The Tisiphone shook violently and Cassandra had to grab on to a support beam, if nto to fall over. She had no idea what was going on outside, but she had the distinct feeling that it was because off the device that Sturm had brought onboard. She went slowly trough a corridor and saw when moving by a viewport how a huge vessel was fireing on a group of nomads that where attacking them. She started to run towards Sturm's office.
Once again the Research ship, a Corvo Class Cruiser, took a direct hit, lights flickered and went on again. Cassandra cursed as she fell over and hit her head on the nearby hull. She passed out..
The bridge crew responded quickly to the captains orders, the tactical officer, a Richard Avery, responded;
"Weapons are at 90 % sir!" The young man was franticly typing in commands into the Tisiphonies computer, making her direct all pulse guns towards the annoying Nomad ships around her.
Suddenly the Communications officer, Chris Henricks shouted; "The strange ship is assisting us, it's weapons are going hot an firying on the Nomads!"
The strange vessel had previously said it was to protect the Zoner ship, but the captain was concerned off what it was, he had never seen it before. But he didnt care, the Huge vessel was now giving them sufficient time to load their own missile tubes and fire them on the Nomads.
"Fire all weapons at the nomads!! All missile tubes, everything we got! NOW!"
The Research ship wasnt made for war, but had made some alterations for surviving in the dangerous parts of space where it needed to go. So it lurched when 4 missiles left it's tubes and started to track one Nomad fighter, it went up in a huge -Whop!-. The bridge crew cheered at the destruction of the Nomad.
But they cheered to soon, the Tactical officer said;
"Shields are down to 36 %!"
But then the other vessel, that of the stars as they said themselfs, fired another volley at the nomads and started to destroy them one at a time.
But they had no idea what was happening onboard their ship at that very time...
Damned corridors. Too many turns, too many halls. He could feel it though. He could almost hear it in the back of his head. It told him where to go, how to turn. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it called to him, and that sufficed.
He passed a small weapons cache. It was left unlocked, probaply by one of the few mercenary's on the ship arming themselves incase of a boarding. Luckily, it still held some weaponry. Two pistols, and a shotgun. It sufficed. Though his training back on Riviera had taught him how to use weapons like this, he'd never had to use it against another Human. Ever. Regardless, he put the pistols behind his back and hit the shotgun under his jacket...Somewhat.
Hallway, turn, left, right, hallway, left, down, hallway, right, cargobay. There were three people seemingly guarding some sort of container. The calm voice in his head turned into a collection of wardrums when he rested his eyes upon it. He wanted to jump inside there, guns blazing, grab the container, and leave the ship a hero. But he didn't. He hesitated. Why? He didn't know. Perhaps it was him doubting his cause, his masters, his goal. Maybe it was something else, or, some one else. The ship shook. He could see the shield taking a heavy pounding through the window, and knew he had to act now. Shck-Shck. Loaded.
WHAM!The door slammed against the ground and he waltzed in guns blazing as imagined. He shot one of the guards right in the chest and he flew backwards into a couple of food canisters. The other two stood there, shocked. He tried to fire again but the weapon jammed. This is probaply the reason why the gun was left behind in the first place. The guards snapped out of their shock and drew their weapons. BANG-BANG!
The walls had holes in them the size of watermelons, and so did the guards. Johnathan stood there with his guns aimed at the place where the guards stood several seconds ago. Now they laid on the floor, bleeding and dead. The voice echoed once more, it almost seemed to roar out. He dropped his weapons and ran towards the container. It had Warning signs flashing all over it, but still he opened it.
As the container opened, the object inside it exploded with a massive force, tearing a chunk out of the ship in the process. Seconds after, the ship's radar detected a rather large host of yet unkown vessels approaching..
The ship shook violently and the lights on the bridge turned off and in a minute later on again, one of the bridge crew lay unconsience on the floor. They where at drift, and enegy levels where low.
"Report! What hit us?" Captain Schultz demanded.
"We werent hit, an explosion down by the cargo bays, it seams that it was the same bay as the good Professors device was being held."
The ship was at drift, it's engines knocked out and shields, not to mention it's weapons. Tisiphone was damaged, and more then that it had one chance and it was the strange cruiser guarding them. THe huge strange alien vessel that claimed it was to protect them against the Nomads.
The science officer yelled out;
"A large fleet has come into range... Nomad signatures!!!"
Schultz sat down and wiped the sweat off his forehead and he sighed, and after looking at each of the bridge crew. Said, in a low but steady voice;
"Send out an SOS, we need help if we are to survive"
But not far away, waited a suprise for the Nomads.
Saker's eyes narrowed as more Nomads appeared on the scanners. This time there were 3 gunboats with the scores of fighters that streaked towards them.
A second later, an SOS flashed on the screen as the Tisiphone screamed for help. Saker breathed deeply, his soul attached to the core of the Peregrine mentally, emotionally and physically. He closed his eyes as he raised shields slowly.
His breathing slowly quickened, his pulse raising, his heart beating. The children stopped where they were, and watched and waited.
Then Saker's eyes flicked open, endorphins shrieked through his veins, and his fingers clenched on the cold steel of the chair he sat in. Hairs raised to attention as he shivered at the sight of the beings he hated.
"DIE, YOU EXILES OF ALL THAT IS RIGHT AND GOOD!"
The children seemed to teleport they moved to quickly. One instant they were stationary, and the next they were among the Nomads. Weapons flew and ripped into the organic flesh of the attackers, war whoops flitting their way through radio waves, and engine trails crisscrossing each other into a beautiful pattern of death and destruction and doom.
Hatched opened on the front of the Peregrines massive bulk, and missiles streaked across the small space between the ship and the Nomad's, emitting blue trails as they weaved in between children and rocks, impacting onto the hulls of the monsters that threatened the Corvo nearby.
The Light Mortars ripped into life, each one shooting across space in an instant. Rocks flashed with the deadly light as each one struck a Nomad GUnboat, the antimatter ripping through the weak shell's of the Nomads as if there was nothing there. Children swooped around the Peregrine chasing Nomad fighters, twisting and cartwheeling and looping as they dealt their deadly revenge for the death of the AI that they killed long ago.
Then a shriek of death passed through Saker, as Child.32 exploded. Instantly she uploaded herself into the Peregrines mainframe, to be remade after the battle.
It inspired the children and Saker, who roared their anger at the invaders. Any nomad that approached the stricken Tisiphone was ripped to shreds instantly. Green weapons of the Children clashed with the Blue energy of the monsters, creating a cacophany of deadly explosions everywhere in space.
For the Children were angry. Some said that computers couldn't feel, but Kewl was flying and he was angry. Saker sat there and he was angry.
The pure emotion of this feeling ripped through the arteries of Saker, coursed through the circuits of the fighting warriors outside, and infuriated the Nomads.
The Corsair Gunboat had tried to flee after the first Nomad ships had been disposed off, now when the new wave of seamingly undefeatable Organic attackers came, the catain panicked and drove straight towards them, firying it's weapons at the fighters and was unsucessful as the Nomad Gunboats shot the Corsair's ship to shreds.
As the Large AI cruiser, with it's enormous supply of weaponry started to blast the Nomads to shreds and while doing so, protected the heavily damaged Research Cruiser Tisiphone, so it wouldnt be destroyed, another wing of unknown targets came into range, their beige colors showed of their civilian design and as the wing leader yelled over the hails to the Peregrine and the Tisiphone they launched torpedos at the Nomad Gunboats;
"This is Brock Callahan of the Zoner Escort wing Zebra-1, we got your SOS, were here to assist, to the Unknown vessel, dont fire upon us as we wont fire upon you."
His tone of voice was that of a man that knew what he was doing, he had fought in battles before, but he had never fought this many nomads at once. The Corvo Cruiser was of Zoner ID and IFF, so their duty was clear, protect the ship at all cost.
Missiles and Laser blasts scorched the hull of one of the Nomad GUnboats, it's organic hull began to crack under the enormous pressure of firepower. It exloded in a huge array of lights and colors.
Schultz looked over at his Tactical officer and asked; "Do we have enough power to launch missiles?"
The young man looked at his Captain and said with a sour voice; "We lost all but one Launcher.. And all other offensive weaponry is gone aswell.. Im sorry sir."
Schultz nodded but a slight smile etched his stressed face and he said with determination; "Fire that tube then, and get double teams on reloading it, we need to help our defenders, with everything we got.. Is that understood!?"
The tactical officer saluted and started to shout orders trough the com's, a minute later a missile left the Tisiphones only missile tube, and a short while after that, another, and a another. The Battle raged on, but the Tisihone wasnt going to fall down without a fight.
The Missile tube fired and fired at the Nomad ships, the Zoner Fighters where blasting their way trough the blue alien ships, their numbers where superior but the Nomad had superior weaponry and shielding, not to mention the smaller ship's agility, but the Peregrine changed the odds considerly. It's weapons and shielding where far superior then everything else in the fight. It blasted trough the Nomad's shields and hulls like a hot knife cutting trough butter, they exploded as the their missiles and ligth mrotar roared, the last of the Gunboats exploded in a huge array of colors and light, the other Nomads quickly gathered and regrouped and went in formation towards the Peregrine, but the Zoner fighters responded with skill and experience and flanked the Last group of Nomad fighters, a collected and awesome blur of energy weapons, from both the Zoner fighters and the Peregrine finished off the remaining Nomads.. It was a sickening silence as the Fighters, hailed the Stranded Tisiphone, it's energy twindling.
"Do you need assistance Tisiphone?"
Schultz lay over his console, his head blead but he was alive, he pushed the button on his console to respond when he noticed that the concole was fried, he signaled to his communications officer and she pushed the hail on.
"Yes... We need a transport to evacuate the wounded and a salvage ship to tow the Tisiphone back to Gran Canaria, or Even Theta.." Schultz lay back in his chair and lay our a heavy sigh.. It was over.. Finaly
It took awhile, but the Zoner Wing Leader responded with;
"Transports on their way, theyl tow you to The Closest Shipyard and evacuate the civilians"
Sturm, had packed all the equipment into bags and crates, put his work into several copies and packed his own personal belongings, he was going to work in safety now, to complete the Strand, to complete the Virus that will be able to kill the Blue monsters once and and for all.
Cassandra woke up in a daze, her head bleeding but she managed to get herself to stand up and take a look outside the viewport, she saw the Nomads being blown up by the AI cruiser.. It was glorious, it's complexity.. She couldnt stop looking at it's splendor, perhaps it was the blood loss, or perhaps it was the whole situation she was in.
The Nomads knew more then she could fathom, how could they know off the Nomad Power Cell the Professor had purchased of the Corsair? How could they.. No they couldnt know of the Virus he was creating, only she and him knew off it, all they and the crew knew was that Sturm was working on something really important, important enough to convinve Captain Schultz to break off their normal routine and their research of anamolies around Sirius.
But how did the Nomads know?
And what did they know everything?
Did they know that Sturm was working on the final sulotion to the Nomads?
She began to run towards Sturm's office, she hadto warn him, she hadto do something, or it all would end.
//Note: The Peregrine is an AI cruiser. The "Children" are 40 AI drones who fly around with the Peregrine. For more info look for the story of the peregrine.
The Children flew dazzling patterns around the damaged ships, protecting, watching. Saker sighed as he disconnected from the Peregrine. It felt like a piece of his heart was being ripped out everytime he did it.
He gasped slightly, and breathed deeply, before opening a channel.
"This is Saker... is everyone ok?"
There was no response, and then a voice came through.
"Yes... We need a transport to evacuate the wounded and a salvage ship to tow the Tisiphone back to Gran Canaria, or Even Theta.."
Saker sighed, for some reason they didn't hear him.
"I repeat, this is Saker Kwah of the TAZ ship Peregrine. Please respond."
Schultz, who had for a moment dozed off, he was so tired, so very tired, heard the transmission from the TAZ ship... TAZ, it's a zoner? He looked at his science officer and asked;
"What's the IFF of that ship?"
She looked at her console and responded with a smile;
"It reads zoner sir.."
He clicked the communications trigger on his own console;
"Peregrine.. You have the thanks off the men and women onboard the Tisiphone.. And my personal thanks.. Thank you Saker KWah, thank you.. We have lost atleast 12, and another 12 are in our medbay being treated.. How are you?"
He sighed as he closed the comm and awaited a response.
Sturm sat on a crate as Cassandra ran into his office and he smiled at her;
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