Part Two: The Brass Gets Involved

Location: Aboard UHS Guadalcanal, New Hawaii Shipyard, New Hawaii Colony

Time: 0900 Hours (Local Time)

Date: 5 January, 2404

/ Commander Davis, Jane

Commander Davis sat in the ship's infirmary while the ship's doctor, Lieutenant Commander Nicola Cruise, did a full examination of her right arm, which she had operated on in the late hours of the night to remove a 9mm bullet that Davis' 'evil twin', as they were calling the copy now, from her arm. She sat there while Lieutenant Commander Quinn and Master Chief Petty Officer McCain looked on.

"Well, your arm's fully healed." Lt. Commander Cruise told her, moving back to her desk, "You can return to duty now ma'am."

"Thanks doc." She said, getting up, "What are you two looking at?" She asked Quinn and McCain.

"Nothing ma'am, we're just here to inform you that an officer from the Navy Security Forces is here, a Captain James Lopez, and an officer from Fleet Intelligence Branch, Captain Holiday, came as well, they're waiting for you outside." McCain replied, "Would you like me to ask them in?"

"Yes Master Chief," She replied, "Doc, we need to have a private conversation." She said.

"I understand," Doctor Cruise said, "I'm going to my lab." She picked up a data card and walked into her lab, which was separated from the medical bay by a ten inch bulkhead and a steel door. When she left, the two captains walked into the room, they were wearing their dress uniforms and their peaked caps. They took them off and they all took a seat, with Captain Lopez in Doctor Cruise's seat and everyone else, bar Captain Holiday, on the other side of the deck, Holiday stood between the two sides of the deck.

"Commander Davis," Captain Lopez said, pulling a PDA out of his briefcase, "The report your RO gave us is disturbing, to say the least. You were attacked by what seems to be a carbon copy of yourself, you then fought back and attempted to apprehend the individual before she ran away. I'm not criticizing your actions Commander, you did the right thing, but this couldn't have happened at a worse time."

"Captain Lopez is right," Captain Holiday said, leaning over the desk, "This attack coincides with several assassination attempts against field-grade officers in the Armed Forces, all on the same day." His face then morphed into one of graveness, "The others appear to have come through unscathed, so we can declare these attacks a failure on their organizer's part. But what concerns us the most is your case, Commander. None of the other officers reported being attacked by a carbon copy of themselves."

Lopez also shared Holiday's feelings towards the subject, "We've acquired intelligence with the help of Captain Holiday's department that will help us locate the organizer of these assassinations. We believe the person who organized those assassination attempts was Rafael Vargas, a man with no criminal history, but hangs out with some very seedy people." Lopez told them, "Now we believe that Vargas is now on the payroll of a terrorist associate named Krueger, Krueger is working for a man, the leader of the organisation."

Holiday chucked Davis a PDA, with a file on it, "Mason Doyle, age 38. He's ex-Navy, got kicked out for fraternizing with a Midshipman. After he was kicked out, he studied chemistry, biology and medicine at the University of New Earth and became a doctor in these fields. After he graduated from university, he disappeared and we lost tabs on him. That was until a year ago, he resurfaced and used some sort of horrific biological weapon on a colony called Red's Junction, in the Rubik's Cube."

"The guy's now building chemical weapons for Insurrectionist rebels and terrorists and he's selling his trademark weapon, known as Alpha Six, by the shipping container. We've found shipping containers filled to the rafters with barrels and warheads in rebel and pirate bases throughout the colony." Lopez added, "But we don't know where is base is. We need you to find his contacts, pull down the organisational ladder until you hit Doyle, once you're there…"

Holiday smiled, "We send in the fleet, pound his base into dust and bring this scum in to receive the punishment he ought to have handed down to him. For this mission, I've pulled some strings with your NAVCOM commander in the Lakota Cluster. He's approving your transfer to Captain Lopez's task force under Operation Gravy Train. Officially, we're supposed to be building ladar early warning systems and civil defence bunkers on the colonies in the Rubik's Cube to improve relations with the colonies, but unofficially, we're sniffing for Doyle's organisation." He then looked at Lopez.

"I'm not actually leading any task forces. You've got free reign on this mission, do whatever it takes to get Doyle." Lopez told her, "You should brief your senior staff; they'll need to know what's going on. Also, Captain Holiday is putting a Fleet Intelligence Service officer on your ship, a Lieutenant Jacob Summerfield, he's only there to observe and provide intelligence, he won't get in the way of your mission."

They stood up, packed up and put their caps back on, "We'll leave you to it Commander. Good hunting." Holiday said before leaving with Lopez in tow. Once they were gone, McCain huffed deeply.

"This is not going to end well." He said, "I get the feeling that the crew's not going to be happy about going after Doyle."

"Yeah, I'm probably going to be up to my neck in transfer requests by the end of the day." Quinn added, "Ma'am, when does this…"

"Captain, XO, Boatswain, bridge, at the rush!" An announcement came over the loudspeaker, causing the three to suddenly look alive.

"Let's go then." McCain said.

Bridge

Commander Davis and Lt. Commander Quinn rushed out of the elevator, followed casually by MCPO McCain, who hung back a bit. They rushed over to the Officer of the Watch, the ship's navigator, Lieutenant Omar Smith.

"Smith, what's the situation?"

"Ma'am, a bomb just exploded in the Central Business District, infrastructure damage is severe and civilian casualties are high, we've been directed by dockyard command to undock and stand by for disaster relief operations." He replied, "Also, a Lieutenant from NAVCOM and our two new Midshipmen have come aboard, they're waiting for you at the back of the bridge."

"Very good, XO, you have the ship." She said, before heading towards the new arrivals.

"On the bridge, XO has the ship!" Quinn announced, just as Davis reached the three new crewmen.

"Ma'am! Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Jacob Summerfield, Navy Security Forces Headquarters. I've been assigned as you liaison for the mission, to ensure the ship is secure." Summerfield said, before saluting.

"Very good Lieutenant, take up your station." She said, returning his salute.

"Ma'am! Midshipman Shane Franks, trainee Space Warfare Officer." The first Midshipman said, saluting.

"Very good Midshipman, I'm assigning you to Lieutenant Thorpe at the tactical station, he's your first stop for anything, understood?" She replied, returning his salute.

"Yes ma'am." He replied.

"Take up your station Midshipman."

"Ma'am, Midshipman Nicolai Yakovlev," The second Midshipman said, saluting the Commander, "Trainee Navigator."

"Very good Midshipman, I'm assigning you to Lieutenant Smith, our navigator. He's your first stop for anything, understood?" She replied, returning his salute.

"Yes ma'am."

"Take up your station." She told him, before he nodded and walked over to the navigator.

"XO, stand by to deploy." She ordered the XO, moving towards the front of the bridge.

The XO grabbed the intercom microphone and said, "Stand by to set sail, cable and gangway parties retrieve gangways and cables, all hands rig to cast off."

The ship's gangway retracted away from the pier and the dockworkers pulled the cables off the pier, allowing the cable parties to retract the cables using a mechanical winch. The Commander nodded to the XO, who smiled, "Helm, fire port thrusters, pull away from the pier."

The ship's Coxswain, Master Chief Petty Officer Robert O'Reilly, "Firing port thrusters, pulling away from the peir." He announced as he turned the wheel on the control yoke towards the right, firing the port thrusters.

"Helm, ion turbines, revolutions 400."

"Ion turbines, revolutions 400." O'Reilly replied as he eased the throttles up slightly, causing the ship to slowly move away from the floating dockyard.

"Very good." The XO said, before turning to the Commander, "Ma'am, we are away."

"Very well XO, sound action stations and stand by landing parties."

"Aye ma'am." She replied, before grabbing the microphone, "General quarters, general quarters! All hands man your action stations! Stand by to deploy landing parties!" She ordered, before pressing the button that activated the alert klaxons and the strobe lights, which started flashing and honking. Immediately, the crew began to seal off each compartment from each other and the firefighting parties and the damage control parties put their job-specific gear on and prepared to keep the ship running should something go wrong. Meanwhile, the enlisted members of the landing parties geared up on the boat deck, a common area amidships of the ship where the ship's two boarding/landing craft were located, as well as the ship's armoury.

On the bridge, the Commander looked at the two midshipmen, "Midshipmen!"

The two midshipmen walked up to the commander, "Yes ma'am?" They replied.

"I want one of you each to go on a landing party; however, command of the party will go to the highest ranking NCO on each party." She told them, "Your job is to learn from the NCO's; they know what they're doing. McCain?"

"Aye ma'am?"

"Accompany Midshipman Franks, show him the ropes. Midshipman Yakovlev, you will accompany the second landing team, their leader is Lieutenant Rebecca Donnelly, she's a Marine Officer who you can learn a lot from."

"Aye ma'am." They replied, before rushing to their posts. Commander Davis was impressed by these Midshipmen's reaction times; they were faster than most first year crewman aboard. She then looked down at the shipyards, which the ship was climbing away from.