The Independence drifted deeper into Omicron Delta at a steady speed slowing as nomad ships came into view. The Independence and its escort wing of fighters looked insignificant in comparison to the huge fleet of bright blue synths before them. The nomad ships had come from the vicinity of the Omicron Kappa jump hole, and The Independence and its guard was the only thing between it and Freeport 11
“Nomad fleet are 15k out sir” Said the small navigations officer at the front of the command deck,
“Roger that Smithy, take us to 10k and hold” ordered Captain Abrahams,
“Sir, in those numbers we won’t last a minute” said Commander Akura standing beside the captain,
“I’m well aware of that Janto”
“Reports said that it was just a small nomad attack force, gunboats at best!” Akura hissed,
“Yeah well this is something else...” replied the Captain
“We gotta contact the Freeport tell them to get everyone out!”
“We’ll do no such thing Janto” the Captain said calmly
“Are you f***ing crazy captain? There are over three thousand people on that station! The nomads will cut right through them!” yelled Akura stepping foward in objection,
“Commander Akura! I am relieving you of duty; remove yourself from the bridge immediately!” shouted the Captain standing up from the command chair.
Akura glared at the Captain and stormed off the bridge,
“They’re trying to open a communication channel with us sir!” panicked the communications lieutenant,
“Understood, patch it through”
Commander Akura really had seen it all; he was born in Kusari, Planet Kyushu to be exact, into a very poor family. He joined the KNF before the nomad war and protected and served for many years. He was awarded the Kusari medal of honour and spent a few years in the Kempetei, helping bring down several large crime rings. Shortly after he was honourably discharged for refusing to follow orders, Akura left the battle field to save some civilian shuttles being attacked by Outcasts.
Akura spent a lot of time wandering all over Sirius, he spent most of his time as a mercenary, sending all of his earnings to his parents back on Kyushu, and what they didn’t need, immediately went to helping those less fortunate than himself.
In a way Akura was a hero, but Sirius didn’t need heroes. Heroes were not welcome; everyone was fighting amongst themselves, fighting for money, for land, for honour. Akura was fighting because he thought he could make a difference. He was wrong, whoever he fought, someone always go hurt, and innocents were always killed.
He spent time amongst the naval forces of all the houses, by the time the nomad war came about, Akura was 32 years old.
He fought alongside Edison Trent, the freelancer hero of the war. He helped push the Nomads back with the Order. But his ship was destroyed when his wing was overwhelmed by the nomads, he should have died but his escape pod managed to drift for months through nomad systems.
He was picked up by a passing Zoner patrol, unconscious and weak.
Akura, signed up with the Zoners, his younger brother Drake also moved to Theta and joined too.
Ever since he was retrieved from his escape pod, Akura never seemed to visibility age, exposure to nomad waves or radiation maybe, his body stayed the same throughout time. When he started as a recruit, Abrahams was younger than him by two years, now Abrahams was growing old. He was nearly 50 years of age. Akura was still in his early thirties; The Zoner council didn’t see this as a problem though. The Outcasts could boost their life expectancy with Cardimine, Akura was treated as a gift, rather than a mistake.
Akura spend ten years rising through the ranks to be fist mate to Captain Jeffery Abrahams, in command of The Independence.
The Independence was a proud creation of the Zoners, it was a ‘Jinkusu’ Class, Zoner Juggernaut. Very few of these beautiful ships were ever made; one was sold to a group of freelancers under the command of Commander Alex White, as their mobile base of operations.
The Independence was used to scout Sirius out for possible resources and defend the Zoner was of life. It had a large escort wing, as well as ‘Toxicshock’ a Zoner ‘Fearless’ Destroyer, piloted by Janto’s younger brother Drake and his crew. There were a large number of ‘Conference’ Gunboats, ‘Roc’ Bombers and ‘Eagle’ Fighters under the command of Captain Abrahams.
The nomad sounds echoed throughout the command deck, it was a compilation of eerie noises and screeches.
“That nomad fleet, tell me about what we’re facing Jones” ordered the Captain
“Seems to be four battleships sir, uhhhh, seven cruisers, at least fifteen gunboats, around a hundred bombers and countless heavy to light fighters, we really don’t have a hope in hell sir” squealed Jones from the Captains left,
The Captain bowed his head and placed his hand over his face,
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this...” He whispered to himself
At that moment Commander Akura burst back into the bridge and up the steps to Captain Abraham’s level,
“I thought I ordered you off the bridge Commander Akura”
“Yeah, well I’m assuming control of the ship, Captain”
“Oh yeah? On what grounds?” laughed the Captain
“That you are unfit to command this ship, sir”
“Security, take Commander Akura to his quarters, where he is to remain until I summon him” ordered the captain, the security personnel stayed put.
“Under Zoner command law 15.A, I forfeit control of the ship from you Captain Abrahams, you will return to your quarters until further notice” said Akura in a steady, official voice.
“How dare you-!” Started Abrahams
“Security if you would so kindly assist Captain Abrahams...” Akura said smugly,
The Security personnel grabbed Abrahams by the arms and pulled him down and towards the door, Abrahams struggled and a security officer gave him a shot to knock him out, preventing further problems. For a split second, Akura swore he saw a slight tint to the Captains eyes, something not quite right...
“Damn it! Ok sit him down in the corner, we’ll move him later” Ordered Akura
The crew had sensed that the Captain had not been acting right for a while, but this was different, he had acted irrationally. Ever since his wife Angela had died giving birth to their first child, he had been acting strangely, making bad decisions and putting people in danger.
“Ok contact Dabadoru and Yaren, see if they can send us some help, and send a distress call to Freeport 11, I want it evacuated”
“Where will they go sir?” Asked the communications officer,
“Tell them to rendezvous in Omicron Minor, in fact contact the Order as well, we’ll need all the firepower we can muster for this” Ordered Akura to the communications officer,
“We’re making a stand?” Asked the navigator,
“It’s a long shot, but yeah, this is a threat to the Zoner way of life, we can’t have that” Replyed Akura
The nomads began their first attack run, sending a small handful of fighters, bombers and gunboats towards them at cruise speeds.
“Ok order all ships to power up engines and weapons!” Shouted Akura
The nomad ships continued their charge, relentlessly.
“Wait for it”
The nomad ships were about to enter firing range,
“Ok, Toxicshock is to lead the retaliation; The Independence is staying put to provide covering fire” ordered Akura
“Yes sir, Toxicshock is opening fire on bogies” Yelled the communications officer,
The destroyer had fired its engines to full and charged the nomads head on, its bomber and fighter wings obediently following,
“Toxicshock is holding steady sir”
“Good, tell the fighters to target the bombers and the bombers to target the gunships, we need to keep those torpedoes away from Toxicshock” ordered Akura,
At that moment a large fleet of Corsair ships arrived from the direction of yaren, mostly fighters and gunboats.
“Heard you amigos could use a hand” buzzed a voice over the comms,
“A miracle you arrived when you did” sighed Akura
“Fredo Benitez and his men at you service” Fredo buzzed
“Thank you Mr Benitez, Toxicshock could use your assistance right about now”
“You got it boss” replied the Fredo, his large wing of small Corsair ships headed towards the battle surrounding Toxicshock,
More nomad ships began a charge, this time it was twice as large in numbers that the first attack force, and this time there were cruisers.
“Ok target the Purifiers, Toxicshock won’t last a minute under their fire”
“Moving closer for a better shot” Said the pilot, steering the ship to the left and forward, as to get a better view on the incoming cruisers.
The battle around Toxicshock was heating up, the destroyers shield was almost at 25% capacity and many of the support fighters for the Zoners and Corsairs has been shot out of the sky.
“Dammit, any word from the Order yet?” Asked Akura,
“None sir, although we have got a large fleet of unknown ships headed our way from the direction of Freeport 11” Said the navigational officer,
“S***...... Alright hail them, let’s hope this is more backup” the communications officer opened up a private channel to the fleet leader, “Unidentified ships, state your purpose”
“This is Bounty Hunter fleet Admiral Nathaw, we came to lend you our guns” buzzed the comms, as he spoke they came into view, the fleet consisted of a battleship, a battlecruiser, two destroyers, three gunships, a gunboat, several bombers and many heavy and light fighters.
“Glad you came when you did Admiral, we need all the help we can get, be aware though there are Corsairs and possibly some Order ships in the heat of the battle” said Akura
“Understood, the nomad threat is of top priority I assure you, any petty squabbles can be argued some other time” replied Nathaw
The Bounty Hunter ships joined the battle and the nomads sent yet more ships to match the new threat to them. ToxicShock had now lost its shields and was taking hull damage,
“Toxicshock is taking hits pretty bad sir”
“Damn it! Patch me though to Drake, now” Ordered Akura
Drake’s voice came through to the bridge load and clear,
“Bro, I don’t know how much more of this Toxic can take! We gotta make a fresh move or Toxicshock is history!”
“Ok, don’t worry Drake, I got this covered” said Akura
“What happened to Abrahams?” asked Drake
“He was emotionally compromised; I have assumed command of The Independence”
“Hey! I would congratulate you, but certain death kills the mood a little, don’cha think?” chuckled Drake,
“Don’t worry brother; I’ll get you out of there”
“I sure hope so, Drake out” said Drake closing the channel,
Toxicshock had used batteries to recharge its shields enough to absorb further attacks and prolong the siege. The Corsair numbers had thinned but their skilled pilots managed to stay on top of the nomad morphs, the Bounty Hunters fleet had taken care of the cruisers and a battleship, but were beginning to struggle with the increasing number of nomads.
The Independence was taken by surprise when a number of bombers and fighters deviated from the main battle towards her. A cruiser and some assassins were headed towards the Juggernaut as well.
“The others can’t help us, ready shields to maximum! And redirect weapons to the oncoming threat!”
The onslaught of torpedoes and missiles hit the Juggernaut, taking a chunk out of the total shield power.
“Evasive manoeuvres would be great around now, and take a check on that Order backup!” yelled Akura,
“Nothing yet sir” replied the communications officer,
A large energy burst hit the ship causing the shields and navigational controls to fail, The Independence was a sitting duck.
“Sir I’ve lost control” piped the pilot, sitting back helplessly,
“Aye, I’ve got nothing” said the navigations officer,
“Son of a.... ok, what have we got?”
“Countermeasures and communications sir” replied the engineering expert from the corner of the bridge,
“Ok everyone listen up, I got a plan, and I need you all to follow it to the point!”
Akura had to evacuate the ship, he was putting civilian lives at risk by fighting on, there were passenger shuttles enough for the entire crew and a few escape pods available for those who were to stay behind with him till it was safe, or over.
Akura tapped into the ships internal comms and slouched back into his chair,
“To the crew and passengers of The Independence, this is Commander Akura speaking. The ship is on red alert, all passengers are to report to the docking bays for immediate evacuation, any crew not vital to the red alert plan, make your way there also. Shuttles are to wait for my command to depart, that is all for now” Akura commanded, closing the channel.
“Ok you heard him!” Shouted the security personnel, leading the unneeded crew out of the command deck,
“Alright... On my command dump the counter-measures and have a wing of fighters cover the evacuation shuttle”
“Yes sir!”
A loud voice echoed thought the cockpit,
“This is Admiral ‘Bobo’ Barnes of the Order Battleship, Daedalus; we have come with more firepower, to assist you against the nomad threat”
Akura saw out of the bridge window Order ships approaching the battle, at that point the nomads began to charge with everything they had, the sides were now evenly matched.
But the Independence was badly damaged and 5k out from the main battle, the wing assigned to defend the Juggernaut was doing well at repelling the nomads attacking them, but they couldn’t last much longer. Soon they would have to depart to escort the crew and passengers back to a safe location, leaving the Independence defenceless.
The Order ships dispatched some gunboats and fighters to help keep The Independence space-borne for as long as by fighting off the nomad bombers.
“Ok dump the Countermeasures now and make your way to the escape pods!” ordered Akura,
“Sir what about-?” started the navigations officer,
“I’ll be right behind you; I just have to tell the others what I got planned” said Akura interrupting him, Akura then opened a comms channel to the engineering level, the only part of the ship yet to be evacuated,
“This is Commander Akura speaking, Smithy, I need you to do something for me!”
“Yeah, commander, we are being f***ed up down here! Not really able to do any favours at this current moment, trying to stop the reactor from going nova!” Smithy replied, in his distinct bretonian accent,
“No Smithy, I need you to do just that, cross feed the fuel lines and reverse the tachyon drive!”
“We’re gonna nuke the f***ers?” asked Smithy
“Exactly, can you do that for me?”
“Sure thing Akura, gimmie a few minutes, I’ll get the boys on it right away!”
“After that I want you to get out of here, before this thing goes off, I’ll stay behind to activate cruise when it comes back online”
“Then it’s been an honour working with you sir” replied Smithy after a pause
“Likewise, Akura out” Akura closed comms with engineering, and opened a channel to all the allied ships “This is Commander Janto Akura to all assisting ships, I want you to retreat to a safe distance, the Independence has been rigged to go nova... It’s the only way that we’re guaranteed to take out the nomad fleet completely”
“Understood Commander, we’ll rally the evacuees and head to Freeport 11, set up a defensive in case anything gets away from the blast” acknowledged Admiral ‘Bobo’ from the Daedalus,
“If it’s the only way, we will make sure you are remembered for this Commander Akura” said Admiral Nathaw, “You are a true hero, we’ll make sure you are never forgotten”
“Thank you Admirals, preparing to launch the evacuees” Akura said flicking a switch on the main console, opening the hanger doors, “Now you make sure you get them back safe and sound ok? And tell my brother, that I’m proud of him... ”
The shuttles and passenger crafts all launched from their respective hangers, dodging weapons fire and stray fighters. The Order and remaining Zoners: closed in to cover them.
The Bounty Hunters, Corsairs and Order stayed for as long as possible to defend the Independence before its engines were active again.
Akura turned to check the engine ship status screen and found a fist of fury instead. His face was in agony, “That was no normal punch!” he thought, it had thrown him to the ground.
He stood back up to see Captain Abrahams in a combat stance, his fist bleeding slightly and his eyes glowing a weak purple,
“They got you?” Akura said finding his feet again,
“Yeah, when Angie died, I was weak, but they promised to make me strong, I was going to give them the Independence as a gift, they promised to spare me” Abrahams hissed, in a threatening tone,
“You betrayed your crew and your word!” yelled Akura drawing is side arm and firing multiple his entire clip into the Captain, only a few feet from him, and threw down his gun. Abrahams stayed standing, not phased by the new wounds he had sustained.
He screeched loudly and lunged at Akura, but Akura was swift to roll aside and pounced at Abrahams exposed back, throwing the Captain into the large glass map.
Abrahams was growing old and weak but his new found nomad power was giving him strength, he returned to his feet, shards of glass protruding from his neck and chest, he wasn’t bleeding heavily like he should. Abrahams charged again, his eyes glowing brighter this time.
“Commander, the ‘enhancements’ are complete, abandoning ship, good luck” buzzed Smithy over the comms.
An extra shuttle launched from the engineering and veered off, following the other fleeing craft. Fredo Benitez and his Corsairs were the first to follow, then the Small collection of remaining Bounty Hunters and finally the large Order fleet, the nomads had stopped firing on the Independence, this was their ship now. They had begun circling it excitedly.
Drake of the badly damaged Toxicshock glanced at his screen showing the damaged Independence,
“What’s he doing?” Drake asked Nathaw over the comms,
“He’s being a hero” replied Nathaw
Akura returned to his feet again, wiping the blood from his lower lip. The captain threw another punch but Akura quickly parried it and punched low into the Captains stomach causing him to stumble back. The engine status panel beeped loudly and displayed a green light.
Abrahams drew a small knife from his belt and lunged once more, Akura was once again quick to move to the left to grab the Captain’s wrist and snatch the blade, he then moved his free arm in a backwards motion, slamming his elbow into Abraham’s throat.
Abrahams doubled over struggling to breathe, Akura slashed downward, bringing the knife point square between the Captains shoulder blades.
Akura spun on his feet and pulled down on the cruise control. The nomads began firing cruise disrupters but it was no good, the engine fired up, absorbing power from the Cold Fusion and Nuclear reactors.
Akura stood, looking out of the front side window at the nomads surrounding him.
He shed but a single tear, the space around the Independence lit up in bright white and green. The nomads were instantly engulfed into the pure, destructive force of the blast.
Every single person in the Omicron Delta could see the explosion light up in the distance, Janto Akura had been granted his final wish, he had become a hero...
//OOC leave you feedback here please, I am from the UK server, just wanted to know what you all thought about it :)
