Captain Patterson looked out the Space Station window overlooking the birth that his ship was in. Worker pods raced along the edges of the ship, tightening and securing bolts, regenerating the Shadow tech armor, and generally readying the ship again. The refit was going well, already into its second day since they arrived here, on the edge of Earth Alliance space.
He turned around when he heard a door in the back slowly and quietly whoosh open, as another small knot of officers entered. He was by no means the only ship that was taking up station here, and the commander of the local flight squadron was also present.
As was commander Ramirez, the station commander that oversaw the staion facilities. He too was looking out a viewpoint, leaning against the wall, looking out into the deep black void, with a mostly blank expression on his face.
Patterson looked back over his ship, then also at the depth of space. It was so easy to get lost in them, to get lost out there. So peaceful, and silent…and just plain nothing, stretching out to eternity. Not a single indication of war, or trouble in this part of the Horizon.
But sadly this was just not true, for him personally, and for the entire universe itself.
He sighed to himself, deeply troubled with the thoughts that he was thinking. He put his head down onto his breast, looking down at the deck plating. The stars were to him always a safe haven, which is why he came out here, safe from the concerns of planetary politics and populations. How quickly those childish dreams and ambitions were shattered. He had to not only deal with the problems of star ship life, including war, from a young age, but he also had to rely on and be tied to the whims and politics of planetary concerns. He had gotten used to it, and still in truth there was no where that he would rather be. No matter what the cost to himself.
For this was still the greatest adventure ever, and the best job in the universe, even after the old age, and after everything that he had accomplished in his life. No longer was he running from his past. But, he did not look forward too fighting in another war either, this was tragic to say the least. He was tired of war, and tired of fighting. With anyone.
The truth was though, for this moment, he could stand at here looking out into The Sea of Stars, for hours on end, but his feet were starting to hurt from the strain. He wrapped his arms around himself as if he were cold, but he was merely contemplative, and weary.
Stacia Clarke was walking down one of the long station corridors on E deck, right around the outer docking ring, after she made sure everything was in working order she left her post and made her way slowly into the station's interior. Heading toward this stations fresh air restaurant.
She would have stayed longer, insisted on taking part in the actions and the repairs going on around her…at least coordinating the efforts, and making sure the ship was in its tip top shape. She would have done this even to her own self-exhaustion, but now she had other plans.
Michael asked her out, to his credit he was apologetic about the whole thing, this had to make her smile. Still the decision was a hard one, coming between a man and a ship. But in the end she knew what she wanted for herself personally, her duty could wait for a little while. She hoped that she was going to enjoy tonight, and felt a tingle of anticipation to what Keegan had prepared for her.
She turned around the corner, taking a left-hand turn, going into the restaurant, she grinned at the pleasant surprise before her. The rather drab military station was turned into a room filled with blue panels, casting a pale blue light throughout the area, fine upholstered silks made up tapestries on the wall, and made for good table covers on all of the tables.
A white shirted and jacketed attendant was waiting by the door that she entered, he took her jacket gently from her shoulders with a gentle tug, followed by a polite bow and a welcome. She smiled at him and nodded slightly.
She rippled her shoulders around a bit, reveling in the cool sensation that was pouring over them now that they were barred for the world to see. Except for a double set of tattoos on her left shoulder, portraying a Starfury and a wrench.
She began to look around for Michael, finally spotting him at a table near the back, he was standing waiting over the chair, looking at her dully, and obviously shocked into starring. When he noticed that she was looking back, his eyes widened slightly and he just barely gulped. She stopped mid stride at that, her mouth opening slightly revealing her surprise…was it still possible that he could be this awkward? She then smiled at him lopsidedly, letting him know that it was all right.
Michael Keegan was looking at her, admiring her on the inside, even though he knew that his external facial expressions did not mirror this…but instead showed the expression of a dazed donkey that was about to be slaughtered…perhaps an apt metaphor.
He would have thought that the gulp would have cleared things, he was wrong. He took in her black flowing dress, pooling slightly just above her legs revealing brownish dress shoes. Her bare shoulders were pure and white, as was her face and upper chest, which was slightly exposed. Her hair gleaned in the light, looking darker, but shining somehow…probably the shampoo that she was using or something. It was rolled back into a regal bun, that was showing just above the line of the top of her hair.
She was smiling at him slightly, which caused him to get back into action finally.
"Your table Madame," he said with a bow, the gallantry shocking even him, as he pulled out her seat, which she took in four graceful steps.
He pushed her seat in, and then had to control himself from running to the other side like a giddy schoolboy. Excitement was beginning to bubble up inside of him just below the surface. He sat down, and then launched a calming breath.
A waitress appeared at their table, materializing there as if something out of science fiction. She stood there and took their drink orders, Stacia was having a simple mineral water, while he was having a gin and soda. Something that he always thought of as a light diluted drink.
She left to go fill the order, leaving the two of them alone. The silence that stretched out between them was palpable, it hung over them, and was rapidly beginning to get awkward.
He cleared his throat nervously, she glanced at him looking above her menu, waiting for him to continue. "So, how are things with the ship? What needs to be fixed?" He finally asked.
She mouthed the question back at him, a bit shocked, before mumbling. "You know, this and that, small things mostly, should not be much of a problem." She felt a slight blush rising to her cheeks, but rushed to cut it off, not willing to show it to him yet, and being a bit annoyed that she felt like she could not do it.
He sighed deeply for a second, "I just have never been much of a people person, always so much more confident around machines, around my fighters. They cannot talk back or disappoint you, unless you have failed yourself."
She was partially shocked by this, but only partially. Knowing machines so well, and being an engineer she understood the mentality. As well as having people letting her down and being distant around her from time to time, but she could never imagine a love of machines transferring itself in such a way, becoming so manifest.
"Girls in particular, I just never get how to handle them…or handle myself around them." He shifted uncomfortably.
She smiled coyly. "Well we are just going to have to get on that, aren't we?"
He raised his first real genuine grin around her. "Yeah, I would like that, that would be nice. Hell, it's always made my assignments a bit awkward in the past. Has not given me that much room to maneuver in terms of interaction with crew and my teams. Explains my rank."
The drinks arrived and they toasted lightly to one another, he seemed to warm up gradually as the night proceeded and as they had their meals with one another.
But it still was not enough.
Captain Patterson was sitting at his desk in his quarters on board of the Gandalf. The repair teams had already moved on past his quarters on this deck, and were moving on to the next one, fixing anything that could have been wrong with his ship.
He rummaged around blindly in his desk for a few more minutes, looking, looking, and searching. Trying to find…he found it, he removed it and was surprised to see the dust and debris that was covering it again. He blew softly on it clearing it off.
He turned it over and looked at the photograph of a young teenaged boy, his arms around the waste of his slightly obese father. They both had smiles on their faces.
His eyes started to moisten a bit, he rubbed them, and then stared off into space for about another hour or two, lost in the sea of memories this time. Replaying those events over and over again for the thousandth time.
But in the end, this kind of thinking did not do him any good, so he tried to stop, over viewing the odd situation that he found himself in, the war, with the confusing Centauri trying to interogate with ruthless intensity.
Just the day after they were recalled from the front, a mere two days ago, the Centauri launched a massive offensive against the Narn homeworld, they got to the outside of the system, and engaged a Narn/Earth Alliance fleet. They were quickly over run, despite the brutal battle, this seemed to end the Centauri threat. No doubt this was in retaliation for the fighter pilots destroying the command bunker of the Centauri on their last mission. The Centauri made another foolish blunder, but they nearly took the Narn with them there were so many ships. They both fought to the death.
Since then, nothing, the Centauri seemed to be licking its wounds for at least a short time. Who knew for how long?
Patterson hoped that the war was over, but he doubted it, in fact he suspected that this was only the beginning of things, that the Centauri were not going to stay quiet for long.
Jose was leading the Marines around the corner on one of the main decks of the space station, they were near the top of the station, by the service sections, no one spent a lot of time up here. So it was an excellent place for him to exercise his marines, which he was doing, marching a slight chant to keep them in order.
He knew that he was going to loathe starship duty, there was no place that he could keep his men and women on the level that he truly wanted them to be at, none at all, all he could do was just keep going. He could not find a regular place to exercise his men the way he wanted to, and the gym facilities were below lacking…best of the best indeed. But now that he had the use of this space station stuck in the middle of nowhere he had every attention of making full use of it.
He kept his marines in perfect sink, watching over his shoulder at their streaming chests and faces, watching carefully at his personal fly boy….err girl…as she panted to keep up with him. He could not blame her, sitting down in a fighter most of the time and only having to worry about tinkering with various objects, oh yes, this was good. He snickered internally, yes, he would whip them up into shape soon enough.
The constant perfectionist, the leader form the front, and the professional all were lobbying as he urged his people ever forward…but finally he had to call it a rest, he reluctantly bade his people to go to their quarters.
They were tired, and gratefully showed it by slumping to their quarters, this almost angered him further, but he decided that just this once it would not do them any good to further provoke the squad that he had here training. He just made a special note as for which ones he had to watch out for.
Early the next morning Captain Patterson stepped through the electric door of the C&C aboard the space station, he turned left and almost ran into the station commander, who had requested his presence a short while ago.
He stiffened appropriately. "Ah good Captain, you are here, I want you to take a look at something." He said leading him over to a control panel, leaving Patterson just to nod his acceptance as he was shown the data.
They both glanced over the shoulder of a crew person sitting at the station as all three of them were now out there and taking in the information that was presented on the screen. On it was an energy signature that looked like drive profiles, and to Patterson's limited memory on the subject they looked like incredibly old drive profiles.
He glanced at the commander of the station. "And?"
"Well this would seem to indicate that we have at least six Hyperion class Cruisers coming up on us." The Commander responded stiffening upward to look at his superior officer.
Patterson thought that over for a minute. "Hyperion's? Here? Weren't all of them decommissioned a long time ago?"
"That is what I thought too, confirmation should be coming up here in a few minutes." The Commander said and then waited.
"Sirs, drive profile and sensors match, they are definitely Hyperion's from the data we have collected so far, visual range probes should be coming up in about another minute." The officer manning the station paused for that minute. "On screen" he finally said.
On the screen materialized six of the vintage vessel, flying in a tight formation making almost a circle with each vessel nearly touching the others.
"Could some National Guard units still have them active for the defense of their stations?" The commander asked, to no one in particular, just trying to reason things out as to what was happening before his eyes.
Patterson shook his head. "It is unlikely, most of those prefer the newer Lupos anyway. And besides a good many units do not carry hyperspace generators, preferring to use that extra room for storage, firepower, or emergency relief space. And these ships did not come through the hump gate."
He ran his eyes over their image again, trying to see what was at the bottom of this. "Have we tried hailing them?"
"No response as of yet." Both of the officers before him said almost simultaneously.
"Sirs, they are increasing speed."
"What?" The commander asked slightly shocked.
"They are beginning to pick up their speed and their closure rate."
The station commander blinked for a few seconds. "I thought they were at their maximum speed."
"So did I." The Ensign admitted a bit baffled.
"What is their current course, where will they pass us by?" Captain Patterson asked trying to keep the two men focused.
The Ensign's hands raced over the panel that was infront of him. "They will pass us within twenty one kilometers out, they are coming in fast, I estimate about ten minutes before they get here."
Patterson over looked the hull of the enemy ships one more time. "I do not like it, no burns or blemishes at all around. It is just not… right."
"I concur with you Captain. Put the station on full alert, lets get the defense grid up and launch our Starfury squadrons." The Commander said looking straight at communications.
"Yes sir." Alert klaxons began to blare all throughout the ship after those words. Followed by a "Sir, Delta and Alpha Squadrons have launched and are out the door. They are baring on the Hyperion cruisers, weapons on hold."
"Status?" The commander inquired.
"They are still about four minutes out sir." Another officer said at the other end of the room.
"Sir their speed is increasing, it looks as though their reactor is building to an overload, it could go at any second."
"How long?" Patterson asked the Ensign.
"Not long, its difficult too tell." He responded.
"Tell the Starfuries to approach the vessels and ascertain the status of the vessels incoming, are the grids up?"
"All screens are up Commander, Fighters are moving in a pattern to try and determine status of the reactor, and to see what life signs are aboard."
"What do you have for fighters?" Patterson asked the man next to him.
"Nothing much, just one squadron of Thunderbolts, and another squadron of Firebolt class Starfuries." The Commander responded. "Tell them to make one pass and then-"
Light suddenly blossomed in the display screen, quickly becoming bright and overpowering as Patterson and the Ensign had to look away and cover their eyes, as that same image was reflected through the transparent material that made up one wall of the station's C&C. Patterson instantly knew what had happened, those birds reactors just went critical. It was a trap.
"Sensors are out! Trying to switch to backups." The Ensign said sounding slightly panicked all of a sudden as his hands began racing across the control panel in front of him. "Sensors are beginning to auto correct."
Just as those words left the officers mouth, the floor beneath Patterson's feat jolted as if a particular stong hammer had hit them. He nearly lost his balance as he felt the room shake and rattle around us.
"That wasn't a shockwave, something hit us." The commander said as it happened again, and then a third time.
"Sir, sensors now read eight Vorchan class assault cruisers, they must have just emerged from the hyperspace, they are also attacking us, and the surrounding dry dock that we are connected to." The Ensign reported sounding professional.
"Why isn't the E-Web and defenses keeping them at bay for a little?"
"Sensors were knocked out, it is taking a little while for everything to return itself to normal." The Ensign reported, fielding the question smoothly.
Patterson could not wait any longer. "I have to get to my ship, permission to leave the C&C."
"Granted Patterson, get to your ship and prepare to help us in the defense."
He left the room and marched right into the corridor, as the doors whooshed open to admit him entrance to the space beyond, he turned left and slowly maneuvered down the hall.
He calmly marched down the corridor as it slowly dissolved into chaos. All he could do though was be calm, he would get there. As crew and officers ran down the way, and in front of him, some of them even gently moving past him, using their hands to cushion their impact as they rushed over to whatever assignments they had to go to. Another hit nearly caused him to stumble, but he regained his composure and marched on.
A hit rattled through the very bones of the Gandalf, Colonel James Norman stepped into the bridge, having to grab hold of the back of a crew chair in order to keep from falling down.
"Status!" he barked.
"Eight Centauri Cruisers have jumped out of hyperspace and are beginning to attack the main station and the docking facilities, so far we have taken minimal damage, what we are experiencing is only the after shocks from the bursts hitting near the station. The station is beginning to sustain massive damage, we are trapped here for the moment."
Norman looked around the bridge lost and confused for one second. They were ambushed! Caught with their pants down and there was nothing that they could do about it as of yet.
"Where are our fighters?!?!" He asked.
"Still launching sir, but most of them were caught on the station when it came under attack."
"Also on the station, many of the crew were on it for shore leave when this happened. We are trying to recall them as fast as we can, but there are many ships in dry dock that are getting repairs and checks, the lanes are a bit congested leading into here."
James cursed to himself, almost showing it, he could not lose his cool that is all his people needed. He looked around in satisfaction though, his rigorous training was finally starting to really show as all the crew tended to their stations with the outmost diligence. And without panicking either. He took a deep steadying breath and moved to glance around all the stations again, just as he was about to sit down though, Captain Patterson entered the room with a small gait.
"Sir!" James nearly saluted.
"I know, we have a situation here, have we been able to get up any of our fighters?"
"Only about a full squadron, but their numbers are mixed with people from all over the ship. Many of the pilots still have not returned, the Centauri have not put a good size fighter force out."
"OK everyone, stay cool and prepare to get under way, let us warm up the engines and set an escape vector away from here. We cannot afford to mess this up people."
He got a chorus of acknowledgements as his orders were carried out.
Michael Keegan ran into the hangerbay that contained his and a few other Raptors, he analyzed the situation taking in the organized chaos. This was the perfect situation for the crews to prove themselves, and they were handling the responsibility greatly. They knew what they were doing and were carrying out their hurried orders in perfect unison, despite it not looking that way to the untrained eye.
Behind him Stacia nearly bumped in to him, which would have knocked him over.
"Where do you need me?" Stacia asked.
He turned on her slightly, breath rising, he grabbed her by the shoulders to get them both to calm down. "I need you no where at this moment, not here."
"Right, sorry, engineering." She said calming down and wincing at her own near stupidity, she knew where she needed to go. "I will see you later then."
He felt the sudden insane urge to kiss her at that point in time, boldness and audacity spreading and surging through his body as adrenaline and blood pumped through his veins. It was an almost insatiable desire and he had to clear his throat before releasing her. She sped back toward the lift, he watched after her for a second, getting his excited nerves back under control.
Keegan then moved into a jog as he moved toward his fighter just as a ladder was sliding into position, he took his helmet from Anders as he placed himself in the seat and turned on his systems. "Thanks" he said as he placed his helmet on his head.
"Sure no problem, you are good to go." Anders said giving him a thumb up and pointing towards the magnetic shield.
He returned it and turned on his engines. Going out the bay along with Alphas 3 and 4.
Stacia arrived in the engine room in a huff. She was still in off duty attire and several of her crew looked stunned as she entered the engineering space.
She snapped at them, and they went back into attention. "Alright, let us get these engines warmed up, its time to move."
"The process is already started commander, we took the liberty as soon as the attack happened, we are about to have them warmed up."
"And the hyperdrive?"
The young Ensign, her second in command down here, winced to himself. "No sir we did not."
"Well that is OK, you did fine even getting the engines started." She gave him her best reassuring smile, which seemed to work wonders. "Now we need to get the hyperdrive started." She said springing over the rails her dress billowing.
"Mackenzie, Macallough, spread out to damage control, we are going to be needing it soon I think, the rest of you begin the jump drive start up procedures. Lets move people."
Her crew ran hither and thither throughout the entirety of the bay, and then out the exits into the ship beyond. She and her second in command went over by the main hyperspace console and typed in a series of commands in on it, and then they both went over and pressed the levers that controlled the startup for the hyperspace vortex generators, as the engine began to hum to life.
On the bridge the crewman manning the engineering status board turned and reported, "Sir, our main hyperspace engines just began their warm-up procedures, they will be on line presently."
"Thank you." Patterson said staring just over his chair, and then checking his sensors, "I was just about to order that. Get me Keegan."
He complied with his Captain's orders as Keegan's voice drifted in over the intercom. "Keegan here."
"Keegan, we are about to try and punch out of here. We need cover until we are ready, but I doubt we can retrieve you in time, you are going to have to follow us into the hyperspace vortex."
"Yeah, neither of those two things shouldn't be much of a problem. The Centauri have only two squadrons out here, and we and the stations defensive fighters are taking care of them. And we should be able to follow you into the Vortex quite easily."
"Good," Patterson smiled, "Gandalf out." He then turned to the stations toward the center of the bridge. "Helm, reverse engines, give me one third thrusters, and take us out of here."
"Sir, the docking clams will not release, we are stuck here."
"Blast our way out if we have to…no better yet get me the station commander on the main viewer."
"Hailing…visual established sir."
"Commander, this is Captain Patterson on the Gandalf, requesting permission to clear on out of here."
"Negative Patterson."
"Sir, you may have not noticed but there is a small flotilla of heavily armed ships outside the station waiting to come in, if we do not leave now we may not be able to."
"I understand that." The commander said with a hint of annoyance. "We are evacuating, if you could give us ten minutes, and just ten minutes, and we are sending some of the survivors to go out with your ship. We are not going to be able to last much longer as it is."
Patterson slumped, and his head sank in the down position. "Affirmative, we will give you all the time that you need to evacuate, but I am not sure we even have ten minutes."
"Sir, a cruiser has taken up position at the other end of the berth, they are pointing in on us, but they are not firing."
"They are waiting for us to come out." Colonel Norman said. Patterson nodded in agreement.
Marine Captain Kurylenko bounded through the open airlock with his marine squad behind him, missing a step and nearly stumbling to the ground as another pressure wave rattled through the ship. "Come on go go go!" He said to his people slapping each of them hard on the backs as they went on through. And to think he originally was dreading this assignment.
He was going to slam the airlock shut when the harsh breathing of Doctor Albright stopped him. "Don't close that airlock, we are going to be taking on evacuees." He said as three nurses, and another doctor came around the corner and began setting up.
"We can help." The young Marine Captain nodded decisively
"Alright then get to work." The Doctor jabbed a thumb back over his shoulder indicating that he should send some people there.
"Alright, first squad, just go out and help with damage control, second squad set up a relay along the corridor, and third squad you are with me, we will hold right here and help with the Doctor." His people moved out, each in their own jog, asking where they could be the most effective.
The ten minutes passed by frightfully slow, or at least most of them, a steady stream of crewmembers were coming through the airlock, being processed by the doctor and his staff, and some being placed on stretchers. The Doctor bought all portable med equipment he could with him. He used this to revive one of the almost dead crewmen from the station, and then they got her to the med deck.
During that time though, as more and more people poured in through the open corridor between the station and the ship the hits and tremors got more intense, until they were nearly bone crushing in strength.
Captain Patterson was holding on for all he was worth to the railing manning the bridge, as one of his people were being taken to the med deck, using the shoulder of another for support. Both hobbling off.
"Time." He barked.
"Seven minutes forty eight seconds."
"I do not think they are going to last out for the last few minutes, we should go." Colonel James suggested standing near the chair.
"Alright, prepare to get under way. Full reverse." He ordered.
"Aye Captain, awaiting final order" The man currently at the helm said, as he moved his hands over his console typing the order into the helm.
Captain Patterson moved over to the chair and typed in a set of intercom commands. "Doctor, Captain of Marines, do you have anymore incoming?"
Down in the airlock a man and woman were coming in, both supporting each other, as an explosion rocked through the area that burst through the bulkhead behind them, the spreading fireball forcing them into the Gandalf.
"I'll check." Jose said as three marines went to go help the fallen couple.
He ran through the airlock and aboard the station, briefly checking to see that the corridor was empty, he was greeted by a fireball that forced him to arch back and around the corner back to his ship, running all the way, just to save his life. "Yeah bridge we have it, go go go!"
Patterson heard and then ordered to the helmsman, "You heard the man, full power, punch it."
"Sir," the helm said after typing in some of the controls for a bit. "The magnetic clamps are still locked and are too powerful for us. We are not going anywhere of yet. Plus it looks like that Cruiser has taken notice."
"Stand by G.O.D. cannons, range six hundred kilometers." James gave the order to the fire control team, they moved to punch it in.
"Keegan, can you send someone to take out the docking clamps for me?" Patterson said into the com. He got clicks back in acknowledgement.
A lone Starfury came in, decided it could not fit into the station the way it was going, so it under powered and then toggled two missiles at the berth, that hit them and caused them to be destroyed. The explosions ripped them to shreds. The fighter then launched a strafing run at the cruiser that was angling for the kill shot.
The Gandalf exploded out the other end of the station, its main cannons arching out to the far distant Centauri cruiser, causing a deep gash to be ripped open in the hull, not destroying but disabling.
The Gandalf's Ion Cannons and Plasma Mortars went to work on the rest of the formation of cruisers, clearing a path for them as the fighters also launched on important missions of their own.
"Sir, a target is baring right across our bows, distance reads less then fifty kilometers for impact."
James smiled, "Bring both Railguns on line and stand by to fire, I have been waiting to use these things."
The Gandalf maneuvered just a bit, aligning itself so that it was a little crooked in space, listing slightly to starboard, as the two big cannons came online. They loaded themselves and pointed themselves at the enemy ship, going into long range burst salvo fire. And still the cruiser came.
The cannons exploded into long gouts of flame and energy, hurtling the hard and massive objects toward their final destination. They tore into the target, ripping its hull to shreds, and moving straight on, tearing out large sections of hull and other vital systems. Just eight of those massive shells caused such massive damage at only thirty kilometers. Multiple breaches were torn in the cruiser's hull, she was venting atmosphere, and was not heavily listing, her drive tanks were punctured beyond repair. And still the Gandalf came.
She unleashed long gouts of ions and plasma, finishing the Cruiser off in dust and pulverized atoms. Her fighters formed up on her as she started to take fire from three additional Cruisers that were trying to cut her off, she responded in kind just barely keeping them at bay.
Five shuttles left the docking bay of the station, each one coming on hard, bearing down on their only possible means of escape left open to them. The Gandalf. The Earth Alliance Destroyer had to maintain its defensive fire long enough to let the shuttles slowly pass.
"Helm, can we keep a jump point open just long enough in order to get all of the transport shuttles through, the fighters, and then ourselves?"
"Yes sir, there is a high degree of success to that plan. We will have to cut power from the emergency reactors to keep the point stable but I really do not see any reason why we cannot do this." The helm asked looking up at Captain Patterson who was leaning down on them.
"Alright, do it at your discretion." Patterson nodded, and then returned to the center of the bridge.
"Alright, jumping….NOW!" The helm said transferring power and then surging it at just the appropriate time in order to create a stable vortex into the hyperspace.
The yellow vortex surged into existence, forming just above the Destroyer, nearly taking its antennae off for long range communications. The Gandalf fired its maneuvering thrusters, taking up position just in front of it.
"Sir, those three Cruisers continue to bare down on our position."
"Adjust all weapons to compensate, keep them back, defensive fire only. Give us some additional power to the E-Web defense matrix." Captain Patterson ordered, getting nods and quick compliance in return.
"Sir the shuttles are away, the fighters are racing to move through the jump point, but some of them are trapped behind the cruisers, they are moving quickly though. No survivors from the station defense squadrons." Sensors reported.
"Damn that's a shame." Norman muttered under his mouth almost incoherently.
The fighters quickly escaped their traps though, and sped on through into hyperspace, the Gandalf went into over drive, leaping into the vortex it created with the Centauri cruisers bearing down on them. They then retrieved their fighter squadrons, and then went at full burn to the nearest location that they could, just making distance between them and any potential pursuit.
About an hour later when they were sure that nothing was following them, and after they tallied the damage and the dead. They stopped the vessel and rested within a hyperspace pocket that was slightly off the beaten path in between the empires. The entire senior staff was in the conference room, an event that Patterson had trouble believing in, it was the first one in the commissioning of the new Destroyer.
"We took some pretty minor damage, and was able to get out of there easily…again." Stacia was just finishing her report, she was leaning over the table her fingers stepped looking around the entire assembled mass of officers. She had an odd mixture of glumness and excitement warring on her features, all the while trying to show the solemnity of an Earth Alliance chief of engineering on one of her premier warships.
Patterson nodded. He then looked down at Keegan, who was uncustimarily sitting right next to Stacia on, her right side. That was not where he was supposed to be, but it was not strictly unusual either, it was not like there was a set seating chart.
Keegan barreled ahead without so much as a throat clear, something else that drew Patterson's attention. "Alpha 7 was knocked out by a pair of Centauri fighters in the battle, I had to tow him back on board, the pilot is fine. But the Fury is totaled for the moment. The problem is we did not get a complete resupply from the Station before we had to leave, and before it came under attack. Therefor, we are extremely lacking in spare parts for our Starfury squadrons. The next time we get a major chance to resupply we have to put in a requisition for more parts. This is a matter of course. And the main depots currently are in the Sol system. Our Thunderbolts, though, do have a small re supply left, but other then fighter fuel we are almost out."
This was followed by a contemplative and solemn silence, Patterson looked around the table at his seat from the head of the table. "So, anything else to report from anyone, be free to add anything?"
James Norman did a good job as first officer glancing around the table at the assembled crew that was there. When he took a tally of all the officers he dutifully reported "no sir."
Patterson was about to order them relieved, when Keegan shifted in his seat a bit uncomfortable and nervously raised his hand, while asking. "I do have something to ask though."
Patterson waitied for him to continue.
"Why that station, it does seem to be even more foolish then their attacks on the Narn, it is not near anything, and not really much of a military objective. Only because we were there, or what?"
Patterson smiled, and then stretched back in his chair. "Actually it is very vital to the defense of some of the outer colonies. Sure it is not a great staging area, or much of a place to use as a base of operations, and it was not really threatening anything in terms of offensive attack. The reason though is that the Centauri chose this place to attack right here, and right now because it has powerful sensors that can keep an eye on their movements. Without it, we are blind and they can move a fleet in almost at will. It also puts them in a position to strike at several key colonies all along the border, the nearest being the mining scientific community on RW3. It is just seven light years from here. Another possible reason, though I do not know if the Centauri are aware of this, but due to the positioning of the fleet, it is also the shortest and most strategic place in order to make a strike on Earth."
A disturbed silence filed into the room at that moment. But the crew quickly changed themselves into a rigid sort of determination, all of them setting their jaws and scowling at the universe.
"So," Captain Patterson continued, "it is imperative we warn the fleet, and since RW3 has become hot property due to their invasion, we need to set a course for it, maximum burn please. We then warn the rest of the fleet." He looked around getting a series of determined nods. "Alright, lets get to work, dismissed."
They snapped to attention and then scrambled out, leaving Captain Patterson alone at the center of the chair. His orders being carried out. He was pensive. He got up with a determined swagger, joining the crew on the bridge as the crew prepared to set off till the next adventure.
The Gandalf accelerated smoothly and eagerly into that set point in the future, its teeth baring again, completely willing with machinelike power to throw itself once more into the fire.