Terran Alliance: The Odyssey

Chapter 12- Sudden Change

Chapter 12- Sudden Change

(July 9, 2041)

On the surface of New Callistan, in a small home outside the capitol, Iden Versio is carefully cleaning her weapon. Though now in her 50s, Iden still tries to stay current with her weapons and still takes part in training exercises regularly to keep herself combat ready.

Suddenly, Iden hears feet running into the living room. Setting her weapon down, she smiles as she sees her daughter Zay come running into the room, followed by Del Meeko. Iden and Del had actually married during the time the Hood had spent on Zallin. However, it was not until they came to New Callistan that they decided to try and settle down and raise a family. They had built their home just outside the capitol, and in early 2027, Iden had given birth to their daughter, Zay. The family now lived a relatively quiet life on New Callistan, happy to have each other.

"Someone sure seems excited," Iden says with a smile, pulling her daughter into an embrace.

"I sure am. I hit bullseyes on every target on the firing range!" Zay says excitedly. Although they wanted to live a nice, relatively quiet life, Iden and Del had of course insisted on training Zay how to defend herself, training her in hand to hand combat, combat manuevers, and use of weapons.

"Well done, sweetheart," Iden says, squeezing Zay a little tighter before letting her go. Zay grins brightly before she prances into the kitchen to grab something to eat.

Del chuckles as he watches his daughter before turning to Iden. He gives her a quick kiss and says, "We are raising a remarkable daughter."

"Yes, we are." Iden says, smiling brightly. She pauses, then says, "I am so grateful we finally chose to leave the Empire. If we had not...perhaps we never would have been able to be together and have this life." Del just smiles, and the two share another kiss.

(TAS Hood)

On the bridge of the Hood, Moorhouse, now a Rear Admiral by Pellaeon's orders, is looking out of the window ahead. He is now in his late 60s, but he is still as active as ever, and still takes his duties as captain seriously.

Moorhouse currently has the conn, as Pellaeon is down on the surface for a meeting with the Ruling Council of New Callistan. Of course, nothing big is happening today, so he's mostly just up here to make sure no emergency happens on board.

As he's looking out of the viewport, he suddenly hears a voice call from behind him in a distinct Ukrainian accent, "Hey, captain!" Moorhouse turns around and sees Colonel Shevchenko standing a few feet behind him.

As Moorhouse turns to him, Shevchenko grins and holds up his right hand, a deck of cards held between two fingers. "Want to play a round of spades?"

Moorhouse grins a bit. "Sure. Why not?"

The two men start walking over towards the holotable, which has also served before as a card table for people on the bridge during periods of downtime.

Suddenly, without warning, an alarm starts blaring through the bridge. Moorhouse and Shevchenko freeze in place, stunned at hearing the alarm. It takes Moorhouse a moment before he whips around, looking at the few officers manning their consoles, most of whom had been chatting or playing card games themselves before the alarm sounded, but who are now scrambling to figure out the source of the alarm.

"What's going on?!" Moorhouse demands loudly. However, he knows what that alarm means. Of course, he hasn't forgotten it. It's just that it's been about 2 decades since he last heard it, and he never expected to hear it again.

One of the officers manning a console looks intently at his screen, typing furiously at his keyboard. Then, a new look comes over his face, and he looks at Moorhouse in complete shock. "Admiral, sensors show a ship coming out of hyperspace on the opposite side of the planet!"