Hi all bet you thought this was dead eh
Well suprise!
Okay this following chapter is a two parter (I am still working on part two) but here is Part One, sorry it took me so long to write this but this chapter and the one that follows it had a big emotional effect on me for personal reasons and though I enjoyed "writing" it I found some of the imagery hard to describe without being TOO graphic.
I will warn you all right now the Icaran universe is going to becoming darker and more gritty as the chapters go on, this is not to "gothify" it but is to show that no matter how staunch and devout a culture is that it is impossible for decades of war and billions of deaths to pass without effecting a nation (or in this case galaxy) at it's very core.
I've edited and re-edited the following segment so I hope you all like it.
Warning the following two chapters are RATED R for:
Nudity
Rape
Intense descriptions of gore and mutilation
Adult Language
Adult Conent
Please do not read further if any of these offend or scare you.
Alone in the Dark
Be near me when my light is low... And all the wheels of being slow.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
His Majesty’s Light Cruiser LC 303 formerly known as
HMS Repulse before a modern Super Dreadnought took her name, was an old ship the last of the old Retribution class light cruisers that had not been turned into a museum or scrapped.. In fact even after her retrofit with modern weaponry 303 wouldn’t even scratch a modern warship if she fired all of her guns at the same time….and so she was assigned one of the most boring jobs in the Royal navy….patrolling the inner “frontier” systems while her crew (which was mostly inexperienced recruits or washouts that couldn’t cut it on an SD) ran the standard anti-smuggler and anti-piracy duties that were normally assigned to the new Federal Space Security Division.
Commander John Dexter, her current CO thought of it as a disgrace for spacers in the Royal Navy to be babysitting the inner frontiers while the real warships and their crews fought for the very survival of the Empire. But he was an officer in his Majesty’s navy and though he was young for his rank (only twenty-two standard years) he was an exceptional officer who ran his ship and his crew as if he were on the most important mission in the entire Empire.
It had been two months since 303 which Dexter and the crew had unofficially named “Forlorn” had left Neurenburg naval base on Dexter’s second cruise in command; and so far it had been the standard run of the mill boredom as the old warhorse which had once served on the fighting lines of battle fleets did her bit for Praetor and Country.
Tellus 1st:
Commander Dexter sat in the small command center of
Forlorn sipping a cup of naval coffee, slowly chewing the jelled mix that had started to form as the “coffee” cooled….though the rest of the crew thought he was nuts John genuinely liked the taste of the jell better then the coffee it’s self so he’d heat up a big mug and let it cool after a few hours and chew the little chunks of mix as they formed and floated in the remaining water, it was part of his daily routine and after a few months even his bridge crew got used to it. But today he had honestly forgotten all about his coffee as he read reports that his section leaders had turned in earlier that morning.
“You look worried sir?” Lieutenant Commander Harriman’s voice surprised Dexter who swallowed a chunk of jelled coffee hard as he almost tossed the flexi pad with the reports on it across the bridge.
“Damn it Alex I told you to stop doing that….one of these days you’ll give me a heart attack.” Dexter glared even as the impish grin he rarely shared with anyone but friends came involuntarily across his lips.
“Well skipper if ye’ e’er
do have a heart attack I’ll be sure to call a medical team for ye’……o’ c’urse that’d be after I assumed command o’ this old rust bucket.” Harriman said returning his Captain’s grin.
Harriman was nearly three time’s Dexter’s age and had joined the navy back when ships like the
Forlorn had still been the queens of space; and though he was a gruff fowl mouthed old spacer that could make most snot noses cringe in fear without even raising his voice; Harriman was a good officer and had taken an almost instant liking to his new Commander; especially since like Harriman himself Dexter had risen from the ranks of the enlisted to become an Officer.
“Hell if I’d leave an vacuum eater like you in command Alex you’d probably end up blowing up a planet or something….and how would that make me look?” Dexter said as he placed the flexi aside with an exaggerated gesture.
“Aye, with my damned lot o’ luck I’d probably do just that sir’ but seriously ye’ do look a mite bothered and befuddled skip….if ye’ don’ mind me sayin’ so o’ course.” Harriman’s drawling voice had turned more serious as his commander’s grin faded into a grimace.
“I don’t mind you saying so Lieutenant Commander, these reports are depressing…..this ship was once a ship of the line! A warship in his Majesty’s service with the best crew and equipment, but now……” he shrugged and looked to the “sky”.
“Ah so that’s it is it sir? Well most of this crew is green, and granted ol’
Forlorn is not what she used to be but this old warhorse has some fight in her still, and she’ll surprise ye if she gets the chance.” Harriman patted the arm of his chair as if he were petting a beloved old hunting dog and Dexter couldn’t help but feel a little guilty that he could never really bring himself to thinking of
Forlorn as anything but an old scrap heap that didn’t deserve the title of “warship” in this day and age but he knew Harriman had served on her not only during the Phong Wars where she survived the disaster that had been the third battle of Fornax but he had served on her ever since staying with all nineteen of her captains until they got promoted and moved onto the “modern navy”.
“Well to tell the truth I’m less worried about the ship then it’s new crew….most of these kids are just out of boot, and OCS and it’s starting to show in our performance…..we’d barely make muster if we were a line ship.” John sighed as he looked at the face of his chief weapons officer who was in fact a seventeen year old girl that had just come out of OCS with the rank of Ensign on her first cruise.
“Aye they’re kids….and they’re green but if you give me another few weeks I’ll kick their green arses all over the decks and leave each of ‘em with a boot stamp the size of a dreadnought until they shape up….or by god I’ll space the lot of ‘em” Harriman’s drawl had gone harsh as he eyed the bridge crew and made sure his voice carried enough for all of them to hear him.
And it was all Dexter could do to keep from smirking when the lovely young ensign at weaps blushed so red he thought she was about to explode.
“Well Sailing Master I think on that note I’m going to go to my quarters….such as they are. And get something to eat…..you have the Com.”
“Aye Sir I ‘ave the com, see ye’ in a few hours.” Harriman said with a mischievous wink that told his Commander to expect some drills over the next few hours that would probably make the crew wish they had gone into battle instead.
Tellus 2nd:
The attack had been a total surprise and had come in the middle of the night, a single pirate ship that was roughly the size of a Federal security
Peacekeeper class starship had just appeared out of an asteroid belt and jumped the
Forlorn engaging in a brief energy duel before deploying grapnels and boarding the small Icaran warship.
“Marine’s report to deck six I repeat report to deck six, we are being boarded….damage control parties to…..uh….decks five and three.” Ensign Caldwell said nervously as his eyes raced over the incoming reports from his section.
“Gou Shi! Caldwell what section do you want us at down here we don’t see the boarders!” The marine sergeant’s voice barked back.
“Ta ma de! They’re on deck five marines…..fire control get to deck six now.” Caldwell panicked as he tried to organize just what was going on, and was in the middle of panicking when the fire control party on deck five comned the bridge.
“Damn it command this is DC team seven we are under fire and ….” Automatic weapons fire cut off the end of the sentence and Caldwell’s face turned white as he realized what his mistake had done.
“Thank ye’ mister Caldwell yer damn fool SCREW UP just cost me eight member’s of my crew.” Harriman’s voice cut across the bridge like a cold wind silencing the chaos almost instantly as the weight of that simple statement sank in.
“Commander Sir, Reactor one is going critical engineering is trying to lock it down but they don’t think they can.” Ensign Paris said coolly as she looked up from her bridge readouts of the engineering deck.
Harriman turned to face her, his eyes hard enough to stare death himself down “Ensign ye’ know there’s only one thing ta’ be done….so just do it a’ready.” his voice was quiet and cool, unlike it had been only seconds before and the young woman stared back at him frozen for a second as her mind raced.
“Commander there are fifteen engineers in reactor room one if we eject it we kill all of them.” She stared for a moment and when Harriman did not respond she nodded and pressed a series of commands “Reactor one has been jettisoned reactor room has been vented….there is no longer a danger of breach sir.”
“Very well Ensign.” Harriman said simply as he monitored the situation from his command interface calmly even as dozens of voices shouted over the comns, including a dying message from marine fire team three which by the sound of things had just been wiped out.
“Commander! A group of boarders has breached into reactor two….marine fire teams Delta and Vega are engaged.” Caldwell’s voice was over excited for an Icaran Naval officer but at just this moment Harriman did not care because if a group of boarders got to the only remaining reactor and shut it down then
Forlorn would lose all of her power and be helpless.
“Got that Ji Nv!” Fire Control officer Ensign Blake shouted as her guns finally struck the raider’s hull instead of its shields; as large debris and atmosphere poured from the open wound another I-Las shot struck the enemy ship tearing off it’ entire portside arsenal as the beam raked it.
“One more hit and she’s mine sir.” Blake said hungrily as she fed target data to the gun crews….just then the entire bridge sank into darkness and a low hum sounded the loss of all power.
After a few seconds of silence the lights came back up and all power was restored, the damage control board went green and all comns went quiet.
“Well great ladies and gentlemen we’re dead….or at least we would be when those pirates decided to send over more boarding parties.” Commander Dexter said as he stepped back onto the bridge; he had been declared a casualty in the opening exchange and had stepped off the bridge to monitor the simulation from the Damage control room instead and his mood had only gotten darker as the simulation went on.
“All department heads are to report to the briefing room in one hour, in the meantime Sailing Master Harriman I would like to speak with you in private.” When Harriman nodded Dexter simply nodded back and turned around, leaving the bridge in silence.
An hour later and the small briefing room was crowded with the various department heads, Ensign Blake, Fire Control; Ensign Caldwell Damage Control; Lieutenant Geer Marines, Lieutenant Elizabeth McClain Navigation, Ensign Walker Astrogation and Ensign Paris Engineering.
“Alright ladies and gentlemen let’s get right down to business, Harriman here will give each of you a review of your departments and their performance during our latest simulation.” Dexter gestured to Harriman who stood up and cleared his throat.
“First off ye’ were all caught with yer pants down and that lad’s and lassies is just plain unforgivable during a deep range patrol, Gawd forbid those’d been real pirates out there tonight instead of a simulation.” Harriman eyed each of the young department heads fiercely letting each word sink into their heads before continuing “My lord Caldwell led EIGHT crewmen into an ambush by pirate boarders because he got his bloody deck layout confused, not only that but he neglected to inform TWO marine fire teams of boarders in their sections leading to those teams being wiped out as well.”
Caldwell went ghost white as the other department heads looked at him, Lieutenant in particular was glaring at him because Geer had been in one of those two fire teams that got ambushed and wiped out.
“I’m sorry sir, I don’t know what happened.” Caldwell managed to choke out even as he nervously played with the buckle on his belt, slowly tracing the Imperial eagle with his thumb.
“I know what happened lad’ Ye’ screwed the pooch because ye’ panicked and that is something we are going to train out of you.” Harriman said more calmly as he saw the anguish in the young man’s face. “Besides your not the only one who screwed up….now Ensign Blake, if I may say so Captain.” He looked at Dexter with a small smile “Performed very well and her targeting data gave our gunnery crews several good shots before the “boarders” In reactor two took out our power.” Harriman nodded at the young woman with the barest hint of a smile on his lips.
“Now on to Navigation…..Miss McClain you unfortunately were declared a casualty shortly after the engagement began so I will not lay too much blame on you, for
your performance.” Harriman paused just long enough to let the words
your performance hit home. “However your navigation crew did terrible in this simulation, one wou’d think they didn’t know how to perform a bleedin’ evasive maneuver.” Harriman glared at her for a moment longer and to his surprise she simply nodded.
“Yes sir they screwed up and I intend to make sure it never happens again.” Her voice was totally unshaken and her eyes burned with a sureness that impressed the gruff old Spacer; she knew her department had made a mistake and she didn’t try to whitewash it or make excuses she simply accepted it and set herself to the task of correcting it, something most people her age never bothered with.
“Now as for…..” Harriman was about to continue when a voice over the room’s intercom cut him off.
“Captain to the bridge…..Captain to the bridge……we are receiving a class one federal distress signal.” the voice was almost mechanical over the com unit but even then the shock was audible and Harriman and Dexter exchanged brief glances before both rushed for the door.
“Everyone report to your stations now!” Dexter said as he left the briefing room on Harriman’s heels, several of the officers present immediately followed after Dexter as their stations were on the bridge….Lieutenant Geer however raced to get to the marine barracks while Walker went to check up on her engineering crew before reporting to the bridge.
Harriman and Dexter calmly entered the bridge and reported to their stations, even though Dexter felt anything
but calm as the dread over receiving a code one federal distress call meant…..it was better known to spacers as a “Banshee call” because it was the last message a ship would ever send before being destroyed or it’s crew killed.
“Alright Ensign Toumas let’s hear it.” Dexter forced his voice to stay calm and casual despite the bile he could feel rising in his throat, after a second the hiss of the bridge com and then a desperate young voice cut through the silence.
“I repeat this is the Federal Security ship
Pontus we are being boarded, they came out of nowhere and are overwhelming our security forces, they have already taken the lower decks…….I am declaring distress if anyone can hear me please respond……” The voice belonged to a young man who despite what he had just reported sounded eerily calm.
“Com put us through…..” Dexter waited for a moment until the com officer nodded “This is Commander John Dexter of the LC oh three to
Pontus who is attacking you and what is your status?” he already strongly suspected the status of the Federal security ship but it made no sense…..they were in a core system,
who could attack a FedSec ship out here?
“LC oh three, we don’t know who’s attacking us it’s an older Sol Coalition battleship that’s been refit……..status is not good they are already working their way to the bridge I hear the gunfire…..the captain and most of the crew are dead, I was ordered to stay here and relay information to anyone I could. Sir they’re not just killing our people they’re doing……horrible things to them.” The young man’s voice cracked for just a moment and Dexter felt his heart ache.
“Alright
Pontus what are your coordinates we will be there as soon as possible.” Dexter turned to face Harriman and shook his head slowly.... all the
Forlorn could do was get revenge for the FedSec ship because by time they got there it would all be over…..and what made it worse was that poor young man on the other end of the line already knew he was dead.
“Sir I’ve transmitted coordinates……they just set off a demolition charge at the bridge door sir one more and they’ll be through…..please make them pay for killing us sir.” The young man’ sounded more angry then sad and it was a feeling Dexter could understand.
“We’ll get them for you
Pontus I swear it.” John Dexter said coldly, and after another second of silence a large explosion on the other end of the comn line sent a shiver up his spine.
“They’re through three oh three……God take our souls!” The sounds of screaming and gunfire were intermingled with a horrible sound that Dexter couldn’t quite place a sound of crunching and tearing…..and then the com went silent.
Seconds passed but it seemed an eternity until Dexter finally spoke again, using every ounce of will he had not to cry “Helm lay in a course for the
Pontus last known location.”
Harriman patted his Commander’s arm gently “I hate to hav’ to say it sir but if they cou’d kill a
Peacekeeper class starship so easily shou’d we really be engaging ‘em in naught but a light cruiser?” Harriman seemed to want to spit after suggesting that they simply turn around and abandon a fellow Icaran starship. Unfortunately it was true because though it was only a FedSec ship a
Peacekeeper had almost twice the firepower of the
Forlorn not to mention a much larger ground combat force.
“I know it’s probably not the smartest idea Harriman, and we’ll certainly launch a messenger drone to the nearest naval base but we have to at least try to see if there is anyone to save.” John looked at Alexander Harriman’s eyes and saw a glint of pride in the older man, and couldn’t help but feel somewhat more confident.
“Aye lad we ‘ave to at least try.” Alex Harriman said with a grim smile before turning back to face the screen “Time to intercept?” He barked, his voice back to it’s old give ‘em hell tone.
“Sir ETA eighteen hours, they are at the far edge of the system on the other side of the Herman asteroid belt.” Lieutenant McClain answered her voice still as stony and confident as it had been during the briefing.
“Very good…..pass the word, the marines run anti-boarding drills and have all crewman don armor and side arms.’ John looked at his bridge crew one more time and began to wonder if this would be the end for him and his crew….a crew who had been utterly beaten in a simulation against boarders.
Tellus 3rd:
It had been eighteen hours since the
Forlorn had received the distress signal from the Federal Security Peacekeeper
Pontus and finally the slow old light cruiser was coming up on the coordinates of the battle that had claimed a Federal security ship and it’s crew.
“Tactical what have we got?” it had been the first time in hours that anyone on the bridge had even spoken and John could almost feel the stir of tension as everyone on the bridge waited to hear from tactical.
“Sir I’m detecting the
Pontus on short range sensors now, she’s dead in space as best I can tell…..multiple breaches along the hull that look like they were made by grapnels…..there’s not much air on her sir.” The tactical officer’s voice droned on professionally listing the damages the
Pontus had suffered until his voice suddenly raised in surprise “Sir I’ve got life signs, it’s too hard to tell how many or even where they are but I’ve definitely got life signs!”
John Dexter didn’t even wait before slamming his fist down on the com button he had set to Geer’s com earlier “Attention Lieutenant Geer I want a squad marines and a team of Corpsmen to the launch bay in two minutes.” John was optimistic for the first time since he had heard the distress call….life signs meant survivors and that could mean that somehow the
Pontus had repelled her attacker in the end.
“Aye sir……I’ve already got Alpha squad and Corpsmen Burke and Riley down in cutter six with your permission we’ll launch right now.” Geer’s voice was toneless as he pretty much admitted over the com that he had violated procedure and had his marines board a cutter. Dexter grinned for just a moment and turned to Harriman to see the old spacer smiling outright.
“Aye sir there’s hope for this crew yet.” Harriman said under his breath before turning his attention back to his tactical plot.
“Very good Lieutenant you have the go ahead…..get over there and bring those survivors back.” Dexter said more seriously before cutting the com circuit “Tactical can you get me a visual yet?” he rotated his chair to face the ship’s main screen as Tactical Officer Cherenkov’s hands raised over the controls.
After a few seconds the screen came to life and the optics began to focus on a huge grey and red object…..a few more seconds passed as the optics zoomed in to reveal what was left of the Peacekeeper class vessel
Pontus.
“My God…..she’s been blown to hell.”
“How could anyone survive that?”
“Her entire superstructure been shot off!”
The whispers across the bridge were brought to a quick end as Harriman cleared his throat and leveled a look around the bridge that would have brought down a Spartan Kraken.
“Sir it looks like whoever did this tried to capture her intact but was forced to destroy too much of her for it to be worthwhile…..the grapnel hits are in non critical areas and as best I can tell other then the superstructure being destroyed there is very little actual hull damage.” Cherenkov’s tone remained bland even as the rest of the bridge crew’s nervous whispers had to be quieted.
“Sir marine cutter six has launched and will board the
Pontus in under one minute at max acceleration.” Ensign Walker reported from the astrogation section almost offhandedly as his eyes remained fixed on the screen along with the eyes of almost every bridge officer.
A dull thump announced the marine’s breaching a damaged section of hull as their cutter latched onto the outer shell and fired off a breaching charge. Barely five seconds passed before the first fire team marines zip lined down to the deck, weapons at the ready. As the first four marines spread out to give the second fire team room to drop their rifle mounted flashlights shown eerily in the smoke filled darkness of the
Pontus corridors
“Alright fire team one you’ve got the upper decks, fire team two your with me Burke your with team one, Riley your with me.” Lieutenant Geer whispered over his helmet com, just in case anyone hostile was here Geer wasn’t about to make a commotion.
As Geer’s fire team got past the wreckage in the corridor where they had first entered the ship the marine on point suddenly stopped short causing the marine behind him to bump into his back.
“Gou shi Henderson what’s wrong with you?” the second marine’s voice hissed over the com line as he recovered from the initial shock of bumping into another fully armored marine.
“Look…” Was all Henderson managed to croak out, hearing the tone in the marine’s voice Geer pushed forward and aimed his rifle’s flashlight at the deck.
Geer stopped up short and felt his stomach wretch, he had seen battle casualties before but the bodies that were laid out in front of him were not simply killed they were mutilated, their guts carved out and their skin flayed….by the look of agony on what was left of one man’s face it looked like the mutilation had happened while some of them were still alive.
“This couldn’t have happened during a firefight…..not even if the ship took a hit…..my God sir someone
did this to them….I mean
deliberately…..carved them up like meat.” Corpsman Burke’s voice barely registered as Geer raised his rifle and aimed it down the corridor ahead…….more bodies or parts of bodies were strewn about the deck as far as he could see.
“Alright…..enough……we’ve still got survivors on the deck below us and damned if I am going to let them die here when what’s left of this ship’s atmo vents because we couldn’t get a hold of our own nerve…..move out” Geer barked the last two words more to keep himself from vomiting then to sound in charge and as he passed through more of the charnel house that had once been a ship’s deck he found it harder to keep his breakfast down.
As Geer and his marines made their way down to the next deck more horrors awaited them, including female crew members stripped naked and tied to various pieces of debris along the bulkheads their bodies were in a state that would make any Icaran sick but Geer and his marines couldn’t afford that as the air supply was even now running out for whoever it was that managed to survive this massacre. As the marines reached crew quarters they found more bodies with the females being tied to the hatches the marine’s motion detectors began chirping, as the marines got closer the realized it was coming from one of the rooms that had a naked and mutilated woman tied to the hatch.
“Loren, get it open, Horrowitz, Janec provide cover.” Geer raised his rifle toward the corpse strung hatch as Loren advanced and checked for any improvised explosives. After a moment the marine slung his auto rifle and pulled out his combat knife to cut the cords that secured the woman to the hatch.
‘Who the cao could do this sir?” Marine Loren said as he gently cut down the mangled woman’s corpse and laid her aside to get through the door she had been tied too.
“I don’t know Marine but whatever xeno scum did this is going to burn.” Geer said icily as Loren opened the hatch to reveal another group of dead bodies, this time all male who had apparently been dragged in to the quarters after being injured, where they were then tortured and killed.
Loren paused as he approached the head and heard a rustle in a closet; he quickly made a gesture that alerted the other marines to what he was looking at, Geer and Horrowitz took up the flank while Janec was signaled to fall back and protect Burke.
As Loren carefully approached the door he heard a quiet thud and felt his heart begin to race, if it had not been for his training he would have unloaded his weapon into the closet right then and there but he kept his nerves under control and carefully slid the door aside.
A high pitched whine pierced the air as a dart pistol fired square into Loren’s breastplate, knocking the marine back a few inches.
Just as the two men who had been flanking him were about to open fire Loren screamed “NO! She’s one of ours God don’t shoot!” and stepped into the closet, another dart shot rang out and again Loren’s breastplate had a chip of armor fly off before he finally grabbed the pistol and threw it clear of the person inside the closet.
“Get away from me you bastards……get away I’ll kill you!” a young female voice shouted followed by some words even Geer had not heard used before, quickly the two other marines slung their rifles and rushed over to help Loren secure the struggling victim without causing her harm.
After a few seconds of struggle that seemed an eternity the naked writhing figure who’s face none of them had managed to see in the darkness suddenly stopped moving altogether and for a moment Geer felt a sick pang, fearing that she had died in her struggle.
“Burke get your *** over here, she’s hurt!” was all he managed to get out before the corpsman physically moved him out of the way and was kneeling over the nude and battered young woman. For over a minute the corpsman said nothing as he ran scans over her slowly inspecting her for any major injuries he would have to treat there, it was when that he moved the hair that had been caked in blood and blocking her face to place the oxygen mask on her did the true horror of the situation become apparent.
“Oh dear god….she’s a kid…..she couldn’t be older then fourteen” One of the marines….Geer couldn’t quite tell who at that point quickly opened their visor and went to the corner and began vomiting violently as the other two stood with him in numb horror. ”Burke…..what’s her status?” Geer kept his voice battlefield calm even though everything in him was afraid he already knew the answer.
“Sir…..she’s been raped and beaten, as near as I can tell multiple times, she’s got broken ribs and her one lung has a rib gone clear through it, she’s also got internal bleeding in several places…..I think whoever did this to her left her to die slowly on purpose.” Burke gently unhooked the greatcoat from his armor and wrapped it around the young girl before injecting her with a stasis fluid and placing oxygen on her.
“We’ve got to get her back to the ship now sir….” Burke looked up with a fire in his eye that Geer had only ever seen in combat personnel, a fire that cried for blood and revenge but tempered with months of medical training and compassion for the young woman that was lying broken on the floor in front of him.
“Alright Burke, once stasis sets in we’ll get a stretcher and get her out of here…” Geer’s voice was still filled with hatred as he tried to force himself to look away from the young woman that was lying on the floor. Less then four minutes later the marine cutter was on it’s way back to the
Forlorn with two survivors, both women and both in the same condition…..a fourteen year old Fed Sec Spacer named Allyson Landry the other survivor was Commodore Liza Adair NavInt which just added new questions like why naval personnel were on a FedSec ship?
What the crew of the
Forlorn could not know was that the hardest and most trying fight they’d ever face was only days away for as the marines were bringing the two survivors back to the Icaran light cruiser, she was being stalked by a predator who had already butchered one FedSec
Peacekeeper class patrol ship’s crew along with others that the inexperienced crew would only later find out about……
To be Continued