…
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
(G.K. Chesterton)
…
UCV Caprica, May 2nd, 12:23 PM, 2185
…
I smiled as I walked into the unfinished CIC of the Caprica, Mara following closely behind with Elle in her arms. It was one of the only pressurized rooms in the ship so far, and one of the few that actually had a second floor. It matched the design of the CIC from the show, though with a cleaner, more technologically sophisticated edge. The only exception was the wired phones, which Dan insisted on having for "backup" purposes. Seeing how Dan had redesigned all the displays and stations for multi-race use was quite inspiring. Each station could be customized in a matter of moments, with different control panels and displays being available depending on what was required. It was designed specifically with the Raloi in mind, with their large, six-fingered "hands" being the primary concern. Even the displayed language could be changed in moments, having been fully programmed into the system.
"Admiral!" Lenlo greeted with an enthused tone, making his way over to me with a datapad held tightly in his hands. "Did you have trouble during the trip over? We were supposed to go on inspection nearly an hour ago."
"We ran into a small issue with the Gravity Drive, nothing that couldn't be easily fixed." I lied, crossing my arms as I stood at the console in the center of the room. "You been enjoying the assignment? I haven't heard much from you since I offered the position to you."
"It's… interesting, sir." He nodded, putting the datapad down on the console as he looked up at the holographic screens above us. "I've heard stories about the Geth and how efficient they are, but this has been an amazing experience. They've accomplished so much in a short amount of time, it's just… incredible."
"Good to know you're having fun." I remarked with a grin, patting his arm. "Alright, give me the basic rundown. What's our progress so far?"
"We've completed the primary hull, and are nearing completion of the secondary hull. Port and starboard flight pods are progressing at a similar rate, though they've yet to be attached to the ship." He laid out, getting one of my eyebrows to shoot up.
"Yeah, we saw that on our way in, Lenlo." Mara pointed out, looking mildly confused.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that. Haven't actually taken a look outside in a while, been too busy dealing with all these reports." He chuckled, quickly flipping through files on his datapad. "Uh, let's see… primary and secondary Gravity Drives are installed and functional, though we ran into a small problem with the sublight engines and conventional FTL drives."
"What's wrong with them?" I questioned, leaning forward onto the center console as he brought up the ship's wireframe in front of us.
"There was a serious power draw from the Mk.5 NM reactor after the systems were activated, which led to a brown-out throughout the entire ship." He explained, zooming in on the Engineering section to show the subsystems. "Once we took the systems offline, the power grid resumed normal operation. We believe it has something to do with the refinement of the new Element Zero core, but we weren't sure. I called Dr. Nemo over, he's working on it now."
"Dan is here?" I questioned out loud, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"Yes'sir, he's working on the problem with the Geth as we speak." He nodded, zooming the hologram out to its normal size. "He believes we may have miscalibrated the reactor's synergy with the new core, leading to an imbalance in the power grid when the subsystems were activated."
"I'm surprised the Geth weren't able to figure it out themselves." I said, getting an annoyed glance from Mara. "They always seemed good with this kind of thing."
"I believe the new reactor configuration has been a bit of a… departure from what they're used to handling." He theorised, looking mildly uncomfortable as he gripped his datapad tightly.
"Well, we knew the Mk.5 would likely have a few problems. " I admitted, thinking back to the design process that went into making it.
The Mk.5 was the largest iteration of the Nemo-Michaels reactor system ever built, essentially a bulked-up version of the Mk.3 originally built for the Cairo and CASTLE Base. It was the largest we could possibly make the original design without some serious re-engineering, something we couldn't afford with our limited time frame. At 5.1 petawatts per hour, it was more than enough to run the entire ship with all systems running at full power, but the new level of refinement the eezo core had gone through caused the balance with the fusion reactor to be a bit… wonky.
Sure, it was a bit of an inconvenience getting it to work properly, but the purity of the new eezo core would allow the ship to have much greater maneuverability in combat than other ships of its size, namely the Turian and Alliance dreadnoughts. Depending on how well our new plasma engines functioned, we could possibly become more maneuverable than the Destiny Ascension, quite an achievement if we could pull it off. Besides, we'd need every advantage we can get against the Reapers.
"Decks 12 through 19 in the forward section have just been pressurized, and the lower decks are quickly approaching completion." Lenlo spoke back up, snapping me back to the world around me. "We expect the midship decks to be pressurized by tomorrow."
"How are the life support systems working out so far? I asked, weary of their functionality after he mentioned a brownout.
"Well, the water storage tanks and purification systems are fully operational, along with the air scrubbers and climate control." He highlighted on the hologram, showing said systems in great detail. "Until we have a full crew, however, we have no way to really… test their effectiveness. They're rated far past the maximum crew complement though, so I'd imagine they should be fine."
"I trust your judgement." I nodded, folding my arms over my chest again.
"How are the Cruisers coming along?" Mara chimed in, a curious look appearing on her face.
Both of us were already aware of their status, but I was curious to see what Lenlo had to say about them.
"The two Dradis-class cruisers are nearly finished, actually." He quickly answered, bringing up the schematic for said ship on the projector. "All that's really left to do with them are the shakedown runs. Their systems aren't nearly as complex as the Caprica's, so I'd imagine they'll do fine when the time comes."
"It's funny you mention that, tomorro-" I started before I heard the sound of a door opening.
We flipped around to look at the source of the noise, revealing Dan in a pressure suit, minus the helmet. He sighed deeply, running his free hand through his hair before making eye contact with Mara and I, smiling.
"Hey, f-fancy seeing you two here!" He greeted with enthusiasm, walking over with a big smile on his face.
"I could say the same." I replied, clasping hands with him and doing the secret handshake. "Heard you were helping with the reactor, something about problems with the standard FTL and sublight engines?"
"Yeah, there were a few iss...issues with reactor synergy." He grumbled, putting down his helmet and pulling off his gloves. "That new drive core is playing h-havok with the fusion reactor. I had to completely re...recalibrate the stabilization system to get it working properly."
"Is it fixed now?" Mara questioned, sounding just as worried as I felt.
"Yeah, though once the s-ship is fully operational it'll likely need some more w-work." He nodded, pausing for a moment as he gave us a weird look. "Why are you two looking at me like t-that?"
"Uh, nothing. You just have a smudge on your face." I immediately lied, realizing that both of us had been staring at him, thoughts of Old Dan floating through our minds.
"Whatever." He shook his head, turning to face Lenlo. "Try b-booting up grids n-nine through twelve, see how well it works now."
"Right then… let me make the announcement." He agreed, picking up the phone as the intercom tone rang out through the ship speakers. "Attention, attempting restart of propulsion subsystems, please standby."
He accessed the electrical grid on the interface, selecting nine through twelve as he restarted the system, causing the ship to rumble slightly as the reactor spooled up to full power. The lights dimmed for a split second before returning to normal, getting Lenlo to breathe deeply.
"Meh, could be b-better." Dan shrugged, not entirely satisfied but obviously unwilling to go work on it again if he didn't have to. "How are the systems ru...running now?"
"No hiccups from the look of it, though I won't know until I run manual diagnostics." He shook his head, looking back at us. "I've got to go check it now."
"Lenlo, before you go running off, there's another matter I want to discuss with you." I stopped, putting my right hand on his shoulder as Dan gave me an odd look, and Mara smiled. "There's something I've been thinking about the last few months, and I think it's time to make it official."
"Sir?" He replied slowly, sounding worried.
"I'm transferring my command to the Saint Luke tomorrow, and I want you to take command of the Discovery." I explained, able to tell how surprised he was based on his widening eyes as I prepared my "formal" voice, pulling out a small box with a silver eagle insignia, and two shoulder boards with four gold stripes and a star inside. "Lenlo'Firma, I've been authorized to offer you a full promotion to the rank of Captain. If you accept this promotion, you'll be expected to function as a valued addition to this growing Fleet, helping defend the United Confederation from any and all outside threats. Do you accept?"
He straightened himself out, breathing in deeply and standing ramrod stiff as he held his head up high.
"Admiral Michaels, I accept this promotion, and I am willing to serve the United Confederation with honor and distinction." He accepted in an equally formal voice, saluting before relaxing and returning to his normal tone. "Thank you, sir. I hope I can make you proud."
"You've already done that." I reassured, opening the box to present the insignia and shoulder boards. "We're still working out the "new rank" system, but I made these based on the old United States naval ones. Maybe they'll catch on again after all these years."
With that, I took the two boards and attached them to his shoulders, before pinning the insignia to the cloth covering his chest. It actually looked pretty good all things considered, the shoulder boards and insignia were meant to go with a proper uniform, but I wanted to do something special for him after everything we had been through.
"Captain Lenlo, congratulations." I finished with a smile, giving him a quick salute. "Once my flag has been transferred, the Discovery is yours. You'll be free to take on your own crew and run the ship as you see fit once your duties here are concluded."
"Thank you, Admiral." He finished, returning the salute before walking off to check the systems.
"I didn't know you were tr-transferring your command so soon." Dan remarked, walking over now that our little "ceremony" was over. "I know she's small, but she's tough. Any pa...particular reason why you chose to give it to him?"
"Well, there's two reasons." I shrugged, leaning against the wall as I spoke. "The Discovery made for a good exploration ship, but as a warship, she's not worth much. Second, Mal suggested it during our last meeting. He believed that, as an Admiral, I should be commanding one of the newest ships in the Fleet, and that having my name attached to a corvette wouldn't be right."
"I'm surprised he didn't offer you command of the Caprica." He grinned, arms folded across his chest.
"He did actually, but I decided to turn it down for one of the heavy cruisers instead." I corrected, getting a confused look from him. "There's many things I want out of life, but being in charge of a city-sized ship is not one of them. I'll leave that to the bigger players."
"It's a shame, you c-could have acted just like Adama in here, shouting orders in a gr...gravelly voice." He joked, getting a quick chuckle out of me. "I'm guessing the name you c-chose has nothing to do with Star Wars?"
"You'd be correct." I nodded, taking a sip of water from my canteen. "I'm naming the ship after the saint I chose for my confirmation, Luke The Evangelist. Patron saint of artists, painters, surgeons, notaries, and butchers."
"Butchers?" Dan squinted, getting me to smile as confusion shaped his face. "Man, organized re-religion is weird."
"You've been saying that for years." I recalled, putting my hands in my pockets. "I chose him for the art part, in case you're worried."
"I would hope so." He immediately replied, forcing me to sport a grin as he turned to look at Mara. "You alright? You look like you've seen a g-ghost."
"Nothing… I just realized you look a lot like someone I used to go to school with." She deflected, breaking eye contact with him to look down at Elle instead.
"You guys are acting w-weird today." He shook his head, using the moment to face the monitors above us instead. "Hey, i-if you're giving him the Discovery, he should get a PLS for it."
"Agreed. I'll see to it that he gets one once we've fully transferred to the Saint Luke." I agreed, looking back to Dan as I breathed deeply. "We'll have a fully-equipped lab aboard too, so hopefully we can do a little of our own work again while we're out there, sailing through the galaxy."
"Yeah… p-part of me still misses the labs below the mountain." He lamented, looking off into space. "Sure, we're able to re...replicate everything we had before, but we worked on some c-cool stuff down there."
I nodded in agreement, quietly thinking back to our home in Serenity Valley, unable to shake a certain sense of sadness I felt recalling those images in my mind. Even months removed from the events that brought us here, I still longed to be back home, standing outside as the valley air blew on my face.
"If only there was an easy way to resolve this stupid scism between the Quarians" i thought to myself, knowing there was likely no simple solution to the problems that faced us at the moment, we'd just have to play everything by ear until the time came for action. When and where that would be, we had no clue, but just being ready was all we could hope to be.
Being ready was quickly becoming a luxury none of us would have anymore.
…
UCV Saint Luke, May 3rd, 9:03 AM, 2185
…
Walking through the halls of the brand-new Saint Luke, I couldn't help but smile like a kid in a candy shop. It was an incredible feeling, having command of this vessel after everything we had done to make it a reality. Quarian, Raloi, and Geth all moved past my wife and I, giving the whole ship a busy atmosphere as we both carried what little possessions we had to our new quarters. All were hand-picked, and assigned the best possible positions I could get them. Dixon, Tony, and Morgan had all been nice enough to accept my invitation, and were now part of my bridge crew alongside many others.
Accommodating three vastly different races had proved to be quite a challenge, but we figured it out after a few design revisions. The Raloi were the most challenging, obviously taking up a lot of space. It was a given considering their size. We worked with Raloi engineers on an enlarged version of the capsule pods we designed for the Quarians, revamping them to the point where they'd easily accomodate a single Raloi crewmember without serious space issues. The Geth were less of a problem, though their inclusion came with several challenges. Specialized hubs were built to take up less space and maximize power demands, completely eliminating the previous problem.
Many of Dan's ideas for workspace integration had also been implemented on the Saint Luke and it's sister ship, the Ibycter. All of my crew were fully trained in their respective roles, ready for whatever we had to throw at them. I was looking forward to seeing the ship in full operation once we were ready for the shakedown cruise.
"I didn't expect it to be so busy around here." Mara remarked, clearly surprised at all the activity around us. "You sure there'll be plenty of room in these new quarters?"
"More room than that capsule." I immediately replied, turning around to shoot her a grin. "You like being close to me anyways, you wouldn't complain."
"Hey, a girl needs her personal space every once and awhile." She joked, doing her best to carry Elle without moving too quickly. "Even one as madly in love with you as myself."
"That's good, I almost didn't detect the sarcasm dripping from your voice there." I chuckled, getting into the elevator as she followed closely behind. "I managed to get the quarters a little bigger than the original design specified, so at the very least it should be comfy."
"I'll reserve my opinions for now." She agreed as I punched in Deck 7, one of three decks dedicated mostly to crew quarters.
Even though the Dradis-class was pushing the limits of what could be called a cruiser, barely being smaller than a Turian dreadnought at eight-hundred and ten meters to the Turian's eight-hundred and ninety-two, it had fewer decks to accommodate the height of our Raloi crewmembers better. Unlike the previous ships Dan and I had designed, the CIC, life support, medbay, and crew quarters were all situated at the center of the ship under layers of protective armor plating, while the forward sections were instead dedicated to secondary functions. Our new labs were near the front of the ship, taking up several redundant storage rooms that we weren't planning on using for anything else. The Geth had been nice enough to fabricate equipment to replace what we had left behind back in CASTLE Base.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a spacious mess hall, several long tables lining the center of the room as food dispensers flanked the port and starboard walls. A basic kitchen sat all the way in the back, filled to the brim with creature comforts provided by the Alliance. Doors on either side of the room led to the crew quarters, basic rooms for the bridge crew, with individualized capsule bunks for the rest. Walking down the hall that linked them together, I watched as my crew organized their belongings, climbing in and out of their bunks as they adjusted themselves to their new home.
At the end of the hall was where we'd be staying. It was a three-hundred and seventy-foot space, a decent size, featuring all the basics including a small kitchen, bathroom, sitting area, and queen-sized bed. For the three of us, it would be a cozy place to live, despite the lack of windows. I was personally looking forward to personalizing all of it, at least as much as I could given my lack of things to decorate with.
"I think this'll work." Mara said with a more uplifted tone, peeking her head into the bathroom. "Just enough for me to work with… I like it."
"I was hoping you'd say that." I replied, putting both my bags down on the bed, taking a seat at the edge with both hands on my knees. "I've got a long day ahead of me. A big speech, optimizations and adjustments… and a mountain of personnel files that need to be signed. Would have liked to get a bottle of champagne to christen the ship with, but you can't always get what you want."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine." She reassured, sitting down next to me as Elle reached out, cooing in that funny way that always managed to make me smile. "Besides, why waste a perfectly good bottle of champagne when we could drink it instead?"
"Good point." I admitted, taking Elle into my arms as Mara stood back up and began unpacking her belongings. "The ceremony begins at eleven, so I need to try and look my best."
"Way ahead of you." She turned around, showing me a jacket she had pulled out of her bag. "I had this made for you, I wanted it to be a surprise. It's based off of those old World War Two flight jackets you like so much. I thought it would look good worn with the jumpsuit."
"Wow… that's pretty impressive!" I grinned, standing up and taking a better look at it as she took Elle back into her arms and placed her in her cradle. "Is this real leather?"
"Sourced from the Raloi. It should be very soft." She nodded as I put it on over my jumpsuit, zipping it up. "The lining is also woven with ballistics-grade synthetic fibers, offering some protection from danger."
"Interesting… very interesting." I commented in an off-handed fashion, checking the feel of the jacket as I twisted myself around to test its flexibility. "Comfy too!"
"That's good to hear, because I had something else done for you." She went on, pulling out a small box similar to the one I presented to Lenlo yesterday. "I figured Dan and Dimitri went through a lot of trouble to get you your original, so I asked the Geth to make a new one."
She opened the lid of the box to reveal a M1911, obviously built in a more modern style compared to my old one Cerberus destroyed back on The Barn. It featured an all-black matte finish, miniature picatinny rail under the barrel, and an extended beaver tail above the grip. It looked strikingly similar to the 1911 variant produced by Taurus back in the mid 2000s.
It was beautiful.
"There are a few noticeable differences." She pointed out, sitting down next to me as I took the gun and held it in my hands. "I wasn't able to find a fabrication file for the original design, so I settled on a slightly newer one. Second, it's chambered in 9mm instead of .45 ACP due to scarcity, so it might not hit as hard as the original."
"It's perfect." I immediately deflected, ejecting the magazine and racking the slide to check that the chamber was clear. "You didn't have to do this for me, hon."
"It was really nothing." She reassured, putting her arm over my back as I looked back at her with a smile.
I really had to appreciate Mara's thoughtfulness. She remembered me mentioning my fondness for coats over jumpsuits years ago, a style I've liked ever since watching Ridley Scott's Alien in middle school. That, along with the replacement for my old M1911, brought a sense of warmth to my heart, leaving with a moment where the problems and pressures around me melted away.
I leaned forward to give her a kiss, her cheeks turning red shortly afterwards as she gave me a full hug.
Moments like these were worth giving up every luxury in the world.
…
UCV Saint Luke, May 3rd, 10:58 AM, 2185
…
I stood in the center of the Saint Luke's CIC with both hands held behind my back, waiting for the clock to strike eleven. Admirals Mal and Koris were both here, along with Amisen, Iolin, Lenlo, and Pistis. Among us was my entire CIC team, which included several familiar faces, none of which I wanted to embarrass myself in front of. I was strangely nervous about the occasion, never really liking the idea of giving big speeches to lots of people.
It was a symptom of my Asperger I had never really been able to kick, even years removed from school. Even though I had been told in the past that I was fine at making speeches, this was the first time I'd be delivering one as meticulously prepared as this.
I rolled my shoulders out of nerves, feeling the M1911 in the new holster under my left arm. Thinking back to Mara and I's moment before helped calm me down a bit, but this was still a major occasion that I needed to focus all my attention on.
"You seem a little tense." Mal commented, looking up at the status screens with me.
"I was never one for big, grandiose speeches." I admitted, turning to meet his eyes. "Just venturing out of my comfort zone, I suppose."
"Hey, all these people want is a leader that's upfront and honest with them. As long as you can prove to them that you can be both of those things, they'll give you their all." He reassured, giving me a friendly pat on the back.
"No pressure, huh?" I joked, cracking a smile as he chuckled. I picked up the phone, an announcement tone ringing out through the ship as I mentally prepared myself one last time.
"Attention, this is Admiral Michaels. Today, we step into a new era, one where we stand united against all threats to our people, ourselves, and those we care for. In the coming weeks, we will show the rest of the galaxy what can be done when we put aside our differences and work towards a common goal." I spoke as loudly and clearly as I possibly could, my entire bridge staff focused on me as I gave my speech. "I will not lie to you or sugar coat my words, the times ahead will be fraught with difficulty as we begin our war against the Reapers. I expect the best from each and every one of you when the time arises, and all I ask for is your loyalty and trust. Now, let's get to work and show the rest of the galaxy what we can do!"
As I hung up the phone, everyone in my CIC began applauding, bringing a smile to my face as I gave a simple nod to them in acceptance.
"I'd also like to officially congratulate Lenlo'Firma, a long-time friend and companion of mine, on his promotion to Captain." I held up my hand, getting widened eyes from him as my entire bridge crew turned to face him. "He's come a long way since his Pilgrimage years ago, and I know he'll make a valued addition to our growing Confederation. Please give him a round of applause!"
This time, I clapped with the rest of my CIC as Lenlo gave several, quick nods to the whole team.
"Thank you, sir." He finished, shaking hands with me one last time before walking off to board his new command, the Discovery.
"What are our orders, sir?" Dixon, my newly-appointed XO asked, taking his place across from me with a smile on his face.
"Helmsman, take us out of dock and charge the Gravity Drive! The rest of you, prepare the ship for shakedown. I want weapons, sensors, and shields at full power." I ordered, getting nods of acknowledgement as Dixon placed both hands against the holographic display table in front of us. "Put damage control on standby just in case."
"Yes'sir." He quickly agreed, grabbing his phone to notify the rest of the ship as I turned back around to face my guests.
"You sure you all wanna stick around for this?" I asked, knowing that not much was likely to happen.
"This is a big occasion for us, Admiral. We'll stay until we're sufficiently certain that our support hasn't gone to waste." Iolin remarked, eliciting a quick, obviously peeved head turn from Amisen. "What?"
"We assure you the ship is fully operational and capable of functioning well within its intended role." Pistis defended, his aperture focusing on Iolin. "Do you wish to view the relevant technical data?"
"Nevermind." He immediately dismissed, getting Dixon to shoot me a quick smirk before returning his attention to the console in front of him.
I watched the external camera view as we pulled away from the spacedocks, the Caprica and Ibycter taking up most of the view as Rannoch could be clearly seen behind them. The thousands of Geth and Quarian ships could be seen dotting the space around the planet, the occasional Geth drone fighter passing by as they escorted us out.
"Helmsman, plot a course for Turviss and engage the Gravity Drive on my mark." I ordered, getting a quick acknowledgment from the quarian as we came about and aimed ourselves in the direction of the Raloi home system.
"Coordinates are locked, sir." He announced as I locked eyes with Dixon.
"Jump!" I ordered, feeling the ship shudder slightly as we went into FTL.
Several seconds later, the Gravity Drive cut itself off, nearly causing me to fall down from the g-forces as we re-entered normal space. I knew something must have been wrong, because we hadn't been in transit nearly long enough to reach Turviss.
"Report!" I ordered loudly, several of my crew having to pick themselves off the floor first as I looked back at the helmsman.
"Sir, the Gravity Drive's safety systems kicked in!" He answered as I walked over to his station to get a better look. "It detected a large gravitational field in our path and automatically pulled us out of our jump."
"How's that possible? We know this-" I began to think out loud before I heard another voice call for me.
"Admiral, we've got twelve contacts off the port bow!" Morgan shouted from her station, immediately setting off my internal alarms. "According to the IFF, they're Migrant Fleet ships!"
"Oh no…" I said under my breath, picking up the phone as I processed the situation. "Attention, all hands to battle stations. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!"
"Sir, they're hailing us." Dixon announced, looking me dead in the eye as I nodded.
"Patch them through, bridge speakers too." I ordered, knowing something bad was about to happen.
As he nodded, I held the phone back to my ear, preparing myself for whatever was coming.
"This is Admiral Sean Michaels of the Saint Luke, to whom am I speaking?" I demanded, knowing my life and the lives of my crew, wife, and child may have been hanging in the balance.
"This is Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh." The voice on the other side announced, immediately setting off the anger centers of my brain. "I'm under orders to escort you, Zaal'Koris, and Ysin'Mal back to Reach to face charges of high treason and theft. If you refuse, I will have you boarded. If you resist, I'll have no other choice but to destroy you. Do you understand?"
I stayed silent, thinking my options over as I looked up at Dixon, putting my hand over the phone.
"Is the Gravity Drive operational?" I asked, getting an uncertain look from him.
"Technically it is, but we're still detecting a strong gravitational field within the vicinity of the ship." He shook his head, breathing deeply before going on. "The Gravity Drive won't function properly as long as we're under its influence. Trying to override the safeties and jumping could destroy the ship"
"I know… those clever bastards." I said out loud, realizing what must have happened. "They must have modified one of their Gravity Drives to output a larger magnetic field, almost like a gravity well generator or an interdiction field."
"What do you want me to do, sir?" Dixon asked, standing as straight as he could as I sighed.
"If that's how she wants to play, then fine." I shook my head, realizing there was no way out of this. "Scan for the source of the gravity well, and target it with the PLS projectors. On my order, I want the target destroyed so we can jump into the clear."
"Yes'sir." Dixon agreed as Koris walked over, Mal standing close behind him.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Sean? There's no going back if you do." Koris warned as Mal looked away, clearly conflicted.
"They've left us with no choice. I'm not giving up myself or anyone else on this ship." I said with a renewed sense of determination, putting the phone back up to my ear. "I don't intend on rotting in a cell aboard one of your Liveships, Admiral Xen. I'm warning you now, disable the device you're using to keep us here or else."
"Or else what?" She jeered, obviously not taking my threat seriously. "You're in no position to be making demands, Dr. Michaels."
"I'm through playing games with you. I'm giving you one last chance, Xen." I warned, not willing to put up with anymore threats. "Let us go. If it's war you want, I'll make sure you regret it."
She closed the line with a burst of static, telling me everything I needed to know.
"Engines to full! Target the lead ship with batteries one and two, and prepare to launch disruptor missiles!" I shouted, knowing we were about to officially go to war. "Once we're in range, fire the Thanix cannon and target the other ships with our batteries."
The ship shuddered as we began moving, the external cameras pointed at the small flotilla of ships. This was the defining moment.
"Here we go…" Dixon exclaimed as a volley of missiles were fired by the ships leading the flotilla, aimed directly at us.
"Load flak rounds in batteries three through four, target those missiles." I ordered, putting the phone back on the receiver as I folded my hands behind my back. "Pick off any stragglers with the GARDIAN arrays."
"I'm surprised they haven't opened up with their main guns." Mal commented, looking at the external monitors alongside me. "We're well within range."
"I don't get it either. They must know we have an MES system, otherwise there'd be no reason to hold back." I agreed, knowing this was unusual given their numerical advantage.
The Saint Luke's 406mm turrets began firing flak rounds at the swarm of missiles approaching us, blowing the majority of them up in just the first two volleys. The few dozen that made it through were quickly detonated by the GARDIAN array, leaving us unscathed.
The rest of the turrets began unloading on the lead ship, the Moreh, causing the ship's MES, then kinetic barriers, to flare up before failing entirely. At this point, the other ships began firing on us with their spinal guns, likely an order given too late as rounds began tearing into Admiral Xen's ship, causing considerable damage. The MES system was holding up, but it was readily clear that if we didn't close the gap we'd draw too much power trying to maintain them.
Xen must have incorrectly called my bluff, because if she had opened up with her main guns instead of missiles, she may have actually had a fighting chance to disable our ship.
Our two PLS projectors fired their blinding, violet beams at the source of the gravity well, a smaller ship at the rear of the flotilla, burning through its armor plating and into whatever had caused us to drop out of FTL. The entire ship exploded into several pieces as we hit something vital, creating a fireball that quickly dissipated.
"The gravity well is down, sir." Dixon announced with a smile on his face, giving me a sense of relief for a brief moment.
"Punch in our previous coordinates and get us out of here." I ordered, feeling the weight of those Quarian deaths on my shoulders as the main gun fired, dealing the killing blow to Xen's ship in the process. Whether she had survived or not, I no longer cared at this point, but a pit formed in my stomach knowing a lot of well-meaning Quarians were now dead.
We jumped back into FTL, leaving two dead ships behind us. I knew this meant war, but in the end, we were left with no choice.
The time for preparation was over.
…
A/N: Well, here we are. I have nothing of real importance to say here except that I'm feeling a bit better since my last chapter, and even though I know that's not likely to last long considering peak is about to begin at work again soon, I'm happy knowing I was able to pull together what some of you hopefully consider to be an exciting chapter. Once again, I'd like to thank all of you that take the time to fav the story and leave reviews, it means a lot to me.
As always, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Please leave a review telling me what you think of the story so far, and stay tuned!