There was utter chaos all over the bridge to the Tenabras
A battleship in full cruise speed had rammed through
her engine. Destroying the whole back end of the ship.
Both ships were engulfed in flames though no one on
Tenabras knew of what had just happened. All they
knew was that something strong had hit there ship
while it was sitting offline for the night.
"I need a report on why were not moving ASAP.
Find out what just hit us!" Stewart, Commodore
and Commander of the Tenabras ordered.
"Sir the engines..." Emily, navigation's commander paused.
"What about them Emily?!" Stewart asked wanting to get an
answer immediately after.
"There, there gone..." Emily let the final word drift off.
"What do you mean there gone?" Stewart said in confusion.
"Something hit us and hit us hard. Hard enough to go through
the whole back end of the ship." Emily said kind of stunned.
The ship was in two pieces with debris of herself and the
other ship scattered all over the place. Some bodies
floating lifeless in the field of debris.
The other ship's front end was completely compacted from
the initial impact. She suffered a great loss.
"What's the status of the ship?" Caitlyn, 2nd commodore of
Tenabras, asked.
"Ma'am life support has failed on several decks. We're leaking
oxygen like no tomorrow. And fires have spread to the middle
of the ship. We may have to evacuate." Amy, Defense Grid
Commander, replied.
Caitlyn nodded then looked at Stewart who was staring
right back to her.
"What are our orders Stewart?" Caitlyn asked in a calm voice.
"We aren't evacuating this ship. Lock down all sections where
the fire is. Get everyone in those sections into the area's
that aren't losing oxygen. We will have someone tow us
to safety. I hope." Stewart replied a bit at ease.
Everyone looked at each other and just nodded to acknowledge
that they may very well die waiting to be rescued.
//If you want to be the other battleship please PM me. Ill change
it to your ships name and this is to the first person who PMs me.\\
"Send a distress call out. Say we need a ship
strong enough to tow us and a medical vessel
out here ASAP." Stewart commanded.
"Yes sir!" Shiki, communications commander,
nodded then went to work.
"Sir! We found out what hit us. One of the
fighter patrols said a battleship tore right
threw the engine room." Rhiannon, Flight
deck commander, said.
Stewart paused for a minute in disbelief.
Blink then shook his head and got
back on track.
"Find out if Jessica is okay. Shiki get
someone to call the medic bay and
prepare all rooms to be filled with the
wounded. Also see if you can get a hold
of that other battleship and figure out
why they just went threw our ship."
Stewart commanded.
Jessica is the Engine Room commander.
"Yes sir." Shiki replied. Then started
barking out orders to the communications
team.
"Stewart two heavy lifters, zoner affiliated,
received our distress call. They are on there
way with the Kalyco, Cruiser Class Medic
ship." Caitlyn said.
"Alright please check the roster and see who
is missing. Also tell Rhiannon to scout the
other ship and do a damage comparison
of the ships." Stewart said as Caitlyn nodded
and walk off.
"Sir, we just received word that the Mistralith
is inbound to our location to provide escort
while we are towed back to Evora."
Shiki said to Stewart.
"Mistralith that's that new Osiris Class
Battleship correct?" Stewart asked.
"Yes sir. The newest addition to the Order
fleet. She just passed all her combat
test."
"Roger that tell the Mistralith thank you
for the escort. A ship like that will be
a bit of good news in this troubled event."
Shiki nodded as she went back to work.
"Umm Stewart we have a problem."
Caitlyn said a bit worried.
Stewart looked at her then said.
"What's wrong?"
"The Battleship that rammed us. It had
Order robots onboard. They were
programed to collide with us."
"Are you saying we were betrayed?"
Stewart asked.
"I think so. And to add to that we have
an even larger problem." Caitlyn said
with a very frightened look on her face.
Then she continued.
"The battleship has a bomb on it. It's
armed at set to explode in the upcoming
hour. Stewart that battleship is packing
enough explosives to completely obliterate
anything with a 100 click radius."
Stewart was speechless as a silence
suddenly loomed over the room.
"How far is the Mistralith?" Stewart
finally said.
"It's 40 minutes out sir." Shiki said.
"Can we defuse it?"
"The bomb? No sir we dont have the time
to remove the debris that's in the way."
Amy replied.
There was another pause in the room.
"Get Mistralith on the screen."
"Yes sir."
Then the whole front window of the bridge
became a large screen with the commander
of the Mistralith in view.
"Commander, this is Commodore Stewart
Chamberlain of the Tenabras. We have a
situation. It appears the ship that rammed
us was piloted by Order Robots. Programed
to come at our ship. The ship we have now
found out is carrying enough explosives
to wipe out a small system. The bomb
it set to go off within the hour. From what
we can gather at your current speed and
location you will arrive to late. The
heavy lifters dont have the strength to
tow a fully loaded osiris at top speed.
You're better off turning around...."
His last words drifted as he was couldn't
think of anything else to say.
"This could very well be the end for us
all. Our escape pods aren't fast enough
to get out of range of the blast. And
there are no ships around this late."
Stewart said to his crew as he prepared
to exit the bridge.
//Please note that story time is based off the replied that are given
and not RL time. So The bomb may not actualy go off in 40 min RL.
Colonel Noah Tanis looked at the young faces of her crew, this was troubling news indeed. The Order could not afford to loose a Battleship with the sudden influx of Bounty Hunters, especially the Tenabras. They were looking to her, awaiting her orders as she struggled to collect her thoughts.
She returned to the chair in the center of the bridge, Helm, stay on your course, push every bit of spare power we have to the engines. Ensign Harris, get on the comms and tell Commodore Stewart we are coming after him. Noah then turned to her Operations Officer, Lieutenant Reno, what exactly is the status of the Tenabras and the other ship?
The man made a quick pass over the controls before him, She is currently adrift near the outer edge of a type 3 asteroid field. Judging from the scans it looks like the other ship impacted her where the primary driver coils meet the main engineering hull, one third of the ship has been, for all intents and purposes, destroyed.
The weakest part of an Osiris hull. Noah thought out loud, What about the other ship? Are its engines still online?
Yes maam, however they have been locked out by the robots and are inoperable. There is no way we can get that ship moving under her own power again. I have already looked into reprogramming the robots, but it would take me at least two hours to break the encryption.
Maam, Lieutenant Colonel Lorian, the XO began, There is a wing of fighters in the area, we can have the pilots fire their towing lines into the unidentified ship and set their auto pilots away from the Tenabras
Then have the pilots engage cruise and eject. The ship wouldnt make it no where near cruise speed, but it might help. Besides Id rather loose five fighters than a whole Battleship. Harris, issue the orders, have the medical ship pick them up when it arrives. How far out are those Heavy Lifters?
They will be on station with the Tenabras in ten minuets, Replied Lieutenant Deline from the tactical station.
Good, have them continue as planned, be sure they tow the Tenabras directly away from the other ship, were going to need all the distance we can get. Lieutenant Monroe, what are our chances with the fighters towing the other ship and the Lifters and the Mistralith towing the Tenabras in the opposite direction?
Maam we will make it approximately 85K from the other ship. The Mistraliths shields might hold, but the Lifters and the Tenabras wont make it.
Noah sighed as she looked out the main view screen. Reno what do the scans show that planetoid to be? She said, pointing at the object on the screen.
It is a class 1, uninhabited. Nothing remarkable maam.
How far from the Tenabras?
87K
Can we get the Tenabras there in the amount of time we have?
Calculating. If Mistralith gets there and is able to assist in the towing we will be cutting it very close, the timing of us reaching the object and the detonation is only seconds apart.
Noah smiled, her first day with her own command and her crew were going to save the Flagship of 122nd. Prep to launch our fighters from cruise speed, they are going to pull also, and Harris, contact Commodore Stewart, tell him he just might be around a bit longer than he thinks.
//Crew of the Mistralith to avoid confusion later.
CO Colonel Noah Tannis
XO Lt. Col. Fana Lorian
Engineering Maj. Elena Johnson
Medical Dr. Joshua Coyle
Tactical Lt. Jake Deline
Operations Lt. Jack Reno
Helm Lt. Katrina Monroe
Comms Ens. Benjamin Harris
"Sir, the Mistralith is still heading towards us.
Except she's coming a bit faster then cruise speed.
Colonel Noah says there coming to help weather
we like it or not." Shiki said.
Stewart grinned and nodded in agreement.
"Alright ask them what there plan is to get us out
of here." Stewart replied.
"Sir it appears Mistralith is sending a group of
fighters, equipped with tow lines. In route to
the ship that rammed us."
"Hmm they must be useing those fighters to
pull the ship farther away from us while they
tow us the other way...."
Stewart paused.
"That's brilliant! Shiki get Rhiannon and her
crew on the line! Tell them to prepare what fighters
we have with tow hooks. Get them ready to launch
ASAP! We're going to help save this ship!"
"Yes sir!"
The crew suddenly was smiling again. They knew
they may actually make it out of this attack.
"We can make the fighters hook the other ship
and with all 10 of them. Engage cruise and once at
the max towing speed eject the hooks! Since fighters
are smaller they can cruise back to us faster and get
inside either our hanger or the Mistralith! But
where is she going to tow us to....The rock
out there is way to far....Hmmm...."
Stewart was thinking aloud. As the crew saw
that he was prepared to risk his life just to save
the ship.
He paused then looked at Shiki.
"Call all of the 122nd Fleet. Tell them we're on red
alert and prepare for inevitable attacks from
Liberty and or corrupt Order ships. Tell them to stay
low and make no contact with the outside of there
ships! For now we must wait for the Mistralith and
her fighters to arrive. The lifters should get here
any minute...Giving Mistralith a few less distance
to have to tow us."
Shiki didnt say a word and went straight to work.
A minute or so passed.
"Sir.....The Kestrel our newest ship..."
A pause as Shiki tried to figure out what to say.
"Kestrel just took a major hit. 50% of the ship is
on fire and her defense grid is down. Reports
from scouts in the area are saying another
wave of attacks are coming her way. The enemy
is still unknown. We also just found out that
Alina Ashford, commander of Kestrel, is no
longer on board. 10 of the Escape pods are
reported missing, and the scouts near her
just received message to leave the immediate
area."
Stewart's grin went to a flat out angry look.
"Report to all 122nd again, tell them the Kestrel
our only recon/research cruiser has just been lost.
All 122nd ships are here-by ordered to return home.
The flagship will arrive within the day if we survive."
Shiki nodded again and went back to work.
"Lets hope the Mistralith gets here on time."
Stewart stated.
A high pitched alarm echoed throughout the bridge of the Mistralith. Report! Colonel Tanis yelled from her center seat.
Maam the entirety of the 122nd has just been put on red alert by order of Commodore Stewart. And I have a secure message from the Commodore for you, text only. Shall I transmit it to your panel?
Yes Reno, Noah replied as she activated her control panel to the left of her seat. Colonel be on the alert, the Kestrel was just attacked by an unknown force and critically damaged.
~Stewart
Noah grimaced at the message. The Kestrel too? This is more than a coincidence. Tactical Red Alert, all hands to battle stations. Deline run constant scans, if anything so much as twitches out there I want to know about it. Helm, what is our ETA?
ETA to the Tenabras is 5 minuets Colonel. The Lifters have began towing operations and the medical cruiser has all the wounded on board and is heading away from the unknown ship at full cruise. Also the Tenabras has deployed her remaining fighters and began towing the other ship away.
Colonel, Lt. Deline said, We are in visual range of the Tenabras.
On screen. The main view screen came to life displaying the the strickes ship before them.
Fana stood up from her seat to the left of Noahs, My God how did this happen?
No time for speculation, deploy our remaining fighter wing to take up escort positions around the Tenabras. Are we in range to use the tractor beam yet? Reno nodded in response to her question. Good then lets get to it.
The Mistralith took up a position between the Heavy Lifters and engaged her tractor beam. The ships slowly began to lurch forward.
Status Report Jake, Noah said quietly from her seat.
The Tenabras Hull Integrity Field is holding, we are clear to engage cruise.
Ok Ben let the Commodore know its about to get bumpy. Katrina, take the engines to full power but gently we dont want to tear the Tenabras apart. Bridge to Engnieering, Elena we are going to need every scrap of power you have. Evacuate non essential areas of the ship and transfer life support from those sections if you have to.
Understood Colonel, I will be able to get you 120% tops, but that might fry out half the relays in the ship and I dont recommend doing it for more than 30 minuets tops.
Thats fine, if we dont make it to that moon in 20 were all going to be a pink mist anyway.
Another alarm sounded, Colonel I have two Bounty Hunter fighters and one bomber at 210 degrees mark 6 Port!
Of all times for those pests to show up, Tanis to Beta Wing, break off and engage those fighters, if they disrupt our engines we wont make it. When you have dealt with them rendezvous with us. On que the fighter wing broke formation and headed to intercept the Hunters. Jake could they have destroyed the Kestrel?
Those ships arent damaged maam, I doubt they could take the Kestrel n the first place, much less unscathed. No I would say they had nothing to do with it.
Noah nodded, Helm, status.
reactor core temperature buildup in the other ship confirms, detonation in 16 mineuts 25 seconds, time to the moon 16 minuets 10 seconds mark.
Fana walked over to the Tactical station, Jake lets see if we can find a way to extend our shields around the Tenabras. Looks like they might need it.
Noah sent a message to Commodore Stewart,
We are going to try to make it behind that moon, if you have any power left try and burn you maneuvering thrusters, they might help out enough to get us there with a bit more time to spare. This is going to be close.
"Commodore, they want us to try and use
our maneuvering thrusters to give us more speed."
Shiki said and the message came in.
"Then lets use them! All maneuvering thrusters full
power lets get to that moon!" Stewart commanded.
"Sir the fighters have ejected the hooks and the ship
is now drifting further away. The fighters are now heading
back to provide escort." Shiki stated another comm
message.
"Also the Kestrel's missing ejection pods were found by
the Adelka, one of four combat cruisers in the 122nd."
Stewart had no further commands. He just watched as the
scene unfolded before them.
The Mistralith in full cruise towing his ship with debris still
falling off the back part of the ship as it moved. The
sudden attack of BH bombers and fighters getting swatted
like flies by the Order Aces and Mistralith main defense guns.
It was an amazing site to see the dedication that the
ships crew had at keeping Tenabras out of harms way.
Colonel, Katrina began, We are coming up on the moon, distance 5K, ETA 45 seconds. Time to detonation, one minuet.
Noah nodded, Alright, slow us down and get us into position. Be careful, the integrity field of the Tenabras is already weak enough. Lt. Deline, as soon as we are in place extend our shields around the Tenabras like we discussed.
The small moon began to fill the enter left side of the view screen as the four ships and the wings of fighters circled into position. The Mistralith and the two Heavy Lifters slowed the remains of the Tenabras, placing the moon directly between the damaged ship.
Colonel, we are in position, ten seconds until detonation. Katrina spoke softly.
Alright, Jake, shields. He nodded, confirming the Mistraliths shields had been extended to encompass the Tenabras. Noah pressed a button on her control panel putting her on the ship wide intercom, as well as with the other ships of the small fleet, Tanis to all hands, brace for impact. A blinding flash erupted from the edges of the planetoid, the unknown ship had exploded.
Reno gripped his console, Hang on, here comes the shockwave! The entire ship jolted violently, showers of sparks erupted from sever control panels. The bridge crew fell to the deck, all trying to regain their footings. And as quickly as it came, it was gone. The shockwave had passed.
Noah returned to her command chair, again she pressed a button, Bridge to sickbay, medical emergency on the bridge, Katrina, the helmsman, was unconscious in the deck with her arm bent in an unnatural fashion. Reno, damage report,
Shields are at 15%, and the regeneration generator is off line. We have reports of minor injuries on all decks, micro fractures in the hull along the port side, and Cruise Drive is offline. Most of our escort fighters are inoperable, and are sending out maydays. But on the bright side, if it wasnt for that rock we would have not survived this one. The Tenabras looks to be in a similar state, her structural integrity has been severely compromised though. If we are going to tow her back it will have to be at Impulse until we can get damage control over to reinforce the hull.
Looks like it was a good idea to make half of the command hate me in return for the Mk. 8 armor upgrade I pestered them for. Noah looked to the medic that had arrived and was tending to Katrina, How is she?
Shell be fine maam, broken arm and a mild concussion.
Noah nodded, Ensign Harris, contact Evora tell them we were successful, but would appreciate any fighter support they can spare. Reno, begin tractoring the fighters that are inoperable into the hanger, if they are beyond repair, tractor the plots escape pod and destroy the remains of the ship. Fana, take helm and begin to move us away as soon as all of our fighters are accounted for. Harris, tell the Commodore that we are sending over a few extra damage control technicians, we need to get to cruise ASAP. Jake, keep looking for whatever attacked the Kestrel and anything that might try to ram us, the hard part is over now lets just get hoe in one piece.
"Sir we have lost another deck. The shock wave knocked
a chunk of the hull right off." Shiki said.
"Any casualties?" Stewart replied.
"No sir no one was on that deck during time of impact.
The Mistralith is sending more repair teams to work on
our ship. Our repair teams could use the help."
"Good to hear. She survived. Looks like Mistralith
damaged her engine a bit since we're only at impulse."
"Yes sir she did. Though they have minor injuries
from the explosion. As does our ship."
"Sir we got the turrets that we have remaining back up
at full power! The ship can now defend against enemy
attacks." Amy was excited now that she can blow
anything up that attacked or was affiliated with the
sudden attack.
"Good let the Mistralith know that. We are now 1 1/2
battleship. Even half a battleship could take out one
full one!"
Shiki went to work on transmitting messages to Mistralith
along with the rest of the 122nd.
By now 75% of the 122nd was already at Evora. Though
one of the 75% was smoking and there was fires visible
on several sections of the ship. It was the reconstructed
Adler. Just in a smaller form.
Adler was the sister ship and the oldest ship out of the two
before it was used as an explosive weapon in the St. Mitchell
incident in Alaska. The new vessel was a Light Assault Carrier.
Another new prototype in the 122nd Fleet. She would
be the only Carrier in the fleet.
Adler took a massive attack from a battleship. Though this
one didnt get a chance to ram her. Instead it was ambushed
by Adler's cloaked bomber wing. The attacks were getting
more aggressive as reports came in. Something was up
and Stewart thought the Tenabras was to blame.
"Tell all ships that are still not in Order Space to cloak. If
the cloak fails tell them to repair it ASAP and get hidden.
We're likely to have more attacks on our ships soon enough."
Stewart commanded.
The Mistralith still towing Tenabras was still at impulse. Lucky
there was no sign of hostile units in the area. They must have
expected both ships to have exploded with the bomb. Oh
how they were wrong.
"This is Evora shipyard to the 122nd Fleet. We can not
accompany any more of your ships at this time. Please
stand by near Battleship Apophis (Name butchered sorry)."
The Mistralith was still way out from Evora so they had
a ways to go before Tenabras was in a facility able to
repair its large damage.
The journey home is gonna be longer than Stewart hoped.
Noah continued to twiddle her thumbs on the bridge. The cruise drive was still offline, and there was still no word on the attackers of the Kestrel. And now another 122nd ship had been critically damaged. This was not shaping up to be a good day after all. She pressed a button on her control panel, connecting her to engineering.
Elena this is Colonel Tanis, what is your status down there?
As good as can be expected maam, that shockwave knocked the main plasma transfer couplings way out of alignment. We should have full Cruise capacity back in about 5 minuets.
Major Jackson you guys have been working on that thing for the better part of two hours, realigning the couplings shouldnt take that long.
Maam, its all new systems down here, we were all trained on the Mk7 Order engine assemblies, these new Mk8s are taking some getting used to.
Very well, what is the status on the Tenabras?
Her integrity field strength is up to the point that we can go to cruise again, I just need a few more minuets to make sure everything is good down here.
Alright, be thorough, but quick, I dont want whatever hit the Tenabras, the Kestrel and now the Adler to find us limping back to base.
Understood, Ill let you know as soon as we are good to go.
Noah sat back in her chair, The 122nd is getting picked apart, but why just them, there are plenty of other Order ships out there. But as of now only 122nd hips have been hit, something is going on here. Ill have to speak with Commodore Chamberlin when we get to Evora. In the mean time
Jake go back over the sensor logs and try to identify that ship that hit the Tenabras, cross reference with the information we got about the weapon types used in the attacks on the Kestrel and the Adler. Lets see if we cant find out what is going on here, link up with the tactical officer on the Tenabras if you can. Also, the Tenabras has her weapon systems online again, so coordinate with their tactical officer in the event we are attacked as well. Jake nodded in response.
Colonel Tanis, this is engineering, Elenas voice rang over the intercom, Cruise Engines are back online, just accelerate slowly so we can monitor the couplings if you dont mind.
Great, you heard her, Colonel Lorian, take us to full cruise speed, slowly. Harris, let the commodore know we are moving again.
Again, Noah sent a private message to Commodore Chamberlin,
Commodore, I know it is not my place to judge the strength of the 122nd, but it looks like you have taken a massive hit, if you need us, the Mistralith will act for the 122nd.
~Tanis
At least we will only be out here in the open for another half hour or so, so stay on your toes people.
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