Next Colony: Nemesis Chapter 9, Page 10

The Yamatos finally reentered the Gamma Quadrant, one positioning itself at Genesis5 and the other returning to Genesis7. Jack Steel awaited in the Shipyard, not knowing if Vice Admiral Maxwell would be on one of those Yamatos. During this entire ordeal, communications had continued to be cut off. Jack was not sure if this was the crew coming back, or an invasion. The tensions were high! All that was known was what appeared on the galactic blockchain; the Yamato7 was destroyed and reduced to a Yamato6. What was not known was whether or not there were any causalities. At last, from the skies could be seen the Scout ships descending; the moment of truth had arrived.

The small craft landed, and many unrecognizable faces began to emerge from the Scouts. It was clear who the leader was, as all of the other men gradually fell behind and around him, creating a wall of protection. Jack tensed up, and braced himself!

• Admiral Jack Steel, it's an honor to meet you. I'm Lieutenant Anthony Rafalski of Starbase Genesis1.

Lieutenant Rafalski, I'm glad to see we're meeting as allies. You'll have to excuse my frankness, but I don't feel like much of an Admiral at the moment, having had my ships taken over, and my own people keeping me in the dark about this whole situation.

• Admiral, Sir, you're quite right to be upset. I hope that you will allow me the time to offer some explanations?

By all means; but first I need to know if Vice Admiral Maxwell is okay?!

• First Class is fine, Sir. Excuse my laughter, but after what he has done, we're not really sure if he is still the Vice Admiral.

Good point; that remains to be seen. What's important for the moment, is that he is in good health. Follow me, Lieutenant, we can speak more freely in my quarters. Tell your men to relax and make themselves at home. They are, after all, still members of the Genesis Starfleet, correct?

• That's correct, Sir. We're all on the same team. Lead the way.

The men made there way to the Base, all the while remaining in silence. There was an obvious tension in the air, and Jack's red eyes clearly indicated his lack of sleep. As the crew walked through the corridors, Jack noticed that many of his own men began to recognize some of the new arrivals. This helped him to relax, as it was confirmation that these were truly Genesis Starfleet members.

So, Lieutenant Rafalski, I hope you're not offended by my saying that I've never heard of you.

• No, Sir, no offence taken. You were only a volunteer at the time of the Great Siege. And I had already gone missing by the time you began your path as an Officer.

Missing?

• That's right, Admiral. The Great Siege changed things a lot for the Genesis Project. When we discovered our first planet, just beyond Genesis1, we entered into a period of expansion. Genesis2 was found as a result of Operation Blackout. Captain Curione, at that time, had set up a no-fly zone in our local region. This allowed us to take out some Explorers that were pushing into our space. Had it not been for this Order, we would have not come across Genesis2.

Some of this sounds familiar, but what does this have to do with you going missing?

• The Captain became Commodore Curione, because he had two planets under his command. The problem was the decision to end Operation Blackout, or continue it. The Commodore, for obvious reasons, wanted to find more planets, but the competition in the area had a better head start. Our Mission Control Skill level was low, as well as our Shipyard. We also didn't have that many Explorers. Not really knowing who we were dealing with, the Commodore ordered Operation Blackout to go forward, and we Sieged some planets in an effort to send a message to not explore in our area, or risk the consequences of having their Explorers destroyed.

And let me guess, The Cryptoriddler was one of these adversaries being threatened?

• That's correct, Sir. We never sent a Siege Mission to his planet, but it was obvious that he was on our list. So he launched a preemptive strike on us, assembling a fleet from other planets that we did not know were in alliance with him. His fleet soon out numbered us greatly, and the chase to destroy us was on.

And with only two planets, there weren't many places to run or hide.

• Exactly! We soon had both Genesis1 and 2 about to be Sieged when Commodore Curione came up with a plan to hide our fleet on Starbase P2. Maxwell was suppose to lead that mission, but I insisted that he stay behind, and I took his place. He was still only a Lieutenant at the time. He was, and still is, a hero for the Genesis colonies. Losing him would have all but killed morale. Naturally, he objected, but the Commodore agreed with me.

I think I'm beginning to understand now. This explains what I found on the galactic blockchain. So you were sent on a false Support Mission?

• That's right. We were hoping to hide our fleet near the enemy Starbase, thinking that The Cryptoriddler would not attack his own planet. This way, we could wait out the Sieges and return home to build more ships. Unfortunately, everything is on the galactic blockchain, and our whereabouts were discovered. The Cryptoriddler launched an Attack Mission from a nearby planet, and we had to evacuate the fleet, as we knew we could not win. We set our ships to auto-fire, so that it appeared that we were fighting back, but in reality, we had taken cover in some remote caves. All communications were silenced, so that it would seem that we were dead.

So Johnathan took the Yamato for a rescue mission?!

• And we're obviously very grateful, Sir. Even though you may not agree with the actions of First Class. He never forgot us!

But why the Yamato?

• From what I've learned, Sir, the Yamato can only be destroyed one Tier at a time.

That's true.

• The Cryptoriddler has always had a larger fleet than Genesis. So it would have been impossible to send other battleships, as we would have only lost men, lost ships and would not have been able to rescue anyone. With the Yamato, even though the battle was severely lost, no one was killed, no ships were lost and no one saw us escape. It was a well thought out plan, Admiral Steel. But that's just my opinion.

No, it's actually a fact. I agree with you. I just would have wanted to have been in on it.

• Plausible deniability, Sir. Maxwell wanted to make it seem like an act of madness, so that you would not be blamed.

I see! This makes sense. Can I offer you a drink, Lieutenant?

• Thank you, Sir!

No, thank you! I feel very much relieved. What'll it be?

• A nice cold beer, Sir!

I'll join you, my new friend!

Next Colony: The Steembook - Chapters 1 thru 8

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