Captain - John Allen
Executive Officer - George Arthur
Crew - 38
Built in Southampton shipyard
Designated for commerce protection and tactical military duty.
[color=#FF0000]*** The Story ***
Captain John Allen stared out of the view port as he watched Southampton Shipyard below him he let his mind wander and started contemplating how he got here, it had been a bad month probably the worst month he had ever lived through.
In one month he had lost his ship many of his friends and crew and then he had been through many hearings although they were not as bad as he feared they would be but they were bad enough and not something he ever wanted to repeat.
As he glanced around he couldn't help reflecting on the fact his cabin now effectively his home was smaller and had less luxuries than he was used to, it would be a hard living for a while at least yes he had been in similar conditions before but thought that was long past him at this point in his career, he had effectively lost five years of his command perks.
He was quite a reckless man for a Captain he knew it and the Admirals knew it but they also realised he was a natural leader who could get results so they tolerated and respected him and he did have some of the finest scores in the academy to help back up their assessment, now that was probably one of the only reasons he wasn't now sitting in a prison cell facing court martial.
Back when he was a fresh recruit he had achieved his ranks in record time he did have a talent and his family connections never did him any harm either, it was always useful to have an Admiral in the family let alone two. It wasn't long before his command potential was evaluated during his first few fleet and tactical war game simulations and his superiors began to take notice of his unorthodox strategy's.
Obviously he had a talent and rank was really only matter of semantics, within four years he had his first command of a small ageing warship it wasn't much but it let him show his ability, but all this was ten years and three ships ago now and he had made some vital costly mistakes recently he had lost his first ship under enemy fire and not to decommissioning it was a bitter pill to swallow and he hated it.
He sighed to himself and reached across for a cheap bottle of Bretonian whisky that he had arranged to have smuggled on-board and began to pour, it wasn't a good year and the taste was rough even to his palette but it was cheap and effective and that's how he liked it.
Yes he was drinking a lot recently it numbed the pain and there had been a handful of bar room incidents in the last few weeks it wasn't really like him, he was a changed man now and he felt guilt and the self destruction that came with it.
Strangely it was only a month before he was commanding one of the Queens finest cruisers the mighty HMS Belfast, he grimaced remembering the painful incident that has haunted him since and cost him his ship and many of his friends.
It was a routine Patrol into the Tau 31 system and the war was going strong Kusari had taken the whole eastern side of the system and the fighting in those sectors was always intense and continued around the clock.
Despite the rumours that the war was going badly he was completely confident Bretonia would turn the odds any day now How could we fail Bretonia just doesn't lose wars he thought.
Captain Allens orders were easy enough just a simple resupply mission to the Battleship Macduff he shouldn't run into any serious issues on that side of the system and support would be close at hand if he did.
His train of thought was interrupted by more pressing matters.
Captain we have a Train heading from Kusari space on scanner it appears to be changing course to avoid us Executive Officer George Arthur relayed dutifully.
Put me on Ship to Ship Coms and prepare Cruise Disrupter's was the responding order and the Com system crackled to life.
Attention Trading vessel
Heave to immediately and prepare for inspection
No response was forthcoming and the Train headed straight into the cold asteroid field it was mostly ice and apart from the occasional minefield was safe enough for most vessels with standard shield generators.
Fire Cruise Disrupter's he ordered
Cruise Disrupter's away sir vessel has dropped countermeasures and went to Cruise came the response.
Convinced a train was no threat to a mighty Bretonian Cruiser and feeling angry towards the trains captain he gave chase straight into the field.
He was at the disadvantage in manoeuvring due to the Cruisers size but was confident his flight officers superior piloting would bring the vessel to a Halt within minutes. Then that train would have one sorry pilot.
Thinking back he wished he had never chased that pilot now, he was back to commanding a Gunboat it was a new model and built for him especially with the best armour and equipment the Queens military could equip but it was still a massive step down in his eyes. It was a cumbersome ship only slightly more agile than the cruiser he had lost but it was very well armed and with proper tactics he knew he could do a lot if damage with it and it did have the tactical advantage of a rather powerful main gun.
His Crew now numbered a shockingly small thirty eight the majority of them survivors from his previous command, all of them were professional and some of the finest men he had ever known but like him they felt the let down of the smaller ship he could see it in the way they carried themselves.
Morale was low and he wasn't actually sure what to do about it as he felt it himself.
He took another swig of Bretonian Whisky and remembered back again to what had went so horribly wrong.
Cruise Disrupter's successful Captain but now he seems to be heading for that large Asteroid under normal engine power his executive Officer George Arthur informed him.
Very well Bring us right beside him Captain Allen responded after a brief puzzled pause.
No sooner had they reached the train when the scanners went haywire and numerous bridge crew began to shout their reports.
Captain incoming contacts it's a trap
Captain we have five hostile contacts they were behind the asteroid Identifications coming in
Three Kusari Bombers and Two Gunboats The helm officer confirmed.
This was a bad situation and he knew it, he had the bigger stronger ship but he was completely out gunned he had flown his ship recklessly into a trap.
Kusari Bombers were known to be some of the most agile dangerous craft in all of Sirius, it was told they were even better than Bretonias own challenger class bombers and the Gunboats themselves had him out gunned even without the Bombers.
The Captain went white but knew he had to keep his composure appearances were vital on deck he had to avoid panicking the crew and try to get them out of this mess also knew he couldn't outrun the smaller Kusari ships for they would easily keep up in this dense asteroid field.
He began barking out his orders as confidently as he could manage.
Bring us to Red Alert
Give me Evasive Manoeuvres and bring all Turrets on-line
Coms get me some backup here we need reinforcements
Weapons target and fire at will
The first Bomber targeted went up in a very satisfying explosion as the light mortar hit it centre the other two though were much better piloted and were using the asteroids to their advantage he would not be able to do that again.
He knew that in open space he would have had a much better chance when they had nothing to dodge behind but it was to late for that now.
As possible tactics surged through his head and were dismissed as impossible in the current situation he decided it would be better to concentrate on the Gunboats, he thought seeing a larger vessel explode might force a retreat from them or at the very least inspire panic and hopefully mistakes.
All turrets target the nearest Gunboat and show them what Bretonia is made of He ordered
His order was followed, within seconds the Gunboat was trying in vain to escape his fire power but never made it.
Two ships down now three still out there though he thought, he was still in trouble he needed his reinforcements and soon.
Before he could make his next tactical order the entire command deck shook and just for a moment every instrument in there went dead, he could hear smaller explosions around the ship and knew something had hit them and hit them hard.
Find out what that was and what damage was done came his command.
Captain John Allen was seriously unnerved now he'd seen instruments blow out before but he had never felt a shake like that before he was ok but realising a lot of his crew might not be.
Bring cruise engines on-line and plot a course to Macduff became his last order.
The instruments went down again as the Second Supernova hit then silence.
*** Present Day ***
That had been the end of the Cruiser HMS Belfast, one of the best in the Bretonian Armed Forces now scrapped for metal. The interrogations he faced back at command had been fierce but his surviving crew stood by him.
Only his com calls to the Battleship Macduff for reinforcements had saved him and his remaining crew, the Kusari were actually firing at the escape pods before the Templar heavy fighters and Challengers arrived.
Only sixty three out of over a hundred survived he thought and grimaced again.
His guilt could not be shaken so many good men lost for nothing, the crew that did remain were now a broken bunch some may never recover completely he himself wasn't sure he would either.
Captain Allen never understood why exactly the Admirals were so lenient with him, it seemed maybe they just couldn't afford to lose their trained officers now. The war must be going worse than I imagined was the first thought that crossed his mind on being told no court martial was forthcoming.
Engineers at Southampton were already under way with building his next command and it seemed resources must have been stretched as it was to be Gunboat Class although the one thing that pleased him was he got to reclaim the name of his former Cruiser.
He looked at the ships name plaque on his cabin wall and then looked down at the glass of cheap whisky and felt a sudden disgust and poured the rest of it down the sink.
HMS Belfast was back and it would make those Kusari dogs pay for what they did.
Yes he and his ship were going to make them pay his lost crew would be avenged.
He felt a sudden surge of clarity for what must be done.
Begins Drills He ordered into the internal ship coms panel.
*** Three months later Planet New London ***
Absolutely preposterous it will never work it's suicide and frankly madness! the angry words echoed around the council chamber.
Lord Jacobson continued A lone vessel attacking Yokohama shipyard it would be swarmed and destroyed before it even breached Kusari space, and what would it achieve even if successful a weeks delay at most
Well that would depend we may have a way of hitting them without them even realising it of course it still entails some major risks and the help of some rather unorthodox allies Admiral Bernstein responded matter of factly.
The conversation continued for several minutes detailing the plan which if successful would effectively cripple all new Kusari ships targeting of Bretonia ships.
The floor once again came to the voice of Lord Jacobson
Yes Admiral that is all very well old chap but you still haven't addressed the issue of how we get one of our ships there and to be quite honest with you I still don't understand why a Lane Hacker would help us
True if it worked they may waste considerable effort and resources tracking down the problems
and I suspect that it will bother them for quite a while but who would fly such a mission
Admiral Bernstein smiled and answered I have just the ship and captain in mind and as for getting him there undetected we do have one or two tricks up our sleeve
As for the Lane Hacker's they are not helping us exactly so much as they are helping the Outcasts let's just say our goals are the same on this one shall we
*** Bridge of HMS Belfast ***
Thing's had changed substantially on HMS Belfast no longer were they a crew feeling sorry for themselves they had adjusted and already they knew the ship inside and out. In they last three months alone they had a serious effect on piracy and had won several small engagements against the usual suspects.
Receiving new orders through from High Command Captain Executive officer George Arthur declared.
Captain Allen glanced down at his computer display and keyed in his relevant decryption codes after a brief pause he saw displayed
Begin:
---Decryption successful
---Authentication Verified
---NEW ORDERS
---For the Attention of Captain John Allen
Break of all current patrols
Priority bring HMS Belfast to Planet Leeds for refit and report directly to Admiral Bernstein.
God Save The Queen
End:
Helm plot a course to Planet Leeds He ordered
*** Planet Leeds ***
It was an uneventful journey and landing, and as curious as Captain Allen was to what they were attaching to the bottom of his ship he decided that could wait until after he had reported to the Admiral.
knock knock
Ah yes do come in I've been expecting you came the commanding voice.
Do take a seat we have much to discuss and you will have many questions
John took his seat politely and looked at the Admiral in front of him then began
Reporting as ordered Admiral Sir
The Admiral interrupted
No need for formalities I'll come straight out with it, you and your crew are going into the Heart of
Kusari to let's say deliver a package.
Admiral Bernstein then reached over to his intercom Be so kind as to bring the package in would you
The door opened and Captain Allen's jaw dropped in surprise at seeing the Lane Hacker walking in escorted by three Royal Marines.
That's a Lane Hacker! he gasped out while simultaneously reaching for his pistol.
The Admiral responded quickly Yes she is isn't she, put the gun down now please, she is also vital to your mission and I expect her to get VIP treatment when she's aboard your ship.
It's a pleasure to meet you to She smiled at him completely unshaken.
You can't be serious captain a cloaking device, capital eight armour and a battleship sensor suite queried Chief engineer Malcolm Douglass
No not a cloaking device exactly It only protects us from scans for a limited time Captain Allen informed him, he then continued and don't ask me how it work's it flew right over my head, something about magnetic monopoles and fairy dust I think.
So what do we do if we actually make it to the shipyard? Malcolm continued
Well we have to get within range and let the Hacker do her thing as I understand it she has to access the main computer and make quite a number of changes to several programs and all while we and her keep undetected the Captain responded
Malcolm looked a bit concerned at this then he said Can we do it or is this a suicide mission
I don't think the mission would be authorised unless Command thought we had a good shot at it at least he replied but in his mind he knew it was a long shot.
*** Shortly thereafter on the Bridge ***
Lane Hacker Annie Maloy addressed the Captain Reporting for duty, I've updated your internal maps with the needed jump hole data for this mission it is of course encrypted and will overwrite itself if we manage to complete this endeavour
John Allen was still feeling extremely nervous having a Lane Hacker anywhere near him let alone on his Bridge but he had his orders so his response was tame and polite.
Very good is your cabin acceptable and is there anything you need to assist you
It is workable and frankly your equipment won't help at all although it is rather quaint but not to worry I came prepared came her answer.
He clenched his teeth a little how dare she insult the Queens equipment this was top of the range Bretonias best, after a second or two he cooled and addressed his Executive Officer.
Ok George plot me a course for TAU 31 and get us out of here
The newly upgraded Gunboat left Leeds Orbit.
*** TAU 31 ***
Captain you won't believe this it's the same Train as last time and he is beginning to plot the same course, He is trying to sucker us again sir
Captain John Allen felt an incredible anger this was the pilot who had cost him his Cruiser and now he was trying to do exactly the same thing to his Gunboat. Just how many Bretonian ships had fallen for this little ruse.
Technically his hands were tied he couldn't just open fire on a Trader vessel, he didn't care.
Bring our forward gun on line and Take him out He ordered
But Captain that's against a bridge officer protested
Captain Allen cut him off mid sentence Do it now that's an order
Aye Aye sir came the reply
He wished he could have seen the look on the pilots face as the Forward gun ripped his Train to shreds there were no escape pods, the pilot could never have known.
I've taken the liberty of erasing the logs the lane hacker Annie Maloy informed him.
That took him by surprise but he wasn't complaining, this incident was necessary and perhaps he had misjudged this Lane Hacker, she was proving useful after all.
She continued I've corrected your course to a jump hole to TAU 29 it will be a lot easier than trying to get to the heavily guarded jump gate
They continued on through the Asteroid Field using their Battleship Sensor suite to narrowly avoid all the Kusari patrols in the area despite one or two close calls.
They entered the Jump Hole.
*** TAU 29 ***
Red Alert all guns target that Destroyer and keep us behind it he ordered
They had jumped right in front of a Kusari Destroyer this was disastrous, what was it doing here the Belfast's shield was taking a pounding down to half strength in no time at all.
They were giving it their best but the Destroyer simply outclassed them .
Seeing no alternative to save the mission his next command came
Prepare to retreat back through the jump hole and ready the cruise drive
The com system crackled to life quite unexpectedly.
Well well what do we have here it looks like you could use a hand the unknown voice came from the speaker.
One of the Bridge crew reported shortly after
That's an Outcast IFF on that signal I'm picking it up on scanner now it's closing fast it's a rogue gunboat
Captain Allen delayed his last order and instructed the shield battery's to be used he knew there was a shady truce between Bretonia and the Outcasts and between two Gunboats that Destroyer would fall.
The battle didn't last long, this Outcast pilot knew what he was doing, between the Rogue Gunboats manoeuvrability and his fire power the Destroyer had no chance at all.
He hailed his thanks over to the Outcast vessel.
Thank you for your assistance
The Outcast responded
Just remember you owe the Teknikal one now follow me back to TAU 23 and I'll get you fixed up and as far as Kyushu after that you are on your own though
That forced a puzzled pause from Captain Allen this outcast knew exactly where he was heading but he had saved them from disaster, he decided he could trust him in the present situation.
They grouped up with the Outcast finding themselves heading through another Jump hole into the TAU 23 system and docking at a mysterious asteroid base. He was aware the Lane Hacker was encrypting their navigational sensors and deleting all logs during the journey but kept silent he needed the help right now.
*** Cali Base TAU 23 ***
Normally we wouldn't let you get within twenty klicks of this base alive but we are aware of your goal this time the Outcast representative told him then he continued on and introduced himself.
I'm Carlos Gonzales and until your ship is fully repaired and the Teknikal escorts you back out I'm all that's keeping you alive
Carlos continued on sternly but politely for an Outcast.
I'm afraid you will have to stay aboard your own ship at all times, while it is true we do have a temporary truce these things are fragile and there are a few characters on this station who would gut you as soon as look at you, that goes for everyone on board except the Lane Hacker she can arrange for any necessary supply's as it is in our interests to help you.
Captain Allen pondered over his situation he never imagined ever fighting alongside a pirate yet now he had, this mission was taking very unexpected turns already. Nevertheless his ship was only slightly scratched from the combat and Outcasts were nothing if not efficient he should be off this rock shortly.
I'm afraid your rear Missile launcher is to badly damaged for our engineers to repair we have however instead fitted you with a tamper resistant Inferno Cannon in case you run into another destroyer it should help you with it's shields
I should also warn you that any attempt to reverse engineer this particular cannon will result in molten slag and very dead engineers, We take precautions with our technology Mr Allen I'm sure you can understand our position.
The Captain took this all on board he couldn't very well refuse given his situation he thanked his host and within the hour he and his ship were launching under escort.
He recognised the Teknikal gunboat although the two Outcast Falcatta bombers made him uneasy, the com crackled to life again.
Kindly group with us and we will have you in Kyushu in no time came the now familiar yet somehow menacing voice.
They grouped up and it seemed like only minutes passed when they passed through the Kyushu jump hole and parted ways.
*** Kusari System Kyushu ***
Another asteroid field he thought to himself and turned towards the Lane Hacker on his bridge.
Is there a plan then or do we fight our way through he queried
There is a jump hole to New Tokyo in this system however it will be a very long flight there and it is in a close proximity to a Farmer Alliance base which may pose a problem
looking quite serious now she continued her assessment
I recommend we keep well away from the trade lanes and skirt the sun as close as we dare to
Very well that seems sensible and you have gotten us this far he answered
They plotted a course well away from trade lanes and arranged it so that would take them within shield tolerances of the suns radiation.
Most of the long journey was uneventful the highlight being a lone Bounty Hunter in a piranha light fighter actually demanding they handed over their Lane Hacker, He was simply ignored at first and despite his best efforts he couldn't effect the Belfast's shield. John Allen was simply amazed by the stupidity of this fellow and eventually ordered a single inferno blast to scare him off.
The Lane Hacker of course wanted to destroy him and promised to erase the logs if they did, she seemed quite grumpy when he got away.
They passed the Farmers Alliance base Kagoshima depot in cruise there didn't seem to be any activity so they had gotten lucky this time, from there it was only a brief flight to the New Tokyo jump hole.
They entered the worm hole and were gone from the system.
Deep in Kusari space the very heart of the Kusari Empire a Bretonian Gunboat suddenly popped into existence while a jump hole vanished from it.
“Scanning Immediate area Captain it looks like we are clear”
“Very good” the Captain replied looking somewhat more serious than he had earlier in the mission.
“Ok this is going to be the tricky part I want a course plotted directly to the shipyard, I'm aware we will have to cross a trade lane so we will stay combat ready but when we are sixteen klicks out we will engage the shielding device, we can't be sure how long it will stay functional so we will go about our business as fast as possible” he informed the bridge.
“Course plotted sir” came a response
“Very good engage cruise engines and take us to sixteen klicks out from the target” he responded
The Captain glanced at the Lane Hacker she simply nodded and left the bridge, her equipment was set up her quarters and she guarded it from prying eyes carefully.
HMS Belfast engaged cruise and flew straight for Yokohama Shipyard probably one of the most heavily guarded targets in all of Kusari.
It's rare for things to go completely smoothly and this was no exception they had safely passed the trade lane and all had seemed well then the com system crackled to life.
“Bretonian vessel we know you are in this system, you will now surrender now or be hunted down and destroyed”
The voice dripped with hate the message IFF was unmistakably KNF the Kusari Naval Forces.
“Response Captain?” George Arthur queried
“None for now they only know we are in the system, we must have tripped a satellite, it's extremely unlikely they know where we are now although I would expect they are strengthening security at every jump gate right now” Captain John Allen responded calmly.
“ We have reached sixteen klicks out sir holding position” The navigation officer informed him.
“ Ok I guess it is now or never then, kindly inform the lane hacker we are engaging stealth and should be within range in a few minutes” came the Captains order.
“Aye Aye sir” a bridge officer responded then left.
Captain Allen turned to his terminal for only he had the codes necessary to activate the cloaking system, he punched them in and the power flickered noticeably on the bridge, it may have been his imagination but he could now feel a slight buzz in the air.
"Take us in slowly and kill the lights" He ordered
HMS Belfast switched off it's lights and began to creep up slowly on Yokohama Shipyard for the moment she was a ghost.
The scene on scanner was chaotic Kusari ships were everywhere in groups of twos and threes, the whole crew of HMS Belfast was running on adrenaline no one knew how long the scan shielding would last and when it fell a single red target would appear on every Kusari scanner.
Annie Maloy was in her element she had wired herself directly into her computer systems the Kusari encryptions had fallen to her almost instantly but there was a lot of data here and she was looking for code that effected the manufacture of one single chip. It was like looking for a starflyer in the badlands it would take time and patience.
Back on the bridge Captain Allen surveyed the scene he didn't like it there was something out of the ordinary going on here the number of ships and their patterns didn't make sense for patrols he knew he had stumbled into something bigger than he expected but what exactly.
Annie examined the file again it wasn't what she was looking for but it was surprisingly well protected
obviously the most important thing in the system she didn't have time for it however so copied it across for later evaluation and continued her hunt.
Captain we have a Kusari Battleship and two Destroyers headed this way they show no signs of having spotted us but they will see us visually if they keep to their current course
Captain Allen examined his options there wasn't one that suited he could either hold still and try and complete his mission or abort and flee he'd come this far he wasn't giving up so easy.
Hold position he ordered
Everyone on the bridge looked worried but no one protested.
A few tense minutes passed it seemed much longer to the crew.
Annie grinned she had it at last and began making the changes she needed, the targeting chips would be altered very slightly the hash codes changed to match.
Kusari captains would be puzzled when their targeting failed but no faults would be found at least easily this code would take any non Lane Hacker weeks to check in any case.
Captain this is Annie mission accomplished and I think I have found a bigger prize than anyone could have expected She spoke through the intercom.
The captain sighed in relief they might just make it out of here after all.
Plot me a course back to the jump hole and move us out slowly He ordered
Just then the lights flickered and a single red target appeared on a lot of Kusari Scanners.