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Kaylee sat forward in the command chair at the center of the Bastet's bridge, gazing out at the beams and pylons of Evora shipyard surrounding the massive vessel. Most Order officers wound up with a gunboat or transport for their first command... for some odd reason she had yet to figure out, High Command had chosen her as the new CO for the Bastet, one of the largest ships in The Order fleet.

Sub-Commander Bourne, her XO, entered the bridge and took a seat in the XO's chair to Kaylee's left. He turned to her with a smile, "Ship's all ready to go, Commander."

Kaylee sighed with a nervous smile, she didnt think she was ready for the burden of command, but she was going to do her best. She turned to face forward again and directed her attention to the the control officer, Lieutenant Mercer, "Let Evora know we're ready to depart."

Mercer nodded and opened a commlink to Evora docking control, "Evora Control, this is the Bastet, we're ready to depart and awaiting clearance to leave port."

After a few seconds listening to the response from his earpiece, Mercer nodded at Kaylee. She turned to the helmsman, "Alright helm, take us out."

The massive carrier slowly inched forward as the graviton beams holding the Carrier in place deactivated. The beams and pylons of the dock slid out of view and were replaced by the purple gas giant that Evora orbited. Kaylee had seen plenty of space before, as an officer-in-training aboard the Tefnut... but it was an entirely different perspective as the person in charge.

As the Bastet broke free of the planet's orbit, Bourne shut off his console and stood, "Commander, our orders are stored in the briefing room terminal."

Kaylee nodded, "Set course for Omicron Minor, Mercer has the bridge." She followed Bourne out of the bridge and to the briefing room just aft. The Sub-Commander keyed his password into the briefing terminal, and Kaylee followed suit. Since the recent rebellion of numerous Order officers and pilots, and the increasing frequency of security breaches, all information about a ship's orders were kept secured. Only the Commanding Officer and XO of a ship knew what their ship's purpose was, and it took both of them to unlock briefing files.

A holo-image appeared above the terminal, showing the face of one of the Order's Admirals and a small starchart. The image spoke, "Commander Staite and Sub-Commander Bourne, the Carrier Bastet has been tasked with patrolling Omicron Delta, Omicron Kappa, and Omicron Gamma. Your primary task is to seek out and destroy any signs of nomad activity or infestation, with a secondary task of supplying and repairing Order and allied fighter patrols. Further instructions will be transmitted when deemed necessary."


The image shut off and the holo-file was deleted permanently from the briefing terminal, to ensure that it could not be accessed by anyone else. Bourne sighed, "Well, I suppose it's a good shakedown for the ship and crew, I was expecting something more specific though."

Kaylee laughed a bit, "I'm actually relieved we just have a simple patrol mission, I dont think I could take spec-ops on my first day in command."

She followed him back to the bridge and took her seat in the Command chair once more. "Helm, divert course to Omicron Delta."

"We ran combat drills in Minor last night after returning from a two week patrol through Delta and Kappa. I've never had fighter experience before, but the Sub-Commander convinced me to try my hand at it, and I took to space in one of the two Bastet-Class prototype fighters reserved for the command crew."

"I have to admit, I had fun, I've flown freighters and small transports before around Toledo's surface and even up to the Isis, but this was my first time behind the controls of a one-person combat craft. The inertia, the speed, the impossible agility... it was like a nonstop adrenaline rush."

"We did some practice bouts to keep the fighter pilots in shape, and they gave me a crash course on fighter tactics. Turns out I'm a quick learner, by the end of the day I could keep up with them in races through the asteroid fields and mock battles. I'm still no ace, but I got the hang of it down I think."

"On our way back to the Carrier, we ran into a patrol of Bounty Hunters flying a mix of Mantas and Hammerheads. They outnumbered our one wing of fighters, but after a heated fight we came out on top with only minor damage, no casualties, and no enemy survivors. I dont really like the idea of killing other humans, I thought I was out here to stop aliens, but they did attack us first..."

"Several days ago we received a secure transmission directly from Fleet Admiral Seith, with orders to move the Bastet to Omega 49. Apparently the Zoners have been having issues with Bretonian Privateering groups invading their space and attacking their ships. Until further notice, we're running patrols around Omega 49 with orders to respond to any zoner distress calls in the system."

"Rumors from the locals have indicated the possibility of Nomad structures in the surrounding systems. I may send fighter squadrons out to investigate... we know about the Nomad 'city' in Newcastle, but if there are others out here they need to be documented."

"The Bastet has spent the past several weeks in drydock at Evora Shipyard undergoing refit. Several of the older turrets have been swapped out for new models, the reactor core was overhauled, and the standard-issue "captain's yacht" - normally an armored freighter - has been replaced with a modified Hathor-Class Gunboat, dubbed the Bubastis. The Bubastis will prove useful for excursions deeper into House space, where taking the Bastet herself would attract too much attention, but squadrons of fighters would otherwise prove ineffective."

"I must say, I like the new ship, it's comfortable despite it's small size, and packs quite a punch from what was seen in our test operations. She's also equipped with some newer stealth systems that should keep us off the radar when operating in house space. While the Bastet was finishing up it's term in drydock, I took the Bubastis out for patrols around Omicron Minor and Omicron 100."

"Now that the Bastet is ready for operational status again, we're holding on patrols in Minor and 100 until further orders are received from High Command. Minor has seen a lot of intruders lately, hopefully we can remedy that."

"Unfortunately, field tests proved the replacement of the Captain's Yacht with the Bubastis to be ineffective. The extra mass added by a full sized gunboat to the Bastet when it was moored caused severe loss of manuverability and combat effectiveness, so the test has been scrapped."

"The Bubastis was detached from the Bastet and refurbished into a self-sufficient Gunship role, and transferred to the command of Captain Osmadiel Och. I filed all the documentation for the transfer with High Command and met Captain Och and his crew before they took the ship out on it's maiden voyage... after renaming it the Anakhmet."

"They seemed thrilled at finally having a ship to comand... apparently Evora's facilities havent been running as frantically as they used to, with supplies being lost due to trade interference. A lot of crews and officers are sitting by on space stations flying simulators instead of starships, and it's a sad realization that we have more personnel than we do ships to put them on, it used to be the exact opposite."

"Meanwhile, the Bastet has been ordered to Mora station, where we'll move into Omicron 92 and send patrols out into Tohoku to monitor Tekagi's Arch. High command says there's been some unusual readings coming from the arch recently, and it's possible the Nomads have reclaimed it as a new base of operations within Kusari...

"The Bastet has arrived in Tohoku and has taken up position at range from Tekagi's Arch, and we're running silent. Passive sensors are running smooth, and we're monitoring all signals from the Arch and nearby space. According to the Order database, the Arch definitely has increased emission readings from the last time we had ships scanning it months ago, and I believe that can only mean one thing... the nomads have taken up presence on the arch again."

"So far, no ships have been spotted entering or exiting the arch, but our patrols in the system have come under attack by nomad fighters several times. Their presence in the system is light, but seems to be increasing rapidly. I'm sending a report back to High Command on these readings, but until then we're maintaining position in Tohoku."

"For documentation, one of our fighter squadrons decided to test out the new image capture devices they had installed during our last refit, and brought back this image of our ship monitoring the arch..."

"We're maintaining patrols throughout Tohoku, and testing new sensor equipment on the Arch in an attempt to investigate what's going on inside. Several wilde chimaeras came across our position today as we moved closer to the arch to perform active scans... luckily our Khepesh ECCM equipment prevented them from sending any signals - radio or telepathic - back to the arch for reinforcements, and the Bastet's fighter squadrons were able to quickly deal with the attackers. I'm going to suggest further research into the Khepesh device, as it seems to have a disrupting effect on Nomad telepathy, and may prove useful in future engagements."

"What follows are three images captured during our patrol today, one showing us passing by the arch taken from Delta-4's fighter cam, and the other two from sensor readings on the bridge of the Bastet, indicating heightened electronics emissions from the Arch's exposed structure."

"We were temporarily pulled from monitoring Tohoku in order to support several recon teams with the exploration of Omicron Iota. Thus far, we've been unable to get any solid details on the system due to heavy nomad presence, but five recon squadrons were sent into the system equipped with experimental stealth systems to investigate Nomad structures there. The IL-Salvation and Megiddo were also accompanying the Bastet for this operation."

"These recon groups were able to transmit back several images to the Bastet. Unfortunately, only one pilot of the fifteen sent into the system returned alive, and his ship was falling apart. He's currently in the infirmary, but upon docking with the Bastet he informed us of two Nomad Battleships moving towards Omicron Delta."

"The IL-Salvation made it's way to Freeport 11 to organize a defense, while the Megiddo and Bastet remained behind at the Omicron Iota Jumphole and prepared for the fight. Soon enough, both Nomad Battleships, identified as the Mammetum and Nox entered Delta. The Nox moved towards Freeport 11, while the Mammetum began it's assault against Battleship Megiddo. The Osiris suffered heavy damage and will have to undergo repair at Evora, but between it and the Bastet, we were able to deal heavy damage to the Nomad craft, and force it back into Iota."

"Soon after, the Nox returned to Iota as well, being pursued by several Order craft who had nearly crippled the massive creature. We were victorious this day, but not without significant losses. Fortunately we now have some sensor images of Iota, and with further improvements to stealth technology we may soon be able to gather more intel on the enemy stronghold."

"Uploading scanner files now..."


"Here are the sensor readings of the two Nomad Battleships, and an image from the fight against the Mammetum...:

"While on patrol with Gene Reynolds and Ishmael Leyva today, we were tasked with routing out a BHG force that scanner platforms picked up moving through Omicron Minor. At the first designated waypoint, several squadrons of BHG fighters were encountered, and quickly dispatched by our defense turrets and fighter escorts. At the second waypoint, we were ambushed by five bounty hunter destroyers. In it's first true live combat test, the Bastet performed admirably, scattering the core's ships across Minor with relative ease. After the first five were dispatched, five more quickly appeared on scanners, and met the same fate."

"It was an uneventful day outside of that encounter, but it's good to know my ship can handle itself well in situations like that. My tactical officer was particularly excited about being able to go wild with the mortars today..."