"What do you mean [i]turn back[/i]?"

With the Saratoga's Commanding Officer dealing with paperwork regarding the fleet's arrival in orbit over Delta Pavonis B in her quarters, Commander Michaël Daniau had been left in charge of the warship's operations center. The tall, fair-skinned Marine Nationale 'Capitaine de frégate' was more often than not present in the Combat Operations Center, mostly due to his aspirations to one day become the commanding officer; it was the very reason he had ever signed up for the mission, after all. Before the mission had begun, his career had reached a dead-end: there were too many officers with the rank 'Capitaine de vaisseau' in the French Navy, and he only had a few years to acquire a promotion before being forcibly retired. Instead, he had requested a transfer to the Saratoga in the hopes that, with the Oberst's death, he would take over the blank spot on the roster.

He had barely even read through the contents of the printed message when he voiced his confusion, bringing his hazel eyes to the bottom of the document to check its authentication. For some reason, the colonization of the planet was being aborted: it was a nightmare scenario, and even though the size of the force being left behind to 'protect and observe' had not been explicitly mentioned, the Commander was fairly certain that it did not include an entire cruiser.

Without any actual explanation to give, the ship's communications officer, a Major Petro Zelenko from the West Ukrainian Air Force, simply tried to assure the Commander that the message was real. "That's what the message said, sir. The authentication codes check out, we double-checked them." The Major stood several inches shorter than his direct superior, so he had to look up to address him. "Should we abort the recon UAV launch?"

"No." responded the commander, passing the paper back to his Ukrainian subordinate. "Lets keep this quiet for now, it could be a clerical error. Hail the flagship for me."

"Already tried sir, nobody's picking up."

That last statement seemed to have stirred the hornet's nest that was the Commander's brain, and his eyes drifted to get a quick glimpse of the Sergeant of the Guard and the security staff on the bridge. Something bad had happened, that was for sure. "Alright, listen to me carefully. Have the Master-at-Arms report to the bridge, and have your staff keep quiet about that message, we don't need to cause a panic. Keep trying to reach the flagship."

The Major hesitated, but then nodded discretely. "Aye aye." And with that, the two men exchanged a brief salute before Petro disappeared towards the communications room. In the meantime, the Commander moved back towards the port side of the compact bridge, where the stations for engineering, the optical telescopes and ground operations were, and motioned for the intelligence officer to get closer. The latter, recognizing the gesture, removed her headset and heads-up display goggles, unstrapped from her seat and turned to face the Commander.

"Sir. How can I help?"

"Direct all optical and infrared telescopes to the surface. Keep this to yourself, don't let your crew see the feeds, just send them to my station. If anyone asks, we are looking for a suitable site for the shuttles."

"Yes sir, I will keep it quiet, but... Mind telling me what's going on?"

"Something spooked the flagship and they ordered us to abandon landing preparations, I want to know what it is. I don't know what the Admiral is thinking, but I am not about to have twenty three years of my life go to waste. Can I count on you?"

A mutual understanding was shared between the two officers as their eyes met. She was known for being one of the Commander's most outspoken supporters in the command staff, partly because the two shared mutual goals, a common nationality and at times a common hatred for the Oberst's clique of idealists: the chief engineer, the Marine CO, the chief medical officer and the Chief of the Boat being chief amongst them. After several moments of silence, as if conspiring with their eyes, the Major spoke. "Absolutely, for anything sir."

"Thank you Major, that will be all."

Having taken care of that issue, Michael had to speak to one more person: the Master-at-Arms.

---

Several minutes later, the Colonel had finally finished her paperwork and was present in the bridge. She had yet to be informed of anything more than a vague reference to conflicting orders, and had been given the assurances of the communications officer that they were trying to get clarification from the flagship. Standing at just over five foot seven, she was not exactly a short woman by any means, and had held up remarkably well with both age and the harsh conditions of space. Despite the sudden reluctance displayed by some of the bridge's officers to give her the information she needed, and no way to contact the flagship, she had reserved herself to watching the video feed of the [i]Daughter of Gaia[/i] on her station. The bridge, like almost all sections of the ship, had no actual windows: it was buried deep beneath the armor so a decapitating strike against the ship's officers would be impossible, and most decision-making relied on a mix of RADAR, LIDAR, LADAR, infrared, x-ray and magnetometric sensor data.

It was only when the transmission from the [i]Gaia[/i] begun that the Colonel became suspicious: that was not the voice of the Admiral, and he was usually the only one to address the fleet. Why would Baran, of all people, be allowed to make a public announcement?

[i]"I have assumed command of the Daughter of Gaia and the fleet."[/i]

It was only then that she realized what was going on: it was a coup. The video embedded in the broadcast gave her the reason for the coup, and the voice doing the broadcast confirmed who had staged it. The bridge crew, most of whom were unaware of the events taking place on both the [i]Gaia[/i] and the [i]Saratoga[/i], froze as the details about the coup were revealed to them in the most public form of exposure: it was only when the transmission ended that the Colonel begun to consider the situation. After several moments of deliberation, and a bombardment of questions by several junior officers, she decided to act.

"Return to your stations, people. This is an internal security matter that will be dealt with shortly. Zelenko, get the Marine CO on the phone, have her scramble the Marine Rapid Reaction Team with a fighter escort. We need to quell this coup before anyone starts getting any idea-"

"You will do no such thing, Major."

The entire bridge froze again as the Colonel turned her entire body to get a look at the source of the familiar voice: the executive officer. He was flanked by two members of the Naval Security Service, clad in combat armor and equipped with assault rifles, with the Master-at-Arms waiting a few meters behind them.

"Commander, what do you think you are doing?"

"I am stopping you from making a grave mistake, Colonel."

Ignoring the warning from the Commander, Erika turned her head to address Zelenko again. "Major, get Lieutenant Colonel Hansson on the line, now."

"Colonel, I am warning you, if you continue upon this course and insist on attempting an unlawful boarding operation on the [i]Daughter of Gaia[/i], I will be left with no choice-"

"MAJOR! ARE YOU DEAF?"

"Colonel, this is getting nowhere. I am left with no choice but to relieve you of command of this vessel under naval regulat-"

"Commander, you are relieved. Sergeant of the Guard, escort Daniau to his quarters and get me Lieutenant Colonel-"

"Sergeant of the Guard, the Colonel has been properly relieved, please escort her out of the bridge."

"SERGEANT OF THE GUARD! I gave you a direct order! Commander Daniau is under arrest on charges of mutiny!"

"SERGEANT OF THE GUARD, YOU [i]WILL[/i] TAKE THE COLONEL INTO CUSTODY ON CHARGES OF HIGH TREASON, AND YOU WILL DO SO NOW!"

The back-and-forth conversation had escalated into a yelling contest within a few seconds, leaving a confused Sergeant of the Guard to stare at the two officers in disbelief. It was only when he felt a hand on his shoulder, that of the Master-at-Arms, that he realized that he actually had to make a choice. Reaching down to his holster, he unclipped the safety cover and reached for the rail pistol within. Both the Colonel and the Commander stopped yelling and glared at him expectantly as he unholstered the firearm, holding it by the side of his hip.

Several tense moments later, the Sergeant of the Guard's gaze was finally locked on the Colonel. "Colonel. Your sidearm please."

Erika glared angrily at her former executive officer: she recognized defeat, but seemed unwilling to accept it. "Commander, if you are doing what I think you are doing, you should just shoot yourself now. Do you think that the five thousand people on this ship will willingly become accomplices to genocide?"

"I think they will do as ordered. This is a [i]military vessel[/i]. Sergeant, take her away. Major Lapierre, you are my new XO." he finally responded, and the Colonel was defiantly forced out of the bridge by the Sergeant of the Guard and two of the Marines; a coup had just begun aboard the [i]Saratoga[/i], and while there was a lot to do, the mutineers at least had control of the bridge. "If anyone disagrees with what I have done, feel free to relieve yourselves now." In response, several junior and petty officers stood up from their seats, walking out of the bridge voluntarily; these included the Chief of the Boat, the senior enlisted adviser and close friend of the Colonel. Before he could leave, however, he was stopped by the Master-at-Arms.

"Not you, COB." she exclaimed, making a hand gesture for a Marine to come closer. "You are under house arrest. Corporal Dietrich will escort you to your quarters. Please hand over your sidearm."

The Chief was not a particularly athletic man: in fact, he was overweight. Even though he had been a mere Petty Officer 1st Class when the [i]Saratoga[/i] had left Earth, the more than twenty years of not seeing combat action and slowly abandoning his attempts at maintaining physical fitness had resulted in numerous health problems and left him unable to perform the simplest of physical tasks without struggling. He had even been prescribed pills to control his pressure by the chief medical officer. But if there was one thing he had not lost, it was his fiery spirit: he reached down to grab his sidearm, as if preparing to hand it over, but as he lifted it out he whispered a single phrase.

"Fuck you, Major."

Before anyone could react, the COB raised his pistol and fired a shot straight into the Master-at-Arms' chest, and then another at her vulnerable stomach before the Marine made a motion to disarm him: he too found himself with a bullet embedded into his upper right arm. Railguns used no explosive force to propel their projectiles, but the loud 'bang' sound of the projectile breaching the sound barrier was enough to create havoc in the bridge: the Master-at-Arms collapsed to the ground as the Marine struggled to deal with the intense pain, and the COB turned his aim to the Commander.

"Daniau, you are under arrest! Drop your gun to the floor, now!"

Instead of the move of compliance (or defiance) the Chief expected, however, another gunshot ringed out in the bridge; the Chief's body collapsed to the floor, lifeless, with blood flowing out of a massive wound on the side of its head. All eyes on the bridge turned to get a look at the shooter, the former intelligence officer who had been just promoted to XO, who slowly lowered her sidearm by her side without speaking.

Left to deal with the aftermath of the situation as the medics flowed into the bridge to take care of the Master-at-Arms and the shot Marine, Michael instead calmly turned around, picked up the handset from the commanding officer's station and made a gesture at Zelenko to connect him to the flagship.

"This is Commander Damiau, commanding officer of the Saratoga. I have been forced to relieve Colonel Wechsler and assume command of this vessel; we are standing by for further instructions, [i]Admiral Baran[/i]."

---

[i]"What do you mean the COB's been shot?! Damiau has done what? Right, call the CAG too, see if he's with us. I'll gather a few Marines I can trust and meet you at the small arms locker. Hansson over and out."[/i]