Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 21, 2021 19:55:42 GMT
--Somewhere in the Karzan Nebula--
The Karzan Nebula was renowned as one of the most beautiful sights in Ancerious, a green pillar of creation made eons ago from a dying star it housed thousands upon thousands of new young stars that are created in the large dusk clouds and proto-systems that are scattered across its size. The Karzan nebula was known to be a sacred place and only a few empires came here to splendour in its beauty, fewer still ignored the warnings and came to mine its riches. Those who came to try seize its bounty disappeared, the warnings set out by the myths and legends of the A'Zores seeming to reinforce their bite.
There were a few who keep things hidden in the Karzan Nebula, some empires keep outposts or research stations to find out the wonders of the galaxy. And so the Karzan was normally quiet a surprisingly free zone where data flow and coms were all but non-existent. But when a huge psionic and energy spike erupted from a small corner of the nebula for a brief moment it was picked up by various empires in the region, each newcomers to the galaxy.
The system itself that it seemed to emanate from was small, a white dwarf with a mere two planets, one orbiting fairly close to the pin prick of light from the centre of the system the other on the outer fringes. The outer world was a barren ice world, with no signatures and all but empty. But the inner world, that one was at least permissible for life, thick clouds circulated its surface and numerous contacts of ships and stations seemed to crowd around its orbital lanes. Whatever the burst was it had definitely come from that world but who or what had caused it was a mystery for now.
But it sure wouldn’t be for long.
Rubban Lotus slithered onto the bridge, having answered the call from her communications officer. “My Rubban, we have detected a burst of energy from a nearby system. How do you wish to proceed?” she questioned. Lotus pondered the situation, questioning if her reconnaissance force was suited to best deal with the situation. “Contact our sister fleets I wish for their council before proceeding.” she spoke and the comms officer nodded before opening a link. “Honoured sisters, I assume you to have detected this disturbance. I am of two minds whether to investigate or not. What say you?” Lotus questioned as she took her place on the Rubban’s plinth. As she waited for their thoughts she ran her hand absentmindedly over the smooth plinth she had settled on. As of yet they knew little of this place and her handful of vessels were in no way prepared for a large confrontation if that is what had caused the burst.
Aarif Samara walked onto the bridge having just been woken by a call from her Communications Officer. “Yes” She said answering. “I am sorry my Aarif but out scanners have picked up an energy burst from another system that is close by, how do you want to handle this?” The communications Officer asked. “We will contact our sisters and gather before rushing head first into a situation that we know nothing about” She replied. “Of course my Aarif” The Communications Officer replied, ending the link and connecting to the link that their sisters had established. Samara went to her meeting room and listened as Rubban Lotus spoke. “I think that we should investigate, but we must proceed with caution as we do not know what awaits us” Samara replied to Lotus’s question. She now waited for the response from Ettu as she sat there playing with her pets that joined her.
Ri Ettu glides through the crystal blue water passing unto the bridge, after receiving a message from her Second. “Report Scale Guard Nusku.” whispered Ettu as she entered the bridge. “Yess, mistress, scans indicate an energy burst from within the system.” Nusku replied to Ettu as the communications officer was cut off by an incoming call from our kin. Ettu swam into the center of the bridge as the hard light projectors activated showing her fellow kin. Listening to both of her sister's responses Ettu agreed advising concern for the danger of this unknown galaxy without the full light of Sek.
The ship was surely a strange sight, with Da vinci like mechanical bat wings jutting from her sides, at the fore, and aft. a pair of long wings at back to act like a rudder for sharp turns. Across the metal bolted deck, the captain was walking, looking out the promenade windows. The fennec reached up and slipped the goggles on his head down to his blue eyes. Surveying the vast space, turning a dial at the side of the goggles to get a view of the area. Suddenly the whole ship was wracked, shuddering violently at the psychic blast! Both the triangular sails and the wings flashed in a rainbow of colours randomly! The fennec was thrown against the window. Cursing as he got back up. Leaning against the window until the ship righted herself. The lamps went dark. The fennec brushed his curly long black hair out of his face, straightening up his red trench coat. He reached down to a black box at his hip, but found that it too was out. The lights flickered back on, and he retried. Taking the receiver from the box, he flipped a few brass switches. "Zuri! what the fuck just happened?" A female voice came on the air with an African accent. "Sam, I think we were hit by something, sails reacted like it was psionic. It's all right, the ship will be fine, Takes more than that to mess with the sail runes. I am getting message from the other fourteen, They suffered something similar." sam looked relived. "Zuri, are you still at the bridge? Send the same message you told me to them." "Aye." and the sound of ticking was heard in long clicks and short ones. The winged African wild dog was going to do this anyway, just that Sam beat her with the order. "Scan the area, see what we come with. This may be a golden opportunity." "Aye." At the bridge, surrounded by old woodwork, and an array of brass gears and dials, she went to switch at a few of the switches. Keeping her eyes close to the telegraph system in hopes that it would come alive with the results. She knew it still worked, from the results of other 14 of acknowledgement. When it began ticking the African wild dog perked her ears, and her white wings slightly spread. Reading over the resulting dots and dashes. "Nothing. Nothing. Gibberish. And a bit more signatures sensed but hard to tell." she said into a round brass mike into the dash. The response over the dash was "let’s investigate, but keep the cannons charged. Bloody hell, it's worth the risk, we need those resources. Send the order." Zuri responded to the Captain. "Yes, I agree. Dirt, dirt, and more dirt. Not much to our planet." She was exaggerating, of course, as she reached over to send the message out to the others under Samuel's command.
The arrival of the various newcomers did not go unnoticed.
Sensors immediately picked up the FTL wakes as they translated in system and warnings were already being broadcast to defence platforms and PDF elements across the planet. Broadcasts were also prepped to be sent for reinforcements, after all this was a secluded and secretive location that would need to be protected and kept secret at all costs. That was until one of the storms flared up. Storms were known in Ancerious although were typically quite uncommon, the various gravitic and quantum fluctuations disrupting FTL and long range coms. Nobody would be calling for help or escaping this system now. As the reports came in of the storms and the blockage of coms the forces in system immediately began arming, weapon signatures were detected around the inhabited planet and a communication was soon sent after.
"This is the Grand Empire of Capitol, you are trespassing on our sovereign territory and in zones that are off limits. Your presence unfortunately will have to be removed by force."
This was the only message that was sent to the factions respectively from the systems innermost world.
Several bridge officers hissed slightly at the threatening transmission and awaited the Rabban’s orders. Lotus lay on her plinth and pondered the new information. “Grand Empire of Capitol?” she questioned to which her aid merely looked confused. She sat up straighter and opened a channel. “We have no knowledge of you, Grand Empire of Capitol. We are fresh to this new galaxy, guided by Sek’s divine light. We unaware we had breached your borders, and have no wish to commence hostilities.” she spoke and paused for thought. “I am Rubban Lotus, leader of the expeditionary fleet, tasked by Sheika Nephthys herself to explore this new land in the name of the great Sek.” she finished, her posture straightening as she spoke of her god.
The crew waited for orders from their Aarif. Samara sat there as she processed the information from the transmission. She opened a link, “I am Aarif Samara, I am sorry but we have no Information on you or your empire, we are new to this Galaxy, we do not want to commence hostilities with you as we did not know that this was your territory, If we are allowed to leave, we will with all due haste” She finished, remaining calm.
Upon receiving a message from the unknown group Ettu ordered a link to be established in response hoping to placate them. “Forgive our trespass unto your space. There were no markers stating this area was claimed. In Sek’s name, the Ascendancy, and our Kin shall leave your territory if allowed.”
"Sam! Bridge! Now!" From the urgency of her voice through the small horn within the box Sam was able to tell it was an emergency, Luckily he was toward the forward part of the ship, not too far from the bridge. Entering as the door slid over he walked up to his beloved. "Zuri?" what is wrong?" She twitched her wings nervously. "I'll give you a listen." she placed her hand on a crank on the dash, giving it a turn. Two wood doors opened and rose an Edison phonograph like device. Hitting a trigger for it to play, the cylinder turned on the mandrill, and a tinny recording of the transmission played through. Sam flattened his ears, both at the horrible sounding of the recording, and the news. He went to the dash and slid up a canvas covered screen, switching a few switches and turning a few dials until he zeroed in on enemy weapons scan. "Shit." he muttered. Sam was not going to trust this. "This day is just getting worse and worse, isn't it love?" He began to think, knowing, unless an FTL jump was made, the ships were silent, and finding where they are would prove difficult. They were closer to the ice planet than they were to the inhabited one, so distance would help things. "Wings at half span. Sail toward the nearest exit." The wings pulled inward, it would slow the ships down, of course, but would also reduce them from being sensed further. Zuri sent the message via code to the other ships within the vicinity, they went to follow in formation, following the flagship. Sam was trying to sneak out unnoticed.
"We have been discovered"
"I am well aware director you should begin prepping critical samples for transfer, we will be proceeding with ultra violet." The commander stood over the large holographic display which showed a 3D of the system, complete with unknown markers and their own forces. CIC staff manned their posts and transferred orders and relayed information. The PDF elements were now getting into position, orbital defences were coming online and surface to space weaponry was preparing for combat.
"Ultra violet? Do you have any idea how critical the work we are doing here is? It would take weeks for us to ship the specimens out let alone the subjects we have acquired over the last year and a half. We can’t just casually move to a new location" The man who protested wore a lab coat, he was lean and a set of holographic lenses cluttered his face projected from implanted machines. The commander shook his head, wearing the typical attire of a high ranking Capitol persons he turned to the director.
"And what? Would you prefer to sit here and let them destroy us? No doubt now we are discovered there will be some way for the allies to know we are here, and what happens when they discover our project hmm? Do you think Inara would tolerate that? It would be our heads on the line"
"We can salvage the hard data easily but the specimens and subjects cannot so easily be transferred you know that yourself, if we kill them to cover up it would set back years’ worth of research even with the hard data still available. You know there is a storm erupting right now, we can’t escape even if we wanted to. We should destroy them too they are trapped here with us" The director suggested.
"You don’t think I have already thought of such? They outnumber us heavily I do not place high chances of our defences holding out" The commander gestured to the holographic showing the enemy fleets. The Director then grinned manically.
"Then let them come, draw them onto the planet, we will test our specimens first hand! Real life battle data which we can survey in person! Even if we lose the specimens that way we can use the time to recover and project the embryos and use the data to maybe even improve them!" He shouted excited. The Capitol commander narrowed his eyes.
"Prepare everything you can save, you will integrate you’re... Abominations into my battle plan where commanded. Understood?" The Director nodded and immediately ran off.
"Crazed fool..." He then noticed the incoming hail responses from the various factions. Listening to them it seemed they didn’t wish for a fight... It was unfortunate. He would of liked to have had proper dealings with them, perhaps even make friendly relations and gain Capitol and the APP new allies. But their very presence here and the fact they had seen Varantier was above and beyond the mandate to destroy them. He would at least give them an honourable response.
"This is Commander Utran of the Grand Empire of Capitol, I am sorry for these events but your presence and the fact you know what’s here means that we must destroy you. I advise you to power your weapons, when these storms abate it will be either you leaving with this planet dead or our secrecy intact with your death. There can be no other way, orders are orders. Utran out"
Sam and Zuri were both looking over the scans, with concern in their eyes. The storms were preventing their escape. They were hoping to sneak out and let the others that the coms picked up deal with them, but it looked luck was not on their side, not today anyway. The transmission that came through the horn only confirmed Sam's suspicions. The enemy won't back down or accept negotiations. "They are hiding something." Zuri said. "Why else they would be so defensive?" Sam nodded in agreement "Aye. I don't care what. These people let on more than they would of if they simply just ignored us, or just kindly asked us to leave" he paced in the bridge "Trapped, Trapped like cornered rats. And like cornered rats, we will fight to our dying breath, if needed! Full wing, Tesla cannons on full charge, Scatter. Make it look like there are more of us than there is. Hold fire, make contact with any allies that we can. Together, through team work. All of us shall survive. Hoist the colours!" Zuri flipped a switch on the dash as the hologram at the rear mast, the hologram of the flag appeared. Black with a white fox skull pointing downward. Below its mouth, a saber and a propeller crossed together. The other ships followed suit. Scattering about as soon as they received the orders, in attempts to first try to make contact with the others.
There was more angered hissing and Lotus raised a hand to silence them. “From your tone and words you seem reluctant to resort to violence. We know nothing of your people, nor your actions here. We could simply sit here and wait out the storm without further contact. There is no need for violence, but if you are unable to find reason we will defend ourselves.” she spoke keeping a cordial tone, even as she sent the order for the group shield to be raised and weapons to be manned. In the hangar bays, craft were crewed and stood ready to launch
The crew looked at Samara as she walked back in, “My Aarif they appear to want us to power weapons and waltz on into a trap by the sounds of it” One of the bridge crew told her. “That is the same impression I got as well, so let us power shields and man weapons and wait for them to come to us” She said casually with a slight smirk. The crews nodded and they raised shields whilst others went to their posts. The pilots and crews prepped craft for launch in case they were needed.
Ettu, following the advice of the expedition leader, proceeded to activate the fleet wide group shield system as she circled around towards the dais. Meanwhile the crews swam swiftly toward their battle positions and attack crafts. “Mistress, I do not understand these beings. If they wished for us not to know who or what is going on here. Well why would they tell us such information?” Nusku questioned as he glided toward her. “I could not begin to answer the whims of such beings. May Sek guide us to have mercy on the lesser.” Ettu spoke in reverence of their god.
There was no reply to Lotus, the com link had been broken.
The signatures around the main planet showed weapon systems powered up. Truth be told it wasn’t an imposing defence two Hecate class escorts of Capitol lit their drives as they positioned themselves into the optimal defence positions against their new arrivals while a dozen defence platforms of missile/Tachyon/railgun weaponry continued to orbit on their designated routes their weapons fully powered and their FCS tracking the enemy targets awaiting them to get into range. A single starbase also orbited in a geostationary position above the base, a long orbital elevator connected the base to the orbiting station, and alarms blaring as ground defences were also brought online.
"Long range engagement munitions are ready to fire sir" One of the command staff called out, Utran nodded as he saw the holographic paths of the munitions that would be fired along with damage and target estimations.
"Fire, barrage of four, concentrate on our more numerous foes" The command was registered as the orbiting starbase deployed several what appeared to be huge railguns. Instead of firing them in the direction of the foes however it fired them into the planet at an angle. Four huge missiles which in appearance were more akin to fighter designs were launched, designed to accelerate and use the atmosphere of the planet below to make course corrections the missiles skipped across Varantiers outer atmosphere, appearing as orange comets in the sky as they came around on their new course towards the Silquami fleet, it would take a while for the missiles to reach their targets but it was a testing barrage designed to see what the response would be and test the capability of the enemy.
"Munitions away TOT approximately 10 minutes"
This time Lotus hissed slightly. “These transgressions cannot go ignored.” She spoke. “Transfer power to the fore of the group shield, fire upon the incoming ordinance as soon as it is within range.” she ordered. The crew moved into action and weapons began tracking the incoming missiles. The fighters launched and the wings settled amongst the ships, within the group shield. Long range beams began firing at the incoming missiles.
The crew looked at sensors, “Targets incoming” one of the crews said panicking slightly. “Remain Calm, let our fighters launch, prepare the Close in Weapons to fire once they are in range, and more power to the shields” Sarama said still remaining calm. The fighters launched and remained within the shields as the larger weapons began firing at the targets as more power was diverted to the group shields.
“Mistress they have taken hostile action and have ignored our transmission.” one of the tactical officers informed Ettu as the holographic map displayed the income objects. “Have the CIW’s target and eliminate the incoming objects and divert power from non-primary systems to the forward shield arrays.” Ettu ordered as the attack crafts launched forming up along with their kin.
"Shots fired." Zuri reported, pausing with her message as she looked at the screen. "Seems like the enemy just outed themselves." She finished the message and then went to suit up, just in case, Sam was fastening a helmet with an appearance of brass onto his own suit. Just in case they needed to bail from the ship quickly it was best to be prepared. Zuri pulled up her black gathered skirt, showing the ruffled ends of her bloomers to get her legs into the legs of the spacesuit. Letting the skirt drape downward, and bunch into the suit, she pulled the rest of it on. It wasn't the most comfortable, but certainly better than the alternative if they ended up spaced. The rest of the crew, the captains of the other ships, also followed the same procedure. Zuri hocked on her helmet. Sam looked toward the screen. "So they wish to play this game. Charge shields, fire upon the attackers!" The ships turned sharply, wings spread wide. Zuri spoke in what seemed to be a strange language, repeating the same sentence fifteen times to charge the shields on each ship. Preparing each for the battle at hand. "We need to re-carve those runes with updated ones soon." she said. Sam gave a nod. "On whatever ship survives this love." Meanwhile, an otter, fully suited up was looking over the panels. "Sam you crazy mother fucker. I hope you know what you are doing. Time to tango!" Between pairs of tesla coils within the hold, a green spark emitted from the knobs on top, centralizing into five powerful beams. Each aimed for the attacking Hectate escorts.
The four missiles continued on course one of them being destroyed by long range fire converging from the three fleets in front of them, a lucky shot from one of the beam weapons vaporising its central mass and scattering it into high velocity debris. The other three missiles however kept their course, not changing vectors and making evasive manuvers before they finally reached their terminal phase the fighter looking missiles now broke apart, revealing 40 separate warheads that scattered from the main shell, each igniting their own boosters and coming in from a different angle aiming to overwhelm CIWS and point defence.
The Hectate class escorts took evasive manuvers, trying to dodge the incoming long range green particle beams. Those that hit lighting their shields up briefly as they tanked the shots. In response the two Tachyon Arrows spinally mounted in the escorts charged and then fired in return, the nature of the storm meaning the Tachyons FTL nature was replaced by a simple relativistic effect. The yellow beams rapidly closing with their targets.
The defensive platforms also now leapt into action, the missile batteries on some platforms now began launching concerted barrages two waves of 50 missiles both heading towards the two fleets now engaging, while the railgun positions prepared to intercept incoming rounds. The two Tachyon platforms also fired at the Silquami and attendant fleet, just like the Hecates the beams leapt out targeting the smaller vessels and hoping to spear them through in a single volley.
The Karzan Nebula was renowned as one of the most beautiful sights in Ancerious, a green pillar of creation made eons ago from a dying star it housed thousands upon thousands of new young stars that are created in the large dusk clouds and proto-systems that are scattered across its size. The Karzan nebula was known to be a sacred place and only a few empires came here to splendour in its beauty, fewer still ignored the warnings and came to mine its riches. Those who came to try seize its bounty disappeared, the warnings set out by the myths and legends of the A'Zores seeming to reinforce their bite.
There were a few who keep things hidden in the Karzan Nebula, some empires keep outposts or research stations to find out the wonders of the galaxy. And so the Karzan was normally quiet a surprisingly free zone where data flow and coms were all but non-existent. But when a huge psionic and energy spike erupted from a small corner of the nebula for a brief moment it was picked up by various empires in the region, each newcomers to the galaxy.
The system itself that it seemed to emanate from was small, a white dwarf with a mere two planets, one orbiting fairly close to the pin prick of light from the centre of the system the other on the outer fringes. The outer world was a barren ice world, with no signatures and all but empty. But the inner world, that one was at least permissible for life, thick clouds circulated its surface and numerous contacts of ships and stations seemed to crowd around its orbital lanes. Whatever the burst was it had definitely come from that world but who or what had caused it was a mystery for now.
But it sure wouldn’t be for long.
Rubban Lotus slithered onto the bridge, having answered the call from her communications officer. “My Rubban, we have detected a burst of energy from a nearby system. How do you wish to proceed?” she questioned. Lotus pondered the situation, questioning if her reconnaissance force was suited to best deal with the situation. “Contact our sister fleets I wish for their council before proceeding.” she spoke and the comms officer nodded before opening a link. “Honoured sisters, I assume you to have detected this disturbance. I am of two minds whether to investigate or not. What say you?” Lotus questioned as she took her place on the Rubban’s plinth. As she waited for their thoughts she ran her hand absentmindedly over the smooth plinth she had settled on. As of yet they knew little of this place and her handful of vessels were in no way prepared for a large confrontation if that is what had caused the burst.
Aarif Samara walked onto the bridge having just been woken by a call from her Communications Officer. “Yes” She said answering. “I am sorry my Aarif but out scanners have picked up an energy burst from another system that is close by, how do you want to handle this?” The communications Officer asked. “We will contact our sisters and gather before rushing head first into a situation that we know nothing about” She replied. “Of course my Aarif” The Communications Officer replied, ending the link and connecting to the link that their sisters had established. Samara went to her meeting room and listened as Rubban Lotus spoke. “I think that we should investigate, but we must proceed with caution as we do not know what awaits us” Samara replied to Lotus’s question. She now waited for the response from Ettu as she sat there playing with her pets that joined her.
Ri Ettu glides through the crystal blue water passing unto the bridge, after receiving a message from her Second. “Report Scale Guard Nusku.” whispered Ettu as she entered the bridge. “Yess, mistress, scans indicate an energy burst from within the system.” Nusku replied to Ettu as the communications officer was cut off by an incoming call from our kin. Ettu swam into the center of the bridge as the hard light projectors activated showing her fellow kin. Listening to both of her sister's responses Ettu agreed advising concern for the danger of this unknown galaxy without the full light of Sek.
The ship was surely a strange sight, with Da vinci like mechanical bat wings jutting from her sides, at the fore, and aft. a pair of long wings at back to act like a rudder for sharp turns. Across the metal bolted deck, the captain was walking, looking out the promenade windows. The fennec reached up and slipped the goggles on his head down to his blue eyes. Surveying the vast space, turning a dial at the side of the goggles to get a view of the area. Suddenly the whole ship was wracked, shuddering violently at the psychic blast! Both the triangular sails and the wings flashed in a rainbow of colours randomly! The fennec was thrown against the window. Cursing as he got back up. Leaning against the window until the ship righted herself. The lamps went dark. The fennec brushed his curly long black hair out of his face, straightening up his red trench coat. He reached down to a black box at his hip, but found that it too was out. The lights flickered back on, and he retried. Taking the receiver from the box, he flipped a few brass switches. "Zuri! what the fuck just happened?" A female voice came on the air with an African accent. "Sam, I think we were hit by something, sails reacted like it was psionic. It's all right, the ship will be fine, Takes more than that to mess with the sail runes. I am getting message from the other fourteen, They suffered something similar." sam looked relived. "Zuri, are you still at the bridge? Send the same message you told me to them." "Aye." and the sound of ticking was heard in long clicks and short ones. The winged African wild dog was going to do this anyway, just that Sam beat her with the order. "Scan the area, see what we come with. This may be a golden opportunity." "Aye." At the bridge, surrounded by old woodwork, and an array of brass gears and dials, she went to switch at a few of the switches. Keeping her eyes close to the telegraph system in hopes that it would come alive with the results. She knew it still worked, from the results of other 14 of acknowledgement. When it began ticking the African wild dog perked her ears, and her white wings slightly spread. Reading over the resulting dots and dashes. "Nothing. Nothing. Gibberish. And a bit more signatures sensed but hard to tell." she said into a round brass mike into the dash. The response over the dash was "let’s investigate, but keep the cannons charged. Bloody hell, it's worth the risk, we need those resources. Send the order." Zuri responded to the Captain. "Yes, I agree. Dirt, dirt, and more dirt. Not much to our planet." She was exaggerating, of course, as she reached over to send the message out to the others under Samuel's command.
The arrival of the various newcomers did not go unnoticed.
Sensors immediately picked up the FTL wakes as they translated in system and warnings were already being broadcast to defence platforms and PDF elements across the planet. Broadcasts were also prepped to be sent for reinforcements, after all this was a secluded and secretive location that would need to be protected and kept secret at all costs. That was until one of the storms flared up. Storms were known in Ancerious although were typically quite uncommon, the various gravitic and quantum fluctuations disrupting FTL and long range coms. Nobody would be calling for help or escaping this system now. As the reports came in of the storms and the blockage of coms the forces in system immediately began arming, weapon signatures were detected around the inhabited planet and a communication was soon sent after.
"This is the Grand Empire of Capitol, you are trespassing on our sovereign territory and in zones that are off limits. Your presence unfortunately will have to be removed by force."
This was the only message that was sent to the factions respectively from the systems innermost world.
Several bridge officers hissed slightly at the threatening transmission and awaited the Rabban’s orders. Lotus lay on her plinth and pondered the new information. “Grand Empire of Capitol?” she questioned to which her aid merely looked confused. She sat up straighter and opened a channel. “We have no knowledge of you, Grand Empire of Capitol. We are fresh to this new galaxy, guided by Sek’s divine light. We unaware we had breached your borders, and have no wish to commence hostilities.” she spoke and paused for thought. “I am Rubban Lotus, leader of the expeditionary fleet, tasked by Sheika Nephthys herself to explore this new land in the name of the great Sek.” she finished, her posture straightening as she spoke of her god.
The crew waited for orders from their Aarif. Samara sat there as she processed the information from the transmission. She opened a link, “I am Aarif Samara, I am sorry but we have no Information on you or your empire, we are new to this Galaxy, we do not want to commence hostilities with you as we did not know that this was your territory, If we are allowed to leave, we will with all due haste” She finished, remaining calm.
Upon receiving a message from the unknown group Ettu ordered a link to be established in response hoping to placate them. “Forgive our trespass unto your space. There were no markers stating this area was claimed. In Sek’s name, the Ascendancy, and our Kin shall leave your territory if allowed.”
"Sam! Bridge! Now!" From the urgency of her voice through the small horn within the box Sam was able to tell it was an emergency, Luckily he was toward the forward part of the ship, not too far from the bridge. Entering as the door slid over he walked up to his beloved. "Zuri?" what is wrong?" She twitched her wings nervously. "I'll give you a listen." she placed her hand on a crank on the dash, giving it a turn. Two wood doors opened and rose an Edison phonograph like device. Hitting a trigger for it to play, the cylinder turned on the mandrill, and a tinny recording of the transmission played through. Sam flattened his ears, both at the horrible sounding of the recording, and the news. He went to the dash and slid up a canvas covered screen, switching a few switches and turning a few dials until he zeroed in on enemy weapons scan. "Shit." he muttered. Sam was not going to trust this. "This day is just getting worse and worse, isn't it love?" He began to think, knowing, unless an FTL jump was made, the ships were silent, and finding where they are would prove difficult. They were closer to the ice planet than they were to the inhabited one, so distance would help things. "Wings at half span. Sail toward the nearest exit." The wings pulled inward, it would slow the ships down, of course, but would also reduce them from being sensed further. Zuri sent the message via code to the other ships within the vicinity, they went to follow in formation, following the flagship. Sam was trying to sneak out unnoticed.
"We have been discovered"
"I am well aware director you should begin prepping critical samples for transfer, we will be proceeding with ultra violet." The commander stood over the large holographic display which showed a 3D of the system, complete with unknown markers and their own forces. CIC staff manned their posts and transferred orders and relayed information. The PDF elements were now getting into position, orbital defences were coming online and surface to space weaponry was preparing for combat.
"Ultra violet? Do you have any idea how critical the work we are doing here is? It would take weeks for us to ship the specimens out let alone the subjects we have acquired over the last year and a half. We can’t just casually move to a new location" The man who protested wore a lab coat, he was lean and a set of holographic lenses cluttered his face projected from implanted machines. The commander shook his head, wearing the typical attire of a high ranking Capitol persons he turned to the director.
"And what? Would you prefer to sit here and let them destroy us? No doubt now we are discovered there will be some way for the allies to know we are here, and what happens when they discover our project hmm? Do you think Inara would tolerate that? It would be our heads on the line"
"We can salvage the hard data easily but the specimens and subjects cannot so easily be transferred you know that yourself, if we kill them to cover up it would set back years’ worth of research even with the hard data still available. You know there is a storm erupting right now, we can’t escape even if we wanted to. We should destroy them too they are trapped here with us" The director suggested.
"You don’t think I have already thought of such? They outnumber us heavily I do not place high chances of our defences holding out" The commander gestured to the holographic showing the enemy fleets. The Director then grinned manically.
"Then let them come, draw them onto the planet, we will test our specimens first hand! Real life battle data which we can survey in person! Even if we lose the specimens that way we can use the time to recover and project the embryos and use the data to maybe even improve them!" He shouted excited. The Capitol commander narrowed his eyes.
"Prepare everything you can save, you will integrate you’re... Abominations into my battle plan where commanded. Understood?" The Director nodded and immediately ran off.
"Crazed fool..." He then noticed the incoming hail responses from the various factions. Listening to them it seemed they didn’t wish for a fight... It was unfortunate. He would of liked to have had proper dealings with them, perhaps even make friendly relations and gain Capitol and the APP new allies. But their very presence here and the fact they had seen Varantier was above and beyond the mandate to destroy them. He would at least give them an honourable response.
"This is Commander Utran of the Grand Empire of Capitol, I am sorry for these events but your presence and the fact you know what’s here means that we must destroy you. I advise you to power your weapons, when these storms abate it will be either you leaving with this planet dead or our secrecy intact with your death. There can be no other way, orders are orders. Utran out"
Sam and Zuri were both looking over the scans, with concern in their eyes. The storms were preventing their escape. They were hoping to sneak out and let the others that the coms picked up deal with them, but it looked luck was not on their side, not today anyway. The transmission that came through the horn only confirmed Sam's suspicions. The enemy won't back down or accept negotiations. "They are hiding something." Zuri said. "Why else they would be so defensive?" Sam nodded in agreement "Aye. I don't care what. These people let on more than they would of if they simply just ignored us, or just kindly asked us to leave" he paced in the bridge "Trapped, Trapped like cornered rats. And like cornered rats, we will fight to our dying breath, if needed! Full wing, Tesla cannons on full charge, Scatter. Make it look like there are more of us than there is. Hold fire, make contact with any allies that we can. Together, through team work. All of us shall survive. Hoist the colours!" Zuri flipped a switch on the dash as the hologram at the rear mast, the hologram of the flag appeared. Black with a white fox skull pointing downward. Below its mouth, a saber and a propeller crossed together. The other ships followed suit. Scattering about as soon as they received the orders, in attempts to first try to make contact with the others.
There was more angered hissing and Lotus raised a hand to silence them. “From your tone and words you seem reluctant to resort to violence. We know nothing of your people, nor your actions here. We could simply sit here and wait out the storm without further contact. There is no need for violence, but if you are unable to find reason we will defend ourselves.” she spoke keeping a cordial tone, even as she sent the order for the group shield to be raised and weapons to be manned. In the hangar bays, craft were crewed and stood ready to launch
The crew looked at Samara as she walked back in, “My Aarif they appear to want us to power weapons and waltz on into a trap by the sounds of it” One of the bridge crew told her. “That is the same impression I got as well, so let us power shields and man weapons and wait for them to come to us” She said casually with a slight smirk. The crews nodded and they raised shields whilst others went to their posts. The pilots and crews prepped craft for launch in case they were needed.
Ettu, following the advice of the expedition leader, proceeded to activate the fleet wide group shield system as she circled around towards the dais. Meanwhile the crews swam swiftly toward their battle positions and attack crafts. “Mistress, I do not understand these beings. If they wished for us not to know who or what is going on here. Well why would they tell us such information?” Nusku questioned as he glided toward her. “I could not begin to answer the whims of such beings. May Sek guide us to have mercy on the lesser.” Ettu spoke in reverence of their god.
There was no reply to Lotus, the com link had been broken.
The signatures around the main planet showed weapon systems powered up. Truth be told it wasn’t an imposing defence two Hecate class escorts of Capitol lit their drives as they positioned themselves into the optimal defence positions against their new arrivals while a dozen defence platforms of missile/Tachyon/railgun weaponry continued to orbit on their designated routes their weapons fully powered and their FCS tracking the enemy targets awaiting them to get into range. A single starbase also orbited in a geostationary position above the base, a long orbital elevator connected the base to the orbiting station, and alarms blaring as ground defences were also brought online.
"Long range engagement munitions are ready to fire sir" One of the command staff called out, Utran nodded as he saw the holographic paths of the munitions that would be fired along with damage and target estimations.
"Fire, barrage of four, concentrate on our more numerous foes" The command was registered as the orbiting starbase deployed several what appeared to be huge railguns. Instead of firing them in the direction of the foes however it fired them into the planet at an angle. Four huge missiles which in appearance were more akin to fighter designs were launched, designed to accelerate and use the atmosphere of the planet below to make course corrections the missiles skipped across Varantiers outer atmosphere, appearing as orange comets in the sky as they came around on their new course towards the Silquami fleet, it would take a while for the missiles to reach their targets but it was a testing barrage designed to see what the response would be and test the capability of the enemy.
"Munitions away TOT approximately 10 minutes"
This time Lotus hissed slightly. “These transgressions cannot go ignored.” She spoke. “Transfer power to the fore of the group shield, fire upon the incoming ordinance as soon as it is within range.” she ordered. The crew moved into action and weapons began tracking the incoming missiles. The fighters launched and the wings settled amongst the ships, within the group shield. Long range beams began firing at the incoming missiles.
The crew looked at sensors, “Targets incoming” one of the crews said panicking slightly. “Remain Calm, let our fighters launch, prepare the Close in Weapons to fire once they are in range, and more power to the shields” Sarama said still remaining calm. The fighters launched and remained within the shields as the larger weapons began firing at the targets as more power was diverted to the group shields.
“Mistress they have taken hostile action and have ignored our transmission.” one of the tactical officers informed Ettu as the holographic map displayed the income objects. “Have the CIW’s target and eliminate the incoming objects and divert power from non-primary systems to the forward shield arrays.” Ettu ordered as the attack crafts launched forming up along with their kin.
"Shots fired." Zuri reported, pausing with her message as she looked at the screen. "Seems like the enemy just outed themselves." She finished the message and then went to suit up, just in case, Sam was fastening a helmet with an appearance of brass onto his own suit. Just in case they needed to bail from the ship quickly it was best to be prepared. Zuri pulled up her black gathered skirt, showing the ruffled ends of her bloomers to get her legs into the legs of the spacesuit. Letting the skirt drape downward, and bunch into the suit, she pulled the rest of it on. It wasn't the most comfortable, but certainly better than the alternative if they ended up spaced. The rest of the crew, the captains of the other ships, also followed the same procedure. Zuri hocked on her helmet. Sam looked toward the screen. "So they wish to play this game. Charge shields, fire upon the attackers!" The ships turned sharply, wings spread wide. Zuri spoke in what seemed to be a strange language, repeating the same sentence fifteen times to charge the shields on each ship. Preparing each for the battle at hand. "We need to re-carve those runes with updated ones soon." she said. Sam gave a nod. "On whatever ship survives this love." Meanwhile, an otter, fully suited up was looking over the panels. "Sam you crazy mother fucker. I hope you know what you are doing. Time to tango!" Between pairs of tesla coils within the hold, a green spark emitted from the knobs on top, centralizing into five powerful beams. Each aimed for the attacking Hectate escorts.
The four missiles continued on course one of them being destroyed by long range fire converging from the three fleets in front of them, a lucky shot from one of the beam weapons vaporising its central mass and scattering it into high velocity debris. The other three missiles however kept their course, not changing vectors and making evasive manuvers before they finally reached their terminal phase the fighter looking missiles now broke apart, revealing 40 separate warheads that scattered from the main shell, each igniting their own boosters and coming in from a different angle aiming to overwhelm CIWS and point defence.
The Hectate class escorts took evasive manuvers, trying to dodge the incoming long range green particle beams. Those that hit lighting their shields up briefly as they tanked the shots. In response the two Tachyon Arrows spinally mounted in the escorts charged and then fired in return, the nature of the storm meaning the Tachyons FTL nature was replaced by a simple relativistic effect. The yellow beams rapidly closing with their targets.
The defensive platforms also now leapt into action, the missile batteries on some platforms now began launching concerted barrages two waves of 50 missiles both heading towards the two fleets now engaging, while the railgun positions prepared to intercept incoming rounds. The two Tachyon platforms also fired at the Silquami and attendant fleet, just like the Hecates the beams leapt out targeting the smaller vessels and hoping to spear them through in a single volley.