Terran Resistance

General's Log for:

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Alex Chou's Log for: 1/25/2352 12:32

This morning I had a brilliant idea. Before going to the command center I stopped by the infirmary and talked to Dr. Moore. I told him to start doing psych evaluations of everyone: Officers and crew, Fleet and marine. When he asked why I made up something about recent events being tough and "taking a toll" on everyone.

He complained about already being understaffed.

I pretended to listen and then told him to "make it happen" anyway.

"Who should I start with?" he asked.

"Do it alphabetically by last name. That way people will know that we're not discriminating", I told him as I left. What I left out was that it would mean that Cortez would be among the first to undergo an evaluation. With any luck he'll be found unfit and the good Doctor can take him off duty.

I was on my way to the Command Center when I saw Cortez in the corridor. He was about 15 meters away and talking to Lieutenant Taylor. His back was to me so I don't think he'd seen me.

I walked up behind him. While waiting for him to notice me, I looked over the different sites in the corridor. I couldn't help but overhear his conversation in the same way a bank robber can't help but take the money after breaking into the safe.

Cortez was talking. "... 12 ships is not a fighter wing. It's a scouting contingent. Now you and the mechs go figure out how to get more of them flying. I'll be damned if we're all reduced to nothing but Chou's scout ships." I noticed that Taylor was leaning over and looking my way.

I cleared my throat.

When Cortez turned around and saw me within a few centimeters of him he nearly jumped. "What do you want?" he growled.

I told him about Dr. Moore's upcoming psych evals. Then he told me something I didn't expect.

"I'll tell everyone to report when needed. Oh, and forget about those engine tests."

"Uh, Ok." I tried to hide my relief. "Why?"

"I have more important things to worry about." Cortez then turned back around to Taylor.

I was so happy that he no longer wanted to waste our time with useless tests, I decided not to ask what was "more important". Instead I asked, "Should we leave the system now?"

"No", he said without even turning around.

"Then what are your orders?"

Cortez turned back around to face me. "Damn it Chou, I dunno. Just... Just hold position. We're going to be testing some of our fighters later today."

"Yes sir", I said and I walked away without waiting for his acknowledgement.

That guy is as fickle as a 7 year old choosing between chocolate and vanilla ice cream. That psych eval can't happen soon enough.

System Command: End Log

Alex Chou's Log for: 1/24/2352 20:24

I spent most of the day in the command center. I tried to read over various reports, but I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't stop thinking about Cortez and hoping that whatever his problem is, it would just go away. Unfortunately, Cortez again proved it was hopeless.

Late in the afternoon Cortez showed up in the Command Center. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Oblivious to the tension, he swaggered to the center of the room and flipped on a display. I know he's a dumb marine, but you'd think that even he could feel every eyeball in the room staring at him.

In the silence, I thought I heard a gun being unholstered.

I turned around and looked at Miller.

His eyes were fixated on Cortez. I noticed a facial tick in his right cheek.

Miller broke his glance long enough to look at me.

I shook my head "no". When I turned back around I heard the sound of a gun being holstered.

Mike Quid was the first to speak. "Captain, the comm speakers in the main corridor isn't workin'. I need to take a look."

A broken speaker hardly required his personal attention. I knew he wanted to get away from Cortez and I don't blame him. "Go ahead", I responded.

"I want you to stress test the primary engines", Cortez said.

"What? Why?", I asked.

"It's the only part of the ship that's failed. I want to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"You don't want the engines to break", I said, "therefore you're going to put it under an enormous amount of strain."

Either ignoring or missing the irony in my statement he responded by nodding his head and said, "That's right".

This led to our second argument in as many days. I was trying to calmly and cooly explain how completely moronic his order was. It's a waste of fuel and dangerous. The stress test would only degrade what was already working equipment. The parts that failed were replaced and triple checked. I told him all those facts during our argument.

He countered them all with the well thought out argument, "do it because I say so."

Being the superior officer, his argument won. Noon tomorrow, the test goes forward.

[*sigh] I'm sure Steele will say this is another reason whey we have to arrest Cortez.

System Command: End Log.

Alex Chou's Log for: 1/24/2352 12:23

On the way to meet Steele I saw 2 marines walking around with firearms at their side. I stopped walking and stared at them. My gut filled with dread. I gave security of the ship over to Cortez's marines. Who knows how many at any one time could be armed. What would happen if Steele and I went through with a plan to remove Cortez from duty? Before, if Cortez resisted and ordered his marines to help, the worse we would face would be some shouting and blows being exchanged. Now... who knows.

I shared the thought when I met with Steele this morning.

"Chou, if we aren't careful, we could have a possible fire fight breaking out", Steele whispered. She was staring at me from across a table she set up.

"As dumb as marines are, I can't imagine them firing on humans, let alone fellow members of the military", I whispered back. We met in Steele's quarters which, like mine, the walls are sound proof. So, once again, I don't know why we were whispering.

Steele took a deep breath. She spoke slowly. "Let's not test their dumbness. When we arrest Cortez-"

"If. If we arrest", I interrupted.

"Right. If we arrest Cortez, we should do so when there are no marines around and get him to either the brig or confined to quarters as quickly as possible."

"Why don't we just do it when he's already in his quarters late one night? Show up, tell him what's going on, and confine him to his quarters. That way he'd be sleepy and there wouldn't be any marines near by."

Steele and I discussed the issue for an hour and didn't really come up with a better plan. As it turns out there's only so many ways to tell a superior officer you're not going to listen to him anymore.

At the end i asked Steele about Taylor. "Steele, can you see if you can make friends with Lieutenant Taylor? Feel him out. He's Cortez's XO. If we can somehow get him-"

Steele began shaking her head. "No way. I've already talked to him. He his completely loyal to Cortez."

I let out a sigh. "I just figured if..."

"No", she said shaking her head. "We're on our own."

"Great", I said. "Well, we better get to the command center. We don't want to be late to seeing what crazy thing Cortez does today."

Steele laughed. "I'll see you in the CC, Chou", she said.

I left her quarters. Upon leaving I felt for the first time that I had an ally on this ship.

System Command: End Log.

Alex Chou's Log for: 1/23/2352 11:45

I was just about to fall asleep. My eyes were closed and i had just gotten comfortable. Next thing I know, BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM... I was startled out of my sleep and woke up yelling.

The door opened and Steele ran in with her weapon drawn. Here eyes were darting around the room. "What is it? What's going on?"

My eyes were fixed on her. "What the hell are you doing?", I shouted.

Steele lowered her handgun and looked at me. "I heard you yelling. I thought that you might be in trouble."

"I was yelling because a crazy second lieutenant was banging on my door in the middle of the god damn night."

Steele lowered her weapon. "Sorry. I... Sorry."

"What are you doing here?"

Steele closed the door to my quarters before responding. "It's about Cortez".

I climbed out of my sleeping bag and started putting on my boots. "What about him?"

"He. is. out. of. his. fucking. mind." Steele enunciated each syllable fully and loudly as if talking to a person who's half deaf.

"Duh", I said, "But what can we do about it? He's in charge."

"There are protocols to arrest and remove a superior officer from duty."

It was at that point that I begun to realize that she wasn't just venting. "Steele", I whispered, "are you serious about this?" I don't know why I started whispering. The walls are sound proof. It just seemed natural considering the direction the conversation was heading.

Steele started whispering too. "You've been working with him more than me, does he seem normal to you?"

"Well... yes and no."

Steele looked at me with a confused look.

"Sometime he'll be normal. Then, all of a sudden he'll do something crazy... like..."

"Like assault a fleet officer?" Steele said completing my sentence for me.

Steele pulled out her PID. "Look, all that's required to justify an arrest", she started reading from her PID, "...repeatedly gives orders that put people and/or equipment in danger without reason."

I rolled my eyes. "I know the regulation, Steele."

"So you know that we can do this."

"It's not that simple. He's yet to stand by an order that really put us in harm for no reason. I've been able to talk him out of doing anything dumb."

"So far", Steele said. "What happens when you can't?"

"Well. I ... uh..." I was dumbfounded. I guess I'd always assumed I'd be able to talk Cortez out of doing something stupid. The thought never occurred to me that there may come a time when I couldn't.

Steele quit whispering. "Chou, you've got to be ready to relieve him of command if he does something that could get us killed. You are the Captain of this ship. Our well being is your responsibility."

"What if he resists?", I asked.

"Then you need to make sure he understands that it is not optional."

I quit whispering too. "And what about Cortez's marines? If we were to do this, do you think that they'd stand by and let us. I've seen them. Those guys are loyal to each other. You think they'd just stand by while a couple fleet officers arrest their C.O.?"

"Do it when there aren't any around."

I turned away from Steele. "This is crazy. Removing a commanding officer is a quick way to getting yourself sent to the firing squad."

"Chou," Steele moved behind me and put her hand on my shoulder. "We're officers, not drone enlistees. Our duty is greater than just mindlessly following orders."

Steele removed her hand from my shoulder.

"Here's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to try and arrest Cortez from duty."

Steele took a breath and started to speak.

I held up a hand to stop her.

"Yet. Tomorrow you and I, and only you and I, are going to create a plan that would quickly and cleanly remove Cortez from the chain of command. So that if I decide it's necessary, we can make it happen." I emphasized the 'I' to make sure she knew that the final decision would be mine.

My decision must have satisfied her. She said "goodnight" and walked out of my quarters. Whatever plan we come up with, I hope it stays on paper. I don't want the last thing I see to be a marine firing squad.

System Command: End log.

General's Log for:

Unfortunately, the rigors of life have gotten to me this month. Between life, my day job, and this I haven't been able to keep up.

Luckily, I'll be taking a well deserved vacation during the holidays and I hope I can get back to writing some more. I'm hoping the next post will come Monday. Until then, you can catch up on this blog, check out my blog about blog fiction, or check out somebody else's blog fictions.

Thanks for reading.

Alex Chou's Log for: 1/23/2352 19:53

Since Cortez came aboard, it seems everyday follows the same pattern. Good stuff happens, more good stuff happens, and then Cortez happens. Today was no different.

Chavez's funeral services went well. People who knew them spoke well and before I knew, it was over. A little later another one. Even though they were all fairly low-ranked I asked all officers not on duty to attend. To their credit, all of them did.

More good news came today when I found out the Vinak ambush was withdrawing. One of Cortez's pilots was reporting that they were leaving the system. Once they're all gone we're outta here. It was when I was reading that report that Cortez struck.

While reading it I heard Mike Quid behind me say, "uh... Captain?"

I turned around and saw Quid with an arm that wasn't his around his neck and a gun to his head. The owner of the gun had his face hidden behind Quid's head. "Shit!", I shouted.

That got everyone else's attention. Miller leaped from his console and landed next to me. By the time he landed he had a gun in each hand pointed at Mike and his assailant. Steele grabbed a gun of her own and took position next to me. Everyone else froze.

There was a moment of silence. I grabbed one of the gun's Miller was holding. "Whoever you are", I began, "if you surrender now, I won't pull the trigger."

Beads of sweat began forming on my forehead. Then, the gun holding Quid ransom turned up so that it was pointing at the ceiling. That's when I heard a voice I've learned to dread. "Relax Lieutenant, I surrender". The arm around Quid's neck was removed and Mike fell forward revealing his hostage taker to be Commander Cortez.

Once I realized who it was, I almost pulled the trigger anyway.

Steele lowered her weapon and cast me a look of disbelief. Miller kept his gun aimed at Cortez.

"What the hell are you doing?", I said.

A smile was on Crotez's face. "Do you see how exposed your command center is "The whole ship's controlled here and I was able to sneak right in. If I was a hostile you'd all be dead by now."

I was stunned. I didn't know what to say.

Cortez, oblivious to everyone's shock, kept talking. "I can have 2 marines at every entrance every hour of every day. Nothing like this will ever happen again."

For some reason I wasn't angry. I guess I was still in shock. "Why'd you attack Quid?"

"I had to show how exposed your operation is."

Once again I didn't know what to say.

"So?", Cortez said.

"So, what?", I asked.

Cortez rolled his eyes. "So, can I post my marines?"

"No"

"What?! I just showed how exposed you are. You have to let me post guards." His tone wasn't angry, it sounded more like panic.

"With all due respect, Commander. This is still my ship and I will run it as I see fit."

Cortez turned around and walked out. He shouted back. "You're a damned fool, Chou. You're gonna get us all killed."

No one said anything. I looked down at the gun in my hand. I handed it back to Miller. That's when I realized something. "Miller, why do you have 2 guns?"

Miller didn't answer right away. He looked at the floor. Then he looked at me. "It came in handy, didn't it?"

System Command: End Log.

Alex Chou's Log for: 1/22/2352 19:45

I couldn't put the funeral services off anymore. Chavez has been hounding me constantly. I cracked and told him to plan them if he's so interested. Well, he did. He's been busy working away and planning. He's already got the first 10 services planned for tomorrow. We'll see how they go.

As far as our thief problem, I'm trying to keep a lid on it. I told Miller to install the camera without telling him why. The only other person I've told is Cortez. I can keep an eye out for suspicious fleet crew, but i figured he'd be better at identifying a suspicious marine. Unfortunately, he responded in his usual way: completely irrational. We were alone in his quarters when I told him. I found him floating on his back reading something on his PID - probably another book on war.

"Why do you think it's a marine that's doing it?", he asked.

"I didn't say it was. I said-"

"Then why should I be suspicious of my men?"

"I'm just asking to keep an eye out-"

"Tell ya what", he interrupted me again. "Let's find out right now if any of my men did it." "He hit some buttons on his PID. "Lieutenant Taylor. I want every marine on this ship to meet in the exercise room in 5 minutes."

"Yes, Sir" came the response. Cortez began putting on his magnetic boots.

I stared at him wide-eyed not knowing what he had planned.

"Come on. I'll drill them until somebody comes forward and confesses."

"NO!", I shouted. "Look I want to keep this secret. I don't want anyone else know'en about it. Rumors might tip off the culprit."

Cortez looked at me for a moment. He hit a button on his PID. "Taylor, belay that last order."

"Yes, sir" came the response with the exact same intonation as the first one.

"Fine", Cortez said, "we'll do it your way Chou, but once you've discovered that your thief isn't a marine, I'll expect an apology." There was no humor in his voice.

I didn't say anything. I turned around, rolled my eyes, and walked out of his room. I think I've had more productive conversations with a blank sheet of paper.

System Command: End Log.

Alex Chou's Log for: 1/21/2352 21:45

This is strange. Dr. Moore today told me that he's convinced that somebody is stealing the meds needed for a chem nap. "It's slow and gradual, but they are disappearing - for maybe 2 weeks", he said.

I asked him to redo his inventory. There could've been a miscount I reasoned.

"I already did that", he snapped. "I did it last week too. Last week we were short 3 doses and this week we're short another 7."

"Why would someone steal them?", I asked. "It would be like stealing Aspirin. Just ask and you always give them."

"Almost always", he corrected.

"Could someone on your staff not be keeping proper records?" I was having a difficult time believing someone would steal something that's so readily available.

"You see that pile over there?" He pointed to a group of small needles stacked in a basket. They were labeled with a long latin word. Underneath it in smaller print were the words "sleep inducers". "Last night, I counted. There were 8 of them. When I came in this morning there were only 5. I asked my night staff if they gave away any of them. None of them did."

I sighed. "Has anyone asked for any that didn't get 'em?", I asked.

"No one".

I told him to leave the basket full of sleep inducers and tomorrow I'll have Miller set up a security camera. That way we can figure out who the culprit is and find out what the hell his motive could possibly be.

System Command: End Log.

Alex Chou's Log for: 1/21/2352 18:45

The stealth fighters reported back their findings. There is an ambush waiting for us on the other side of both warp points. I guess they learned from our Volga escape. If it hadn't been for the fact that we sent our fighters ahead of us, we could've fallen for the trap.

You know, this has got to be the third or maybe even the fourth time I've saved the Constant from Commander Cortez's foolishness, but does Cortez acknowledge it? No! He acts like it's my fault that the Vinak have us trapped. He was in his quarters when I told him the bad news. "Damn it Chou, why are the Vinak still looking for us?"

I didn't respond. I just rolled my eyes. I didn't even care if he saw it. I've noticed that I keep seeing more and more of "angry Cortez" and less of "eerily nice Cortez", and I'm getting sick of it.

I convinced him to wait a couple more days before we make our move. Maybe by then the Vinak will get bored and leave. After all there's already less ships at the ambush point than there were searching the system.

I spent the rest of the day in the Command Center. With fewer drills and no combat it's starting to get boring. I spent most of the time just reading status reports. That reminds me, Dr. Moore wanted to talk to me. I wonder if it can wait until tomorrow. Well... he said it was important. I guess I'd better see what he wanted.

System Command: End Log.