Real Loyalty

Ark didn't follow Kiel or Fate this time, Instead he studied the scans and blueprints and plotted a course directly to Dirk himself. Ark zipped down and then up into the maintenance deck Alpha. He then programmed some of the security turrets to target non Military and neutralize them. As he moved he took down some left over pirates and reached the engineering deck, and he thought he heard Dirk laughing as he ripped belts of ammo into the pirates or the ship. He activated stealth mode, and wired his frequency and personalized blip to Fate's and Kiel's motion tracker to keep friendly fire to a minimum.

He entered the Engineering deck and noticed a large amount of holes punched and scorch marks littering the scenery, a slight radiation hazard flashing on his HUD. "That son of a bitch ruptured the Rad Sinks" He muttered uncharacteristically having forgotten to turn his mic off, allowing Fate to hear though she probably already knew.
 
It had taken her and Kiel awhile, but they had finally made their way to the Engine room, however, in that time her anger at Dirk and her worry for the others had only grown. They had been about to enter the room, her HUD flashed, revealing the now rising radiation levels. “Don’t tell me...” She whispered under her breath, her heart thundering in chest. There was no way he would be that stupid. It just wasn’t possible. He may hate her, but he couldn’t have done something like this. Her small panic attack was interrupted as Ark’s voice came over the mic, "That son of a bitch ruptured the Rad Sinks." Her blood ran cold as these words echoed throughout her head. Worry and panic gave way to blind furry at the man who seemed to do everything in his power to make her life hell. Clenching her fists and closing her eyes, she took a deep breath fruitlessly trying to calm her anger. This, though, did not last long as she heard Dirk laughing mechanically over the mic. Her eyes snapped open, anger flashing through her eyes. She kicked the Engine room door, not caring that it went flying off its hinges and hitting any pirates that stood on the other side. Fate stormed into the room, drawing her guns as she went, shooting anyone that came close to her as she made her way towards the object of her anger. “Dirk!” She yelled.
 
Dirk turned to face the Lieutenant, "What do you want Boss Bitch? I'm doing my job!" Ark however had invisibly entered the room, his blip only visible to Fate now, as he was actually quite close his invisible hands patching punctures in the Engine casings, cooling a reactor failure before it went boom. Ark was now watching Dirk as the giant bastard blatantly disrespected the Lieutenant. Ark's blueish purple eyes flashing somewhat in the helmet he wore, invisible to anyone, especially so since the optic camouflage was active. "That's right you steaming steaming pile, piss her off, more, let's see what you do...." He said, going through all the thoughts of what he could possibly say. "You coulda killed us all, blah blah blah it didn't matter."

"Lieutenant," his voice wired to her, "Requesting permission to handle the Corporal myself, afterall, it was my recommendation not to fire in here." He said, a smirk on his face hidden behind the helmet, made invisible by the thermoptic camouflage.
 
Fate had stopped a few feet from Dirk; not getting any closer for if she did it would not end well, for him at least. “Dirk! I gave you specific instructions to be careful of the engines and you completely disregard my orders and do something so stupid and asinine that you could have killed your entire team along with everyone else on this ship!” She yelled at him, ignoring his insult. “You think I care what you say?” He said before laughing at her. “You are nothing more than a stupid bitch who thinks she amounts to something. I’m the rightful leader of this unit and everyone knows it. Why don’t you go and do something your good at, like warming someone’s bed, and leave the big jobs for us men.” He sneered. Her anger shot up to entirely new levels, the grips of her guns bending as she clenched her fists. It took every bit of her self-control to not kill him on the spot. She was about to yell at him again when she heard Ark request for permission to deal with Dirk. Knowing that he would most likely not kill Dirk, unlike herself, at the moment she quickly made a decision. “Go right ahead.” The now pissed Lieutenant growled out, her voice cold enough to freeze even hell at the moment.
 
At her words, Dirk's gun was ripped from his hands, and as if a ghost had done so it broke in half, Ark's strength augments were active adding to his already extraordinary physical strength. Dirk then was flung as if by the air itself, denting a catwalk up above as Ark came into view from his Thermoptics. "Could've killed us all...." He started grabbing the somewhat stunned corporal by the collar of his armor lifting him up "Can't get your shovenistic head out of your ass for two seconds to obey orders....." He said, throwing the corporal up into the air swinging his leg like a bat, hitting a home run into Dirk's plated gut his body flying through the door to the engine room.

"Too much testosterone fueling your muscles to be able to think...." He said flinging a punch that was caught by the large hand of Dirk though a few of bones cracked in the corporal's hand breaking from the force of the augmented Vakirian's punch. "So what? You gonna do something about it? you're the Bitch's nerdy Pipsqueak, you're supposed to do the math not the fighting, the fighting's MY JOB--" Ark quickly interrupted him, giving the corporal a double uppercut to the chest and chin, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK YOUR JOB IS! YOUR JOB IS TO FOLLOW HER ORDERS WHETHER YOU LIKE OR NOT, TO A LESSER DEGREE YOU WILL FOLLOW MY ORDERS AS YOUR RANKING NON COM! DO YOU GET ME CORPORAL?!" He barked, picking the corporal up and landing a good few hooks to the Corporal's face holding him by the collar as the bloodied corporal nodded and weakly replied, "yeah..... I get you sargeant!" Ark smirked and knocked the corporal unconscious as he walked back over to the Lieutenant, stretching his hands and wiping the armor clean of the hulking idiot's blood.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, I needed that........ stress relief" He then turned to Kiel, "If it would please the Lieutenant, please shackle that waste of genetic material and throw him in a holding cell on the ship." He then started patching some of the cooling tubes, doing patches of a solidifying goo, a sealant his PT unit was able to produce for manual repairs. "I'll pay for the gun I broke, LT, and The Corporal will need some Medical Leave, broken bones aren't good for combat."
 
“Sergeant Ark is correct. Please arrest Corporal Dirk for insubordination, however, make sure to take him to the medical wing beforehand. I don’t want the higher ups coming down on me for inhuman treatment of soldiers, even if they deserve it.” Fate ordered Kiel, whispering the last part under her breath, although she was sure that Ark had most likely heard her. She turned toward him and addressed him next. “Don’t worry about the gun, I’ll pay for that.” She told him with a smile. Her anger had dissipated while she had watched Ark beating the hell out of Dirk and she was now back to her usual self. “As for the Corporals medical leave, he will be on leave much longer than that. He has endangered my unit and its members for the last time. Once we return to base I’m having him court-martialed.” The Lieutenant took a breath. “I also want to thank you. If you had not offered to take care of him yourself then I would have most likely let my anger get the best of me and I would have killed him. You also saved us from dying by fixing the engine. I now owe you a dept. If there is anything you ever need, then please name it.”
 
"Think nothing of it, LT, Vakirians will always look out for the best interest of the unit, a family sentiment, this unit though I have only been shortly added to it, is my family. We have a strict military code on our world, death replaces court-martial for individuals of a unit that are deemed hazardous." He started, sighing, "And though those habits will die out with great struggle, but your alliance military has different rules, court-martial, though I myself deem it to be a soft way to handle pertinent issues like the Corporal, is the norm and I will adhere to it." He patted the LT on the shoulder though it would've seemed like a slap due to his augments still being active, "Psychology is a required course for us for our kind, I saw your rage, and though I didn't say it, I stepped in because your emotions were clouding your judgment, and I apologize for sounding condescending, my words aren't meant to sound that way, purely analytical terms I assure you. Now without further problems, let's get this boat back home, I'll set up some patcher drones to keep the engines in good enough shape to get us there, so the repairmen don't have too much work on their hands." He said, his helmet reeling back revealing his face despite still lingering radiation levels. "Scanning shows all the pirates either dead or in lock up by the way, the crew of this ship's survivor rating is not as happy.....anyway, I can set auto pilot to run by hacking the shipboard VI construct to get this ship and us back to safety and I can alert Alliance MP's to take the Corporal into custody. Do I have the word?"
 
“Yes, you have my permission.” Fate answered. She sighed softly before continuing. “As for what you said earlier, you said nothing wrong. I let my anger get the best of me and you did what thought was right, which it was. I would have killed him and since I am the superior officer my punishment would have been much, much worse. So once again I thank you. As for the Corporals punishment, I do agree with you, and that is from a professional stand point this time. The acts he as committed warrant his death, however, I lack to proof to prove that he has done the things he has done. Not to mention his ties with some of the higher ups. With those connections he will most likely merely get a few months in confinement, but other than that he would just get a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again.” She then rubbed the shoulder he had hit not too long ago. “Also I’d like to say…….. Ow, that hurt. You didn’t have to hit me so hard.” Fate told him jokingly, which was then followed by a small laugh.
 
"I was beginning to think Genesians didn't feel pain. By the way...." He started wiring a vid feed to the Lieutenant's helmet, a video of the Corporal's actions ripped from a past mission where his team had died all but the LT and himself him being unscathed, his actions purely treasonous, the Tech sergeant had ripped this video from the net cloud all the cams from the ship had dumped data to, the Corporal hadn't thought about that. "Oh and one more...." He said, wiring the vid feed from the Red Queen to her, showing his blatant disobedience to the no projectile ordinance order in the Engine room, "Your Proof, Lieutenant, Background checks always reveal some nasty skeletons in people's closets." He said chuckling as he started making his way back to the bridge, interfacing with his PT unit as he did so, having already lit a cigarette, a cloud of smoke lingering behind him.
 
Fate stood frozen in shock, her eyes wide, as Ark walked away. After all these years, she had finally gotten her hands on proof of Dirk’s actions. With this she could finally succeed in getting him punished fully for his actions. She then smiled widely and gave a loud laugh that caused those around her to jump in surprise. Her bad mood now gone, she decided to go check on the rest of the unit and see what needed to be done.

After wandering around, and occasionally helping someone every once and a while she decided to finally maker her back to the bridge to question the Captain, so that she could later file a report of what had happened. Walking through the door to the bridge, she noted that the Captain had retaken his place in his chair that stood in the center of the bridge. “My name is Lieutenant Fate Tribeca of the HROU; may I inquire as to what happened here?” She asked as she approached him. “A pleasure, Lieutenant. I am Captain Clyde Endive of the Red Queen. As for your question, I have no problem with sharing what happened. You see, we recently acquired a shipment of experimental military tech that was to be taken to Io from Colony 987, near Alpha Centauri. The pirates had somehow caught wind of our shipment and wanted it either for themselves or to sell on the black market. The rest you should already know. I’d like to thank you for that by the way.” Captain Clyde replied. She smiled. “Not a problem. Just doing my job. Also, thank you for answering my question.” The young Lieutenant then proceeded to look around the bridge, searching for where Ark may be. Finding him, she walked over. “How much longer would you say until arrival?”
 
He looked over to her, "About two hours The explosions in the Engine room and the docking bay destroyed the stabilizers for the FTL drives, and the automatic repair function. So we got down time, guard duty, whatever you wanna call it. We'll be here for a while, and Dirk will have some time to kill suffering in the solo lock up before he's hanged for mutinous treason." Ark said, blowing a cloud of smoke just so that it would miss getting all over Fate and go directly to the air intake and be filtered out through the O2 scrubbers.

"I highly doubt the Corporal would ask any of us to be a character reference at his Court Martial. Oh here's the shipping manifest for the ship, Sorry Captain, I hacked your terminals, I buffed up the firewalls though and added some more potent subroutines, making it harder for any pirates to track your stuff, by the way keep your manifests encrypted. LT? did you have any other questions for me or the Captain?"
 
“Not particularly.” Fate replied as she shrugged her shoulders. “Although I would like it if you notified me if anything comes up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I unfortunately have work to still do.” She then went over to one of the empty chairs and sat down. Activating her HUD, she began to fill out the mission report, since she would rather just get it out of the way now that she had time instead of later when she would once again be swamped with paperwork. She signed loudly at the thought. She dreaded paperwork more than anything else, well aside from Dirk that is. “I hate my job so much so times.” Fate said to herself in exasperation.
 
"Alright then, I have some other repairs to do aft engineering took some damage during Dirk's idiotic onslaught. The Docking Bay has a gigantic hull pierce, I'm gonna patch that with the sealer goop, uhm, some other minor damages, errors in the server programs, some other function errors, though i caused those on infiltration I'll fix those, anything else just bump a wave through the comms, I'll see you later LT." He said, and walked over to the newly repaired Intrateleportion pad, or the Deck to Deck jump pad as others called it. He typed in the deck code and exact pad coordinates in and phased out of existence, appearing seconds later in the Aft Engineering deck, and scanned for the damages his scans showed earlier, getting to the terminal to activate the repair drones, at the same time, preparing a large amount of the goo adding an expansion agent to cover the large chunk of missing hull.

(please skip ahead to their return to their base)
 
Fate groaned as she stood up from her chair and stretched, cracking nearly every bone in her body as she did so. The Red Queen had just docked and she was thankful the trip was finally. Once she had finished the mission report, she had had nothing else to do, so she had opted to take a nap. It was the worst decision she could have made. The chair was not made to be slept in and she figured that her back wouldn’t stop hurting for at least a week. Walking over to the Intrateleportion pad and using it to head to the deck. She exited the pad, shaking off the funny feeling she always got when going through one of them. “I will never get used to that.” The young Lieutenant said to herself. Fate then made her way toward the hatch that led exit, eager to go take a long shower. On her way she saw Ark helping with rest of the repairs. Using her mic, she said, “Sergeant Ark, while I realize that you are just trying to help, I would advise that to exit the ship soon otherwise you may wind up going on a small trip to the R&D Division, which, need I remind you, I quite a bit away from the base.”
 
"On my way, LT. Ark out!" He said, tagging in the repair men as he went to Jump pad putting the coordinates just outside the ship on the docking jump pad. His form dissipated again reemerging into existence in front of the now emerging, LT, noticing her disorientation from the Jump Pads, "You still get sick from that?" He asked, not realizing she had no implants except maybe the ID link most soldiers had to have, that allowed them to interface with their powered armor suits. He planned to hit the showers and then the chow hall, to get a meal before he returned to quarters to do calibrations of the station's defenses and the overall efficiency of the station itself, before sleeping. He let out a soft yawn his mouth expanding open wide, like a black hole expanding to take in more energy and matter.

Kiel walked out of the Queen with the Apprehended Dirk, still in his armor though the systems had been locked by Ark, not allowing Dirk to override and go on a rampage, his armor became his shackles. "Where ya wannim Sarge?" "Not my call, man, I'm a non Com, ask the LT where that steaming pile goes." Dirk spoke from inside the armor, "I can hear you and see you you know that pipsqueak?" Ark smirked and flashed a cheesy grin to Dirk, "Congratulations you figured out how to use your passive senses. The only Pipsqueak here is your brain, now shut up ya ape, and just look ugly." He slapped the Corporal's helmet a little and chuckled walking towards the Armory to shed his armor and head for the showers.
 
Fate stood silently as she watched Kiel walked down from the Red Queen, dragging Dirk with him as he went. After speaking with Ark, Kiel made his way over to her. “Where ya want him?” He asked, emphasizing Dirk by shacking him slightly. “Take him to the solitary for now. The MP’s should be coming to pick him up within an hour or two.” She replied. “Understood ma’am.” He then proceeded to drag Dirk away toward the main building of the base. Want to get out of her armor and take a shower as soon as possible; she quickly made her way to the barracks and from there her room.

Nearly an hour and a half later she emerged from her room in a fresh uniform and her hair still slightly wet from her shower. She was extremely grateful for the fact that her room had its own private restroom with a shower and bath. As she walked down the hallway, the grumbling of her stomach reminded her of what time it was. “Looks like it’s time to head for the mess hall.” She said before making her way there.
 
The Sergeant having some down time didn't stay in the mess hall to eat, he got the to go plate and ate in his room. His room was dark and Ark was sitting in a chair and he had hooked up a regular computer designed only for gaming as well as plugging in an old tv set to serve as a monitor for his display. The game he was playing, and he only played games when he wasn't otherwise occupied with more important things or sleeping, was a straight forward FPRPG, a straight forward RPG presented through the eyes of a cyborg in a dystopian noir style cyberpunk world having to do with corporate wars and a gang selling a dangerous cyber drug. It like other games in the style presented a player with seemingly unending amount of choices the player can make for appearance and the choices of how you complete a task or whether you're good or evil, and these were the only types of games he'd play a little escape from the stress of reality helped him sleep.
 
Fate walked out of the mess hall after she had finished eating. While she walked, she received a message on the terminal she always kept in her pocket. Opening the message it read, Lieutenant Fate Tribeca, you, along with Tech Sergeant Ark, are to report to Headquarters effective immediately for the unlawful arrest of Corporal Dirk. The message was unsigned. Her blood ran cold as the words echoed through her head. This wasn’t possible. Ark had been able to get proof, so there was no way this could be happening. Fate’s then eyes narrowed as she remembered who Dirk’s older brother. Colonel Jail was just like his younger brother, but unlike Dirk, he actually had brains. If he had gotten involved then who knows what was going to happen or what had happened to the proof. Not wasting any time, she quickly made her way to Ark’s room. Upon arriving she knocked.
 
Ark had just saved and was about to shut down his game for the night, when he heard knocking on his door. He shut off the console and stood up opening the door. "Something wrong LT?" he asked, purely confused. It was late and he showed signs of being tired, yawning slightly. He didn't know a message had been sent regarding their arrest of the Corporal. "kinda Late for a chat isn't it?" He asked.
 
“Unfortunately, I am not here for a chat. I regret to inform you that we are to head to Headquarters immediately. It would appear as though Dirk was able to use his connections after all and we are to be questioned on his unlawful arrest.” Fate explained solemnly. While her face remained emotionless, her mind was in turmoil. She knew that even with the proof, Dirk sentence wouldn’t have been as severe as it could have been, but to get off without any kind of punishment and for them to get in trouble? That was something that had never even crossed her mind. Taking a deep breath, she said, “A transport is waiting for us outside. So, if you could please change into your formal uniform, we can then be on our way.”