Martin was on Freeport 11 testing the Order vessels the Genesis received not too long ago from Legacy, when a GRG operative has come looking for him all over the station with a pad in his hand.
"Sir! Sir!"
The young pilot crouched a bit as he was out of breath, like he has run a three hours marathon. When Martin turned to see from where this voice came, he saw the pilot, in his all black with the GRG symbol outfit, all sweaty from the run. As he took a bit of breath, he then started.
"Sir, you need to see this. Not too long ago, operative Neit, has interacted with a Rheinland Cruiser-class vessel, which has said that they have malfunctions. So he has escorted them in Omega-41, to Freeport 5, from where they contacted the Board, which has offered to repair said malfunctions. But not even an hour later to the response, we have received this distress call from the same vessel, that they were under attack by Corsairs. What should we do?"
As the operative gives Martin the pad, he started looking at all the data they've had about the cruiser. And it seemed strange indeed the fact that a crew survived for how long they claim, as they didn't even knew about the civil war, but it was a ship in distress.
He took a small break before speaking.
"Do you know it's position?"
The pilot takes the pad, opens up a map of Omicron Kappa and shows him the location.
"It's here, sir."
Then Martin turns back to his "Bastet" and thinks of what should do next, how much forces to send, etc. He's still not convinced, but he wants to give them a shot.
"Send a fighter wing accompanied by a bomber squadron. Secure and do a risk assestment on the spot. We don't want trouble with the Corsairs, so before sending in the repair ships, make sure they are gone. If there is anything else needed, contact me directly, understood?"
The operative nodded, and then went back to his vessel, to prepare for the flight back in Omicron Kappa.
The ship stood motionless into space. Flames were roaring on the lower decks. The reactor seemed dead, and the emergency generators were already a quarter empty. On the outside two battle-worn 90-ARKM-N45 "Wraith" fighters outfitted with Stealthblades were patrolling the badly damaged Helgoland, taking out incoming asteroids that would collide with the ship's hull, as well as any incoming lesser Nomads. To their very luck, the ship was isolated to outer regions of Omicron Delta instead of the location sent out by the computer, namely Omicron Kappa.
Within the ship, however, chaos took the best of the lost rheinlanders. The cruiser was not understaffed, as plenty of men died to the last blow struck by the corsairs in the barracks, which has spread all the way to the engine, damaging it to the point where it would nearly go out forever. About 150 men survived. With such a low count, serious damage would not be handled properly by any means, which has really shown in the time required to put out the fire: About two to three hours after the battle. Up in the control room, the real stress has begun as comms were a no-go, and movement would be impossible without damaging the engine any further.
"Sir. We've managed to get the four turrets on-line. Orders?" said Ben with a concerned tone, the man in charge with artillery. The long silence stood still for a few minutes, leaving only the alarms to sound without stop, and the lights to turn the whole room red intermittently.
"Keep them ready, but don't fire them at any given time unless it is an emergency. We do not know how long it will be until anyone would find us, not even to mention that it is unknown to us who resides in this system other than Zoners, The Core, and these Nomads. Order could lurk as well around these parts." says the commander, with a rashed voice, biting on his nails as he stares at the empty space through the armed glass, muttering to himself:"Or risk firing unstable weaponry." while looking through one of the cameras which shows one of the Rheinland Cruiser turrets barely hanging on its hardpoint, still connected, and somehow still returning positive data. He looks over to the emergency button mounted next to his arm, sweating profusely, then presses with all his might.
Just below the control room, a tiny hatch opens, ejecting out an aged drone which definitely has not seen action in some time. Its purpose was simple. Send out an emergency signal on a radius of aproximately 35 kilometers should the need arise. Now the only thing the Helgoland could do is wait and keep itself from exploding.
GRG Research Ship Neumann, Corvo Class Deep Space Explorer, Omicron Delta System
9th September 827 A.S.
The Neumann was flying through the empty void of Omicron Delta. On it's way to Livadia shipyard for a well deserved R&R after a 10 month long mission in deep space. On the way they made a quick stop at Freeport 11 where Evan met the CEO Martin Lawrence. After a brief talk Lawrence asked them that on their way to Livadia they should check out a distress signal sent by a Rheinland vessel. Evan didn't think much of it. Altough their supplies were somewhat low and their ship was not equipped for any major rescue operations it was still the ship with the best chances to find the rheinlanders with the extremely advanced scanners that the Neumann had in its arsenal.
"Statement: We are reaching the Omicron Kappa Jumphole master. Disengaging cruise engines. Resuming impulse speed." Said D6-5 the droid currently piloting the ship to Evan who was sitting in the captain's chair reading a datapad that contained some scanner data from their mission.
The humming of the engines changed tone as they switched back to impulse speed. Suddendly one of the comm consoles started to beep. D6 quickly walked to the console filling the command deck with a clanking noise as it did so. Evan looked up from the datapad and looked on D6 for answers. And before he had the chance to ask D6 answered.
"Statement: Master we are picking up a transmission on frequency 121.5."
"Analize it."
The droid starts pushing down some buttons on the console before Evan can finish his sentence. "Observation: This is a broadcast from an emergency beacon. It is using a rheinland sample" "Theory: Maybe it is the rheinland ship we've been looking for. It might've jumped back from Kappa after the attack mentioned by meatbag Lawrence."
"Allright. Set course to the source and start scanning the area. I want that rheinland ship locked on sensors." Evan turned towards the crewmember sitting at one of the other consoles doing a diagnostic. "Diaz!
"Yes doctor?" Diaz turned over to see Evan.
"Condition 1."
"Aye aye." The young man quickly grabbed a headset and turned the ship's internal comms on to announce condition 1. The sounds of the ships alert system went online. "General quarters, General quarters. Set condition 1 throughout the ship. Repeat set condition 1 throught the ship. Transit up and forward starboard side down and aft port side. Reason for general quarters unidentified distress signal." The rest of the bridge crew quickly arrived on the command deck and everyone was at his or her station. Evan sat back down on his chair. After a few minutes the alarm signal was turned off. "Sir all stations report condition 1."
THIRTY MINUTES LATER
"Statement: We are closing in on the source of the signal."
"We're picking up a ship on sensors. Should be in visual range in about 4 minutes. But we are already in range for ship to ship comms."
"Rheinland Vessel. This is the GRG research ship Neumann do you copy?....No answer." The comm officer repeats the message a couple of times but to no avail. The ship is not answering.
"Anything?"
"No. They are not answering. Maybe their communcation system is damaged?"
"Statement: We reached visual range." " Sir. We are picking up two unknown contacts close to the ship. According to scanners they are also rheinland vessels."
"Allright all stop. Let's hail those ships. And this time make sure to transmit the message in the clear."
"Rheinland vessels. This is the GRG research ship Neumann do you copy?"
A delayed answer was given by the Wraiths who were busy removing passing asteroids. The first one to answer was Agent Schultz, a man which seemed to be around his 40's. "This is Lambda-1 to unidentified vessel "Neumann". Identify yourselves." he said, before being cut from the conversation by the Helgoland's comms which only barely worked, emitting dense static before saying anything.
From the commander's point of view, he was surprised, if not shocked by the thought of him having a chance at living another day. He quickly rushed for the operator's microphone and flicked it twice."This is Hans Bismark, commander of the RNC-Helgoland. Come in. Do you read? Most of our supplies were vented into space. We just barely tamed the fire and our reactor is still dormant." As he finished the sentence, another problem has risen. The generators had only about 65% power left. The cruiser wouldn't survive another day into space like this.
"Sir. They responded. It is very garbled and static. I'm trying to clear it up." Said the crewmember at the comm station.
"Allright. All engines ahead slow. One quarter impulse. Let's park the Neumann near them and make sure that they understand we are not enemies. I don't want them to freak out."
"There. The ship identified itself as the RNC Helgoland. They say they are heavily damaged. Their supplies are gone. They are also running on emergency power."
"Tell them that we are here to help them. On the other hand Diaz. I want you to scan that ship to confirm their story and to prepare the required materials for them."
"As you wish doctor."
"Helgoland. Helgoland this is the GRG research ship Neumann. We read you. We picked up your distress signal and we are here to help."
The ship slowly approached the battered cruiser and stopped about 1.5 kilometers away from it.
To the commander, the minutes of pure static where only the never ending alarms and his own heart pounding could be heard while the radio operator attempted to set up a proper frequency were pure nightmare fuel. The second he heard that the GRG Neumann was here for the rescue he jumped out of his seat and slammed the desk, simply yelling outloud "YES!" while the other crewmates were cheering.
Not even a minute passes, and the commander directs all available manpower to keep the ship stable, and the two Wraiths to defend the Neumann as well. He holds on the comms button, saying swiftly. "Neumann, you just made about 150 men happy with that sentence. We are happy to accept your help."
After recieving the second transmission from the rheinland ship Evan walked to the communication console and grabbed a spare headset.
"Helgoland this is Neumann actual. I'm Doctor Evan Chandler. What i require from you and your crew at the moment is that you help us moor theese two ships. We will dispatch our engineers to your vessel along with our medical team to help treat the injured. Understand that we are not equipped for a big rescue operation so we can only do so much."
Hans stared at the Neumann for a good few seconds before turning his sight at the top monitors which were setting off alarms in the fuel storage section of the Donau, as well as the reactor still giving no feedback, not even a sign of life or any possible damage that it may have suffered. To him, the reactor might be exposed, and since the same room it was in might have been depressurized as well, MOX leakage might have occured. "Neumann, we cannot let you come that close. Right now we have the situation under control inside the ship. However, what we do not have under control is what happens outside of it. We are receiving warnings from fuel tanks One to Three, and the reactor is still in an unknown state. As such, I advise seeing to the reactor and fuel tanks. We need this ship to be able to move before any hostiles find us, or else there won't be anything to save!" said the commander with a worried tone as he glanced outside the window at the engine spilling out traces of Mox, then looks back at the radio operator's screen. "I advise sending a team to seal the exterior of the ship so that we can access other parts of the Helgoland, especially the engine room. One of the Wraiths will light your way. Once you are done, we will be able to take you in."
Only moments after Hans finished his last sentence, a private rushed in the control room, rifle at hand, speaking with a stuttery accent and taking pauses every now and then to breathe. "S-s-sir! We managed t-to seal every hull breach we could from the inside, b-b-but Leon's detachment reports that there are about 5 engineers stuck in the reactor room. Situation seems stable, but they're stuck in there with limited oxygen until the exterior hull breaches are sealed properly.
Hans wastes no time, and tells the private to round up the wounded and direct them towards the hallway between the medical bay and kitchen, then turns back at the radio operator's screen, realizing he was still pressing on the transmission button.
Hearing what the Rheinlander said made Evan sigh since they admited they don't have enough time yet they decline his help. Knowing that trying to convince the stubborn commander will not help Evan decided to lay out the facts to him plain and simple.
"Look. I don't really like to talk much so i will lay out some facts for you Hans. My vessel is not equipped to make exterior repairs on your ship. We have a limited ammount of EVA suits and we could technically send out people to start repairs but even with your people's help it would take about 3 days if note more. And as far as i can see you don't have that much time. So you can either accept our help completly or we can simply turn arround and let you rot untill a nomad cruiser or worse comes arround and uses this piece of scrap you call a ship for target practice. I hope I'm clear."
The commander slams the desk audibly, staring at the screen for a moment, then at the Neumann, grunting.
"Fine. I want to minimize the risk of any more incidents, but since we do not have time for that...the docking bay is ready and prepared, as well as a mooring hatch for the ships to link." said Hans, before directing a group of engineers to make sure things go smoothly.