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GTCK Black-Hammer 
Laramis System
5th June 2371

        Commander John Harman lay in his unusually comfortable bunk, reading the Black-Hammer’s Operational Mission Briefing for what seamed like the 700th time. He knew it quite well already, but he wanted to make sure he knew it off by heart by the time the Admiral arrived in around 5 minutes time. As soon as he was aboard, the Black-Hammer would be officially launched. John threw the wrapper of the chocolate bar onto the floor and carried on reading.

        “Page 1,” he said out aloud.  “The Black-Hammer is the first in a new line of GTVA warships known as Black-Hammer Class. The Black-Hammer is designed to Annihilate enemy Capital ships, hence the Vessel Definition of GTCK or Galactic Terran Capital Killer. The Black-Hammer line is perfectly suited to this task. All ships of the class are equipped with two POG cannons, 20 Heavy Beam Cannons, 13 Standard Laser Tur –” The Comm System activated and the Operations Officer called his name. The Commander was surprised and stopped reading for the first time in an hour in fear of embarrassment. He quietly leant over the bin and spat out what was left of the Chocolate Bar before answering, “Commander Harman here…what do you want?” asked the commander in a cheerful, proud-to-be-here voice.

        “Just wanted to tell you that the Admiral’s Transport has entered the system and will be docking with us in 3 minutes, 15 seconds.” The Commander sat up and put on his new Commanders jacket. It only had seven medals but the collection was growing fast.

        “Thank you, Sam.” The Comm system cut out and the Commander got up, straightened his dark blue, navy like uniform and walked out of the door, greeting the two guards stationed outside as he left. He turned left and headed towards the elevator at the end of the ’so called’ ‘Officers Walk’ corridor.                            

        The brightly lit, sterile corridors of the GTVA’s newest warship were designed to be easy to navigate and easy to fight in. At least that’s what it said in the Operational Mission Briefing he’d just been reading. John remembered the word designed. Even if that was the design, that wasn’t how they turned out. They were impossible to fight in and John needed a map just to get to the room next door! 

        Fortunately for John, he didn’t have to walk down them for long. The Air Lock was almost right outside the elevator stop. It took only a few seconds for him to reach it. When he arrived, he found that four guards had already been posted outside to prevent terrorists getting on and any already onboard from escaping. 

        The door hissed as it slid open and the slight pressure difference between the two ships levelled out. John waited outside for the passengers to disembark. Over 175 standard crew members had been packed onboard the small transport and they would all have to leave before the Admiral disembarked.

        John waited anxiously for the Admiral to get off. He didn’t know which Admiral it was. All he had been told was that an Admiral from GTVA Command would oversee the launch. He gently pushed some of the more talkative crew members to get them off quickly. When they were all off and he could see who the Admiral was, John was shocked. So shocked that, if he had been sitting on a seat, he would have fallen off.  For in front of him, only a few metres away stood Admiral Hayden of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance – The last man John would have picked to oversee the Black-Hammers first mission.

        As Admiral Hayden stepped out, John excused the guards who went back inside the transport. He then turned to face the Admiral.  “Good morning sir. I trust you had a satisfactory trip?” He waited for his reply. John still couldn’t believe that Hayden had been assigned to oversee the Black-Hammers first mission. The Black-Hammer’s first mission was to travel to the Epsilon Pegasi system and protect the Capella Gate from terrorist attacks of any kind. Admiral Hayden strongly disagreed with the construction of the Gate and opposed the Capella Project from its start 2 years ago. He had even threatened to destroy the Gate and all working on it if he had to. Why the GTVA had assigned Admiral Hayden to the Black-Hammer was beyond him. John stopped thinking to listen to the Admiral’s well thought out reply.

        “Um, yes…” The Admiral looked behind him. John, out of curiosity, did the same but found nothing. “A wonderful trip John. Absolutely splendid.” The Admiral old-fashioned English voice was clear. “Can’t wait to go back…” The Admirals attention was obviously not on the conversation. 

        “Are you ok sir?” asked John, unsure as to whether it was his place to do so.

        “Um, yes…I’m fine…thank you.” The Admiral fiddled with something in his pocket. He looked behind again, “John, tell me, what do you think of the Capella Project?” John paused to think. He had acknowledged the Projects existence, but had never really thought about it before. 

        “Well…um, I think it’s got a sound purpose. Studying the remains of the Capella star could tell us a lot not only about the star itself, but also of the Shivan technology that destroyed it.” John hoped the Admiral was not too angry with him - his answer being the opposite of what the Admiral believed and all that.

        “What about the Shivan threat. You don’t think the Shivans might attack?” The Admiral was trying to plant the idea into John’s head but the Commander wouldn’t have it.

        “I think, that any Shivan ship that survived the stars destruction – and I don’t think there are any – will be so badly damaged that it will only take a single ML-16 laser shot to destroy them.” The Admiral nodded in acknowledgement, not agreement. They turned the corner and John pushed the button to open the elevator door. They stepped inside, John entered his access code and pushed the button which would take them to the Command Deck. The doors slid closed and the elevator began humming as it moved upwards.

        “I understand,” replied the Admiral.  “Everyone is entitled to their own views, whatever they may be.”  The door slid open and both men stepped onto the Command Deck. The Command Deck crew saluted the Admiral and carried on with their work. John left the Admiral and walked over to Sam who was working at the Operations station in the corner of the Command Deck.

        “How’s our defence?” John whispered so the Admiral didn’t over hear. John was worried and didn’t want the Admiral to know that the ship may be attacked. That wouldn’t do any good for his reputation, “Now that the Admiral is onboard, I don’t want to be attacked.” Sam looked up at the Commander and whispered back an unsettling reply.

        “The GTC Somme has just left the area because of a problem with her engines but the GTCv Hudson will be arriving soon to take over for her. Alpha 2 reports radar contact with a hostile cruiser in the asteroid field near the moon but it vanished before he could investigate it farther. Apart from that, nothing has been sighted for the last week.” John sighed in relief. Things were going ok. He turned back to the Admiral.  “Is everything ok?” asked John in a voice that comforted all who heard it. John was one of the few people in the GTVA who was not only the crew’s commander, but also the crew’s friend too. The Admiral looked up when he heard the question.

        “Not quite, Commander. One thing is not quite right.” The Admiral walked over to the communications console and shut down the Communications Array, preventing the Black-Hammer from contacting any other ships into the area. The Commander was full of shock – and horror. John turned to face the Admiral.  “Are you mad?” John shouted in rage, “What are you doing?” The Admiral looked at John and smiled, “Oh, nothing. I’m just shutting down the Communications Array so you can’t call for help.” The Admiral said in an aggressive, dangerous sounding voice.

        The Admiral tapped the Internal Communications button. That system was unaffected by the failure of the Communications Array. He cleared his throat and leant close to the microphone. “Let’s go!”

        The Admiral tore of his navy blue jacket and threw it to the ground in rage. He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small gun, He aimed it at Sam and fired. The gun made a shrieking sound as the energy shot out of the barrel and slammed into Sam’s chest. Sam screamed as the energy bolt hit him. His body crackled with electrical blue energy as he slowly and  painfully fell to the floor. His black, burnt out corpse smelt of rotting human flesh - A smell John knew all too well.

        At the same time, the two guards who were behind him also pulled out guns and began firing, John dived to the floor as an energy bolt passed over his head. He rolled behind a console for cover and took his own gun out of its holster around his waist. He peered over the top and saw a pool of blood where the floor used to be. He aimed at the Admiral and pulled the trigger in rage. The bolt hit the Admirals arm, burning his flesh and singeing his uniform. Admiral Hayden screamed and threw his own gun to the ground. He clutched the open wound with his good arm and ducked down behind another console for cover. As soon as he fired, John became the guards prime target. He ducked down just before a hail of energy bolts passed over his head.     

        John swore and reloaded his weapon. He shuffled along the floor, keeping himself covered, to where a small group of friendly guards were holding out. He barely made it alive. John took another look over the top of the console and quickly ducked back down to speak to the guards.

        “It looks like the Admiral and his men are trying to blast their way out of the Construction Dock. We have to secure the Weapons Console as quickly as possible.” The guards nodded, peered over the edge and crawled out from behind the Console. John felt painfully guilty, he had just sent a happy couple to their death. 

        David was the first to fall, barely a metre from the console. When she heard Dave scream, the other guard got up and charged at the enemy guards. She was hit first in the shoulder. She dropped her gun and clasped the open wound. Blood was pouring down her arm but she carried on fighting. With all her strength, she carried on fighting. She wanted to avenge the death of her boyfriend, the now dead guard. She didn’t care about the Weapons Console anymore. Another enemy guard shot her in the chest. She crackled with energy and fell to the floor in pain, choking on her own, solidifying blood. 

        John swore again. He knew that he would have to capture the Weapons Console himself. Not an easy task but one he would have to do. He heard the door open through the noise of the fight. Five more of the Admirals guards stepped in. The Admiral was a traitor. John didn’t like traitors. He leaped over the console and fired in all directions. The enemy was not effected and John was now out in the open. He had no friends left. All those loyal to him were dead. All the guards fired at John. His body absorbed the energy from every shot. He screamed as his body began to spasm. John knew he was dead. The only thing keeping him alive was the electricity flowing through his body. When the firing stopped. John fell to the floor. He clutched his bloody, burnt out, cut open chest – the blood poured out of him like a fountain .The pain was intense. John wanted to kill himself. He wanted to end the pain – and the Admiral was only too happy to oblige. 

        Admiral Hayden crawled out from behind a console. His arm had been bandaged up with material ripped from one of the guards jackets. He walked over to John and stood over him, looking down on him. He parted his lips to speak to the dying man.

        “You die today, in-order that the Alliance may be saved. Now- I will end your suffering.” The man was genuinely sorry that John had to die but thought it had to happen. The treacherous Admiral picked up his bloody gun from the floor and pointed it at John’s head, “I’m sorry you must die in such pain.” Then he pulled the trigger.

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