Chapter 1- The Siege Part One
A single ship cut through the darkness of space. Its engines casting a blue hue into the black, cold abyss around it. The dark gray color it had blended in with the deep black of space.The only thing marking it where small dots of light that littered its surface, most on the "struts" of the ship on its sides. In those dots of light, beings could be seen overseeing the inter depths of the space vessel, moving to and from their destinations. On its front are a pair of Pylons protruding proudly out into the darkness, like a spear ready to impale anyone foolish enough to get in its way. Before long the small ship made a sharp turn toward a cloud of asteroid's and headed off on its new course.
Deep within the ship lays a maze of hallways and rooms. The long passes held bleach white walls with the center walkways being painted a dark gray with near blinding lights above them. The doors were the only thing that broke up the constant barrage of white, each one being a dark gray hue with solid black outlines defining each one. On the far side of one of the many hallways lay an open a door. Inside the doorway was a room like all the others on the vessel, compact and clean, like a room should be on a military warship.
It was a small square room with a small bed and a single wood table. The room was bare by any normal persons standards but the crew made due with what they had. The table was second hand, deep cracks and dents broke across it's surface making it seem as if it was taken from a trash compactor and then set on fire, many times. The bed itself to was nothing more then a single flat mattress with some thin blankets throw over it to make it seem more like a normal bed.To its sleeping owner however, it did not feel that way at all.
The owner rolled violently in his sleep. Tossing and turning back and forth causing the weak metal frame to shake and dance over the floor, Something was very wrong, A leg flew from the covers as if to strike out at an foe before becoming limp and relaxing. Next an arm was flung upwards as to block a incoming attack before it was able to be carried out. It look as if he had finality found solace before his entire body jumped as if electricity ran through it.
A loud gasp left his mouth. His eyes ripped opened and he suddenly rose up in his bed, covered in sweat. He sat there breathing as he tried to calm himself. He stood slowly and walked over to the sink on the far side of the room, Tuned the faucet on and dunked his head below the water trying to clear away his troubled sleep. After he felt awake, he took a rag from below the sink and dyed his face. After that he threw it to the side and walked over to the one single cabinet in the room. Opening the door he found his dark gray navy Shirt, dark gray pants and black soldier boots.
A sudden knock from the doorway made him turn around sharply to see who it was. At his door stood a woman dressed in a officers uniform. Her short cut blond hair gave away who she was the moment Triton saw her and he snapped to attention and brought up A salute.
"Ma'am!" Shouted the navy marine
The uniformed woman stood in the doorway and took a long look at Triton. Her ocean blue eyes scanning his every feature form his head to his feet. She step't through into the room and stood in from of the soldier. She was only a few inches shorter then he was but that did not change the fact that she was a Higher officer then himself. She slowly walked about his cabin inspecting the room. She
"At ease Marine, this is just a check up. No need for formalities." Triton dropped his salute and returned back to his normal stance. He knew this officer from his time at boot camp. Her name was Jeanette Gromyko, the daughter of a former general in the State military. She joined the navy around the same time as Triton did, they went to the same training facility were they had meet and had been close friends from then on. After training she had become an officer in the navy and had been transferred to a new battalion. It was just recently that they had come into contact again when he was assigned to the Crystola one month ago. The very same ship she had been made a gunnery officer on. Be it a complete fluke or fate, the two worked well with each other. After he followed her order she dropped the rank and went back to being friends.
"It's been a while hasn't it Triton?" She asked
He nodded, fixing a button that had snapped lose on his collar."Before I came aboard, About five year's and five months" replied Triton. He looked down at his boots making sure they were spotless and then looked back up at the officer."Its been a very long time Jean" He said sadly.
She nodded."Far Too long. I haven't seen or heard anything from you sense boot camp, and that was five years ago". Her expression went from happy to a somewhat more depressing stare. For a moment, it seemed that she had saw something that gave her great distress,Causing her to lose focus for just a split second but she held her self together before she spoke again."You had me worried Triton.."
"I'm just happy that I'm still here and with no holes punched in me. There getting closer, I don't know how long i have until one makes a nice mark right here." He tapped his forehead with his fingers before laughing at this own joke. This didn't seem to fit well with Jeannette however.
"The only holes That you'll have are the ones I'm going to put in you, smart ass." She jested somewhat angrily back.
"Well you'll have to get in line with all the Green bastards in front of you" Stated Triton.
"Is that right, marine?" asked the officer.
"Yes Ma'am!" replied he trooper as he pulled out his sidearm from the table next to his bed. He ran a cloth over it before placing it in its holster on his hip. He made sure that he had some extra clips for his pistol before placing his belt on himself and righting any lose straps on his body. He took is cap from the top shelf and placed it on his head. By the time he was finally done, she had moved back into his door way and leaned impatiently on it's frame.
"Come on Sargent, don't you know its not nice to keep a lady waiting."
Triton knew better then to back talk an officer (Even if it was someone he knew well) so he bit his tongue as he reorganized all his things back into a neat order before stepping out of the room. As they entered the hallway,Triton had to shield his eyes from the light coming from above him. He blinked a few times before proceeding down the passageway. The two walked past some of their other ship mates as they made their way toward the bridge, most stopping to give the group a salute as they went past. Jeanette glanced at Triton before smirking as they moved down the hallway.
"I've heard that you were promoted. I meant to send you my congratulations but because your here now I wanted to say it in person." She gave off a warm friendly smile to him.They turned another corner and walked quickly to the lift that let the crew move between the decks of the ship the fastest way possible. They were brought to the upper levels of the ship a few moments latter. A few more quick steps and they were inside the brain of the ship, The command bridge.
The bridge of a Cormorant class destroyer is not very large. Like the rest of the ship, its compact and presentable. The Command Bridge, as it's officially called, has two levels, the upper is were the captain and their second in command sit. Their chairs are positioned next to one another as to be more effective so that the captain can confide with his second to make tactical decisions in the heat of combat. The lower level is were the "Magic" happens. The crew call it the "Pit", Three rows of consoles positioned out in front in a command configuration. The consoles are maned 24/7 with the captain able to look out from where he's siting to make snap orders to the rest of the crew at a moments notice.
Two walkways lead down into the pit where the rest of the bridge crew are positioned, one on the left and the other on the right. From the pit, the crew can control the entire ship from a handful of computers. The stations range from engines to life support. Shield control, Gunnery and so on. At the moment, only a skeleton crew was present on the bridge. They kept control over the ship at times were the rest of the crew was ether not present or not available. For the ships current mission, only the minimal amount of crew was needed.The ships A.I could take over at any moment and aid the crew, but that was only needed in the most dire of circumstances.
As Triton and Jeanette entered the bridge they were greeted not by the ships captain, but the ships computer A.I Laries. A blue holographic head appeared in the hallway The projected Head blinked a few times before Focusing on the two humans
"Greetings Sargent Triton and First Lieutenant Jeanette, A pleasure to see you both!" exclaimed the A.I. happily.
Triton found it a bit unnerving to be talking to a floating blue disembodied head, but he refused to show it."A warm welcome to you as well Laries". Said Triton. "Is the captain aware that we've arrived at the way-point?"
The A.I stood silent for a time before it spoke again."The captain is aware and will be joining us shortly. He asks that all crew members be ready for him before he arrives." Stated the A.I before it flashed and vanished from sight. The duo took this as their ques to get to work. They quickly walked into the room, down the side walkways into the pit and took up their respective stations. Jeanette was in charge of gun control, she made sure the guns were primed and in working order for the gun crews to arm and prepare to fire. Meanwhile Triton was in charge of making sure that the ships defenses were up to speed and ready for any and all incoming threats. He checked and then re-checked to make sure the ships shields were aligned and ready for action. He also made sure that the Armored hall was reinforced and made sure that the structure of the ship was stable. With all systems green from all stations all across the ship, it was ready for anything.
Just as the final ready checks came in from the other parts of the ship, the door to the captains ready room opened. The crew obediently stood from their stations and waited for the most important part of the ships crew. Its captain. Two armed troopers stepped through the door way and took up positions on both sides of the door. They were dressed in solid black body Armour and were armed with GLU-5 Rifles, the standard in State arms. These were high command body guards, they were present wherever there was a member of command nearby. Trained in both discipline and close range combat, they could hold there ground in a fight pretty well. After a short pause, another body came into view that got the attention of everyone on deck. A grizzled, battle torn man walked into the bright pale white lights the shone out onto the floor. He walked past the armed men and into the center of the command deck.
The man was in his elder years. His hair turned white from battle or age, probably both. He wore a black suite with silver cusps in the center. He had a single platinum band running the length of his shoulders and ended at his neck piece. He also wore a silver cap that had the seal of the state in the middle. He stood in front of the crew, his dark silver eyes scanning each person they fell on. When he was finished, he spoke with a solid, hard hitting voice that commanded respect and a little bit of fear.
"For those that came aboard form our last layoff, My name is Jokea Lakota. I am captain of this ship and I want an orderly crew. I know many of you are freshly out of the State war academy. You have been trained to do your job with skill and pride. I know you can do this and more. We as a crew will survive if we all do our jobs. Show me that you can." As he sat in his chair so did the rest of the crew sit. He brought up a map of the asteroid belt and went over it.
"Navigator, We have arrived at the distress beacon correct?" asked Jokea
A young man responded, "Yes sir, We are 11 meters form its position and holding"
"Good, move to 5 meters and scan for any nearby ships. keep close to the asteroids, should we need to use them as cover."
The ship shuttered as it moved through the chunks of space rock around it. The space rocks ranged in size from Frigate sized chunks to those that would give a battleship's shields a run for its money. The military destroyer took care to weave through the field and avoid the larger rocks. As flew over one of the largest rocks, the crew gained a view of what they were looking for. Just a few meters away from a floating beacon was a large ship with several smaller vessels around it. It was a impressive sight, A small group of mining barges hovering in-front of a rather large asteroid busily tearing chunks the size of frigates from it and into their holds. They comprise mostly of Procurer class barges, each with a single strip miner. They were cheap and efferent ships for what they had to do. Leading the small group was a Orca class support ship, its massive cargo holds bulging from its insides and its command tower standing high over its deck. The small barges looked like ants compared to the mother Orca. The Orca's job was to collect the raw ore that the barges would claim from the field and then store them so that the barges could free up space in their ore holds. When full, the Orca in turn would then warp to the nearby station and drop of the load and then warp back to gather the next batch.
As the Crystola flew closer to the mining fleet, the ship was being hailed by the Orca. "On screen" commanded Jokea. The main view screen changed from a picture of the fleet to a young man. The man was standing in front of a row of computers, Each giving a readout from the smaller gathering crews around the main ship. The room he stood in had a orange taint to it, making the man's skin beam with an orange glow. His face beat and bruised from one of the most deadly jobs in the galaxy. Asteroid mining
"Captain Jokea, good to see you" Said the man
"You as well Foreman Rotarian, how goes the operation?" asked Jokea
Rotarian glanced at the readout next to him. A set of lights blinked on and off slowly with lines of text scrolling acrost the screen."Scans say that we are mining the very last bits of Veldspar in the field. We should be done within the hour" he said cheerfully
"Wonderful" exclaimed the navy captain. "Ahead of scheduled time is always better then behind it. My ship is making the final round before we pull all ships back to the planet. We will be in range if you need assistance"
"Thank you Captain, we will if we nee---" He was interrupted as a panel nearby lit with a loud ping. He pulled it closer before his eyes widened and he grew pale, It looked as if he was going to be sick. " Captain Jokea, My sensors are reading a unidentified craft exiting hyperspace near the belt. It might be hostile!" Warned the miner
Something beeped below captain Jokea."Sir, I'm picking up the same on external sensors, Contact is not responding to hails and is not carrying FOF tags" Reported Jeanette.
Jokea pondered the situation. "Fleet Captain Rotarian, how long before you can reach the station back at the planet?"
Rotarian twisted His head around and barked commands at the group of miners behind him before turning back to the screen, "If we gang warp, It would take us about 5 minutes to form up and clear the belt. We will be very exposed 'till we are at warp " responded the near panicking captain."I'm not sure that we would survive long enough to get out of formation, One solid hit on the external bays and we'll loss half the yeld" Behind him the sound of his crew moving back and forth to organize a orderly retreat was very audible.
Captain Jokea looked away and took a long, deep breath. He Cleared his mind and used his years of service in the Navy to formulate a plan of action. He turned back to the screen."Tell your ships to stay in formation and prepare for warp. We will distract the enemy ship and hold them until you are away. When you make it back, tell the dock master to prepare to receive wounded, Captain Jokea out"
With that the screen changed back to the group of Civilian ships now scrambling to get into formation. The Massive Orca was now making a wide turn inside the small space that was available to them. The smaller skiff's were quickly moving out of the way to make room for their massive command ship, trying to not get smashed between it and the rocks around them. As they were readying to escape from the coming danger, the crew of Crystola readied themselves for battle. Captain Jokea spun the crew into action. "Gunnery, prepare to load anti-matter charges into the main Cannons. Defense, Raise shields to battle stance and prepare to move into engagement range. All other stations standby for instructions".
Triton and Jeanette both went to work to carry out their captains commands. Jeanette coordinated with Gunnery to get the main guns loaded while Triton charged and angled the Shields to protect the ship from harm. The rest of the bridge went into an orderly frenzy, moving about like worker ants to lock down the rest of the ship. All across the ship, the crew readied themselves for a fight.
Triton drained power from the main reactor to the outer shields banks. As the power was funneled, blue arcs could be seen traveling along the sides of the ship, Through the energy buffers that connected the main power grid to the offensive and defensive systems and then finally drained into the main deflector dish situated on the outer hall. Once the bank was full, He gave the final command and the ionic energy was shaped into a protective shell that was vastly growing across the hall of the destroyer. Once at full charge, the shell became one solid blue bubble of cascading energy that encased the entire ship and then vanished from the visible spectrum.
"Sir, shields at full charge and angled for combat. Armour is at 100% and enforcer is charged."
"Good work Sargent." Complemented Joka " Keep me informed if anything changes."
The Sargent complied and returned to his work. Meanwhile, Jeanette was just finishing coordination with the gunnery crew to load the charges into the Main rail cannons." Sir, crews report the magazines have been build and are awaiting to be loaded in the main cannons."
Joka nodded "Excellent work everyone. It seems that we are ready for whatever arrived in system. I suggest we get underway and keep our people are safe. Set course for the target, maximum speed!"
The destroyer made a wide turn and headed above the asteroid field to achieve their best possible speed. Below them, Behemoth sized rocks spun slowly in the vacuum of space, bouncing against one-another as they tumbled uncontrollably. As they passed over a rather large rock, The ship drew a large, dark shadow that's shape was broken by the many uneven edge's and holes that covered the rock. Passing over it, the crew found themselves in a wide open area in the center of a group of large asteroid's. A area of space shaped like a circle that left them little to no cover from whatever was hunting them in the void. Captian Joka could feel something wrong deep in his bones.
"Something's not right. This is the only spot within 5 clicks that a ship could have come out of hyperspace. Even if it moved from the wake, it still would take a few seconds to cross this vast empty plot of space and even then there would still be a trail from the ion cloud left behind a passing ship." Stated the concerned Caldari. He stood from his chair and moved next to the comm's station. A few pushed buttons latter and the ships Radar appears on screen. A small white circle with cross-hairs in the middle with smaller lines running in the center.
He stood and studied the screen. The only objects that his ship was seeing was the surrounding empty space and a few smaller asteroids moving freely in the dark around them.
"Laries, Scan the space around us for Ionic trails or other types of radiation that could relate to a ships power core. 360 degree's with multi- directional bursts to fill in the spots that we cant see." ordered Joka
The Blue dismayed head transformed into the physical plane next to the scanner.
"Aye captain"
The main screen flashed with light as the A.I took control of the ships sensor array. Lights flashed on to the display and slowly spun clockwise as Laries looked for anything that was out of place. After a short pause, a small blue diamond spun onto the screen off the port side. The A.I brought this to captain Joka's attention.
"Sir, I have detected a small pocket of energy that may have been left behind by the vessel that dropped from warp space. Its particle displacement matches that of a warp drive and It's only a few moments old, but is dissipating at a fast pace. My advice is that we investigate before we lose the change too. Shall I plot a intercept course?"
The ageing captain grovelled,Siting back in his chair and cupping his hands over his eyes before looking out over his crew. Triton looked up at him. He knew there really was only one way they would find the intruder and that would be to follow were they might have gone after existing warp. He instinctively looked over his console to make sure that the shields were charged. He knew what was going to happen next, they were going to fly right into a trap. It was the only logical answer that he could think of. This was dangerous in every way possible, but he knew it was his job to protect His fellow states men.
He sat up in his chair."We're going to have to blindly follow a trail of space dust to find this guy. I can't help but feel that something really is off about all this. He chuckled lightly " It's not the first time I ran right into a trap before.."
He got out of his daze and returned his attention to the captain who had moved to the front of the command deck. He Looked over his crew one last time before he spoke. "You all know where this will lead us. Trust me, If their was any other option that we could take, I would. But we have to cover the evacuation of the mining fleet. Their cargo is just to valuable to lose. He turned back to the screen "Laires, Where does the Ionic trail go?"
The A.I responded."Unknown, the background radiation from the surrounding area is interfering with my scans. I can follow the trail but can't see where it ends."
Not what anyone wanted to hear. Triton looked out over his station, a sicking feeling growing in his stomach. He made eye contact with Jeannette. She looked just as nervous as the rest of the crew but from what he could see, she knew it was something that must be done. Captain Joka saw this as well and made his decision.
"Set a Intersecting coarse with the trail. Lets see where the bread crumbs lead us shall we?."
"Aye Captain" Responded The A.I happily.
The crew settled in for what could turn out to be a battle for their very lives. The bridge was silent as the ship accelerated to their new destination. The nervousness could be seen on the faces of the newer crew but to Triton, the battle hardened marine, their was nothing. He did not get the "Jitters". Mission after mission had erased what fear of battle Triton had before. He looked over to his friend. Jeanette looked as if she had mentally prepared herself for the worst. She was readily taping at her console, probably trying to give herself something to do. He had know her long enough to tell when she was just trying to give herself something to keep her mind busy. He felt bad for her. He was't sure if she was OK or just putting on a face to make it seem like she was fine. Triton wanted to say something but knew this was not the time or place for such things. He had a mission he needed to focus on, and so did the rest of the crew.
The destroyer re-entered the the belt moving at half speed. The ships scanners searched everything around them, looking for their intruder. Joka Sat on the edge of his seat and read off the information coming in."Nothing but space dust. Laires, Are you certain that this is from a ship and not just a random pocket of radiation. We are rather close to the star in this system, It could have been left from the last solar flare."
Laires Re-appeared in front of the captain. "I'm 95.87% sure captain. This trail has no noticeable similarity to recent solar activity. The only logical conclusion is that-
"I don't need an estimate, I need rock solid results, dammit!" I'm not sending us on a chase through half the belt for nothing!".
Before long they found something. "Sir, Contact. 25 km, dead ahead. large Signal. Could be from our visitor." Said the first lieutenant
Joka sharply stood from his chair."Show me!" He ordered
The main view screen flashed and a large group of asteroids appeared on screen. They sat spinning in a small circle among a even large band of rocks floating a few meters away. In the center of the group a large, darkly shaded object could just be made out against the star filled backdrop of space. It sat motion-less as if it was abandoned, drifting slowly in the stellar breeze. Everyone on the bridge was on edge. Everyone except Captain Joka.
"Zoom in on that image, I want to see what we're up against."
The A.I complied. The screen enlarged and the image cleared.
"That's a nation Cruiser!" Exclaimed Triton
Almost as soon as the words left his lips a light flashed on the ship. It was dark green in color and was getting brighter in it's few short second's of existence. To the Untrained eye, It looked like a searchlight coming from the hall of the unknown vessel, crisscrossing the black death of space in search of something.To Triton, who has seen it many times before, It was the greatest threat the crew has seen in the last few month's.
"Incoming!'' He screamed
Joka caught on soon after." Turn to port, All power to engines. Get us the hell out of here!"
The destroyer dropped sharply off to the left as the green beam of light shot from the Assaulting Cruiser. It crossed the vast distance of space between the two ships in a matter of moments. The beam of energy passed mere micro meters from the hall and impacted the large asteroid behind them. Splattering energy cascaded across the surface of the rock throwing up vast amounts of rock and ice out into space. Jeanette watched as the energy dissipated into the rock. She was flabbergasted." If that would've hit us..."
"There would be little left." finished Triton. "That was high grade energy weapon fire". He explained. "Even with the shields on high power, that would have blown clean through and carved a nice swath in the outer hall plating." The other crew could only watch as the green light finally vanished from sight. The beam left behind a crater that would give a battle cruiser a hard time withstanding.The plume looked like a massive explosion had come from the rock itself. The bottom of the crater had a glass like field melted across the impact zone and rock mushed together and created a ice rink of the surface. The destroyer pulled up from its deep dive and came back to see its target.
The enemy Cruiser moved from its shadowy hiding spot out into the light of open space. When it did show itself, it looked like something from a deep, dark nightmare. Its outer hall was filled with spikes pointed in every direction and the hall was warped and morphed into all sorts of shapes and angles. The spears ranged in size but there was one that was larger then the rest. It was set right on the bow of the starship and looked as if it was made to ram another ship like a spear thrown in combat. The Inflated midsection was like a dark, mutated bubble that held the pilots of the ship and the guts that made it work. It was small compared to most empire Cruisers but could stand on its own in a fight with some of the biggest ships the four races could muster. The best feature of the ship was that not only could it fight some of the best combat ships in the cluster, it inspired fear in every single person who saw it, and most didn't live to tell the story.
"What the hell are the nation doing this far into our space!?" Yelled Triton. "I thought CONCORD had the gates locked down!"
"It doesn't look that way now does it Sargent Triton" Responded Joka "Now how about' you get me my weapons Instead of telling me the obvious!"
The Sargent moved from his station, across the control section and into the seat next to his friend. She paid little attention to Triton as he sat down, she was busy readying the main cannons for firing. Her hands rapidly dancing across the display as muti-colored lights moved from side to side. The display changed to a picture of one of the Crystola's main guns. A 250mm Rail cannon. The Crystola had eight such guns, four on top and four underneath. They were capable of punching through ships shields and could do some serious damage against targets a class larger then the destroyer and completely destroy anything below her. The cannon fire hybrid charges that can do a wide range of damage against a ship. From Armour piercing rounds used to punch through a ships hall to charges meant to only short out the shields to those designed to be used for orbital bombardment.
By now Jeanette had noticed her observer and decided to make him useful. "Sargent Triton, I see that you've finally chosen to make yourself know and present. Here, charge the cannons while I run the final checks. I want to make sure we don't blow our self's up trying to fire one of these"
Triton agreed and went to work finalizing programming the firing computer to activate the main guns. Because most of the ships power was diverted into the shields, he had to draw power from secondary subsystems to the main battery.This could leave parts of the ship under powered in an emergency but right now not having a hole in the ship was more important then having some lights in the bathroom. An alert sounded telling him the cannons were at full charge.
"Sir, Main cannons are Charged and wait to be deployed!" announced Triton.
The Enemy grew closer on screen. The billowing green light had reached what seemed full charge and hungered to be released to feast upon the Caldari crew. Triton grew restless. He could see the reaper of death itself floating in front of him but he could do nothing until he was given an order to fire. His trigger finger insistently wrapped around an imaginary trigger and awaited his brain to tell it to pull. He turned to Jeanette and saw the same look on her face as the rest of the crew; Her face turned slightly pale as she stared dish eyed at the green target.
"Lock target" called the captian
A circle appeared on screen and rotated around the Nation ship. As it spun, a audible sound counted down how long it would take to lock on.
"10 seconds".
An eternity for everyone on that ship. As it counted down it grew smaller and smaller as the distance shortened. At five seconds to lock, It stopped spinning and stood still.
"Lock"
When the timer hit zero, A small icon appeared and some data describing the target showed underneath. From possible shield strength and gun complement to the expected crew size. The data scrolled slowly over the bottom of the screen in bold white letters. As Triton read over the data, Something unusual jumped out at him. He blinked hard, Quickly re-reading over the stream just to make sure. "Sir, If I'm reading this right, That ship is running at half strength!"
The captain leaned closer, Eyes questionably scowling. "What do you mean Sargent?"
"Sir, Scans show that the Nation cruiser is at half Shields and its armor has been penetrated. Most of its plating has been lost and only fifty percent of its reactor has charge. Whatever they came across before us did a massive amount of damage. But it's still dangerous."
The navy hound let out a rather loud laugh. "Then we shall finish what someone else started! All guns, prepare to fire!" declared Joka.
Even with the little bit of good luck, something still troubled the Sargent."This does't make sense. Thought Triton.Why is there a lone ship this far outside the isolation zone, especially one this well armed? Something was wrong. He could feel it in his gut and it sent a chill down his spine.
A flashing warning appeared on the main view screen. The enemy ship was turning to take another shot at the ship. As the Nation ship grew closer, The same slicking green beam was growing around the ship. Before It could fire, Captain Joka Played first."Deploy Main cannons and wait for my order. We can't let them hit us but we also can't give them the advantage of range." he said. Joka Knew that That Cruiser had the advantage of range and firepower, but it had one major flaw, And He was going to exploit it. "Helm, Full speed ahead. Close range and orbit target at 1,000 km. Get as close too them as you can but don't ram them. I'm not that desperate yet."
The Destroyer Plunged full steam toward the menacing ship. As the distance closed, something started happening on the caldari destroyer. On the outer hall, four slots opened across the hall. One by one, four long barrel's extended from their holding braces. As they surfaced, they extended out and small plates of metal slid up onto the sides from the central barrel. Behind them, small metal rails extended out and locked into place as blue wave's of energy ran out and over the metal bars. They were placed in a V formation, each facing out and to the side to give the maximum range of fire possible. Underneath the guns, Magazines were being loaded into the firing chambers manually by the gun crews and each was feed power from the dedicated Storage rack to the main battery. The same was going on the underside of the ship as well, both sets of crews working together to bring the ship to battle ready status. When the rail cannons were fully extended and loaded, The crew sent a signal back to the bridge.
"Gun's are loaded and primed. Awaiting firing order, Captain!." Said the gunnery officer through the intercom on Joka's chair.
The Enemy grew closer on screen. The building green light had reached what seemed full charge and hungered to be released to feast upon the Caldari crew. Triton grew restless. He could see the reaper of death itself floating in front of him but he could do nothing until he was given an order to fire. His trigger finger insistently wrapped around an imaginary trigger and awaited his brain to tell it to pull. He glanced to Jeanette and saw the same look on her face as the rest of the crew; Her face turned slightly pale as she stared dish eyed at the green beast. A kind of uncertainty hung about the crew, like a damp fog it lay low across the floor and over each man and woman in the room. The captain was just beginning to give the fire order when a blinding Flash overtook everyone and everything...
The nation ship fired!
A green beam lanced out at the destroyer and instead of missing by a few meters, it hit head on. The ship shuttered as the shields failed and the hall took a full frontal blow. The bridge shook and consoles exploded as the energy passed into the ship, Some of crew were torn from their seats and blown onto the hard deck plates while others thrown clear across the deck into the walls around them.The main view screen flashed as the hall was ripped apart, pieces were blown clean off from the ship and small fires exploded off into space. The beam cut clean through the hall amour and down into the ship itself. The insides that were hit instantly melted and anyone caught in the path was vaporized. A Large hole that was once a walkway now vented violently out into space. Before the air was sucked out however, emergency barriers were deployed to stop crew from being blown out into space.
As the smoke and dust cleared,Triton picked himself off of the floor and crawled back into his seat. He could see that his face was bleeding from the fall. Blood tricked out of his noise and some wounds on his upper forehead. He could also feel a near blinding pain in his left shoulder. He rotated it and felt it pop, he must have landed so hard on his side that this shoulder had been knocked out of place. He grunted from the pain that ran down his arm but he pushed it aside and assessed the situation.
Most of the crew started pulling themselves up of the floor and only a few were bleeding,Those even then were not bad enough to stop them from functioning. Triton went to speak to his friend but found she wasn't in her seat. He looked over his console and found her lying face down on the floor. He jumped from his chair, over his console and to her side in mere moments. Janette's body was covered in glass that had landed on the floor around and on top of her. He could tell that she was wounded by the small amount of blood that trickled down her face. He slowly turned her body over to see how much damage had been done.
He could tell that her right arm was broke. It lay off to the side at a disturbing angle twisted upward with her hands clutching broken glass. Her face was also pretty bloody. He had to move some of her hair to see but it very evident that her forehead was bleeding. Blood was also dripping from her mouth on to the once clean floor. Her body was badly cut, with large holes in her uniform up and down her frame, some stained with blood. He could't tell how bad it really was and he didn't have time. The enemy was going to come to try and finish them off, but he would't allow them the chance. He called for some help, Two of the non-injured crew came over, carefully picked up the downed officer and carried her out and down the lift to the med-bay.
What the hell!! We just got shot by a ship that shouldn't even be flyable!. He wiped some of his friends blood off on a piece of torn cloth next to him and Turned to see if the captain was OK. It turns out he was. He had fallen from his chair from the attack but only sufferer a bloody noise. He Quickly re-situated himself and took stock. "You OK son?" He asked. Triton wanted to say something, but he could't find the words that would describe how shaken he felt. "I saw what happened to the first lieutenant. She's a tough girl, son. She'll do fine. Come, We must get back into the fight."
Triton could't agree more. He brushed off the broken glass that had showered onto this console and went back to work. The screen in front of him broke with static as the main computer tried to restore functions to the ship.The lights on the bridge were now blood red as emergency lights kicked on all across the ship to provide lighting for those working to restore what they could of the ship. Triton tried to restore the main view screen but all he could manage was a heavily static picture of the outer hall. Now he could see the extent of the damage. Were the main deflector dish once was is now a gaping hole melted into the hall. Smoke billowed from the wound as sparks from the destroyed systems rattled with electricity and wave's of energy sparked off into space.
Small chunks of hall floated freely out into the vacuum and even parts of the superstructure could be seen like bone would be seen if the skin had been pealed off an arm. Moving the camera, Triton could see that there were several large burn marks drawn out onto the plates. Around the hole, He could see that the metal had been nearly melted off and hung loosely to the bits of reinforced Titanium that made up the ship.
Triton then spawned a map on his console and a wave of cold ice rolled down his spine. He found that the area that was affected was only one blast door away from where he sat now. He could have been sucked out into space along with most of the bridge crew. He counted himself lucky and got back to work.
He was brought out of his haze by the sound of shouting behind him. He turned and saw the captain rallying his crew."We can't sit here and bleed out like a gutted pig. Get the systems back online and divert all power to the forward shields". He turned to face Triton, His hand brushing past his face to clean off some blood dripping from his noise."Sargent Triton, you're replacing the first lieutenant as gunnery officer until further notice".
Triton stopped dead."Sir, I'm not familiar with ship systems. I've only been trained on basic operations and controls. I Just barely understand how to operate the dammed thing, I-
"Sargent Triton", The captain cut in." This is nether the time or the place for this" Stated Joka. His face still bleeding."I know what You've been trained in, but I also know you can adapt in the field. I've read your report, Your a resourceful soldier and I know you wont fail us, will you?".
The Sargent looked around at the crew. Most were already back at their stations trying to save the ship. Many more were picking up their fallen comrades and evacuating those that couldn't move. Even the ships A.I had been restored and floated above the deck Supervising the wounded. He looked back at the captain and gave him his answer.
"No sir!" He didn't know if it was the truth or just some type of false patriotism that filled him, but he would't leave his mates in danger.
The captain let out a small chuckle"Excellent! Now lets show these machines what we can do shall we?"
With what little strength that he left, He pushed himself up out of the chair, walked the small distance between and then collapsed onto his new seat. He quickly taped in a command and the screen lit up. The Main screen flashed back just as the nation ship was turning around and heading back for another head on pass. The ship flashed with a unnatural green glow as it cut through space and twisted back and forth playing with its wounded pray.
With a push of a button Triton activated the Firing system, which to both his surprise and relief was still working, and made sure that all the cannons were still online. He overrode the automated firing system and re-linked the command through to his console. A big red flashing icon appeared on his overlay telling him the system was ready for the command.
"Ready, captain!" yelled Triton.
The extremely stressed captain nearly ripped what was left of his hair out."Then FIRE THE DAM THING, SARGENT!" the captain yell back.
Without holding back anything back, Triton smashed his fist down onto the console. The order was confirmed with a round of electronic beeps and the screen of the console turning bright green before an voice broke over the loudspeakers of the bridge.
"Main cannons Activated"
A few seconds later the bridge shook again along with what sounded like small explosions. To the untrained ear, it could have been more of the rooms of the damaged ship decompressing, which would have caused some of the newer crew to panic, but this time no one panicked. In fact, A few smiles appeared on some of the face's of the crew because they knew what that sound was. It was the sound of revenge tearing out across space at 400 meters a second and smashing headlong into the reaper of souls.
Another wave was let lose from the angry armament before the ships speakers crackled to life. "Sir, Target computer reports a direct hit on the nation ship!"
"Yes!" He cheered "That's for my Ship, You bastards" He along with most of the people around him gave a cry of joy for striking back. The mood changed in an insistent as they moved about with renewed spirit. Even Triton seemed at little more at ease as he sat back in his chair and let out a long pent up sigh. Before long he had received a new message.
"Sir, repair crew reports they have the main viewer online, ready when you say."
He nodded, "bring it up. I want to see how much damage we inflicted and what the state the enemy is in." He ordered
With a few taps on the console,Triton brought up the main screen. It flickered and buzzed a few times but it worked it self out and became clear again. Right dead ahead was the enemy ship. It was moving slowly past a asteroid on a path taking it out of the belt. Behind It, was a trail of sparkling green smoke and metal debris.
"Ah, Their wounded and trying to limp out of the belt on impulse. That last shot must have taken out their warp drives or they would have left by now. They also aren't fighting back, so we may have damaged their weapons making them basically defenseless." Joka stated
"Sir" Triton broke in."While we could chase them down and finish them, we are also damaged extensively. our shield's are offline and with the spot connection I've established to the gun controls, I can't guarantee that they will stay online for much longer. If I may make a suggestion, we should head back to the station, worn them that this could be the start of a system wide attack, And prepare for it" He suggested "They could be toying with us, seeing if we move closer to try and attack them."
Joka had a tough choice to make. He was caught between his burning hatred for the nation and what they've done, and the lives of the crew he commands. He walked slowly from his chair, down the ramp and stood in front of the main screen, his entire body locked in a state of stressed thought.
He turned around slowly and looked directly at Triton. "Son, how long until they are out of gun range?"
Triton glanced down at his console."They will move out of range in 30 seconds."
Joka turned back to the view screen, studying it with great intent. He grumbled and clenched his fist tightly before turning around sharply. "Navigator, Plot a course back to the station at best speed. If this is the vanguard for an invading fleet, we need to get back and warn command as fast as we can."
The navigator complied and send the ship in a sharp, slow turn pointed out of the belt. A steady hum overtook the ship as a sign that the engines were still working and propelling them out into open space. As Joka made his way back to his seat, he stopped next to Triton, who was engrossed with fixing a panel that had fallen from one of the side consoles during the fight. Joka taped him on the shoulder and he spun around and stood at attention.
"Son, I wanted to tell you something, You were a big part of why we're still here and not dust blowing in the solar way. You've done yourself and you're state proud today. We need more people like you fighting this war." He said with a smile before walking back to his chair.
Triton didn't know if he should be happy that he did some good or that he and his mates are still alive to make it back to the station. He chose the later as he replaced the panel and walked back to his seat. He thought about the battle and how it could have ended differently. At that moment, something accrued to him...
I forgot about Jeannette.
In the heat of battle, He completely forgot about his friend. The last he saw of her, she was being carted off to the med bay for her wounds. He would go and see her, but from the reports of damage, the only way he could go has been blasted out into space. He sighed and sat down in his chair and ran his hands over his face. When he brought them down, There was dried blood crumbling from his noise on the console. He wiped it off and went back to work.
The navigator began the countdown to warp. Triton took a deep breath and placed his hands on both sides of his chair, Preparing himself for what was going to be a hard jump to warp. When the countdown got to zero, The ship slowed to a near stop before a swirling vortex of chaotic energy ripped open in front of them. Suddenly, the ship shook violently as it lurched forward and accelerated sharply into the void of space and time. All around them, a swirling whirlpool of light, energy and time mashed and twirled through space. When the shaking stomped, the crew relaxed and got back to work.
Triton meanwhile slumped down in his chair and put his feet up onto the console, trying to get relaxed. He sat there, watching the waves of time and space whip back and forth as if it was alive. It would be an hour before they would reach the station and report in, plenty of time for him to rest his eyes. As he did, he could only think about what was about to happen.
The next great battle in the war for our very survival is about to take place. I might not make it out of this alive... and its only just going to get worse.
*********
In another part of the universe
It was night time, although no one could tell because it had been raining the entire day. Large mud puddles had formed on the ground and had become a hazard to those that didn't watch there step. A bright flash of lighting slashed across the sky with a tremendously loud boom of thunder behind it. The rain came down in sheets that where blown sideways by the strong winds produced by the storm. It pounded on the windows demanding to be let in, but the maid wouldn't let it. She used her magic to brace the window and push back against the prevailing winds.
"Clean breeze, Help me with this please." She nearly yelled over the winds.
In a near instant, A white mare with a bright yellow mane appeared next to her and together pushed on the window until it closed completely. The two mares then proceed to wipe clean the table that was soaked with rain water and pick up the vase that had been knocked off by the wind.
"Oh, good. That vase didn't break." said Clean breeze as she placed it back onto the table and put a fresh flower inside. Next to her, her friend was busy drying the water that made it onto the floor.
"Good, because I don't want worry about replacing a priceless vase and expensive carpet." said the worrying mare.
"Don't worry Spit shine, I'm sure they would understand when a storm like this is thrashing around outside." her friend reassured her
"Yea...but why is it so bad outside. I read the forecast for the next few days, but I thought today was the start of the storm. If this is just the start, we might as well nail the windows shut. This is the fourth one in the last hour to burst open!" She exclaimed. She wiped her bright blue mane clean of water as clean breeze finished pinning the window back.
"So, you want to be the one to find the royal carpenters at this hour and have them nail all the windows in the castle. I'm not sure that would be the best idea ever."
"It's better then running around like mad and trying to fix all this" Spit shine waved her hoof at the mess that had been made. "At lest then we could fix this disaster before it gets any worse."
Clean breeze laughed "Its not that bad. still... It's not as bad as what's going on now" she said As she put back the rag she used to wipe up the mess. She and spit shine then proceed to walk back down the hall. With the storm raging outside, all the castles maids and even the guards were running about trying to keep the place clean and stable. The two maids walked through a door way and found themselves in the central meeting room. Maids and Guards alike were standing around in groups talking about the storm, with some in twos and threes running out of the room, off on some type of important mission. As they made their way into the center of the room, Shouting could be heard at the front of a large gathering of maids. The two walked up toward the front, weaving their way through the crowd and saw what was making all the commotion.
The head maid, Shine bright, was sending different groups of maids off to all ends of the castle. Her bright green mane was in a mess as she sent two maids off to some problem on the other side of the castle. As the two approached, she spun around wiping her tail everywhere and nearly sent her uniform flying off her body.
"Where have you two been!" She yelled. "We've had all sorts of issues all over the place!"
"Sorry ma'm, We were making our way back when one of the windows on the south-west corridor broke open. We fixed it and cleaned up the rain. We've been all over trying to keep a lid on this mess"
Shine bright sighed and dropped the clipboard she was carrying with her magic. "If its not windows blowing open, its floor pots being blown off onto the floor or doors being ripped open and braking things." She wiped some sweat off her face as she picked up the clipboard again. "The captain of the Guard is requesting that we all stay away from the windows and move deeper into the castle, He said its going to get worse, broken windows and doors are going to be the least of our problems"
A Massive burst of thunder exploded outside. The winds picked up, the sound nearly deafening and all the windows in the room suddenly busted open. Glass flew like daggers in the air as the guards started ushering the now near panicking maids into the next room. One of the maids screamed as she was slashed over her back with a large shard. As she fell to the floor, a nearby guard jumped over her and shielded her from the winds and glass. He Used his magic to lift her under him and the two walked across the room and into the next one before the doors were closed and sealed shut. The wounded maid was taken by two other guards and placed over by the wall to be looked at.
"Its getting worse." Said the now terrified head maid."First Princess Celestia goes missing, now we have this storm to deal with. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take"
She wasn't the only one. The other maids were now huddled in fear as the winds outside grew yet again and another burst of lighting flash out over the sky. Spit shine moved from the group out near one of the windows and looked out. From what she could see, the city of Canterlot below wasn't faring any better. The rain made it nearly impossible to see, but when there was a flash of lightning, she could make out some of the small buildings below. Some had parts of their roofs missing and laying out in the street. She could see some of the residents running about trying to find shelter from the storm.
Another flash and she moved away and sat back with her fellow maids. some were trying to keep the more fearful ones calm while others were aiding the guards with their wounded friend. It was too much for, she sprawled out onto the floor and started sobbing. Soon, laying next to her was her friend Clean Breeze trying to comfort her.
"It's alright, Let it out. We're going to be OK." she said softy. She held her friend tight with her hoofs as the rain pounded outside. She looked about the room, starting to doubt herself. With all that's going on, she could't even lie to herself. Spit shine let out another low whimper as she leaned on her friend for support. Clear breeze lowered her head onto her friend's and closed her eyes and prayed that things would get better.
Another blast of thunder and lighting cascaded through the sky and lit up the night. The clouds swirled about in a mad mixture of thunder and rain. It looked as if the very elements were about to rip open and tear apart Equestria. Something had changed in the world she once knew, and something told Clean Breeze that it was about to get much worse....
Much worse...
