High geosynchronous orbit above Casimir Island aboard Casimir Station, Reach
August 30, 2552, 00:13 hours
The command crew watched with bated breath as the telltale -THUNK- of the SMAC blinked, and the round 0.2 seconds later hit the smack dab middle of the CAS-class assault carrier. Cheshire's aim was deadly. The round pierced straight through the strong shields, and kept right on going with just enough force to pierce the carrier's reactor, come out the other side, and still have enough energy to bury itself a few hundred feet in the dry ground.
But that was irrelevant, as even from orbit without the aid of any telescopes, the fireball was evident.
"Good kill." breathed the Weapons officer with relief, slouching back into his chair as the crash webbing shifted around him, the only sound to pierce the silence in the CIC, next to the mirriad of beeps and continous updates.
Cheshire's form appeared on the holotank once more "That bought us some time, but not a lot. I'm already detecting half a dozen enemy ships breaking off from the main force and heading our way. They will be within effective weapons range of the Navy line in 5 minutes!" the data stream over his form quickened for a moment "Sir! The ships around the tether are engaging. The Belleau Wood and the Kadesh are forming up with the cruisers, they're trying to block their advance."
"I don't like those odds, Cheshire." the Commander stated nervously "The frigates won't last long against the firepower of two battlecruisers and four heavy destroyers..."
"The Leviathan is turning to engage, sir, she's firing!"
"She staggered the lead cruiser, but it's still coming!"
The station's A. I. then put up the Navy's battle chatter up on the main speakers:
"To all civilian ship, this is Admiral Stanforth. Jump now! All remaining transports, divert either to Valiant or head back to the surface if you're further out. We won't be able to hold long without reinforcements."
"This is the Kadesh, they're launching a massive wave of fighters!"
"We need orbital support here!"
"All remaining Longsword flights in the A. O., requesting immediate QRF! Sending target package!"
"That's a lotta Banshees 'n' Phantoms, and we're down to 12%, the Ramparts' 'll soon be dry!"
"Valiant is forming up with Leviathan, sir! They're concentrating fire on the lead battlecruiser!"
"Cheshire, turn us about and get me a solution on the second CCS, now!"
"Already flipping, sir! Capacitors at 85%!"
"All fighters, this is Viper Lead, weapons free, weapons free!"
"I got a lock, Fox 3!"
"Viper 6, Fox 3!"
"Viper 7, Fox 3!"
"Comms, close that channel. Weapons, I want a lock, yesterday!"
The bridge crew of the Casimir watched with nervous trepidation as the Covenant forces drew closer and closer towards the ships and the tether. The Valiant and Leviathan let loose a massive salvo of Archers, trying to thin out the horde of fighters, give the remaning Longsword wings a fighting chance, but half of that was aimed at the lead CCS.
Just before impact, they fired their MACs simultaneously, their A. I.s coordinating down to the milisecond no doubt. The bow of the ship was blanketed in fire as the first two MAC rounds glanced off with the second two hitting home, right through its weakened forward shields, burying deep in her guts. The massive ship staggered and fell out line, her engines puffing pathetically, but it wasn't dead, judging from its ability to still launch plasma torpedo after plasma torpedo.
The Covenant fighters swarmed the Longswords, even with their numbers thinned out, it was anyone's guess who'd win that furball.
"Poor bastards." someone muttered out of sight.
That was when the second battlecruiser fired in concert with the destroyers, Belleau Wood was blanketed and just ceased to be, meanwhile Leviathan and Valiant took what evassive maneuvers they could, lot of good it did them, it also unfortunately meant that their MACs were thrown off target. The Kadesh was spared and she fired her light MAC in retaliation, hitting the right-most destroyer, her aim not perfect, but still staggering it for a bit, its shields flaring and being dangerously close to collapsing.
But the Casimir's aim wasn't.
"Fire."
And the second battlecruiser simply blinked out of existence in a massive fireball of pink-purple plasma, taken out by a shot that the more horny Marines aboard the station would call 'The Butter Churner' move. Or as one particularly raunchy Jarhead was heard bragging in the mess once: 'I gave her a load so 'uge up the arse last night she tasted it!' much to the embarassment and maniacal laughter of the dozen or so other Marines around the table, particularly his wife, who was sitting right next to him.
An apt analogy, if there ever was one, Cheshire concluded. "Capacitors back up to 63%, Commander."
"Keep firing as they come, Cheshire. What's the situation with the defensive line?"
"Belleau Wood is gone, sir, with all hands, Kadesh is as untouched as a fat virgin." replied Weapons "Valiant and Leviathan took a beating, a good chunk of their secondary weapons are down, but they're still in the fight, their MACs are charging steadily!"
"The last of the Longswords are pulling out, sir. The Admiral has ordered them to fall back to the tether, cover the remaining freighters and liners before they make the jump."
"A bit of good news then."
"Leviathan and Valiant are firing again!"
"Good, coordinate with the Leviathan! Finish them off!" the Commander yelled as he quickly secured himself back into his crash webbing.
"Sir!" Navigations quickly turned in her chair "We got incoming!"
"Confirmed!" echoed Cheshire "Looks like they're getting reinforcements! I count 3 battlecruisers, 6 destroyers and 7 corvettes! They're still 8 minutes out until they're in effective weapons range, but they're closing fast!"
"Give the word to the base! Redline the reactors! Authentication Omega Eight Two Five Delta!"
It took a moment for the boys down at the base to do so "Authentication recognized. Safeties are off, Commander!"
"Third destroyer is down!" Weapons shouted "Valiant is double tapping the last one with Kade- JESUS, Kadesh is gone!"
"Valiant took a big hit, her primaries are both down! Captain de la Rosa is evacuating the majority of the crew on anything that'll fly." Comms noted with worry, but still composed.
"Her slipspace drive is out of alignment, she won't jump again, sir. She's a sitting duck!"
"Only the Covies would think of her as one, she's a cornered rabid tiger." then turning back to the holotank "Status on the enemy reinforcements?"
"6 minutes out, sir! We should evacuate the station! And we're also running dangerously low on rods, Commander!" Cheshire added "We've got 7 more rounds in the magazine!"
"God damn it, deploy some CSAR Pelicans to the Valiant, see if they can pick up any survivors!"
Traffic Control nodded and went about her business dispatching two flights of Pelicans for combat search and rescue, if there was anyone who made it off in one piece that is.
"It's a damn miracle we've lasted this long, doubly so for the groundside generators. God bless the Army." the Commander left out a long breath he didn't know he was holding, adding as much weight behind his words as possible. Orbital Defense Command had fallen 6 days ago, and with it, much of the ODP network's lethal and surgical coordination capabilities. Fucking hell.
"Enemy ships are 5 min- SLIPSPACE RUPTURE DETECTED!"
"Talk to me people, where are they?!"
"Sir- wait- it's the Virginia and the rest of Leviathan's Battle Group! They're here!"
As Cheshire spoke, the thin veil of reality was pierced in about a dozen spots, and forth came the closest QRF fleet that answered the call for reinforcements.
The UNSC Virginia, an Epoch-class heavy carrier, Ginny, or Southern Belle as she was known by the fleet, followed by her escorts to the dance. Four Halcyon-class light cruisers: Carthage, Kraken, Rubicon, and Tabula Rasa, along with eight Paris-class heavy frigates: Hong Kong, Perth, Cairo, Los Angeles, Budapest, Vladivostok, Madrid, and Seattle.
"Contact the Leviathan at once, let them know their Battle Group has arrived in the A. O.!"
UNSC Virginia, Leviathan Battle Group, high above Reach
August 30, 2552, 01:07 hours
"Okay, people. Stack 'em up, stack 'em up! We knew what we were getting into when we signed up!" the CO shouted on the bridge "Order all ships to lauch all fighters." turning sideways to his XO "Tell Kelly and Petrova to form a line with their escorts and push forward!"
"Aye, aye, order sent!" replied Commander Goodman.
"Active sweeps, let's see what we jumped into! I wanna know how accurate the comm buoys were! Find me Leviathan now!"
"Aye, aye, Captain. Radar is tracking, sir, massive debris field. Gamma Station is gone! No IFFs at this time!" Lt. Goldman reported from Nav.
"All ships, this is Captain Mancuso! Combat Alert Alpha!"
"Aye, aye! TAC CON Alpha 2 across the board!"
"Confirmed, TAC CON Alpha 2 across the board!"
"Safeties off on all weapon platforms!" the XO ordered.
"Aye, aye, safeties are off!" replied the Weapons officer "MAC holding at 97.5% charge, Archers are warmed up, Rampart and Helix systems online, Breakwaters are loading."
"Order Task Force 1 to push forward, I want clean lines of fire!"
"Carthage and Rubicon are moving up! As are Los Angeles, Vladivostok, Hong Kong, and Perth!" the XO reported.
"Out-fucking-standing!"
"Mr. Gustafson! Tell the CAG to form a picket around Casimir Station." the Captain spoke to his Air Wing coordinator.
"Sir!" replied to confirm the order the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young Lieutenant.
"Inform Pirate to coordinate with the other CAGs, let him delegate!"
"Ryoshi sends his regards, sir, he confirms the order. Longswords and Sabres are on the way. He says the Station's a bit out there but they'll get there in 5 minutes." Lt. Gustafson replied a moment later.
"Rubicon's and Kraken's Air Wings are forming up on us, sir." Mr. Gustafson from Operations spoke aloud.
"Good man."
"Sir! I'm getting friendly IFFs, it's the Leviathan and Valiant!" Lt. Jr. Gr. Ginevra Golightly offered from Comms "Admiral Stanforth on Priority One!" her thick Welsh accent coming through when she was nervous, a massive grin on her face.
"Put him through, Ginevra."
And a moment later "Mancuso, you sorry bastard. You're a sight for sore eyes!"
"Admiral, sir! What's the situation? I see we jumped right into the thick of it!" the Captain of the Virginia replied, adjusting the white turtleneck under his BDU.
"The Orbital Defense Grid is all but gone, Casimir is the last station still operational, and the bastards are giving it a wide birth for now. My battlegroup is gone, we're trying to evacuate as many people as possible from the city below but this position is untennable. It won't be long before they throw the kitchen sink at us. Please tell me the Battle Group has room to spare."
"And plenty of it, sir."
"Just what I wanted to hear. Khazim, order the rest of the Battle Group to begin deploying Pelicans to the city, coordinate with local forces, let's start pulling our people out of there. Evac the civies to the rest of our ships, I want all groundside UNSC forces to pull out. We're not leaving anyone behind."
"Aye, aye, Admiral!"
"And get Rubicon's and Kraken's air wings to fly cover for them. Also, inform the deck crews across the B. G. to start making room, lots of room. They're about to get visitors."
"They're confirming now, sir, Longswords are disengaging and forming up with the Pelicans, and I'm already moving the automated elevators and cranes. We're full of cargo, from rifles to MREs, but I'll stack it just the right way."
"Excellent." Stanforth nodded toward Virginia's A. I. "Churchill will coordinate with you and the others, he's taking care of things here on Leviathan."
"Admiral, if you don't mind Ginny will stay on station near the tether and maintain the evac corridor. But we don't have long as far as I can tell."
"A solid plan, Mancuso. The last of the civilian ships are yet to jump, the Longswords will cover them, after that all we'll have to worry about is our troops in the city, and any civilians that we'll manage to cram into those Pelicans along with them, tell your pilots to make a hard burn, we don't have long I'm afraid." Stanforth stated, standing with his hands behind his back.
"Indeed." chimed in Khazim "I've been chatting with Churchill in the meantime, and our window of opportunity is closing rapidly, and it will be gone in 45 minutes, 50 if I'm being extremely generous. The Covenant are reforming their lines, a massive force will be heading our way. They're already assembling a QRF as we speak." he added in his calm, accented voice.
"Then let's see it done." nodded Stanforth and closed the comm link.
"XO, order Carthage and Rubicon to form up with Leviathan and Valiant. Let's see if we can lend them a helping hand."
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"Sir, Valiant is mission killed. She's dead in the water, most of her crew are gone, her comms fortunately are still up, they're attempting to restart her fusion drives as we speak, Captain, it'll be a solid 6 minutes before she's up and running again. CSAR from Casimir is picking up the survivors now." Khazim explained, he was not happy about it.
"Damn it, that's the second Valiant-class this month."
"Her A. I. is scrubbing her NAV data as we speak." Khazim elaborated further.
"Then get them to evac the ship ASAP, Khazim."
"Order sent, sir, de la Rosa confirms, they're on their way out!"
Suddenly the alarms started blaring on the bridge "Contact! Sir, we got incoming! 3 battlecruisers, 6 destroyers, 7 corvettes, 19.000 klicks and closing, 2 8 degrees to port, 1 1 degrees down from the bow, 5 minutes out until effective weapon's range!" noted Lt. Junior Grade Kristers Liepa at Weapons.
"All hands, prepare for immediate contact!" the Captain addressed the entire ship.
"Leviathan will coordinate with Carthage and Rubicon, and focus the first BC, we'll take the second one with Tabula and Kraken, we'll tear them apart piecemeal."
"Copy that, sir, Task Force 2 is forming up with us and their escorts are already forming up with them." stated the calm, warm-voiced gentleman that the XO was. Seattle, Cairo, Budapest, and Madrid were hauling ass with their own two Halcyon cruisers around their heavy carrier flagship.
"Enemy ships just now passing 15000 kilometers, 30 seconds to effective range!"
"Orienting now, I got a target lock on the second battlecruiser, sir! Khazim is coordinating with Tabula and Kraken!" Mr. Liepa said excitedly, the kid loved big guns.
"Archer pods, 1 through 30, riple fire, coordinate with the rest. I want a time-to-target sync strike!"
"Archers away, Archers away!" Weapons informed.
And a clock popped up on the tactical hologram in front of them, tracking the anti ship ordnance as it made its way towards the Covenant lines.
5
4
3
"Fire. At. Will!" At Captain Herbert Mancuso's order the three ships triple tapped the first unfortunate bastard to stray into their killzone.
2
"Firing." Khazim confirmed and the massive Epoch-class shook with the tungsten round leaving the barrel, breaking the enemy vessel's shield a moment later with 3 heavy rounds, as it was still trying to make heads or tails of what just happened, the couple hundred previously fired Archers ripped it apart, like breaking a whore in a convent.
"Splash one fuckface!" Weapons hollered.
"Splash two!" Nav reported "Leviathan got him!" as the second battlecruiser joined the first in death.
"Vampire! Vampire! Vampire! Massive torpedo wave!" Khazim bellowed a second later.
"Evasive maneuvers, 2 0 degrees, down by the bow!" and a moment later Mancuso hit the button for ship-wide comms "All hands! Brace! Brace! Brace!"
"2 0 degrees, down by zhe bow!" forwarded the French Ensign Beaumont, being the Junior Bridge officer.
"Aye, aye, 2 0 degrees, down by the bow!" Lt. Goldman at Navigation replied.
"Brutes, I'm sure of it." the XO intoned through gritted teeth as the gravity plating fought against the massive inertia of the directional shift "They're the only ones stupid enough to charge us like this."
And as he said it, the torpedoes hit home, the heavy frigates faired well, those at least that got hit by a glancing blow or two, maneuverable little buggers, but the Halcyons took the brunt of it.
"Tabula is venting! Her MAC is down, Captain Johanssen is out cold, XO has the con!" reported Khazim
"Cairo and Seattle are gone and Perth is spinning out, her port engines are gone!"
"God damn it." the CO breathed in frustration.
"Captain Patel has ordered his crew to abandon ship, but he's staying aboard, he says some of Perth's Archers are still operational." Khazim informed from his fellow A. I. aboard the little frigate.
"Of all the stubborn Captains this side of Eridani..." Mancuso stated with barely contained frustration, then quickly straightened himself in his seat and contacted the Perth directly "Perth, this is Virgina Actual. Arjun, what the fuck are you doing?!"
"Taking as many bastards with me as possible, sir!" the man groaned on the other end, probably trying to keep himself upright "Selena and I are doing what we can, make sure my crew gets out of the kill zone."
"God damn it, Patel, all right." and after a moment that seemed to stretch on for eternity "Good hunting."
"You too, sir. Perth Actual out." as a heavy corvette came close to secure their kill, greedy, hungry, stupid Brutes wanting to seize the ship the Perth's reactor went critical, cracking the enemy ship in half. Kali must've been pleased with Arjun Pavel's offering of Jiralhanae flesh.
"Two destroyers, 11500 klicks and closing, 1 7 degrees to port, 3 6 degrees, down from the bo-" Nav didn't get to finish as a massive spear of light cored one of the destroyers turning it into space dust.
"Casimir Station send its regards!" Khazim added for clarification "That was well beyond the range of their effective targeting, Cheshire must be pleased! Tracking second destroyer, Carthage and Budapest are firing!"
"Coordinate with them, Khazim, add our Archers to it!"
The first round from the Carthage caught it in the rear section- practically shearing off its 'tails' whilst the second lighter round from Budapest caught it on its starboard side, inducing a sideways spin before the Archers hit home, ripping apart anything that remained. Second destroyer down.
But the day wasn't over yet.
"Breakwaters are tracking! Corvette coming in at high speed, 5300 klicks and closing, at 7 8 degrees starboard, 2 1 degrees, high from the bow!" Weapons shouted.
"Ramparts are tracking as well, Sentry and Helix platforms spooled up!"
"I see it, Mr. Liepa!" replied Khazim "Firing!" and the two massive, Mark 15 Breakwater, triple-barrel coilgun turrets on the bow of the carrier roared with fury. The heavy corvette took about 18-21 rounds before its shields collapsed and it got ripped apart long before it got into the range of the Ramparts.
"Good kill! Good kill!" Captain Mancuso praised as the second corvette detonated.
"Last battlecruiser charging down the well, 250 klicks, 1 3 degrees to starboard, 6 7 degrees, high from the bow, he's almost on top of us!" Liepa from Weapons warned, his itchy trigger finger hovering over the touch screen labeled 'FIRE'.
"Focus fire with the Leviathan and Kraken, get Carthage and Tabula to focus the third destroy-" just then Khazim took over comms across all ships "Evasive maneuvers! Brace! Brace! Brace!"
As another wave of plasma torpedoes splashed across their lines. 3 torpedoes got the Virgina's starboard armor with glancing blows, God damn, Khazim was good, but they weren't all so lucky "Rubicon has taken massive damage, her reactors are failing, Hong Kong's lost with all hands!" the XO exclaimed.
As a last 'fuck you' to the Covenant the Rubicon fired her MAC at the charging BC, followed suit by Leviathan and Virgina in concert. If you've ever seen an unsuspecting kid get hit in the face with a baseball, that battlecruiser was the kid. Little shit's bow bent in backward as the force from the three MAC rounds collapsed its bow shield, the third round went in its mouth and out its ass, just as a thunderous Archer barage from 4 capital ships sent it to the Great Hereafter.
"Last battlecruiser down, Captain!" Weapons informed.
Then on open comms Captain Anastasia Petrova began cursing in Russian, all of it directed at the Covenant of course, she was probably the loosest cannon in the Navy. Now, Mancuso's Russian wasn't all that hot, but he caught a few 'bitch', 'limpdick', 'cum drinker', 'impotent', and 'shithead'-s in her dedicated mix tape, that's why half the bridge was grinning in disbelief. That's why Mancuso wanted her under his command, the woman would jump at an Elite and rip its throat out with her bare teeth. Every day for the past 8 years she had mourned her husband and three children, every day praying to God to keep them safe and happy, that she would join them when her time came, but until that time, she would drench the streets of Hell in purple blood.
Bumblebees and Pelicans were leaving the ship by the dozens before she went critical, taking some of her birds with it to the other side. The Rubicon was gone.
"Fair seas and following winds, Ana." Mancuso muttered under his breath, he personally didn't believe, it seemed just too much for him swallow, too many contradictions, and violations of the laws of physics, but he was glad it brought comfort to those that did believe.
"All right, time to end this. Load Bident missiles and 20 pods of Archers for a full spread on the destroyers!"
"Firing!" Khazim notified as a 10-strong barage of Bident missiles along with another massive swarm of Archers left their pods, quickly orienting on the leading heavy ships.
"MACs are charged across the board, Captain!"
"Coordinate with the others!"
"We're synching with Malta, Leviathan with Budapest, Carthage with LA, and Kraken with Vostok! Two rounds per destroyer!"
"Launch second Archer spread!" the CO ordered, gripping his seat.
"Archers away!"
"Aye, Archers away!" someone echoed.
The enemy was close now, coming in hard, but Mancuso's learned over the years, not even the mighty Covenant was above fear, and as the seconds counted down to impact the XO could be heard chuckling with malice "Arrogant bastards aren't even attempting evasive action."
"Khazim, time-to-target strike. MACs' at your discretion."
And a few moments later "Coordinating now! Firing!" Khazim all but belowed and 9 streaks of electric light lit up the void in unison, 1 from each ship, 2 from the Leviathan herself.
To spectacular results, one after the other, the destroyers were cored, showered, then sloppy seconded like the good little prom dates they were.
"Targets destroyed! The remaining corvettes are bugging out!" Nav shouted with joy and a huge cheer went up across the heavy carrier's bridge as Mancuso shook hands with his XO.
"Well done!" he stated loud and proud "All right, ladies and gentlemen, time is of the essence!"
"CSAR reports, all survivors accounted for, the rest headed in lifepods for the surface." the XO reported. "Also, spoke with the commanding officer down in Casimir, a Colonel Ferretti, they're being pushed hard now, from all sides. The Pelicans are taking on as many Troopers and civilians as possible, the first ones should be arriving soon."
"Good, let's see what orbital support we can provide them with, and let's make this dance a quick one."
"Aye, aye, sir." the XO replied and walked off to coordinate their efforts.
"Tabula Rasa, this is Virgina Actual, how's Johanssen and the ship?" Mancuso opened a comm frequency to the cruiser.
"Virginia, this is Tabula Actual." replied the accented voice of the XO "We're doing okay for now, sir."
"Emilio, how's Johanssen? And what's the condition of your ship?"
"We took a licking, sir, but these old girls, they just keep on ticking." The Tabula Rasa's XO replied good-naturedly "El Capitan is out cold, down in sick bay, Doc's looking over him now. He took a pretty big hit to his cabeza. Our main drives are up and running, Chief Davis and Meiji are running a few diagnostics on our system, looks like our slipspace drive took a nasty bump, might be a while before we'll be able to jump safely, unfortunately the MAC's out of alignment, that'll take a bit of space magic, sir."
"Understood, Aguilar. If anything comes up then tell Meiji to immediately contact Khazim. I don't want any last minute bare-ass-in-the-wind surprises."
"Aye, aye, sir. We won't let you down."
"Good man." and he closed the link "Then we're done here." the Captain stated as he stood just behind Nav, placing his right hand on the young man's left shoulder.
"Reorient the Battle Group, hard burn towards the tether."
"We're forming up with Leviathan, sir." Nav noted as the order went out, Carthage, Kraken, and a limping Tabula Rasa, along with Los Angeles, Budapest, Vladivostok, and Madrid oriented and formed up around the Virginia and Leviathan.
"Battle Group is reorienting." Mr. Goldman informed the Captain, receiving a solid pat for it.
"Then take us out, max burn."
"Reorient 2 2 degrees to port, 8 degrees, down by zhe bow, max burn!" Ms. Beaumont informed.
"Aye, aye, reorient 2 2 degrees to port, 8 degrees, down by the bow, max burn!" Nav echoed.
"Weapons, Operations, Khazim, I want all MACs charged, all Archers and defensive platforms reloaded. Slipspace drives spooled up. Be ready to punch and pounce at a moment's notice. Don't wait for my order. And I want all our chicks back in their nests 5 minutes before midnight. We're getting the hell outta here."
"Yes, sir!" the three said in unison.
"Sir?" Ginevra from Comms asked.
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
"What about Casimir Station? Are we evacuating them too?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we'll get to it, Golightly, for now they'll watch our 6 as we hard burn for the tether, shouldn't be too long. But it'll probably be a safe bet to pull them out as well. They sure as hell don't have much of a chance if ground forces take out their generators. Fortunately those are deep below Casimir City, and the Army still has a strong presence there, but once we've pulled them out..."
"Yes, sir." the young blonde nodded, focusing her green eyes back on her screens.
"...The jig will be up."
His XO walked up to him with folded arms, hands under his armpits, his tell on having something pressing on his mind with which he needed a slight nudge in order to share.
"What's on your mind, Dusty?" he asked the XO who just smiled whilst looking at the floor.
"I'm good, Bonaparte. You know me, we've been flying together for 25 years. I'm just worried about all the people we'll be leaving behind down there."
"I know, Dusty. I don't like it either. We sure as hell could cram another solid 10.000 souls, and we sure as shit got the room between all our ships, probably even more. But-"
"Yeah. No time." his XO conceded with a defeated huff of air through his nose.
Both of them looking up at Khazim's 'countdown to doomsday' clock. 32 minutes, 29 seconds to go. He really didn't want any last minute surprises, Mancuso has always been a man who lived by the principle of 'if you want something to work properly then you just have to check it yourself'. As such he opened a channel to his Chief Engineer "Mr. Kikwete, how's Engineering holding up?"
"We are good ta go, Capt'n, everything is in the green, Fusion Control, Drive Control, and Engine Control are all in the green!" his thick accent shining through like a torch light "Green lights across the board for the superstructure and plating as well, the few armor panels that got singed on the starboard side are an easy switcharoo job, if we can't pull into a yard anytime soon then we can fabricate the replacements ourselves as you know, I'm extremely pleased that our mining and fabrication facilities have been overhauled during our last refit, sir."
"Amen, Chief." Mancuso smiled.
"Other than that, a few bumps and bruises, nating a bit of TLC can't fix, eh!" the larger than life man of Tanzanian descent replied, always with a grin on his face.
"Good work, my compliments to you and your teams."
"Thank you, sir, I will pass et along!"
"Sir, the last 2 transports are jumping now, just got the confirmation from Ryoshi, his Sabres echo it."
"Good job, Kenji." Mancuso said under his breath and then with a bit more force added "All that slipspace activity will draw a lot of attention, so let's make this quick."
"Sir, the first Pelican transports are coming up. Army elements, their commanding officer would like a quick word." Comms informed from her station.
The Captain nodded in her direction after nodding to Mr. Kikwete and closing the channel, turning fully back toward Comms "Put it through."