Aki opened her eyes and sat up when her quarters comm unit beeped. She hit the switch, and Lieutenant Myers' voice filled the room, "Sub-commander, we're coming up on Toledo now."
She hit another button and replied, "I'm on my way."
The Pakhet was quite efficient in design. Both the commander and sub-commander's quarters were only a short hallway away from the bridge. Zoners were excellent ship builders, and the alliance they had forged with the Order was invaluable to both factions. The door ahead of her swished open as she approached, revealing the command room of the ship.
"Report, Lieutenant." Aki said as she entered.
Myers turned to her from the forward viewport, "We're nine-K out from the planet, IFF information has been transmitted to the Isis."
"Alright, you're relieved."
The Lieutenant saluted and moved to the side of the bridge as Aki stepped forward to it's center, gazing at the frozen world in the distance. She glanced to the sensors officer, "Any contacts other than the Isis?"
"None, sub-commander. There was an anomaly on sensors as we entered the system, but whatever it was it's gone now." He replied.
Aki nodded and turned to the helmsman, "Take us in."
"Aye-Aye commander." He replied as the ship slowly lunged forward into motion.
Aki sat down in the commander's chair. Several months ago she had been brought onto the Pakhet as a pilot and navigator, a promotion from flying fighters for the Order. Only two months after her transfer onboard the destroyer, the last sub-commander had been killed in an explosive decompression of the lower decks during an encounter with the nomads. Aki, being the next highest in command below him, had soon after received a field promotion by the ship's commander, Howard Eisen, to sub-commander herself. It was her first starship command position... and she loved every bit of it. The Pakhet was an amazing vessel, and maybe someday she would be the commander of her own.
Her eyes drifted to the Isis, in high orbit over Toledo, as they passed by it. Commanding a ship like that was left to the admirals, a rank she never hoped to achieve... but she was fonder of the smaller craft anyways. The Osiris battleships were fortresses but they lacked the manuverability and speed essential to most missions undertaken by the Order, and thus were kept around primarily as system defense and command ships.
She turned to the comms officer, "Open a private channel to Howard Eisen, planetside."
"Yes Ma'am..." He hit a few keys on his control panel, "channel open."
Aki turned to the smaller viewscreen in front of her; Commander Eisen's face staring back, "Commander, this is the Pakhet, returning from the Zoner Shipyards."
"Ah, Aki... you're back earlier than I expected, I guess I'll have to cut my shoreleave short. I'll be waiting for you at the dock, Eisen out."
The hull rattled violently as they entered the atmosphere, guided into a proper descent angle by the docking rings in orbit. The silence of space quickly turned to a loud roar as flames licked the ship's exterior. The heated assault lasted mere seconds before they broke through into the lower atmosphere of the planet, floating down to dock as if the thousand-tonne ship weighed no more than a feather. As they approached the dock, the anti-grav drives shut down and the ship set down on the landing pad with a heavy thud. Through the viewport, Aki could see Commander Eisen waiting on the catwalk.
Aki saluted the Commander as he boarded the ship, along with the other officers that constituted the greeting party.
"At ease, Kimura," He said as he passed, the officers falling in line behind, "We need to get into the air ASAP, I have orders for the Pakhet from the fleet admirals directly. Get us up and running, I'll brief you in my quarters."
"Yes sir," Aki replied, turning to the other officers, "You heard the commander, get to the bridge and get us off the ground, on the double."
--------------------
Aki approached the door to Eisen's quarters, and pressed a button on the wall nearby. A buzzing sound filled the room beyond, and a small comm panel on the door lit up with the commander's voice, "Enter."
The door swished open and Aki proceeded in. Commander Eisen was sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, reading files on his personal computer. He flipped off the screen and turned to her, "Ah, Sub-commander... Have a seat."
Aki sat across the desk from him, "What are our orders, sir?"
"I know you werent around for the nomad war, but you know the details, yes? A freelancer by the name of Edison Trent assisted the order in using Daam K'vosh artifacts to pull the nomads back beyond colonized space. They still get out now and then, but not in the numbers we experienced during the war. Command wants us to proceed to Omicron Major and investigate the nomad structure there further; Order scientists have been tied up in other projects, and the Pakhet's scanners are better than most in the Order fleet."
"Sir, Permission to speak freely?" Aki asked.
"Always, Aki."
"Isnt it a bit foolish for them to send anything smaller than a battleship into Major? The system is flooded with nomad fighters, and who knows what else..."
"I agree, but we have our orders, no other ships can be spared at the moment, and certainly none of the Osiris Battleships. Those are rare, and we dont have the resources to squander them on research and surveillance projects. The Pakhet has more than enough shielding and firepower to fight off the nomads, I think... but nobody said this would be your run of the mill scouting mission, I'm expecting more trouble than the admirals let on to." Eisen explained.
"Yes Sir," Aki said, as she stood and saluted, "I'll give the order, we'l be in Omicron Major within a few hours."
She left the room and proceeded to the bridge. This mission had disaster written all over it...
The end of the jump tunnel was in sight, and closing quickly. The helmsman spoke up, "Jump sequence complete in 3... 2... 1...."
The moment they exited the Omicron Major jump hole, they came under attack.
The tactical officer frantically went over his control panels, "Ma'am, we've got numerous biological contacts, all Nomad signatures... fighter sized entities from the looks of it!"
Aki leaned forward in the command chair, "Get the kinetic barriers up! Open fire!" She turned on the inter-ship comm, "All hands to battlestations, we're under attack by nomads!"
--------------------
The battle was over in minutes, and the Pakhet withstood minimal damage.
"Odd..." the tactical officer mused to himself, before turning to Aki, "Sub-Commander, these nomad fighters registered significantly weaker than those we've encountered in Minor and other systems."
Aki nodded, "I noticed... A previous expedition here reported that something in the system seemed to drain energy from them, maybe the Dyson Sphere." She paused a moment, surveying the system, "All scanners to max power, lets get this over with quickly before we come under attack again. I want all contacts in the system documented."
"Aye-Aye, Ma'am" The bridge crew replied, hastily going to work.
--------------------
Hours later, the scans were finished. Aki stood and moved to the side of the bridge, saluting as Commander Eisen entered the bridge.
"At ease," He said, taking a seat at the center of the bridge, "Report?"
Aki spoke up, "We've documented all scanner contacts within the system sir," She handed a datapad to the commander, "Shall we relay the data back to Command on Toledo?"
"Yes, yes, very good... Send the data. You're going to make a good commander yourself one day, Aki." The captain smiled as he turned back to the viewport, "Alright Ensign, take us home."
[Omicron Major Report - Sub-commander Aki Kimura - Destroyer Pakhet]
Of immediate notice was the lack of sensor effectiveness. The Dyson Sphere, or something else within the system, blocks all long-range scanners and rendered our navigational maps inoperative. Standard sensors were fully functional, but still limited to ten kilometers in range.
The primary sensor contact in Major was a structure hovering at the senter of the Dyson Sphere. The purpose and origins of the structure are unknown, but presumed to be of Daam K'vosh origin. The structure's architectural design is non-organic in nature; hinting that, like the sphere itself, the structure is not of nomad construction.
Four other solars contacts were discovered in the system, the complete list of gathered data follows:
Sector 6C, Top-Right Quadrant: Nomad/Daam K'vosh Structure of unknown purpose. Notable qualities include:
-Non-Organic Architectural design.
-Several energy 'beams' emitting from the structure, with unknown purpose.
-A large, impenetrable shield surrounding the structure, power source unknown.
Sector 5E: Medium Green Star, characteristics:
Temperature- 6K
Luminosity- IV
Mass- 1.99 x 10e30 kg
Diameter- 1.53 x 10e30 km
The inter-ship comm beeped in Aki's quarters, and she rolled across the bed to hit the voice button. Mumbling, still half asleep, she responded, "What?"
"Sub-Commander, there's a priority one message coming in for you." The ensign on the other end replied.
"Have the cap'n take it" She groaned as she rolled back over, trying to get back to sleep.
"The message is for you, ma'am, not the captain."
Aki sighed and sat up, "Arright, patch it through."
She stumbled over to the desk in the corner of her quarters where a computer screen jumped to life. The face of the sixth fleet admiral appeared, and aki jumped, trying to cover herself... it generally wasnt standard protocol to talk to fleet admirals half naked. She quickly sat down at the desk so only her face appeared on the admiral's end.
"Sleep well?" He asked in a stern, criticizing voice.
"Uh, sorry admiral, Eisen's on watch now and I just finished a thirty-six hour shift." She stammered.
"No need for explanations. Listen, I need a report from you on the Pakhet's performance and systems. High command wants to push the joint order-zoner fleet project to the next level, and they need input from officers who have been serving aboard the current ships."
"Yes sir... uh... permission to speak freely sir?" Aki said, trying to rub the sleep from her eyes.
"Go ahead." Responded the admiral, with an impatient tone to his voice.
"What do you mean, 'next level'? We've already got zoner destroyers and battleships operating with the order, we've tested weapon and systems compatibility on these ships, and we've had plenty of order crewmen learn how zoner ships operate... I dont see much of a next level to go to..."
"I cant reveal all information yet, but I'll let you in on what little I know. Word from high command says that the zoners are developing a new line of ships, including a remarkable armored transport. We want relations with the zoners to keep up as they have been - if we can get some of those transports we might be able to create what our own engineers have failed to thus far."
"Not sure I follow, admiral..." Aki replied, a bit nervously at testing the admiral's patience.
"From initial design schematics, this 'armored transport' the zoners are building is small, fast, and very efficiently constructed. High command wants to try out some new systems that have been developed in the field of surveillance and recon - they want to turn one of these transports into a stealth ship."
"Dont the Osiris battleships already have functional cloaking devices?"
"The Osiris is getting out of date, it just cant stand up to the enemies we've been facing recently. It's too large to serve as an efficient recon ship, and the cloaking devices used onboard those behemoths suck enough energy to power an entire planet. The newer stealth systems dont render a ship invisible but are much more efficient at hiding it from scanners, and frankly that's what we need right now - we havent had any reliable intel from liberty or the other houses in years because they've got methods of detecting our cloaked ships."
"Understood, Sir. I'll have a report filed and transmitted by the end of the week."
Aki shut down the comm screen and wearily crawled back into bed.
Briefing Officer: Sub-Commander Aki Kimura, Reigning Commander of the Order/Zoner Joint Destroyer, Pakhet
"Several days ago, an order informant going by the name of Troy Carter - a member of the xeno terrorist organization operating in liberty - witnessed a liberty rogue captain who had become infested by a nomad entity delivering an order supernova prototype weapon into the liberty navy's hands.
We will not stand for rampant individuals breaching our space, stealing our technology, and subsequently handing it over to one of our most formidable enemies. Further, any infestation discovered must be dealt with.
We have reason to believe that despite this suspect's supposed allegiance with the criminal group known as the rogues, he was involved with the navy prior to the event - and that his contacts within Liberty's military forces were also nomad infested personnel.
A strike-recovery operation has been authorized to retrieve the weapon prototype and return it to toledo at all costs. The weapon was delivered to Willard Research Station for processing shortly after being recieved by Liberty forces, and is being held somewhere within that station.
The Pakhet will lead the task force for the recovery of this equipment. Dismissed."
***Mission Operations***
The following individuals and vessels were rallied to participate in this operation, hand-selected by Sub-Commander Aki Kimura: Involved Agents
Aki.Kimura (Zoner Destroyer - operation lead)
Nomad_Killer (Zoner Destroyer)
Bushido (Corsair Cruiser)
Bs|Murdock (Nephthys)
Bs|Jonathan_Chapters (Nephthys)
Bs|Alex.Cooper (Nephthys?)
Edison.Trent (Taiidan Bomber)
-At approximately 1945 hours on 616-821 the operation began. The task force proceeded from Omicron minor into alaska.
-Resistance met in alaska was formidable, with several Liberty Navy and Bounty Hunter vessels (//NPCs), on top of the standard nomad interference, attacking the task force.
-Upon reaching the jump gate to the New York system, the task force sent a smuggler ahead to scout out the other side of the gate. After recieving an all-clear, the Task force proceeded into New York.
-Using a network of Jump holes, the Task force moved through New york, into Texas, and then into the california system. From there, a rendevous was made and the group proceeded towards the Willard Research Facility.
-Minimal resistance was met at california minor. A liberty cruiser (//NPC) was sighted at maximum scanner range, but the task force remained undetected.
***Striking Willard Research Station***
-Once the station's defensive systems were down, Order escorts engaged the defending ships that had been launched. During this time, the Pakhet initiated scans and docking with Willard Research Station, and sent marines aboard to retrieve the weapon prototype.
-The task force retreated back towards alaska, via the same jump holes used to get to california. Liberty forces had been alerted however, and were in wait.
-A xeno, by the callsign of XA-Copperhead, joined the task force as an informant and decoy during the retreat. This looks to be a good sign of forging an alliance between xenos and the order, as they have proven very valuable allies within liberty - providing us with both assistance and information in return for funding.
-Upon reaching zone-21 in new york, the task force was attacked by a large liberty fleet that had been hastily created in defense. The fleet consisted of several gunboats, fighters, and bombers.
-During the engagement, several order ships - including the task force leader; the Pahket - were crippled near the zone 21 minefield.
-Freelancer Edison Trent, working with the task group in a bomber, retrieved several escape pods as well as the prototype weapon, and fled to omicron minor as the rest of the group held off liberty forces. Black squadron ace Alex Cooper made rendevous with Edison Trent in Alaska. Trent successfully returned the equipment and a large number of order officers to planet Toledo - ***Mission note from Sub-Commander Aki Kimura: Reward Edison Trent with the Order medal of Valor for demonstration of exceptional skill and integrity during live combat operations***
***Mission Debriefing***
Debriefing Officer: Sub-Commander Aki Kimura, Reigning Commander of the Order/Zoner Joint Destroyer, Pakhet
"The mission was a success despite severe losses. A large portion of the former Pakhet's crew were killed upon her destruction at the hands of the Liberty Naval Forces - they will be avenged in due time.
Most of the Commanding crew, including myself and commander Eisen, were recovered by Edison Trent - along with the weapon prototype - and returned to Toledo.
The Pakhet will be rebuilt, Order salvagers and Junker allies are working as we speak to pull the vessel from the Zone 21 minefield, after which it will be hauled back to omicron minor to be fully reconstructed. If, for any reason, the Pakhet is not successfully recovered, the zoners have agreed to provide us with another Fearless class destroyer to continue the joint fleet project.
All individuals participating in this mission performed admirably, and should be proud of their piloting skills in the face of destruction. Dismissed."