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Only
The Fittest
FM-TOA/COL Mell/Pi 3-2/Wing VIII/ISD Colossus
(mell@isdcolossus.com)
Colonel
Mell was heading for his office to start on his squad's mounting
admin pile... since he was lost on the M/CRV Chalquila and lost
his WC Spot, the job never held it's own. perhaps it was down to
the fact he was no longer a Wing Commander. as Mell entered hisoffice,
he surveyed his desk, strwen with data recorders from recent evaluations,
a half written report and an almost empty bottle of chalquila with
a glass next to it.
"Oh the joys of command" Mell mused as he quickly tidied
his office before getting to work on the administration he'd let
build up.
Some time later, Mell was just completing
the last part of his report, his ID Line, when his Com Link burst
to life.
"Mell here, report?" Mell ordered.
"Mell it's Drake here from the colossus" came the reply.
"Go ahead Lieutenant" Mell said, curious as to why Drake
was contacting him.
"Check you r mail, i sent you somthing, the proverbial crap's
just hit the fan, we need you back on the colossus again!"
Drake exclaimed.
"OK i'll be in contact Drake, Mell out" he replied.
INCOMING SCANDOC TRANSMISSION...
TARGET: CMDR'S OFFICE, CYCLONE SQUADRON, ISD CHALLENGE
ORIGIN: LT DRAKE, ETA SQUADRON, ISDCOLOSSUS
SUBJECT: DECOMMISIONING OF THE ISD COLOSSUS.
As Mell read the document
before him he silently worded 'what the...' and drank some Chalquila.
TO THE CUREENT STAFF OF
THE IMPERATOR CLASS STAR DESTROYER COLOSSUS. with the recent departures
of VA Ari and the sudden departure of RA Chei-Ras to assist in
his family crisis, also the fact that this Wing is down to circa
19 pilots, it is the flight office's decision that this ISD be
decommissioned within 2 months. Pilots consult with WC/MAJ TroutRooper
for redeployment, for what it's worth, i'm sorry.
BGCOM/VA Jarak/ISD Immortal
Mell slumped in his seatand
took a large drink of his Chalquila.
"decomissioning the ship...we saved the Colossus last time
from a similar fate, let's do it again this year" Mell thought
Mell grabbed his comlink "Katarn Report to my office"
Mell ordered.
"Yes sir!" came the reply
1 minute and 3 seconds later, LCM Kyle Katarn entered the Commander's
Office and closed the door.
"LCM Katarn, you are hereby instated as Acting Commander of
Cyclone Squadron until a Replacement can be found, me and ALCI fleet
are heading for the Colossus...Dismissed Katarn" Mell said
in an authoritive tone. Katarn didn't move
"There somthing more, Commander?" Mell questioned
"Yes, Sir there is, i'm coming to the Colossus too." Katarn
said
"But what about Cyclone?" Mell enquired.
"Darklord's Problem" Katarn countered.
"Well contact MAJ TroutTrooper then." Mell conceeded
"As you wish, Sir" Katarn said and headed for the door.
Mell then finished his Chalquila and set off for his Quarters.
Wyldefyre. the Bot/Barmaid
of the ISD Colossus Cantina was busy serving drinks to her regulars,
chatting and keeping things clean. the Cantina seemed a little more
crouded than normal, and all eyes were on the table set in the corner,
sat round it was MJ Troutrooper, the CMDR's of the Colossus and
a few select pilots.
"Why the hell are they shutting us down?v 20 pilots or 74,
we can still be effective!" CM Wap Eal Growled and raised a
small cheer from the pilots listening in.
"as much as i hate it too, but the BGCOM has made his decision,
we can't undermine him. And as much as i have tried, i am unable
to make him see reason." MAJ Troutrooper said.
"Well there's only one way we can fix this" chirped up
the voice of the Colossus' newest Commander, CM Starr
"We're Listening Starr" LT Drake said
"Get jarak here so we can talk with him." starr said
"Great Idea Starr" Troutrooper saiud
TroutTrooper patched into the ships internal comms and linked into
his office, he then proceeded to establish a link to the BGCOM's
offices on the ISD Immortal.
the link made it through to Jarak.
"Aah TroutTrooper, what can i do for you?" Jarak asked
"Jarak, can i request that you come on board the ISD Colossus
to attend a meeting with me and my commanders please? TroutTrooper
also asked
"I'm actually just about to dock, you're in the cantina i presume?"
Jarak mused
"Yes we are here" TroutTrooper replied
"Be Right There" Jarak replied. the comlink went dead.
Minutes later jarak entered
the Cantina under armes escort of 6 Stormtroopers from the ISD Immortal.
Jarak joined them at the table and the meeting commences, blood
boiled, shouts were exchanged and they were getting nowhere fast
the room fell quiet when a message came in from docking control
for MAJ TroutTrooper
"Go ahead Docking control" TroutTrooper asked
"sir, i think you're going to be needed in your office, there's
about 8-9 pilot transfer requests here also there's a Modified Corvette
coming out of hyperspace 0.7 clicks from us, it's transmission codes
match that of the Chalquilait's also forwarded us a docking request"
the controller reported. Drake smiled when he heard this news, so
did a lot of people in the cantina.
"docking Control, allow all ships to dock, please also send
a request to ship comms to announce a shipwide meeting in docking
bay... in a free docking bay if we have one at 19:00 hours."
TroutTrooper ordered"what are you doing?" Jarak asked.
"Adressing my staff..." TroutTrooper countered. "now
if you excuse me, Sir, i have another meeting to attend"
with that TroutTrooper left the Cantina heading to the Modified
Corvette's docking bay, LT's Drake and Darknyte in tow.
Colonel Mell brought the modified
Corvette Chalquila into tractor beam frange and allowed the docking
control staff to bring his pride and joy into the docking bay. Mell
immediatly set his uplink from te Spectre Advanced Missle Boat to
the bot Wydefyre to get up to date on recent events, he watched
the meeting that had just happened and studied it carefully. once
it had finished, Mell then left the ship to be greeted by a few
old staff members he knew when he was Wing Commander of them, they
set about cleaning the ship up and refuelling it, MAJ troutrooper,
Drake and Darknyte were all entering the docking bay as mell finished
talking to the last docking bay techincian. All three stopped infront
of Mell and saluted
"Oh, no TT, it is I who salute you, sir!" Mell joked
"you heard then?" TT sais solemnly
"let's just say someone keeps me informed" Mell said as
he handed TT a datapad.
INCOMING SCANDOC TRANSMISSION
- DELIVERY BY HAND
FROM: CMDR/COL MELL/CYCLONE
TO: A-COM/MAJ TROUTTROOPER/WING VIII
SUBJECT: TRANSFER REQUEST
I HEREBY RELINQUISH MY COMMAND
OVER CYCLONE SQUADRON TO TRANSFER TO THE ISD COLOSSUS.
END TRANSMISSION
"Good to have you back,
Sir" TT said saluting
"At Ease, Sir!" Mell ordered
the party of four headed to Mell's quarters which were still in
place onbaord the Colossus.
The party soon entered Mell's quarters and took up seats around
Mell's superb sabacc table, the table had to be dusted down, it
had not been used for such a long time. after a quick clean up,
and pouring 4 glasses of drop down mix mell had left over from when
he and Chei-Ras last had a party, they got down to some serious
planning
"So people what exactly do you have in mind for this wing meeting?"
Mell asked, sitting back to put his feet up on the table.
"Well, right now jarak's at the mercy of the pilots with WF
controlling things" TroutTrooper replied
"Ok, lot of traffic out there today? people leaving allready?"
Mell asked again.
"On the contrary, Mell quite the opposite, people rejoining
in protest to the possible closure of the ship, i heard COL Sindar's
name as well as Onwai's mention ed in there. a few other old familiars"
Drake replied
"hmm... if the ship does stay open, who will get COM?"
Mell thought outloud.
"you interested Colonel?" Darknyte asked.
"possibly, but since i've just walked out on a CMDR spot i'll
not be likely to get it, if applications do get taken, the WC usually
rises to the position" Mell stated
"woohoo Commadore TroutTrooper!" Drake exclaimed.
"let's not jump the gun now we all might be leaving this ship
soon" TroutTrooper reminded.
the 4 were then joined by CM Avantar, COL sindar, CPT Onwai and
the CMDR's to plan the arguaments for not closing the ship, this
involved an hjour long session of drinking, a few people smoking
and lots of debates flaring up about how to progress...
Meanwhile, VA Jarak, finally
in the retreat of the BGCOM's old quarters before it's move to the
ISD Immortal, he slumped into the chair and opened a com link to
the Flight office to report on the recent activities.
"Pri here, wassup Jarak?" VA Priyum Patel asked.
"it's the situation on the colossus, they've just had 8 pilots
request transfer in the last 3 hours" Jarak reported
"so i've seen, they've all been approved as well" Priyum
stated
"Approved? i thought we were closing this ship down? not letting
more people join" jarak said with a hint of anger in his voice.
"hey, until i hear it's closed people can transfer in if they
want" Priyum again stated. the comlink went dead. the door
chime then bleeped
"enter" jarak said, COL Mell waled through the door.
"good Day Jarak" Mell said taking a seat
"come in mell, why don't you sit down?" jarak mused
"thanx, about this Vacant COM Spot, here's my Application"
Mell said sliding Jarak a datapad
"thanx for your interest, Colonel, but no applications are
being taken for the commadore spot." Jarak stated
"Oh, so TT's the new COM?" Mell said trying to scour an
answer from Jarak.
"there willl be no new COM, the ship is getting decomissioned,
of did that info slip past your little network?" Jarak said
again a hint of anger getting into his voice.
"so how, if this ship manages to stay open, do you expect it
to function with out a proper flag office?" Mell said again
trying to scour more info from jarak, clearly seeing the anger building
up in him.
"mell, lemme try to put this in a way your cryptic mind will
understand. When I look at this situation I see a hand with the
ISDs as fingers. Each of them is starving, and it seems that the
Colossus is worst off. My first inclination is to amputate one finger
to save the whole hand. that better for you?" Jarak replied
"A little, but in this day and age, an infected finger can
be cured. Good day Admiral" Mell said and left the BGCOM alone
with him dwelling on the last words.
Jarak then again opened a channel to the flight office
"pri, get me theo, i have my decision on the colossus' fate..."
It was almost time for the
meeting to commence, all docking bays were occupied except for the
one with the M/CRV Chalquila Mell was unreachable to be asked to
move his ship, in the end the technicians just worked round the
ship. the ship itself was unlike any M/CRV's in the fleet, it had
been finely decorated and sealed the colour of the ship was a dark
purple with lightning bolts painted onto it, the ship had to have
been hand painted. on the side of the ship, it's name emblazened
on. 'Chalquila' the drink of mell's choice created back in his piloting
days on the challenge, a raring Lieutenant commander with co-inventer
CPT VAder. the recipe sold onto a local brewery who make it to the
exact recipe and the two take royalties from sales to maintain themselves
as they please, mell uses his to maintain ALCI Fleet. with still
a lot of repairs being carried out on the flag ship, the FRG ALCI
which was undergoing transformation into a fully automated ship,
similar to the VSD Stalwalt
Pilots began to enter the docking bay, most dressed in their best
uniforms, all medals polished up, boots gleaming, all perfect. all
pilots took their seats in the docking bay as VA Jarak began to
talk.
"i'll be brief. this is not the decision i wanted to make for
this ship. but you all must understand i can't babysit the colossus,
i have another 3 ISD's to look after too. but it seems the pressure
round has been won by the colossus... for now" Jarak said as
a cheer went up from the croud, echoing in the docking bay.
"The ship is on a probationary period to see if it can function
again as a ship" Jarak stated. COL Mell rose to his feet
"Tell me Jarak, just how do you expect a ship to function properly
when you are not installing a Commadore?" Mell asked
"MAJ TroutTrooper will continue on as Acting Commadore until
the end of the probationary period when the ships situation will
be further reviewed" Jarak stated.
COL Mell sat back down with a look ofdisgust on his face. the details
went on as squadrons were sorted and the transfers completed then
a priority one message for Jark was recieved by the colossus
"take it on my ship if you like Jarak, it's here" Mell
said a sly grin on his face
"thanks, but no thanks mell, i know all too well about the
bugs you got on your ships" Jarak said and left the docking
bay. he re entered the docking bay 5 minutes later with a box in
his hands
"MAJ TroutTrooper, Front and center" JArak ordered, TroutTrooper
complied
"I hereby bestow upon you the rank and position of Commadore/Rear
Admiral, congrats TT" Jarak said smiling
"thankyou, Admiral" TroutTrooper beamed.
"you may install a Wing Commander as you see fit but..."
Jarak was cut off by TroutTrooper
"MAJ Drake will be my Wing Commander, Admiral" TroutTrooper
reported.
"Promtness, i like that" Jarak said.
"Drake, catch" TroutTrooper said as he removed his nuiform
jacket and medals to pass to Drake, the new Wing Commander
"Thankyou, Sir" Drake beamed.
with the meeeting conculded everyone was making their way to the
cantina when docking control came over every speaker on the ship
"RED ALERT RED ALERT ALL PILOTS TO YOUR SHIPS!!!" the
speakers roaredas the pilots scambled for their ships, COL Mell
did not have time to unload the MIS from the M/CRV without launching
the M/CRV then the MIS, so opted for taking the M/CRV into battle
"Drake, TT, wanna take the guns on the Chalquila with me?"
Mell asked
"it will be our pleasure" TroutTrooper smiled.
The squadrons roared into
battle the radar confirmed the bogies as being a Mon Calamarian
Light Cruiser, supported by space superiority fighters of 27 T-Wings,
14 Y-Wings and 6 X-Wings
"bombing party with heavy space superiority squadrons"Drake
said
"Drake to all ships, take out the T's and X's first, don;t
worry too much about the Y's for now" Drake ordered, his first
order for a combat situation as a Wing Commander.
the ships roared into battle, TIE Defenders, Advanced and Missle
boats all heading for the rebel insurgence.
"it seems osmeone told the rebels that the Colossus would be
easy prey" TroutTrooper stated
"Well i got a nice surprise for that cruiser, we're heading
in, just keep me a clrea path to 1 click from their hull, these
shields will hold for about 8 minutes under their fire power."
Mell ordered.
"Aye Captain" Drake replied.
as the Defenders and Advanced's took out the X's and T's the Missle
boats made light work of the Y's, leaving the cruiser which was
allready heading for hyperspace as the M/CRV kame to 0.99 clocks
from the ship.
"Drake see that control panel under the glass?" Mell asked
through the inrternal comms.
"i got it... oh my, you're not serious!" Drake said
"take the controls for the ship i gotta get to my docking bay."
Mell said
COL Mell left the bridge, drake kept the sheilds leveled out as
mell programmed the docking bay to release it's primary weapon...
the Colossus crews made light work of the turrets on the cruiser
and all ships were heading for hoe when mell opened the docking
bay doors. out of the doors dropped a particle accelerator, highly
experimental. and highly powerful.
"oh my god Mell, are you mad?" TroutTrooper yelled as
mell power up the accellerator
"um... yeah" Mell laughed as he set the targeting scanner
for the center of the cruiser and fired.
"sweet mother of..." Drake trailed off forgetting his
words as the weapon fired a large purple beam of pure energy straight
at the cruiser, bruning it's hull then a large build up of plasma
set off along the beam slowly towards it's target, lightning followed
all along the ball travelling down the shaft of light then all of
a suden it shot straight into the cruiser, obliterating it completely
in minutes
"good god, Mell weasn't joking when he said he got one of those
things" Jarak exclaimed back on the colossus.
"M/CRV Chalquila to the ISD Colossus" Mell said
"Colossus here, what can we get for you? apart from a round
of drinks?" Jarak said.
"Try a tow rope and a tug, the acellerator drained the ship
and fried my engines" Mell said trying not to look upset
"on the way Mell, Colossus out" Jarak stated
Sometime Later, whilst drunk
in the cantina like most of the new crew of the ISD Colossus, Mell
was passed a bill estimating the repairs to the M/CRV Chalquila,
his head hit the table so hard everyone turned to look what was
happening.
The bill estimated it would take about 8 weeks to get the ship back
into action. and it was going to cost Mell in excess of 1,000,000
credits.
"i'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me" Mell said
getting up, looking white as a ghost as he left for his quarters.
he sat looking at nothing apart from a picture captured of the beam
being fired at the cruiser, a picture caught by Kyle Katarn's ship
during the flight home. mell's last momento of his ship, he had
instructed the technicians to scrap the ship, but to cut him the
name plate free from the ship. some time later, the door chimed
"enter" Mell said
in waled the commanders of the ISD colossu as well as a couple of
select pilots, with then a trolley with cigars, chalquila and drop
down as well as a sabacc deck.
"fancy a game Mell, If you win i'll tell you this place i know
that's got some bargain corvettes available" Darknyte said
"DN, you know how my mind works, a true recruit of mine!"
Mell jeered as he sat at the sabacc tabel and began dealing away.
T H E E
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