21:45, August 5, 2298 (standard military calendar)

D – DECK, SECTION TWENTY-THREE ALPHA, CREW QUARTERS

UEC HEAVY BATTLE CARRIER – 798 "SPIRIT OF ENDURANCE"

Crewmen Doyle, quickly typed in his signature, and hastily began to type in all the Spirit of Endurances defenses, weak points, and boarding areas. He reached over on his desk and grabbed out a long-range sub wave transceiver. It would get a message out to his friends – those who work at weapon. He never trusted the United Earth Coalition, or liked their ideals, and beliefs. Doyle was a true Expanse Colonist at heart, he wanted to be free like all his other friends, it was the reason he took this mission. Infiltrate the 7th Fleet on board their old rust bucket, get the security codes, and command codes, and take them out. Unfortunately, it looks like a possible one way trip.

"Do you have it?"

"Yes, Admiral Chang. I am transmitting it to you now. Everything on the Spirit of Endurance, weapons, propulsion, weak points, anything you can use to cripple this ship. I also have their security code, its primitive and won't do much."

"Anything else?"

"There have been rumors that we are going after the weapon," Doyle looked over his shoulder as he saw the wheel on the door spin. "Got to go, I'll inform you soon." Within seconds of his roommate entering he closed up the transmission and hit sent, before shutting the lid on his laptop, and grabbing a book.

"Doyle, off today?"

"Yes, got space sick. Damn intertia dampers aren't working properly up in the CIC."

"Hu, haven't heard that, or felt that." Doyle watched as Kellen took of her uniform, and removed her shirt exposing her bra and skin. "I spent several hours decoding several ESU transmissions, nothing much, only that they want us dead."

"Seriously? Why won't they leave us alone, we don't pose a threat to them." Doyle stood up and pressed himself against Kellen. He got himself transferred to the Spirit of Endurance for her as well. They both have a relationship with each other – a good one. "You looked exhausted how 'bout I take you to bed?"

"Should I say Yes, or should I say No and deny you. Always a good thought." Kellen unpinned the back of her bra and exposed her body to him. Her milky white breasts, something he always craves. And he knew they fit perfectly cupped in his hands. Once the Spirit of Endurance is crippled and they would come for him, she's coming with him. It would be heart-crushing to see her die such a wasteful death.

"I think you should say Yes," He purred as he pushed against her, "It's been a while, and you know how we men get."

"Well the Commander hasn't – "He pressed his finger against her lips. "Commander Barnes is married, and has kids."

"I had a family before Meridian II was destroyed." In that moment, he pushed her against the wall, and dragged her back to the door, and sealed it shut – no one would be interfering with their night alone. She walked back to bed, and waited for him to start undressing. His abbs were irresistible to most women – though in the military they don't care, they all are well toned. Now bare to him, he looked at her body, milky white across the board, she was sexy, and sex was what he wanted, it was all he could think about, having her.

<<>>

Kellen snuggled against Doyle, and stroked his chest, as he breathed deeply. It had been a while since they made love. It was passionate and hungry, just like always. Something she missed form her previous relationship. Harold was something else, he was more carnal than Doyle, but he was dead. A home boy, he stayed and joined the Meridian II Militia. Her mind came to, and she was more alert when the alert signals started blaring, and the lights flashed a red in their dark quarters.

"Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship. I repeat, action stations, action stations set condition one throughout the ship, this is not a drill." Doyle sat up suddenly, and in a mess of arms, legs, and blankets scurried out and got on their uniform.

"Let's get up to the CIC." Kellen grabbed a brush and quickly made herself look presentable to the commander. They ran all the way up, while the rest of the crew was scurrying to their stations as well. She ran over and checked everything coming in, a single ship, armed to the teeth. Commander Barnes walked in and looked at the DRADIS.

"Damn." They nearly had a week without interruptions. She glanced up and saw Doyle take his station. "What do we have?"

"Single vessel, it's got a ESU signature on it. Armed to the teeth." Kellen was handed a message from the main computer. She stood up and walked over to Commander Barnes. "Sir, all decks report Condition One." Quickly, she made it back over to her station, and looked at everything coming in.

"Sir, we're being hailed."

"What?" Kellen looked over at Barnes who was talking to the XO, Jarvin shook his head no. She glanced at her computer screen as a random line of code struck across it, and all around her the computers shut down, and the power cycled in the ship.

"Sir, all computers are down, power is cycling throughout the ship."

"Reboot the system."

"I can't, we're locked out. Someone has changed the command codes." Barnes quickly grabbed the large handset and pressed the button on the command terminal.

"This is the Commander, all systems are down, all hands change to analog based systems." Kellen took a sigh of relief, the Spirit of Endurance had several redundant systems left in place, specifically the analog controls, most ships were all autonomous and digital, but the ship was mechanical and analog at it's core. "Kellen, I want a ETA on when all hands will be ready."

"Approximately 3 minutes, it will take time to bust out the old computers." The entire ship was dead silent as their terminals swapped to a old command line interface, simple DOS, an antiquated and ancient operating system from the 20th century." Kellen looked up at Doyle who was working on restarting his computer interface. She glanced down as several lines appeared on screen. "Sir, all stations report action ready, and all are at non-automatic systems, and all redundant computers are operational. Also, DRADIS is online." Above Barne's head the DRADIS flickered back on as it finished rebooting its self, it runs on its own computer matrix, and is unable to be hacked by anyone, its not hooked into the main computer.

"Anything on that?"

"A H3K Computer virus, same one that took out the fleet." Kellen continued to look forward at the Commander waiting for something to happen.

"Wait, and it was uploaded, from here."

"They didn't?"

"No, in the CIC." Kellen stood up and walked over to Barnes and whispered in his ear. "Its Doyle," She looked over at the Master At Arms. "Sergeant arrest Crewmen Doyle, on charges of treason."

She unholstered her side arm and had the others move.

"Kellen, can you plot a hyper-light-jump anywhere?"

"Yes, I need to calculate by hand, the FTL computer is not operational, they must have connected it to the computer core during retrofits."

"No time." Kellen looked up and saw several missiles and nukes headed their way. "Jump up out now." She ran back over to her post and grabbed the key and turned it, jumping the ship further into the Delphic Expanse.