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Reunion: Chapter 22

"They're retreating, sir." The helmsman said and began turning the ship towards the heavily damaged Dominion ship that was turning tail, taking its surviving fighters back in and preparing to charge engines to make for a speedy getaway. "Moving to pursue."

"Belay that." Captain Riesha said from his command chair with a grim look. While his ship had managed to get through the fight unscathed, the cruiser he had come here with, the Dawn of the Brink, a courtesy call from one of his father's long-time friends, Vice Admiral Miranda Vaslow, had not. He could see it off the starboard bow. There was a massive hole in its hull that was still leaking atmosphere. There was also substantial damage to its engines after a salvo of missiles had gotten past the point defense. The ship was in no condition for interplanetary travel, the other ship, the Spirit of November, commanded by Captain Sylvester, was taking on the surviving crew for the time being which did include the Vice Admiral.

"What are your orders?" Commander Von, who had stayed on the bridge with the captain, relaying orders and micromanaging the crew at their stations. The battle had seemed touch and go at first. Dominion ships were noticeably better equipped than standard military ship such as the Silver Wolf. Mass Drivers were often saved for command ships, not random cruisers. It raised questions about where the Dominion's trust really laid.

"Do we have visual on the transport ship?" Riesha said out loud and looked at the monitors that showed a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view around the ship. It was impossible to pick out the small vessel among the ever-growing debris field that surrounded the blue and green orb in the backdrop.

"Yes, sir." A technician replied from the external surveillance monitor.

"Magnify and I want to be able to talk to them."

The crew got busy carrying out their orders. The massive screens that covered the entire front of the bridge began to shift and warp as one of the bridge crew manipulated the external cameras to pick out the shuttle in question and the zoom in on it.

The shuttle had been very close to the fighting. At one point it had been at the center of a dog fight with fighters coming within meters of it, strafing and avoiding fire. It was undamaged, but still drifting helplessly from when it had been disabled earlier.

"Setting up connection now." The comm officer, another Canis that had come with the ship when it had changed commands from Admiral Riesha to his son, Captain Riesha, stated.

"That was quite the show you put on there." A voice answered so quick that Riesha thought that the person on the other end must have had his finger on the transmitter the second a connection was established and patched through. "Got quite excited for a moment."

"I do apologize for the proximity of the fighters." Riesha wished that he could have a video connection, but the shuttle's video feed had been damaged when it had been disabled by the Dominion ship. He wanted to see who he was speaking to since Vice Admiral Vaslow had been light on details. He still had no idea why he was doing what he was doing or why it seemed as if everyone in the Sol system was after this one person on the shuttle.

After he had lost contact with his father and began to make his way to Earth on his ship, he was contacted by Vice Admiral Miranda Vaslow and met up with her on the far side of Luna along with the Spirit of November who was acting as a support ship to the cruiser. She had managed to tell him about a plot that had been going on for hundreds of years to overthrow the Dominion, but it had stalled a long time ago after one of its primary members went missing. That was all she had explained before the shuttle showed up and the ensuing battle with the heavily armed Dominion cruiser began.

With the Admiral and her crew occupied relocating to the other ship, Riesha figured that now was a good time to meet this mysterious person face to face.

"We'll be over shortly and have you onboard." He nodded to the helmsman who sent the order to the engines for 'slow ahead.'

The Silver Wolf pulled away from the burning shell of the Dawn of the Brink and the Spirit of November and began to move towards the shuttle that was just over sixteen kilometers away. The helmsmen expertly maneuvered the ship to avoid the larger pieces of wreckage while letting smaller pieces harmlessly scrape off the hull.

"I'm quite surprised to have any kind of help." The voice said as it waited for their rescue to come. "I thought we were done for once the ship's engines lost power. Then there you were with three ships. I'd call that a deus ex machina if I ever saw one."

Captain Riesha chuckled. "I can't say anything about that, but we've been expecting you, and I'm glad that the Dominion has been managed to be driven off. At a price." He looked back at the footage of the other ship. Space combat was cruel and unforgiving, considered the deadliest form of military combat, even over close quarters combat. In space, death did no necessarily come to the less skilled. It killed all without discrimination, an active combatant or not; it just took a hull-breach to suck everyone in a compartment out into space. Terrifying to all but the insane. He shivered slightly, and Von's ears twisted slightly showing that he had seen the little reaction.

"I'm sorry for what losses you've taken."

"We, sailors know that risk." The destroyer's shadow now enveloped the shuttle and it's inhabitant, according to the scanner, there was only one inhabitant.

A few calls were made out across the bridge as the crew positioned the ship above the shuttle so that it sat just under the docking bay where a person in an environment suit could attach several guiding lines to it and then tow the shuttle into the bay.

"Should I go greet our guest, sir?" Von offered and was getting ready to leave for the landing bay.

Riesha held up his hand to stop his first mate. "It's fine. I'll do it." He stood up and flattened out the wrinkles in his uniform. "You stay here and arrange transport for Admiral Riesha and Captain Sylvester. I'm sure that they will be interested in meeting this person as well."

"Of course, sir." He said with a slight bow, his hands folded behind his back. That dog always tried to look humble and succeeded. Riesha couldn't help but smile before leaving the bridge.

People were recovering from battle stations. Mechanics were rushing, tools in arms to make maintenance runs on anything that may have broken from the stress of a combat situation. Marines were putting away their weapons, looking disappointed that they didn't have a chance to repel boarders. It was secretly ever ship stationed Marine's dream to repel boarders. Others were simply getting back to their post and making sure to step out of the way as their captain headed down several decks to the belly of the ship where the exterior doors were closing, and the air was being pumped back in.

"Are we good?" Captain Riesha asked of the workers in the assembly area located just outside of the bay. The short, slightly chubby man in a bright yellow vest fumbled a little at the sight of the captain walking straight for him, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"Almost, sir." He said and looked down at a datapad he was holding and waited for the pressure to equalize in both the bay and the rest of the ship. He begged for the numbers to climb a little higher. The captain was watching him.

Riesha was patient. He hated those who rushed people when there was nothing that could be done, so he waited and looked around the assembly area. This was where people came before heading into the bay to load supplied onto ships. When a ship needed to leave, a light and an alarm would go off. All personnel would then have one minute to leave the bay before a scan would quickly ensure there was no one left in the bay and then sealing it off from the rest of the ship. Air would be pumped out and once all the air was out, then the outer doors would open and allow a ship to leave.

Everyone who had been in the docking bay was moving crates, getting ready to load them into another shuttle that had been preparing to send additional supplies to the Spirit of November since they were taking on so many additional people. The Silver Wolf would receive some as well, but for the time being, it was agreed that Riesha's ship would get the shuttle and then the two destroyers would turn and leave for a predetermined point on a counter orbit with Jupiter to save time. That was far enough and remote enough for safety. Then the Silver Wolf would take on more.

A small contingent of Marines were on standby if there was any hostile action from the shuttle, but Riesha didn't believe that to be necessary. If he did, he wouldn't have come down himself. He would have sent Von. That dog was more than capable enough of handling himself being a Scramble, the most terrifying thing to exist as far as most of the government was concerned. He didn't read minds, or move things with his thoughts. He tore the inside of people's heads apart, destroying their very identity if he wanted to. It was a violent thing to do that left no physical damage. Made Riesha glad that he was on his side.

"Good to go, sir." The worker tapped on his pad, and the door opened.

Riesha entered the bay and was followed by the Marines, but a quick wave left them at the door where they were ready to jump to his aid at a moments notice. Riesha would never understand their eagerness for action.

Just as he stopped at the back end of the shuttle, there was a hiss of air and the slow mechanical sound of gears as the landing pad was dropped.

"No. No fireworks." Riesha could hear arguing from inside the ship.

"Come on." Another voice pleaded. "I'm sure that I could make something spark for more drama."

"No." An angered reply came. "No fireworks, we don't need any more fires or sparks."

"I won't blow up the ship if that's what you're worried about. I've already made the calculations, and I know that I can do it."

"I'm unplugging you."

"You're no fun. Just like Anderson before....." The voice was cut off immediately.

A few moments later a Canis stepped into view. He stopped at the top of the ramp and peered out into the bay. He was carrying a bag that was filled with something that Riesha couldn't see.

This was a day of firsts for Adrian. He had never even seen a warship before today, and now he was standing inside of one with the captain himself waiting for him. He only knew it was a captain because Dog told him.

Currently, Dog was feeding him as much information as he needed to avoid accidentally getting shot.

"Hello?" Adrian said, holding onto the ramp's extended hydraulics.

"Hello." The captain said, his hands behind his back.

Adrian felt into his mind and felt that there was no malice. It was the grounds to start putting down his guard, but Dog reminded him to keep wary. They still didn't know who these people were and even if they were against the Dominion, years of living on the streets had taught Adrian that an enemy of an enemy wasn't always a friend.

"Why don't you come down from there." The captain offered.

Adrian looked over to the Marines that were still, their guns held across their chests.

"Don't worry about them. They're here to... well... I guess that we have to start somewhere." He nodded at them. "Go ahead and go. I'll be fine."

"Sir?" The guard in front took a step forward.

"I'll be fine sergeant." He waved them away. "Go." He shooed them until they left and closed the door behind them. "Now." He turned back to Adrian. " If you want, we can talk on your ship if you aren't comfortable leaving right now."

"No." Adrian shook his head. "It's fine." He took a step down the ramp and held his injured arm to his chest. "Just been a busy day."

"Why don't you tell me about it." The captain said. "The ship is moving to a far off rendezvous point, so we have some time to talk and get to know each other a bit. Uhm. My name is Anthony Riesha. This is my ship, the Silver Wolf."

"Nice to meet you, Captain." Adrian got off the ramp, officially stepping onto the Silver Wolf and got a decent look at Captain Riesha. He was tall and slim. His skin was a little darker than most humans that Adrian had come across, reminding him a little of caramel. "I'm Adrian." He stuck out his hand to shake which brought attention to his bad arm.

"You hurt?"

"Yeah." Adrian nodded and took back his hand. "Had some trouble down there."

"Why don't I take you to our infirmary and take a look at that. We have some outstanding corpsmen on board. We'll talk there."

Adrian paused to consult with Dog about leaving the ship.

"Go ahead." Dog said. "We're here now. Not much we can do if we want to escape."

"Alright. I guess that I do need to do something about this."

"Wonderful, because we would have had to move anyways. This is the only docking bay, and it needs to depressurize to let more ships in. Now, please, do follow me."