Outer Sectors XX: The Return

[MCHuskie]

12 ~ Jansen
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Outer Sectors XX
The Return

Lieutenant Commander Muscat sat at his desk in a darkened office. Most of the ship's crew had long since gone to bed for the night; but for Muscat, the press of paperwork to be done was too great. Well, I never sleep well anyway. Might as well get something useful done. He glanced at his desk's chrono. 02.05... I better give it a rest soon. I'm due on the bridge at 09.00. He sighed, and flicked on his monitor. Ever since receiving his acting-promotion, he'd been both CO of Iota Squadron and First Officer, not to mention the highest-ranking officer on the Warhammer - and for a time, Zeta Squadron leader as well. Lieutenant Phantom had received her promotion a few days ago, and that had eased the burden a little.

He stared at the document in front of him. It was headed “Iota Squadron Report”. Guess I won't be writing these too much longer... still have to read them though. At least Captain La Forge was lenient when it came to the timing of reports. Still, it needed to be done tonight. He added the last few words of the report, and sent it off to the Captain. His terminal beeped to acknowledge the sending.

Muscat yawned, and stretched his arms above his head. Blinking his eyes, he reached to adjust his desk lamp, when his terminal chimed.

“Good news.” Admiral Fel's image appeared on the screen.

“Admiral?”

“In your inbox. Or on the HoloNet, if that's quicker.”

Punching a few keys, Muscat switched to view his inbox. Sure enough, there was a message there from the Admiral. He brought it up, and read it.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Navy:

If you pull up the rosters you will notice something very different: The ISD Chimaera is staffed once again. All personnel from the VSD Warhammer have been officially transferred to the flagship.

Muscat re-read the message twice. Then it sunk in: they were going home!

He switched back to the comm. “Good news indeed! Thank you, sir!”

“And now, Commander” - Fel used the new rank with a slight nod - “you had best get some rest. I believe your transfer is at 09.30 tomorrow.”

Smiling, Muscat replied, “Yes, sir.” He flicked off the comm, and logged out of the terminal. Tomorrow – uh, today – we go home!

As soon as he reached his bunk, he fell asleep.



Six hours later, Muscat was already up, dressed, and in the mess hall for breakfast. The usual busy thrum of the hall hadn't yet begun, and he sat alone at the table as he ate. A datapad lay beside his plate, into which he was thoughtfully typing. A man moved to his side and stood, saluting. Muscat looked up.

“Ah, Cody. Just the man...”

“Good morning, Sir!”

Muscat returned the salute. “Grab yourself some food and take a seat – I have something to tell you.”

As Cody turned, Muscat punched a few more buttons on the datapad, with an air of finality. He took a large bite of his dustcrepe as the other man returned carrying a tray.

“Good breakfast, sir?”

“The nausage is slightly overdone, but it's not bad. Not in the same league as the Chimaera's catering, though.”

“You said you wanted to have a word, sir.”

“Yes, Cody... tell me, what do you think of this?” Muscat began to read from the datapad. “After the close of applications on Wednesday it did not take me long to come to this decision. With his many years of experience in Imperial service I feel it right that at long last a command position be given to one of Iota Squadron's finest officers.”

He noted the sudden look of tension on the young man's face, and after a short pause, continued. “I hereby promote Ensign, First Class Cody Alex to Lieutenant, CO of Iota Squadron.” The younger man's face lit up into a smile. “Congratulations, Lieutenant!”

The new Lieutenant was clearly delighted. It took several seconds for him to compose himself and think of a reply.

“Crap! I've got to update all my ID-lines now!” he said, with a wink.

“Eat up – briefing is at 09.10 on the bridge. The rest of the squadron will be told then, as well as some... other news.” He polished off the last of his own meal. “I'll see you there – Lieutenant!”

Muscat smiled as he stood, and walked out of the mess hall. As he left, Alex started doing a little dance on the spot, which went completely unnoticed by the waitress droid.


“Congratulations, Commander. I trust you're ready for the transfer this morning?”

“Yes, Captain. I'm briefing the squadrons in a few moments. And announcing one other promotion, too...”

“Ah, yes. I just got the official approval through from Fel.” The turbolift hissed open at the far end of the bridge. “Now, I believe you have some pilots to brief – do go ahead without me. Plenty to organise and all that.” The Captain walked off, pausing to shout some orders at two officers delicately moving what looked like a child's sand pit from the bridge.

Muscat turned, and looked at the assembled pilots. Lieutenant Phantom and Second Lieutenant Drazhar, as the current highest-ranking officer of Iota, stood saluting, while the rest of the two squadrons stood to attention behind. He returned their salutes. “Good morning, pilots. At ease.” The group relaxed. “We have a lot to get through this morning – and not much time to do it in, so I'll get straight in. Firstly - ” he winked at Alex - “the search for my replacement as Iota Leader is over. Please congratulate Lieutenant Alex!”
This brought a wave of applause from Zeta, and several slaps on the back from Iota. The hubbub died down, and Muscat continued.

“Now, this means that I'm going to be able to concentrate on my new job; but that doesn't mean my inbox and office won't remain open to you – all of you,” as he turned towards Zeta's officers. “And with a new job, comes a new office.” He thought for a moment. “Pilots – some more good news. The ISD Chimaera is back in action – and we're due back there this morning. I've already left Tee-nine with instructions for transferring your belongings, so you only need to bring yourselves. Your shuttles will leave at 09.45 this morning – that's half an hour from now, so there's not much time. But we figured you'd be eager to get back as soon as possible.”

Draz spoke up. “Too right. If I bang my head on that ceiling once more, I'll need brain surgery.”

“What do you mean, will need?” O'Moran said, grinning.

“Thank you, sub-lieutenant... that's all, pilots. Assemble in the main docking bay five minutes before departure. Dismissed!”

The pilots walked back across the bridge. Alex looks like he isn't actually touching the deck, Muscat thought. It's going to be strange asking for reports from him... though nice not to have to write them myself.



As he walked up the ramp into the waiting shuttle, Muscat paused and looked over his shoulder. The Warhammer's hangar, as with most things on the ship, was a lot smaller than the Chimaera's. Well, it's served us well. Can't wait to get home, though. He reached the top of the ramp, and moved into the shuttle's interior, taking a seat near one of the windows. A few minutes later, the craft's repulsors kicked in, bobbing the ship a few metres above the deck. Gracefully, it glided forward, towards the vacuum of space. As it passed the edge of the hangar, its wings folded down into flight position, into the shape that gave the Lambda-class shuttle its name. The main engines kicked in, and the ship accelerated away from the Warhammer.

From the window, Muscat watched the grey dagger of the Victory Star Destroyer recede. Turning his head, he could just make out another slither of grey in the distance, and his heart leapt. Finally free of the shipyard she had been trapped in, helpless, for so many months. There she is – the Chimaera, at long last. The shuttle's path took it in closer to the starship. Details began to become visible: lights dotting the hull. Many, many turbolaser turrets, just as many ion cannons. The shuttle drew even closer; now the bridge viewport was visible. As it began its final approach, the shuttle ducked down below the Chimaera, and Muscat's view was obscured. Not the path I'd take as a pilot, he thought. But then, I guess I'm not a pilot any more.

The shuttle finally touched down softly in the Chimaera's hangar. Hmm... last time I was in here, we managed to make quite a mess. When the Chimaera had first been knocked out, Iota and Alpha Squadrons had been forced to jury-rig some of the systems. Now, though, in front of every other panel it seemed there was a technician, making last-minute adjustments or measurements. The ramp lowered, and Muscat walked down, to find Captain La Forge at its foot. He snapped a salute.

“Captain! Good to see you.”

La Forge returned the salute. “Likewise, Commander. Welcome aboard! I hope you don't mind, I took the tour without you – there was a lot to go over.”

“I understand, sir.”

“You should find your first assignments waiting for you in your office. The relaunch party is at nineteen-hundred-hours. I'll see you there.”

“Yes, sir.” The Captain turned to leave. “Uh, one more thing, sir?”

La Forge pivoted back towards Muscat. “Yes, Commander?”

“Er... where exactly is my office, sir?”

“Corridor Nine-One-Alpha.” Muscat's face remained blank. The Captain sighed. “You take that turbolift over there...”



Several hours later, and the main mess hall on the shipyard was packed. Through the large viewport, the Chimaera stood – still, this time – but ready to return to active duty at long last. Admiral Fel, in full dress uniform and seated on the head table, stood and made his way to the podium; the room burst into applause. He calmed it down with a wave of his hand. "Thank you, thank you..."

He adjusted the microphone slightly with his right hand, and winced."Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome once again! This is the Chimaera relaunch party... take two." At this, he smiled. "You may notice we had another sandbox cake made. Unfortunately, we did not get a refund on the previous one, but we'll take it out of La Forge's salary." The room turned as one, and saw the cake in question: Enclosed in wooden panels, there was no question that the cake was shaped like a sandbox; even down to the model shovels and buckets. Some slight laughter, except from La Forge, who glared at Fel.

"But that's not all the good news,” he continued. “We've got another couple of promotions to announce. Please give your congratulations to Commander Muscat and Lieutenant Alex!"

More cheering. The two officers stood and waved from their seats, both smiling widely.

"Commander Muscat," Fel continued, "now joins Commander Laithlis in the Society of the Full Commander - something into which I was inducted by then-Commander Patrick Calder. See Laithlis after the show for the ceremony." Laithlis looked puzzled. "And Mr. Alex joins the rank of commanders after several years of strong Imperial service aboard the flagship. He had never sought higher rank until recently, but he has truly earned it after his extensive career... Congratulations, Lieutenant!

Fel continued. "La Forge has graciously decided to cut short his speech today. I think it's because he's afraid if he talks too long his ship will run away again. Before I hand it over to the good captain, let me just speak a bit about the theft and recovery of the Chimaera.

"The Chimaera was hijacked by a delusional man named Vek'din, from Effetfal, Commodore Vortagh's homeworld. He held great power in the Force to dominate minds, and it is clear he used this power for his own gain to take the Chimaera.

"In the chaos, as we got to our ships, my lovely wife, Intelligence Agent Starlit, took a shuttle and boarded the Chimaera. From there she was able to signal us, and we learned the destination of the ship. Once the ship was located, it was a simple operation to retake it, since they had no idea we were onto them.

"Vek'din barricaded himself on the bridge, so a small team comprised of High Command members backed up by Army troops stormed the bridge. There we found Vek'din, but his powers were quite considerable. However, like many megalomaniacs, he likes to talk about his power and his grand plans to remake the universe with him as the centre.

"Between keeping him distracted with the Army troops, and Brigadier Jagged Fel, Agent Starlit, and Captain La Forge attacking him, we were able to keep him enough off balance that he never saw my right fist coming. I figured one of Brigadier Jagged Fel or Starlit would stun him first, but the opportunity presented itself, and well...

"After that, it was a simple matter to bring the Flagship back here and get it ready for flight again. However, Commodore Vortagh and Commander Steel have gone back to Effetfal to ensure that Vek'din faces justice, and so you will notice them absent from the room. It is unfortunate that they can't remain with us, but they will see this through.

"For now, though, I've done enough talking. Let's welcome Captain La Forge to the podium..." Fel stepped aside and joined the applause as La Forge stepped up from the High Command table to the podium.

"Thank you, Admiral," La Forge began. "First of all, I'm really glad that we have the Chimaera back... Being a captain is a much less rewarding experience when you don't have a ship to command, you know?"

La Forge spoke for nearly twenty minutes as the officers in the room ate the sandbox-shaped cake... Many of them oblivious to what La Forge was saying...