Snippet #1349861

"Donald Flynn, this is Captain Merinov of the MSV Perch. Our guns are trained on your position, and we shall not hesitate to use them. You are your forces are to disarm yourselves and prepare to make an unconditional surrender to the Solar Territories Republic, after which you and your men will be taken into custody pending the judgment of the Directory Board. If you do not comply, there shall be no quarter. You have two hours to come to a decision."

The hairs on the back of Donald's neck stood up on their ends. Alexei Merinov had been his Commanding Officer back in the years when he had served in the STR fleet. Merinov was a cold calculating, and brutal man, and Donald had no doubt in his mind that the Captain intended to carry out his threat.

"Bad news people, fighting them on the ground is no longer an option. Lieutenant Bonnet, prep the missiles. Everyone who doesn't need to be here for the launch get to the dry dock, we evacuate in half an hour." said Donald.

Michèle repeated Flynn's orders over the Liberty's Song's PA system, and there was a ground pounding of boots as troops all over the rebel base prepared for the evacuation. About half of the people seated in the command center stopped what they were doing and left the room. Donald himself moved towards the door, intending to fetch his personal belongs from his room on the other side of the base, only to be blocked by a worried Patton.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

For a second, it seemed as if Patton would not be able to find his word, but after a brief pause, he said "A-are we sure this going to work sir? The Ulysses wasn't designed to land, ever, and even though we're on an asteroid with virtually no gravity, it's been more than a month since the last time we flew it!"

"Patton, there's no time to run a systems check. If the ship doesn't fly, we're all dead, it's as simple as that." said Flynn, before rushing off to his quarters.

About half an hour later, all the non-essential personnel had been evacuated to the Ulysses, a former STR battlecruiser that Flynn had once been the legitimate commander of. Flynn and several of his officers were gathered around the projector in the command center, watching the holographic countdown for Merinov's deadline ticking down.
"Next time the Perch is above Liberty's Song, launch the missiles. Everyone get ready to make a run for the ship, if the ship survives the missiles, which it probably will, there won't be a minute to spare." said Donald, staring down at the face of his pocket watch.

"6 minutes till launch, Commander." said Bonnet. All the various discussions going on between the officers faded into nothingness. Over the following minutes, not a word was spoken, except for Bonnet's regular reports on the time remaining.

"When we hit 1 minute, open a channel to the Perch. I'll make sure Merinov is good and distracted." said Flynn.


Aboard the Perch, Captain Merinov was in a sour mood. Giving Donald Flynn and his rabble a chance to surrender was a pointless gesture. In his opinion, Donald Flynn had been a lost cause ever since Flynn had served under him on the Voronezh. Despite only holding the rank of Ensign, Flynn had constantly disputed Merinov's orders. He would have been court martial several times for insubordination had his father not been a Vice Admiral and a war hero. After Donald Flynn defected from the fleet and formed the Filios Terrae, his father, Matthew Flynn, insisted that his son be captured alive, threatening to resign his position if he was killed. Even though Vice Admiral Flynn was more than a year dead, his influence was still protecting his son; he had made a request on his deathbed of the Directorial Board Chairman Liang Hsüeh that his son not be harmed.

"Mr. Gilmore, what is the remaining time on our offer?" said Merinov, addressing a short man seated at the head of the bridge.

"2 minutes and counting sir." Gilmore replied. Merinov shook his head. "Navigator, bring us into low orbit, prepare for bombardment."

"Wait, Captain! The base has sent a communications request!" said Gilmore.

Merinov raised his eyebrows. "With less than a minute left? I doubt it. Open the channel, but maintain our present course."

"Well Alexei, looks like you've finally got me cornered. I give up." said a raspy voice dripping with sarcasm on the other end of the line. Merinov scowled.

"Mr. Flynn, you have taken your time in coming to this decision. I was just about give to order to open fire. I still will give that order if you and your men give me any reason." said Merinov.

Flynn did not reply. For a few seconds, there was silence, which suddenly broken by the blaring of a high pitched alarm.

"Sir, multiple missile launches detected!" said a panicked Ensign Gilmore.

"How is it that they-Navigator! Evasive maneuvers, now!" shouted Merinov

"Yes sir", said the Navigator, furious keying in commands to the terminal he was seated.
Merinov slammed his hand down on the button for the ship's PA system giving the order "All crewmen, brace for evasive maneuvers!" before strapping himself into the captains chair. Not two seconds later, the entire ship jolted to the side to evade the volley of missiles that had been launched from Liberty's Song. A tense minute passed in near silence, with the Navigator occasionally giving Merinov updates on the missiles position. Finally, more than four minutes after the missile launch, the Navigator looked up from his terminal.

"All clear." he said. Merinov repeated him over the PA system, and the crew of the Perch breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"All right then. Navigator, bring us back to the asteroid on a bombardment course." said Merinov. The Navigator did not reply. His attention was fixated on something he saw on his screen. Merinov narrowed his eyes.

"Mr. Malmsteen?" asked Merinov.

"Sir...Sensors are picking up an immense heat signature from the planet, I'm not su-Sir! Ther-There's a ship of some kind leaving the asteroid...My god, they must have been setting this up for months, they hollowed the whole thing out!" said Navigator Malmsteen.

"Are we in a position to engage them?" said Merinov. Malmsteen shook his head. "Sir, scans indicates the ship is approximately 700 meters long, that means a light carriers, probably the Ulysses...Our ship isn't properly equipped to take them on in a close range engagement."

"So be it. Mantain a pursuit course, if we loose them, we'll at least have an idea of where they're going."

"Yes sir." said Malmsteen.