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-{Rerouting Juneau Shipyard Construction Manifest}-
[File: 'LSC-772' found | Extracting]

Details:
Name: L.N.S. Utah
Class: "Longbow"-class Liberty Siege Cruiser (Retrofitted "Archer")
Combat Role: Multiple - Support/Escort/Cyber-Warfare | Technological Test-bed
Identification Number: N/A (ESRD Classification: 17B)
Designation: LSC-772

Date-of-Completion: May 22nd, 817 A.S. (Under Debate)
Construction Location: Juneau Shipyard, Alaska (Under Debate)


Loadout and Equipment:

Offensive:
1x LSGM-1g "Star Javelin" Liberty Cruiser Forward Gun (Experimental)
2x C-25 "Cerberus" Cruiser Heavy Plasma Cannon
3x LCT-1d "Havok" Liberty Cruiser Primary Turret
2x EMP-4a "Enervator" Cruiser Pulse Cannon
1x CD98Rc "Grappler" Reinforced Heavy Cruise Disruptor

Defensive:
1x TZZ-9d "Defender" Cruiser Graviton Shield
1x EM-3 "Sentinel" Countermeasure Dropper
1x Heavy Titanium/Iridium Capital Armor Reinforcement Mk IV

Additional Equipment:
CLASSIFIED

Key Crew and Personnel:
CO: Commander Alexander Kingston (Operative Sentinel)
XO: Marshal Tomas Lindhurst (Operative Valkyrie)
Comm Officer: Lieutenant Cherise Folksbrunn
Chief Engineer: Sergeant Riley Ortega

Background and Further Notes:

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Not much is known about the Utah outside the ESRD, aside from its glaring classifications and equipment. Other than that, the vessel itself is mainly a missing fingerprint in the Navy's Capital Ship database. What is known about the Utah is that her hull was originally that of a cruiser long before her time. The name of the ship, even when it was heavily debated, was eyed to be a reference to the old L.N.S. Utah, captained by the famous Marcus Walker, who sacrificed the older ancestor during the Order's incursion into Alaska.

The hull of the ship was originally that of the other vessel in Walker's battlegroup, the L.N.S. Phoenix. Her hull was scavenged, and later repaired into a functioning state, serving as a test bed for many experimental technologies designed to be incorporated into the Navy's new "Archer"-class cruisers. These 'experimental' techs were mainly nothing more than common bits of equipment super-charged to work at over twice to normal capacity. Up until 823 A.S., the Utah had never seen combat in any form, and thus many of the armor modifications were primarily tested using Liberty based weapons, as apposed to ones from the other houses.

With the current situation facing Liberty, and the Utah's reputation as a form of 'combat guinea pig', the decision was made to bulk up the ship's array of defenses, but the process is slow moving. Under the current command the Navy's ESRD section, she's mainly been fitted to work in a more conventional role alongside the dreadnought Salem, providing cyber-warfare suites to make up for the dreadnought's lack and immunity, as well as added capital support in the form of heavy weapons and the ship's expanded gauge 'Star Javelin' grade forward gun.

To personnel outside the ESRD, she's just another run-of-the-mill Siege Cruiser with a few bulked up parts. To those on the inside, she's a new breed of warship, and one that will be put into heat against any foe that strikes at the Liberty homeland.

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[DATE]: August 6th, 823 A.S. - 1732 Hours ]
[LOCATION]: L.N.S. Utah - Bridge


Sentinel walked into the bridge of the Utah, the four people there and the Exec keeping watch over the installation at Juneau. They were on a picket duty, the ship being an early warning port for any activity in the system that happened to come within the vicinity of Juneau's docks.

"Status report," He said to the Exec.

The Exec turned around, hands behind his back, his black suit and exoskeleton clearly marking him as one of the other people aboard. As apposed to the rest of the crew, he was one of the ones who had more than just an agenda of watching the station.

"All's clear, Commander. No contacts reported, and we're getting scattered LSF comm chatter. No more than usual."

"Good," Sentinel said. "How long until the transport arrives?"

He looks out the front of the ship towards Juneau, the nebula around the ship obscuring it from full view. The sensors on board the Utah, however, pulled her into visual through radar.

"It shouldn't be too long, Commander. Half hour, tops. We've got Fifth fleet and Primary units ready to assist."

Sentinel approached the chair in the center of the bridge, leaning against the back of it, looking out the front of the ship. He seemed more relaxed than usual, and it helped him to deal with what drama might unfold in the hour and a half to come.

"Let's make sure everyone's ready, Marshal. I'd rather have everyone prepped in case this whole thing goes south."

A crewmate in a standard officer's uniform proceeds up one of the flights of stairs to the main deck, a small folder in his hand. The emblem on his arm would indicate that his rank was that of a Lieutenant Commander. He turned to Sentinel and saluted.

Sentinel return the salute, putting the man at ease. "Report."

"Crew is standing by for operation. We're all set and ready in the event of failure."

"There won't be any failure, L.C.. Now, get back down and keep me posted. Radio if you have to. Prep the escape pods, but don't get your hopes up of using them. I'm not losing Knight to these malevolent pricks."

The L.C. gave him another quick salute, before shouting "Sir!" He left the bridge the same way he came up.

The Exec turns to Sentinel, a curious look on his face. He wasn't sure if Sentinel was blind, or very confidant in the plan of this operation.

"You seem confident that this will go off without a hitch. Why?"

"I don't make a living on losing hope, Marshal. The day we stop believing we can win is the day we stop winning."

He stands back up straight, letting his hands fit into his pockets.

"And I'm not about to stop."

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[DATE]: August 7th, 823 A.S. - 0430 Hours ]
[LOCATION]: L.N.S. Utah - Engineering

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The operation went south, unlike Sentinel had suspected. Most of the Utah was a wreck. Holes in the hull. The armor blasted in places that were almost vital to the ship's defense. Even the ship's main 'Star Javelin' was offline, the line from the ship's primary power bank severed in an explosion of Deck 2. The only areas of the ship that didn't seem damaged was the bridge and parts of engineering.

Valkyrie enters engineering via a stairwell, proceeding in and taking a look around. The whole place was a mess, including the parts that were left mostly undamaged. The whole place was lit red with the lights of the emergency systems, and the whole ship itself was running at half capacity. She took a hell of a beating in Minnesota, and what crew there was aboard seemed to be either working themselves trying to fix immediate problems, or sitting down, exhausted or injured from the fight.

One of the engineers rushed by, Valkyrie watching as he ran off towards the aft end of the ship. He turned back towards the fore and walked down the corridor, inspecting the condition of the area and the crew. As he passed by the crew who were sitting, they looked up at him, half with a hopeful glance, the other half with remorse. After passing several of them, one nervously stood up in Valkyrie's way. He didn't look to be any older than his early twenties, and he was clearly shaken up.

"S-sir.." He asked, stumbling slightly over his own words.

"Go ahead... Lieutenant.." Valkyrie had to find some indication as to who this kid was. He saw the rank emblem on their lapel, and could identify at least what his was.

"When are w-we going to be.. h-home..?" There was a sense of fear in his words, as if he almost didn't believe they'd make it back to port in one piece. The ship, after all, was nothing more than a large wreck with engines at this point, torn apart by the fight in Minnesota.

"We'll be back in Virginia soon enough, son.. just keep your head on. We'll be alright."

The Lieutenant smiled slightly, somewhat relieved by his words. He gave a quick, if shaky, salute to Valkyrie, who happily gave one back. They then sat back down, allowing Valkyrie to keep walking.

He entered a rather decently sized room, home to the reactor and what pertinent personnel were manning the room. Like the bridge and other parts of engineering, this section had seen very little in the way of damage, but that didn't mean there weren't casualties littering the room. Some of the sides of the room were lined with a body bag or two. There weren't exactly many casualties when the ship only fielded 43 people within her hull.

Still, they were down four or five people, and that struck a blow to the ship's productivity as well as its morale.

One of the men in the room looks towards Valkyrie as he enters, holding a notepad in one hand and a pen in the other.

"Marshal."

Valkyrie wasted no time responding and approaching the man. "Ortega. How's she looking?"

Ortega looked around, as if watching the ship for anything unusual, then turning back to Valkyrie.

"She's looking pretty beat up, Marshal. While I can guarantee that we'll make it back to Washington, I can't say we won't have an easy time getting her back to 100%."

He motioned over towards the large glowing wall on the far fore end of the room. The glass separating the glow from them didn't appear to be cracked in any way, but the glow did seem a bit off.

"This experimental drive core may seem like a blessing at times. Boosted reaction to drive core problems. Dampened shock from system jump. I won't argue, it's damn useful. Not to mention pleasurable to look at.."

"Spit it out, Sergeant. What's wrong with it?"

Ortega spat him an almost menacing look, clearly not entertained. "The drive is laid out to run either at peek efficiency or forty-two percent, so as to either maximize efficiency or keep the whole ship operational."

He took a deep breath, and looked at his notepad. "Our reports indicate that the power fluctuations, in addition to the power not being supplied to the Javelin are causing the ship to.. overcharge itself.."

Valkyrie look at him curiously, with a sense of brief concern. "What do you mean 'overcharge itself'?"

"The power designated to supply the Star Javelin isn't reaching the gun, and is being redirected back here. The banks can't take the overload, and our efficiency and draw rates are going erratic."

"We'll still make it back to port though.." Valkyrie seemed a little more concerned with what mechanical bits he could understand.

"We will, but the Utah will need heavy work done. Her armor is blasted to shreds, and the cannon is non-operational. We'll also need new feet to fill in the boots we've lost.. and we might need to install a secondary power sink for the A.I.."

"Then I'll leave you to overlook the repairs once we arrive.." The whole ships shook momentarily, and the glow behind the glass flickered from a blue to a cyan, then back to a blue. ".. which it seems we have.."

"Understood. I'll do what I can, but it will take time, which I know is a luxury we can't really afford to waste now."

Valkyrie nodded and proceeded back out the door, making his way back to the bridge. Through the holes in the hull where force fields were holding space back he would see the distinctive surrounding starscape of Virginia.

"Nach Hause, mit Verlust."

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