A/N: There's a Red Alert reference here, somewhere...
The four Ryders stood guard near a wall of the Sharr' Lac as the shuttles of the Sunrider landed on its surface. A platoon of Ceran boarders took a single step from their holds before activating the magnetic clamps on their boots, doing a quick visual scan near them for hostiles. They were prepared for another slave base, they hoped they were. Two specialists were burning a hole in the ancient metal, near what the Sunrider determined was a hallway straight to an atrium of some kind - the best bet for finding a command center.
"Sunrider, Blackbird 1-1. We've touched down on the Sharr' Lac, how copy? Over."
"Blackbird 1-1, Sunrider, we read you five by five. Wait one. Blackbird 1-1 be advised, helmet camera is getting some static, get someone to check that. Over." Aguirre slammed his airtight gauntlet against the miniature camera near his temple. "That's got it Blackbird 1-1. Feed's coming in nice and clear. Be advised, shuttles are returning to the Sunrider. Can't risk them getting downed by debris." The Specialists completed their operation, and secured magnetic clamps to the burned hole to the shuttles. The pilots slowly pulled it free from its produced hold, then detached and headed straight for the Sunrider. The Cerans left behind carefully set themselves upon the interior.
They slowly stepped on metal not touched in a thousand years, armor optimized for quiet operations. Their leg armor made adjustments to their gait, forcing them to step from ball to toe instead of slamming down each step. Each had a weapon drawn, from the compact bullpup submachine gun to the massive attached frame of the RCW Minigun. "Keep tight fellas, this thing hasn't been touched in a few thousand years and there ain't no way to know if it's all quiet."
"Hey Aguirre, what exactly are we looking for here?"
"A nice big Ryuvian bank account, Gould, with plenty of shore leave to go around." Their suits kept audio from exiting or entering without user consent, meaning to an outside observer, the forty odd soldiers were only sneaking forward in the ancient vessel, not even a single beam of light or piece of sound emitted from them. Their optical displays were operating solely on night vision. After a minute of careful walking, Aguirre called in. "Sunrider, Blackbird 1-1, there's nothing here. Over."
"Blackbird 1-1, Sunrider Actual. Define nothing, marine. Over."
"As in there's nothing here, Captain. Nothing on passive or active sonar, and IR puts nothing hotter than the metal anywhere nearby. Are you sure we're near the atrium? Over."
"We'll do another check, Blackbird. For now, keep on route. Sunrider, out." The marines continued to walk the Sharr' Lac, occasionally pausing to inspect some minor grit or difference in the sleek metal. Gould was the first to stop, close enough to a doorway to cause it to open. The marines immediately stopped and turned towards the sudden sound, Gould diving out of the way just in case. Aguirre tapped two of his subordinates and pointed inside the room, following after them. Slowly, the Marines either entered the room or stood on watch outside it. "Sunrider Actual, Blackbird 1-1. We've found a barracks. I think. Over."
"You think? We're going to need more information Blackbird 1-1. Over"
"Captain, there's at least forty bunks here, maybe more."
"Hey Aguirre, there's at least a dozen of these doors out here in the hallway, good chance this ain't the only barracks."
"Catch that Sunrider? Over."
"We got it Blackbird. It's been 2000 years, there's a good chance that no one is still inside there now. You're still some four hundred meters to the atrium, suggest you keep moving. Sunrider out."
Aguirre motioned for the unit to leave the barracks and return on the path to the atrium, quickening the pace to account just in case. One of his specialists pushed a reading to his Heads up Display. "Hey Chief, check this out. There's residual energy dissipation coming from that atrium area. Doubt the Sunrider caught it."
"And in Ceran, that means?"
"It means that something in there has had power for the last 2,000 years and it's still kicking."
"Weapons platform?"
"I dunno Chief, could be anything, this is Lost Tech we're talking about."
"Alright, fine. Everyone, we've got something in there, could be anything. The rule is shoot first and be yelled at later." After sniggering on the comm, he pinged the Sunrider. "Sunrider, Blackbird 1-1, we're picking up… energy dissipation, something, coming from the atrium. Might be something important."
"Copy that Blackbird, the Ryders are currently navigating for secondary entrance now. Sunrider out."
The Cerans arrived at a massive doorway, easily a Ryder in height, decorated in ornate symbols and pictures that meant nothing to them. Instead of examining it, they gathered on the side and planted explosives near the middle. Aguirre, as commander, was first to try the door, giving it a gentle push forward. When he was met with no resistance, he nodded to each team on the sides of the door, and then rammed himself into it. Shoulder pad met ancient metal and offered no resistance, letting the forty marines enter the atrium.
Inside was not a grand command center or even the remains of Ryuvians. It was a mass of dangling wires and exposed circuitry, nearly frozen. The room was bathed in a turquoise glow coming from the dead center of the room - a massive cylinder from which all wires flowed. The marines stared in disbelief, one even knocking his helmet twice to ensure the feed was correct. A lone woman was within the tube of unknown liquid, suspended for the last two thousand years. "Uh… Uh, Sunrider… are you guys getting this?"
"Yes, yes Blackbird we've got this recorded. Can you tell if she's alive?"
"We'll check… Morrison, get up there and see if she's still kicking!"
"Nah Chief, I saw this holo, I ain't making it back to the Sunrider if I go up there."
"Yeah, that's because I'm going to personally space you before we get back if you don't, now tap that damn glass!" He sighed, and shook his head, then stepped forward. The moment his boot crossed into the central circle, the entire atrium light up in red light, warning klaxons blaring impossibly loud.
Ga'rk! Sharn-la ree seath ta!
"Marines, that ship is powering up, you need to get the hell out of there now!" Without additional prompting, the Marines disengaged the stealth mode of their suits and sprinted down the hallway to their exit. Whether or not the shuttles were there was irrelevant to them, instead, all that mattered was getting the hell out of there. One of them cried out as they fell, grabbed by something behind them and dragged back into the atrium. Aguirre checked the life status of his men and immediately flipped it off. Morrison was right - he wasn't going to make it back to the Sunrider. Aguirre activated his comm unit, doing his best not the peak the mic as he yelled. "Sunrider Actual, we're almost to the evac point, where's the pickup?"
"Petty Officer, there's too many of them out here to send the shuttles! Recommend you find somewhere safe to defend!"
"Copy that! We'll be at the entrance hole! Don't keep us waiting Captain!" Without waiting for a response, he ended the line and pulled up the squad comm. "Boys listen up! We're almost to our entry hole and there's nothing waiting to pick us up!" The farthest of the Marines reached the entry, quickly checking outside for anything that might be hostile, then turned back to face the hallway, weapons drawn. The rest of the marines arrived shortly thereafter, some taking a knee in front while others stood behind them, weapons drawn.
"Chief, contact at the end of the hallway! Closing fast!"
"Is it Morrison?"
"Negative, it's too fast and it's too small!" Aguirre tensed up at that, as did a few others - Morrison was definitely dead, and importantly, whatever killed him was coming their way. "500 meters, sir!"
One of the Marines, Agnerson, started up his backpack-supplied minigun's motor, the barrels spinning up until they appeared as a single circle. Some manually checked their magazines, others kept aiming down range. "400 meters! Additional contacts, at least ten of 'em!" Seconds ticked by on the mission clock. "300 meters!" Aguirre could feel his forehead start to sweat. "200 meters!"
"This is it Marines! Time to show 'em what a Ceran can do!" A halfhearted oorah was all that was returned before they arrived. A pack of them at the end of the hallway finally appeared, nearly human. Nearly. Their gait was identical to one another, and off, but more importantly, their binaric cries were a dead giveaway. Ancient Ryuvian Combat Robots. Agnerson was the first to respond, letting loose with eight barrels of pure unfettered anger and hatred that dented the armor of the robots. After he fired, the rest of the Cerans followed in suit, throwing down enough metal to make the graveyard outside jealous. The robots, even with armor being scratched and dented, continued into the hail of fire, reaching the outermost line of Cerans. Immediately, their numbers started to fall, one marine impaled on the drill ending of a robot, while another was thrown into the opposite wall through pure force.
A single marine was lucky, using his combat knife to cut at the joint of an arm about to end his life, momentarily putting the robot in loop as its combat wetware adjusted. He used that opportunity to stab the robot in their version of a neck, severing the connection between the sensory input and central processor. "Chief, you gotta put 'em in a loop! They shut down and you can go for a neck shot!" Meanwhile, Agnerson was still throwing a torrent of metal at a robot, wearing its armor down until a stray round managed to pierce and break apart inside, destroying several key connections and processors, shutting the machine down. He immediately switched targets to another of the robots that was pulling away from an armless Marine, intent on getting revenge. Aguirre was at the back of the pack, firing his battle rifle at robots, trying to distract them from the fallen marines that were scattered about.
The steady sound of Agnerson's minigun cut out, replaced by the mechanical whine of an overheated motor. In front of him lay three Ryuvian Combat Platforms, neatly cut into small pieces by a monsoon of bullets. It was becoming more and more clear that the Marines would appear victorious - a platform would launch itself at one marine, only to be blast from the air by the rifles of two others, while a quartet of Marines managed to distract a robot for long enough so that a fifth could deposit an explosive in its shoulder. With only three left in their number, the Robots jumped away from their victims, bounding back down the corridor, their inhuman knees bending to the point of touching the thigh to shin. It was only when the minigun's motor finally died did Aguirre have the chance to examine the skirmish.
Seven robots lay destroyed to some degree around the Marines, while almost half again in marines were either slumped in their suits, still clamped to the ground, or floating aimlessly in void space, nothing to stop them. "Hey, Chief?" Gould was farthest from the would-be extraction point, kneeling next to one of her fallen comrades. He considered asking if more contacts were incoming, but a quick glance at his HUD said otherwise. "What's up Gould?"
"You think we're gonna make it out of here?" His answer didn't come. At least not as quick as he wanted. He walked towards the hole, double checking his magnetic clamps to ensure he wouldn't fall out into the void like before, and watched as the Sunrider took several hits from ships he couldn't see, and nothing was coming towards the Sharr' Lac from what he could tell. He stared into the void for just a bit longer before replying. "Not for a while, Gould. Not for a while."
"Helm, behind that cruiser, now! Mcclain, reorient cannon, 160 degrees, elevation 30! Fire Hell Darts the moment we're clear. Cycle Trinities, dump all non-essential power generation into their capacitors, I want to see some purple beams, you get me?" Mcclain's affirmation came only milliseconds before an impact shook the Sunrider, several sections on his display flashing red. Ava was issuing commands across the Sunrider to keep her from falling to chaos, a foil to Shields keeping their ship from falling to fire. Pfeiffer was working as hard as he could to direct the Ryders in space, trying to clear a path for shuttles to extract the Marines from the Sharr' Lac. It was made difficult by the Ryuvian Ryder and its two clones, constantly taking potshots at the Ceran Auxiliaries. Meanwhile, Shields was focused on the now three Cruisers that kept him from moving close to the Sharr' Lac, forcing him to stick to the cover that was fallen ships from millennia passed.
"Second cruiser down sir, Saviors tore clear through her superstructure and breached engines! Guess they didn't build 'em safe back then!"
"Shut it Pfeiffer, confirms only. Mcclain, where are my Trinities?" Like he was, his response was the firing of the Trinities batteries at the ghostly Ryders. His instruction for purple beams meant highest energy output - of course, it wasn't possible to see Trinities fire, only know their energy was dispersed. One of the Ryders was struck, disappearing in the void, hopefully gone. "Captain, a cruiser's right behind us!"
"Mcclain, show them the Sunrider's got eyes in the back of her head!" Immediately, the stern Saviors fired at the ancient Ryuvian vessel, putting a pair of holes right in its bow, crumpling the cannons it faced the Sunrider with. Without any forward weaponry, the ship made to turn, only making itself that much more of a target. A hell dart streaked towards it, burrowing directly beneath its bridge and blowing up, breaking away the control from the vessel. "Another kill Captain! Two Cruisers and two Ryders left."
"Pilots, report!"
Icari was, surprisingly, the first to respond. "Can't move Captain! They've got us pinned down and we can't do anything with getting a shot to the body!"
"Is there any way you could get closer to the Sharr' Lac?"
"Negative Captain! We move from these dead ships and we're joining them!" Claude looked down for a second before tapping something. "Uh, Captain… I have a thingie that might work."
Shields sighed at her statement, finding Claude more and more useless in his fleet as time went by. "What is this 'thingie' you've got, Claude?"
"It's a gun." Pfeiffer sniggered, listening in to take command once Shield was done. "It can push and pull things that are far away… I could maybe pull one of them closer to us and we could shoot it a bunch when it's disoriented."
Pfeiffer stopped his muted laughter almost immediately, and he saw Icari grin. "Claude, we're going to have a very thorough talk after this, but yes, use the thingie." She laughed and nodded before slowly peaking her Ryder's arm out from cover, a weird four pronged appendage at the end. One of the hostile Ryders took a shot, which thankfully missed at this range. She pointed towards the one that shot her, and immediately it sped towards the quartet of Ryders. Unable to immediately grasp what happened, the Ryder fired maneuvering thrusters in a vain attempt to regain control before being destroyed. Too late, as the thin and yellow form of the Phoenix appeared almost immediately after it stopped, slicing it in two. Behind her fired the Black Jack, each shot hitting the ship that the final third Ryder was using for cover. Now that the tables were turned, the four slowly edged their way to the hostile, sticking to wrecks to keep from being shot again.
Meanwhile, the Sunrider fired another barrage of Saviors, this time breaching the shields of the third Cruiser and blowing up an ammo storage facility - or possibly the capacitors for central processing. Either way, the ship began to crack from the inside as explosions rocked the inside. The fourth Cruiser attempted to turn from the Sunrider towards his Ryders, and Shields refused to let that happen. A full barrage from the bow facing weaponry of the Sunrider ended any chance of an emergency rescue by the ancient craft, detonating her engines and propelling it right into another larger wreck. The combined wreck careened into the Sharr' Lac, managing to damage it enough to destroy the emitter for the final hologram.
Without further hostiles, the Ryders dashed from cover and headed straight for the Sharr' Lac, as did the shuttles of the Sunrider, intent on rescuing the stranded marines. Pfeiffer was not one to make things easy, especially with his shakenly voiced announcement. "Uh… Captain, there's one last signature out there…"
"Define signature, Pfeiffer."
"Exact copy of those Ryders, but there's no energy departing the Sharr' Lac. It's the real deal." A video feed pushed itself to Kayto's displays. The Ryder, the bone white angel of a mech was hefting what appeared to be a standard yet old kinetic cannon, aimed directly at one of the shuttles. A series of tubes cycled around it, one entering the cannon, its purpose obvious. However, before the shuttles could be informed their incoming doom, Asaga cried out.
"Oh no you don't!" Whatever the Ryder loaded fired at the shuttles, shot across the scars at half again the speed of light, crossing the distance in 90 milliseconds. But it was stopped short of the shuttle as Asaga blew it away with a single laser pulse. The resulting explosion shook the shuttle, but failed to incapacitate it. Icari was the first to comment on the events. "B-b-bullshit! That was going over the speed of light! There's no way Asaga just blew it up!"
The image of a woman - a girl really - showed in front of the rest of the pilot's faces, but it was not Shields she would speak to. "There is only one capable of that… I yield. The battle is yours." The Ryder flew far from the wrecks, without being chased, vanishing into the distance. The shuttles flew from the hangar and touched down on the surface of the Sharr' Lac, four of the medical staff disgorging in light EVA gear to get the wounded marines on board and in care. Shields watched them leave from the comfort of his command chair, a high magnification view of the wounded, dead, and dying on only his screen. The few that managed to escape from the skirmish unharmed carried fallen comrades or even the corpses of the robots they slayed, leaving the Sharr' Lac as fast as they could with the most they could take.
"Captain. We've got them all; twenty eight marines are coming back alive." Nine dead, unacceptable to Shields. "Understood Arceni, get our boys back here as soon as you can. Pilots, on the Sunrider, we're going to detail salvage ops to find what we're looking for." No opposition came from the pilots, Claude more than happy to return to her unrequited love while Icari looked angrier than ever. The Ryders formed up around the shuttles, Chigara generating a small shield field for the duration of the ride, although it looked like it was for show more than anything else.
Touchdown in the Sunrider went as expected for lightly damaged Ryders and shuttles - mechanics did post flight checks, logged scratches and bruises, and then got to work repairing them. Chigara convinced them to bring the robots to her study area in engineering, although even her appreciation amongst the mechanically inclined crew was being pushed with the request. More nonessential staff were waiting to help move the Marines, however, those that were on duty in the Hangar that knew what happened. It wasn't a proud day for the Cerans, as they hobbled and lifted one another towards the medical bay.
On the bridge, things were calmer. "Ava, give me a rundown of damage. Mcclain, keep trinities charged in case we get more visitors. Pfeiffer, active scanning, anything left here is definitely dead."
"Captain, in short, we got lucky again. One of the stern Saviors took a hit and is non-operational until we go into dry dock, and we blew out a couple of trinity capacitors during our full barrage. There's significant damage to the primary storage compartments as well, but Deck is reporting no major casualties outside of bruising. Considering we just fought off ancient Ryuvian ships, I'd say we're lucky to still be talking."
"Of course we are Commander, we are very lucky indeed. Now, if only we were lucky enough to have marine reserves on board for boarding actions again."
Pfeiffer, shaky voice and all, spoke. "Captain, there's uh, there's energy readings in the graveyard. And the Sharr' Lac is… it's charging up Captain."
"Confirmation from other sensor suites?"
"You betcha. Uh, sir." His tactical display lit up with a pair of red Ryuvian silhouettes, then another pair, then a dozen, then two dozen, the entire graveyard was coming to life. "We're not in any position to fight back efficiently now. Helm, emergency warp, get us out of here now!" A strong light appeared inside the Sharr' Lac, growing more intense as seconds ticked by. Calculations ran, trying to orient the Sunrider so she wouldn't impact any debris on the way out. Only when the light was nearly blinding did a proper angle be found and the Sunrider threw itself into dark void space, safe from the impending explosion.
The Sunrider reappeared in space only moments later, a vast ocean of space between it and the now exploded Sharr' Lac. "Captain, preliminary calculations showed that vessel going supernova. As close as a manmade vessel can be, sir. It looks like the entire graveyard is gone."
"Understood Pfeiffer, get me a full report when the Central Core is done processing." He keyed on the PA system. "All hands, secure from Battle Stations. Return to normal duties. Department heads, muster with Captain at the top of the hour." A beat. "Current time is nineteen fifteen." The red lighting across the ship cut back to normal and the crew returned to their previous activities. "Captain, I've got a lock on an incoming vessel."
"Have we Ryuvian chasers, Mr. Pfeiffer?"
"Positive this one is, Sir. It's the Ryder that nearly blew up our shuttles. Complete match, down to the ammunition around the rifle. Wait one. Visuals show the rifle down… I think they're trying to peacefully approach."
"Then emergency launch our Ryders. Keep from battle stations, as much as I'd want them." The Ryder continued to approach the Sunrider without weapons raised, eventually met with the Sunrider's complement some distance away from the mother ship. The angel stopped before collision, directly connecting to the Sunrider's Ryder communications channel. "Which of you was it?"
Claude instinctively took cover behind the other three at the sound of the woman's voice, while Asaga called back. "We didn't do anything, you attacked us!"
"Which of you triggered the fleet?"
"We didn't do anything!"
"I see. You are the leader?" Icari scoffed. "Not a chance she is, our captain's on his ship. You're not getting to him."
"I will speak with him then." Asaga's laser cannons pulled upwards and pointed at the angel of a Ryder, while Icari threw toggled the heat sinks on her Ryder to flared open and shut, readying for combat. "Like Icari said, you're not."
"It is you then. I will explain only to your Captain." Shields' face appeared on the Ryder pilots' screens. "Chigara, disable her Ryder and have Asaga tow her in. Icari, make sure she doesn't do anything funny. I'll be in the hangar when you arrive."
With a majority of his security team either incapacitated in the medical bay or rather peeved by their recent deployment, Shields thought it best not to include them in his greeting of the formerly hostile pilot. Instead, Ava was by his side, going over a set of notes she'd written up on the mission. The hangar system announced the arrival of five Ryders and warned those still inside to stay clear of the docking systems, accompanied by flashing red and yellow lights along the Ryder docking path. A minute later, the first of the Auxiliaries appeared, the Phoenix, which lined up for entry into the hangar from one entrance while the Bianca did the same for the other. The Ryders passed through the air barrier and were immediately grabbed by the Sunrider, sent straight into their docking bays - 03 and 04 respectively. Afterwards came the Liberty, occupying the 02 bay. By the time the Black Jack arrived with her cargo, Icari and Claude had both exited their Ryders and ran to Shields. Chigara was slower, actually taking the time to perform a post-flight check with the mechanics.
The Black Jack set down in the hangar as delicate as a multi-ton, over 10 meter tall mech could, almost slamming the ghostly white Ryuvian Ryder down on the deck at the same time. Emergency response teams were there in a heartbeat, checking the Ryder over for major damage or indications of additional injury. The Black Jack was grabbed by the docking system, but dug its mechanical heels into the deck, weapons pointed directly at the fallen Ryder. Whoever was working the system stopped it from trying to drag her further away.
Once the action subsided, the Ryuvian Ryder's hatch popped open, not unlike the other Ryders nearby, and from within emergency a woman who had barely passed her educational years. With great grace, she leaped from the Ryder and onto the hangar floor, electing to land on her feet rather than some contrived hero pose with one fist on the floor. The Black Jack tracked her movements, Asaga not completely realizing firing her weapon would most likely kill everyone else but her. She walked with a gait that betrayed her past - one with little planetary gravity and much semi-normal gravity of space travelers. She spread longer than would be comfortable for a Ceran, and her feet daintily touched the floor rather than both the balls of her feet and heel hitting the ground at the same time. By the time she reached the Sunrider's crew, Ava had already written down a half a page on her.
By comparison, the Cerans and their auxiliaries were much less decent. Icari was resting her weight on one foot while Claude was staring at the back of Shields' head. Ava was standing at near attention, the only issue being the holopad in her hands rather than stowed away. Shields, as Captain, had the right of standing as he pleased without recourse - at attention as well, legs tucked together forming a half right angle at his feet, while his hands were folded behind his back.
Sola eyed each of the four in front of her, before staring directly at Kayto. "You are their Captain?"
"I am Captain Shields of the CSF Sunrider. You would be?"
"Princess Sola vi Ryuvia." Ava and Shields each looked at one another at the word Princess, before Ava immediately drew up some other notes on her holopad. She flashed them to Shields. "Ah, you would be the missing Princess of Ryuvia then?" For the first time in what seemed like such a long time, Chigara was the one to interrupt. Until that point she had been walking out of vision towards the group, but upon hearing the identity of the near killer, she ran towards them. "Captain! Sola vi Ryuvia's been dead for two thousand years! This can't be her!"
Sola closed her eyes for a moment, humming something to herself before returning to her 'normal' state. "My Ryder's chronometer tells me it has been some thousand years since I was last awake. Tell me, how does my father's empire fare?"
"It doesn't. Why did you attack us, Miss Ryuvia?" Once more, her eyes closed and she was stuck in thought. "Your men entered the Sharr' Lac and drove straight to me. The onboard AI informed me of such and acted in my defense, at least until I could be awoken." The statement of joy that no Marines were there to hear that went, thankfully, unspoken. "I assumed they were more of the Fallen coming to battle. I acted as I should have."
"So then that graveyard… Fallen ships? You destroyed them?"
"The Sharr' Lac did. The Fallen, did they succeed?" He turned to Ava, who shook her head. "We're not sure - much has been lost in the last two thousand years. We can put you in contact with the Ryuvian Royal Family and get you the information you need." She grimaced at the mention of the Royal Family. "Not needed, Captain."
"If you'd rather not, that's your wish. Now, we need to know - do you have the crown jewel?" She cocked her head. "Crown jewel? Red thing? Used to tell if a person is a member of the Royal Family or not?" The realization was clear on her face. "Yes, of course, the Talbur. It is in my Ryder. Have you need of it?"
"You're willing to hand it over?" She nodded. "You have proven yourself a worthy member of the Family; it would be yours to demand." Claude stifled a giggle at the inference of information not there. Shields, playing safe over sorry, decided not to tell her he wasn't Royalty. "Yes, please." He turned towards the Black Jack and toggled his communicator. "Asaga, she's clear. Let her back to her Ryder and get down here already." The Black Jack finally lowered weapons, and soon after the docking system reinitiated and brought it into the 01 bay. Asaga had jumped out and run to the meeting spot by the time Sola had the Talbur freed.
A small purple light tailed Sola as she returned to the group, it slowly growing brighter with each step. "This is the Talbur. It glows in presence of the Royal Family, and it is the first I have seen it glow so bright." She bowed her head. "You, Captain Shields, must be son of the King." He hid the surprise of being an actual member of the Royal Family, knowing she had more to say. Before she could continue, the warning lights flared in the Hangar, unlike the bridge where it turned to complete red. Harker's voice sounded on the PA. "All crew to battle stations - PACT signatures detected. I repeat, all crew to battle stations." The Technicians departed the Ryders at the announcement at were already gathered together for roll by the time the Pilots made it to their Ryders. Even the newcomer, Sola, understood what needed to be done. Ava and Kayto rushed to the elevator, Captain's privilege giving him priority access to it.
Pfeiffer yelled to Shields the moment he arrived on the Bridge, calling over the officers issuing orders of their own. "Captain, we've got a fleet of PACT Vessels right in front of us, I guess the explosion tipped them off! Counting at least forty vessels matching known cruiser profiles and four possible battleships in the center of the fleet!" He turned in his chair once Shields was on the dais and sitting. "Captain I'm not sure even we can take them on." Shields' answer never came, as the holographic form of the portly gentleman from before appeared, though a quick check confirmed that he could not see Kayto in return. The symbol for active voice modulation appeared on one of his displays. "Whether you're a ghost ship or not, I, Veniczar Cullen will rid you from this sector! I shall prove myself to Arcadius! A curse be on you and your foul ship!"
"So… fire on us." The PACT leader shook his head. "You have the Crown Jewel. Deliver it by shuttle to my vessel, or we will destroy you. You're not worth my cannon."
"Commander… you are… mistaken. We survive the greatest of… Lost Ryuvian battles. You fail to scare us." He cut the channel and informed Pfeiffer to block their communications. Cullen smiled on his ship, happy the Sunrider was taking the hard way out. He gave order to the fleet to fire on them, and they did - happily. Tired of not fighting back, of having supply lines cut or pillaged, the PACT armsmen were happy to finally take the fight to the Ghost Ship. A complete barrage launched from the fleet, ranging from small scale corvette lasers to the massive cannon of the battleships. Thanks to her smaller size, the Sunrider managed to avoid some of it. Some.
Entire sections burned away from the Sunrider, sensor suites overloaded trying to track all incoming and reference it across other suites. The Trinities and point defense managed to blow up some of the smaller projectiles, even intercepted a battleship's shell, but soon the Trinities lost charge and simply moved around at each projectile, while the point defense were incapable of stopping lasers or kinetic fire. The space between the Hangar and the Saviors took a direct hit, making the latter unable to swivel. Shields knew what was happening and turned to Ava, giving a single nod before looking back to his bridge crew. Most had stopped giving orders by this point, instead looking towards their Captain. "It was… It was a good run. Of that I am certain." Pfeiffer offered a smile while Mcclain, a thumbs up. He was about to give a short death speech when the Black Jack flew from the hangar.
"Stop! I'm the one you're looking for! I am Princess Asaga di Ryuvia! Stop your attack, Cullen, stop it now!" Shields was taken aback by this, and ordered Pfeiffer to reopen comms to listen in. "Men, hold fire and take her in! Looks like we don't need the jewel after all." A quartet of the Elite PACT Ryders disgorged from a Battleship, taking their sweet time to get to the Black Jack. "Captain… I'm sorry I lied. But it's… It's better this way." Her screen winked out as her Ryder was disabled and carried off like a dead body to the PACT Fleet. "Now we head to Ryuvia Prime for the wedding! Make haste, we have less than a week now! What do you mean the communicator is still acti-"
There was silence on the bridge for a second before Shields stood. He calmly walked to the front of the dais, leaning on the railing. "It was a good run, but we've got a better one to go on now. Helm, get us to Chigara's repair station immediately. Everyone else, get a full report of damages to your sector as soon as possible, forward them to myself, Pfeiffer, and Chief Engineer Brown. Pfeiffer, get our repair drones active now, get them working inside anywhere too dangerous for the crew. And someone inform Ms. Brooks we're going to need a lot of supplies." From behind him, Ava stood. "Captain? Are you sure about this?"
"We've got a wedding to crash Ava, and I'm not going to play nice this time."
