ISA Horizon over Port Silas
03:30
Now wearing an engineer's uniform from his journey into the less frequented parts of the ship and having acquired his extra mission supplies Anthony rode the cramped elevator towards the gun deck un-expectantly accompanied by a lone private. In this case it was a Private named Cero. There was no conversation between the two as the LED screen above the door ticked from floor to floor. With the ship massively under crewed nobody really wanting to stop and question the engineers that rushed about as they were the only things keeping a metric fuckton of space ship hovering safely but precariously in atmosphere while it was stared down by an entire hostile fleet awaiting its return to its natural habitat of space and so its destruction. Additionally both men were wrapped in their own thoughts: Private Cero's wondered uneasily about the likelihood of his survival over the coming days something eminently reflected in his drawn face whereas Anthony though about the coming minutes and his actions. In turn his calm and calculated demeanor reflected in his patient eyes that rested on the back of private Cero's neck.
Doors finally opened at the gun deck and sparked the first acknowledgement of Private Cero to the unknown engineer with a gesture to exit first. Cero was neither keen to assume his duty or wanted to hinder one of the men that kept his floating coffin airborne. However, with a polite nod Anthony declined and stepped out after Cero. Both men stepped out into an eerie darkness only vaguely illuminated by moonlight streaming through the armored windows and strategically placed emergency lights that ringed their level and the catwalks above. To Cero it all reminded him of his former home in the slums of Vekta City; when he would come home and look up from the ground floor to the dark passageways and stairs that ringing the floors above barely illuminated by flickering yellow tinted lights. He had joined the ISA to escape that and now in his mind he appeared to have come full circle.
He was brought out his of thoughts as both he and the engineer reached the airlock style doors that guarded the gun deck control centre. Paying the engineer no further attention swiped his access card and entered the now open airlock, quickly followed by Anthony. As he stepped in Anthony's head bowed slightly away from the camera and towards his engineer's satchel that he was now fumbling in. It was at this point a voice came back asking for name, identity code and purpose from both men. Anthony's reply was first; impatiently rattling of his name, code and pulling an e-pad from his breast pocket showing orders to recalibrate the portside CIWS guns and placing it up to the camera enough to slightly obscure his face. If Anthony could have seen the body language of the faceless voice that had spoken to him he probably would have immediately gone for 'plan B' but Cero's enthusiastic reply distracted the soldier on the other side of the door - "Every fucking time Davis!, ….you can see me clear as day. Do you want my date of birth and star sign as well? The captain needs Wells for something I'm the lucky fuck taking his place at this godforsaken hour" .
The doors slid open to reveal a scowling lone legionnaire at the security console to the left and 3 people clustered around the main console at the end of the room. Leaving Cero to go about his business Anthony approached the Lieutenant apparently in charge and without so much as turning to acknowledge him he raised a hand to point to a console. Taking the hint Anthony began his real work glad he didn't need to use the 3 precooked TR-X Teslite grenades and S-Fox Machine Pistol in his Satchel.
Mount Karn, Tychon
January 8th 2361
Inevitably with such a large military operation it was near impossible hide the media and was actually encouraged in some cases. One of the unwanted but necessary consequences was that the coverage could also be monitored by those who would take great pleasure in the upcoming battle. So it was that Senator Kusmina always one to take pleasure in others suffering of others of no concern to him monitored the unfolding events much like others of his standing throughout the system via the Stellar Comm Buoy Network (SBN).
Veckta
03:35 January 8th 2361
In the previous months one of the largest garbage collection operations in history had begun – Old obsolete satellites and other space debris of a certain size had been collected and repurposed. Had the defenders of port Silas had any real intel on the outside world they may have had a clue what for but they were now about to find out due to the unavoidable spike in communications. At precisely 03:35 the first shots of operation Resurgence were fired. However, they did not come from the twin behemoths Fenris and Shiva or from the slender forms of the ISA cruisers nor even the old ODP's but a collection of salvage and maintenance craft generally referred to as grappler ships. The grapplers released their payload of space debris that had enough mass to not burn up in atmosphere and force Horizon to track it but not enough to do any significant to the world below. Behind and between this mass of metal Fenris and Shiva let loose their contribution – a total of 24 bullet shaped BC-12 Lampreys. Akin to the Helghast Leech Pods the Lampreys were slightly more refined in that could use the same brute force approach and crash through armor but could also cut through the hull of a ship. Being unarmed they were also packed full of ECM and such devices which they were currently employing to their maximum capabilities.
In conjunction with the orbital activities drone forces ground side had launched a massive attack on Horizon specifically to take out as may weapon systems as possible. With little room to maneuver laterally within the Port Silas's diminished perimeter lest it leave the city open and space long since being cut of as an option the crew of Horizon had little choice but to further descend stand their ground and engage with the saving grace being with a smaller area to enforce AA support from the ground was increased. It was though still a task made all the more difficult as the tracking of various weapon systems seemed to be slightly off. By 04:00 the tracking had been sorted out but that was now one more rung down on the list of issues as the first of the Lampreys slammed through the hull moments ago.