Black Is The New Black
TOC
Agent Black was in a teleconference with his boss at the Security Services. Now that things had miraculously settled down in the Saturn Region they wanted him to return to the investigation into Michael Seaver and his family. Secretly if Agent Black was a betting man he would bet that Michael had something to do with the sudden destruction of the Gamma Threat in the area. He had pieced things together and he was pretty sure that the attacking force had been Gamma Faction and that the force that had so effectively handed them their ass, was Delta Faction. The fact that the two factions were fighting each other matched other intel he had seen throughout the years.
His sources and bits of intel he gathered from the agents that dealt with the factions, pointed to them being at war with each other. Some in his chain of command were under the impression that they worked together. Recent events made it clear to him that was not the case. There was no way that Saturn Region could go from almost complete destruction to almost complete peace without an outside force taking out the aggressing force that had almost destroyed the Alliance’s interests in the region. The evidence was too overwhelming for there to be any other explanation. The factions were fighting a battle against each other, and it seemed to be Gamma that was the aggressor against Alliance troops and civilians. He was fairly certain that Delta had not taken any aggressive actions against the Alliance during the fighting, and had only attacked Gamma Faction.
The fact that Delta Faction’s actions seemed to coincide with helping the Alliances out in this area, was not out of character to what he had seen in the field before on other assignments either. That’s why he was thinking that perhaps his old friend Michael might be working with them. Of course he would not tell his superiors that until he had more proof. For right now he was still trying to piece together just how far the Gamma Threat had gone. Beyond the thousands that had lost their lives in their attacks, the government infrastructure had been severally weakened as well. It would take months to get everything up and running at even half efficiency.
Based on the intel he was getting about unexplained deaths at what could only be Gamma safe houses and on Titan, they had a much larger plan for the region. He finished up his teleconference and headed for the Command Center on the flagship which had become the operations center for the whole region, until they could restore the government. During normal operations the individual stations would handle the local government operations with a regional governor that was elected to represent the region. The Governor, governed the region from Earth, with visits quarterly and delegates in every station. Most of the stations were self-sufficient so there wasn’t a lot for the Governor to do when the region wasn’t under attack from a terrorist group intent on destroying the region.
General Davidson, how we looking today, Agent Black asked the Fleet Commander. Not too bad considering how close we came to getting our ass handed to us, Commander Davidson said. Most of the stations and colonies have their infrastructure up and running to a certain extent and there is no sign of further attacks. Good, and how is law enforcement coming along, Agent Black asked. Well, until we get all the new recruits sent from the academy they still require a heavy military presence to supplement them, the Commander said. This was a bad situation but it could have been much worse, any idea what happen to these guys, because it sure wasn’t us, the Commander asked.
Our best guess is in fighting between the factions, Agent Black said honestly. Well I guess sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, the Commander said. From all accounts there was a fairly large force on Titan that got reduced to ash, which is a little bit creepy, I mean they didn’t leave anything, the Commander said. Yeah, I would hate to be on their bad side, Agent Black said jokingly. You got that right, I hope I never piss them off, the Commander said. “They take kicking ass and taking names to a whole new level. The fact that they did it right under our noses makes it even worse. We literally have no trace of who or what took those guys out. The witnesses all say they were invisible, I have seen cloaking technology but that is ridiculous”, the Commander said. Yeah, both factions are known to use it, I just didn’t know they used it on each other so effectively. Any word on what happened to the Head Administrator for Saturn Station 12 yet, Agent Black asked. Nothing, one minute she was in the hospital the next she was gone, and we had two ships blown to hell, outside the station the same day, the Commander said, but other than that nothing. “Not quite nothing, we seemed to have destroyed their force on that station that day too, without really doing a whole lot other than at the hospital, and the spontaneous combustion incident, which was way too similar to what happened on Titan”, Agent Black said.
So you think the other Faction took out the troops on Saturn Station 12 too, the Commander asked? Yes, it is the only thing that makes sense, we had nothing going on that would have taken out the troops on the station and we certainly didn’t take out those ships, Agent Black said.
Also from the evidence whatever hit those ships took out the Command Center and the Reactor almost at the same time, and both ships at the same time as well, Agent Black confirmed. Yeah, the hits were surgical, they didn’t stand a chance, the Commander said, I hope we don’t go up against whatever did it, they ripped through the hull like it wasn’t even there. Just between you and me and off the record Commander, I think we are safe, Agent Black said. What makes you think that, the Commander asked. Well of all the attacks other than Gamma Faction, were any of them directed against us, Agent Black asked? Not to my knowledge, the Commander admitted, are you saying they are on our side, he asked? No, I don’t think they are on our side, but I think it is a bit of the enemy of my enemy, kind of thing, Agent Black said. Ah, yeah I can see that, I guess we just have to stay enemies with their enemy, the Commander said.
After what their enemy did to us I don’t think that will be a problem, Agent Black said. You got that right, the Commander said, if I ever get my hands on the people that took out those carriers, they will wish they were never born. Well from the plasma trails we followed I think the people responsible for the second one, paid the price, not sure about the first one, Agent Black said. Oh, yeah the ships we found around Titan, the Commander said, serves those bastards right. I hope they got the first ones too then, he said. We may never know, but they seem to be very efficient at taking these guys out, so chances are they got them, Agent Black said. Roger that, the Commander said.
By the way I may need to barrow two of your SF teams, and some forensic teams, Command wants me to check out a few mysterious fires in the Mars Region, Agent Black said.
Yeah, no problem get with LTC. Pertrelli, not much going on here anyway, the Commander said. Ok, thanks Commander, let me know if anything comes up, Agent Black said, as he headed to the SF Deck on the ship. He found LTC. Pertrelli and told him about the mission. Of course the Red Team SF was listening in. Since they were talking about the recent mission that the RT team and Red One had completed they reported it to, Michael. He was on the way back to home base with the team, so he told them to send a small team to accompany them just in case Gamma was checking out their bases and decided to try to get a little payback on the Alliance troops. They would send two guys cloaked on the SF ship and the rest of the team would follow in a Javelin. The Red Team SF Commander was more than happy to send his guys out since the RT team and Red One had been taking out so many Gamma bases they had not really had a lot to do.
Perhaps because she was feeling a little left out, or perhaps because she was the only one that had served on a retro fitted ship Megan reached out to Ship. Ship you know how we have been discussing bringing the SF Team’s ship back to base to retrofit the hull and all the other stuff on it? Yes, I am aware of those plans, Ship responded. What if instead we just build them a new ship, with a brand new hull design and the new engine design as well as the offensive weapon interface, she asked. Yes, we could do that relativ
ely easy, perhaps even easier than retro fitting the old one, Ship agreed.
We might want to make it just a little bit bigger than the one they have now, to accommodate a larger crew to man the weapons systems, and they have been a bit cramped since they have had to make room for the Javelins and their crews, she said. Yes, I see your point, Ship said, it may even be a good idea to make room for a Basher and crew as well. That way if they come under attack and cannot get away from the SF ship to get a clear shot they will have another ship to help defend them and the SF Teams they protect, Ship explained. Yes, your right so we will need room for four Javelins and one Basher in the bay as well as room to load and unload cargo from the Javelins, Megan agreed. So an extra forty feet or so, with sleeping areas on each side of the bay should make it the right size and still small enough to dock under the flagship, Ship informed her.
Though I will have to make the top weapons dome lower into the ship when it is docked with the flag ship, yet another reason I was thinking it would be best to have a Basher available, Ship said. Why don’t we mount a couple of the smaller weapons arrays on each side as well as the front and back then, Megan suggested. Agreed that would be best, I should be able to put this construct together and send it ahead to the manufacturing facility to have them start working on it within the hour, Ship informed her. Are we going to tell the rest of the team, Ship asked? No, let them be surprised for once, she said. I understand, it should almost be done building by the time we reach the base, Ship said. Megan was excited, not only because she thought it was a good idea but also because she couldn’t wait to see the look on David’s face when he saw it. Finally he would see what it felt like to find a whole new ship or way of doing something materialize out of thin air. She felt a little better about her place on the team. Also she looked forward to impressing her overly impressive boyfriend.
Ship calculated that the ship would require two more engines than the Bashers but would not go nearly as fast, because it wouldn’t need to. The crew of the weapons systems and the pilots would still be enough to power the ship, but it still added the two coils just to be safe.