The ship remained in Kansas after the comminucation with the Natio Octavarium failed. Their morale was dropping after witnessing no changes in their situation. Moving to Bretonia was out of the question since it was a battlefield between 3 Houses. Staying in Liberty space is dangerous with so many enemies lurking but that was the only thing they could do at the moment.
Suddenly, the alarm sounded for the approaching ships. They were a force consisted of several fighters and few gunboats. The ship quickly prepared for battle but the approaching ships did not make a move still. The bridge was in confusion as what to do, run or fight since they could be waiting for reinforcements untill a transmission coming from an Inquisitor-class gunboat went through. "-Stand down we're not here to fight. We've come to take you back home. The quarrel between the Lord Commander and Kinnaird is over." At first they thought it was a lie but after intense discussion between the commanding officers onboard Polyphemus it was decided to accept their words and return to Vespucci.
The Polyphemus was moved to Fort Leniex's shipyard for repairs and the Lord Commander hailed the ship's crew for it's outstanding ability to follow his orders despite the events unfolding in Vespucci and hold their own against all odds. Kinnaird had left Vespucci and the Legion to an unknon destination taking the Abaddon with him. Repairs on the damaged Minotaur and Manticore were already underway so the shipyards were working full time. Luckily the damages were not severe and they would be operational back in time.
Lord Commander had announced that in order to restore Vespucci back to what it was, all battleships and cruisers were to remain in Vespucci and route the resources on expanding it's transport fleet and exploitation of nearby systems' raw resources.
Daniel sat in the commander bridge of Last Sunrise. He was worried that with the ill repair of most of their capital ships, that the Legion would be forced to stop most of its operations.
"Markus" he said to the evidently sleep-less Lord Commander. Markus replied with a weak "hmmm?"
"We cannot continue to delve in this state. We have to start launching operations again. The Royal Navy is at our doorstep, and soon enough a chance to overthrow this corrupt government and its even more corrupt navy. We have to make a move, and with that order of yours to keep all capitals at bay? We can't launch even one serious operation against our enemies!"
Markus got up from his chair with angry look on his face "And what would you have me do?! Polyphemus is grounded. Our neighbors in Texas brought it in a state that it can fly, barely. The armor is dented and the core is working at 10% efficiency. And I won't even open up on Manticore and Minotaur after the hell you've rained on them. Incursus was nearly destroyed. What? Would you have me send Ravager away, so we would remain defenseless?"
Daniel backed off a bit. He didn't realize that Markus was in such deep frustration "Hey, Markus, you know I am no foolish excited recruit that would go in such a due haste. But there is an option to release a vessel that is both heavy enough to act on its own against our enemies, but yet small enough to fly around undetected, given with the right escort..." Daniel looked around in the bridge of Last Sunrise and smiled. Markus looked at him with his eyes wide-open "No! No way. No No No. Seriously Daniel, No. It's a stupid reckless move. No. Daniel don't you even think about it!"
"Ravager, this is Fleet Captain Daniel Rou commanding HFBC-Last.Sunrise, we are escorted by Major Christopher Miles onboard the HFGBx-Undaunted, are we cleared for launch?"
"Fleet Captain Rou, this is Fleet Commander Broils, you are cleared for launch. Godspeed."
"Daniel, I must ask" Sam hailed him over the Last Sunrise's internal communications "why pick Undaunted? I mean, wouldn't it be better to take one of our own Gunboats instead, this vessel is yet still quite... ancient"
"You are right Samantha, I doubt Undaunted is really on par with our own made Gunboats, however you missed a critical point. The whole formation is flying Navy vessels"
"Wait... have you..." He cut her mid-speech "Mhm, you are right, we are going to impose like a Liberty Navy patrol for as long as we can and then strike out. Mostly a moral booster and to remind the citizens of Liberty that hope is not lost yet" and with that, the small formation had made its launch out of Vespucci.
Captain Log: #209 Access Code: ****8793ROU Location: Texas System
Daniel was sitting in his quarters. He was looking obviously anxious and quite stressed "This is Fleet Captain Daniel Rou. I haven't heard from Lord Comander Brass for 3 days now, when our last communique should have taken place 60 hours ago. At approximately 2 hours ago I was hailed over secure channels to return at due haste to Fort Leniex. Something is going on and I don't like it. If that rat, Kinnard, managed to find his way back in... he shakes his head abruptly in disbelief "I cannot go back now, no. Something is brewing and whether Kinnard is behind it, or someone else I have to find an alternate way around. I might need to find a safe harbor somewhere before lashing out. He stood up and looked through the window looked back at the camera and then turned it off
Markus was busy t his office on Leniex, mostly with resource requisitions. A call however, disrupted his work. "[color=#32CD32]-Sir, the person you requested is here." Markus relaxed at his seat and sighed lightly "-Send him in." A man in his jumpsuit entered the office and saluted the Admiral.
Markus stood up from his chair and walked towards the windows. There wasn't much of a view due to the nebula the fort was built in but he liked it. "-Got anything for me?"
The mechanic panicked for a moment as Markus suddenly broke the silence. "Y-yes sir. The inspection on Polyphemus showed that the damages aren't as severe as they look, we can repair it if we get the necessary materials in a few days time." Markus grumbled "-What about the reactor?" Markus turned his head towards the mechanic. "The reactor's suffered a good deal, not something that can't be fixed... if we get the necessary materials."
Markus cracked a smile with the report. "-Very well then, Leave the list on my desk and report back to your superior." The mechanic saluted and left the office.
"Let's see.. This requisition form is not a difficult task for the logistics division to handle."
"-Lord Commander, you requested to see me?" The fleet captain paused. "-Sit down Marcos." Marcos took a seat on the opposite side of the Lord Commander's desk. "-Engel Marcos, a distinguished lieutenant with a service history since Lord Commander Cristina Hunter and then promoted to the rank of fleet captain during mine. Pretty good... I wanted to meet personally so I can hear your opinion on the Legion's current state." Engel bowed his head momentarily as he was thinking. "-With all due respect Lord Commander, your decision on calling back the heavy guns from Warhammer was not necessary, our technicians and logistics could have handled restoring the minimal damages Vespucci suffered after the little rebellion and keeping our capitals in flight..." Engel paused once he lost control of his speech. Markus was not disappointed in the fleet captain's behavior, for he was looking for bright minds in the middle ranks of the Legion. "-I like you captain. You were correct in everything you said, however that would apply only if we were up against Liberty alone. Look at Bretonia. Look at Magellan. Look at Cortez. It is not only Liberty, a bigger threat that threatens to destroy both us and Liberty completely, Gallia. Diplomacy with them is impossible because they seek to destroy Liberty and we don't want a destroyed or enslaved Liberty by Gallia. We want a Liberty ridden of it's hidden corruption amongst it's goverment and military. The decision to call back the heavy artillery from Liberty was to prevent Gallia from further invading, we've already dealt with a couple of their skirmishes both in Magellan and Cortez." Markus paused and refilled his glass with the fine whisky from his Molly friend. "-I called you here to inform that you are being withdrawn from the field and will be stationed on Fort Leniex. That is all, dismissed." Engel was secretly frustrated by his new post, his reason to join the Legion was to fight for a worthy cause, not to stay in a fortress for the days to pass! But he kept it for himself and left the Lord Commander. Markus looked at his glass and noticed it was empty and few seconds afterwards everything was black. He had passed out on his desk from exhaustion.
The time for Daniel's daily report on Polyphemus's state was nearly there. Once Daniel set a foot in the Lord Commander's office he saw his sleeping on his desk, leaving a loud snore. Daniel approached him and tried to carry him to his quarters. Upon laying a hand on Markus, he woke him up accidentally and backed off. "-Markus, are you awake now? I came to give you my daily report on Polyphemus and I find you passed out. Go to your quarters man and get some rest." Markus nodded weakly while rubbing his eye. "-Yeah, thanks for waking me up Daniel. If I had slept here I would have a hell of a rest, old age is starting to get to me you see.. Anyway, leave the report on my desk and... You know the rest. Don't let my work pile up while I'm resting!" Markus got up slowly and left for his quarters Daniel remained there on the Lord Commander's stead to deal with minor reports and requisition forms.
After a long sleep the Lord Commander, finally rested, went to his office. The first thing he saw was a pile of documents that needed his attention and a special document left by Daniel, the Polyphemus report. Markus opened the status report first of all to see how his flagship was proceeding. "-Mhm.." He moaned to himself and dropped the report on his desk and activated his comms to the Polyphemus bay. The chief-engineer responded to the Lord Commander's call "-Chief-Engineer James Wi-" He was disrupted by the Lord Commander "-What you have requested is already authorised and is on it's way to you. Resume work on Polyphemus, I want it flying this month." Markus's words were an alarm to the engineer, he responded affirmitive and spread out the orders to his crew. Polyphemus was going to leave Leniex's dock once again.
Markus was returning to Fort Leniex on the Incursus, the "lost" flagship of the Legion along with Cristina Hunter, one of the previous Executive Commanders. The flagship moored with the drydock, allowing the maintainance crew to setup a temporary hallway towards one of the ship's airlocks and begin with the ship's inspection. The ship's crew were taken to the infirmary to receive a medical check-up and verify their identities due to their longterm absense. The Lord Commander moved to his ofice after finishing Incursus's retrieval.
On the way to his office, he was joined by Daniel Rou who seemed to be holding documents. "More paperwork Daniel? What is it this time? Can't someone else from the Command handle it? Give me a break, I just got back." Daniel was not surprised by his attitude and kept the documents to himself untill they reached his office and throwed the documents on the desk. "Take a look Markus, this is something that you have to see." Markus rose an eyebrow "What is it then?" He picked up the documents and read the title *HFB-Polyphemus Report*, he paused for a bit and looked at Daniel then resumed reading it.
"The Arbiter-class battleship Polyphemus, retrofitted and improved to serve as a battlecarrier, has had the final maintenance runs and inspections today. Hull integridy, power core, electronic systems, armor plating, hangars, propulsion, weapon systems all are at 100%. After the last engineer meeting, the ship's restoration was decided to be complete and received approval for flight at full capacity."
After he had finished reading the report, he stood up and banged the desk with his hands, remaining in a half-bend position looking at Daniel. "Daniel, I suppose you've read this aswell, if not, I'll tell you this. Gather the necessary crew for the Polyphemus, it is finally out of the drydock." Daniel upon hearing the Lord Commander's orders hurried to refill the ship's roster. Several of the previous crew were available to be reinstated to the Polyphemus but some of them had to be replaced.
The next day, some documents were delivered to the Lord Commander's office, the ship's new roster and a supply requisition. He read several familiar names on officer positions, among them Daniel and Samantha, the command of the ship remained to its previous commander, Markus Brass. He validated the documents and send them off to their respected areas.