Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:44:32 GMT
After the costly victory over Aubos, the Staebhic Navy had worked overtime in an effort to undo the damage. The wounded vessels that had limped back to Staebha orbit had been repaired in due time, but replacing the ships lost was another matter entirely. Most of the orbital shipyards available had been commandeered to construct Arbalests and Polybolos ships, though one, as ever, remained on the project it had been working on. And, it was nearly completed, the finishing touches only now being completed as the turrets were lowered slowly into their gun mounts.
"So, Captain S'dara, what do you think?" K'maru asked, all four of his arms crossed.
"A fine ship, Admiral. I hope she can get the job done."
"Don't we all. She's yours now, at least until you come home."
"Provided I ever do." S'dara sighed, rubbing his brow.
"Make sure of it. That's an order."
"Are you sure you don't want to command her, Admiral? I've never commanded anything so big." S'dara glanced over at his superior. K'maru sighed and shook his head, a weary smile coming onto his face.
"I'm no good for the three-dimensional stuff. Commanding from here is more my speed, and besides, I served my time calling out fire missions back when our fleets were waterborne. You seem to have gotten the hang of it though. Everyone's impressed with what you did at Aubos."
"Thank you, sir. I'll make sure she comes home. In one piece, preferably."
K'maru went to open his mouth, before an alarm siren blared, red klaxon lights spinning.
"All hands, hostile ships detected on a path to Staebha orbit! All hands to battle stations!" the speakers called out, the previously quiet hangar quickly becoming alive.
"Damn, this soon? I'd have thought our win would've scared them off." S'dara growled.
"Bold bastards. The entire SUSN is here, what're they thinking?" K'maru added.
"Admiral, is she ready? I'd like to request permission to launch."
"Ready and waiting. Permission granted. The crew is likely already aboard. Good luck, Captain. Don't worry about Staebha, S'dara, I'll keep her safe." the Admiral stated, eyes locked on a large display showing a digital overview of the scenario.
"Good luck, sir."
"You too, Captain." K'maru nodded, turning and running for a lift. S'dara turned the other way, stepping onto the boarding ramp.
Several Unanimity ships drifted ever onwards. Four destroyers, two frigates and a cruiser. A considerable step up from the trio that failed at Aubos.
"Captain! We're picking up mounting energy readings from the ships over the planet. It's their fleet."
"Arm our weapons and ready the shields. Remember, we're here to disable their ships, not eradicate them. High Command's already catching onto this whole fiasco, they'll have our heads on a platter if they find out we went and started slaughtering the Staebh over their own planet."
"So...what're we here for?" one of the crew asked, a little tentatively.
"We're here to keep their navy down. Stop them from becoming too much of a pest."
"That's...suspicious. Wouldn't look good on anyone's record."
"Listen, I don't like it any more than you do. But I don't make the orders, I just follow them. Let's...just try to avoid casualties as much as possible. Remember. Disable, don't destroy."
"Aye aye, ma'am. Arming weapons, bringing shields online."
"Helm! Bring us around. Try to move us so they aren't between us and the planet."
"Affirmative, ma'am! Performing course alteration...now."
Engines burned as the fleet's combat systems came online, capacitors charging as the shields hummed to life.
Far below, crews scrambled for their stations, alarms blaring and orders being called over the internal comms.
"What the hell's goin on?" a crewman asked, sipping his drink as he stared into the void outside the viewport.
"Can't you hear?" one of the marines responded, clanking his way to the man's side, clad in full power armour. "Unanimity ships are en-route to Staebha. The entire navy is scrambling to respond."
"Damn! I'd have thought they'd go for Aubos again!"
"Yeah. But hey, everything's here. They're gonna pay in blood for hitting us where we're strongest."
"We can hope. What about the Onager?" the crewman asked, pointing to the nearby orbital shipyard.
"She's finished, just about. Hopefully she'll be joining the defence."
"That'll give them a show."
"You two!" called an officer from behind. The crewman almost spat his drink, and the marine turned sharply for the weight of his armour. "Marine, back to your fireteam! Crewman, to your station! We're on combat alert!"
"A-Affirmative, sir! Right away, sir!" the crewman stammered, both saluting before the marine hurried off. Grumbling, the officer turned, returning to his duties. The crewman sighed, taking one last swig of his drink before looking back out the window, in time to see the shape of a Polybolos burning away from Staebha.
"A show, indeed..."
The Staebh fleet gathered as best it could, a little over a dozen ships. Weapons charged as they headed to intercept their targets, comms buzzing from command stations.
"All ships, this is SUSN Fleet Command! Priority orbital targets are Defence Platform 01 and Orbital Shipyard B! Repeat, defend Platform 01 and Shipyard B!"
"This is over twice what appeared over Aubos! How the hell are we supposed to repel that?!"
"Stay on intercept course, A-04, defence platforms will provide fire support. All firing plans and targeting data will be appreciated."
"Will the Onager be joining us?"
"Affirmative. T-minus 50 seconds to Onager undocking. Stand by and prepare to engage targets."
"Alright, divide into battlegroups, divide their fire! Section one, with me!"
"Anything from their weapons?"
"Low level spikes, no heavy spinals detected!"
"Alright, all ships! Engage when ready!"
Like before, the Staebh were the first to fire. Kinetic shells raced high over Staebha, as Unanimity point defence flared to life. The frigates acted in the fleet's defence, creating a shield of PD fire destroying all but the luckiest of shells. Lasers lanced back, searing into Staebhic armour. For once, no ships went offline.
"Dammit! We can't touch them with those escort ships! They're almost totally free to fire on us!"
"Acknowledged, Battlegroup One. Can you acquire target lock?"
"Working on it! All ships, keep that fleet busy! Get us a damn lock on those escorts!"
"We have lock! Confirm?"
"Target confirmed. Mass driver is loaded, firing in three...two...one. Firing."
A flash, as the massive railgun of the defence platform fired, a slug racing through space faster than anything they had fired at their aggressors in the past. Lasers shot out to intercept, but none did enough to stop it. It struck the AUN frigate's shields with full force, the battery units it had launched backwards as it travelled impacting shortly after, lightning crackling over the shields as they wavered and died.
"That's it! Confirmed hit, shields down! Target that escort, kill it or drive it off!"
"Hit confirmed. Reloading mass driver. Ready to fire again in 20 seconds. Stand by."
"Dammit! What the hell was that?!" the Artifician captain called.
"Some kind of orbital defence platform! We must've misidentified some of their orbital platforms! It just knocked out one of our frigate's shields! They're prioritising it!"
"Tell the frigate to fall back and prioritise itself! Up the ante on return fire, let's start knocking them out!"
"Affirmative, captain!"
The lasers returning the kinetic fire almost doubled in number, an Arbalest's engine block bursting into flames and going dark, a Polybolos' spinal gun being knocked offline as even more blackened pits were melted into white armour by the dozen. The destroyers launched missiles, Staebhic flak guns engaging as they fought to knock them out, even as one blew off another Arbalest's engine block.
"Standing by for launch, Captain!" an officer saluted as S'dara entered the bridge. The captain saluted back, moving to his seat.
"Status!"
"All systems nominal. Launch systems prepped and ready. All weapons, charged and loaded.
"Good. The fleet?"
"Engaging the enemy over Staebha."
"Alright. Prepare for launch!"
"On your command, Captain!"
A moment. Another, S'dara's eight eyes narrowing.
"Trebuchet, launch!"
The mooring clamps on the Onager released, engines flaring as the vessel burned clear of the shipyard. Immediately, turrets opened fire, bombarding the shields of one of the destroyers.
"That's the Onager! She's come to help!"
"Confirmed, Onager has left shipyard. Onager, report."
"This is Captain O'mota, SUSNS Onager! We are moving to assist, how copy?"
"Clear, Onager. Battlegroup One is taking a beating."
"Acknowledged! Let us take some of the fire off!"
Aboard the defence station, even as capacitors charged around them, the crew seemed...confused.
"Did...he just say O'mota?"
"He did."
"Wait, why is he captaining the Onager? Wasn't S'dara supposed to be captaining that?"
"Supposedly, yeah. So where the hell is S'dara? Why isn't he here?"
"Captain, unknown Staebhic ship class has undocked from the shipyard and is engaging! Its giving our destroyers hell!"
"Dammit, we were too late! Focus fire, knock it out! Kill those guns!"
"Affirmative, acquiring target lo--"
"Captain! New signature!"
"What? Where?!" she called, even as the ship shook.
"Planetside, but it's rising rapidly!"
"What's it like? Can we tell?"
"Even bigger than the one that just engaged us! It's even bigger than us, ma'am!"
"Bigger than us?! What the hell, do they have the capacity for that? Check again!"
"Captain, it's entering high atmosphere now!"
"Show me!"
The ship, as it cleared Staebha's remarkably volumetric cloud layer, was exactly as the Artifician crewman had said: Larger than any Staebhic ship seen before, even larger than the Unanimity cruiser. Disposable launch rockets left a monolithic trail of smoke before fading and dying, disengaging forcefully with drogue chutes opening soon after. The vessels' own engines screamed as they left atmosphere, burning straight for the Unanimity force. The guns turned and locked targets, even as the AUN destroyers turned and begun the launching sequence for their torpedoes.
"Captain! Enemy destroyers are launching heavy torpedoes!"
"Munitions like that will tear us apart!"
"Load nuclear rounds into the turrets! Target the destroyers! Fire on my command!" S'dara ordered, watching the video feed. The destroyers turned, and the exhaust tubes flared as the heavy munitions started their launch.
"Fire! Now!" he called, accompanied by the dull thudding of the guns firing. At the ranges they were at, they had barely a few seconds to intercept before the shells reached them, impacting the shields and detonating as the torpedoes burned away from their vessels. Shrapnel and debris left the nuclear fireballs, the blasts tearing the torpedoes apart. The Trebuchet accelerated further, the spinal gun firing. The Artifician captain could barely blink before it struck her cruiser's shields, the entire vessel shuddering and shaking as the vessel burned past, side turrets thundering.
"Crap! Status!"
"Two of the destroyers and one of the frigates took a beating! Only us and one destroyer have shields online! Shields at 20%!"
"God damn! Where is that ship going?!"
"Unclear! Ma'am, their main fleet is pressing their attack, they're taking advantage!"
"Dammit! Return fire! Get me a damn target lock on that ship!"
"Yes ma-"
"Captain! Energy spike in the new vessel! It's huge!"
"What the hell could they be doing now? Where is it focused?"
"Th...those rings! It's going to those rings!"
The captain's blood ran cold as space around the Staebhic vessel became very distorted.
"Th...That's an Alcubierre field! Since when the hell did they have FTL?!"
"Captain! What should we do?"
"Fire on its engines, fire on those rings, stop it leaving! Raise interdiction!"
"No time, ma'am, it's reaching effective interstellar power!"
"Dammit!"
In one moment, the Trebuchet burned away from its home, even as the warped space around it made it all the harder to see.
A second later, the Trebuchet was a flash of light from its engines, becoming a dot in the blink of an eye, and in the next, it was gone. In seconds, Aubos raced by, then Isrekis, and S'dara barely managed to register the Unanimity monitoring station before it, too, was behind them. A minute later, and they were well clear of the system that bore the Staebh. Deep space. The inky, endless void, none of their kind had explored. They were the furthest that any of their kind had been from home. A daunting experience. One that made S'dara feel uneasy. They were plunging headlong into the total, utter unknown. They were alone, and very, very small. Finally, S'dara's attention was snapped back to reality by one of his crew.
"Sir! Transluminal Drive operating at nominal capacity! We're clear!"
"Good..." he nodded slowly. "Alright, let's...plot a course. Remember, we have to stop every now and again, let the drive cool and the radiation dissipate."
"Affirmative, sir! We should be clear of any detected Unanimity activity by the time we have to drop FTL."
"Good news. I was scared we were going to have to drop into enemy territory. Alright, at ease. We're clear, for now."
"All hands this is Orbital Defence Platform 01. SUSNS Trebuchet is away. Press the attack."
"Trebuchet?! You knew about it this whole time?"
"Negative, we received word as it left atmosphere."
"...Damn. Nobody told us about that thing?"
"We can worry about that later! All ships, maintain fire!"
"All ships, please confirm, Unanimity vessels changing course away from Staebha."
"C...Confirmed! Are they after the Trebuchet?"
"Stop them! Target their engines!"
"Affirmative. Target locked. Firing in three...two...one. Firing."
"Captain, defence platform is firing again!"
"All ships, evade!" she yelled, even as the slug raced past, narrowly missing the bulk of her ship's hull and pulverising one of the gun turrets as it was torn off.
"That was close!"
"Captain! What are we doing?"
"That ship is going to get word out! We're on damage control here, mission failed!"
"We'll get 'em next time!"
"Preferably, there won't be one! Helm, get us out of here!"
"Affirmative! FTL almost charged, acquiring exit vector."
The ships burned away, their more powerful engines quickly outracing the vessels of the SUSN. Even as the Staebh pressed their attack, FTL drives fired, and the fleet was away.
"Dammit, they got away!"
"None of them had shields up. With some luck, the Trebuchet can handle them."
"Wishful thinking."
"Defence Platform 01 to all ships, Unanimity FTL trajectory is not in line with the Trebuchet."
"What? You're saying they're not following it?"
"Affirmative. Nothing is tailing the Trebuchet. All hands, stand down. Aggressor ships have left the AO."
"...Good. Okay, everyone, damage control. We've won here."
K'maru watched from his seat inside the fleet command centre, rubbing his jawline in thought.
"SUSNS Trebuchet is away, sir! Unanimity ships are running."
"Hmm...I wonder why. Are they pursuing her?"
"Negative. They jumped out of system elsewhere."
"They ran as soon as the Trebuchet left system...but didn't pursue the ship. What are they doing?..."
"Sir?"
"That implies they seemed confident because we were confined here. We can't get any word out. That must mean they're scared word will get out."
"So why didn't they chase the Trebuchet?"
"I suppose they didn't think of it. Or, they're trying to keep as much under wraps as they can within their own territory. Internal damage control."
"Does that mean they're pulling out?"
"We can hope. Alright. Enough speculating. Tell the fleet to return to orbital base. Reel in the damaged ships, make sure everyone on them is still alive. Get the repair crews ready."
"Aye aye!" a man saluted, turning back to his computer. K'maru sighed, lowering his hand and crossing his arms, eyes on the digital overview map.
"Good luck, Captain. You'll need it."
"So, Captain S'dara, what do you think?" K'maru asked, all four of his arms crossed.
"A fine ship, Admiral. I hope she can get the job done."
"Don't we all. She's yours now, at least until you come home."
"Provided I ever do." S'dara sighed, rubbing his brow.
"Make sure of it. That's an order."
"Are you sure you don't want to command her, Admiral? I've never commanded anything so big." S'dara glanced over at his superior. K'maru sighed and shook his head, a weary smile coming onto his face.
"I'm no good for the three-dimensional stuff. Commanding from here is more my speed, and besides, I served my time calling out fire missions back when our fleets were waterborne. You seem to have gotten the hang of it though. Everyone's impressed with what you did at Aubos."
"Thank you, sir. I'll make sure she comes home. In one piece, preferably."
K'maru went to open his mouth, before an alarm siren blared, red klaxon lights spinning.
"All hands, hostile ships detected on a path to Staebha orbit! All hands to battle stations!" the speakers called out, the previously quiet hangar quickly becoming alive.
"Damn, this soon? I'd have thought our win would've scared them off." S'dara growled.
"Bold bastards. The entire SUSN is here, what're they thinking?" K'maru added.
"Admiral, is she ready? I'd like to request permission to launch."
"Ready and waiting. Permission granted. The crew is likely already aboard. Good luck, Captain. Don't worry about Staebha, S'dara, I'll keep her safe." the Admiral stated, eyes locked on a large display showing a digital overview of the scenario.
"Good luck, sir."
"You too, Captain." K'maru nodded, turning and running for a lift. S'dara turned the other way, stepping onto the boarding ramp.
Several Unanimity ships drifted ever onwards. Four destroyers, two frigates and a cruiser. A considerable step up from the trio that failed at Aubos.
"Captain! We're picking up mounting energy readings from the ships over the planet. It's their fleet."
"Arm our weapons and ready the shields. Remember, we're here to disable their ships, not eradicate them. High Command's already catching onto this whole fiasco, they'll have our heads on a platter if they find out we went and started slaughtering the Staebh over their own planet."
"So...what're we here for?" one of the crew asked, a little tentatively.
"We're here to keep their navy down. Stop them from becoming too much of a pest."
"That's...suspicious. Wouldn't look good on anyone's record."
"Listen, I don't like it any more than you do. But I don't make the orders, I just follow them. Let's...just try to avoid casualties as much as possible. Remember. Disable, don't destroy."
"Aye aye, ma'am. Arming weapons, bringing shields online."
"Helm! Bring us around. Try to move us so they aren't between us and the planet."
"Affirmative, ma'am! Performing course alteration...now."
Engines burned as the fleet's combat systems came online, capacitors charging as the shields hummed to life.
Far below, crews scrambled for their stations, alarms blaring and orders being called over the internal comms.
"What the hell's goin on?" a crewman asked, sipping his drink as he stared into the void outside the viewport.
"Can't you hear?" one of the marines responded, clanking his way to the man's side, clad in full power armour. "Unanimity ships are en-route to Staebha. The entire navy is scrambling to respond."
"Damn! I'd have thought they'd go for Aubos again!"
"Yeah. But hey, everything's here. They're gonna pay in blood for hitting us where we're strongest."
"We can hope. What about the Onager?" the crewman asked, pointing to the nearby orbital shipyard.
"She's finished, just about. Hopefully she'll be joining the defence."
"That'll give them a show."
"You two!" called an officer from behind. The crewman almost spat his drink, and the marine turned sharply for the weight of his armour. "Marine, back to your fireteam! Crewman, to your station! We're on combat alert!"
"A-Affirmative, sir! Right away, sir!" the crewman stammered, both saluting before the marine hurried off. Grumbling, the officer turned, returning to his duties. The crewman sighed, taking one last swig of his drink before looking back out the window, in time to see the shape of a Polybolos burning away from Staebha.
"A show, indeed..."
The Staebh fleet gathered as best it could, a little over a dozen ships. Weapons charged as they headed to intercept their targets, comms buzzing from command stations.
"All ships, this is SUSN Fleet Command! Priority orbital targets are Defence Platform 01 and Orbital Shipyard B! Repeat, defend Platform 01 and Shipyard B!"
"This is over twice what appeared over Aubos! How the hell are we supposed to repel that?!"
"Stay on intercept course, A-04, defence platforms will provide fire support. All firing plans and targeting data will be appreciated."
"Will the Onager be joining us?"
"Affirmative. T-minus 50 seconds to Onager undocking. Stand by and prepare to engage targets."
"Alright, divide into battlegroups, divide their fire! Section one, with me!"
"Anything from their weapons?"
"Low level spikes, no heavy spinals detected!"
"Alright, all ships! Engage when ready!"
Like before, the Staebh were the first to fire. Kinetic shells raced high over Staebha, as Unanimity point defence flared to life. The frigates acted in the fleet's defence, creating a shield of PD fire destroying all but the luckiest of shells. Lasers lanced back, searing into Staebhic armour. For once, no ships went offline.
"Dammit! We can't touch them with those escort ships! They're almost totally free to fire on us!"
"Acknowledged, Battlegroup One. Can you acquire target lock?"
"Working on it! All ships, keep that fleet busy! Get us a damn lock on those escorts!"
"We have lock! Confirm?"
"Target confirmed. Mass driver is loaded, firing in three...two...one. Firing."
A flash, as the massive railgun of the defence platform fired, a slug racing through space faster than anything they had fired at their aggressors in the past. Lasers shot out to intercept, but none did enough to stop it. It struck the AUN frigate's shields with full force, the battery units it had launched backwards as it travelled impacting shortly after, lightning crackling over the shields as they wavered and died.
"That's it! Confirmed hit, shields down! Target that escort, kill it or drive it off!"
"Hit confirmed. Reloading mass driver. Ready to fire again in 20 seconds. Stand by."
"Dammit! What the hell was that?!" the Artifician captain called.
"Some kind of orbital defence platform! We must've misidentified some of their orbital platforms! It just knocked out one of our frigate's shields! They're prioritising it!"
"Tell the frigate to fall back and prioritise itself! Up the ante on return fire, let's start knocking them out!"
"Affirmative, captain!"
The lasers returning the kinetic fire almost doubled in number, an Arbalest's engine block bursting into flames and going dark, a Polybolos' spinal gun being knocked offline as even more blackened pits were melted into white armour by the dozen. The destroyers launched missiles, Staebhic flak guns engaging as they fought to knock them out, even as one blew off another Arbalest's engine block.
"Standing by for launch, Captain!" an officer saluted as S'dara entered the bridge. The captain saluted back, moving to his seat.
"Status!"
"All systems nominal. Launch systems prepped and ready. All weapons, charged and loaded.
"Good. The fleet?"
"Engaging the enemy over Staebha."
"Alright. Prepare for launch!"
"On your command, Captain!"
A moment. Another, S'dara's eight eyes narrowing.
"Trebuchet, launch!"
The mooring clamps on the Onager released, engines flaring as the vessel burned clear of the shipyard. Immediately, turrets opened fire, bombarding the shields of one of the destroyers.
"That's the Onager! She's come to help!"
"Confirmed, Onager has left shipyard. Onager, report."
"This is Captain O'mota, SUSNS Onager! We are moving to assist, how copy?"
"Clear, Onager. Battlegroup One is taking a beating."
"Acknowledged! Let us take some of the fire off!"
Aboard the defence station, even as capacitors charged around them, the crew seemed...confused.
"Did...he just say O'mota?"
"He did."
"Wait, why is he captaining the Onager? Wasn't S'dara supposed to be captaining that?"
"Supposedly, yeah. So where the hell is S'dara? Why isn't he here?"
"Captain, unknown Staebhic ship class has undocked from the shipyard and is engaging! Its giving our destroyers hell!"
"Dammit, we were too late! Focus fire, knock it out! Kill those guns!"
"Affirmative, acquiring target lo--"
"Captain! New signature!"
"What? Where?!" she called, even as the ship shook.
"Planetside, but it's rising rapidly!"
"What's it like? Can we tell?"
"Even bigger than the one that just engaged us! It's even bigger than us, ma'am!"
"Bigger than us?! What the hell, do they have the capacity for that? Check again!"
"Captain, it's entering high atmosphere now!"
"Show me!"
The ship, as it cleared Staebha's remarkably volumetric cloud layer, was exactly as the Artifician crewman had said: Larger than any Staebhic ship seen before, even larger than the Unanimity cruiser. Disposable launch rockets left a monolithic trail of smoke before fading and dying, disengaging forcefully with drogue chutes opening soon after. The vessels' own engines screamed as they left atmosphere, burning straight for the Unanimity force. The guns turned and locked targets, even as the AUN destroyers turned and begun the launching sequence for their torpedoes.
"Captain! Enemy destroyers are launching heavy torpedoes!"
"Munitions like that will tear us apart!"
"Load nuclear rounds into the turrets! Target the destroyers! Fire on my command!" S'dara ordered, watching the video feed. The destroyers turned, and the exhaust tubes flared as the heavy munitions started their launch.
"Fire! Now!" he called, accompanied by the dull thudding of the guns firing. At the ranges they were at, they had barely a few seconds to intercept before the shells reached them, impacting the shields and detonating as the torpedoes burned away from their vessels. Shrapnel and debris left the nuclear fireballs, the blasts tearing the torpedoes apart. The Trebuchet accelerated further, the spinal gun firing. The Artifician captain could barely blink before it struck her cruiser's shields, the entire vessel shuddering and shaking as the vessel burned past, side turrets thundering.
"Crap! Status!"
"Two of the destroyers and one of the frigates took a beating! Only us and one destroyer have shields online! Shields at 20%!"
"God damn! Where is that ship going?!"
"Unclear! Ma'am, their main fleet is pressing their attack, they're taking advantage!"
"Dammit! Return fire! Get me a damn target lock on that ship!"
"Yes ma-"
"Captain! Energy spike in the new vessel! It's huge!"
"What the hell could they be doing now? Where is it focused?"
"Th...those rings! It's going to those rings!"
The captain's blood ran cold as space around the Staebhic vessel became very distorted.
"Th...That's an Alcubierre field! Since when the hell did they have FTL?!"
"Captain! What should we do?"
"Fire on its engines, fire on those rings, stop it leaving! Raise interdiction!"
"No time, ma'am, it's reaching effective interstellar power!"
"Dammit!"
In one moment, the Trebuchet burned away from its home, even as the warped space around it made it all the harder to see.
A second later, the Trebuchet was a flash of light from its engines, becoming a dot in the blink of an eye, and in the next, it was gone. In seconds, Aubos raced by, then Isrekis, and S'dara barely managed to register the Unanimity monitoring station before it, too, was behind them. A minute later, and they were well clear of the system that bore the Staebh. Deep space. The inky, endless void, none of their kind had explored. They were the furthest that any of their kind had been from home. A daunting experience. One that made S'dara feel uneasy. They were plunging headlong into the total, utter unknown. They were alone, and very, very small. Finally, S'dara's attention was snapped back to reality by one of his crew.
"Sir! Transluminal Drive operating at nominal capacity! We're clear!"
"Good..." he nodded slowly. "Alright, let's...plot a course. Remember, we have to stop every now and again, let the drive cool and the radiation dissipate."
"Affirmative, sir! We should be clear of any detected Unanimity activity by the time we have to drop FTL."
"Good news. I was scared we were going to have to drop into enemy territory. Alright, at ease. We're clear, for now."
"All hands this is Orbital Defence Platform 01. SUSNS Trebuchet is away. Press the attack."
"Trebuchet?! You knew about it this whole time?"
"Negative, we received word as it left atmosphere."
"...Damn. Nobody told us about that thing?"
"We can worry about that later! All ships, maintain fire!"
"All ships, please confirm, Unanimity vessels changing course away from Staebha."
"C...Confirmed! Are they after the Trebuchet?"
"Stop them! Target their engines!"
"Affirmative. Target locked. Firing in three...two...one. Firing."
"Captain, defence platform is firing again!"
"All ships, evade!" she yelled, even as the slug raced past, narrowly missing the bulk of her ship's hull and pulverising one of the gun turrets as it was torn off.
"That was close!"
"Captain! What are we doing?"
"That ship is going to get word out! We're on damage control here, mission failed!"
"We'll get 'em next time!"
"Preferably, there won't be one! Helm, get us out of here!"
"Affirmative! FTL almost charged, acquiring exit vector."
The ships burned away, their more powerful engines quickly outracing the vessels of the SUSN. Even as the Staebh pressed their attack, FTL drives fired, and the fleet was away.
"Dammit, they got away!"
"None of them had shields up. With some luck, the Trebuchet can handle them."
"Wishful thinking."
"Defence Platform 01 to all ships, Unanimity FTL trajectory is not in line with the Trebuchet."
"What? You're saying they're not following it?"
"Affirmative. Nothing is tailing the Trebuchet. All hands, stand down. Aggressor ships have left the AO."
"...Good. Okay, everyone, damage control. We've won here."
K'maru watched from his seat inside the fleet command centre, rubbing his jawline in thought.
"SUSNS Trebuchet is away, sir! Unanimity ships are running."
"Hmm...I wonder why. Are they pursuing her?"
"Negative. They jumped out of system elsewhere."
"They ran as soon as the Trebuchet left system...but didn't pursue the ship. What are they doing?..."
"Sir?"
"That implies they seemed confident because we were confined here. We can't get any word out. That must mean they're scared word will get out."
"So why didn't they chase the Trebuchet?"
"I suppose they didn't think of it. Or, they're trying to keep as much under wraps as they can within their own territory. Internal damage control."
"Does that mean they're pulling out?"
"We can hope. Alright. Enough speculating. Tell the fleet to return to orbital base. Reel in the damaged ships, make sure everyone on them is still alive. Get the repair crews ready."
"Aye aye!" a man saluted, turning back to his computer. K'maru sighed, lowering his hand and crossing his arms, eyes on the digital overview map.
"Good luck, Captain. You'll need it."