Episode 15 - Roman Defeat [4th]

The last RPG was "Zeta Gundam: Tales from the Frontlines - The AEUG" which ran from 2006-14.
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- Side 2, L4 -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

Wade Wilson stood at Abbey’s side, reading over the captain’s shoulder as he skimmed a copy of the 4th’s latest edition of a rushed after action review. Each version that came in got thicker as missing info trickled in to the Dervish; this one boasted a particularly sobering list of confirmed casualties and lost equipment. Wade whispered, “Jesus...” when he saw the list of missing and dead crew from the Gela and Thunderchild. Abbey grunted in agreement and shook his head as he flipped the top page back over.

“You know,” the captain said, handing the report over to Wade, “I’m going to be relying on you even more until we’re back at Luna. With Cmdr. Roth dead you’re officially acting as my chief mate,”. Wade nodded as he tucked the report under his arm, “I won’t let you down, sir,”. Abbey patted him on the shoulder and said, “I know you won’t, son. Let’s keep at this so we’re ready to call that debriefing by the time we find a place to stop outside of L4.”

- Sick Bay -

Celeste was moved to a spot next to Barrique’s bed, and the doctor had finally worked his way over to examine her. After a general look at her condition, he held her eye open to watch her pupil as he clicked on his penlight. “Intracranial injury... she’s comatose...” he mumbled to the person standing behind him. There were so many people in the room that anyone healthy was now working as a nurse, taking down notes, monitoring the wounded and administering aid.

“Mild TBI, but she appears to be stable. Keep her in this neck restraint and make sure someone monitors her oxygen levels. She needs X-Rays and an MRI, but that’ll have to wait...” he rattled off, expecting his impromptu assistant to write everything down like all the medical conscripts had been instructed to. He finished scribbling on the umpteenth triage tag he had filled out today and attached the yellow card to Celeste.

“Red,” the man behind him said, confusing the doctor for a moment. Lekarz turned around to find Fritz Ashlyn standing at Celeste’s bedside. “Oh Christ... Nobody was writing any of that down?” the doctor complained aloud to everyone nearby when he realized Fritz didn’t have a clipboard. After a moment he remembered what the pilot had said. “What do you mean ‘red’? She’s stabilized and her injury doesn’t appear to be life threatening, barring proper examination that is. She’s staying yellow,” he responded angrily, lowering his voice to add, “There are men in here that are literally about to die and you’re in my way, lieutenant commander. She can wait. Please move,”.

Fritz’ arm twitched as he kept himself from grabbing Dr. Lekarz. Michiko watched from the other side of Celeste’s cot, her eyes indicating she could somehow see Fritz’ moral dilemma. A year ago he would have grabbed Lekarz by the collar and told him Celeste would not wait. Fritz was pulled back to reality by the groans of a gravely injured man that lay nearby. One of the younger pilots, Markado, was comforting him as best he could. Fritz made eye contact with the injured man for a brief second and then averted his eyes to step aside and let the doctor go about his business.

“Damn it,” Fritz blurted under his breath as he left sick bay and stopped outside the door. Michiko was right behind him, and she came to rest against the wall opposite him. Fritz chucked his helmet down the hallway and it clattered off the ceiling. They floated there for a moment, and Fritz rested his head against the palm of his hand. “I have to get out of this damn suit,” he said, his voice louder and sounding much more defeated than he had intended. “They get uncomfortable...” Michiko agreed meekly as she set off after him again, this time back in the direction of the hangar.
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Markado was too focused on the man he was helping to notice the doctor unknowingly rattling off Celeste's prognosis to Fritz Ashlyn. It wasn't until the doctor realized his error and spoke out that Jacob looked up. His eyes tracked down to Celeste and he winced again at the way she was secured to that neckboard. It was a stark reminder of how injured she could be.

He heard the word "yellow," though and had quickly picked up on the terminology in the sick bay, knowledge he wasn't particularly happy he possessed now. After all, there may come a time when he'll hear the word "Red" used in reference to himself and it's almost a certainty he'll hear it about people he cares about.

There wasn't much he could do for this man, anymore so he rises abruptly. "I'll help you doctor," he says, grabbing a clipboard and falling in behind Lekarz. He tried not to look at the patients as he writes as quickly as possible to keep up with the doctor.
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Heyden had got shafted. Totally shafted no shuttles he could pilot and Sager had kicked him out of the hangar damn fast when heyden refused to put a normal suit on.

"Well F***" He mumbled to himself leaning in a barren hallway. He puffed away as he made his to the ready room. Inside he quickly noticed some punk(Korbel) slunched in a chair.

Heyden shot him an eerie grin, as he recognized a bottle floating around the room. The veteran pilot was in a foul mood, if he was itching for a fight or just a conversation who knows, but his voice did a good job conveying he wasn't interested in a hug.

"You drink that all by yourself big man?"
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- The Dervish -
- Ready Room -


With no one in sight Bernard closes his eyes and tries to concentrate. Just as he does a voice rips through the air.

"You drink that all by yourself big man?"

The voice sounding somewhat familiar but not enthused enough to find out who it is, a irritated Bernard opens one eye revealing a pilot, probably stranded like he was.

"Sure did. Traded my suit for it. Best damn drink I had in years. Now, if you don't mind I'd like to get myself ready for the bad news to start rolling in." With that retort, Bernard shuts his weary eye and attempts to focus but damn if his curiosity wasn't peaked.

..f@%ing dammit, now where have I heard his voice before?
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Heyden smirked and balled his hands into fists. As he quietly walked closer examining the bottle.

He recognized it.

"What bad news could their possibly be? You're in one piece aren't you."

Heyden said making his way to the vending machine.

"You pinch that bottle off your C.O.?"
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Celeste lays motionless in the bed in sickbay, the only indications that she is still alive are the steady rise and fall of her chest and the metronome-like beat of her heart monitor. Oblivious to the world around her, the only thing Celeste is aware of is her past.

-0716 hours, January 3rd, 0079-
-Outer Hull of Reah Colony Tranquility-

“Celeste, there they are.”

“I see `em, Dad.”

The white SP-W03 skims over the metallic terrain with a thick metal hatch in it’s manipulators and a hard suited figure secured to it with magnetic handles. Celeste slows the work pod down as she approaches a trio of workers who are wearing similar space suits. Over the com, her father begins issuing orders.

“Brandon, Gerald, help me get this door in position. Roberto, get that one off it’s hinges. I want to be out of here in 10.”

Everyone moves to their task. Roberto quickly starts removing the pins that connect the door to its frame while the other two assist her father with the door. While there is no gravity in space, there is mass, and trying to move a several hundred kilo steel hatch is extremely risky with anything less than 3 people.

-6 minutes later-

A bored Celeste watches with a stick of Pocky hanging from her mouth as she watches her father and the others finish attaching the new hatch. The old one lays against the hull not far away. They’ll take it back to their shop to repair it. Refurbished doors function just as well as new ones, but drastically reduce the cost, and Kelvin Angelina is famous for not just his uncanny knowledge of colonial construction, maintenance, and repair, but also for the quality which he carries out said repairs.

Another monotonous job is almost done, and with a hatch and 4 external passengers, Celeste won’t be able to cut loose and have any fun on the way back to the hanger. She’s pretty much resigned herself to a long, slow, boring return trip when something catches her eye off in the distance where the colonies of Hatte are just barely visible to the unaided eye. She’s about to dismiss it when a star is born and dies, and another.

“Dad? Are those flares from Hatte?”

Celeste knows those lights aren’t flares, that no flares in the Earth Sphere are that bright or large, but her mind refuses to acknowledge the truth without verification, because there is no reason for anything capable of generating those light to be used, ever, let alone in proximity to a Side.

“Dad?”

Celeste looks back to see the others stare off towards the neighboring Colony cluster.

“Everyone, get inside, now! Celeste, got to the hanger and lock up, then come straight home, got me?”

“Dad! What the Hell is going on!”

“Celeste! GO!”

-0900-

The Angelinas sit clustered around the television in their living room. So far, the only thing the news has been able to confirm is what Kelvin had suspected all along, that those lights were indeed nuclear explosions.

The news anchor is repeating what has already been said for the nth when he suddenly pauses and listens intently to his ear bud and pails noticeably.

“This has just been confirmed. At 7:20 AM, the Principality of Zeon has declared war on the Earth Federation and has already launched full scale attacks on Hatte, Mua, and Zarn. While the use of Nuclear weapons have been confirmed, there are unconfirmed reports of chemical and biological weapons as well. The Senate has convened an emergency session and the Civil Defense Force have been put on combat alert.”

After a pause, he looks directly into the camera.

“God protect us, all.”



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- The Dervish -
- Ready Room -


"What bad news could their possibly be? You're in one piece aren't you."
Heyden said making his way to the vending machine. "You pinch that bottle off your C.O.?"

Bernard just about to drift off unto sleep before he comments. "Not worried about me..we're depleted in firepower and pilots. It would be a nice time for us to get hit besides every time we get reinforced the pilots get younger and younger...oh, the doc was eying the bottle so I struck first..Barrique, I'm aftriad is..."*snore*
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- The Dervish -
- Hangar -

That hatch opened with it's usual speed and Eckardy didn't have to stop or slow down as he entered the hanger. Eddie has ended up taking his time in getting to the hangar, slowing down, taking hallways that were out of the way, things like that. The time alone had given him some time to think.

Things sucked, that much was clear. The 4th had gotten the crap kicked out of it, that much was clear. But, Eckardy found himself wondering, was it really that big of a defeat?

And that was why he went off on his own, passing through more or less empty areas of the ship to let his thoughts run wild.

For starters, his mind began, they had lost ships and an untold number of mobile suits and crew. Eckardy didn't know the overall numbers, the only person he knew to be dead was Roy, but had a feeling he'd learn them in the next few hours or days or whatever. However, he knew the enemy had been hit hard too, that Zeonic squadron looked to have been wiped out, which had to count for something, and he hoped, prayed, that the Titan forces that had sprung the ambush had been hit hard too, but at the moment, that was just hope. Still, Eckardy was wondering about everything.

His mind had went on with something similar to that for a minute or two, before he finally realized what it was; he'd seen worse. Much worse. The whole situation that led him here, that f***ed up patrol of Earth orbit, that had been a crazy situation. The losses weren't as great in that action, or so it seemed, but the Dervish had taken a major beating from that action, as so few of the current crew knew. That had been, to use Captain Abbey's words, an epic clusterf***. He mind drifted to a few other battles he'd seen with the AEUG, such as Jaburo.

And none of those actions compared in the slightest to being in Europe in the spring and summer of 0079. That had caused a shudder from Eckardy when his mind reminded him of that. As bad as these battles where, watching entire armored regiments, thousands of men at a time, get wiped out in futile and pointless battles that they knew they would lose, although no one spoke such thoughts out loud, was something Eckardy knew would never be topped. Ever.

From this, Eckardy found himself going back to looking at the upside, however meger it was, and going back to the hanger. The upside, in this case, was they had hurt the enemy to some extent, and they were going back to Luna, which was always good. Meek, made up, looking foawrd or whatever, it helped.

When Eckardy re-entered the hangar, he had returned his normal goofy grin to his face. But again, no one was really present and Ian had probably gone off to his room to sleep. Eckardy didn't really mind, he returned to the spot where he'd watch the whole Sager/MacAlpin event and resumed watching the events in the hanger for the time being.
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- Several Hours Later -

- Outside L4 -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

The ships of the 4th now hung in a loose formation in open space, in a ‘safe’ spot chosen at random outside of L4. Inside and out, every one of the warships was teeming with activity as their crews had finally begun to conduct proper repairs. Inside the Dervish, gravity had at last been restored, making several of the more pressing jobs (including the work of the flagship’s tired doctor) a great deal easier to accomplish. Since leaving the shoal things had been quiet, which let the captain and his remaining command staff finalize most of the damage and casualty reports. Abbey had informed the fleet that the ships’ captains and every remaining pilot were to shuttle over to the Dervish for a meeting that would begin 45 minutes from the time of his announcement.

Abbey and Wade were ready to leave for the room where the debriefing was to be held when Jane suddenly rose from her seat to stop them. “Captain! Chief Polk just passed the word along that the communications laser is ready to be tested,” she called out to them. The captain stopped himself as the bridge door slid open and turned back. He crossed back over to the comm station and nodded for Jane to continue. He watched intently as she went about powering the laser system back up, and managed to stifle a sigh of relief as the system’s lights all showed up green.

“Excellent. Send an acknowledgment to the Argama at once,” he ordered, “And send someone down with their message if they reply before we’re out of the meeting,”. The ‘incoming message’ light had been on ever since the Argama first attempted to establish contact with the Dervish, and their short message had been repeating during the 4th’s entire trip out of Side 2. “Aye, sir,” Jane responded as she went to work. The captain nodded to Wade and gestured ahead of him back in the direction of the door.

Abbey had just about made it to the same spot he was in when Jane had stopped him the first time when he heard a message start to print at the comm station. Sure enough, Jane called out to him again. If the Argama had responded this quickly, and with a coded message no less, they had been trying to contact the 4th for such a long time for a very good reason. Jane tore off the lengthy printout as the captain approached again, and Wade stopped at his side as he began to read. As Abbey made his way further down the page, he shook his head in disbelief. “Dear God...”

- Meeting Room 2 -

Clute Tideland, alone for the moment, sat down in the fourth row of chairs and propped his feet up on the seat in front of him like he had during his first meeting as a member of the 4th. That seemed like half a lifetime ago now. While the 4th had slipped quietly out of L4, Clute had taken care of a few of his post-battle duties as leader of Team 3 before gratefully retiring to his quarters to pass out on his bed.

When the announcement had awakened him, he cleaned himself up and swung by the mess hall for a drink before deciding to wait for everyone in the meeting room. He took a small sip of fresh coffee from the container he carried and chuckled at how easy it must be for the cooks to return to their normal duties after a battle. He took his sunglasses off and folded them shut to hang them from his chest pocket. “Suppose it ain’t really easy for anybody,” he corrected himself aloud, his nasal New Yark accent filling the silent room.
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It wasn't until he heard the captain's announcement that Jacob left the infirmary. Between the exertion and excitement of the battle and the emotional toll of seeing the pain filled and deadly results of that battle with the injured, he was exhausted. It would be luck and memory as much as anything that would allow the medical team to read the scribbles he makes as notes towards the end of his shift as a volunteer.

This was his first opportunity to get out of his normal suit and it was truly rank, the sweat his body generated during the battle having long ago dried and leaving a layer of irritating filth on his skin. The suit was dumped down the chute that would take it to be cleaned and he got into the shower.

It took him far longer to get clean than it should have as he kept forgetting which parts of his body he had washed and cleaned them again. By the time he got out of the shower, he just had time to put on his clothes and rush to the briefing room.

"What's not easy for anybody, Sir?" he asked Lt. Tideland as he moved to take a seat near him. He couldn't help but stare longingly at the coffee in the man's hand.
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Heyden had quickly left the room with Bernard after the punk had fallen asleep mid sentence. Pan's adventures up till the announcement were negligible and not even worth writing out, unless you're interested in his bowel movements. And if you are just use your imagination.


* * *

Having nothing to do Heyden was one of the first people in the meeting room. There were some others in the room. Surprisingly he could see 'Tibs' and the gang from the New Yark.

Thibault Chareux greeted his team mate with a bit of vigor.

"Lt. Heyden sir!! We thought we had lost you! What happened."

"Can it kid. Read the report. We might end up talking about it during the debriefing anyways."

Heyden said rather annoyed avoiding the Gazes of Melo and Guanche.
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The general announcement had woken Bernard from a half-hour sleep that felt more like 2 minutes. Having not eaten for half a day has left him with a slight headache. As Bernard makes his way to the meeting room he grabs a chocolate bar, the only thing he can find.

Entering the room, he feels like a janitor since his pilot's suit was cut off to treat him. The spare cover-alls someone had given him were a size to big. Evening having the sleeves rolled up to add something different still made him feel like a janitor. Avoiding eye contact with the other pilots, he choose a seat in the rear corner away from the others. Not being in the mood to chit-chat, Bernard hunkers down and beings to munch on the bar.

Feels odd being the only pilot from a lost ship.
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- Salamis Kai-class Chuikov -
- Mobile Suit Bay -


"No need for your life story, Jay-gee," replied Jonas with what good-naturedness he could muster, "Just don't scare me like that. Really, I would've sent someone to back you up. You know we can't afford to go it alone out there, so don't."

Jonas then pushed off Julian, adding, "We're due for a meeting on the Dervish, so I suggest you clean up and be at the launch in ten."

- Later -

Unlike a lot of AEUG officers who defected directly from the EFF, Jonas didn't wear a leftover Federation uniform, but instead the plainer uniforms unique to the AEUG. It was in this uniform that he leaned against the bulkhead and waited for his subordinates to arrive so they could get going. Chuikov Team was likely to be the last ones to show up.
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-Caroline Tucker and Nathan Dombrowski

Caroline had almost made it back to her quarters when the announcement reverberated through the corridors of the Chuikov. She wasn't used to Abbey's tendency to summon everyone to mass meetings on the flagship, so she assumed the worst from the sudden summons.

"Oh my... this sounds bad! Gotta get back to the hangar..."

She took off down the narrow corridors of the Chuikov, bouncing roughly off of the walls at breakneck speed but unwilling to slow to a safer velocity.

Rounding the final corner before reaching the hangar she ricocheted suddenly and quite accidentally into one Nathan Dombrowski.

The captain generally prided himself on his habit of keeping aware of his situation, but I believe it's safe to say that no one really expects to be blindsided by a rapidly moving redhead while making one's way through a military vessel. The collision caught him totally off guard and sent them both tumbling nigh-uncontrollably into the hangar.

Through luck or divine providence Dombrowski somehow snagged a railing as he passed, and siezed Caroline by the collar of her normal suit. After righting himself he jerked her around so that he could identify his accidental assailant.

With a flash of recognition he growled, "Caroline Tucker... I knew you were trouble the moment you set foot on this ship."

"I-I-I'm sssssso sorry, sir! Ididn'tseeyouandI-"

"I'm certain that you did not intend to collide with me (you aren't as insolent as that MacAlpin boy), but regardless of intent you behaved recklessly and clumsily. I will not tolerate such behavior from my pilots. When we return from the meeting you will be severely disciplined for instigating this incident. Until then we shall not speak of the matter any further. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Now let's get moving."

-Jim MacAlpin

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- The Dervish -
- Meeting Room 2 -

Team 2 entered the meeting room with oddly contrasting expressions. Eckardy had his goofy grin, which seemed oddly out of place at the time, as did the grey 'Visit Francesca Colony!" t-shirt (Complete with a shapely woman in a swimsuit) that was exposed from his half unzipped pilot suit. Marvin looked exhausted, eyes half closed and red rimmed. Ian, the last one of the team, had a blank expression and no decernable emotions.

Not that they were payed much attentioned. A few guys from Team 3, Clute and Markado, were already seated in one room and seemed to be talking. A group from one of the other ships, none of them knew which, but it was the New Yark's team, were chatting in another spot, while a single pilot whom none of them knew was sitting off by himself in the rear corner. Marvin promptly went and found a seat in the center of the back row and slumped down in his seat. Ian followed him and took the seat to his right, putting him a few seats away from the loner. Eddie, being Eddie, leaned against the back wall of the room as he stood roughly behind his two teammates.

Inspite of the grin he had, his attempts to look at the bright side of things hadn't done as well as he'd hoped. In the few hours he'd had more or less to himself, he'd gotten a few things done. The first had been to get Cowboy to sit down with him and Ian in the mess hall and eat, cracking bad jokes and silly stories all the while. They'd gotten Marvin to grin a bit, which Eddie took as a good sign, but the boy was still in something of shock. Other than himself, Ian, Jane and one or two other crew members, and Roy, Cowboy really never talked to people a great deal, so the loss of the easily likeable Grunwald wasn't easy. The fact the Roy was such a good guy, at least to them, made it worse.

Eddie had also made his way to the bridge, partly to help Jane out, but mainly to talk to her for a few minutes. He'd helped her fiddle with the comm station, during which time she'd told him about Alan Roth. That had been a shock, but Eckardy was taking it in stride. It had helped that after that he'd managed to slip off to his room and sleep for an hour or so before the briefing call had come. Eckardy was keeping his emotions under control and under wraps, he knew he'd be able to let them out later. That always happened.

He stretched and decided to light up a cigarette. Marvin had glanced back at him and, without any spoken words, Eddie gave and lit one for the younger man. That Cowboy had started smoking was somewhat suprising, since he'd never done it in previous months, but Eddie figured, and hoped, it was a coping method.

And so they waited for everyone to arrive and see what happened...
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Wes arrived at the briefing room, glad that they were finally getting on with the debrief after waiting for so long. Obviously the losses they took left them with no choice but to alter standard procedures. But at least now they can get an idea of what the hell happened to cause such high losses.

Walking in, Curren takes up a seat next to Clute and Jacob since he couldnt locate Fritz or Team 1 anywhere in the room. He sat there, waiting for the others to hurry up and get to the briefing and for something to happen.
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- Outside L4 -

- The Dervish -
- Meeting Room 2 -

Despite getting some much needed rest, Clute realized he still wasn’t fully alert when Jacob Markado managed to sneak up on him. He wasn’t really startled by Markado’s voice, but he still rubbed his eyes to keep from looking foolish as he turned to answer his subordinate. “Nothin’, kid. Don’t worry about it,” he dismissed the question with a swig of coffee. He straightened up and took his feet down after a moment of thought. “Hey, I meant to clean up and check on Celeste before this thing went down, but I didn’t get the chance. How’s she doin’?” Clute asked, leaning toward Jacob so he could keep his voice low.

Towards the side of the room Lt. Mello stood with Hard AE and the New Yark's Capt. Guanche; he crossed his arms sheepishly as Heyden greeted Chareux. “Yeah, the report was interesting, Pan. You went off to join Abbey’s wild ride for fun and profit and left us holding the bag trying to guard the Yark with a 3-man team,” Mello said, his tone a little accusatory. Guanche cleared his throat and the lieutenant backed off with a grumble.

“What’s done is done. Regardless of the circumstances Mr. Heyden left us in, we’re all alive and the New Yark is in better condition than some of our fleet’s other ships,” Capt. Guanche said, not needing to go into detail about the ‘other’ ships he was referring to. As if to illustrate his point, Capt. Loweno entered the room entirely alone. André nodded a greeting to the men that acknowledged his arrival and solemnly took a seat in the front row.

- Hallway -

Abbey and Wade had picked up their pace after they had both read and re-read the message from the Argama to make sure there was no misunderstanding its contents. As they made their way to the meeting room through a hall of quarters, Abbey shook his head emphatically at the suggestion Wade had just made. “No, no. This isn’t something we can keep –” he began, but was cut off in mid sentence as they came to an abrupt stop. Fritz Ashlyn had stepped out of his room to get the captain’s attention, and he had it.

“Jesus, Fritz, you look like hell,” Abbey said bluntly as he looked the pilot over. Fritz had changed into his older sleeveless Titans jacket, but beyond a clean uniform he looked a wreck. “Sir,” Ashlyn wheezed, “I need to speak to you, now,”. Abbey shook his head, both at Fritz’ appearance and his request, “No, Mr. Wilson and I are on our way to the debriefing... you can talk to me there,”. Fritz ground his teeth and lowered his head. “No, sir, I really need to speak to you now,”.

Behind the three men, a few doors down on the other side of the hallway, Michiko had nearly stepped right out into the open right after Fritz had stopped the captain. She quickly darted back into her room’s doorway to listen without making her presence obvious.

Fritz’ tone and his troubled look told the captain he had better find some time to listen. He gave an irritated sigh and turned to Wade. “If you’ll excuse us for a moment, Wade,” he said, eliciting a single raised eyebrow from behind Wilson’s dark sunglasses. Abbey turned back to Fritz and nodded, gesturing past the pilot into his quarters. Michiko watched as Wade shook his head in annoyance and looked at his watch while the captain followed Fritz inside and the door shut behind them.

- Fritz’ Quarters -

“I’ve got some very sensitive information here that just came from the Argama. Just what the hell is so important that you’re making us late to this debriefing, Fritz?” Abbey demanded. He stopped a few steps inside the doorway and watched as Fritz slunk back to his bed and sat down heavily. A few empty, crumpled packs of cigarettes littered the room's lone desk. Fritz rested his head on his hands and blew out a breath. The room was dim, with only one of the overhead lights turned on.

“Captain, I feel there’s several things I need to confess,” Ashlyn began, forcing the words out. Abbey choked back a reply when he realized Fritz intended to continue speaking. “The largest of which being... Sir, I feel like I have to take personal responsibility for my part in convincing you to enter Side 2,” Fritz came clean, his vision never rising from the deck. “What? Bullshit. You don’t get to take responsibility for any decisions I make, lieutenant commander,” Abbey retorted, a little offended.

Fritz finally looked back up at the captain and shook his head, “No, sir. I don’t. But when I deliberately mislead a superior it’s a different matter,”. Abbey’s eyes went wide when he realized what Fritz had just admitted.

Over the next few minutes, Fritz divulged everything that had been playing out behind the captain’s back, from his relationship with the Ritters and Nick to his interests in convincing Carl to steer the fleet into the shoal. Abbey’s face turned red in anger as Fritz went on, until he had finally heard enough. “Damn it! Damn it, Fritz! Of all the people...” he growled, his hands clenching into fists, “I’ll deal with this, and you, later. We have a hell of a lot more to discuss,”.

He fumed in silence for a few seconds more, his gaze cutting into Fritz from under the brim of his hat, before he slapped the door control and stormed out. Fritz’ head sank back to his hands as the silence closed in on him. Within a minute of Wade and Abbey leaving his door, it jingled for his attention. “No,” he croaked, assuming it was someone reminding him of the debriefing.

“Fritz?” he heard Michiko ask from the hallway. He sat and waited a moment, hoping she’d leave him be before finally relenting. “Enter,” he called out. The door slid open and Michiko hesitated before coming inside. “Are you coming to the meeting? ...What was that about?” she asked, clasping her hands behind her back. She could see how troubled Fritz had become since the battle ended, and felt reluctant to leave him alone if he needed someone to talk to.

- Meeting Room 2 -

Wade entered the room before the captain and then realized calling everyone to attention would serve no purpose. He stood awkwardly at a sort of half-attention as Abbey entered behind him. The captain and Wade put several stacks of papers down on the table at the front of the room, and then Abbey stepped forward. “We’ll get started as soon as everyone is here,”.
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Cardi Doorl
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- Supply Launch -


The ride to the 4th Advance Squadron's flagship had been largely in silence. Jonas resisted the urge to say something to Caroline, who he knew must have been suffering the most after the last battle. In the end, he didn't. Jonas remembered what it was like to go through the same experience, and remembered that anyone who'd tried to talk to him about it had come off as overbearing. He was lucky that his own immediate superior had had enough sense to give him room, while at the same time keeping him busy so he wouldn't have time to brood.

That impulse to say something to her ate away at the back of his mind nonetheless. He told himself it was because Caroline was young and female that he had the urge to be more protective than was actually helpful, and once again found himself doubting his qualification as a suit team leader. Really, he was only in charge because the AEUG was understandably shorthanded.

He shook the ideas out of his head. He was overthinking a simple matter. Caroline just needed to be returned to a sense of normalcy, and sooner or later she would come to terms with what she'd experienced. Trying too hard to help her would only worsen what was a normal part of experiencing war.

- Irish-class Dervish -
- Launch Bay -


Jonas pushed out of the launch and instantly knew that Chuikov Team was late. Well then, might as well act naturally and thus be fashionably late, right?

Chuikov Team's leader gestured with a nod of his head; the kind of gesture that would be obvious to the two in the launch that he was informally signalling to move out. He made it to the door out of the bay, then slowed down to let Caroline and Julian catch up.
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Heyden smiled, not smirked. Smiled.

"I wouldn't of left, you guys if i wasn't completly confident in your abilities." He suddenly nudged Hard AE.

"You shoulda seen me! I bagged three Zekes and a musai. " He laughed vigorously.

Heyden took a step forwards and slapped Melo on the shoulder.

"I'm impressed that you brought the rest of the team back in shape. Good job. I'll buy you a beer."
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Al lazily wandered into the room, still in some sort of daze; his eyes glazed over and vacant as he scanned the group of people assembled in the room. He shuffled slightly, momentarily losing his balance before regaining it and leaning against the doorframe. With a shake of his head, he again righted himself and moved to a seat next to Bernard.

"Bernard..what..happend?"
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