Vev System
Briefing Room, Kindred Spirit
Centax 27, 2 NRC
0850
"Just tell me what you have, Ed." Torcille replied.
"It's all in the repor-"
"Just tell me, please."
"You just want to get out of paperwork, don't you?" Nelson quipped back, smirking at the Chancellor.
"Guilty as charged, just tell me what you have." the older man replied with a chuckle.
"The entire crew has been in stasis since before Izzi went inactive a few thousand years ago; crew numbers exactly 5,792 including bridge crew and marine compliment and their invasion capabilities are... adequate."
"And their ship?"
"The ACAS Grey Ghost, last of its class in the Alliance Navy; built along with the super soldier class that Chris is part of to combat Abyss... needless to say, it didn't quite work out." Joshua replied, his subroutines giving the AI equivalent to a smirk upon seeing Torcille access the report.
"And this alliance... Omega, Cyroladian, and-"
"Pirinion, the people we just picked up." Nelson interjected, "An Alliance out of necessity to combat Abyss who we regretfully still have no new intel about... his origins are as much a mystery to them as it is to us."
"Alliance out of necessity..." Torcille mumbled before looking back up at the hologram in front of him. "Not much intel on the super soldier."
"They weren't exactly in a sharing mood other than telling us he was mostly machine parts and armor." Hannah added this time, finally standing up from her leaning space on the wall. "Tough bastard, I'll give him that; like the ground equivalent of their ship."
"I'm not to that part of the report, mind filling in the blanks, Captain?"
"Of course... the buggers sent in another squad of capital ships and..."
Vev System
Centax 26, NRC 2
2300
"Get the guns up and ready the HBC." Mendez barked. Time was of the essence and frankly he was ready to get his ship back up to fighting shape.
"Weapons charging, anti-singlecraft guns loaded and ready." the weapons officer announced.
"Shields at 100 percent, Admiral."
"Fighters ready for launch."
"And I'm fine too, thank you for asking." another voice chimed in above the din of officers. On a holobank next to the main viewscreen, an AI avatar popped up showing the rather stoic face of Thomason, the Grey Ghost shipborne AI; unlike the AIs on board Eclipse ships, he was at some point a humanoid being who chose to let the Omega Initiative work their elusive technomagic and turn him into what he was today.
"Just double check everything and get us ready to blast whatever jumps in." Mendez replied, looking around the angular and barely lit bridge. Apparently it had been over 3000 years since he had commanded from his chair, but that didn't bother him too much. They hadn't missed anything and had they been out of stasis at the time of Abyss' imprisonment, he highly doubted that they would have survived that final conflict.
"Radar shows ten enemy ships, one of which is roughly the same dimensions of the ship that landed next to us upon leaving the vault. ETA two minutes." Tom told Mendez, "And we're battle ready. Our new friends are giving us the green light to engage and will back us up with fighter support."
"HBC?"
"Already targeting the estimated exit point and fully charged." Weapons stated.
"Let's get to it then... time to show these Eclipse kids how to fight."
A heavy destroyer, four frigates, three cruisers, and two light carriers entered realspace about 200 kilometers forward of the Grey Ghost. Almost immediately, their shields began to flare as projectile and laser tracer fire arced towards the small battle group. One of the frigates actually started listing after its shields were overwhelmed and the engines on the smaller vessel's port side detonated.
"Tight formation, they don't know about the main gun." Tom said quietly.
"Time to educate them?" Chris replied, looking over to Mendez.
"Weapons station... please give these 'Crandolians' a lesson on proper weapon design." Mendez ordered with a grin. "Target the destroyer, maximum yield."
The bow of the Grey Ghost started to glow, the forward prongs sending off arcing lightning as hellish orange energy continued to build up. Once it finally reached critical levels, a beam of pure energy fired from the prow with enough force to send it backwards a full kilometer before the thrusters compensated.
The beam did not impact the heavy destroyer, it simply made the shields fail upon impact and passed through it with no trouble. The larger ship began breaking apart while all the ships around it began melting with the intense heat before their engineering decks detonated. Fightercraft trying to escape the beam became small puffs of smoke in the vacuum, melted husks of ships detonated, and the heavy destroyer at the center of it all simply ceased to exist.
Vev System
Briefing Room, Kindred Spirit
Centax 27, 2 NRC
0855
"No survivors, no debris... just superheated dust." Nelson said, the holopad showing a 3D image of the Ghost shutting off as he continued his story. "Long story short, we should be glad that they want to work with us."
"Get scans if you can, we can talk about this all later with your new friends. For now, we have another issue on our hands." Torcille replied.
"Issue?"
"Something I can't talk about over a com channel. Bring your battle group back to Aurek, I expect you to leave Vev before 1100. Once you arrive I'll brief you aboard the Spirit and from there we'll get to work... time is of the essence and I'm going to need you at the top of your game."
"As you wish Chancellor..." Nelson replied quietly, looking a little uneasy as the feed cut before a he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Easy there, Edward... I'm sure whatever is going on it'll be for the better." Hannah said.
"Did you sense anything?"
"Torcille's worry is worn on his sleeves... but it's a mixture of the war and something going on at Aurek." she replied, "But I also sensed something oddly familiar about the staff in his room... he might have made nice with the Knights while we've been gone."
"Wouldn't surprise me." Nelson quipped, "The Senate isn't exactly friendly and he needs all the friends he can get."
"Sounds like someone else I know who's knee deep in a war." Hannah added, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before starting towards the door. "I'll be meditating in our room if you need anything, hopefully I feel a jump to hyperspace within the hour and we get to enjoy a slightly longer 'vacation' than usual?"
"If I can sneak back into our quarters without any of the crew noticing, yes. If I can't, then still yes." Nelson replied with a smirk, getting a slightly confused look from General Carlson.
"You're not worried about people knowing about a severe breach in fraternization rules?"
Nelson didn't reply right away. He looked over at the holoprojector for a moment before leaning against the briefing room table and looking back at her.
"Not really; we're stuck in another war and I almost lost you in the last one."
"You never stopped having the nightmares, did you...?" she asked, turning away from the door and making sure it was locked.
"He... the entire Xesh Incident is still fresh in my mind different nights, I've just gotten better at hiding it for the sake of my job." Nelson replied quietly, walking over and pulling Hannah into an embrace, "They'll stop eventually. For now though, let's focus on recovering from this battle and then win this war."
"Aye aye." Hannah said, leaving a gentle kiss on his lips before jumping to the door and opening it, "Admiral." she added with a smirk, disappearing from view before Nelson could so much as shout.
"Damnit Hannah!"
"I want fire control on decks 3 through 5 active now!" Jacobs barked, "And bring the Alderaan up on coms, we may need her sooner than I thought."
"She's already en route, Captain." Horizon replied, "Fire control is also working as hard as they can but that hit was a little harder than I would have liked it to be."
"We saved a frigate from getting split in half. 2000 lives is worth a hard hit to the armor."
"Agreed, sir... General Hyain is on the horn."
"On screen." Jacobs replied, looking up at the main screen and giving a small grin. General Hyain was looking like a new recruit about to ride his first Basilisk.
"Please tell me I can finally bring her in and show these bugger shab-heads what real firepower is."
"I want the Alderaan ready with the port facing away from the Sovereigns; close fire support, fighter support, and then if things get really messy, you can show off and launch your frigates."
"It will be my pleasure."
"Just get into position before the next assault comes in... any word on Nelson?" Jacobs asked, waiting a moment for Hyain to turn back around after giving out orders.
"He's on his way back to Aurek as we speak. Vev is secure for now and he has friends... some sort of ancient ship and crew."
"I'll read a debrief when it runs across my desk." the older captain replied quietly. "Keep safe when you arrive and if anything breaks through us, I get to blame you."
"Wouldn't have it any other way, Captain. Hyain out."
"We have missed much since the passing of the old worlds..." Mendez murmured.
"It seems their best chance for survival though found us right when they needed us." Chris replied, "And they have powers; the female who I spoke to had telekinesis, telepathy, and by the looks of it, bio-mechanical augmentation."
"Nelson appeared to have the same... real question is whether or not we can trust them."
"We have no reason not to." the cyborg noted.
"And they've been nothing but honest with us so far, Admiral." Tom added, "I think the only real choice is to side with them... Crandolians don't seem to fond of humanoids."
"They don't seem to fond of anything to do with the Eclipse." Chris said.
"Regardless... the real threat is still out there doing who-knows-what, freed by accident after... after..." Mendez started, leaving the rest unsaid as while it had been thousands of years since they had been frozen, the memories of Centauri Minor were still fresh in the old officer's mind.
"After my kind went extinct, sir." Chris finished. "Odds favor us making an official agreement, sir."
"I know, the math plays out and our only real option is trust... make sure we can talk to this 'chancellor' once we enter realspace again." Mendez finally ordered with a sigh.
"Aye sir." Tom replied quietly.
"If you damage my bird, I'll beat you within an inch of your life and then throw you out the airlock." Kaylin growled while still being practically drug out of the hangar bay by Heroz. When he finally got her out of there and onto a turbolift, she visibly started to loosen up.
"You did good out there... so let the techs do good in the hangar and relax while you can." Heroz said, patting her on the shoulder.
"I know bud, I know... just hard to relax after a two day engagement."
"Well we have a week before we start 'official' shore leave... stop by the gym tomorrow and I'll work my magic on those sore arms of yours, ok?" Heroz replied, giving a reassuring smile.
"I think I put a little too much effort into that last dive today..." she added with a smirk and a slight nod.
"And if you hadn't we'd be a small crater on the side of a husk."
"Damn straight."
"You have failed once again on the same damn front as before." Abyss' booming voice echoed.
"In my defense, my lo-" the Crandolian admiral being chewed out tried to say but he quickly found himself unable to make any noise at all.
"In the filth! Not only have you not managed to break their blockade but you've lost Chi! The Eclipse has an ally even your largest ships can't hope to match and you think you have a defense!? Something to curb my wrath!?"
"M-my... my lord... please..." he stammered.
"Failure of such a high caliber means death." Abyss said, his tone still harsh but lowering in volume. "And one of this... magnitude means a very painful and slow death."
"Front lines or No Hope?" a softer voice asked, the Queen had finally come in, scowling at the list of disappointing setbacks she had just heard.
"Front Lines as a grunt..." the near-god replied, walking down from his throne and picking the admiral up by his neck, "If you survive a year of combat on the front lines, which I highly doubt, your wings shall be removed and you get to go to No Hope for the rest of your life." he finished, tossing him into the nearest wall. The guards promptly took the unconscious and shamed officer out of the throne room leaving the Queen and Abyss in silence.
"He was my best Admiral... if he couldn't break them then something has changed in the game since the intelligence reports came in." she remarked.
"Best admiral to date, someone will take over for him... a subordinate who has proven himself in battle."
"And the cycle will continue until you have to lead the charge yourself?"
"Until we have no further use for your incompetent military." Abyss thought before looking over to Ilea.
"That's about right... still, this defeat is... more troubling to me than I'd like to admit. The Ghost and her crew within my grasp, ready to be snuffed out once and for all... and then that blasted human," he said, disgust practically dripping off of the word, "Ruining everything... he should not have been able to take nevertheless hold against such superior numbers."
"I guess it's a good thing that Admiral Chikan is going to die then... either he's no match for Nelson, completely past his prime intellectually, or both."
"Most likely the latter of that list... no matter." Abyss replied, walking back up to his throne and putting his hand on the arm rest for a moment. "We shall not make the same mistake of underestimating the Eclipse again... they will fall, world by world." he finished, flexing his hand and breaking the arm rest off of his throne in the process.
"Until they're nothing more but ash at their savior's feet." Ilea finished, grinning at Abyss. "Don't worry, I'll have that fixed in no time." she added with a smirk that was returned by Abyss.
"Keep spoiling me and I might share power, my Queen." he quipped, starting towards the main hallway to the War Room. When he was gone, she took a seat in the throne that used to be exclusively hers, glancing out of one of the many large and ornate windows with a grin and noticing the body of the ex-admiral Czrarsh still mounted in pieces along the ramparts of the citadel for all to see. It was medieval in its brutality, yet she found charm in the extremity of the punishment.
"I'll do more than just spoil you, Abyss... much, much, more..."