Galaxy in Flames

[Alice The Necrofox]

"Done!"
Shiro looked up at his handiwork on the ship. He picked up his handheld radio on his hip.
"Captain, this is Head Engineer Shiro. Tango and Click are operational, and i threw fang and fox into better condition from the fifth ship and some parts from engineering. I also added extra living space to tango. Might i suggest going to JJ-55e for repairs? Its Eph-Tan friendly and there is a guy there who owes me a favor. A ship sized favor."

[KittKat chunky~]

The captain clicked the intercom button as he pulled on his jacket... "i hear you Shiro... and yes we where thinking of JJ-55e.... until then report with the other crew in dock 12 for the cerimony..."

Stepping out into the elevator the captain sighed... he had done this ceremony too many times....


~~~

Kitt and the rest of team tango stepped out into dock 12... it was packed with line upon line of engineers, medics, pilots, crewmen, chefs, accountants... everyone.... most turned to see the R-20 pilots, a few murmured... .before turning back to the main focus of attention, the lines of coffins beside the dock doorway... the crew, pilots and anyone else who had died in the attack...

Team tango lined up beside the rest of the surviving pilots... as the captain stood at the forefront of the dock, looking out over the sea of faces....

[Entaru]

5 hours later the Cask is docked at the border station Chiron Omega

A loud (human) roar of pain echoes through the Cask's medbay as Entaru's primary physician injects a large amount of chemicals into the captain's neck.

"You're going to need to lay down for a while Entaru"  Dr. Zettergren was the only crew member aboard the Cask who Entaru liked enough to be on a first name basis with him.  "With how much the fight excited you, I'm surprised you didn't keel over in your seat"

"You should have seen the way those rugs scrambled when we let out the 'wasps'.  I think one or two of them collided with eachother."  Entaru smiled as he watched a replay of it in his mind.

Dr. Zettergren frowned.  As much of a friend the captain was, he was certainly not the best of people.

"I'm sorry I missed it, I was busy taking care of Mr. Grundy.  A buzz droid got inside and started to "buzz" him."  The damage had been bad, but Grundy was a bit of a dog anyways so if anything the damage was an improvement.

"Too bad they ran off, I was hoping to get more than 3 ships with the shield purge.  Any ideas on how many drones we lost?  And don't tell me you don't know because I know that sister of yours told you"  Dr. Zettergren and the Senior Tech Officer, Ms. Zettergren, were brother and sister.  Their parents had been killed by a planet-side Reaver raiding party.  They both had gone through much of what he had.  That's why he hired them.

"Approximately 139 drones."  Entaru looked at the doctor in confusion "I know we destoyed around 30 ships bu you must remember that many of them hit the main ship or went off at the wrong time."

"Fair enough.  We can buy triple that amount with what this shipment brought us and still have enough for everyone to relax in style.  Personally I'm putting my share into a fund to upgrade the ship.  Make it a MkII model"  Entaru smirked.

"Just leave enough for a new suit, alright.  This one is getting old and is keeping you barely stable."  Dr. Zettergren made a few more adjustments on the suit.  "There, all set. You can go now if you want."

"Thank you" Entaru stood up off the medbay table and began to walk out of the room

"Entaru..." the captain looked back "...try to stay out of trouble.  If you die of organ failure then no-one will be able to get your 'daughter' to do anything"  He was referring to the Cask.

"Don't worry Fen, I'll be good."  Entaru flashed a smirk at Dr. Zettergren and walked out.

"I'm sure..."

[Gabag]

"Earlier today, one of our Salvage fleets was ambushed by a very large frigate. Reports from the probe in the Sector of Delta Sigma 12, reports of missile fire and high powered armaments were used. The salvage fleet was not well prepared, and attempted to fight back with salvage ships. Casualties are still flooding in but the perpetrator of this attack is none other then Captain Entaru, a human merchant who clearly means to incite violence upon out people. After scanning the vessel, the Council has decreed to send a report to the Human Empire so they can assist us in finding this outlaw, and bring him to Justice"
(broadcast to both Human and Eph'Tanni news stations and comms)
(In the council chambers in neutral space, the Eph'tanni councilors gather the human councilors to discuss this problem)
"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE, A NEUTRAL FLEET ATTACKED BY HUMANS!? If it was Reaver I wouldnt be surprised, BUT HUMANS!?" One councilman fumed.
"Now Dreck, let's not jump the gun with this decision, after all this one man doesn't represent Humanity as a whole, only the part we want to weed out."
"Then What Isha, we can't let this senseless violence go unnoticed"
"And it won't we'll send border forces to assist your border forces in tracking down this felon, once he's found you can deal with him as you see fit..."

[KittKat chunky~]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
around five hours ago in the bridge of Eph'tan carrier "eagle" :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"sir, we have a transmission from probe V-alpha-9 in the sector of Delta Sigma 12.... i'l check it out, must be routine...."

~~~~

"this is a code red SOS! any ships in the vicinicty please respond!"

*explosion racks ship, image fuzzes before refoccusing*

"FRACK! anyone out there?! this is slavage frigate R-40 "home"! hull integrity failing! we cant... ~czzzzh~

*screen blanks out as large explosion hits bridge*

~~~~

"sir! you may want to see this!"

[Shenzii]

Blaire stepped out of the confines of her ship. Her thighs held her two desert eagles which were covered by a long cloak she had previously purchased. Her next mission was located in this city. She walked off the Valkyrie and looked around as the ship sealed up. Her first stop was the market. She needed more supplies if she was going to follow through with the mission. She took off the cloak and fixed her long brown hair. "Alright, first stop, the market. Skimp better meet me," She said to herself aloud. Skimp was her 'supplier' when she had grounded missions. Blaire took off in the direction of the bustling market. She cleared her throat as she proceeded down the road.

[White Wolf Guardian]

*White shot through the target and after using 3 plasma slugs it looked like a mere outline of what had been there* "Some people could only wish they were stuck at base all day not in danger... but my life is going by and I'm not doing anything worth fighting for..." *He trailed off seeing a new ship land in the base airstrip* "Woah! That looks interesting."

*He puts the gun on his back and then quickly makes his way through the compound to the airstrip* "Just maybe there will be something exciting around this dump..."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Shock setup the simulator to emulate the specs of her own ship, while Strike did the same for his, inputting the new data to accomodate for the new modifications he had created. The situation was to be a one on one in open space.

"Right, Shock, all you have to do is take me out, before i can do the same to you," said the tech fiend with overt enthusiasm.
"Sounds easy enough, I've done it so many times before, this shouldnt be a problem." Strike giggled before the simulation begun. The room turned dark, filled with the universe, marked with light, spread across the darkness. Immediately Strike shifted the fighter into full thrust, shooting her on an interception course with Strike, who was two kilometers away. They closed on each other, Strike itching to reach that one kilometer mark, where she could release her toys upon him. Before she could get even close, energy blasts zipped past her as Strike fired off new, shield sucking technology. She took evasive manouveres, and at this range, it was relatively easy for her to dodge most of the shots. Those that hit didnt even have an impact, they merely disappeared while her HUD displayed the loss of shield integrity.

"That's cute, Strike, yeah that's real cute," she said before activating afterburners and tearing towards, closing the gap and unleashing a terrible volley of the most powerful guns she could get her hands on. Her forward shields were hit quite substantially on the way, even as she diverted power to them, cutting the thrust of her engines in half.

Strike's targeting systems locked on, and he fired off one missile towards his prey. Shock had evaded many missiles before, this was nothing new, and spun and weaved to outwit the missile AI, releasing countermeasures. They were successful, and the missile skim past, exploding nearby. This was a mistake, and the EM blast of the missile suddenly cut out Shock's systems. Strike let his laughter bleed through the comms as he sucked away the shields, then switched to the GTW-66 Maxim Cannon, blasting through her simulated hull, tearing the fighter apart.

"What the flip was that, Strike?!" Shock flailed her arms and flicked her rat tail as she berated the cat for his new technology.
"You cant win all the time just by jumping into the middle of a fight," he replied.
"It works normally."
"I know it does, but my ship just aint normal." His grin defused her, innocent yet cheeky. All she could do was shake her head and grumble under her breath before saying,
"You're an idiot, you know that?"
It made him laugh.

Not long after, a call from the comms came in.
"Strike, Shock, prep yourself, we're about to jump." It was Asia.
"Where to?" Strike replied.
"Delta Sigma 12, according to Gore. Some political incident happened. None of our business really."

[Armalite_]

Mark was in the mess hall in his usual spot at the table in the back. He was watching the football game over the TV that was set up on the wall. A roudy bunch of soldiers watched along with him while they sat at other tables. Mark noticed them twitch everytime the ball got close to the net in excitment only to calm back down once a score was no longer likely. They were snacking on everything from chips to cookies while Mark sat with his legs up on another chair, sipping from his tea mug. Suddenly, the game went to static over the screen but was then brought back by a new broadcast informing them of the Salvage Fleet ambush. Mark put his feet back on the floor, the armour on his legs landing with a thud. He leaned forward and listened, still sipping from his mug. When the broadcast was finished, he stood up and quickly walked out of the mess hall to find Lt. Jameson.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Zeit just sighed and went to the actual practice range, still not dropping the hand-held cannon on his way there. "I just wanted a target that could stand up to anything, so I made one in the storage room..." he grumbled as he walked, ignoring the looks of paranoia from various crew-members.



Chrono just looked at the photo, then noticed at least half of her face was visible in the photo. He quickly had the ship run a facial scan and ran it across all possible races. However, only the faces of Reavers came up. Thats going to cut it down to just about ten of my own kind. He checked their names and so far only two had really close similarity to the picture, one was a council member of his homeworld, and the other belonged to a 'Blaire' who has little information except records of her parents. "Well, this is a start, Navix, set course for the last recorded sight of 'Blaire' and head there immedeatly"

The ship's engines hummed to life as it began take-off procedure...

[KittKat chunky~]

The captain ducked under a line of piping as he followed a junior technician... sparks flew and the high pitched buzz of welders could be heard throughout the ship..
"well sir... as you can see infrasctructure repair is well under way... analysis shows that we are at.... 80% hull strength.... of course we do still require a docking very soon for supplies and large scale repairs... the R-20's we have left are working overtime on the outer hull repairing what they can... and of course the bridge will require some extensive work...."

The captain nodded... his face set, solumn as he watched three technicians stop their work to salute....

"well thats good... we stay out here as long as we can... and then return to port.... get a good price for this ore.... thanks Eph'tan for them damnable R-20 jockeys.."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~


coms1: "Roger that, Tango here... bringing the plating round..."

~~~

coms2: "Tango pull up please, your course is off..."

~~~

coms1: "under control, bring er' in"

~~~

coms2:"thank ye tango, Sparkz out... you get back to dock for the next armour plate..."

~~~

coms1: "all looks good from here, bird flying home..."

[Shenzii]

Blaire looked around quietly and secretly. She proceeded towards what seemed to be a fruit shack. She walked inside moving out of customers' ways. She spotted her weapons supplier and jogged to him. "You have it?" She asked anxiously. He simply nodded and turned, walking into a back room. She followed, shutting the solid door behind them. He showed her to a case that was resting on a metal desk. Blaire looked at him quickly then slowly ambled over to the steel case. She waved her hand gently over it and smiled. "Is equipped with what I asked?" Her eyes dancing with joy and anticipation. He nodded once again, "Of course, I can't forget anything, or your missions would be a complete failure." He chuckled lightly and folded his arms. "So are you going to open it or not?" Blaire smiled and opened the case. Inside was an M14 EBR. She picked it up and looked at it. "It's missing something..." She huffed. Skimp shook his head. "There is another compartment. Do you think I'm going to make that piece visible? It was hard enough getting this here." Blaire searched the case and spotted another latch. She opened it and pulled out a thermal scope. "Perfect," She smirked as she placed it on the M14 EBR. She held the gun steadily and aimed it around. "This is perfect. I will be sure to complete my mission with this baby." She took off the scope and placed it and the gun back into the case, then latched it immediately. "Have your men drop this off at Valkyrie. Tiyre will be waiting." Tiyre was her pilot whom she trusted with all her might.

[Gabag]

"All Hands prepare for the jump to hyperspace" Droned the auto response to the hyperdrive being warmed up.
"Wait... AHH CRAP IM STILL NEXT TO THE ENGINES!" Jameson yelled before beelining it out, unfortunately the automatic blast door sealed, so to prevent crew members flying out of their rooms at stuff.

Suddenly the floor beneath him became a blur and he was thrown into the wall. He could barely move, as there was a massive force on top of him. As suddenly as it came it stopped, and James fell face down on the floor of the ship, in pain.

[White Wolf Guardian]

*The wolf spots 3 corporals get off of the ship and walk out exchanging some briefcases* "All according to plan?" "As always, Ri'suute." "Good... now we also have a witness..." *They all turn towards the wolf hiding behind the corner* "A soldier?" "Yes... yes he is. Looks like he was spying on us." "You know how we deal with trouble." "Understood." *The other two corporals go towards his corner with silenced handguns hidden behind their backs*

"Attention soldier!" *White jumps from out of the corner and salutes* "Yes sir?" "What were you doing over there?" "I was... cleaning my gun." "Uh huh... why don't you go back to you barracks..." "Will do sir... *he turns around and they pull the guns from behind their backs and shoot him in the back 11 times* *The wolf remains silent with blood seeping into the ground*

"Looks like another problem dealt with... come on help me hide the body."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

A distortion appeared in the deep space of Delta Sigma 12, before the Fires of Ellan slipped into existence.
"Long range scans are picking up a mining vessel, R-40 class, designation 'Home.' Sir, it's the one that the humans attacked." The ferret turned to look to his captain, concerned with a furrowed brow, but her glowed with excitement.
A mangy grizzled cat sat at the captain's chair, with growths protruding at his back like furry wings. "What's the danger assessment?"
The ferret turned back to his console, "There's a human border station on the far edge of the sector, designation... Chiron Omega," she replied.
"Chiron Omega?... stupid baldie names." he said, turning tothe comms officer, a rather diminuitive mouse. "Right, try hailing the R-40, check their status," commanded the winged cat.
"Aye sir," replied the mouse as he typed and clicked upon the console, with lightning speed. "R-40 salvage vessel, this is the Frigate, Fires of Ellan. What is your status, are you in need of assistance?"