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CSFV Amazon, New Babylon orbit, UEC Space
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The situation had just gone from bad to worse for the crew of the Amazon, as well as the rest of the defending CSF ships. Eiji was still stunned by the enemy fleet's new support which now dwarfed them in numbers and firepower.
"Silva, what is the ETA of our reinforcements?" The Captain requested keeping his eyes on the new arrivals.
"Thirty minutes sir"
"Let's hope we can hold out for that long" The enemy's own reinforcements had yet to open fire, to Eiji's and no doubt the Captain's own curiosity. They pressed on bearing down on them and what seemed to a encirclement manoeuvre.
"Gunners, concentrate the heavy drivers and Crossbow missiles on Laden's ship"
"Sir, three enemy vessels are breaking off and heading for the surface"
"There's nothing we can do for them now. They'll just have to fend off for themselves until back up arrives"
"Let us hope Ivanov has the anti ship batteries functioning for the defence of the city" The Lieutenant-commander commented, hoping it was the case.
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Port Alexander, Planetside, New Babylon
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"Here they come!" Colonel Hall's voice echoed in Ben's and every other soldier of the 115th's built in helmet earpiece as unfamiliar spacecraft flew over Port Alexander. Three large ships he had never seen before were hovering above the capital, splitting up and flying over to different sectors of the city.
"Who the hell are these guys?"
"Looks like were about to find out" He pointed up to the spaceships, as contingents of smaller craft came out of the sides of the enemy vessels. Blasts of red were firing out from two different fighter sized types, one half were curved and possessed wings resembling sharp ended, horizontal Hs and the others was at his best description were three fingered clawed shaped with a ball centred in the middle.
Some were shooting at the buildings while the others did strafing runs at numerous positions around the city, explosions and the echoing sound of people dying or hit by enemy fire were visible and witnessed by all in Port Alexander. In kind rounds of anti aircraft fire was blazing up to the attackers, Prowlers heavy chainguns and AA turrets aiming at the low flying fighters attempting to destroy or bring them down.
"Get out of the streets!" A Marine Lieutenant shouted to those standing in the open, followed by a trio of hostile aircraft soaring over to their direction. Ben dived into a alleyway between two nearby shops for clothing and electrical gizmos with Victor and Michelle right behind him.
Unfortunately not everyone got away in time as he watched four marines and a militiaman get cut down right before his eyes. The red laser rounds from the enemy crashed further along the road before speeding away from his position. Breaking from cover Ben searched around for Dan and Natalie, finding them coming out of a cafe from across the street unharmed.
"Everyone ok?"
"We're good unlike those poor bastards" The Lance Corporal pointed over to the slain bodies laying still on the now scorched marked road. Two marines went over to the bodies to check for any possible signs of life, only to find as presumed none. Gathering his squad around keeping alert for anymore fighters that were lingering around their location.
"We need to link up with the rest of the 115th"
"Last I heard they were split between defending the leisure centre and the school district five clicks from here" Michelle tapped on her UNICOM, bringing up a miniature map of the city highlighting the positions of UECAF activity.
"The leisure centre is where Colonel Hall has set up his base of operations so we'll head there and stick to covering on the way, got it?" They all nodded readying their weapons "Lets go" Ben took point following the route the HUD in his visor directed him and his squad to.
Gunfire rang all over the city, the roar of bullets and the whine of enemy space fighters soaring above the sky striking against the forces on the ground kept Ben and his fellow troops alert. Several times they passed troops of their regiment, the marine detachment and New Babylon's Colonial Militia taking cover behind an assortment of cover, a few equipped with Wildfire MRLs trying to get a proper lock on peering down the launchers scopes at the fast moving flyers.
He almost floored a running civilian who hadn't yet to reach the shelters outside the city limits, just a one of many running down the heavily UECAF present street.
"Khristos, didn't these fools listen to warning sirens?!" Natalie had cursed through the comm, dodging a group of people barging past her in panic.
"They must've thought it was just another emergency drill" The suggestion from Victor was most likely the true reason the Corporal pondered. At the end of the street was the plaza, a huge open ground with a 10 metre statue surrounded by a water fountain. A view Ben would of guessed to have been pleasing to look at in a busy city but now occupied by half a dozen Cheetahs and a squad of Prowlers tracking and firing up at the invaders.
Commands and weapons fire from the military machines were all that could heard from the area, bullets of different calibres and the clanging of the Prowlers missile pods letting loose their deadly payloads to any unfortunate target. Ben caught sight of five onrushing curve fighters bearing down on the plaza, spitting out red laser bolts to the collection of IFVs.
One had it's left wing clipped by chaingun bullets but still raced downward despite fire and smoke pouring out of it. A missile then struck into the middle of the wounded fighter splitting it in two, the resulting debris dropped like rock spreading across the buildings below. The remaining four continued pressing ahead with the attack releasing a volleys of laser bolts on the scout walkers.
Ben reached the outer rim of the plaza with his squad avoiding the torrent of energy blasts raining down on them. One Cheetah and it's crew became the first victims of the group of light armour support, blowing apart send shards of debris all over the place and ejecting it's occupants in a unsavoury fiery fashion. The Prowlers had raised their shields deflecting away the incoming fire, returning their own punishment in the shape of 15 mm rounds of AP bullets and missile salvos shooting up behind the yellow bubble like shields.
There was no need for him or the others to turn and look at the sky to know one more fighter bite the dust, thanks to the huge bang meaning someone had met their maker. Not resisting a chance to see the other results, Ben took a quick glimpse up at the sky seeing the remaining three with one spinning erratically downward toward the plaza. The other two flew over peppering the defending vehicles with half dozen crimson laser strikes before speeding off into the distance. The twirling wreck of the grief stricken third however was still continuing with it's flightpath.
"Oh shit"
"Get behind cover, now!" Ben ordered legging it with the others behind a nearby concrete wall bending around the plaza's grass garden, just in time as the screeching of metal skidding across the surface. It stopped with a clang and something big falling over as a result.
Confident they were momentarily safe for now, Ben moved out from cover with his squad following suit to a sight of a burning wreckage and a toppled statue now laying metres away from the perpetrator scattered into hundreds of pieces.
"Damn that was close" A sigh of relief escaped from Dan's mouth.
"How far is this base?"
"Three streets down that way, north east of the town hall" Michelle pointed to the six pillared building 50 metres away.
"C'mon let's get moving" AA fire kept on keeping the pressure to take down as many enemy fighter craft as possible with the five man squad passing through the recent destruction, making their to the leisure centre. Small arms fire could be heard for the first time shooting up at the sky by militia behind cover, making Ben wonder what was the point since there was only a slim chance anyone was going to bring one down with just a rifle.
The recognisable armour and dark green and brown colouring of Army fatigues with the badges of the 115th were more common sight as Ben and the others ran down the remaining streets. The leisure centre finally came into view, guarded by four Widowmakers and two Grizzly APCs by the entrance along with barricaded troops all focusing on the invaders flying all over the city.
They walked into a reception area now occupied by technicians adapting the centre's computers to portable military touch screen counterparts and other tasks. Passing a ball court further down the building Ben saw Henrik walking up the stairs leading to the gymnasium, where Colonel Hall was said to have converted it into his command post since it was the widest room out of the building.
"Sarge!" Ben shouted up to the senior NCO getting him to turn around at the squad.
"Good you're here. I was about to comm you but it looks like you've saved me a job"
"Do we know what's going on yet Sarge?"
"You've been out there Colton, even a deaf and blind mute could tell what an invasion looks like" He didn't need to have x-ray vision to know she was seething at Henrik's mocking remark "So far only three ships have been sighted around the planet and as you can see, they all hovering above our heads"
"Is the Navy holding out?"
"Only just, and latest reports have confirmed more hostiles have entered the system. Expect to facing more of these bastards" They all entered into a gymnasium, it's equipment now carelessly thrown to the sides of the room or converted into cover against the windows. The wide open space was full of personnel from the 115th, Marines, Navy and Colonial Militia hovering around laptops and holo-maps talking to their units through the microphones on the laptops or the inbuilt headsets.
The person standing out the most however was who Ben and his squad came to see, accompanied by Captain Pires and speaking somewhat civilly into the touch screen laptop.
"What the hell do you mean no air support is available, we have three goddamn ships on top our asses and enemy fighters flying freely across the city. We need your planes down here now!"
"I'm sorry Colonel. All air units are engaged, you'll just have to make do what you have"
"With what, we have nothing!. The Prowlers and Widowmakers aren't designed for this shit and the dropships wouldn't stand a chance. Send us some fighters before they turn this city into crater" The video feed to the link with the cruiser for second flashed and Ben could see the man on the other side of the feed flinching at whatever was hitting the ship.
"Until reinforcements arrive we are unable to lend support. Amazon out" Hall smashed a fist into the table the laptop had been resting on, uneasing the technician who was working on it. Gunfire and the echoing engines of the enemy fight craft speeding all over the place was all that could be heard in the now silent gym, everyone exchanging nervous glances at one another.
"Ah fuck 'em. Sub-lieutenant, has your Chief Engineer got the Mass drivers ready?"
"Ivanov has reported two out three are online. The last one took damage from enemy fire and will take some time before it's operational again"
"Good, tell him to target the nearest enemy vessel and set the targeting systems to automated and then high tail it out of there"
"Yes sir"
"Sir, Major Demir is on the line"
"Put it through" He nodded turning back to the table "Major, what is it?"
"Colonel, we've new tangos departing from the ships. They're spreading out all over the place" On cue Ben watched the gymnasium begin to darken and turned to his fellow squadmates who were all looking around for the source. It quickly became clear as somebody pointed and called out toward the window, causing all the UECAF personnel to cast their eyes over to the outside view.
A tan coloured, double T shaped ship flew over the building, slowly moving closer into Port Alexander. Ben went over to the window with a few others around him for a better inspection and found more of the T craft floating over certain spots over the capital, some beginning to descend down to areas he knew to be wide open spaces.
"Well, it looks like we're gonna find out who's been gunning for us" The Colonel said taking his pistol out from its holster "Major tell your men to prepare themselves and dig in"
"Already are sir. One has just landed no more than twenty metres from our position"
"To all units this Colonel Hall. Give these assholes a welcoming you only get for touching down on our turf without an invitation from the UECAF" No response came through the speakers but he was sure everyone was hyped up from the Colonel's words of encouragement "Pires, take your unit and go down to Market Square"
"Yes sir. Henrik, Howard with me" Following the Captain's lead out of the gymnasium Ben rushed out to the new location with the others right behind him. The streets and buildings were more abuzz with activity before they had entered the leisure centre, now that a ground force had landed and was soon to be upon them.
They were soon joined by two platoons worth of troops along the way, including Muller and his squad which somewhat eased Ben's mind knowing he had more good soldiers at their side. Small arms fire had now taken over the soundtrack of the battlefield as was some repetitive whining from some type of energy weapon. Above them was another T ship attempting to land but was struck by multiple hits from Prowler missile strikes, ending up with one wing tearing off and pieces of it's armour blowing off at different places. One missile must of hit a fuel pod or something vital because it soon erupted into a flames then rained down chunks of metal, causing everyone to dive out the way.
Lucky for the advancing force the majority of the debris had fallen on roof tops.
"Govno!" Victor cursed behind him at a piece of metal crashing mere inches from the surprised soldier.
"Come on Vic!" Michelle urged him forward. Reaching Market Square Ben saw around 11 Colonial Militia and two Grizzlies armed with scaled down Hellfire turrets manned each by one person, had taken up defensive positions in the centre of the Square.
"Muller take your guys and go up to that balcony above the fruit stall. Chandler, you take up position opposite Muller and Nat I want you take up sniping position in that bell tower" Pires pointed to the modern style church tower situated behind several shops. Taking off with her L5 Sharpshooter in one hand Ben called out to her before she was out of sight.
"Be careful Nat"
"No worries Corporal" She gave him a thumbs up then carried on running to her new spot. The Square was no bigger than 60 metres wide and was fairly open plain had it not been for the stalls and concrete beds for trees and benches, giving suitable cover for most of the soldiers taking up position in the middle of the Square.
Ben himself had taken cover in a sandbag barricade with Victor to one side and a Colonial Militiaman armed with a basic M2A5. He checked over to his right where Michelle was kneeling behind a metal framed stall and Dan stood up in the open with his finger pressing on the Hailstorm's shield generator button. Gunfire still filled his ears and the visor's readings were picking up all his squads statuses which were thankfully still green.
The gunfire grew closer and closer until he peered down the scope of his Razor and caught sight of five marines charging around the corner at the far end of the Square, firing bursts at an unknown target and received a hail of crimson back cutting one down marine who was too slow to get out of the way. They all ran the Square over to their location frantically shouting to fall back.
His eye still piercing down the scope searching for the cause of the marines retreat, the first glimpse of the invaders came into view and shocked both Ben and the soldiers around him a their new enemy.
"You have got to be kidding me" Michelle's stupefied voice rang through the comm. A whole column of skinny, sand coloured bipedal machines marched down the street aiming short calibre guns
"Robots!, we're being invaded by fucking robots" One of the gunners on the Grizzlies exclaimed in astonishment, his sentiment was shared by everyone around the Square.
"Cut the chatter. It doesn't matter who or what they are, they're purpose is to kill so make sure they don't succeed" Henrik barked, silence had again fallen on the nervous troops. More and more of the machines appeared like a never ending legion, blasting out red lasers throughout the Square. Ben noticed not once did they split up or aim their fire anywhere other than forward, giving him the impression they weren't of the smart variety.
"Just a little further" Pires advised through the comm. His own heartbeat and breathing had taken over his hearing and the skeletal robots were all he focused on, waiting for the order to fire. The seconds became almost painful to bare as a streaks of red poured down their positions managing to catch some off guard, cries of troops being hit echoed around him and footsteps of those running to help their injured comrades. His finger tightened on the trigger and eyes staring intently down the scope at one robot that came into his crosshairs, feeling as if the thing itself was staring back as it relentlessly fired down at them.
"Fire!" Pulling the trigger back at Pires command, Ben released a three shot burst at the target with calm precision. The bullets slammed home riddling the machine sending into a frenzy of sparks before hitting the ground hard. Victor and the militiaman either side of him fired off their weapons too with the Serbian having to change over from his Rossmore to the Auger for range. The high energy, radioactive bolts raced into the advancing horde of robots knocking down machine after machine, thanks to the special weapon's ability to go through solid objects until it burnt out.
The dark green subsonic energy rounds from Dan's Hailstorm was bringing the robots down in droves, as well as the yellow beam energy blasts from the Grizzlies' Hellfire turrets. Despite this more and more came, replacing the ones stacking up into a scrap pile.
"Just how many of these tin cans are there?!" The militiaman shouted, slapping in a fresh clip.
"It is as you say, a turkey shoot" Victor commented expelling an energy shield from his Auger, giving the trio more cover from the endless sea of lasers. In the corner of his eye Ben could see troops crying out in pain or falling down lifeless from being hit by multiple shots from the encroaching robots, their points of cover starting to become overrun.
"Captain, new robots and tanks have appeared behind the others" Natalie's alarmed voice spoke through the link.
"Talk to me Stanovich, what've we got"
"At least six tanks and a company's worth of a fat, silver machines" Ben found what Natalie had been describing down his scope, now replacing the skinny bots. Taller more bulky robots were marching behind their smaller compatriots, blasting out lasers from guns installed into their wrists. He fired another three round burst into the closest one but it didn't fall like the others instead only stumbled slightly before carrying on moving forward.
Some did go down gradually but only from concentrated fire and heavier weapons. An explosion suddenly clipped a shop near Michelle's position, only a brief second worth of screams came meaning the occupants were no more. Behind the newcomers were the tanks Natalie warned about hovering directly behind the bigger robots, their turrets swivelling around firing at any target they could find.
One turned it's thin pole like main gun at the Grizzly on the other side of the Square, recoiling back as it fired into the APC and striking it right into the driving compartment. A hole the size of a car wheel had became evident at the well placed shot then another followed in quick succession and tore the APC open, having hit the ammo feed compartment.
"God dammit you pieces you shit!" The remaining APC's gunner shouted in anger turning the Hellfire turret to bear on the tanks. The amber beams smashed into the offending tank and managed to hit the robot sticking out of the top hatch, causing the tank's main gun to swerve around like a merry go round "Yeah take that you fuckers!"
Ben loaded his third clip into his Razor and continued to fire down at the horde but it didn't bother the machines of the numbers lost on their side and carried on marching forward, cutting down troops not quick enough to move out of the now useless cover.
"Time to pull out of here. Fall back to Town Hall" Pires directed the defenders, firing off his own BM08 Razor.
"Come on, move if you want to live longer!" Sergeant Henrik encouraged the others, not that they needed much encouragement. One by one the remaining soldiers of the 115th and the last handful of Colonial Militia members fell back in an orderly fashion which they had been trained to do countless time through simulations. A dozen more were shot as they tried retreating, only a few were still standing limping away or getting support from comrades.
Since he was at the back of the defensive line Ben had to keep firing at the machines for a bit longer, having to move his line of fire more than once to avoid hitting a passing soldier. The shield of Dan's minigun started to show signs of burning out and began flashing and turning into a much lighter green.
"Dan get out of there!" He shouted to the Lance-Corporal, who reluctantly moved slowly backwards behind the remaining Grizzly, returning fire on the robots who were targeting him. Michelle was close behind letting off a 40mm grenade from her rifle, the thunk noise of it leaving the barrel and crashing into a silver machine sending it to the ground with it's front section blown inwards.
Only he, Victor and the militiaman were left now facing the oncoming horde with the engines of the Grizzly roaring behind them as it too backed away carefully.
"Don't worry guys, I've got your backs" Four robots were shot down from Natalie's Deadeye's automatic lock on settings.
"Much appreciated Nat. Let's go" Vic moved from cover first, deploying two shield barriers then he and the militiaman ran from the sandbags on the trail of the rest of his unit. The Grizzly was being targeted by combined fire from the enemy tanks but the hits weren't accurate, only shaking the tough APC's gunner who was still firing the Hellfire turret.
The sound of falling robots came behind them from Natalie's superb accurate shots.
"Alright Nat, it's your turn to get the hell out of there"
"On my way-, Oh chert I've got incoming" The whine of an enemy fighter drew nearer and unleashed crimson laser bolts into the tower, sending the roof and supports metres into the air then spiralling down to the church below.
"Natalie!" Michelle shouted through the comm, the rest of his squad stopping and staring in horror at the now destroyed bell tower.
"Nat come in. Nat" Ben tried contacting her to no avail.
"Howard why you stopping?" Henrik stopped firing for a second to see the commotion.
"It's Private Stanovich Sarge, she's been hit"
"There's nothing we do now Corporal. Get moving" Before he was about to concede to Henrik's orders, he heard coughing and string of Russian curses speaking into his comm link.
"Nat come in, it's that you" Dan frantically questioned, they all waiting in anticipation for a response.
"I hate those chertov things" Even with their mask visors covering their faces, Ben could tell each one of them had a look of relief "Great, I'm stuck"
"All of you head to the Town Hall"
"Wait a sec, where you going?"
"To get Nat. I'll catch up with the rest of you later"
"Hold it Corporal"
"No Sarge she's part of my team, I will not abandon her" Ignoring anymore protesting Ben ran back into the fray. The whole of Market Square had been completely overrun now by robots making headway to the command posts. Hiding from the hundred if not thousands of mechanical bodies marching down the Square with a repetitive rhythm of metal humping down on the concrete road, the Corporal followed his visor's directions to his trapped squadmate.
He ran past bodies of dead UECAF troops, marines and civilians but a big number of robot remains littering the place too. The church came into view and Ben practically bolted to the damaged double wooden doors before any of the machines could see him enter.
Inside the roof had caved in from pieces of the bell tower, crushing the altar and cracking open the ebony floor. Thankfully to his relief the way to the bell tower wasn't blocked so he rushed over calling out her name.
"Over here" She coughed. When Ben found her she lay on the dented and cracked floor at the bottom of the now broken staircase, with a reasonable big piece of masonry trapping her left leg and her mask missing.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I think" She winced holding onto her trapped leg "This hurts like hell"
"Where's your mask?"
"Over there" She nodded to the bottom of the staircase, the object in question had the visor smashed and the rest twisted to one side.
"Ok Nat, I'm gonna try lift this off you. You ready?"
"Da" She confirmed whilst he placed his BM08 Razor on the ground and moved over to the slab.
"Right on three. One, two-"
"Hold it right there" A whiny, high pitched electronic voice ordered behind him. When he turned his head around two skinny robots were standing in the doorway, pointing their snub nosed guns at him and Natalie "Stand up and put your hands on your head"
Ben did as he was told and was regretting putting his rifle on the ground and it looked as if Natalie didn't have a weapon on her either. Fuming at his own stupidity he was about to do something drastic when two powerful buck shots from a shotgun decapitated the machines, revealing a more welcoming sight of Sergeant Henrik holding Victor's Rossmore.
"We ain't got all day Howard"
"Thank God, can you give me hand Sarge" He turned back to the fallen slab gripping underneath it with Henrik grabbing onto another part. Heaving it up he heard Natalie crawl backwards then dropped it down, to find an unpleasant discovery on the youngest of his team once he faced her again.
"My leg, it's dislocated"
"We need to hurry this up. I'm afraid Stanovich, this is going to hurt" Henrik bent down grabbing onto her knee and ankle. Ben went over and placed a hand on her shoulder, which she reached up and put hers over waiting for the inevitable pang of pain that came with putting a limb back into place. With a nod meaning he was ready Henrik twisted her leg back into joint with a pained yelp from the youngster.
"Come on you two, let's get back to HQ before those brainless mongrels find us" Picking up his gun and seeing in the corner of his eye Natalie retrieving her L5, they fell in behind the Sarge and ran back to the ever decreasing friendly territory.
Half expecting to see those bulky silver robots waiting for them outside, the 115th trio were instead greeted by a more favoured greeting. A thundering crack originating from a neighbouring skyscraper's roof drew all their eyes over to the now operational Mass drivers. The anti ship guns opened fire on the ship hovering over the shopping mall, embedding heavy slugs into it's exposed belly.
The ship then started drifting away but was met by more electromagnetic rounds from around the capital.
"Quit gawking and let's get out of here" Henrik nudged him and did as he ordered, hoping that at least gave the invaders a good fright.
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The Amazon took another heavy combined barrage of plasma from the flagship and two frigates who had snuck up on the flanks.
"Shields down twenty eight percent"
"Light MDs one to six aren't responding"
"Sir, escape pods have just jettisoned from the Grim Strike"
"Canberra are reporting hull breaches and venting atmosphere" The endless reports of misery floated all around the Bridge at the now near one sided battle. Eiji could see the turmoil in the Captain's eyes as he did his best to counter a losing battle.
All but one frigate remained and that was the Shadow Fist who was currently hounded by enemy bombers, the Prague and the Canberra were experiencing similar problems to each other at the bombardment of enemy turrets swarming red plasma all over their battered hulls and to top it all of, the promised reinforcements had not arrived.
The Amazon itself was not faring any better with one Particle Beam Cannon now offline from a suicide run from enemy fighters, it's shields dropping fast and the silo doors to the nuclear arsenal were refusing to open.
"Engineer is reporting the doors are jammed and should be fixed in a few minutes"
"Tell them we don't a few minutes, get them open now!" The ship yet again rocked at a bombing run. The Bridge was lit by the exploding Grim Strike meeting it's fate, doing nothing other than overloading everybody's boiling points. Eiji was pissed and not because of the enemy, not because of watching his fellow Navy colleagues blow up and die right before him those did anger him of course. What angered him more than anything at this time and place was not getting any support from the rest of Second Fleet who should've been here ages ago.
"Captain I'm picking up more contacts coming from the behind the enemy fleet" The Ensign who first picked up these Separatist Alliance bunch informed them with a shaky tone. The hearts of everyone on the Bridge sunk like a rock falling into water. Already outnumbered and outgunned this was the nail in coffin for the last of the defending ships of the CSF. Surrounded and the shields about to give out any minute, Eiji was just about to embrace the inevitable fate that was awaiting them when her voice spoke up again.
"Sir it's not the Separatist Alliance" She called out in a mix of shock and confusion.
"Second Fleet?" Captain Fisher asked with all the remaining hope he had left. Power walking over Eiji stared down at the screen of 10 blips showing incoming ships
"No sir. They're Chimera" Silence overshadowed the crew as they couldn't believe their ears. Eiji resisted the urge to rub his eyes to check this wasn't some sort of trick but the screen showed the signatures of Imperial ships.
"Sir we're being hailed" Silva said with a look of bewilderment.
"On speakers"
"This is High Captain Tuchar'an of Her Majesty's Imperial Navy. How may we be of assistance?"