Disclaimer: this started out as a "original" fiction, but I ended up borrowing so many anime characters as cast members I'm moving this onto here. I own none of the casts from Evangelion or El Hazzard, I'm just borrowing them.
Tennokiken Voyagers: One
The bridge layout would have been oddly familiar to those who knew their science fiction. Two work stations were set in front of a large viewscreen, containing the ship's tactical and navigation systems. A central command chair was set up behind them, at the center of the large circle. Just behind it, three stations were set up for communications, science and engineering purposes, and in between them was a central lift to other sections of the craft.
"Where have I seen this set-up before?" the green eyed blonde looked over at her companion thoughtfully. Captain Kelly Miles had an interesting reputation, a quiet and soft spoken scientist who had ended up on the command track by circumstance more than planning. Still, she seemed to be rather good at it.
Dan Wisner, the new ship's navigator, smiled back at her tentatively. He was more than a bit taller them her, and the brown haired man felt oddly uncomfortable about it. Some part of his back-brain was loudly complaining that he shouldn't be taller than his captain, somehow.
"It could be that they just didn't want to have to reinvent the wheel, Captain," Dan finally offered up tentatively.
"Kelly," she said to him absent mindedly as she took a seat in the command chair. She flipped up a control panel that was attatched to the side of the chair as she continued, "I generally prefer a more informal command style."
"Yes, ma'am," Dan blinked as he headed over to the navigation console, sitting down and running through his controls.
'Ma'am isn't Kelly, but it'll do,' Kelly mused as she activated the internal communications systems. "Rio, you there?"
The cranky voice of the ship's tactical officer came through loud and clear, "Over half the weapons on this piece of junk aren't fully functioning yet." From that voice you could imagine the blue eyed, black haired ex-military officer's expression of disgust, "The yard dogs tell me that it'll be a week, minimum, to get them all on line."
"Considering we're supposed to be leaving here in only two days, that's very unlikely," Kelly noted, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Dan felt a degree of nervousness that he hadn't felt before. If they didn't leave Drydock on time, the ship's captain could be in a great deal of trouble, the sort of trouble that could leak down onto her crew, too. Morbidly, he began to wonder what serving on a garbage scow might be like.
A moment of silence, then Kelly ordered softly,"Please patch me through to the head of the repair section over on Drydock."
"Right, Kelly," Lucille Bevía answered, the light brown haired woman taking her seat over at the communications station. She wasn't in ship's uniform, instead she wore a surplus military cap, T-shirt, and baggy pants.
There was a bit of static on the main screen, then a face appreared. She was clearly beautiful, with a slightly dusky skin tone, curly black hair and dark eyes. Victoria Donavan smiled charmingly, almost like a snake, "Captain Miles, it's been a long time."
"Not long enough, Lieutenant Commander," Kelly said calmly.
"That's Commander," Victoria frowned,
"Not when I'm going to be done with you, it won't," Kelly looked up at her image calmly, "your teams certified this vessel as ready to depart. It clearly isn't, and your signitures are on all the documentation."
"Clerical error," Victoria sat back with a smile.
"Possibly," Kelly agreed, "but it won't look good on your record, and those sort of things get looked at when one's up for promotion." She smiled slightly, knowing an ambitious woman when she saw one, "It could even prevent one from recieving an admirality."
The look in Victoria's eyes told Kelly she had scored a major hit. "I'll authorize the work crews," Victoria said coldly, "and expedite any materials requests. You'll be ready to leave on time." With that she cut the connection with a viscious gesture.
"Thank you very much," Kelly murmured.
"She is not going to forget that," Rio noted as she walked onto the bridge, wiping something off her hands with a rag.
"Maybe so," Kelly smiled wryly, "but I can live with that. Just as long as we set out on this survey mission on time."
"Navigation checks out, ma'am," Dan offered from his station.
"Kelly," she gave him a look. She activated the internal communications system again, "Engineering, status please?"
"Working on it, Cap'n," Jessica "Jessie" Kain voice came through loud and clear. "So far, the main drive, dampers and shields check out, but I'm going to have to dig to be sure." There was an edge of anger in the dark blonde's voice, and it was easy to imagine her gray eyes flashing, "I don't trust the Drydock engineers."
"Good work," Kelly disconected. She looked up to give Rio a questioning gaze, "What was that anger all about?"
"A friend of hers used to be the head of engineering over on Drydock," Rio explained, "Siobhan Ward. There's a rumor that Victoria may have helped arrange for the accident that forced her to quit, but nothing was ever proven."
"I'd best watch my back around her, then," Kelly said thoughtfully.
"We'll help you watch it, Kelly," Lucille chimed in.
"I'll go keep an eye on those repair crews," Rio said. "If she wants to go after our ship's captain," Rio added coldly as she left the bridge, "Victoria will have to go through me, first."
"Me, too," Dan agreed.
"Thank you," Kelly said softly. She smiled slightly, "But now, lets get to work, there's still a lot to do before we have to go."
Tennokiken Voyagers: Two
"Disengaging the docking clamps," Dan Wisner said, the brown haired young man activating a control on his panel, the ship rumbling slightly. The Venture rocked slightly as the clamps disengaged, the ship floating on it's own.
"Confirmed," Jessica 'Jessie' Kain agreed from her engineering station. The blonde was up on the Venture's bridge mostly to make sure that there were no mishaps in the launch.
"Tactical status?" the ship's captain asked quietly. Kelly miles looked out at the dock through the viewscreen, a thoughtful look on the green eyed blonde's face.
"We're good to go, Kelly," Rio reported from the tactical station beside Dan's. The black haired ex-military officer added with a wicked grin, "It actually looks like those drydock teams did a good job on the repairs."
"Let's wait and see if they fire," Jessie said dryly.
Kelly fought back a smile at that. "Lucille, put me through to drydock command, please." she ordered, mastering her expression.
"Right, Kelly," Lucille Bevía smiled. At least now the light brown haired woman was in her uniform, though she was still wearing that surplus military cap.
Somehow, Kelly wasn't surprised to see Victoria Donavan standing on the command deck of the drydock station, just behind the station's commander. With her dusky skin tone, curly black hair and dark eyes the woman could have been lovely, but the coldness in her eyes offset that.
"Colonel O'Rourke," Kelly nodded to the head of the station, "it's been a long time."
"Indeed," Colonel Brendan O'Rourke agreed. His brown hair was neatly trimmed, but his set of old fashioned glasses slid down occasionally from his blue-gray eyes. "Good luck with your mission, Captain," he smiled.
"Thank you, sir," Kelly said gravely. She turned to look at Victoria and continued, "And thank you, Commander Donavan, for all of your help in preparing the Venture to depart on time."
Vanessa looked like she wanted to say something rude, but she restrained herself. "You're welcome," she said, keeping her voice even.
"End communications," Kelly said to Lucille, then she looked towards Dan, "Back us away from dock, one kilometer per second to start."
"Yes, ma'am," Dan pressed the right controls, and the view of the massive space-dock moved away from them gradually. Moving through the standard routine he turned the ship once it was far enough from dock, changing the view to the stars of space.
"Nice," Rio gave him a slight smile.
"Drives are all operating normally," Jesse spoke up softly, monitoring the engine room closely from her station.
The oval ship moved forward smoothly, resembling a thick metallic plate with an opening at the back for the vessel's drive exhaust. Spaced around the outer edge of the Venture were weapons modules, the communications systems, and beneath the hull plating itself the shield emitters. Along the bottom were hatches, designed to deploy landing vessels and other transport.
"Line us up with the transit corridor," Kelly ordered quietly, "and prepare primary engines for hyperspace insertion."
"Right," Both Dan and Jessie said at almost the same time.
The Venture moved smoothly, lining up to an almost invisible distortion in the fabric of space before them. There was an odd feeling on the bridge as the engine's functions shifted slightly. Deep within the ship a unique energy field was being generated, one designed to interact with the singularity floating before them.
"Go," Kelly said crisply.
The Venture shot forward as Dan and Jessie each activated their systems. They intersected with the distortion, reality shifted around them, there was a sudden dropping sensation, and they were moving through hyperspace, traveling several times the speed of light.
"Insertion successful," Jessie sighed softly.
"Normal communications off-line," Lucille spoke up, carefully shutting down her station. In hyperspace most forms of communications were useless, only certain forms of high-power broadcasts could get through the distortions of this realm.
"Staff meeting, five minutes," Kelly suddenly announced, getting up from her command chair and striding towards the meeting room attached to a hatch at the rear of the bridge.
"You heard her," Rio spoke up loudly into the stunned silence, "get your seconds up here on the bridge and let's go."
"Right," Dan activated the internal communications network, and soon his and the other bridge crew's replacements appeared.
"Ma'am," Ai saluted Rio, then she took the tactical station. She flashed Dan a smile as he changed places with Eiko, and he blushed.
"Isn't that cute," Rio noted, and Dan blushed harder, if that was possible.
"Ladies and gentleman," Kelly said as they took their seats around the long table, "as some of you might know, we've been operating under sealed orders. Now that we've left drydock and entered hyperspace however, I can unseal them." She looked over at her second in command, "Rio?"
Rio activated a viewscreen to show a map of the sector, the inhabited worlds highlighted. "Over the past few months the sector that we're traveling through has been hit with multiple acts of piracy," she explained, spots of red appearing on the map to show where was hit.
"That's impossible," Lucille spoke up, "I thought the Fleet had wiped out the last major pirate ring well over twenty years ago."
"So did we," Kelly agreed, "but it seems someone has revived the profession." She looked over at Rio and said, "Please go on."
"And they've been very elusive," Rio continued the military briefing, "despite several Fleet vessels trying to catch them. They've all either been unable to find the pirate ships or in one case were completely destroyed." She paused, obviously reluctant to add the next part, "There are fears of a leak within the Fleet itself, which is why our orders were sealed."
"So what are we up against?" Jessie asked. The engineer had a thoughtful look on her face, likely already considering what might happen to the Venture in battle.
"They have at least four cruisers," Rio said, "older models than the Venture. They were probably decommissioned hulls they were able to acquire on the black market." A breath, "And they seem to have at least some current Fleet hardware, including dropships and weapons."
"Shit," Dan cursed before realizing where he was. Face flaming he mumbled, "Sorry."
Kelly actually gave him a smile, "Trust me, I said much worse than that when I heard." More seriously she said, "It's the presence of that Fleet hardware that makes command believe the pirates have a contact in Fleet, possibly a high ranking one."
"So we need to stop the pirates," Lucille asked, "and then try to find out whom in Fleet is supplying them with arms and information?"
"That's about it," Rio agreed.
An alarm rang out, disrupting the meeting. "Status report?" Kelly pressed a switch connecting them to the bridge.
"We're picking up something on tactical, ma'am," Ai's voice came through clearly.
Rio moved to a wall mounted station, using her personnel codes to channel the data onto that display. "Gravimetric distortions from real space," Rio reported, "it could be a battle."
"Everyone, to your stations," Kelly got up out of her chair, "prepare for an emergency reentry into normal space." She pressed a key on a silvery wristband that she wore, and a soft alarm rang out through the entire ship. Grimly she added, "Battlestations."
