Command office main floor; picture taken from TFCO's Office, Top Floor
Task Force 17′s Command Offices, Front Foyer
January 2, 2385, 1006 hours
Lieutenant General Jordyn Mormar stood in the front foyer of the new offices and gaped.
“Impressive,” was the word that came out of his mouth when he looked over the facility in front of him. Four stories of balconies overlooked the entire area, showing a very open-air mentality to the entire facility, where offices of people were working and could look out the balcony to the ground below or other offices. His mind raced with problems with the facility and how the security of the offices, if they were compromised, any would be a potential sniper area. He made a mental note to go over the security plans with his assistant.
For the first few minutes, he did a slow wander around the stone path that framed the internal garden, nodding to those crew and officers who recognized his uniform and saluted him. He especially smirked at the salutes, as it was not standard procedure to salute, but he could see and sense the worry in some people’s eyes about his reputation – he was known as a hard-ass, and for a good reason: he was a hard-ass. Maybe a little bit of a softy at heart, but still a hard-ass to most other people.
Including the next person he had to see.
Jordyn climbed the wide staircase at the base of where his new office would be, headed to the fourth floor. Walking there was a small price to pay to keep in shape, as he had been doing a lot of sitting lately as a flag officer. The stairs were just one part of his daily commute that he was happy about, and thankfully one he could use to prepare himself for the next duty.
“General on deck!” someone called out as he reached the fourth floor and was starting towards the office doors. The person whom had called out was the person at the main desk, right before what looked to be a turbolift to the fifth floor. “General,” the young woman said as she saluted brusquely while Jordyn was approaching the desk. “We weren’t expecting you for a few days! The admiral has not departed ye-”
“I came aboard his transport ship,” Jordyn cut her off, reaching the desk and stopping. “What’s your name?”
“Princeton, sir! Crewman Keri Princeton.”
Jordyn nodded, then crossed his arms. “Status of the sector,” he barked.
Princeton nodded and began reciting from memory. “All reports are in, sir. Theta Antares Sector secured with Caesius’ squadrons of fighters, three battleships, and defense facilities, all operating with peak efficiency. Gateway control reports no transits scheduled for the day, power generator is nominal and sensors are not picking up any activity in the sector. Relay Station 773 reports link with Federation subspace relay station networks is strong and operational. Sci-”
Jordyn waved his hand, cutting off the crewman’s report. “That’s enough, crewman,” he said. “As long as there’s nothing directly affecting the security of anything in the Theta Antares sector, our M90 operations or this office… I really couldn’t care less about the rest of the science stuff.”
“Yes, sir,” Princeton said, her spirits falling ever so slightly.
“Now, I’m going into my office. Inform the Admiral.” Jordyn walked up to the turbolift and stepped inside as the doors parted way for him, barely moving out of the way for him as he strode in. As the doors closed, he said, “You’ll do for now, Crewman.”
Office of the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer
The doors opened to an office mostly packed, and Jordyn stepped out into the main office proper. The lights were on, and he could see someone rummaging through one of the boxes as he entered. The figure did not turn around as Jordyn approached.
“You’re early,” said the person with his head inside the box.
“We had to run ahead to beat some ion storms,” Jordyn replied, raising his eyebrow at the curious position that the other flag officer had adopted. “…can I help you, Admiral?”
“No, General,” the reply came back from inside the box. “Unless you know where I put the damn holoimage of my kids… I could have sworn it was in this container…”
“Hey, no need to be rude, Nephew,” Jordyn said.
“No, there isn’t, Uncle,” Rear Admiral Adrian Mormar replied, coming out of the box and smiling, triumphantly holding his holoimage of two smiling kids. “Welcome to Theta Antares. How was the trip?”
“Thanks,” Jordyn replied. “Not bad… a little long, even when stationed on the Talarian border.”
“Just because there wasn’t something to shoot there, doesn’t mean the trip was boring,” Adrian replied.
Jordyn glared at the smiling Adrian. He really hated it when Adrian smiled; it always looked so fake. “Nevertheless, it gave me some time to think, like why I took on an assignment in this forsaken sector,” Jordyn commented. “One little defensive point, one large responsibility.”
“Yeah… welcome to the beachhead,” Adrian commented, looking out the window. “Though I couldn’t have picked a better spot to have a beachhead.”
“True,” Jordyn said, looking out the window with him to the wide open sea beyond. “Dad would have loved this place.”
“Yeah, Grandpa was always an avid surfer, and there’s some pretty… I believe the term he would use was ‘choice waves’ … on the beach over there.” Adrian pointed down the coast. “If I was here longer, I would have tried it.”
“You?” Jordyn looked over at Adrian. “You’re barely fit enough to climb the staircase anymore.”
“If you say so,” Adrian said, shrugging. He turned away eventually and looked over the boxes. “I’ll have all of this outta here within an hour, and let you move in. I was just finishing up the last of it when you came up.” He held up the holo. “Realized I wanted to have my kids not be in storage.”
“The wedding went well?” Jordyn asked.
Adrian nodded. “Beautiful ceremony. My little boy’s growing up. Sorry you couldn’t be there.”
“The Corps needs me in places, I need to stay there. I assume there’s a holorecording of it.”
“I’ll forward it to you tomorrow, while I’m headed out.”
“How’s Bri?”
“She’s doing fine. Fourth year Academy student now. Pilot training, just like her dad. What about your kids?” Jordyn turned away and stared out the window, giving Adrian as much of an answer as a spoken word answer. “Still not talking to them, huh?” Adrian asked.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” Jordyn replied.
“You know, not every ch-”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”
Adrian blinked. “All right,” he said, turning away from Jordyn and walking back towards the containers. “I’ll have this stuff out of here by 1100 hours.”
“That’s all I ask.”
“Good luck with your command, General.” Adrian slowly turned away as Jordyn continued to stare out the window.
“Sir… erm, sirs,” a voice came over the comm system. “Gateway Control just sent over an urgent message.“
Adrian and Jordyn looked over at each other. Adrian nodded to Jordyn. “Go on, it’s your task force now.”
Jordyn nodded once, then walked over to the desk, pressed a button on the desk and said, “Yes?”
“Burst transmission reads that Divine Alliance ships have breached the perimeter and are on a direct intercept course for Gateway Station.“
Jordyn’s eyes went wide. “Strength of force?” he asked.
“Unknown.“
“Initiate Sector Defense Plan Alpha. Get me the captain of every ship in range immediately. Transfer all communications links to this office as soon as possible.”
“Jordyn…” Adrian called out. “Field Marshal Bryce went over to M90 yesterday.”
“I know,” Jordyn responded. “And he’s a survivor. I’ve fought with him before; he’s a good guy, and he’ll come out on top, I’m sure of it.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
