Walker Brigade - Book of Incidents

"If we go to the Med Ships chow hall, we all have to get cleaned up and conform to the uniform of the day. If we stay here, we don't. Also, the Med Ship chow hall will have people other than us there," I said with mild disgust.

I sat back and watched as the vote was taken and everyone scampered off to shower, shave where appropriate, and break out their dress utilities. Smiling, I followed Becky into the showers. After everyone was dressed, we walked as a unit to the chow hall, only to find a guard on the hatch.

"Chief, he says we can't go in," Akers yelled back to me as I squeezed forward. Secondary corridors were not very large on space vessels.

I looked the guard over, a young kid dressed in Navy utilities wearing a sidearm and armband with the letters SP emblazoned on it. Standing in front of him, I looked him up and down, as he stood resolute but scared. Sweat was running down from under his cap, and his jaw was clenched tightly shut.

"Son," he was probably the lowest rank on board, "why don't you call your squad leader so we can get this straightened out." I smiled pleasantly at him as I waited for him to say something.

"I have my orders, Chief," he stammered as he tried to stand even taller.

"And what are those orders, son?"

"Don't let that Walker trash in the mess hall. Commander Weddington's words, Chief, not mine." The kid was now visibly shaking as he stood in front of the door.

"Latham," I shouted, but not too loud.

"Aye, Chief," Becky called back.

"Latham, go back to our squad shuttle and check for orders concerning us not using the mess hall."

"Aye, Chief."

"Now we'll just wait for Second Latham's return." I stood staring into the poor kid's eyes as we waited. Becky was back in less than two minutes.

"Chief, there are no pending orders for us at this time," Becky called from the back of the squad.

"Thank you, Sec. Now, son, who is Commander Weddington, and what does he do on this ship?"

"Chief, Commander Weddington is the mess officer and his office is one deck up at frame twenty-seven." That one statement took the kid off the hook and turned twelve angry warriors to his boss.

"Thank you, son," I said as I turned toward the stairs to the next deck. Frame twenty-seven would be directly over the mess hall, placing his office above his kingdom. Once we were all up a deck, I turned to the squad and motioned them against the bulkhead. The corridor was larger here.

"Becky, you and Aker keep them here. Don't let them move don't let them talk. Explain to them they will be on field rations for the duration if they do. Clear?"

"Clear, Chief," they both answered at the same time.

"Meanwhile, I'm going to pay my respects to the Captain." I was going to do an end around the Commander. I had twenty-four hours to pay my respects to the Captain once aboard. Paying my respects within two hours would be a record I'm sure.

As I headed for the Captain's quarters, I was wondering why the Commander had such a grudge against Walker Brigade personnel. There was a Chief Petty Officer sitting at a desk in front of the Captain's door. I stood there waiting for him to notice me as protocol demanded.

"Yes, Chief Warrant Officer, can I help you?"

"Yes, Chief, Chief Warrant Officer Maximillian Jones wishes to pay his respects to the Captain."

"He's with someone just now, but he shouldn't be long. You can wait if you like, Warrant."

"Thank you, Chief." I stood at ease to wait the Captain's pleasure.

About two minutes after I got there, a Commander came storming out of the Captain's office. He appeared to be upset and was wearing a scowl on his face that only became deeper when he saw me standing outside the Captain's office. I watched him storm down the passageway.

"You can go in now, Chief Jones," the CPO said.

"Thanks, Chief." I stepped into the Captain's Office, stood at attention, and threw him my best salute.

"Chief Warrant Officer Maximillian Jones, paying his respects to the Captain, sir," I said in a loud and clear voice.

The Captain continued to read the paperwork on his desk as I stood there holding my salute. He finally cleared his throat and looked up at me. He snapped a salute.

"At ease, Chief, your timing is impeccable as always. No, don't say a word. Your squad is being allowed in the mess hall as we speak, or Weddington will be greasing the main bearing on the sub-space doohickey in the portside engine room. He had no right to do what he did without my okay." The Captain stopped, looking up at me with a smile on his sour old puss.

"No problem, Captain, no problem at all. It's great to be aboard, sir, and I'm sure the hospitality will be as pleasant as always."

"No doubt. Now, I don't know why your squad has been attached to us and I'm not about to ask, but I suppose it has something to do with the MS we have in ICU."

"Captain, I don't even know why we're here." I was going to be as candid as I could with the Captain. We went back a long way, I had been a patient aboard his ship many times.

"Well, if that's so, then we are probably both in it deep."

"Now, if you don't mind, Captain, I would like to join my squad for chow." I snapped to, threw him another salute, and waited.

"Very well, Chief, but do try to keep my ship in one piece while you're on board if that's not too much to ask."

"I will, sir, it isn't, sir," I answered while holding my salute.

"Hrumpf. Dismissed." The Captain saluted back. I turned about, opened the door and stepped out. The CPO at the desk was standing at attention and snapped me a salute as I left. Returning it, I headed down the passageway toward the mess hall.

5.28.0093/2

* * * Becky Latham

I had to report to the sickbay for sedation for hyperspace. The Chief had me do this every time we jumped since our jump to three-four-alpha-nine. That's when he found out I was a broadcaster, I thought I could control myself in hyperspace to no avail. There were a doctor and nurse waiting for me when I arrived.

"If you'll just lay down here, Second Latham," the doctor said, indicating a coffin-shaped container on a wheeled cart in the middle of the floor.

"Ok, doc." I climbed into the container and lay back on the cushioned interior.

"Roll up your left sleeve, please," said the doctor, turning to the nurse, who handed him a syringe and a swab.

I rolled up my sleeve and watched as the needle was plunged into my skin, and the sedative injected into my muscle. Within seconds, I was feeling woozy and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I sure hoped this would be a short trip.

5.29.0093/3

* * * Simon Eckles

I was feeling better and better every morning I was here in the Med Ship, no worries, no intrigue, no problems. They told me that it was only the third day I had been on board, and I was already relaxed and calm. At least I was until he walked into my room. God, he looked just like his father.

"Hey there, Specialist Eckles, I hear you're feeling better." He was smiling, so he wasn't upset with me for his squad assignment to this Med Ship.

"I am, Chief, I am. So what brings you down here?"

"Just looking at my home away from home, I can't count the number of times I have been on this ship as a patient. It feels nice to be a passenger this time," he smiled at me as he said that.

"Chief, I want to thank you for getting me out of there. I was so surprised to wake up and find a Walker not fifty meters away from me, that I was struck speechless." I was going to go on, but he waved me silent.

"No problem..."

"Simon, please."

"Ok, no problem, Simon. And I'm Max."

"Max, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, anything," I told him with all sincerity.

"Why is your father such an asshole?" If anyone knew, it would be him.

This weird sound came from his throat and then his mouth opened and I realized he was laughing. He was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"I...can't...breathe." He paused to catch his breath and I just waited, staring at him. "He is an asshole, isn't he? Why? Who knows, maybe his mother mistreated him when he was growing up? Or he went to school for it. Maybe they teach you how to be one in Admiral School." Now I was laughing.

"So you don't like working for him?" Max hit the nail right on the head.

"No, not anymore, I did at first. I loved the job, and I looked up to him. Then somewhere things changed, and I was still okay with him, but I was extremely fed up with the job. On this last assignment, I had a chance to think things through, and realized it was him, I was fed up with, not the job. The job I believed in, it was him I didn't.

"Now I'm looking to get out. I'm going to resign my commission when I get back to Pacifica and look for another line of work. You wouldn't be looking for a replacement, by any chance?"

"No, not right now, but I'll keep you in mind when I am. You'll still have to deal with my father's bullshit since we seem to get moved around by him a lot lately."

"But you don't work for him directly?"

"No way, he's an asshole, hadn't you heard?" Max had the biggest grin on his face as he asked me that. "You know he may not let you go?"

"Oh, he will, I'm sure of that." I winked at Max letting him know I could handle his father.

"Well, then, when I need a replacement, I'll give you a call."

"That would be great." We both knew, barring any catastrophe, there wouldn't be an opening anytime soon.

"Well, I have to get going. It's good to see you're doing well, Simon."

"Thanks for dropping by, Max, and thanks for the pickup." We shook hands and he turned and left.

I lay there in silence thinking over all that had been said, and what hadn't been said. I was startled out of my reverie by the sounding of general quarters. Now what?

* * * Max Jones

As I was leaving Simon's room, the passageways rang with the sound of General Quarters. Since my station was in the shuttle and it would take a while to get there, and I was closer to the bridge, I headed there to find out what was going on. During hyperspace, it was very rare to hear General Quarters. The bridge was up two decks, and forward of frame five. I was there within a minute.

"Permission to enter the bridge, sir?" I called out from the entryway in the bulkhead.

The Captain looked up from the scan cube with a scowl on his face.

"What the f...permission granted, Chief. Why aren't you in your shuttle? Never mind, get over here." He waved me to the position next to him at the scan cube. I looked down into the cube. It was black as night without stars, except for two small winking points of light.

"What's the scale, Captain?" I asked staring at the lights.

"One hundred kilometers," the executive officer said softly.

"He's close, then?"

"Yes, fifty klicks at the most." My question had been rhetorical but I was glad for the information.

"I suppose the other scan instruments aren't working?" I asked, knowing that they probably weren't.

"No, Chief, they aren't. We don't know who he is, but we know it's not a ghost. He is also closing on us. I don't think it's a coincidence either. Do you have any thoughts?" The Captain had turned toward me.

"Not really...has anyone taken a look out the window?" Ships in space didn't really have windows, per se, but they did have cameras all over the outside.

"Damn, never thought of that. We always turn them off when in hyperspace because the images are disturbing to everyone. Ensign, turn on the cameras," the Captain shouted, turning to an Ensign in front of a control console across the bridge. TriV screens lit up all over the bridge.

"Rearview, magnify times ten." The picture on the screen in front of us zoomed in on a dot and was now showing us the shape of a ship.

"Times ten again," the Captain, shouted.

The screen filled with a ship. I recognized the construction. It was of the type Chrispin Alabaster was alleged to be building. I don't think the Captain recognized the ship since he probably wasn't in the loop with that kind of intel.

"Whose ship is that? I don't recognize the type. Is it even from this sector?" the Captain's questions flooded the bridge. The response from the crew was non-committal.

"Captain, a word please?" I spoke softly.

"Of course, Chief." He turned, heading for his ready room with me in tow. Once in the room with the door closed, he leaned against his desk waiting for me to speak.

"Captain, I really hate to ask this but I must. Is Chrispin Alabaster aboard this ship?" I hadn't seen hide nor hair of a Marine, but it was a big ship. The Captains face gave him away as he stared at me.

"Chief, I'm afraid I can neither confirm nor deny that he is aboard." He was covering his ass. I took my personal com unit out of my pocket, flipped it open and pressed the special button that Scans had set up for me. The screen lit up with three points of light. I pressed another button, and the points of light went out.

"We can now talk off the record, sir." His eyebrows rose in a question, but I only shrugged my shoulders.

"He's aboard, deck twelve, frame fifty," he told me, looking down at the deck.

"That ship behind us is one of his. We didn't know he had finished any, but the MS in sickbay got us the plans that Chrispin Alabaster was using to build them. It looks like one was finished before we got there." The Captain smiled and shook his head.

"It's a sorry state when we can't share information like this without resorting to subterfuge, isn't it?" he asked, pointing to the device in my hand.

"Yes, yes it is. Back on the record?" he shook his head and I pressed the button to turn off the effects.

"Do you have any idea how to handle this if that ship gets any closer? We have no weapons on this ship," he said.

"Yes, you do. You have a squad of walkers aboard. That gives you the firepower of a light cruiser. Twenty-two, gigawatt pulse cannon, twenty-two, megawatt particle beam projectors, and twenty-two, railguns, you're rich with weapons." I smiled at him as he looked at me in amazement.

"Your little shuttle has that kind of firepower?"

"Not really, but what's inside it does." The look on his face said it all.

"I've been on this Med Ship too long, I really have to start thinking outside the box again."

"Shall I deploy my squad, sir?" I snapped to attention.

"Yes, Chief, please do." He slapped me on my back as we left his ready room. He headed to his bridge post, and I headed out to see to my squad. Too bad Becky was in cold sleep, I could use her out there. I guess Akers was going to get her feet wet as acting squad second.

* * * Jolene Akers

The squad was waiting for some word on the reason for general quarters in the squad bay when the Chief came hurrying, actually, he ran, into the squad bay. We all jumped up as he stopped in front of me.

"Akers, get the squad ready for deployment, full battle kit, we have ten minutes." He paused taking a deep breath.

"Deploy where, Chief?" I asked. The rest of the squad was leaning in to hear his answer.

"Outside, on the ship," he said. Then he went on to inform us, "The Med Ship has no weapons, and one of Chrispin's ships has matched course with us and is closing. We have weapons and then some. We're going out to stop the pirates."

"He's on board isn't he?" I asked the obvious question. The Chief didn't answer except to run his finger across his lips in the age-old sign to zip my lips. So, that despot was on board, and some of his people were trying to get him back. Why, was another question?

"You heard the Chief...deployment in ten minutes, move." The squad headed for the walker bay at a run. I hung back with the Chief.

"Jolene, I'm going to be depending on you out there. You are going to be using Becky's walker, and coordinating operations out there." He was using my first name. I didn't even know that he knew what it was.

"Aye, Chief." For some reason, my chest was puffed up as I headed for the walker bay with the Chief.

It took the squad nine minutes to suit up and power up their walkers. We were lined up at the starboard bay hatch waiting to exit.

"Remember to activate your foot mags as you step out of the hatch, the artificial gravity ends at the hatchway. All-com will be active while we are out there, so keep the chatter to a minimum," I told them as I stood beside the hatch.

"Roger, sir." The Chief's reply to the bridge came through our headphones.

"Listen up, Echo Squad. The bogey is fifteen minutes out and closing. I want a ring deployment around the aft of the ship. Bogey is at two-one-oh degrees, declination four-five-oh meters above the plane. That's starboard, and up behind the ship for you land lovers.

"We will wait to see what their plan of attack is before we open fire. Remember, they think this is an unarmed Med Ship and easy pickings.

"Deploy the squad, Second Akers."

"Aye, Chief," I replied. "Squad, prepare to deploy."

I pressed the sequence to open the hatch into the keypad on my walker. The lights dimmed and the klaxon sounded as the door started to open, and the force field to hold the air inside sparked into being. When the door was open wide enough to allow a walker through, I signaled the walkers to filed out one at a time.

As the last walker left the bay, I turned to the Chief. "Squad deployed, Chief."

"Very good, Second," he replied as he stepped out the hatch with me right behind him.

* * * Max Jones

As I stepped out of the hatch, I activated my foot mags and clicked down on to the outer hull of the ship. My world swirled around as my walker was inside then one hundred and eighty degrees from that position on the outside of the ship's hull. It was a jarring moment going from full gravity to free fall. For some of the squad, this was their first time in free fall, along with their first time being outside a ship while in hyper-drive.

"Echo Five, ten meters to your right, hold position, Echo Four." Akers was handling everything with smooth precision, so I wandered back to the starboard side of the ship.

"Bridge, Echo One, bearing on bogey?"

"Echo One, bearing on bogey, two-two-five inclination five-oh-two," the answer came as quick as you would want.

Flipping down my magnifiers, I search for the ship that was closing on us. A glint in the swirling darkness blinked. I increased the magnification and the glint resolved itself into a ship bristling with armament. I unlimbered my pulse cannon to see if the auto sight would engage. The pulse cannon whirred for a while, then a blinking red light was flashing in my magnifiers to let me know the auto sight couldn't engage.

"Echo Squad, auto sights will not engage. Switch to manual, arm weapons. Hold fire for my signal." Akers echoed my orders as everyone's pulse cannons rose to the ready position, and swiveled in the direction of the incoming ship.

Now we would wait. Time seemed to be standing still, but the ship was growing in my magnifiers as the seconds ticked by.

"Echo One, bogey at twenty klicks and closing at one meter per second." He was taking his time closing on us.

"Roger, Bridge." I could now see the weapons moving into position to fire on the Med Ship.

"Open Fire!" I shouted, as I brought the site reticule to center on the forward gun mount and fired both my pulse cannon and particle beam projectors.

Bolts of pure hellfire crossed the twenty klicks in no time, splashing across the hull of the ship, turning it a brilliant orange. The gun mount I fired at was a melted hole in the hull of the ship. The undamaged gun mounts started to fire back sporadically as the squad kept up their fire on the approaching ship.

The Chrispin ship had to keep rolling around to bring new gun mounts to bear on the Med Ship. So far, not one gun had hit the Med Ship. As the new guns rolled into view, the squad melted them to slag. The squad also took out any communications arrays that were visible. Soon the ship had no means to fight and was wallowing as it tried to maneuver away from the Med Ship.