(Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I've been busy with school and finals. Anyways, Enjoy!)
Raven eventually got out of the hospital, and didn't strangle John.
John never told Raven what he was talking about.
Shatiil was introduced to Director Orland.
A few days later
"Hey Rave, isn't today the training flight?"
"Oh god it is," Raven said. "Shatiil! Uniform, 10 minutes! We gotta go!"
The three of them hurried to put on their uniforms, and jogged to the hidden door. They each scanned their cards, and practically shoved each other through the door. They hurried towards the designated Venator, then walked up the landing ramp. Captain Fleché was waiting at the top of the ramp.
"You're on time, no worries. If you'd follow me, I'll brief you on our mission here," Fleché said as she started walking. "Alright, starting off, we're fighting a Separatist occupation of a neutral agricultural planet, Condit. They only have two Munificent frigates, and one Providence carrier-destroyer at last report. Search and destroy, simple."
"Do you have different or additional weapons onboard?" John asked.
Fleché just smiled knowingly and talked into her comm-link.
"Engage lift off sequence, we're ready."
The siren sounded, but a deeper tone than on a standard Venator.
"That's different right? Because I don't remember the alert sirens resonating in my chest." Raven observed.
"They are indeed different."
The group kept walking until they arrived at the central turbolift bank. They walked into the turbolift that led straight to the bridge, and ascended.
"Captain on the bridge." Someone called.
"At ease. Status report." Fleché answered.
"All systems nominal, but sector TL has reported massive power fluctuations." The engineering officer reported.
"Alright, try to fix that," She said, turning to the three trainees. "Any questions, about anything?"
"Why is this ship called 'Marvel's Revenge?" Raven asked
"Ha! Now that right there, that is a question I was not expecting. Anyways, we were outgunned by 2 to 1, and we started running. We were chased by four Providence class ships, and our shields were buckling. Dante over there, he sent a battallion of engineers down to the hyperdrive, and had them fiddle with it." Fleche recited.
"Fiddle is a very loose term for what we did captain." Dante called.
"Anyways, they apparently changed the basic programming of the hyperdrive. They programmed it to jump backwards, and about 8 light minutes away. Long story short, we obliterated them after the jump. It was a marvel we survived, and we rechristened the ship."
"You reprogrammed a class 1.0 hyperdrive?" John said incredulously.
"SCAR hyperdrives are actually class 0.9, but in basicality, yes," Dante said. "Anyways, we're jumping in about 2 minutes Captain."
Fleché nodded, and walked over to the nav consile. She returned and handed each of the recruits a small, black object.
"These are neural interfaces, they show a tactical interface without having to have a helmet on."
They put them on their temples, and they took effect immediately. Raven saw a virtual screen flash across her vision. It flashed her name, biometrics, military rank and other things.
"Now, you're currently in passive mode. When we enter combat, it switches automatically. Don't be surprised when it does change."
"Ready to jump Captain." Dante said.
"Whenever you're ready Dante."
Dante pressed a few buttons, and the stars stretched into infinity behind the ship, and they were catapulted into hyperspace. The blue light of hyperspace flickered across their vision, and after about 15 minutes, they dropped out of hyperspace.
"No additional forces detected, only a Providence class and two Munificent frigates." The navigation officer reported.
"We're in range for the 3 main weapons batteries Ma'am." Dante said.
"Fire at will. One lance on each frigate, two on the Providence."
"Wait, wait, What's the third weapons battery? And what do you mean by lance?" Raven demanded.
The neural interface switched over to combat mode. Red markers showed the three enemy ships, which were turning their guns to bear on them. The Venator's projected flight path was shown, as well as firing lines of every weapon. Coming from the base of the Venator's conning tower were 4 firing lines.
"Turbolasers firing on target. Turbolances deploying." Dante said.
"If you would look towards the foot of the conning tower please." Fleché said, gesturing to the windows.
Raven crept forward and looked down towards the base of the conning tower. Four stubby, single barrel weapons were slowly rising from the hull of the ship. Mounted on ball turrets, every weapon was pointing straight up. Then they started to lower towards their targets. The barrels started to separate into rods, and spark violently, electricity arcing between the rods.
"Turbolances spinning up. 10 seconds to firing. Polarizing the windows."
The electricity intensified as the windows darkened and the lights flickered and dimmed. Then four massive, continuous rods of pure blue energy shot towards the enemy ships. They shredded shields and armor like paper, and burning red lines were carved into the enemy ships. The enemy ships darkened as their power grids failed, shrapnel glittered in the starlight, and secondary explosions went off.
"The hell was that?" John squeaked.
"That, was our most powerful weapon. It's called the turbolance, and its perfect for long range engagements, sieges, defences, planetary bombardments, and general ship to ship combat. Ten second charge time, ten seconds fire time, 30 second cool down." Fleché said proudly.
"What is the power draw on those things?" Shatiil asked.
"About 15 percent per weapon, although we can store energy in a hypermatter capacitor if we choose to."
"Are there any other of these... types of weapons that we don't know about?" Raven asked.
"Turbolances or secret death weapons? We install miniature turbolances on the ball turrets of our AT-TE's. But as for any more hidden death weapons, no." Fleché explained.
"So, do we RTB now or...?" John asked.
"Pretty much." Dante called.
"You think that was crazy, try talking orland into letting you watch a holo recording of Operation: Spearhead. Now that's some crazy stuff. Actually, I might make him show it as a training film. Huh, now that's a thought."
"Yay, we get to watch old operations." Raven said unenthusiastically.
"Want me to give yoy the basic rundown of what happened?" Fleché offered.
"Hit me." Raven said.
"Three venators come out of hyperspace. They maneuver themselves edge to edge, forming a kind of pyramid. Three picket frigates arrive, and enter the hollow inside the pyramid to guard the bottom of the ships. Everyone launches their fighters, about 1500 fighters in total. Turbolances are deployed, guns in fortress position. Their target is an entire separatist fleet. A dozen Providence classes, dozens of frigates and destroyers, a few battleships, and assorted picket ships. They just sail through the fleet, and I'll just say this. Light. Show." Fleché said dramatically.
"Jumping back to Kuat Drive Yards Ma'am." The nav officer called.
"Understood. Now, You'll be given quarters onboard this ship for the duration of your training," Fleché said, turning back to the recruits. "And don't worry, I have accounted for your friend Kay. 144-f, a7 and a8. Dismissed recruits." Fleché said absently.
They exited the bridge, and took the elevator to level 144, then walked towards the front of the ship until they got to the front of the conning tower, then they made their way towards cabins A7 and A8. They entered their assigned rooms, and found pristine, maybe even luxurious commander's quarters.
"I'll take the other room." John remarked as he excused himself.
"Now, interrogation time. What were you talking about? Now before you say no, if you did tell me, could I do anything to help? Anything?"
"I'm calling John. If you swear on your rank of captain, I might tell you if John agrees."
"Someone called?" John said as he walked back in.
"If Raven swears an oath on her rank as captain not to tell anyone, would you tell her? I will if you do."
John squirmed uncomfortably. He paced back and forth, his hands nervously grabbing his pants.
"Yes, yes I would."
"Alright. I, Raven Stone, swear on my rank of captain that I will not tell anyone anything of what I'm about to hear."
"Okay now, sorry John, but this needed to come out. John was thinking about suicide, and I got angry at him for thinking like that."
"Now before you ask, Im fine now, I think. But I was going through rough times. My family is all dead now, except my brother and my oldest sister. You guys were a handful too. It was just, too much, too fast yiu know?"
"John." Raven said coldly.
John grunted inquisitively.
"If you ever do that again, I'll make sure your cause of death is 'assisted suicide'. Got it?"
John nodded, suddenly afraid of Raven. Her eyes were cold, and her words were quiet and smooth. The muscles on her neck were taut, and her jaw was squared.
"Rave, you okay?" Shatiil asked, waving her hand infront of Raven's face.
"I'm... fine. John, if you have a problem, tell everyone. Now get out before I smack you."
John nodded and hurried out.
"Want to spar with me Rave?"
Raven nodded, and after a minute of preparation, she started letting out her anger on Shatiil's padded hands.
