Operation Pacifica: The Hour Of The Wolf
by Admiral J-Rock, aka Slider the Feral (NYAR!)




"I swear -- this is no way to run a paramilitary, cyber-enhanced
  mutant strike force!"


 - Heatwave (of Cyber Force), SHATTERED IMAGE #2



OFFICER'S LOUNGE, _DTT FREEDOM_, 0320 HRS. SHIP'S TIME
SOMEWHERE ON THE PACIFIC OCEAN
DAY SEVEN OF OPERATION PACIFICA


 J-Rock sat pensively in one of the chairs and nursed a cup of Irish
  coffee. He couldn't sleep tonight, even though he was worn out from the
  day's events. The Good Game (tm) networks were conspicuously quiet tonight,
  as everybody in the Dobe fleet had stared death in the face over the course
  of the late-night fleet action. Even the Urusei Yatsura tape he had in the
  VCR did little to raise his spirits.


 Reports of Sponge-Minions on the island, by now off to the west.


 The fleet that had sailed forth to greet them just last night had
  come from the _southeast_.


 The pieces blatantly failed to fit.


 "'lo J-Rock," DarkSide said as he came into the lounge. "And I
  thought I was the only one still up at this hour."


 "Bad dreams?" J-Rock asked.


 "Nah," DS replied, but his body language gave away his concealment
  of his surprise.


 "Have you ever heard of 'the hour of the wolf'?"


 "Should I have?"


 J-R cleared his throat and prepared to exposit.


 "'The hour of the wolf' is usually from three to four in the
  morning.  You may be trying to sleep, but you aren't really. Meanwhile, your
  entire life is replayed through your mind's eye: all that was, wasn't, what
  could've been, what did, and what didn't. And the only sound you hear while
  all this is going on is your own heartbeat.


 "I've spent the last three nights in 'the hour of the wolf'. And
  when I could sleep -- really sleep, that is -- I've been getting all sorts
  of disturbing dreams. At first, it started with seeing Pacifica Island from
  the water. Only in my dream, there were large flocks of vultures circling
  it. And from somewhere in the distance, I heard this weird, cackling laugh.
  Made Jinnai's [1] sound pleasant by comparison. But the topper happened
  tonight.


 "I dreamt I was looking at my own body from above, like those out-
  of-body experiences. I was lying face up, with a large hole in my chest."


 "That's nothing," DS interjected. "I dreamed I became mortal again
  andwas ripped limb from limb."


 "You've got problems," J-R said flatly, taking a sip of his coffee.


 "Ain't that the truth."



...



FIVE MINUTES LATER


 DarkSide had left a minute or so before as his fatigue caught up
  with him. J-Rock, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. He was
  riding the crest of a mighty adrenalin rush, and had been known to go from
  dusk to dawn during intense BattleTech sessions. That, and he was troubled
  by the dreams he was having. DS's story just reinforced the bad feeling he
  was having even more. One thing was certain: this trip was far from over.


 "'But I have promises to keep...'," J-Rock quoted as he opened his
  JihadLinker (tm) and punched in the code for a talk connection with the
  _Spirit of Aggieland_. While the connection was loading up, a loud series of
  clangs echoed throughout the ship. 'They've dropped anchor,' he thought.
  'Then again, we had only one arrestor and one cat coming out of the
  shooting.'


 "You have reached the _AMS Spirit of Aggieland_," P-Chan said as
  she answered on the ship's end. "If you would like to talk to a machine,
  please press '1' on your JihadLinker's (tm) keypad now."



# Radiohead "High & Dry" _The Bends_


 J-Rock chortled and said, "Hello to you too, P. Bob about?"


 "No, I don't think he's up. And I don't think he wants to be
  disturbed..."


 "I see. What about Don?  He sleeping too?"


 "Yeah, he's sleeping. In fact, I'm the only person on the bridge
  right now. Hol's taking care of everything else."


 "You think that's a good idea?"


 "I've stayed up for 48 hours before. Doesn't bother me. Of course,
  I've been up for almost 24 hours now, so I may crash soon."


 "P-Chan, do me a favor. When either Bob or Don comes back, go to
  your quarters and get some sleep. You've got 12 hours off-duty, starting
  then. No buts; that's an order."


 "Ok. We got the TRES task force with us, so things shouldn't get
  too hectic up here. Just between us, those ships are a little freaky."


 "What do you mean? I've never seen the Space Fleet. Svartalf
  handled that."


 "Let me put it this way: they don't even register as 'conventional'
  spacecraft. They got all sorts of weird stuff that plays hell with our
  scans.  Decentralized power plants, unusual sensor placement, the works.
  It's like nothing we've ever encountered before."


 "Now this I gotta see."


 P-Chan paused before continuing. "So, how'd it go with the
  warships?"


 J-Rock looked her in the eye and said, "One word: hellacious."


 "That bad?"


 "That bad. All the ships in the fleet got popped to some extent.
  One of our transports was sunk, but we got our stuff off it before it went
  under."


 P-Chan yawned. "My brain is frying already. Guess I better let you
  go."


 "Yeah, I might as well." J-Rock punched the picture-in-picture
  button before he pressed the '1' key. Holly's face rezzed upon the small
  screen almost instantly. "Oi," he said. 'Dang, P, you weren't kidding,' J-R
  thought.


 "Hol, see if you can't pull somebody from the night shift to cover
  for P-Chan. If not, wake up either Bob, Don, or Tim, depending on how rested
  they are."


 "Got that."


 "Well, P, I guess I'll see you when I--YAAWWWNNN," J-R said.
  "Great.  You got me doing it now. I need to listen to my own advice."


 "Take care, J," she replied as she broke off the connection.


 "Wait!" J-R said as the screen went black. He had wanted to talk
  about his own misgivings about the voyage with her. It had already been a
  week, and still no sight of Pacifica. But the most disturbing thought was
  that the JihadLink (tm) connection may have been his last message to the
  TAMUBGD.


 J-Rock lay in bed for an hour with that thought on his mind. At
  length, he drifted off to sleep, trying not to dream about it.


 But the dreams came anyway.



...



COMMANDER AIR GROUP'S QUARTERS, 2216 HRS. SHIP'S TIME
DAY NINE OF OPERATION PACIFICA


 J-Rock hit the taunt button that had a sample of Jack Palance
  saying "I crap bigger than you" as he deep-froze yet another victim with his
  freezethrower. He had gotten quite good at the DukeMatches, and had fragged
  jry at least twice just to prove a point. His only worry was that either CP
  or Samhain might want to try their hand at Duke Nukem 3-D. The Dobe Fleet
  spent all of Day Seven just patching up the ships. Now, they were underway
  once more, and the net-games were in full swing.


 There had been a few minor snags during that day. Malcalypse had
  immediately noted at the Task Force meeting that this seemingly innocuous
  island hop was turning into another Operation Phoenix-esque bloodbath. Given
  that the Jihad was still recovering from said Op, the fear was justified to
  some extent. CP was quick to point out that the B'Harnate-Lyran fleet had
  been dealt crippling damage, which made their chances of rising again to
  oppose the Dobe Fleet awfully slim at best.


 J-R snuck around and nailed Geier with a RPG before a bleep-bleep
  of the fleet's intercom forced him to withdraw to the chat room. Noting with
  some satisfaction that his frag count of 751 remained at #1, he punched up
  the commlink and said, "J-Rock here. Go, and this really ought to be juicy."


 "It is," Sheridan said. "Some damn fool Spongin tried to kamikaze
  the _WolfBane_. Trouble was, he ejected just after he dove."


 "How the hell did he get past the BARCAP?"


 "Damned if I know."


 "But you are," J-Rock interrupted with a sick little grin.


 "Ha ha ha," Sheridan dryly noted. "Anyway, J managed to contain the
  plane's momentum, so the transport isn't damaged at all. They're gonna grill
  him aboard the _WolfBane_ in the morning, if you want to join in."


 "I'm a little busy right now. I'll just take the Cliff Notes, thank
  thee very much."


 "Sure you are. Sheridan out."


 J-Rock went back into NetMech once again, opting for an Executioner
  on this trip into the Trials of Grievance.


 Meanwhile, the Dobe Fleet sailed toward Pacifica, and whatever
  awaited them there.


...



THE OBSCURE

[1] Katsuhiko Jinnai is the villain of "El-Hazard: The Magnificent World." 
He is currently tied with B-Ko from "Project A-Ko" and Kodachi from "Ranma 
1/2" for the dubious honor of The Worst Laugh In Anime (IMHO).

To be continued in "Pacifica"...