped out, I believe that it could only have gotten to the Capella system, maybe it’s still in Epsilon Pegasi though...”

 “The Vega node in Capella is too far off to reach easily in the given time frame…” Stashef commented.

 “Exactly, I’ve called up all installations in Capella and Epsilon Pegasi to run an active search for any Aeolus class cruisers, since we know what we’re looking for, we can coordinate the data here on the Excalibur to help speed the process.” She replied.

 “Alright,” Stashef replied, followed by him rubbing his face once again.

 “Sir,” an officer stated, which quickly gained both Stashef and Morrison’s attention,” The GTI Samardge in Capella has detected the silhouette of what appears to be an Aeolus class vessel, however the optical scan is faint and it appears to be headed towards the Gamma Draconis jump point.”

 “Damn, we’ll never reach it in time, set a course, but launch a wing of fighters to intercept,” the Captain ordered, only to be interrupted by the Commodore walking onto the bridge.

 “Commodore,” Stashef began,” What are you doing on the bridge, aren’t you off duty?”

  The Commodore smirked,” Seems my timing was right, as usual, now unless you want to get your plebes killed, you’ll need a vet out there…”

 “Captain Diedrich will be more than adequate for the job, he’s on patrol and…” the Captain as interrupted by Omega once again.

 “Actually, I was thinking more of myself, Diedrich is good, so I’ll want him on my wing,” the Commodore stated as he turned about and walked off the bridge.

 Colonel Morrison then spoke as she turned about to follow the Commodore,” You aren’t going to go out there, that is an order.”

 The Commodore replied with a smirk while stepping into a lift which would take him to the flight deck,” You aren’t in a position to give orders to a superior officer, Colonel.”

 “Damn you,” she replied right as the lift’s doors closed.

* * *

 The Colonel stepped back into the bridge, watching a Hercules MKII speeding into the void of space and jumping out through the panes of clearplast.

 “None of the launch override codes worked…” the Captain grimly replied while starring out towards the stars.

 “The Commodore’s been here longer than any of us, including me,” the Colonel replied solemnly,” He knows ever trick we can pull with these systems, even after the refits…”

 “Why is he so adamant about being out there?” Stashef asked while still looking into the void.

 “If I remember my lore right… there were rumors of things called shadows up to two years before the Ross 128 attack, ships that vanished for months suddenly appeared on long range optical sensors though their silhouettes were distorted, and everytime an investigation team was sent, all that was found was debris,” she replied.

 “So you’re saying that he thinks that this could be one of those… shadows?” Stashef responded.

 “I check every crew member’s logs, and it appears that he was in command of a patrol that detected one of these shadow attacks, and when he arrived found rubble, maybe over three decades he still wants to know what caused them,” she stated.

 “Sounds reasonable, but he will still be reprimanded for violating orders and directives, and then putting GTVA personnel and equipment at risk…” the Captain replied.

 “Micheal, cut him some slack, he’s outright one of the best pilots on this entire ship as well as a veteran of the great war… However, we do have to make clear that we won’t allow him to do this again,” the Colonel replied followed by a deep sigh.

* * *

 Within the compacted cockpit of a Hercules MKII heavy assault fighter, Commodore James “Omega” Smith gazed through the clearplast bubble which encompassed him as he emerged from subspace directly behind a wing of fighters much like his own.

 “This is Omega to gamma wing, I have been given orders to be the new commander of this assignment, resume on present speed and course,” the Commodore spoke through the intercomm to the fighters.

 He then thought to himself, I will find out what you damned shadows are… even if it takes me to my grave…