Fall of The Anchorage: A Story of Survivors

[Sarawr!?]

Libertonian Carrier L.N.S Anchorage,
Magellan system,
Naval Station FP4,
Resupply & Border Security Operation.
1720 Hours
Current Date: +82 Days on Patrol.

Rachel stood quietly on the Command Platform, a small slightly elevated platform with railings on three sides, where the Commanding Officer on a ship like the Anchorage could stand and overlook all the officers working different stations on the Bridge. She had a serious look about her as she listened to the different officers going about their duties, tracking ships, communicating with the engineering crews, monitoring the supply shuttles from "Freeport Four", and other traffic in the area. Everything seemed to be normal, and her people were carrying out their tasks efficiently. Rachel felt good, they had gone 82 days without a major incident aboard the ship.

One of the Lieutenant's who had been monitoring supply operations turned and looked up to Rachel, declaring their progress excitedly."Ma'am, our food ration stock is full up, we've loaded half the armaments and fuel supplies that we require, we'll only be here another few hours if things keep going like this"

Rachel merely nodded to the young man, her relaxed mood having been disrupted by his declaration.

"Admiral..." Came a nervous sounding voice from behind the Command Platform, prompting her to turn toward it's source. "Speak, Pierson."

The Lieutenant Commander nodded quickly, looking down at her computer screen and then back up to the Admiral. "Ma'am we...there's an IFF-less Bison class transport approaching our Port side at high speed, it's not responding to our radio hails and it appears to be spooling up it's cruise drive...if it cont-"

Rachel stepped off the Command Platform, putting a hand on Pierson's shoulder and giving her a look that said "Stop and listen". "Pierson, tell the CAP to get spaceborne, have them cripple that damned ship so we can find out what's what."

Pierson shook her head, frowning at Rachel. "Admiral I...we pulled the CAP in 20 minutes ago so we could refuel and rearm them..."

Rachel sighed loudly, glaring at Pierson. "You should've said something sooner, Commander!" She growled as she stepped back to the Command platform, grabbing the radio piece attached to the console above her. "Weapons, unidentified target approaching from the Port side, lock and fire a pair of CIDO missiles."

After a moment of static, the reply came back. "Can't do it, Ma'am, we're still loading new ordnance belts down here!"

Rachel exhaled deeply, a scowl visible on her face as she reset the channel on the radio receiver before speaking into it again. "Set condition one throughout the ship, all hands battlestations, prepare for collision!"

"Ma'am, there's a radio message coming from the ship!" Came a shout from Pierson which caused Rachel to turn and scowl at her. "Play it on the overhead, Now!"

A message began to play, audible by all on the Bridge "...Cap-...-erson...hijacked by X..." What followed through the static was what sounded like a gunshot, followed by the message ending.

In the moments following the transmission, a dull explosion rocked the CIC, followed by a series of smaller explosions and the faint sound of screeching metal, meanwhile Rachel remained on the command platform, gripping the rails tightly, gazing upward as if listening for further noises. After a few moments everything went completely silent, people on the bridge began to look around, recovering their composures and resuming their stations.

Rachel shook her head, standing up straight and barking orders into the radio receiver again. "Bridge, All sectors, sitrep!"

After a few moments, the replies began to come in, things weren't good.
"Engineering -- There's a small fire in one of the reactors, we've got a crew repairing it, but we're gonna have to keep the engines offline!"

"Flight Operations -- Port Flightdecks 7-10 breached, casualty count incomplete, fire on the decks...the ah...the Bison appears to have made it's way -inside- the Anchorage...we need Marines here -now-"

"Weapons -- Port side CIDO launchers destroyed, one of the ordnance belts exploded during loading...numerous casualties, number unknown, fire in the ammo storage area!"

After hearing the first few reports Rachel just sort of drowned things out as she began to plan a course of action. As she stood there thinking, the XO of the ship, Commodore Aleksandr Melnikov came up and put his hand on her shoulder firmly.

"Admiral, we need to do something about that damned ship, the Flight deck crews need help, and we need to get things locked down, send me with a MARSEC detachment, lets get this under control.."

Rachel looked at Melnikov for a long moment, he was a career Marine and she trusted his judgement almost implicitly. "Yeah...right, okay..." She nodded to him, turning back toward her radio receiver and giving orders to the Marine Security teams, as she did so, Melnikov left the CIC, presumably headed for the armory where he'd meet with the Marines.

------------------------
------------------------

Libertonian Carrier L.N.S Anchorage,
Commodore Aleksandr Melnikov,
MARSEC-1,
Flight Deck 8,
1735 Hours


There were twelve of them, heavily armed and armored Marines, spread out in a long half circle weapons at the ready, as they formed a perimeter around the only exposed hatch of the ship that had so rudely burst through the hull of the Anchorage.

"Alright Marines, listen up!" Came the harsh, raspy voice of Commodore Melnikov. "If they don't come to us, we're gonna go to them. All we know right now is that that ship was hijacked and that this little party was no accident, we don't know who, we don't know why." Melnikov walked through the formation, looking over his men, nodding to them as they prepared themselves. "That doesn't matter though, the defense of our ship and it's crew is our top priority. Anything on that Bison that ain't already on the ground, dies, do you get me, Marines? This ain't a goddamn game!"

"We get you, Sir!" came the uniform response, even if some of the Marines didn't look so sure of themselves. After a long moment of silence, the entry hatch of the Bison literally exploded away from the ship, nearly hitting one of the Marines during it's short but violent flight across the deck. Shortly after this, two men carrying small sub-machine guns attempted to blitz out of the Bison, firing wildly toward the Marines nearby, the pair of gunmen was quickly put down, dozens of gauss projectiles (super heated metal spikes firing at high speeds) literally shredded the body parts that they impacted, leaving the two gunmen in a bloody mess between the Bison's door and the Marine squad.

"Alright that's it, stack up Marines, we're going i-" Melnikov's orders were interrupted by the appearance of a seemingly unarmed man in the open doorway, as the Marines noticed him he stepped down onto the deck, hands raised above his head.

Two marines quickly moved toward him with the intent to detain him, shouting orders and not accounting for the vest the man was clad in, at first glance it had appeared to be ballistic plating, though Melnikov knew better.

"Bomb! Marines get back!" His shout was drowned out by a bright flash of light as an explosion of metal ball bearings and other debris ripped through the Marine squad, instantly killing the two men who had been closest to the bomber, injuring and maiming several others, and knocking everyone, including Melnikov, who had been behind the other Marines, violently to the ground.

------------------------
------------------------

Libertonian Carrier L.N.S Anchorage,
FADM. Rachel Baker,
CIC,
1745 Hours


They had all heard it, the dull sounds of small arms fire, followed by another dull explosion and then silence. Most of the personnel on the Bridge seemed semi-frozen, unsure of what to do, many of them had never been exposed to an incident like this before.

"A-Admiral Baker, ma'am...do you want me to try reaching MARSEC-1 again?" Came Pierson's clearly shaken voice as Rachel glanced back at her, the scowl from earlier having been replaced with a look of genuine concern. "Do so, Pierson, find out what the hell is going on down there.."

The young blonde tech officer nodded eagerly, speaking into her radio headset, trying several times for a response, before finally her facial expression changed to one of near panic as she glanced wordlessly toward Rachel again.

"What is it, Pierson?" Rachel asked, looking to Pierson as she waited for an answer. "I...I...Admiral..." Pierson shook her head, biting down on her lip.

"You tell me what the hell is going on on my ship, Pierson!" Rachel barked, stepping toward the young officer in a swift motion. Still unable to say anything, Pierson merely disconnected her headset from the communications console, allowing the message she was hearing to be heard by all on the Bridge.

"We have your Marines...and we have your Hangar bay, now you will play by our rules, and you will do as -I- say, or they will all die..." The message was clear, though the voice was unfamiliar to Rachel or anyone else.

All Rachel could do was stand there, a look of shock visible on her face as she hit the repeat button on Pierson's console, listening to the message several times over. "How the hell did this happen..." she thought to herself.

------------------------
------------------------

---

[LN] Recruitment | Rachel Baker Bio