Kerbal22 Posted October 30, 2014 Author Posted October 30, 2014 Foe Hammer pulled into the massive asteroid that composed Durias shipyard, after walking away with it's tail between it's figurative legs, the mighty cruiser at soon at rest, and surrounded by equipment. Little did everyone in the yard know that soon, Foe Hammer would be disabled, damaged, and the asteroid yard itself annihilated. "Comms, open a channel to Durias control, alert them we're home." "Aye aye, Captain." Soon, Foe Hammer was docked inside the asteroid, and it seemed, if for a moment, all was well. Hours passed as Foe Hammer's massive anti-matter reactors cooled and shut down, leaving her running only on auxiliary power. Captain Zephyr sighs softly. The duration that she would be on Durias was her only leave, she would finally see her lover again, and oh, damn did she need it. Unfortunately. She wouldn't get that. Before anyone on Durias knew it, a antimatter warhead impacted the asteroid, cracking it in half, a great roar of alarms and the sound of the asteroid itself coming apart shook everything inside, instantly, Foe Hammer was damaged. Not disabled, but damaged. Without power or shielding, she only had minimal maneuvering power. As Hedaemony quick response ships closed in on Durias, their foe came into view. The alien race that would come to be known as the Usa-Taru Massive bio-ships now filled the space around Durias, trying to smash the yard apart and get to the valuable prize inside. Foe Hammer's armor had great chunks carved from it, but was still sealed, engines, shield emitters, FTL generators, maneuvering pods, all damaged, but the heart of the ship, the Zero Point Energy module..was still active. It could run shields and engines, nothing else. And so, Foe Hammer left Durias with one engine and quite a bit of damage, making a straight run to the Eta Tau gate at sublight. It would take hours. But her intrepid Captain was still aboard. A-31 had caused this. "This is Captain Zephyr of Foe Hammer. Durias Shipyard has been lost. We have a code Zeta situation, i repeat, we have a Code Zeta." The invasion of Tau Eta had begun, and reinforcements from Sol..were not going to be there. For a long time. DAMAGE REPORT MANEUVERING DRIVE DAMAGED, 18 OF 24 MANEUVERING PODS ONLINE ION DRIVES OFFLINE FUSION ENGINE NO.2 CRITICAL AND OFFLINE MASS CANCELING FIELD GENERATORS OFFLINE HULL DAMAGE UNKNOWN 8 OF 24 DOUBLE RAIL-GUNS OFFLINE TORPEDOES LAUNCHERS OFFLINE 6 OF 18 MISSILE LAUNCHERS OFFLINE 3 OF 6 ION CANNONS OFFLINE FIGHTER LAUNCH TUBES OFFLINE SHIELD GENERATOR ONLINE, MASTER CAUTION ANTIMATTER REACTORS SHUTDOWN, SPINNING UP ZERO POINT ENERGY MODULE OPERATIONAL 86 CREW UNCOUNTED SENSOR SUITE OPERATIONAL, MASTER CAUTION DAMAGE CONTROL SUITE OPERATIONAL, BEGINNING DAMAGE CONTROL Status: 45% Combat ready. Damage status: Immediate repairs required. Quote
Gollee Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 Acetes shook violently, it's distortion field fluxing, throwing Aesen across the crew toroid, Instinctively, her mind reached out to Acetes, "Are you hurt? What is hap-" They are here! I can feel them; I can feel them reaching out to me. Acetes shook again, more violently this time, Aesen yelped as she was thrown back across the toroid, slamming into the far wall. Her arms snapped out, seizing hold of a bolted-down chair with a death-grip. She threw her mind towards Acetes sharing in it's anguish and pain, trying to lessen it. She began to hear the whispers of the other biocraft, a deep, mental compulsion to join with their primary intelligence. Aesen felt the burden of the compulsion lessen as other, original members of the crew joined with her in spreading the strain. Gradually, Acetes settled down, pressing against a nearby asteroid, it's mind radiating a sense of extreme fatigue. Quote
Kerbal22 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Posted October 31, 2014 Foe Hammer crawled towards the Tau Eta warpgate, leaking atmosphere and fuel, the ship still damaged after Durias had been destroyed. Hegemony Central Command had gone dark. There had been no word was to what was going on aside from the plague of bioships encroaching upon Tau Eta. Foe Hammer approached the Tau Eta warpgate, in the midst of it's own struggle as the bioships attempted to capture and secure the gate, the way to the rest of the Hegemony space. "Captain, thirty cruiser-sized contacts around the gate, we're getting an FTL reading..it's the Valiant!" "What? The Valiant? Impossible.." "No, sir. It's been making double-time from Sol, it seems." Captain Zephyr watched the holoscreen impassively as the Hegemony cruiser emerged from the gate, the very same class of Foe Hammer. She sighs quietly. "Ready quads and doubles, all that are online, load radio-logical rounds. Bring our broadside to bare and open fire with everything we have." "Aye aye, captain." "Coming about." She watched the holoscreen asFoe Hammer sluggishly manuvers, and a low rumble hits the ship as fire from the Bioship horde hits Foe Hammer's armor, easily being absorbed and taken care of as the battle rages on around them, and a tremble hits Foe Hammer as all it's operational railguns go online and fire their deadly payload.. Sudden, alarms wail though the ship. "Report!" "Anti-matter warheads incoming. Anti-matter reactors 1, 4, and 6 destablising." "Eject the cores, begin evasiv-" Captain Zephyr didn't get to finish that sentence as an anti-matter warhead struck Foe Hammer, annihilating a majority of it's armor, and leaving it adrift. DAMAGE REPORT MANEUVERING DRIVE OFFLINE, 0 OF 24 MANEUVERING PODS ONLINE ION DRIVES OFFLINE FUSION ENGINE NO.1, 2 CRITICAL AND OFFLINE MASS CANCELING FIELD GENERATORS OFFLINE HULL DAMAGE UNKNOWN 24 OF 24 DOUBLE RAIL-GUNS OFFLINE TORPEDOES LAUNCHERS OFFLINE 14 OF 18 MISSILE LAUNCHERS OFFLINE 6 OF 6 ION CANNONS OFFLINE FIGHTER LAUNCH TUBES OFFLINE SHIELD GENERATOR ONLINE, MASTER CAUTION, SECONDARY CAUTION, COOLANT WARNING ANTIMATTER REACTORS OFFLINE. CORES 1, 4, 6 EJECTED ZERO POINT ENERGY MODULE OPERATIONAL, SECONDARY CAUTION 90 CREW UNCOUNTED SENSOR SUITE OPERATIONAL, MASTER CAUTION, SECONDARY CAUTION, OVERHEAT DAMAGE CONTROL SUITE OPERATIONAL, BEGINNING DAMAGE CONTROL Status: 5% Combat ready. Damage status: Immediate repairs required. Quote
Tenenza Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 Orpheus emerged from warp into a warzone. "Sensors online, reading numerous unknown hostile craft. Visuals indicate biological structuring on hostile craft." Manipulators roared to life as the multipurpose spires of Orpheus unfurled into a combat configuration. "Long range communications online, optical array receiving scenario data. Battlecruiser ESN AAC-CVN1-22, designation "Foe Hammer" is reporting extensive damage. Orders sire?" Fabricators clicked online as they were socketed into place along the matrix of interconnecting cables and modules that now ringed the Orpheus.Begin thermal burn towards the "Foe Hammer", launch dusting drones at an arc orbital to cover our approach. Hold Intellgencer wings back for manual deployment. Moments later, a drone the size and shape of a brick was launched at a tenth of the speed of light. Another followed shortly. Soaring in an arc between the Orpheus and Foe Hammer, these drones slowly tore themselves appart into microscopic flakes, cascading forward in a cloud of particles. A single message was sent. "Remaining crew of Battlecruiser ESN AAC-CVN1-22, this is Captain Dedalus of the Orpheus. Assistance will arrive shortly. Cover will be provided shortly" Then the Electronic Warfare modules engaged. Thousands of chaotic waves of electromagnetic energy flare across the cloud of dust, rebounding between particles of numerous substances, rendering any attempt to scan the area it covered futile. Quote
Gollee Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 Acetes's crew toroid began to warm slowly as it's internal fusion reactors came online. Aesen reached out to the slowly recovering craft, "Will we be ready to move soon? Or do you need more time?" My reserves are nearly restored, the fusion reactors have reached seventy eight percent operational capacity, we can fly. There are so many of them out there... Aesen, love, what are you planning? Aesen mentally released the hold that Acetes was exerting on the asteroid. "We can't fight them, but we can certainly annoy them; the only thing capable of stopping them is that Hegemony ship; we have to help it." Quote
Kerbal22 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Posted October 31, 2014 Foe Hammer drifted listlessly in space, alarms wailing, Captain Zephyr stood back up from where she had been knocked down after the Antimatter warhead had hit. Comms were a mess, the fleet was in disarray. The gate..it was still under Hegemony control, thankfully. She glanced at the damage control board. which was broadcasting a mess of red over the screen and into the dim lights of the bridge. Emergency lighting. The AM/M reactors must have been knocked offline. She quickly walked over to the damage control board, redirecting all repair drones to the ZPM and AM reactors. The ship wasn't out of the fight yet. "Vessel Orpheus, we read. Most of our systems are critical and we're not being fired apon, earliest ETA to our ability to provide any fire support is in twenty minutes, we'll have some missile launchers and quads back, maybe a nuke ready to fire if we're lucky." She sighs quietly and cuts the comm-line, opening a ship-wide channel. "All crew, report in." She had, in total, eight tactical officers, nine engineers, and eight fighter pilots left, it seemed. And a doctor. "Engineering, get me an ETA on power and engines." "We need atleast ten minutes for each." "Redirect as much power as you can from the shield generator to railguns." "Aye aye, Captain." She slumps down into her chair. She didn't notice the pain in her left arm, when she looked over at it, it was at a odd angle. Broken. "Huh.." Quote
Gollee Posted November 1, 2014 Posted November 1, 2014 They threatened to shoot us! With Radiological shells! Why would we help them! Aesen looked about, staying silent as her bridge crew filed in; taking their seats quietly, and activating their consoles. "Acetes, either the Hegemony win, and we might get a reprieve; or the bio-things win, and we all get turned to soup." With a prolonged mental sigh, Acetes pushed off away from the asteroid, accelerating up to twelve gees into the system; at a nod from Aesen, Rede opened a wide-band transmission for Aesen. "This is the Falcon biocraft Acetes, I don't care whether you like us or not, but I prefer Hegemony rule to being ground up into biogruel; don't shoot at me, and we won't shoot at you; coming in to assist at all speed." Quote
Kerbal22 Posted November 1, 2014 Author Posted November 1, 2014 Foe Hammer was back in the fight. Her shields were down, allowing the eight quad railguns to fire. She only had those, and a few doubles still online. The Valiant was a floating wreck from the Antimatter explosion, and Foe Hammer was the last Hegemony ship still at the battle.. She was outnumbered 28:1. But she was still fighting, despite mortal wounds. Lasers, rail-guns, and missiles filled the space between the bioship fleet and Foe Hammer. "This is Captain Zephyr.I don't give a shit what you are, we need all the help we can get at the moment." A low rumble sounds over comms. "Draw some fire off of us, the armor is thick but it won't last forever." Foe Hammer was truly taking a beating, and dishing it back out. Minutes later, several Bioships broke up and exploded, but Foe Hammer's days were numbered. A bright flare from the aft of the ship signals the fusion engines, at-least one of them coming back online as Foe Hammer heads towards the gate, her guns still firing. "If you can, be ready. We're about to nuke the gate." She closes the comm-link and sighs. They had one operational torpedo tube. She had to make it count. DAMAGE REPORT MANEUVERING DRIVE ONLINE, 12 OF 24 MANEUVERING PODS ONLINE ION DRIVES ONLINE FUSION ENGINE NO.2 CRITICAL AND OFFLINE MASS CANCELING FIELD GENERATORS OFFLINE HULL DAMAGE UNKNOWN 18 OF 24 DOUBLE RAIL-GUNS OFFLINE TORPEDOES LAUNCHERS MINIMALLY OPERATIONAL: 1 OF 8 ONLINE 14 OF 18 MISSILE LAUNCHERS OFFLINE 4 OF 6 ION CANNONS OFFLINE FIGHTER LAUNCH TUBES OFFLINE SHIELD GENERATOR ONLINE, MASTER CAUTION, SECONDARY CAUTION ANTIMATTER REACTORS ONLINE. CORES 1, 4, 6 EJECTED ZERO POINT ENERGY MODULE OPERATIONAL, SECONDARY CAUTION 90 CREW UNCOUNTED SENSOR SUITE OPERATIONAL, MASTER CAUTION, SECONDARY CAUTION, DAMAGE CONTROL SUITE OPERATIONAL, BEGINNING DAMAGE CONTROL Status: 15% Combat ready. Damage status: Immediate repairs required. Quote
Gollee Posted November 1, 2014 Posted November 1, 2014 Acetes moved quickly towards the fixated bioships, it's missiles detaching from it's underside; solid-state thrusters activating the moment the craft was out of the way. The missiles streaked away towards the closest ship, four leading slightly ahead of the last, carrying explosive warheads. The last, was carrying a special payload; dozens of biological drones in a heavily armoured drop pod, programmed to seek out any breached nutrient feeds; and suck them dry. Acetes exchanged a dubious thought with Aesen, This had better work... Quote
Kerbal22 Posted November 1, 2014 Author Posted November 1, 2014 Foe Hammer was going full speed towards the gate. Along the way, it had rammed several bioships and hulks of Hegemony ships. A single, radiological signiture left the foward torpedo tubes as Foe Hammer turned herself away from the direction and punched her main engines, the bright flares of fusion hellfire lighting space up as bright as a supernova, along with her ion engines, and there's a blue glow about the ship. FTL fields? "This is Captain Zephyr. Get the hell out of here, now. That gate is about to be blasted to kingdom come." She cuts the comm-link as Foe Hammer accelerates to twice the speed of light, fast enough to get out of the blast radius. "Terra save our souls.." Quote
Gollee Posted November 2, 2014 Posted November 2, 2014 From Acetes' position, a million kilometres away, the elemental energy wavefront split the universe in two. On one side, the stars burnt with their usual untroubled tranquillity; opposite, that infinity vanished, replaced by a solid flat plane of raging photons. Aesen felt the light searing into Acetes, scorching sensor cells into crisps. Their mental bond acted like a conductor for the pure white light, allowing it to shine straight into her mind. She staggered about, shrieking as her body mimiced the agonised spasms of Acetes Consoles sparked and acted at their own accord as their twinned minds reeled in pain; Aesen's anguished scream blasted across the entire communication spectrum as the console malfunctioned, before cutting off. Aesen dropped to the floor with a thud, Acetes' pain finally overcoming her endurance as she lapsed into unconsciousness. Rede began to float off of the floor as Acetes released it's grip on gravity. Reaching out towards Acetes, his breath was forced from his lungs as he was temporarily submerged in their joint agony. He slapped his hand down on his broadcast key, hoping the console still functioned, "Mayday, this is the Falcon Acetes, we are heavily damaged, and our captain is disabled, I repeat, our captain is disabled, we need urgent medical assistance or we may lose control of our ship." Quote
Kerbal22 Posted November 2, 2014 Author Posted November 2, 2014 As hell itself formed in space, Foe Hammer slipped out of FTL after two seconds, just 200,000km away from Acetes. The mighty Hegemony cruiser was in shambles, you could see rips and gashes in it's hull, still red-hot from laser burns and explosive railgun rounds. She was venting atmosphere, and she looked to be on her last legs, but she was still moving. Her ion engines operational, along with her fusion drives. The ship was ready for anything still, but it seems the bioship fleet had been annihilated by the nuke, and as Foe Hammer received the distress call, she turned slowly, clumbsily towards Acetes, her engines flaring once again as she moves towards the bioship. "This is Captain Zephyr. We're receiving, prepare for grav beam tractor lock, preparing medical androids." She sighs quietly as she clicks the comm off with a sweep of her one good hand, activating said componets as Foe Hammer closed in apon Acetes. Meanwhile in the Hegemony. All hell was breaking lose. The Navy was stretched thin defending against the bioship attacks..and yet, more was to come... DAMAGE REPORT MANEUVERING DRIVE ONLINE, 12 OF 24 MANEUVERING PODS ONLINE ION DRIVES ONLINE FUSION ENGINES 1,2 OPERATIONAL MASS CANCELING FIELD GENERATORS ONLINE HULL DAMAGE UNKNOWN 18 OF 24 DOUBLE RAIL-GUNS OFFLINE TORPEDOES LAUNCHERS MINIMALLY OPERATIONAL: 3 OF 8 ONLINE 8 OF 18 MISSILE LAUNCHERS OFFLINE 2 OF 6 ION CANNONS OFFLINE FIGHTER LAUNCH TUBES OFFLINE SHIELD GENERATOR ONLINE, MASTER CAUTION. ANTIMATTER REACTORS ONLINE. CORES 1, 4, 6 EJECTED ZERO POINT ENERGY MODULE OPERATIONAL. 90 CREW UNCOUNTED SENSOR SUITE OPERATIONAL, MASTER CAUTION, SECONDARY CAUTION, DAMAGE CONTROL SUITE OPERATIONAL, EFFECTING REPAIRS. Status: 15% Combat ready. Damage status: Immediate repairs required. Quote
Rusty Shackleford Posted November 2, 2014 Posted November 2, 2014 The Brahman continued on its course toward the Tau Eta warp gate. The ship's engines were operating at 100% capacity, keeping it at a velocity of 33% of lightspeed. The bridge of the Brahman had been plagued by a tense silence ever since Cira had been dragged off and locked in her quarters. Avery stared out of the viewport into deepspace, while Jack focused himself entirely on the flight instruments and panels. Ren sat back in his alcove, scanning various communication frequencies. A couple of hours earlier, he'd heard a large commotion on Hegemony channels, but they'd stopped just as quickly as they'd started. It was concluded that the sudden burst was probably an APB put out on their ship and cargo, probably to warn any Hegemony ships guarding the warp gate to keep a keen eye out for them. Jack ran his hand over his face. The anxiety stemming from the revelation as to what they were transporting was draining him, both emotionally and physically. He couldn't take it. Swiping the glowing panels a few times, he double checked the course and turned on the autopilot. "I'm headed to my quarters, captain," he said. "Can't fly when I can't keep my eyes open." The statement didn't seem to register with Avery; he continued staring ahead, lost in his own little world. Jack turned to Ren. "Call up Simon, tell him to watch for anything amiss, alright?" Ren nodded and pinged Simon's communicator. Jack reached his quarters in the lower deck of the Brahman. His hand went to open the door, but he hesitated. He glanced down the hall at the airlock that lead to the cargo bay and gulped. Then he looked the other way, towards Cira's quarters. Jack took a breath and made his way over to her door, glancing around to make sure nobody else was watching. He opened up the door. The room on the other side was pitch black; Cira had apparently smashed the lights. Leaning his head in slightly, Jack whispered, "Cira? Where are you?" Instantly, a hand shot out from the darkness and dragged him inside. He felt himself being put into a headlock. He gasped for breath and started to become lightheaded. Out of instinct, he thrust his head back, and there was a muffled cry of pain as the back of his head connected with Cira's nose. In an instant, however, she was back upon him, clawing at him wildly. Jack somehow managed to grab a hold of one of her arms and wrench it around her back, forcing her face first into the floor. "Calm the fuck down!" he whispered in a harsh tone. "I'm on your side!" "No you're not, you sided with Avery, not me!" "I realized that you were right, he's not in his right mind! Stop fighting me, Christ!" He shifted his position as Cira struggled. "I'll let you go, but only if you don't try to claw my fucking eyes out again!" Grudgingly, she stopped resisting. "Fine..." she hissed between clenched teeth. Jack released his grip on Cira's arm and helped her to her feet. "Look, I'm sorry," he began. "It took me a while to realize just how much fucking shit we'd gotten ourselves into. But now I see it for what it is." "You've finally realized that Ave's gone off the fucking deep end?" "Yes. I regret not seeing it sooner. I'm sorry for dragging you off like that." "I'll forgive you once you help me find a way to stop him. That warhead, we can't allow it to be delivered." "I realize that, but what are we going to do with it? We can't just hand it back to the Hegemony and say, 'Oh, hey there, here's your star-killing antimatter thingamajig that we agreed to transport for intergalactic terrorists, maybe we can all have a good laugh and move on.' We have to have an actual plan." "You're right, but the warhead isn't the first priority. First we have to remove Avery from command." "You mean a mutiny?" "Precisely. Do you think you can get the others to see reason?" "I don't know. Ren and Simon, maybe. I don't know about Maria. We might not have time, I was on the bridge a few minutes ago, and we were almost to the warp gate." At that moment, they felt the force of deceleration in the hull, signalling their arrival at the warp gate. "Damn it... well, see what you can do. I'll try to come up with a way to dispose of the warhead safely." "Right. I'll head back up." Jack left Cira in her quarters and made his way back to the upper deck. He peeked his head into engineering, but Maria was nowhere to be found. As he neared the bridge, he heard murmuring coming from the other side of the door. Jack opened up the door and saw everyone standing and staring out the window, seemingly frozen in place. Ren's communication console buzzed incessantly, and the panicked shouts of Hegemony sailors came through loud and clear. "Guys?" Jack walked up and grabbed Simon's shoulder. "What's gotten into you? What's going... on..." He stared in disbelief at the carnage unfolding before his eyes. Silently they watched as the smoldering wrecks of Hegemony ships were peppered with fire from much nimbler bioships. The Brahman was still fully cloaked, leaving them to observe the battle without fear of harassment. All the while, the communications console continued relaying the panicked shouts of the Hegemony troops as they were incinerated or sucked into the void through hull breaches. Jack offhandedly noticed that the voice of one of the ship captains seemed familiar; It was Zephyr of the Foe Hammer, communicating with a voice that he didn't recognize. Even so, it was all background noise to him until he heard: "If you can, be ready. We're about to nuke the gate." The collective response on the bridge was accurately summed up by Simon's exclamation. "Oh shit!" Jack all but leaped into his seat and took the ship off of autopilot. Simon and Maria sprinted back to engineering, while Ren took up the task of redirecting power to the engines. Avery stood frozen in place, staring at the warp gate, as outlined by the light of the system's star, as if he was trying to prevent its destruction by sheer force of will. They were already at a great distance from the battle, so it did not take the ship long to achieve a safe distance from the inevitable detonation. Even so, the flash of the detonation still filled the bridge with a blinding white light, outshining the stars of the galaxy, and even Tau Eta itself for several moments. Only the special tinting of the bridge's viewports prevented anyone from going blind. When the light dissipated, they could see nothing left of the warp gate or any traces of the battle that had been raging only minutes earlier. Ren scanned every frequency he could tap into, but heard nothing but static. "It's all gone," he said quietly. "I 'ear two ships, Foe Hammer'n one callin'tself Acetes. But nothin' more." "Captain?" asked Jack. "How the hell are we getting out of Eta now? The warp gate's completely gone..." Avery's silence was unbroken for a moment. Then, finally, he spoke up. "We'll find a way... even if we have to steal a ship with an actual FTL drive... we'll find a way..." He waved his hand slightly. "Plot a course for where the warp gate used to be. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky." Quote
Gollee Posted November 2, 2014 Posted November 2, 2014 Rede let out a sigh of relief at the return message, "Thank you, Captain Zephyr. Acetes is heavily damaged; judging from the readouts, he isn't capable of generating a distortion field, we just used all our missiles, and most of our drones; and he doesn't have control of the railguns. We have Aesen on a medical trolley, she might have suffered some sort of brain trauma; but the root of her injuries is the damage to Acetes. Acetes itself was burned black on one side, with nutrient fluid leaking out of seared tubes, freezing to shield the damaged area. It's outer shell twitched occasionally as small drones were disgorged, seeking out breaches into the inner organs. Quote
Kerbal22 Posted November 2, 2014 Author Posted November 2, 2014 Foe Hammer continued on her course, the mighty ship still licking it's wounds, great gashes torn in the armor, power conduits cut, vapor spewing from damaged pipes, it was all but a scene of chaos. On the bottom of Foe Hammer, a great hangar door rolled open, revealing the hangar which stored her fighters, currently empty. The gravity tractor beam slowly pulls Acetes in, and the ship seems awful..empty. As if a majority of Foe Hammer's crew had been killed. "Captain Zephyr here, we have you secured, hangar closing and pressurizing." She cuts the comm-link again, and sighs quietly, sitting back in her chair and being careful to avoid her broken arm. The adrenaline was wearing off. She was in immense pain, and soon, the quiet darkness of unconsciousness took her. Quote
Gollee Posted November 2, 2014 Posted November 2, 2014 As soon as the pressurisation alarm ceased, Rede and another crew member rushed Aesen's gurney off of the ship; the repair drones parting silently before them as they half-sprinted to the hangar doors. As they reached them, Rede froze on the spot, paralysed by a sudden grip on his mind. You. Will. Help. Her. The pressure vanished immediately as he slapped his hand against the door panel, hoping it would open. Acetes was in pain, across it's entire port side it could see nothing; it's sensors were burnt out, though it could sense it's drones beginning to regrow them. With an effort of thought, it blocked the seared nerves, clearing it's mind of the burden of the pain. It could feel Aesen's mind, wrapped tightly in a cocoon of iron-hard thoughts. Acetes stretched it's distortion field, raising itself three metres from the metal floor of the hangar as it's drones continued repairs. Quote
Tenenza Posted November 3, 2014 Posted November 3, 2014 Emerging from it's anti-sensor cloud, Orpheus slowly converged on the crippled battlecruiser, contorting to position itself alongside Foe Hammer. Several of Orpheus's spires twisted across the hull of Foe Hammer, manipulators chittering as long lengths of power conduits were strung into the Foe Hammer's power grid. Fabricator and Salvaging modules were guided down towards the Foe Hammer, repairing what they could, and using what they couldn't as resources. The control center of Orpheus was in a frenzy. Intelligencer drone reports from the battle were still being analyzed by the data technicians, and already the news appeared grim. These bioships had outnumbered them overwhelming, armed with weapons capable of shredding even the heavy alloys of the Hegemony crusiers. Valiant and the rest of Orpheus's flotilla had been utterly annihilated. Whatever the enemy had been, they were a threat to the entire Hegemony. Quote
Kerbal22 Posted November 3, 2014 Author Posted November 3, 2014 Foe Hammer rested in space much like an asteroid would, damaged and licking it's wounds from the previous battle. The mighty Hegemony cruiser was old, well over twenty five years old, built right when Humanity had discovered mass-canceling fields. Ergo, much of the ship was dated, but still operable technology, although the refit the was supposed to have would have updated a majority of her systems. All her systems were Sol-Standard, old and secure, notoriously hard to break into. "Orpheus, This is Officer McClure aboard the Foe Hammer, we're analyzing readings from the anti-matter nuke, it wasn't powerful enough to destroy the Valiant, unless the energy reflective armor that she had was somehow amplifying the energy.." The comms officer continued to twitter on about the readings from the battle, and how something was amiss with all this. Foe Hammer's repair drones had just got the Deep Space Subspace Communication Assembly online again, allowing the ship to speak directly to Sol Central with only a few seconds of latency, and as information was exchanged, Foe Hammer was painfully aware that the Hegemony was facing a war on all sides with an unknown enemy. Quote
Gollee Posted November 3, 2014 Posted November 3, 2014 Aesen woke slowly and painfully. Her first sensation was of several plastic tubes in her arms, and throat. Her eyes opened slowly, peering up at a stark white ceiling. Carefully, she turned her head to the side, catching sight of a rack of electronics, along with an empty chair. She tentatively reached out with her mind, battered and bruised as it was, and was immediately embraced by Acetes, the Falcon's mind wrapping around her's in an all encompassing embrace. Are you alright? I am sorry I hurt you, I wasn't trying to hurt you. She smiled slightly at Acetes' rapid-fire thoughts, responding just loudly enough for it to hear her, "I am going to be fine, love, just one hell of a headache; it wasn't your fault, there wasn't anything you could have done." Glancing over to her right, she spotted another woman, sat up on a bed; various medical devices hooked up to her; and an armed guard sat at the foot of her bed. Quote
Kerbal22 Posted November 4, 2014 Author Posted November 4, 2014 Captain Zephyr laid unconscious inside Foe Hammer's medical bay. She had sustained numerous injuries during and after the anti-matter explosion, mostly from being knocked around when the inertia dampeners had been overloaded by the force of the explosions. She had a broken arm, several broken limbs, a fractured leg, not to mention she had required intensive surgery to repair internal organ damage. Overall, she would live..but be in misery for awhile as she heals. Her mind was not quiet while she was recovering, her suite of neural implants monitoring and controlling Foe Hammer, causing her body to twitch and her eyes to sometimes open wide as her mind expected consciousness but none came, her mind elsewhere inside the brutal cruiser. Quote
Gollee Posted November 4, 2014 Posted November 4, 2014 Aesen turned her hips to the side, pushing her legs off of her bed; she stopped at the sound of a bulkhead opening, and the panicked shout of a doctor. The doctor slowed to a halt as he approached her bedside, reaching out to press a small hand scanner against her neck, he looked at the results, bemused. Aesen frowned at him, "Can I get up yet? I have a hell of a headache, and it feels like my brain is bruised, but otherwise, it could just have been from a long night out. A fun long night out." The doctor shook his head, "No, you came in here half-dead, comatose, with half a dozen brain hemorrhages; you do not just walk away from that. We have done some preliminary surgery..." Aesen continued trying to stand up, "I don't know if you are fully aware... I am the captain of the Acetes, the bioship in the hangar. I am almost as artificial as he is. Strong genes, stronger biotech, I need it to talk to him; the surgery you already did is enough, my body can do the rest." Aesen forced the doctor away as she stood up, striding quickly away down the ward, with him hurrying along behind her. Stepping through the bulkhead, she spotted Rede immediately, sat down in a chair opposite the door, he jumped up immediately, and wordlessly led her back to Acetes Quote
Kerbal22 Posted November 10, 2014 Author Posted November 10, 2014 Captain Zephyr slowly opened her eyes to the white ceiling of Foe Hammer's medical bay, and sighed quietly. She hurt less than she did..obviously she had been in the little death for a while..well, Hibernation. She knew that she had been commanding Foe Hammer while she was under, and while the great cruiser was repairing itself. More data had come in from around the system, and from Sol central. Earth was under siege. Not even the great navy of the Hegaemony could hold off the onslaught of ships heading for the shining capital of the Hegemony, but it would hold. Earth could not fall...the sheer amount of deaths from it would be immense. It would be a giga-death event. Before the ship's one doctor could stop her, she was out of bed and on the bridge, shrugging on her Officer's jacket and pinning her eight lashes onto her uniform. Quote
Gollee Posted November 10, 2014 Posted November 10, 2014 There was an palpable sense of relief, both from Acetes and from the crew as Aesen reentered the ship. The repairs on Acetes were nearly complete, with the limited supplies that they had; the loss of biomass, both from the launched drones, and the damage, had put a severe strain on their resources. As soon as she had greeted the crew, Aesen sent a request to the bridge of the Foehammer for the ship to be allowed to exit the hangar. Quote
Valkrae Posted November 20, 2014 Posted November 20, 2014 There was a brief disruption in the fabric of space, as a ship jumped quite near to the Acetes and the Foe Hammer. The ship was quiet massive when compared to the two smaller ships. It had a gray hull, with black solar panels directing themselves to the nearest available solar light source. It had two, giant, twin-guns mounted on the front end of the ship. They resembled pincers. If one were to look close enough, One could see a large, sliding door open, and tiny objects fly out of the hole. Automated Drone Fighters. They circled the ship, forming a defensive perimeter around the ship. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A man sat in what resembled a leather chair, staring at a viewport overlooking the system. People bustled around him, hurrying from station to station, going about their jobs. "Alexei, Send a message on all known frequences. Advertise our wares.."The man in the leather chair spoke, seemingly the Captain of the vessel. "Yes, sir!"The man at the communications chair replied. "The vid is yours, Captain." The man stood from his chair, and strolled leisurely over to an open spot near the communications station. He was a tall man, at around 6'1", and he seemed to be in good shape. A graying beard clung to his face, and light blue eyes sparkled from under the brim of his hat. "Greetings,Inhabitants of this fine system. We are the mercenary ship, Red Winter, and I, am Captain Marcus Antony, and we are looking for any sort of work that may come our way. We do not leave jobs unfinished, and we always earn our pay. If you wish to hire us, or are just looking for more information about our humble business, please do contact us. But be warned, any hostile actions against our ship will be dealt with quickly, and efficiently." Marcus said, smiling. He made a motion with his hand for Alexei to cut it, and the feed went dead. "Send it off, Alexei. Siefer, prepare the point-defense system, and warm up the main guns. We don't want any surprises to catch us off guard. Everyone, prepare for defense patter Theta. Let's not look antagonizing, eh? The Captain said, being responded with a cacophony of Yes, Sirs!. He sat down in his chair, and picked up a teacup that was sitting on a little table by his chair, and took a quiet sip. He settled in, waiting. Quote
Kerbal22 Posted November 20, 2014 Author Posted November 20, 2014 Captain Zephyr sat poised in thought, things had calmed down, and she had changed into proper clothing in the meantime that things had occurred with a slight tickle at the back of her head alerted here that there was a contact about to come out of FTL, very near Foe Hammer, still being on edge, she did the logical thing. All guns that could be brought to bear were, and the ship's shields were brought up, along with the ship being brought to red alert. Klaxons wailed throughout the ship as all of the surviving personnel rushed to battle-stations, as the Red Winter exited FTL, suddenly being confronted with one angry Resolute-Class Battle-cruiser. "Get me a scan on the make of that ship, i want to know every detail." "Aye aye." Moments later, the comms officer spoke again. "It is a Andromeda Corporation Erandius Light Cruiser, it appears heavily modified. No sign of bioship materials on it." "Hail them." "Channel open." "Attention Red Winter, this is Captain Zephyr of Foe Hammer, you caught us at a bad time, but you couldn't have come at a better time. " "By the Hegaemony Privateer Act, i am legally able to pay you one billion Hegaemony credits in order to guard Tau Eta and act as a interim naval unit." "If you accept, we'll be leaving for Sol in two hours. If you do not, you'll be targeted until you leave the Perimeter zone." She waves a hand off screen, cutting the channel off. Quote
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