Change in Command

[Zara Drecker]

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From : Commander Nathan West

To : All Section Leaders of the NRSF

It is my sad duty to inform you that Major General Tohmahawk has gone missing and is now presumed dead. All we can work out so far is that he may have been ambushed by beings unknown. We are presently investigating. Until formal appointments can be made, the following command structures are in place…..

…..Captain Zara Drecker is now in full command of the NRSF fleet and will assume command immediately…..

……If I have been over long, I apologise. This is a very difficult time and I know many of you owe your continued careers to James. While I cant be be quite a free handed as he could be, I will do the best I can.

Nathan West


End Messgae


Top level Encrypt eyes only

From : Zara Drecker

To : Nathan West

Nathan,

Whats Marcus up to now?

Zara



From : Nathan West

To : Zara Drecker

Zara,

This is no undercover assignment he is doing. He’s genuinely been killed. We didn’t find more than burnt bodies where his speeder was found. One of the bodies bore his DNA, plus we also found that sword of his. Think if he was alive, he would leave that dangerous thing around? We got beaten back by the weather, but we plan to retrieve what we can when the weather breaks. Sorry Zara, this is for real.

Nathan



From : Zara Drecker

To : Nathan West

Sorry about the delay in reply, but…. Its hard. I just can’t believe someone managed to kill him. Have the Jedi been told?

I just got the condolence fro the Chief of State and her personal orders. I’m glad she has confidence in you Nathan… I’m not sure if her confidence in me is justified tho. I had a word to Ackbar and he will be bringining the 1st Fleet to Arcan. He’s going to start a fast track training for me as I’ve never run a fleet before. He’s sympathetic but at the same time, he doesn’t want a minor newbie mistake wiping out the NRSF fleet. Anyway, we will begin fleet war games next week, which I’m grateful for. I’m calling up all ship Captains and set up my staff.

This really sucks

Zara



From : Zara Drecker

To : Nathan West

What the FRELL are you doing? Who in the seven hells was that woman? She came up here, beat up some of my best troops and then went through Marcus’ personal items like she damn well owned them. I have never, ever seen anyone like this – she was like the Bitch for Hell. She’s here right now demanding someone called Jina Jade! You better have an explanation for this outrage



From : Nathan West

To : Zara Drecker

Zara, my abject apologies, because she hit us too. She beat all security, plus also ripped through anyone who go in her way. I don’t know who she is, but she has some sort of interest in that girl, connected with Marcus. I cant tell you exactly what, but just do as she says for now.



From : Zara Drecker

To : Nathan West

Nathan,

She’s just left…Oh Gods, she told me before she left. I don’t know what to think right now. This has just been too much for one day.

We can’t afford to let either that girl or her go. She’s agreed for now to remain on Arcan and she’s coming back to you. My God, she’s unbelievable. I didn’t think the Jedi knew combat that well.



From : Nathan West

To : Zara Drecker

Oh thanks, that’s all I need, a woman whom I can’t work out is either a demon or a force of nature here near me. Well…. If she wants to stay we will need to give her cover. I’ll work that one out, amongst all the rest of the ****. Want to swap?


From : Zara Drecker

To : Nathan West

Not on your life. Whatever problems I have, they must pale before yours.

Now we have had that bit of excitement and the blood mopped up, we’re beginning to get ready to deploy. Fortunantly, Defender takies longer than anything else to get ready, so the rest of the fleet will be ready same time Defender is. That should be 48 hours.

I probably wont have time to reply before I go, so good luck. I’ll try to catch you in person once I’m back. Ackbar says that will be two weeks.

Oh, one final note before I sign off. One of those cats of Marcus was female and has just had kittens. 5 of them. The mother’s taken residence in a maintenance locker. I think the whole crew wants to adopt one. At the least, it lifted the feelings of sadness here a bit.

Zara

--

[Admiral Ackbar]

The flagship of the NR first fleet the Mon Calamari Super Star Cruiser SMC-150 "FREEDOM", glided through a twisting tunnel of light and energy as time and space itself springed from the unknown dark void.

On the bridge of this colossal ship, stood the most the most highly decorated officer in the New Republic fleet. The old Mon Calamari, mesmerized and pondering at the same time, peered out of the viewport as streaks of starlights blazed by. It was a sight he never ceased to be fascinated of. So beautiful, yet deadly. Traveling through hyperspace was not to be taken lightly. Poorly planned astronavigation routing had caused unpleasant encounters with black holes or worse for many unfortunate crews. Yet, these risky shortcuts, far away from the major starlines and traderoutes had their advantages. They stirred less unwanted attention. Exposing fleet position and movement to the enemy was certainly something any commander with half a brain and talent dreaded to do. And who else would know this better than the one and only Admiral Ackbar?

"Admiral, we are on course to Arcan IV. We are on schedule."

[Jyanis Scorpion]

The long blades of grass filled the view, swept against the ground by his movements. He lifted his gaze upward to the edge of the field, his hand adjusting his utility belt to a more comfortable position.

Cupping the canister in his hand, he fired it, barely making a sound. The Electronic Disabler Capsule (EDC, or "Headache" device) clung to the makeshift sensor array in an instant, emitting an ion surge into it. The box-like machine shimmered blue for a moment before quitting altogether.

He crawled forward to edge of the forest, setting himself up against a thick tree trunk with his elbow, speaking into his collar mounted comlink.

"Castle, this is Bravo One. Incursion phase complete. Proceeding to target."

"Copy that, Bravo One... King says you should've kept your voice down."

"Say again, Castle?"

Suddenly he felt the familiar cold pressure of a rifle barrel at his neck, and he knew he was dead.


Bravo Two crawled frantically along the ridge of the chasm, perilously close to falling over. His Railgun positioned across his front as his elbows continuously dug into the hard ground. He flipped his visor down to look through the macrobinoculars. There, in the distance. He could see the three laser scored AT-STs in the depths of the chasm. He tapped the side of his visor until he came to the right setting. Laser designator. He zoomed the sight in on the first two and laced the ground right between them. The other one was further off, so he laced that individually, and put his mouth to his comlink.

"This is Bravo Two calling in a bird to lay an egg. Come in now."

"Bravo Two, this is Tau Four. Pair of eggs headed your way."

He turned in the dirt and began crawling back, his weapon in hand. Soon enough, the familiar roar of an E-wing filled the sky, a brief flicker of a shadow passed over and was gone as quick as it came. A few seconds later the chasm lit up with the explosion of a proton bomb, then another. It shook the ground beneath, though far away.

The soldier grinned and turned his head back to keep crawling, right into the empty barrel of a rifle. He looked up at the man, with a firm, sinister look on his face. The man took a step back, raising the rifle to fire, and laughed.

"You almost got away this time, Druise. Almost."

Druise stood up and brushed himself off, "So you got Telun too?"

"Yep, as usual he talked too loud. Boy needs to learn to whisper. You saps are just too easy."

He grinned and pointed the barrel to Druise's stomach jokingly.

Druise shoved it aside, "Next time, Sarge."

===

General Jyanis Scorpion, New Republic Special Forces Ground Commander, sat in front of the console within the close-to-complete Delta Base.

"You know I'm not even doing anything and this is fun. Like a good holofilm."

The controller beside him smiled, "Sir, Number Two is near ready."

"Good."

Number Two was the current communications codename for the fleet of starships under his command, also known by some unofficially as the "Hensara Fleet", though that system was still under the control of the Sith.

The controller passed him a datapad, then stepped to the side.

Scorpion looked it over. Nothing critical. Exercise scores and performances in other activities. Preparation for the bigger ones.

He passed it back to the controller and returned to the viewscreen in front of him for more entertainment.

[Zara Drecker]

she sat at her command chair, drinking a hot drink as she oversaw the final preparations for the exercises.

"Madam? This from Republic control. Final Orders"

"Ahhh, I have been waiting for them. Thank you Ensign"

She accepted the datapad, reading it with an impassive face.

"Set course for these co-ordinates. And where the hell is Scorpion? He's supposed to have the last of his forces rolled up and packed"

A buzz came on her private intercom.

"Drecker, this is Scorpion. I'm onboard"

"Bout bloody time. Ackbar is waiting at the jump off point. Allright, get this POS moving!"

--

Anohour later, the first smaller craft jumped, followed 10 minutes later by the huge SSD's, ISD's, MC-200 and the Argus battle station that were the mightly hammer of the NRSF / Arcan IV fleet.

"Damn practice ****" Commented Scorpion as he came onto the bridge.

"Tough. You want command of these toys? Be my guest. You can take them for these exercises. Now Get your blue butt and make sure we're ready to roll when we revert"