The Times They are a-Changin'

From Acw

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'

Avalon Redux

The docking bay of the USS George Washington, largest assault carrier in the US Intersolar Navy and pride of the Griffin Task Force, was the usual expanse of barely controlled chaos.

Captain Don Berenger’s plasteel-capped boots rang on the gantry as he made his way to the gantry that led to the Docking Bay bridge. A harried-looking tech nearly collided with him, and the cute brunette from Refuelling winked as he hustled past.

Late. For Clinton’s welcoming party. O’Toole was going to have his ass.

Chief of the Watch Wallace O’Toole’s broad shoulders barely turned as Berenger entered the bridge, but Berenger knew he could sense him coming. Sure enough, at three steps away he suddenly spun. Berenger froze as the huge black man locked in on him. ‘Captain Berenger. So nice of you to join us. I knew that my head of Security would eventually realize that he’d be required when we welcomed the Secretary of Extrasolar Affairs.’ ‘Terribly sorry, Chief. There was a…situation.’ O’Toole grinned wolfishly and leaned forward. ‘I doubt that several bottles of Io Tequila and that lady you walked past qualify as a…situation.’ Berenger tried to look apologetic. It was a poor attempt.

Before O’Toole could continue to harangue his second in command, red light flared from the warning lights and the P.A. rang out. ‘Please stand by, FTL group incoming. Audio tag as follows…’ The voice changed abruptly to a pre-recorded message. ‘Attention USS George Washington. This is Secretary Clinton, we have just completed post-FTL checks and are lining up for docking. Authorisation code delta delta echo three-three-seven. Looking forward to meeting you Mister O’Toole. And I have a message from my escort. He says…’ The recording broke to static. O’Toole frowned. ‘That audio was incomplete. What’s wrong?’

A nearby tech frowned and fiddled with his InfoSlate. ‘Not sure sir. The group exited the FTL tunnel on schedule and within the usual parameters. Might have just been a spike in white noise during transmission.’ Berenger tugged nervously at his jacket. Clinton was far and away the most famous person he’d met, and he had achieved an almost legendary status from his work at Neuostland. This wasn’t the time for things to go wrong. The tech suddenly waved them quiet. ‘Sir, we’re getting an emergency hail. It’s being patched from the escort wing on the left superior flank.’

O’Toole looked up sharply. ‘Patch it through to main P.A.’

Backed by static and the unmistakeable sound of kinetic penetrators striking a pressurised hull, a new voice crackled through the bridge’s speakers. ‘This is Wing Commander Powers. Sensors indicate we have multiple hostiles on an intercept course. Small craft, small-scale reaction engine signatures only. No UV marks. Approximate number of hostiles numbers in the hundreds. Warm up the guns, Wally. We’re coming in hot.’

Session Details

A Colder War: The Times are a-Changin' was be the second and final game in ACW's first story arc. It ran at MacquarieCon in December 2006. The results are summarised as The Arthurian Incursion.