A full minute had gone by since the Torvalds had crossed the gateway and Jordyn Mormar was tense. No word back yet.

What had happened? What was the delay? Was Gateway Station still there? Would he be burying more family today? All these questions and more, no answers to satiate his active mind.

“Torvalds to Caesius,” a voice crackled in the comm speakers, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “You’re not going to believe this, but I’ve got an all-clear signal from Gateway Station’s beacon. Detecting no discernible Divine Alliance or other foreign power signatures, but I’ve got a lot of debris in the area.“

Jordyn audibly sighed in relief. “Understood, Torvalds,” he replied. “Give them any assistance required. I’ll call up some salvage ships as soon as possible.”

“General, I’m also being informed that Gateway Station is under a strict quarantine,” came the voice of Mills. The news of this latest development shocked Jordyn. “I’m in contact with the OIC right now, but all I got was there was a medical contagion on board that extended from before the attack to this moment. Sir, they’re requesting we shut down the gateway until they can give us the all-clear; they do not want to have this contagion spread to the Milky Way.”

“Understood,” Jordyn replied. “We await your signal. Caesius out.”

The line was cut and the image of the gateway showed that the pool reflecting the image from the other side wavered and disappeared into nothingness. Jordyn relaxed his posture in the standing position he had assumed during this tense time, then reached over to his desk and hit a button. “Princeton, get me a list of medical and salvage ships in the area, on the double,” he ordered. “And send a thank you note to Colonel Worth for me for the use of the runabout.”

“Yes, sir.”

Office of the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer
January 2, 2385 2045 hours

“Sir?” Keri Princeton said from the doorway of the office. There had not been a response to any of the pages from the overhead comm system, so Keri had come to the doorway and was gently edging her way in to the form of General Mormar, whom had finally collapsed onto the couch within his office and was peacefully snoring.

“Sir?” she repeated as she edged closer, unsure of the proper protocol for waking a flag officer in his office. “General Mormar?”She had approached him and was standing directly at the foot of the couch, but he still had not given any signs he was awake.

Keri eventually just left the PADD on the table in front of the couch. Just as she was turning to leave, Jordyn said, “Crewman, what are you doing sneaking around my office?”

The sound of his voice made her jump and turn around quickly, bumping into the coffee table as she turned. “My apologies, sir!” she blurted out. “I’ve been trying to contact you over the comm for the past twenty minutes, but you haven’t responded, so I checked in with the transport that brought you here and they reported that you hadn’t slept for at least thirty hours and I thought you may have crashed out on the couch or worse on your desk and I-”

“Crewman,” he said, cutting her off as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. “You talk too much.”

“Sorry, sir,” she replied.

“So what was it that was so important?” Jordyn yawned.

“Gateway Station has made contact again,” Keri replied.

Jordyn blinked and focused in. “Indeed. Status?”

“The quarantine has ended and the station is reporting a release of both Starfleet and civilian traffic as free and clear. They have contained the contagion and located the sources of infection.” Keri paused. “It came from a diplomatic convoy from a species called the Al’Sazella.”

“I remember reading up on them,” Jordyn said.

“The OIC promised a full report within the hour,” Keri said. She nodded toward the PADD on the table. “A casualty report list is right there, but I figure I should be the first one to mention: Marshal Bryce is dead.”

“What?!?” Jordyn exclaimed. “How?”

Keri hesitated, then spoke again. “Reports show that he was trying to defect over to the Divine Alliance and was slain by one of their boarding party leaders, whom in turn defected over to us.”

Jordyn blinked, then groaned. “Oh, I get to have words with Fleet Admiral Neychayev. She’s going to have a field day with the Marines once she hears about the top Marine in Starfleet being a defector… get me a channel to Earth. I’m going to have to wake her up and tell her myself.” He sighed. “I’m just glad I got that nap in. It’s going to be one long night.”

Gateway Station, Medical Center
January 2, 2385 2210 hours

“Colonel Krezek?”

The sound of the voice of the medical officer shook Kiara out of her silent observation through the transparent aluminum of the observation area of Captain Krezek… Toran, her brother. She turned her head, her blonde locks spilling over her shoulder and her deep blue eyes focusing. “Yes?” she said.

“Colonel, you have an incoming comm signal from a Major General Mormar. He’s requesting a status report.”

Kiara swallowed hard. “Is there any place where I can have a private conversation with the General in here?” she asked.

The medical officer gestured towards the back office, and Kiara nodded then headed off to the private office. She touched a screen on the desk and said, “Colonel Krezek to Ops. Route comm signal from General Mormar down to this terminal.” A few seconds later, and she was faced with the pleasant face of Mormar. “General.”

“Report, Marine,” he barked.

“The three Divine ships have been destroyed,” Kiara reported, stiffening at the tone of the older man. “Captain Krezek is still affected by the condition he is in. The treatment devised by the doctors here is effective on everyone except to- um… Captain Krezek.”

The person on the screen sighed. “His condition is irreversible?” he confirmed.

“Yes, sir,” Kiara replied.

“Damn.” Mormar’s face dropped a bit. “My first day on the job, and I have to look for a replacement for him already.“

Kiara was taken aback by his tone. “Permission to speak freely, sir,” she said.

“Granted,” Mormar replied.

“Uncle Jordyn, he’s family.”

Mormar blinked. “Kiara, I’ve known him longer than you’ve been alive. I know he’s got a very serious condition and my heart goes out to him as part of his family. However… me stopping everything because of this isn’t going to help Toran. He wouldn’t want that.“

Kiara nodded. “It’s just… been hard,” she said. “Annika’s a wreck. His girlfriend seems to be taking it pretty hard, and she’s pregnant with his child.”

“Pregnant?” Mormar repeated. “I did not know.“

“We found out about the same time as the attack started; there wasn’t a lot of time to send out notifications.”

Mormar thought for a second, then there was a light on his face. “Kiara, I want you to exactly describe to me his condition, his powers, everything.“

Kiara listed off everything she knew about his condition from the briefings she had received from the doctors and what she had observed, as quickly and concisely as she could, Mormar nodding as she gave over the information. He was taking some notes down on a PADD, and when she finished, he was still jotting notes down with the stylus. Once he finished, he looked up. “Kiara, I need to ask you: are you ready for your own command?“

“…what?” Kiara said, dumbfounded at the news. “Command?”

“Yes,” Mormar replied. “You have the experience to command a base. There’s a sizable Marine contingent on Gateway, so it makes sense. You’ve got the training. You’ve got experience with that whole Morning Glory Outpost thing. But there’s one other thing you’re going to have to do, if you do accept…“

Office of the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer
January 3, 2385 0836 hours

Jordyn still had not left his office since he got there.

“Living quarters”. The thought that he had been assigned living quarters on the base as well as his office was laughable. Though he was perfectly entitled to a nice set of quarters, Jordyn had the suspicion he would not be utilizing them much. He was a workaholic; he knew it and most of his ex-wives knew it too. Having enough time for life and a family… it just did not compute for him. Happiness was reserved for Joe Citizen out on one of the colonies, not for the tired old soldier who had spent his life defending Joe Citizen’s right to enjoy his life.

“General Mormar,” Keri’s voice came over the comm link. “The Torvalds just returned back to the hangar. Captain Krezek and company are aboard.“

“Thank you, Crewman,” Jordyn replied. “I’ll meet them over at the medical building.”

There was a battle going on, and he was not at the front lines.

Lieutenant General Jordyn Mormar hated that most of all out of all the parts of the desk job in the world. He went over the tactical assessments for what seemed like the hundredth time, trying to keep his mind off of the fact that people were dying, and he was not there to lead the attack at Gateway Station.

Part of him wished he could gallivant off through the Iconian gateway, floating just beyond the gravitational pull of the Theta Antares star, a stationary window into a whole new galaxy of danger. He could easily commandeer a starship from Caesius’ inventory, ride off to the gate, save the day and be a hero… but he could not.

He would not.

He should not.

Instead, Jordyn resigned himself to staring once again at the tactical analysis of the area. He picked up the PADD that contained all the Divine Alliance intel they had – ship types observed, weight classes, ideology… not a lot to go on. There was much guess work in the Federation’s database about this power. It had declared war on the Federation via a chance encounter with the Sizemore, and the Sizemore had barely gotten away with its hull intact.

He read over what he already knew: religious zealots, bent upon converting every sentient they come across to follow the teachings of what they called the “Divine”. What it really is, the Federation had only begun to guess, but it had to do with some form of… psionic energy field they believe permeates the Universe. Belief in their teachings means you get to join it in the end. Non-belief… they kill or enslave. Forcefully enslaved races that did not believe for labor and resource gathering; it is speculated that the Divine Alliance also believes that this servitude is “atonement”. They do take prisoners, but first to indoctrination camps and priests. Ships seem to consist of many species, most of them slaves, some are not.

Divine Alliance faster-than-light drive systems work differently than the Federation’s, and this was the part that Jordyn did not understand. There was something about “subspace folding” and “instantaneous travel”; he didn’t know the details, but essentially the drive could “jump” a ship up to thirty light-years away instantly, as long as there was two massive weights on either end – dwarf stars or above. Must be good to have that technology, Jordyn thought to himself. An entire battle group shows up on your doorstep, and the other fleet is days away at high warp. Clever.

There had been no word back yet from Gateway Station, and each moment he thought about it, the more down to the pit of his stomach he was about them. He was mean to his family, he knew – Captain Krezek was his nephew – but not entirely. Jordyn had hoped that Toran knew how highly he thought of him, but he probably did not.

It had been a few hours, and there was no word from the Iconian control room on the super gateway. Jordyn had several cups of coffee since then, trying to calm his nerves. He had never been this nervous, even as a grunt on the front lines. Then again, as he thought to himself grimly, the threat of galactic invasion would do that to him.

Crewman Princeton came into the room, and Jordyn looked up hopefully. “Any news?” Jordyn asked.

She shook her head. “No, sir,” Keri replied. “The Iconian communication line has been reported as being inactive.”

“Damn,” Jordyn replied, staring off into space and thinking. “We’ll give them another hour. Contact Colonel Worth, and get her ready to send out a runabout to the other side. Have a volunteer flight crew report to my office within fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, sir,” Keri replied, turning around and heading out of the room.

Jordyn nodded and turned back to his desk, calling up a tactical report of the sector, seeing the readiness of the area…

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Jordyn started to the assembled pilots. “I am not going to mince words: I want to send you into a dangerous situation in which you might not come back. I want to send you into a potential battle situation. You will be highly outnumbered and outgunned, and this will be a almost suicide mission. And to Hell with me sending in a group to their deaths without knowing their names. Name and rank.”

“Mills, William, Captain,” the officer of the group snapped. “I fly for Echo Two in the base’s air defenses.”

“Captain Mills,” Jordyn replied, extending his hand to shake Mills’. “Did you volunteer for this mission?”

“Yes sir.”

Jordyn nodded. “Any family, Mills?”

“My family was killed during the first stages of the Dominion War. I have been an orphan ever since then.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jordyn replied. “Do you have a death wish?”

“Sir,” Mills said, looking Jordyn in the eye. “No I do not. I have a sense of duty.”

Jordyn stared the man right back. “All right, pilot,” he said. “Your mission is straight recon. Fly in and assess the situation at Gateway Station. Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular: just get in, find out, and send a message back as soon as you are through. Understood?”

“Sir, yes sir!” Mills and the flight team responded.

“Gear up in ten minutes. I want you transiting the gateway in half an hour, tops. Dismissed.”

Jordyn watched the four men file out of the room swiftly and with little fanfare, admiring their courage. Courage is what won battles, and he just hoped he was not sending the young men into the middle of one.

Runabout Torvalds
Approaching Iconian Gateway Control
January 2, 2385 1310 hours

Captain William Mills blinked at the immenseness of the structure, and gazed upon it in awe.

He had been briefed on the gateway. He had seen simulations of what it did, how it looked in space as it sat there, a massive engineering feat that was still beyond Starfleet’s best scientific and engineering minds… but nothing could have prepared him for the immenseness of the structure.

The Iconians had crafted a fine facility, indeed.

A beep got Mills to look back at his console and then open a channel. “Gateway Control, this is the runabout Torvalds, requesting priority connection to M90 Gateway. Authentication code One-Niner-Beta-Omicron-Seven-Alpha.”

“Authentication code received, Torvalds. You are cleared for Gateway transit. ETA to activation two minutes.”

“Copy that, Control. Holding station for the activation procedure to complete.” Mills powered down the engines, and watched the station outside his window.

A green beam shot out from the top of the structure, shooting out into space impossibly fast. Slowly, crackles of energy began to show up on the six projectors, and the inner faces began to glow. Soon, a gleam of energy began to coalesce along the glowing emitter segments, and they began to slowly creep towards the center of the ring like quicksilver. It began to pool in the center, and slowly a flat disc formed, an atom thick but widening. Energy began to build again in the emitter segments, glowing and crackling. Eventually, the disc had pooled enough to touch the sides and there was a flash of energy across the surface, which caused Mills to squint slightly. When his vision cleared, he was looking at an image of the other side of the connection to another galaxy. Small specks of charged particles danced around, being pulled into the pool and exiting sixty million light-years away in another galaxy. Mills could see the gas giant in which the gateway on the other side faced, the massive planet almost completely filling the area.

It was a breathtaking sight.

“Connection established, Torvalds. You are cleared for transit.”

“Copy that, Control,” Mills replied, looking down at the console. He pressed a few buttons, and announced again, “Torvalds to 17 Command. We are transiting the gateway now. Wish us luck.”

“We save luck for the Fleeters, Captain, but Godspeed nonetheless,” came the bite of Jordyn Mormar’s voice over the comm link.

“Yes, sir,” Mills replied with a smile as he activated the thrusters and pushed the runabout to the threshold…

Jordyn Mormar had already been in his office for an hour and a half when he had got the message.

Early mornings were a habit, ever since he was a cadet at Westpoint. Up before dawn local time, a KP run and stretch, hit the firing range, and then starting on his duties. A good routine for himself. Just a few people from his generation of Marine officers still did that… but he considered those that did not lazy. A coffee and a light breakfast later, and he was all ready to go for the day.

But now…

Maria was on the way.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. Jordyn had asked for Maria to come out here personally, but Jordyn didn’t actually expect her to come out to Theta Antares, much less take command over from Brigadier General Worth.

And, against all odds, she was expected this evening.

He hit a button on the control panel. “Keri, I need some bandwidth on the Caesius communications array, a secure channel to the… USS Landsdowne,” he ordered. “Contact Colonel Huddle, get it done.” His finger left the call button, and he started pacing, worried about what to say to this woman, probably one of the only women in the Marine Corps to make him sweat profusely as he was doing right now…

———————————————————————-

USS Landsdowne
May 13, 2385 0751 hours

Maria read over the report about the mental condition of Brigadier General Worth. ” This is bad.” She said to her ex husband over the screen. He had seemed genuinely surprised at the orders to have her transferred under his command.

“I agree,” Jordyn replied on the screen.

“I only met Rae Ann in person a couple of times, but Holy Christ Jordyn she seemed stronger than this ..” She could not even find the correct word to describe what the Psychiatrist and Counselors were calling a ‘ Complete nervous breakdown.’ ” crap…What the Hell happened out there?”

“People have their breaking points, Maria,” Jordyn replied. “They had her past her breaking point, and from what I observed from the way she treated her staff, it was being tested even while on duty. You’ll have your work cut out for you out here.” He sighed. “The mission reports-”

” Don’t give me what the fucking reports say, I know what the fuckin mission report says, tell me what happened out there?” Maria was getting angrier by the second ” It takes more than a little phaser fire to knock a damned Marine General completely off her rocker this way!”

“Maria, calm down-”

“Don’t you of all people tell me to calm down!” She pointed at him. “I still have your Stephenwolf music, and will break it into a thousand pieces!” She moved to a shelf behind her, and took a data cyrstal out of a box, and then loaded into the computer a Take a Load Off Annie by Stephenwolfe begin to play. She closed her eyes the familiar lyrics of ‘ I rode into Nazarth, I was feeling half past dead..’ brought back memories of a happier time.

“MARIA WOULD YOU CALM THE FUCK DOWN!” He had lost his cool head as she was playing the music, not from the fact that she might destroy it – music was replaceable, after all – but from the fact that she looked like she was having a breakdown right there and then. “Break the music, I don’t care. Just listen to me and let me explain the situation. You wanted a briefing, and you’ll damn well get one, and stop flying off the handle every time a sentence that comes out of my mouth doesn’t start the way you want it to.”

Maria set down on her desk, her arms folded. “I just don’t know what to think.”

“Neither does anyone else,” Jordyn replied. “This happened too suddenly for anyone to figure out overnight. Cussing me out is not the way to go.”

“I am not cussing you out, you would know it if I was.” Her arms were still folded, but she was listening to what he had to say.

“I bet I would.” Jordyn allowed a very small smile to cross his lips. “The reports said she was very brutally tortured… and I believe it was the truth. I also believe, and this wasn’t in the reports, that she did break under the pressure of the interrogation. I can see it in her face… I’ve ordered the XO of the station to change every security protocol, rotate security schedules differently, and I’ve personally fired the Chief of Security. I would have liked to fire him from a torpedo tube, but we all don’t get what we wish for.”

“The XO what’s he like?” she asked him, because she wanted to have an idea if person she would be working closest with was capable or not.

“Seems competent enough,” he said. “Colonel Huddle is adequate at being XO, but might have something to do with family ties… I’d still watch out for him, though. He was Officer In Charge at the time of Worth’s kidnapping.”

“Great…” She rolled her eyes ” and Dufray what does he say about all of this?”

“He’s been… rather quiet as of lately,” Jordyn allowed. “I haven’t heard word one from him since I got here. I know this isn’t exactly kosher, Maria, but… can you watch him for me? I have a feeling that something’s not right with him.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me?” Her arms unfolded, and she moved back behind her desk into her chair. “This gets better and better.”

“You’re working with me, it should be better and better,” he replied, arms unfolding as well. He leaned closer and put his elbows on the desk in front of him, resting his head on his hands. He took a deep breath and said after a moment, “It’s… it’s good to see you again, Maria.”

“Yeah well when I get there I will bake you a cake!” she said, watching him relax a little.

“A cake, you say…” Jordyn thought for a moment. “What kind?”

“Jesus, Jordyn I don’t know: What kind do you want?” It was going to come from the replicator anyway so it did not matter to her.

“Something with chocolate,” he said. “And perhaps a good shot of cherries too.”

“I will make a note of that.” She smiled slightly.

“When will you get here?”

“We have been traveling at warp 9, so a few more hours.” Her orders had said ‘ASAP’ so the ship had been going maximum warp the entire trip.

“Excellent,” Jordyn said. “I have a feeling Colonel Huddle will appreciate the relief from paperwork.”

“Alright, I will see you soon. De’Masi out.” She closed the channel, and then looked up Colonel Huddle’s profile… this was going to be interesting indeed.

———————————————————————-

Office of the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer
May 13, 2385 0756 hours

Jordyn slouched back in his chair, wondering what kind of fate will befall the kingdom now. He pressed the call button. “Keri, get in here.”

A few seconds later, the outer door slid open, and in walked Keri Princeton, his assistant. “Yes, sir?” she asked.

“Any other ex-wives decide to get assigned to this sector, please, tell the planetary gunners to put me out of my misery,” Jordyn said, leaning back in his chair and looking at the ceiling.

“Sir?” Keri asked, a confused look crossing her face.

“Never mind. Prepare to receive a flag officer in the next few hours. And apparently I’m going to need some plates and cutlery.”

Adrian had moved out of the office, but that was the furthest thing from Lieutenant General Jordyn Mormar’s mind.

Right now, his mind was focused on the three ships confirmed to be approaching Gateway. Ever since their first encounter with the Divine Alliance, where they had unilaterally declared war on the Sizemore without so much as a friendly greeting, they had been the enigma. Why their ships couldn’t travel beyond this natural border in space in between the five sectors and the rest of the galaxy, their seemingly endless numbers of ships, even their biology was a mystery. The only things that were known were that they wanted the Federation to join their religion… or suffer the consequences.

And for people like Jordyn, this was unacceptable.

“Are your ships making for the Gateway?” Jordyn was asking.

“Yes, sir,” Colonel Rae Ann Worth, commanding Caesius Marine Base proper, responded from the split-screen conference. “The Bellona, Lexington and Salvation are all crewing up as we speak, ETA to the gate less than an hour. The Revelations and Exploration are out on patrol and are at least sixteen hours away at maximum warp.”

Jordyn nodded. “You seem to carry the maximum amount of firepower at your station at all times. I like that.”

Rae Ann shrugged. “It’s what we do, sir.”

Jordyn smirked slightly at that, then addressed the other commanding officers. “The rest of you, I know your ships are a ways out and cannot support us in time. It is my hope that you will be able to turn around and help with defense as soon as possible; all ships within M90 have been alerted to the presence of Divine ships within our area of operations. If they do cross the gateway… then God help us all. Every ship currently on exploration and science missions is hereby suspended from said mission and is reassigned to get their asses back here on the double. Break warp speed records, I don’t care, this is vital defense of the entire Milky Way Galaxy; if the Divine Alliance get through the gate… there’s no telling what kind of havoc they will wreak upon the Federation.

“We will update you with information as we get it. Task Force 17 Command Out.”

The screens all went black, revealing the Federation logo, and Jordyn hit his call button. “Crewman Princeton, in my office, please.” A moment later, the crewman was bounding into the room. Youthful exuberance, he thought to himself. Wait until you’re older kid, you won’t do that anymore. “Crewman, I need a list of all personnel in this office, and I need their personal phaser tactical rating by 1300 hours. Put the office on Yellow Alert; I was phasers on everybody’s belts, defensive perimeters set up, and the Office Emergency Defense Plans on my desk within the hour.”

“Yes, sir,” Keri responded, turning around and heading to the turbolift again.

And now for the hardest part… the old warrior thought to himself. The waiting.

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…