A/N: I study the military as a hobby. Sunrider authors did not. Shit bothered me. I'm fixing it piece by piece. Shit's slow work. I'm bad at this, bear with me.


"Lieutenant, how long until we arrive at the Sunrider?" Shields leaned forward, attempting to get a better look at his temporary pilot for the shuttle ride. Not a chance - the massive pilot's chair kept him out of sight, somehow. From the viewport, he looked out to his world, Cera, knowing it would be some time before he returned. "Not long sir, just a moment. Can't wait to meet your girl, eh sir?"

"I doubt she even remembers me Lieutenant, so, no." The pilot laughed at the Captain, then continued. "The Commander? I can't speak for that sir, but I mean the Sunrider. Here, give me a second, you should see her in the starboard viewport." True to his word, Shields saw stars move outside the viewport, eventually blocked by the mass of the Sunrider. "Would you look at that, the biggest damned thing to come out of Cera. Staffed by the best of the best from every part of the fleet. Rumor has it she stole the Fleet Admiral's Helmsman. Can't imagine how you got on it, Captain."

Shields smirked, the perfect opportunity for a bit of snark. "And what, exactly, does that mean lieutenant?" The pilot made some noises, trying to collect himself and not insult a superior officer. "Uh, er, nothing sir, nothing at all." Mission accomplished, "Carry on, lieutenant."

"Yes sir. We'll be docking with the Sunrider in a few minutes, don't forget anything here."


"STC, this is shuttle P3W-451, requesting docking clearance. Two Souls aboard, Captain Shields and Lieutenant Arceni."

"Copy 451, redirect to docking bay 3. Oh, and Captain, welcome aboard."

"Thanks STC, happy to be here." Shields laughed at the pilot - he's a good man. "Not you Arceni, but close enough." A few moments later, the familiar sound of magnetic docking clamps resounded through the shuttle hold, and air hissed inside from the docking bay. Once it stopped, Shields stood and smoothed his uniform out. Damn, leaned on the arm wrong, this'll look bad. "Well sir, it's been a pleasure."

"Aren't you supposed to be stationed with us Lieutenant?" The pilot finally stood from his chair, the bulky shuttle pilot's suit making him look larger than he was. "Of course sir. But I doubt the captain will be hanging around with the shuttle crew very much." He was right, the duty of a captain didn't leave much free time. With little else, Shields stood in front of the shuttle door, took in a breath, and opened it.

"Captain on deck! Atten-shun!" A platoon's worth of heel cracks echoed through the hangar, representing the various heads of state aboard the Sunrider, along with a generous number of the security force aboard. "Welcome aboard, Captain. Commander and Acting Captain Ava Crescentia reporting." A sharp, crisp salute, perfectly executed.

She hasn't changed a bit, Shields thought for a moment, then returned the salute. "Acting Captain Crescentia, you are relieved of Captain's Duty. At ease, Commander." We both dropped our arms, a second before the rest of the crew nearby dropped theirs. They proceeded to fall out, and return to their posts. Shields waited a moment before speaking to Ava. "Commander, I must admit it has been some time since we've seen each other. I believe it was...Graduation, High School. I never expected that one day I'd become your commanding officer."

"Neither did I, sir." Shields tried not to chuckle, and began walking in the direction the non-security crew had walked, Ava following. "I guess things have changed since then Commander. I never guess you would have ever called me 'sir'. Give me a report of the Sunrider's status."

Ava pivoted as she walked to avoid a crewman carrying a large set of Ryder parts, keeping out of his way. "We've been testing her systems for the past two weeks. At the moment, she's prepped and ready to go on your word, sir, with a few minor exceptions."

Shields sighed. "Exceptions, Commander? Not already." Always exceptions. Everything was running except for a few small things. "Yes sir. The Sunrider is the newest ship in the fleet, armed like a warship and built like a carrier, fielding a full compliment of Ryders and providing support for them as well. Currently, the Ryders assigned are being tested in squad combat near the edge of the System. At the moment, we'll be testing the Sunrider itself and then rendezvous with them for our first assignment. Thankfully, both the Chief Engineering and Chief Medical Officer are on board and facilitating transfer of supplies."

Shields stopped at the start of an intersection, and rubbed his eyes with a hand. "So, let me get this straight. The Carrier part of our 'Assault Carrier' is completely nonfunctional." Ava nodded, completely unphased. "Yes sir."

"Excellent, just the way I like it." Shields stood up straight and continued walking, following directions to the bridge. Ava continued to explain on the way. "The biggest asset on this ship is her Vanguard Cannon. It's a dorsal mounted battleship cannon, with a few modifications, and works just as expected. In short, we can shoot a hole straight through a ship twice our size with ease."

"So when we fight, we'll fight like dogs. What if we're forced to retreat, Commander?" Shields took a right turn, leaving the path to the bridge and heading towards a nearby viewport. "We have one of the most efficient warp drives in the galaxy, Captain. Though it is untested, theoretically it can traverse the galaxy in a matter of days, sir." Shields let out a low whistle, before Ava entered his view and pointed towards the bridge. "It would be prudent to observe the bridge, Captain."

Shields nodded, and walked on board. Ava waited for him to be in the middle of the bridge before calling out. "Captain on the deck!" Instantly, those not working essential roles stood from their chairs and saluted. "At ease people. Back to your duties."

Ava led Shields to the central dais on the bridge, showing off the view it gave of the ship. "Captain, from here you can direct the ship's normal functions as you see fit." She keyed a few holomonitors laying on the edge of the dais. "With these, you can directly oversee the ship itself, and make remote decisions such as activating the Vanguard cannon or directing repair drones."

Shields opened his mouth - repair drones were not a common sight. "We've got repair drones, Ava? Really!?" Before she could answer, there was a single beat of silence. "Well, sir, no. Our Chief Engineering has already put in high priority requests for them, they should be arriving within a week." Shields shut his mouth and sighed again. "Damn, I've only seen a few in my career, I was hoping to see them in action here."

"As have I Captain. Now, let's head to the Officers Quarters, and more specifically, yours." Ava lead the Captain out of the bridge and towards a lift nearby. "Even though the ship is less than a kilometer long, moving between decks can get tedious, as we just experienced. There's a number of elevators scattered through the ship, such as this one, sir." Shields chuckled, waiting for the elevator to ascend. And waited a bit longer. And a tidbit longer.

"Commander, if I didn't know better I'd say this elevator was a cleverly disguised loading screen for some game." The Commander suppressed a giggle, expertly hiding it. "Of course not sir, this is as real as PACT's takings over of the Neutral Rim. You heard Rynar's surrendered to PACT already, right?" Shields gasped at the thought - another fallen world not too far from Cera. "Rynar, Minerva, Barona, the list goes on. At this rate, they'll have us completely encircled by the end of the month."

"Exactly, Captain. It is exactly why High Command wants us patrolling the system as soon as possible - to ward off PACT. Our orders are to begin shakedown cruise, retrieve our Ryder Platoon, then begin full defense of Ceran Space. Any hostiles are to be shot first and questioned later."

The Lift finally stopped and opened up to the view of an extravagant officer's room, two story room complete with king sized bed and office section. There was a sitting room in the middle of the lower floor, with a fully outfitted captain's office desk in front of the door. "Spared no expense, it would appear. I feel as if I'm in a Cera City Loft, this is beyond anything I imagined." Shields began exploring his new quarters, toying with the holomonitors at his desk.

Ava sighed. "Please don't mess up your room too much Captain, it will be important to running the ship. From here, you can dictate and access personal logs, enact certain ship overrides, directly communicate with Chiefs and outside personnel. The crew will also have access to this floor, and have been instructed to wait outside if they need to speak with your Captain."

Shields turned to Ava, cocking his head to the side. "Anyone can waltz in here? Do I at least get a security detail nearby?" Ava shook her head, trying to correct the flaw in Shields' thought. "No sir, but close. Crewmen are permitted on the deck, however only you, myself, the Chief of Engineering and Medical Officer have direct access to your room, sir. I will consult the Security Operations staff to have a guard posted, sir. Now, we must return to the bridge to begin undocking procedure."

Shields nodded and followed Ava back into the lift, waiting quietly as it descended to the lower deck. Before long, it opened and the pair moved into the bridge. This time, there wasn't a halt of operations to acknowledge the captain, only a single nod from the security officer at the door. "Captain, you'll be able to address the crew from up top. Just use the correct system and you'll be good to go." Shields made his way to the dais, Ava in tow, and keyed the system to make a ship-wide announcement.


"Engage Savior testing simulation, rotation set 35."

"Aye L-Com, beginning simulations. Savior, rotation set three-five." Sterling sent out direct commands to the Cannon section's computer, attaching relevant information to the personnel there. "Simulations reading green. All seems clear, Lieutenant Commander."

"Understood Petty Officer. Sent report to-" Before Thompson could finish his statement, the PA blared to life. "All hands, this is your Captain Speaking."

"We have received our orders. The Sunrider is to immediately undock local port, execute shakedown cruise, then begin defense patrol around Cera. We are to enter orange alert as soon as we clear port. All stations, prepare for possible hostiles. I know we haven't begun tests, but be ready - PACT is nearby and we know it. Wake the lady up, let's move."

Sterling had a strong urge to clap, but decided against it when Trinity and Savior systems began their own tests for the shakedown. So it begins, he thought, the real stuff.


Rivera was proud to be a part of the fleet. He was planning for this day his entire life, or at least most of it. He was ready to prove himself to his superior. To Arcadius.

"Captain, we're two minutes out." Mitchum took some time to figure out, but they had a dynamic that worked on the bridge nonetheless. "Thank you Mitchum." Rivera switched the PA on. "Crew, this is Rivera. Prepare all systems, and be ready. We're exiting warp soon, and we must present the best we can. Rivera out."

Minutes later, the Mavourneen exited warp travel in the Ceran System. A fair fleet was gathered there now, exactly the same as any other Neutral Rim planet. Well, mostly the same, considering their latest fleet addition. "Sir, we've been pinged twice. Command says we are a go."

"Excellent, Mitchum. Let's begin."

"Copy that. All hands, battle stations. Missile teams, activate loading systems, arm pods A through E and launch in three. Two. One."


Shields turned off the PA and began issuing direct commands to the officers on the bridge. "Engineering, give us 10 percent, we don't want to overtax the engines just yet. Weapons, begin live fire tests, as I understand High Command has placed several buoys between us and the moon. Communications, patch me into Cera High Command - they'll want to hear we're operational. Last time someone started a ship they almost got blasted."

Ava chimed in the moment she figured the Captain had finished. "Sir, if you're referring to the Prometheus incident, I would like to point out that it was because terrorists were onboard."

"Yes Commander, but my point stands. Engineering is reporting reactor is within acceptable parameters. Navigation has plotted a course around the moo-" So close to punctuating her sentence, a series of explosion echoing through the bridge. Shields, holding himself against the railing, was almost unaffected. Ava was...not so lucky. "Crew, status!"

Engineering was the first to report. "Engineering - Reactor core stable, no explosions detected on any deck sir!"

"Navigation, no collisions in course, nothing on scan - hold. Captain! Confirmed PACT signatures within vicinity! Confirmed, we have presence of expended fuel in space. Missile Boats detected, approximately 100,000 clicks out sir!"

"Sound full alert, cancel engine test. Engineering, give us all you've got, we've got to escape the docks or we'll be trapped here." Shields was ready for something like this, it's always something like this. "Ava, what's out weapons status?"

"Vanguard cannon is incapable of use here Captain. Flak Turrets and Saviors are fully functional, and we had loaded a pair of Hell Darts before the ambush. Wait. Captain surely you're not thinking of taking the Sunrider into battle already? We haven't even had a live test of the engines ye-"

"Commander, we've just had a live testing of the scanners, armor, and observation equipment. I'm sure High Command won't mind if we test our engines as well." Shields snapped back at Ava. A tense moment subsided once he whispered to himself, studying the map being generated on the holomonitor before him. "Once more, unto the breach, dear friends."

"Aye Captain, issuing orders to weapons. They're reporting full functionality of listed systems. We're ready on your order."

Another series of explosions rippled throughout the shit, another volley from a missile boat. "Commander, target that Cutter, take it down."

"Captain, another volley of missiles headed our way. Impact predicted against the dry dock itself, not us. Explosions in three...two...one." Instead of the echoing of explosions and shuddering of the ship, there was a single, massive lurch. "Captain, the dry dock has been destroyed. Debris has begun impacting us...Observation deck has been destroyed. We're counting several wounded already."

"Commander, coordinate the repair efforts at once, I'll handle the battle. Weapons, load the Trinity Capacitors and prepare a Savior firing solution. Navigation, get us out of this dry dock, get that missile boat in range of our cannon."

The ship continued from the dry dock, barely escaping a column threatening to remove the entire observation deck in one fell swoop. Whoever was at Navigation called first. "Firing solution accepted, maneuvering through the debris field being made by the battle. Estimated time until effective firing, one minute." Someone else at Weapons piped up at that point. "Saviors are aimed and ready to fire, Trinity capacitors are at 60 percent."

Shields called out to the bridge while he examined the field. "Weapons, fire Saviors rounds at that boat, try to scare them off if we're lucky." The triple thud of the ship indicated a single battery of Savior cannons firing. There was a heavy silence as those miniature rounds flew through space, rapidly approaching the missile frigate. "Impact in...3...2...1," Weapons sounded off. "No joy on the hit, I repeat, no joy. Trinity Capacitors storing 100 percent, ready to fire."

"Permission to fire, Weapons. Make sure they hit this time." Before he finished his order, Lieutenant Commander Mcclain fired off the port side Trinity lasers. Because of how they had been installed on the Sunrider, her Trinity Lasers were incapable of firing a full volley at any one target unless it was right on top of them or in front of them. Thus, only half of them were aimed towards the little boat. Mcclain whispered to himself as they fired, "I wish we could bend this damn things."

A split second later, a confirmation of hit flashed on the scanners in front of Chief Petty Officer Reid's station. "Good hit, good hit! Trinity lasers have damaged the PACT frigate - she's venting atmosphere based on this calculations. Possible loss of her starboard missile silos as well Captain. We got her good!" A cheer sounded through the bridge, and even through the Combat Systems.

Shields looked to Ava for a moment, got a smirk, and looked right back to the bridge. "Alright people, that's our first hit, but it's nothing to report home about. Yet. Weapons, recharge Trinities and arm a Hell Dart Missile. We'll see if they're doing a solo dance." The crew returned to their duties - Navigation maximizing the number of guns trained on the missile boat while minimizing the Sunrider's profile towards it, Weapons keying out commands to Combat Systems, Operations managing the mapping of the rest of the battle occurring around them. Engineering making sure nothing was being broken.

"Hell Dart ready to fire, Trinities are recharged 20 percent, Captain." Shields checked the more accurate scans that were coming in - the engines were damaged on that boat as well. "Weapons, she appears to be dead in the water. Take her down...again." No confirmation sounded out, save for the additional contact of a Hell Dart on the scanner. "Contacts, additional missiles being fired by the PACT ship. Calculating course…" A second passed before Operations sounded. "Only four contacts, at a reduced speed to us."

"Captain, should we activate defense systems?" The Sunrider contained powerful anti-missile batteries, both in the form of counter missiles as well as classic small cannon. The cannon made good for fighting Ryders if need be in some ships, but others reported them next to useless. "When in range of the smaller batteries, activate. Let's not let them know everything about us, just yet."

Seconds later, the Dart connected with the PACT ship, hitting almost next to the bridge itself. The last thing Rivera ever saw was a missile warning and the scared face of a crewman he never knew.

"Good hit, good effect on target! We did it sir, we took 'em down!" The bridge erupted in cheers as if they'd taken down something huge in PACT itself, and those cheers only intensified when Shields started the PA. "This is Captain Shields. Congratulations crew, we've taken down a PACT vessel on our first go. This is not the end, we will continue to engage PACT." Immediately after the PA cut off, Shields began issuing orders. "Engineering, Maintenance, assess damage and begin repairs immediately. Weapons, ready another Hell Dart and reload Saviors. Navigation, get us to the nearest PACT vessel, I believe we're still needed."

Once the ship was under way, Shields turned towards Ava and smiled. "An ambush by missile frigate and we barely got scratched. Not bad for her first battle, wouldn't you say?" Ava crossed her arms and smiled back. "You did well Captain. Let's get back to the clean up operation, by the looks of it."

"Excellent idea Commander, let's get to i-" Interrupted again, Operations called out. "Sir, additional contacts on the scanner! At least squadron of PACT heavy ships and...and...mother of god." Shields raised a brow at the man, quickly queuing the scanner system onto his Holomonitor, while Ava did the same. Once they were up, the senior staff had the same reaction.

"Ava, this has to be wrong. Operations, check the scanners, PACT doesn't have anything this big. Not even the Alliance, either!"

"Negative Captain, I already checked - that's what it's supposed to be. Bringing outer cameras online now." The bridge's main, massive holomonitor flashed on, showing the picture of a massive PACT vessel in space, surrounded by cruisers and a pair of Battleships. Someone pulled their headset and stood to look at the monster, the massive red dreadnought filling the screen with ease. Operations spoke up again. "Uh, sir, that thing is over three kilometers long. It's the Legion - PACT's Flagship. The personal ship of Veniczar of Arcadius."

Whoever was on weapons swore and Shields held the railing to tight his knuckles were turning white. "This is...not good."


Arcadius stood on the bridge of the Legion, hands behind his back as his fleet warped in Ceran space. "My friends, we have arrived. Begin the assault." The squadrons not assigned to his ship swarmed forward to combat the Ceran ships, overwhelming some and being outdone by others.

"Sir, the Cerans have a heavy cruiser in their fleet, it's taken down a Missile Frigate and is moving towards another pair. Shall we send someone to intervene?" Arcadius smiled behind his mask, knowing that it was playing its role perfectly in his plan. "No, let it continue. It will be awed by our Power. Charge the forward cannon, aim for The Cerans, show them our might. Then destroy their city."


Almost immediately after the Legion warped into system, it fired two salvos from its lasers, and its cannon. Immediately Ceran ships were hit, the Legion's aim almost perfect. Ryders launched from her bays and swarmed over the smaller corvettes and frigates. On the bridge of the Sunrider, all sat in awe of the monster that stood before them, trying to figure out what exactly to do. "The Fearless is crippled, we're detecting lifepods escaping her." Operations took in a breath before following. "The Gallant and Bohemian Maiden have...have exploded, sir. No lifepods, no distress signals. There's severe damage to the entire Ceran Fleet, sir."

"Sir, we have hull breaches in the lower decks, portside Trinities are not operational," declared Engineering, now scrambling damage control teams. "Oh shit, Captain, I'm detecting massive buildups of energy in the Legion!" Petty Officer Pfeiffer on Operations tried to keep a straight demeanour but failed horribly.

"Captain, High Command has issued a general retreat from the system! The Prime Minister is broadcasting an unconditional surrender to PACT forces! Your orders sir?" Shields, busy studying the map, did not respond. "Captain, we need your orders!"

Weapons called out immediately after, standing and looking between Operations and Shields. "Pfeiffer, goddamnit can't you see, we're fucked! Captain, we need to surrender!" Ava stood beside Shields and attempted to begin ordering them before someone else happened on the Holomonitor.

The Legion fired. In their time arguing and not giving orders, the Legion had powered up and fired a massive energy blast directly at Cera. Directly at Cera City. Crescentia looked in bewilderment before speaking. "Op...Operations, status update."

"Uh, right, yeah. It, uh, appears PACT...destroyed Cera City. It's still going…oh god, it boiled away part of the atmosphere…What are we going to do?" Ava opened her mouth to give an order, just as Shields raised a hand. "Bastards. Get us the hell out of here, get us to the nearest safe harbor. Contact any other Ceran ships, tell them to follow us."

Cera burned. Cera burned as they turned, Cera burned as the Warp Drive spooled up, and Cera burned as the Sunrider ran away. Alone. Shields took a last look at his home, knowing it was completely gone. But it wouldn't be the last time he'd be near Cera, it would not.