fanfic_name = And Thunder Rolls

chapter = 4

author = Adam Scott

Rating = AP

Type = Alternative Universe

fanfic = Chapter 4 – Crossing into the Unknown

Early the following morning, I muddle my way through the routine. Shower, shave, dress, breakfast (if I have the stomach for it) and then wake Jo to take care of Roy. There is a difference today though. Lisa has already left for duty. Usually she waits for me to complete my shower before she leaves. Just so she can give me a good morning kiss and tell me when she will meet me for lunch. But not today, she left before I awoke to take her place on the bridge of the SDF-3. The final tests were complete and soon we would be making the jump. This first one is going to be short as to not overtax the newly designed engines. Dr. Lang has assured us that they should hold, but none the less, we should be cautious.

It’s time for me to go. Jo is awake and Roy is happily playing. I give him a quick hug goodbye and leave for headquarters. Max is waiting for me in a transport when I step outside my door. He snaps a sharp salute and I return it. Even though he is my best friend, we both agree that we should maintain some protocol. I hop in and Max gets behind the wheel. “How are you this morning Skipper?” Max asks cheerily. “I’m good Max. Are you ready for this?” I ask in return. “I’ve been ready for six weeks!” was his jovial reply. Soon we were at headquarters. I quickly get out and head towards the building. Colonel Edwards was waiting for me. Honestly he wasn’t one of my more favorite people and he was the last one that I wanted to see right now. “Admiral Hunter, what a pleasure.” he said with a bit of sarcasms and barely saluting. I return his salute briefly and try to continue walking but he follows.

T.R. Edwards was a brilliant military mind but had ambitions for power. He had always felt superior to everyone else and was stunned at the fact that Lisa and I had been promoted ahead of him. He believed that he should have been the one chosen to lead this mission, not Lisa and me. However, Admiral Gloval had never really trusted him. Edwards was one of the few people to survive from Alaska base and it is believed that he sacrificed other human lives to do it. Admiral Gloval knew what really happened but had never shared it with me or anyone else that I know of. T.R. was single but had been brought on the mission at the insistence of Supreme Commander Leonard. Lisa had given into his demands in order to speed along the launch date. Now, he was under my command and he insisted on telling me everything that he would have done differently than me. For example, and this one he is still steamed about, bringing an entire battalion of micronized Zentraedi, and then giving Miriya her own squadron of Alpha’s and then having it manned by former Quadrono’s. Edwards doesn’t trust the Zentraedi and for that matter I don’t think he trusts me either.

Miriya was ready for her new squadron to become operational and T.R. was once again trying to persuade me to not allow this to happen. “Admiral,” he continues, “I really must insist, just because her husband is the CAG, you cannot allow this.” I stop and turn towards him at the statement. “What are you trying to imply Edwards” I say with a tone of resentment. Max reacts but says nothing. He knows that this is neither the time nor the place to fight this fight. “Your playing favorites!” is Edwards reply. I shake my head, turn away and head inside the building with Edwards following close behind. He doesn’t truly believe that, he just doesn’t want any Zentraedi intermingled with the humans. Secondly he wouldn’t get any of the credit if they are successful.

Edwards continues to bagger me until we reach the conference room. As I open the door I clear my throat and stare at Edwards as a signal that it’s time for him to shut-up. He doesn’t comply and continues to run his mouth. To his shock, when we walk in the room the Tac-net video link with Commander Leonard was already open and he was conversing with some of the other senior staff. In addition, the captain of each ship of the fleet was tuned in to the meeting via Tac-net and around the table was the entire senior staff. Hearing Edwards continue to babble on about the situation with Miriya brought a scowl to the Commanders face. Giving Miriya her own squadron was heavily supported by him. The Colonel quickly abated the argument at the look and took his seat near the far end of the table.

“Admiral Hunter, it is a pleasure to see you again.” Commander Leonard began, “Is your lovely wife going to join us this morning?” “No sir”, I reply, “she is on the bridge preparing for the hyperspace fold. However, she did want me to express her best wishes and apologize for not being able to attend.” Leonard nodded his head in understanding and looked to Max to begin the meeting. Taking his queue, Captain Maxwell Sterling, stood up and began the meeting. His portion was going to be the longest and most detailed. He was covering the fighter deployment at the end of the fold maneuver and how the new Alpha’s and Beta’s would be best used alongside the older Valkyries. Towards the end of his presentation he brought up Miriya’s squadron. “Lt. Commander Miriya Sterling has made a choice for the name of her new squadron, it’s an older one but it is one that is not currently in use by either the REF or the ASC.” He pauses for effect, “The name she has chosen is the “Red Griffins””. Most people in the room looked at each other in confusion. Those of us that knew Miriya though, thought it was a perfect fit. Max continued to explain “Red is obvious, that is Miriya’s color but a griffin maybe a little less clear. A griffin is a mythical beast with head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Symbolically, the griffin is significant for its domination of both the earth and the sky because of its lion's body and eagle's head and wings. In Greece the griffin was a symbol of vigilant strength; Apollo rode one, and griffins guarded the gold of the Hyperboreans of the far north. The griffin was also an embodiment of Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, and turned her wheel of fortune. Miriya choose this as her symbol because humanity is the gold she guards and she will bring retribution upon those that attempt to destroy it.” Everyone in the room, including Colonel Edwards, nodded their heads in agreement. I looked to the video screen and saw Commander Leonard beaming. No one could have made a better choice and no one could have given a better explanation than Max.

Then it was my turn, as I stood Max took his seat. My presentation was going to be brief but crucial to the whole operation. The survival of the 90+ ships in our fleet would depend on me. My nerves begin to protest, I stand there for a moment to clear my thoughts and stabilize my knees. It soon passes and I begin to speak. I open with congratulating the entire fleet for a job well done in preparing for this day. Then I order the Red Griffin squadron into operational status. Max looks over at Colonel Edwards and smirks. Edwards just stares stoically at the image of Commander Leonard on the video link. I then go into the gritty details of the fold operation and maneuvers required by each ship after the fold to maintain a defensive posture. Each captain had a “play book” to follow, just like a football team. The book was Lisa’s idea. It gave each ship a specific duty for a given situation, that way we wouldn’t double up on tasks and assignments. It even gave each captain some leeway as to what and how they performed their tasked. This was going to be a simple operation from a military point of view but we still had to prepare for contingences. I briefly reviewed the possible scenarios and went over the information from our scout ships. As I was nearing the end a fleet wide announcement was made. We were ready for the fold.

I quickly dismissed the meeting as everyone made their way out of the room. Commander Leonard switched his link over to the bridge to monitor the pre-fold operations from there. Max headed for the hanger bay’s and I caught a transport to the CIC (Command and Information Center) located just behind the bridge, where myself and the other senior staff would direct the divisions of ships, fighters and attack craft. Each ship in the fleet was part of a division. There were 5 divisions with up to 20 ships per division with the SDF-3 taking the lead as the only ship in the 6th division. This was all part of the grand design that Lisa and I came up with to ensure a chain of command in the event of fleet separation. The divisions were named after each planet in our home solar system, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn divisions. As the fleet grew we would divide the fleet further with the addition of the Uranus, Neptune and Pluto divisions. The SDF-3 would retain the Earth division designation as it was the head of the fleet.

The CIC is the central nervous system for the entire fleet. Every communication is monitored from here. Every action of every ship or fighter is coordinated from here. This room is always a buzz with chatter. Every inch of wall space had a monitor and a human operator. In the center of the room was a multimedia table with holographic projector. This is where I sat, along with General Reinhardt and Captain Houston. This is where the decisions are made.

Once I was checked in I decided it was time to wander to the bridge. I hadn’t seen Lisa since last night and even though she would be to busy to talk, I wanted to see her. I wanted to be in the same space as her, if even for a moment. I walk through the short passageway to the bridge. I had to squint a little as my eyes adjusted from the darkness of the CIC to the brightness of the bridge. The bridge is not too dissimilar from that of the SDF-1 only that there are more consoles and the Captains chair is in the middle of the room vice off to the side. Lisa was there, directing her fresh, young crew, preparing for the fold. Commander Leonard’s face could be seen on a monitor in front of her and to the left. He was conversing with her as politely as he could but it was obvious that Lisa was flustered by his presence. Finally, out of frustration, Lisa tells the Commander that she has to go, there is just too much going on right now. Leonard acknowledges her, wishes her good luck and then just before he signs off he looks up at me and says to Lisa. “There is someone to see you Admiral.” He winks and his image disappears. Lisa’s shoulders slump. She is wondering who the hell would be bothering her now. She whips around in her chair with a look of death on her face. She notices me standing in the doorway that leads to CIC. Her face relaxes a little but still has a look of frustration. I immediately speak up “I wasn’t going to disturb you, in fact I really didn’t want you to know I was here, I just had to see you for a moment. I missed you this morning”. Her face softened a bit more; then a twinkle came to her eyes and the cute little smirk I had grown to love, cut across her face. “Tami” she says to a young Lieutenant sitting where Lisa had on the SDF-1, “Take over for a minute, I need to talk to the Admiral”. The young girl made an audible gasp; she obviously wasn’t prepared for the quick change in responsibility. But Lisa trusted her enough to manage for the few minutes she would be gone.

Lisa got up out of her chair and slinked her way towards me, her grin growing ever wider as she approached. When she reached me she took my hand in hers and led me back into the dark passageway, closing the hatch behind her. Then she pushed me against the bulkhead and kissed me, longingly and deep. It was the best good morning kiss I had ever received. To be honest I was surprised by the suddenness of it and I took a few seconds to respond. But I soon came to my senses and returned her kiss. After a few moments of pure passion she broke away and with a sly grin she said “Thank you for last night, and I hope this makes up for this morning?” All I can do is nod my head and utter a weak uh-ha. She then gives me a quick hug and returns to the bridge, leaving me to put myself back together.

After a few minuets of mediation I return to CIC and take my seat at the head of the center table, grinning from ear to ear. Charlie Houston is there, he notices my flushed face and says, while trying not to chuckle “I take it that every thing is O.K. on the bridge”. I respond with a pleased “Yep”. His chuckle can no longer be contained and he shakes his head in amusement. About that time General Reinhardt walks into CIC. He is a stoic individual, with a broad chest and a booming voice to match. He never talks unless it’s important so when he does, you had better listen. As it broke down, Captain Houston directed the fighter squadrons, General Reinhardt directed ground and attack squadrons and I conducted the fleet and the overall thrust of the operations. Colonel Edwards actually fell under General Reinhardt’s purview. The Colonel led the ground assault forces under the Generals direction. Which was fine with me; now that we were actually getting underway, T.R. wouldn’t have as much time to annoy the crap out of me.

The General takes his place to my right and the Captain to my left. The holographic screen flickers to life, showing a blip, in a relative position to the SDF-3, for each ship in the fleet with its identifying information. The display is interactive and we can merely touch a blip and the system will give us the information we desire or even connect our communications.

Five, the count down begins. The fleet makes there final communications checks as we move into position, just outside of lunar orbit. Four, Mercury and Venus divisions fold first, Three, then Mars, Jupiter and Saturn divisions, Two, I feel the SDF-3 begin to vibrate as the great engines build power. One, a distant roar can be heard as the fold drive begins to engage. Zero, we are thrust into a brilliant ball of light that engulfs the entire ship. Everything distorts and reality is held in place, suspended of time, for a moment. Then, finally we entire folded space, heading towards our first way point, just beyond the Kuiper belt, some 9.3 billion miles from the sun. The Holo-screen goes blank, all external navigation aids vanish. We are alone in the darkness. Then, just as suddenly as we had entered the fold we exit. The brilliant ball of light spits us out, the humming of the engines stop and the ship quiets herself. We are adrift in the cold dark of deep space. Slowly our equipment comes back to life and we let go our collective breath. All fighters launch to scout the area and soon all ships are accounted for. Navigational points are read and we are exactly on the mark. But all is not well; a few of the smaller ships suffered damage and will need repair before we continue.

State = Continuará/To Be Continue

feedback = Sí/Yes

email = jscott_73ATyahoo.com