Galaxy in Flames

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Zeit not surprisingly, has been in his room sleeping the hours away, blissfully unaware of the fighting outside the ship. He then got a call from an unmarked, but still familar number. He pulled up the visual screen and answered the call, to find two reavers, two Eph'tan, and another human on the same screen with all races having one female and one male on the screen. "So.... how have things been going, on your sides?" the other two races looked around for the chance that they might be watched before replying.

"Something happened on a planet in neutral space, it has suffered planetary scars from all of our bombs, but nobody gave the order to do so." The male reaver said, and his counterpart nodded in agreement.

"We are trying to get there ourselves, but the higher ups won't let us leave our stations for fear of sudden attacks." the feminine Eph'Tan brought up and there were looks of agreed annoyance all over except for Zeit, who has no experience flying ships. Zeit lifted his arm to get their attention before bringing forward his idea.

"We all agreed to have these confrences so we could end the war without either side being wiped out by genocide, this neutral space bombardment has all sides enraged and has also enflamed conflict even further. However, its obvious that neither side is responsible, and its ignorant to assume that we are the only three factions involved in this conflict." Zeit waited for any comments before continuing.

"How about, we organize three groups of investigators, that only our immedeate superiors know about. As long as our respective rulers don't know, our efforts to resolve this issue won't go interrupted. So, who wants to be the head of all the expiditions on the war-torn neutral planet?" There were a few who looked like they were going to take leadership, but quickly looked away from the screen. Zeit smiled at their facial expressions and motions, knowing who they left leadership to.

"Good, we'll be leaving in a week and nobody knows who the other is until their loss of life is risked, agreed?" They all nodded before the screens cut off one by one...

[KittKat chunky~]

"Hit, Hit... damage report.... this is Carnage 1 we are going down!"

Carnage one listed to one side... flames pouring out, feeding off the decompressing oxygen from the hull, a sight to behold.... with a flash and monumental explosion the frigate eingulfed itself, plasma engines melting out and tearing themselves apart in an exothermic reaction on a huge scale.... WHat was left of the ship scattered itself, in huge fragments, steel plating and what was left of the crew members floating out across the void...


"Carnage 1 is down, this is Carnage two, we are taking over 'carnage wing... fire torpedoes salvo two..."


Carnage 1 and 2 where within only 50 miles of the Indomitable, continuing their zero gravity nose dive, torpedoes streaking ahead. Thin vapour trails cast off like shrowds. They sped through the maelstrom of point defence flak, one detonatiing prematurely, the second finding its new home across the starboard of the Indomitable... The explosion shook the ship, flames bursting forth, and then receding as they ran out of oxygen to feed on....

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

With one volley of bombs completed, the bombers swooped round to unleash another salvo.

TAK 3 whipped through the carnage, keeping track of the light show streaking towards him. With a smirk on his face, he spun to face Collins, letting loose a wall of eight hornets while tempests poured out at high speed with his lasers; trapping Collins between one set of missiles and three others behind him.

Asia pressed just one button to equalise shields across his ship as he saw Zev's race overhead. His weren't completely unsuccessful, damaging the forward shields of the enemy, but now he was defenceless from behind; the equalisation was not instantaneous. Suddenly he pushed his engines into full reverse, feeling the laser slam into his fighter until the shields reformed, on a collision course with the damaged forward shields of Zev.

Strike continued to peel away Lisa's shields until there was nothing left. At once he pulled away from her and let loose his ultra-long range GTW-66 Maxim Cannon, a high powered hybrid energy/ballistic weapon, shooting uranium slugs through its smoothbore barrel. The force of firing it alone violently shook Strike's ship, the damage to Lisa would be catastrophic as they powered to her defenceless hide.

The steady beep of the computer turned into a scream as a missile powered into the back of Shock's fighter, destroying her shields and mutilating her engines to it bled flames out into the vacuum.
"Oh what the frack!" she cried as she her handling buckled and she spiralled through the air. Ahead of her, she could see the battle and made her decision, igniting her afterburners. Her ship lit up like a ball of fire as it ripped at an incredibly high and increasingly unstable speed, heading straight for Zev. She placed her hairless rat paw upon the eject lever, ready to pull at the right moment.

TAK 2 with Gore at the head, swooped through the battle with Iota and Delta, flowing across the laser fire. They floated and spun to compensate for Martha's attacks, swinging round to unleash a squadron's worth of ordinance down her throat.

[Gabag]

Collins allowed himself to smirk, before braking then shooting downwards, forcing the missiles to either collide with each other or try to compensate for their targets sudden change in direction. Martha saw the squadron turn sights to her and she unleashes a salvo of missiles, then punched the afterburners to slingshot over them.

"Guass Cannon?!" Lisa yelled before pulling a sharp turn to avoid the projectiles.
Zev saw another fighter headed straight towards him. "2 on 1 eh? Its a fair fight now" he muttered before accelerating towards Shock's craft. Delta team fired upon Gore, shredding his shielding.


"DAMAGE REPORT!"
"Armor plating breached, but internal damage is minimal..."
"Fire Guass cannons at Carnage 2, I want those assault frigates burning husks"

[KittKat chunky~]

"Ellan! this is Carnage 2.... we are suffering heavy damage... carnage 1 is down and our shields are collapsing... we cannot hold here for much longer.... sorry sir but we must retreat or be destroyed, this firefight is for the big boys....   .... dont worry, reinforcements are on route to you, ETA.... ~KKKZSSCHH~"


Out of all the view ports of the Ellan Carnage 2 could be seen, torn apart in a fusilade of Guass fire.... fires burning across the middle section it tilted, a muffled explosion bursting forth from the armoured hull as it fell into a steep nose dive... headed straight for the Indomitable, a burning, uncontrollable, Kamikaze.


Carnage 3 disapeared in a blue flash, hyperjump leaving a resonating bass note behind as the wreck of Carnage 2 dropped ever faster towards the Indomitable...

[Gabag]

"Accelerate and avoid that wreckage Connor"

"Aye Sir"

THe Indomitable began to pick up speed. It just may avoid the collision, but it could suffer minor to major damage.

[KittKat chunky~]

Carnage 2 began to break up as it fell, spiralling slowly as it sped towards the Indomitable... a whole section of the hull fell away, burning up as it span away into space.... scant miles from the Indomitable the middle section of the assault frigate exploded, plumes of white smoke billowing out from the great scarred wreckage, the whole rear and engine section of Carnage 2 span away.

Only the prow and what was left of the armoured hull span, burning, into the starboard side of the Indomitable... imbedding in the armoured hide of the human ship, the wreckage exploded, shrapnel flying in all directions as what was left of the assault frigate instantly became space dust. Flames billowing out like serpent tongues.

[Gabag]

"Sir Collision reported in non essential hallways E-116 all the way to E-200, giving crew members 60 seconds to evac those decks then venting atmosphere."
The main reason the collision didnt do as much damage as it should was because the shields were already recharging, although the collision still burned through the shields, it didnt do major damage to it,however the ship lurched in a new direction.

"We can't take much more punishment, but the Fires of Ellan has its hands full as well, re-align course to the Eph'tan probe, I want it captured for any valuable intelligence."
The point defense guns spun in their pistons then unleashed a flurry of laser bolts towards the re-approaching bombers, making two of them break off from attack and destroying another one.
"Send cargo ships to recover the armor plating from the destroyed Eph'Tan ship, we might need to use those armor plated to make emergency repairs."
Suddenly the Cask and the Indomitable got a secure military transmission.
"Attention all military vessels... The Eph'tan and Reavers have allied in a genocidal campaign against us.. even now border forces are engaged in combating the traitors. However they have utterly destroyed the Neutral space, killing millions... We go to war, not for territory, not for resources, but for our very existence. Fight on, for Humanity isn't beaten yet. Fight on and we shall win the day."

"That explains why the Eph'tan attacked us at least..."

[Alice The Necrofox]

A couple of the minor engineers were huddled around a small portable intra-net radio, listening intently. Shiro, mistaking this to be lazyness, walked over and was about to begin scolding them when he heard:
"...Ellan! this is Carnage 2.... we are suffering heavy damage... carnage 1 is down and our shields are collapsing... we cannot hold here for much longer.... sorry sir but we must retreat or be destroyed, this firefight is for the big boys....   .... dont worry, reinforcements are on route to you, ETA.... ~KKKZSSCHH~..." a reporter's voice broke in " This was one of the transmissions between the Fires of Ellan, which has sustained many casualties... we are still getting reports in..." At that point the radio broke down and sputtered a little.
The outrage was being shown on all of the faces of the Eph'tan there. We didn't attack them! They attacked us!!
Every one of them had the same righteous look on their face. Those humans won't know what hit them. Home will show them. Every mechanic, no matter how small, was a refugee at some point or another, and each had his own skills to add.
"Pass the word around. Every lazy sot will not get food. We need Home in top fighting shape. You know what to do. Spread the word."

A squirrel flunky in a Sergeant's uniform and who had pompous glasses and a pompous stomach ran up to the Captain of Home.
"Sir, our engineers are all doing things and not following the Protocol for the fixing of Home! They are increasing shields, upgrading weapons and such. We are a peaceful vessel captain! I do not think that these orders are..."

[Entaru]

As the beam cannon hit the Cask, Entaru watched as the shields dropped sharply.

"Boss! Shields at 60...45...30%.  That cannon did a number on us sir."

Entaru cursed under his breath.  "How much longer till 'Charnel' can fire again?"

"2 minutes boss."

"Fine." Entaru held his head in thought and watched as Carnage 2 collided with the Indomitable.  He went over the comm once more.

"Vaun, Chris.  I want you to get into the gauss turrets and rip up their bridge.  Their shields are down so aim at the glass.  I want to see their captains face as whats left of it floats by our ship."  Entaru walked up to the viewing screen and lifted his middle finger in salute towards the Ellan's bridge.

"So long my fuzzy foe..."

[KittKat chunky~]

The captain looked up from the schematics of what appeared to be several torpedo launchers....

"HA! i was waiting for that to happen..... this isnt the first time.... you get back to whatever you do.... and lose some weight while youre at it! youre a disgrace to the crew of this ship!"

The officer saluted, giving an abrupt right turn, almost crashing into a technician as he ran from the bridge....


~~~

The comms system crackled into life across home, every engineer stopped to listen...

"this is your captain speaking...... every engineer... every flyboy... everyone... to dock 12.... it seems you boys are thinking the same as me... its time for home to fight again!"


~~~


Within the hour every single crewman stood in dock 12, the loud murmering of hundreds of whispers filled the dock..... intersitingly, to those who stood in the dock's observation deck, far above the crowd... it was split roughly into four sections....
a large mass of orange jumpsuits and the odd pilots helmet that was the 'flyobys'...
the weapons crews...
the various technicians and electronics crews...
and the largest group of all... the engineers, salvagers and every other able boddied Eph'tan...
all looked up to the front of the dock where the captain stood....


"CREW OF 'HOME'!"

A shout rose up from the mass of Eph'tan, chanting and wold whistles amany...

"CREW OF... OUR HOME!"

The shouts rose up again, the flyboys chanting the victory chant of the R-20 pilots

"IT IS TIME.... AGAIN.... THAT THIS SALVAGE VESSEL.... SHALL FIGHT AGAIN..... IT HAS HAPPENED TWICE BEFORE... IN TIMES WHEN PEACE HAS FALLEN.... WE ALL HOPED IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO HAPPEN AGAIN... BUT IT HAS..... AND SO..... WE SHALL FIGHT!...

... EVERY ENGINEER TO THEIR STATIONS.... WE ARE GOING TO NEED TO TAKE ACROSS AS MANY SUPPLIES, AND EQUIPEMENT ACROSS TO THE R-100 HENCEFORTH KNOWN AS 'ORION'!"

Every single Eph'tan whooped and shouted, cat-calls, wolf whistles and shouts.... as the captain turned away back towards the bridge..... once there he spread out several large pages, resplendant with diagrams and blue prints....


"we know the drill.... 'home' has done this before... she's gonna do it again... send a copy of these blue prints to every deck... we need food, welders equipment... everything... get shiro up here... i need him."



~ "SHIRO TO MAIN BRIDGE, SHIRO TO MAIN BRIDGE"~

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

TAK 3 turned from Collins and burst towards Delta, locking on and letting loose his hornets, that pounded mercilessly into one of the fighters. TAK 2 ignored Martha's burn past and flowed to face delta, focusing Tempests on the lead ship, while their targeting computers moved to the second fighter, releasing hornets and harpoons its way.

"Haha, weren't expecting that now where ya!" Using his advanced targeting computer and ultra zoomed reticule, Strike continued to pull back to two thousand kilometers away and still going, rocking his ship with the force of his intense weapon. Ragged turned to face she who would target him, waiting for the lock-on to acquire before unleashing his high-tech Harpoon missile.

"Come on then!" cried Shock as her fighter increased speed further and further, moving way beyond the recommended limit placed upon the craft, lighting up in the sky like a comet, just about to collide. Asia continued backwards until he saw on his radar, his quarry take a turn upwards, to Shock's craft.
"Shock, I hope to Eph'tan itself that you know what you're doing," he said, before turning away, chasing down the Alpha lead.



"Stay on course, bombers, that's your job," said the lead bomber. "Bombs away." Four bombs escaped towards the indomitable.





"Sir, Carnage 1 and 2 have been destroyed, Carnage 3 has jumped," said the mouse. "There was a collision, but only causing minor damage to the indomitable."
"Then we'll cause the rest of the damage," the captain replied. "How's the-" Just then, the hum of a beam cannon flared and the rear weapon shot out to the indomitable. This was followed by the point defense lasers slicing through the air among the fighters, taking down an Iota fighter. "Good job, Mika, now you're getting the hang of it." Captain Maxim smiled in his chair while his underlings worked on. "It wont be long until those Gauss Cannon fires again, hows our repair crews?" The mouse looked across her console, pressing buttons to access the work allocation systems.
"Everyone's out sir. We're going full pelt in this"

[Alice The Necrofox]

Shiro flew down the corridors, a whir of fur, barely missing about everything. He was so happy that they were fighting back now, and not just pretending that this war didn't exist. He wasn't there for the last two times Home, or now Orion had been put up to full fighting capacity, but being the ship building kind, new a few tricks that might up the ante on any opponent who takes on Orion.
Just as the transmission ended, he burst into the room.
"Present and accounted for SIR!"

[KittKat chunky~]

"so you are Shiro..... you see that out there..."

It wasnt a question... the captain pointed out of the main view windows of the bridge, to a huge structure of steel, gliding silently towards them...

"its the Orion.... three times now.... three times... every time i wish never... never.. to see that ship again..... and yet, here it is.....  you have three hours, gather all the equipment you may need for repairs, and then once i give the call gather all the engineers into dock 12 to await shuttles..... the Orion is moving out... torps are already aboard, as well as some equipment... dismissed.... and may we pray we do not lose so many as the last time the Orion sailed..."


Kitt walked up, past Shiro, standing to attention as the captain gave the same kind of orders, but to rally the pilots and get together supplies....

"Kitt, all R-20 pilots will be manning some ships we have aboard Orion.... we got a nice surprise for you fly boys...."

Kitt grinned, a questioning look on his face...

"nuh, uh... not yet, i tell you when we're aboard..."

[Alice The Necrofox]

"Alright boys!"
Shiro was standing on the top of one of the brand new engines, the highest spot he could find
"From this point on, we are to gather all equipment and repair technicalities and move over to the Orion! We are going to take this fight straight to the enemy! And if anyone thinks that this mission is too dangerous, you have a moment now to leave!'
No one moved
"Very well! GET THAT EQUIPMENT ON BOARD!"
Cheers greeted him.
As Shiro came off of the engine, he told about 30 flunkies to go to his private quarters and fish out all of the equipment he had there.
He didn't know what system Orion was running, but with these beauties, it would be unstoppable.