Four Days Later, SS Beulah Wood bound for Dieron…
Liz Hazen floated into the Tramp class JumpShip’s lounge thankful the majority of the Combine passengers had disembarked as the merchant vessel made its way towards the Hegemony. Kurita pop music was…bad. There was no other way to describe it. Shaking her head ruefully she sat at the counter.
A short stocky blond haired man was sitting next to her and as she ordered he looked up from the data feed on the console built into each place setting. Max Warner? Before she could say anything two others caught her eye. Samantha Reis and Jorge Carerra, all Blackhearts.
“Hello Liz.†Max, who’d dropped into the area around Unity City to be the first of Terra’s liberators to make contact with Hazen’s Ghosts the resistance group she’d led against the Usurper. “Kinda surprised to find you here, thought you were running away with the rest of Kerensky’s little cult.†His smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Keeping her voice calm she sipped her coffee.
“I changed my mind, Max I’m going home. What about you? Job?â€
Max grinned and toyed with the stirrer in his own cup.
“Yeah, something like that.â€
SLS Nueva Seville, Exodus Fleet
“Report!†Captain Kevin Brendon shouted over the blaring klaxon as he strode onto the bridge. His exec looked at a loss.
“Sir, we have a emergency evac warnings from the Venturer, Lake Michigan and Princeton Heights!â€
“Evac, what the hell?†Brendon turned as Lieutenant Josiah Collingswood; master of the Venturer stepped out of the access way.
“Jo talk to me!â€
“Unity! Sir we’ve got to jettison the droppers, the ‘mechs and fighters are…they’ve been sabotaged!â€
“Sabotage…†Brendon knew and trusted his DropShip commanders well and turned back to the launch ops station. “Devi do it emergency protocol one eleven…â€
The dark slender woman was already typing frantic commands into the system controlling the docking collars. Automated systems opened the clamps and engaged the DropShips’ thrusters boosting them away from the fragile needle that was the Nueva Seville.
“Sir every fusion powered vehicle from the 18th Royal Battle went into a fusion overload…the technicians couldn’t stop…†A flash of golden light came from the view port. That wasn’t one of our droppers, that came from the Sacramento!
Leo Maltin his executive officer looked up from the sensors horror on his face.
“Sir…the Sacramento...she’s gone, just gone.â€
It was then the detonation of the Nueva Seville’s own DropShips shook his crew around like ball bearings in a washing machine.
SLS James McKenna…
“The death toll?†Aleksandr Kerensky asked wearily.
“Over seven thousand.†Aaron DeChevalier said quietly.
“How?†Aleks looked up anger cutting through fatigue and the laughter only he could hear.
“A computer virus…very complex, piggybacking on our routine comms traffic it spread to every Royal command in the fleet. I wasn’t sure who at first but then an inquiry I’d made a week ago bore fruit too late.†He paused, his discovery on the heels of the mayhem the virus had unleashed was so damning he almost lied, so tempting to point Aleks at Minoru Kurita, but…
“Out with it.†Aleks’ eye’s were hooded.
“The Blackhearts…they’re all gone.â€
If Aaron could have heard it, the dead tyrant’s laughter would have had an ironic note.
“They’re all gone and this was their going away gift.†Aaron finished.