Galaxy in Flames

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"Incoming jump signature," Kimchi said, "It's human."
"Ah what?!" Mika cried.
The captain flicked him a glare, "Silence Lieutenant," he commanded, before turning to the mouse. "When do our reinforcements arrive?"
"At most, ten minutes," said Kimchi. A pause followed, the captain sighed and muttered under his breath,
"By the almighty." Turning back to the meerkat, he stood, his arms solid at his back. "Lieutenant, get that beam firing."

Suddenly, the Amantillado arrived, right next to Ellan. A firestorm burst from its guns, pounding into the Ellan.
"Lieutenant!" Captain Maxim said, "Fire all weapons EXCEPT for the beam cannon at that monstrosity."
"But sir, the beam cannon's ready," replied Mika.
"Then fire it at the indomitable, hurry up!" At once, a horde of point defense guns, flak cannons and laser turrets let loose their power, while a great increasing hum filled the ears of all on board, and the beam cannon fired.

[Alice The Necrofox]

Shiro stood in the elevator with a couple of officers, his sweat radiating stink off of his fur, his grease covered cloths leaving drips in the elevator. He knew they were a little discusted by this, but got over it quickly after thinking about everything the fox mechanic went through. The elevator dinged at the top floor, and he walked briskly, arms and torso in bandages, toward the captain.
"Sir, our ship is falling apart as we speak. 40% of the hallways are leaking, the engines are fried, and not just a couple, i mean all of them. My crew is tired, lost 12 good men and women in one of the bridges that was hit by fire, and all of the remainder have so much of a workload in front of them, they can't keep together what they are doing. I believe the term for what we have just witnessed is what is known as being "royally screwed", sir"
Shiro saluted, a little more grease going on the floor.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Upon being kicked in the head, Chrono hit the steering controls, sending the ship into a spin as well as activating hyper-drive pre-maturally. Luckilly, his ship slid past the formation that was careening towards him, and still went for their destination. Chrono rubbed his forehead and wiped off the accumulation blood before pulling out two pairs of cuffs. He swung his chair around, while also sticking his right leg out, tripping Blaire to the floor. With the little time he had before she had yet another tantrum, he rolled her face-down and bound her hands behind her back, then quickly went for the ankles. As soon as both cuffs were on, a moderate shock went through her system.

"Y'know, I'm tired of having to treat you like a brat that doesn't understand the "do's and don'ts" of space travel, so until your behavior improves, you'll be in bondage until we arrive at the location in... ten days?!" he expected a week, but the premature launch caused the engine to only operate at 70% rather than the usual 100%, lengthening the time of travel.

[KittKat chunky~]

"well, im very sure that without your work here on the ship we would have been more... screwed.... every one of us aboard this ship has you to thank..."
Kitt stood leaning against one of the bridge controls, talking to a mechanic about the condition of the R-20's.... he gave a subtle cough, watching the conversation...

"and do you think i do not care about those 12 who died?... Ashlie, Jake, Ruffie, Jonah, Ana, Ru, Ziggy, Alex, Cathy, Susan, Laurence and Dave.... i know every one of them.... i know they died.... i care, this is my family... ive been running this ship for fifty years, long before yoU! long before kitt there! long before any of you!..."

The crew on the bridge all gave coughs or agitated shuffles, turning away back to work... the steady drip, drip of oil leaking filled the bridge....

"sorry.... just dont ever, think i dont care.... as for the engines, theyve been replaced twice fold, ive had three head engineers Shrio... this ship has been around for an age.....  We hit good ore while we where salvaging, the engine replacements are already on their way from the docks.... and weve got a full mechanics crew coming over with 'em..... tomorrow this whole ship is gonna  be emptied of crew, and we're going over to the dock station while reapirs are finished over here...."

[Alice The Necrofox]

"Sir! I never thought that you didn't care. Home is my home just as much as it is yours. It is a haven from the horrors of reality. I had friends lost too, sir. I am quite used to the horrors of warfare. One of your past engineers was a dear friend of mine, and he was the one who suggested "Home" as a respite for past wrongs done. I came here on your request captain. I know you have your own crew behind you with the ore collected, but i for one will not rest until she is back into space, functioning at full capacity. If home is destroyed, there will be no where I, or any of my friends on this ship, will be able to go. We have a duty to home more than commanding it, but rather nurturing it. We keep it together. We have a duty to all men and women who died and who live to continue running this ship and making sure it continues to be home for not only the living, but also to the dead who sacrificed their lives for this ship. We will not rest."
Shiro paused.
"Now if you have nothing more for me, i need to get back to repairing our ship, sir!"

[KittKat chunky~]

The captain smiled, and all who where there on the bridge that day swore the could have seen a tear in his eye...

"Shiro... i take back all i said.... this is the reason i decided to buy home.... when i was only around the age of Kitt.... she was brand new, squeaky clean.... and though she may have become old and rusty... well... so have i"

He chuckled, sitting back down behind his desk....

"well, thats all, yes... thank you Shiro... you have reminded me why i kept this ship.... repair what you can.... in a few hours the reserve engineers will be here with the engines, and we can all get some much needed sleep!"

The captain motioned Kitt over to the pair...

"Kitt... im not really sure what youre doing up here on the bridge.... go down with Shiro and help him with what you can... Shiro, Kitt and the other R-20 teams will help with repairs on the outer hull, while you repair the hull from the inside.... im expecting you guys to work as a team... and Kitt, if i hear you have been causing grievances you'l be on collector duties for the rest of the cycle..."

Kitt snorted, walking over to Shiro, zipping back up his orange, oil covered overalls....
"lets get to it!"

[Alice The Necrofox]

"Yes sir!"
Shiro looked at Kitt. "People still wear those jumpsuits? Okay, but just watch out when in zero grav, those suits start constricting in you know where. Follow me"
Shiro lead Kitt down the many corridors that were familiar to the engine rooms that were so mazelike, it was surprising anyone could find anything here.
"These are the engines being put in to replace the blown ones. What i need you to do is to get your pilot for tango, fly over to the work station, and start helping them bring the pieces of the engine in. They are pretty big, but i just increased the load capacity for Tango, so you should have no trouble. After that, i need you to get to the welders and give them a hand with fixing a couple of the hallways. If you see bits of cloths and parts stacked in the hallways, don't touch them. Its our way of remembering the dead. After you help them with anything they need, get to weapons. They need people to do the dirty work while they fix the computers and circuitry to the ship. I know its a lot of work, but that is just the beginning to the amount we will need to do in the end."
Shiro turned and began to walk away, stopped, and turned his head to Kitt.
"Down here you guys are what as known as flyboys. You get to do the fun stuff. Down here? Its hot, electrified hell. Be careful. Just do as your superiors tell you and you will be alright."
He shouted in an abnomaly loud voice to the crew in the engine room
"LETS GET HOME BACK IN THE AIR!!"
Loud whoops and shouts met his cry.

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt sniggered about the comment on jumpsuits and constricting...
"tell me about it... but i aint gonna wear nuthin else... trademark of the R-20 jockeys, nobody else i know wears the old orange jumpsuits...."
He followed Shiro down through the engine rooms... as he passed a memorial he touched his two fore-fingers to his forehead, a murmur passing his lips....

"kay... im guessing we're only repairing engines one to three? the other two are Xt-48 class.... you need somthing bigger than R-20's.... that'l be fixed by the engineers and their heavy machinery when we go off on leave.."

He watched several of homes engineers walk past, carrying between them several pistons... they gave Kitt the look that all engineers gave the R-20 jockeys, that of pride, honour, and envy...

"flyboys.... yeah.... we got the fancy job..... yessir... i gotcha...."

Kitt pulled on his headphones and across the mouth mic.... already on the open coms to the other pilots...

"this is Kitt, tango assemble in dock 12... we got us a job to help with..."

[Entaru]

The Cask rocked slightly as the Ellan's defenses slammed into its shields.

"What's our status Ms. Zettergren"

"70% shields and holding, boss!"

"Good, fire 'Charnel' at their docking bay.  I don't want their fighters to be able to re-dock"  Charnel was Entaru's name for the ship's Gauss cannon.  He had seen how many fighters the Ellan had.  Without the docking bay, the Ellan would have to leave them behind if it retreated.  Then Captain Mordecai could decide what to do with them.  But before then, he would let some of his crew have some target practice.  Entaru spoke into the midship communicator.

"Anthony.  Zaha.  I want you to take control of our anti-fighter turrets and take out the fighters that were just deployed.  Got it?"

~Aye sir!~

~No prob sir! ZA-HA!~  Entaru chuckled a bit.  Zaha had a habit of shouting his name and saluting when he was excited.

"Gauss Cannon ready sir!"

"Fire away."

Charnel fired it's massive payload toward the docking bay.  Entaru laughed as he imagined the look of horror on the faces of the mechanics inside the docking bay.

So beautiful Entaru thought as he watched the projectile streak toward its target.

[Gabag]

The force of the massive projectile physically moved the Eph'tan ship to the side and made it turn prematurely, as the shield buckled in the sport where the hanger bay then shorted out from the force and density of the shell fired.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

The ship lurched and all across its decks, it bursts into yells and cries as the gauss cannon hit.
"What in God's name was that?!" said the captain. Through the view screen, he could see the Cask. "Why are we facing that... thing?"
Mika replied, "Gauss cannon sir, a big one. It pushed our back end."
Kimchi added, "Sir it literally blew right through our shields. One of the hangars have been hit and the shields around that area are down."
"Divert power to the shields to get atleast some defense there," the captain ordered with a wave of his hand, willing her to hurry.
"Not possible, apparently the shields are fried," Kimchi said. The captain gripped his chair.
"Right, we're facing them anyway, how are the forward beam cannons?" he asked.
Mika looked to his console, then turned to the captain and said, "still charging." There was a pause, the captain clearly tearing his fur out in his mind. "But we are still firing our anti-fighter weapons at them."
"Well ain't that brilliant." The captain scowled.
"And they're firing their weapons at our fighters."




With two wings bearing down on Iota squadron, it was simple to take out a couple, letting them spiral into a ball of fire, bombers coming increasingly close to the Indomitable. All fighters ignored the worsening situation, focusing on the problems at hand, even with one less fighter bay, superior technology would win out. Suddenly, through the firestorm of their own making, and hail of human ordinance tore through the TAK 3 lead fighter, pounding through his shields in seconds in an ambush of fire. Gore began blaring through the comms,
"Look out wolves, The Entaru's on us, watch for their guns."
"You gotta be kidding me," Ragged replied. Shock just giggled as she danced with Alpha Lead.

[Gabag]

The Eph'tan seemed too occupied with the dogfight to really care about the ships hangers. Suddenly another wing of durable interceptors sped out. Delta squadron, poised for the bomber squadron, their Centuri missiles already had a lock on the target as missiles were fired at the bombers. They noticed the incoming ordinance too late, and shields flared as the bombers were now defenseless and blasted with laser fire from Delta squadron.

Iota squadron regrouped and flew as one, lasers firing, downing two of TAK 3's wingmates in a hail of bright green death. Focusing on their team leader now, Iota squad leader got a target lock on his target and fired.
Alpha squadron had trouble covering it's allies as the aces of the Eph'tan were bearing down upon them, but luckily for them, two fighters from Delta broke off from the bombers and turned their attention towards Gore's squadron.
"Alpha 5 avoid that projectile!"
"Roger team leader!"
Lisa swerved upwards to avoid the emp, however it still drained a fair bit of her shielding. Gab saw the rockets heading toweards him and pulled sharply skywards, then pulled a sharp turn and came back from the sky.
"Let's see how you like this traitor"
Collins flew up behind Strike's craft.
"Like blastin our boys from the sky eh? WELL LETS SEE HOW YOU LIKE FACING A MARKSMAN!" he yelled as he matched the targets speed and opened fire on Strike, scoring numerous laser hits on his shielding.
Zev stayed on the tail of Asia, doing his best to give him no rest, no space to maneuver. "Martha, how's your fight doing?"
Martha was assisting Iota squadron in clearing TAK 3, and she was on the tail of one of their other fighters, with visible but minor damage on her target, she winked her acknowledgment light green to the squad. Lisa broke off and sped for Ragged getting a lock, but waiting till she got close before launching a missile.


"Guess cannons ready to fire?"
"Yes sir"
"Destroy them then!" yelled the good captain
The ship rocked with the force of the shots as the massive projectiles flew from the capital ship into the dogfight. One of the bombers wasn't so lucky and was obliterated by the projectile. The pair of Guass shots impacted with the side of the Fires of Ellan. Not with the force of the Cask's gun, but enough for the first hit to dent, the other hit to peirce the hull, going about halfway through the hull before facing disintegration.

"Iota team, what's your status" yelled lt. Scott, the fighter Ops. liason
"We're about 60 %  strength sir, but we're still alive and kickin', thankfully Iota 4 and 6 managed to launch their escape pods before their ship exploded, with the relief from delta and alpha, we'll hold our own."
"Hows the damage on the enemy squadron?"
"The one Alpha is battling hasnt sustained a loss, but they must be the Aces, the ones we're battling are at the same we are, Delta reports the bombers are at 50 % strength"
"Keep fighting men, For C Block"
"For C Block sir, For C Block"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Three of the bombers span out and exploded under the assault, the remaining three pressed on, pressing forward, just within reach of the indomitable. "Bombs away," Was the message on the comms, the pilots calm and precise as six warheads were unleashed.

Tak 3's lead fighter twisted and burst away with afterburners, outwitting the missile, before turning back to fire off as many Tempest missiles as he could, watching them rocket off in the general direction of his assailants. They pounded into an Iota fighter, annihilating shields and tearing into the hull.

Gore spoke constantly, watching Delta squadron come his way, while locking  on and letting loose another harpoon, smashing against the lead fighter. His wing mates raced past him sending laser fire streaking ahead. They moved as one, fluid in the void.

As the EMP missed, Strike moved to chase Lisa down, firing off his GTW-19 Circe, specialised in draining what shields she had left. It was far from power hungry allowing him transfer extra power he had to his engines racing up behind her. Suddenly, enemy fire rocked his ship, his systems pointing to Alpha 3 at his rear.
"Could anyone help me out here?!" he said, and was answered with a GTI TAG-A Missile, from Ragged's ship. The missile was silent, super fast and packed with tech, bypassing shields, clamping onto Connor's hull. Immediately, anyone facing him had instant lock-on as it pulsed its EM signature. Ragged, Asia and Shock turned to it and fired every missile they had.

Shock and Asia didnt even stop midturn, incorporating it into their own dogfight. Shock flipped, and burst away in an upward spiral, letting loose tempests alongside her lasers.

Asia sped through, neatly transferring most of his power to engines, tearing through the sky waiting for his moment to transfer to weapons, and turn to his foe. He span, weaved and dodged the attacks, and finally saw an opening. Power transfered weapons and forward shields as he span his fighter blasted with all his force in a brutal frontal assault.




The Ellan rocked twice more. "Kimchi, please tell me those reinforcements are close," said the captain.
"Still a little while away sir," she replied, adding, "Sir we're reporting more casualties. One of those gauss cannons pierced the hull and we lost atmosphere. That deck is closed off but if-"
"But nothing," the captain cut her off, before turning to Mika. "Beam cannons."
"Ready in three... two..."

That familiar hum reverberated through the ship, the streaks of light slammed into the Cask.

[KittKat chunky~]

[open Eph'tan channels]

"Fires of Ellan, this is Carnage and two other assault frigates designated 'carnage wing'.... we are exiting hyperspace ahead of main reinforcements now... ETA... 30 seconds.... what is your status?"




Three assault frigates burst out of hyperspace in a flash of light.... right above the main conflict, several hundered miles away from the large explosions and flying debris....



"Ellan, This is Carnage wing... we have a lock on hostiles.... looks like your taking quite a pounding.... firing up the engines now... let 'em have it!"


The three assault frigates turned into a nose dive, engines heating up will a low thrumming sound... the ships started to build up speed as they closed in on the conflict... all of the flak turrets swiveling, tracking the foe....

"Torpedoes away!"


A series of flashes lit up the armour plating of the frigates, three captial ship class torpedoes bursting forth from the prows of the assault frigates, the AI controlled torpedoes flew straight and fast; heading for the Indomitable.....

[Gabag]

"Enemy Jump signatures detected and enemy payloads streaking towards us captain."

"Get point defense guns and shoot those bombs and torpedos down, take as many of the warheads down as humanly possible!"
The Flak cannons spun in their posistions and opened fire, shooting down the bombs and all but one of the torpedos, as the shields buckled and collapsed.
"Report"
"Shields down, calling reinforcements from High Command"
"Main laser batteries divert to the first of the assault frigates and load up another salvo of guass rounds, Fire Scorpio missiles M-T on Carnage one, I want to see it a burning husk"
Missiles flew out from the ship but were outsped by the lasers, which slammed into Carnage 1's shielding, weakening, allowing the missile salvo to finish the shields and do some major hull damage.


"Collins Evade, I repeat Evade!" yelled Gab in his Tac Com as he suddenly saw Collin's signature light up like a Christmas tree.
"On it sir!" Pulling sharply upwards, and directly at TAK 3, Collins hopped to use the missiles as his own weapon,
Martha accelerated towards Gore and fired off two dumb missiles and opned up with her laser cannons at max power. She would kill him, only a matter of time.
Zev punched his afterburners and sped past Asia, before harshly braking and going back for another attack run.
"Guys Shields down...."
"Roger Lisa we'll cover you, shoot missiles at my friend will you" Gab muttered to shock before coming directly behind her craft and firing a dumb missile directly into her craft.