Command Deck, Alliance Air Command
Alliance Air Command
Prototype Atmospheric Carrier
Floating Several Kilometers Above the Capital
Before...
He should be with his men.
That was the only thought running through the exhausted duros army lieutenant as the shuttle touched down on one of Alliance Air Command's surface landing pads. It was raining this far above Lujo's largest city, and despite how long Sol had gone without sleep the downpour buffeted him back into a state approaching wakefulness when he and the pilots made their dash for the craft's interior. Beyond the massive repulsorlift powered engines that held the massive structure aloft, he barely caught sight of the other atmospheric barges in their formation through the sheets of rain and cloud cover. Air Command was impressive enough, but together with its convoy it made up a sort of floating fortress patrolling the Lujo skies, an archipelago of structures bristling with defensive emplacements.
From what little Lieutenant Stazi understood of the carrier's function, he knew that it was the base of operations for the most senior military personnel on the planet. He had no idea what he could possibly be doing here, but a runner had brought him new orders practically the moment the Sixty-First had touched down on the surface, and the next thing he knew he was on board a U-Wing and headed for the capital. The message had simply said to report to the command vessel, so the moment the airlock door shut behind them shutting out at last the natural elements, the young duros officer found himself now at a complete loss as to how to proceed. As far as he was aware, he didn't know a soul on board.
"Lieutenant Stazi?" a drawling Outer Rim accented man called out from behind him, catching his attention, and as he turned he came face to face with a mustachioed human in a Defense Fleet commander's uniform.
"Sir!" Sol immediately snapped to attention, offering a smart salute, "Reporting as ordered."
"Follow me," the human commander raised his eyebrow at him almost appraisingly before shrugging and nodding.
The naval officer set a brisk walking pace down the corridor, and Stazi fell into immediate lock step behind him. The commander did not speak as he escorted Sol through the labyrinthine interior of the airship, and that was fine by him. Sol remained dimly aware of his surroundings as fatigue began to creep its way back in, and from the inside the structure might as well have been a starship for all he knew. Regulated atmosphere, durasteel plating under his feet, and spartan bulkhead walls of Alliance design, they could have been on a Valor-class if he didn't know any better. Stepping into the first turbolift they came across, they rode the transport without making eye contact, although even through the weariness the duros got the uncomfortable feeling that the other man was glancing at him out of the corner of his eye.
The turbolift doors opened out onto the open design of a command deck, only instead of starfield in the glasteel viewports, there were the tumultuous clouds of Lujo's skyline. Standing before the largest viewports, at the very front of the bridge, was an older duros, this one also in a Navy uniform. The old man turned, Sol's exhausted brain making the connection just a moment too late.
"Ah, Lieutenant,"
Mazik Stazi, now Captain of the ANS
Rebel's Hope, acknowledged him as he waved them both forward to the front of the bridge.
Sol's eyes widened, then narrowed sharply as he scowled, "Hello, father."
Now...
He should be with his men.
"How many?" the Captain was barking to a sensor officer as the command deck all around them descended even further into chaos.
"Unknown," the young Devaronian woman answered, "Admiral Thuku has made confirmed enemy contact on the outer edges of the system, but we don't know how deeply their scouts have penetrated into the system."
"Am I dismissed yet, sir?" Sol interjected at the first opportunity.
"A moment, Lieutenant," his father glanced his way, before continuing, "The Admiral seems to think this is just the speartip of a greater invading force, but without direct evidence we can't be certain. To strike at us again so soon after Velga, and across such a great distance, I find it hard to believe we could have missed such a build up in-"
"Captain," the young duros interrupted in frustration, "I really need to get back to my unit."
Mazik glanced his way, and simply said, "Request denied."
"Sir-" Sol began before the Captain could turn back around, but the old man turned back toward him upon first hearing his voice.
"All nonessential traffic both arriving and departing this vessel is suspended while the system is not secure," Captain Stazi explained, a look of barely restrained anger on his features, "And getting back to your platoon, while essential to you, is not to the continued functioning of the Defense Force. Now, if you would like to be useful, you can proceed above deck and assist with the coordination of the defensive prepar-"
"Gladly," Sol grunted and turned his back on the other man as he stalked off towards the turbolift.
"I haven't dismissed you, Lieutenant," the Captain called after him, his voice now oddly mild.
"Go cry to JAG about it," his son snarled as the turbolift doors closed.
Turning back to the wide eyed command crew as if the scene had not just occured, Captain Stazi continued seemingly unperturbed.
"Contact Lieutenant Commander Vryyr aboard the
Hope and have him hide in the shadow of one of the nearby moons," he ordered, "Undercrewed as she is, she won't be of much use here. And send out the alert to scramble all fighters on the surface."
"Already done, sir."
"May the Force be with you," the old man mumbled under his breath as he gazed out onto storm clouds on the horizon.
