Galaxy in Flames

[KittKat chunky~]

"hey guys! GUYS! look!"
Annie stood, paws pressed to the front view window, long feline tail swishing... the rest of the crew crowded around, looking out at the fighters... Annie gave an appreciative whistle...
"sweet fighters they got... wouldnt mind hav'n a look at one of 'em close up.."

A red warning light flashing tore the crews attention away from the escort... all staring at the red words flashing across the nearest console..
~warning, oil leak - pipeline 12A~
"frack..."

~~~


The airlock doorway opened with a hiss of compressed air, just as the ramp of the R-20 slammed down behind it... the crew of ten Eph'tan,  all in oil stained orange overalls jumped down from the thier ship, lining up opposite the crew of the Ellan... all except the last two who seemed to be arguing, Annie was wielding as hefty spanner with murderous intent. While Kitt tried to dodge her blows and attempts to grab him...

"you said you was gonna fix that oil leak! jeezus Kitt!"

"and you said you wasn' gonna go... ow!... jeez... company Annie, frack... there goes the good impression..."
Annie, spanner back in her belt, stood alongside the rest of 'tango' as Kitt walked up to the Captain of the Ellan...

"uhm... Kitt Szabo, R-20 captain 'tango'... i and the rest of my crew represent 'home' and all aboard her... thank Eph'tan you got here..."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

The captain looked on the spectacle, shaking his head and murmuring. "What's the point."
"Calm down sir," the mouse said with a smile, before presenting herself to the cats. "Welcome to the Fires of Ellan, I am Kimchi, the Communications officer and internal liaison aboard this vessel. If you have any questions feel free to ask me. You are all welcome to use the facilities as you wish, though for the sake of security, we will be monitoring your movements. This is both for our safety and yours."
The captain interjected, "Yeah I'm sure they understand." He turned to Kitt, "How about we go eat something and talk about what we will be needing from eachother. Help from us, info from you, ok?"

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt nodded, turning to follow the captain.... "sounds good.... info from me, help from you... and food thrown in fer good measure!" The rest of the felines followed behind Kitt, Annie walked up to Kimchi, extending a paw in greeting.. "hi... names Annie... i was jus' wonderin' if i could get a closer look at one of yer birds?... im quite the engineer and your fighters seemed to be leagues ahead of anythin i seen before..."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"Sure thing, though I dont know if our fighters are the best around. The jumps Eph'tan are making is absurd." Kimchi replied. "I'll walk you to the hangars. The captain and security can take care of your crew. They'll enjoy our food." She turned a corner away from the main group, guiding Annie with her. "Though to be honest, I'm glad to get away from it. No offense but watching a load of carnivores stuff themselves just isnt for me."


The captain led the group on to rather stylishly curved double doors made of frosted glass. He pushed both open and shouted to the room. "Chef! We're gonna need a lot of meat!"

[KittKat chunky~]

"mhm... our salvagers are hunks o' junk now compared to the rookie salvage fleets... we keep 'em goin though...." Annie followed alongside Kimchi, marvelling at the clean cut corridors, and bright lighting.... "hey, no worries... to be honest, im kinda glad to get away from those guys too... Kitt especially could drive you round the bend, just today fer instance... told me 'ed fixed the leak in pipe 12A... turns out e' was down in the mess hall playing cards.... ugh... sometimes i just wanna..."

She stopped short, turning back to Kimchi blushing slightly... i was rambling wasnt i?"



~~~

The R-20 all shouted "hurrah!" at the mention of meat... following the captain in through the curved doors, keeping close together in a group, feeling threatened by the large rooms and bright corridors... 

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"Yes you were rambling," Kimchi replied, unapologetically. "I like it when people ramble, it tells me a lot more about the person than they think. So you and your captain are good friends then?" She turned and pressed upon a panel to open the door to the lift. Walking in, she programmed in the required deck, down low on the ship by the fighter bays.



The captain strode like a king through the mess hall to the kitchen front, grabbing a plate and in a surprisingly calm and subdued tone, he said "Just get me a steak and some water, ok?" He was speaking to the chef; a bulky anteater with copious and flowing fur, juxtaposed by huge yellow claws that scraped along the worktops. The chef got to work and would now and then open a bottle of ants and flick his tongue in for a little snack. The captain turned to the R-20 crew, "Ask for whatever you want. Chances are, he'll have it. He's called Hector and he's the best chef we could find." Turning back he found his plate full of what he asked for, with a little grass on the side. He took the plate and walked to one of the larger circular tables, brushing the grass off surreptitiously as he went.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Above the planet where Chrono and Blaire were at, a single ship with a rather sinister growth on all sides jumped out of hyperspace over the planet. After an unknown amount of orders being sent through the ship, bombs and orbital strikes started to smash into the planets surface in an unprovoked assault. The bombs had no single origin, some were of Reaver design, exploding into massive shrapnel that gutted and slayed anyone standing within a good hundred yards of the explosion site. There were also human engineered bombs that when dropped not only exploded, but left behind between two to six combat androids that started to fire indescriminatly in a hail of flame and steel. They even had the Eph'tan plasma bombs that slowly ate away at the ground it hit, and gave off a radiation that quickly weakened or mutated anyone foolish to get near it.

At first the citizens took flight and went into sturdy shelters that could surprisingly survive well under the bombing. Sadly, this was when the fingers started to point, one quarter of the population blamed Reavers, who blamed the Eph'tan, who in turn blamed the Humans. The blaming quickly boiled down to racial violence and chaos, while the last quarter of the population actually started to build up a force strong enough to escape.


Chrono heard a bomb about to fall a few meters away, and quickly fell to the ground with the vendor. He guessed the tactic correctly as a Reaver bomb landed behind him, killing anyone who didn't take the initiative to duck for cover.

[KittKat chunky~]

"yeh.. we uhm... we go back a long ways..." She stepped into the lift with Kimshi, watching her expertly select the deck and station.... "the lifts we got are 'orrible clanking things... ive always hated em... ever since i got stuck in one with Kitt and Dave when we where young... took the teams three hours to get us out..." she gave a small shudder, a shower of rust falling like snow off her overalls...




The felines all jostled into a line at the kitchen counter, pushing and shoving before finally settling into the usual pecking order.... Kitt and the rest of the crew followed the captain to the large circular table, plates clattering as they sat. They all unzipped their overalls down to the waist, leaving the cleaner shirts on underneath, sleeves of the oil-stained overalls tied around their waists they sat.... Kitt turned to the captain, taking a bite of his wildfowl...

"so... you wanted info from me.... no time like the present..."

[Gabag]

The unknown freighter which just possibly created the greatest catastrophe and loss of life broke from orbit after spending a hours time watching the chaos it caused, and began to drift away.

"Dawn of Dusk to High command, payload delivered, there are.... extreme casualties..."

"Excellent Dawn, proceed with phase 2 of the plan, leave system and await further orders."
"Roger leaving system."


"Reports of the planets population disappearing in a heartbeat..... Untold devastation... War is coming.... Those monsters shall pay.... Navy Fleet 234 en route..... The Culmination of our people's work could be ruined.. Bathe them in a baptism of fire and plasma.... let none survive...."
A lone being sat at the control console of the Dawn of Dusk, receiving the incoming news and military transmissions from the different species..

"The galaxy shall quake in fear, and tear itself apart, all according to plan...."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Kimchi made a sideward glance to Annie, taking a slight step away and brushing off the rust that fell on her. "Yes well this place is made to last and our engineers are excellent. You'll probably meet some in the fighter bays." The lift stopped and opened to a more utalitarian corridor. They walked along it until they reached the Fighter Bay entrance. It had to be opened with a button press and revealed a vast chamber filled with impressive fighters covered in matte grey panels and thick windshields. All around them, ordinance lay, to be mounted or replaced. The occasional engineer sat and joked, while others worked among the machinery. Asia squadron walked alongside their fighters as they were being pulled in line with the others. Kimchi spoke once more, "Say hello, to fighter Bay A and the 107th Direwolves."



"Right," the captain said, chugging his water in one gulp. "Once you guys are secure, we're gonna be chasing those baldies down and we need everything you know about them. Any thing unusual like technology, tactics, any special designation, subspace signatures, communication chatter, general anomalies. Have you seen them before, do you get these attacks regularly? Just anything, cus information is vital right now."

[Gabag]

News of the orbital bombardment still has not reached the Fires of Ellan nor the Indomitable, however secure transmissions were sent, but the Eph'Tan transmissions are always faster.

"Fires of Ellan you have new orders, the human and Reaver monsters bombarded the Neutral space and wiped the planet clean of all hopeful light, burn any of the beasts you see.... this... this atrocity shall not go unpunished, destroy the Indomitable"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

On the bridge, the meerkat lazed on his chair. Suddenly the helm lit up with a message from command.

"Fires of Ellan you have new orders, the human and Reaver monsters bombarded the Neutral space and wiped the planet clean of all hopeful light, burn any of the beasts you see.... this... this atrocity shall not go unpunished, destroy the Indomitable"

"ooooh nuts." He ran to the various control sections, pressing buttons and calling crews, prepping the fighters, loading main weapons, charging the plasma and beam cannons.

Around the mouse in the fighter bay, she saw the flash and a siren blare as the every fighter began to get moved around, shifted across the bay, and set down for pilots to get in and be ready to fly through the hangar doors.

"What's going on?" Asia asked Gore, a giant bull who began shouting orders to people.
"I've no idea, but we might be fighting the indomitable. Get your men ready," Gore replied.

Shock could barely contain her excitement, scrambling into her jet before the cockpit was even fully open.

Kimchi went straight onto her communicator. "Mika, what is going on up there?"

[Gabag]

The Indomitable still floated in space, was undertaking their recon duties for any sign of the outlaw, while picking up escape pods from the salvage crew who survived the attack in their R-25s, and attempting to make their stay comfortable.

"Jameson, your to report to the hanger and direct the survivors towards the barracks, dont alarm them, and make them fell at home."

"Will Do captain"

Taking a left at the main access juncture, and going down the lift down to the Hanger, namely Hanger B-12, James was suprised to see a large gathering of Eph'Tan.

"Alright everyone, I'm Sgt. Jameson, i'm here to guide you to the barracks and mess hall around here, if you'll follow me please..."

[KittKat chunky~]

"well.. i can tell ya want i know... and i can get on the comms to 'home' about anything else you need...."
A siren blared through the ship...
"err... is that supposed to happen?"



Annie watched as the fighters scrambled... marvelling at it all... the engineers here where good... fast.... she shot a sideways glance at Kimshi on her communicator... Annie pulled out her own, an old pixboy3000 communicator...

"Kitt? you got any idea whats goin on? over.."



Kitt pulled out his own, holding down the call button..
"nah, i ent got a clue this end either... just dont go steal no birds kay? .. over.."
He sniggered...


~~~~


[aboard the 'home' bridge which has been newly repaired]

"sir.... the Ellan seems to be charging ion weaponry... heat signatures off the scale all over the weapons bays... should.... should we be worried?"

"GET THEM UP ON COMMS!"


--- "Home to Ellan, please verify... youre prepping weapons systems... over...."

"wait... sir... we got another transmission coming in... errr.... you may want to read..... this.......... oh dear Eph'tan... SIR!"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Kimchi went straight onto her communicator. "Mika, what is going on up there?"

"The humans and reavers are working together against us. We've been ordered to fire on the Indomitable. Immediate action is needed."
"Mika, dont you dare fire a shot!" Kimchi replied as she ran back to the lift, setting it to emergency mode, getting to the bridge at high speed. "Wait until I get there, I'll talk to them."
"Immediate action, Kimchi," Mika said. "We have to fight while we have a chance!"



The captain stood up and pulled out his communicator, "No Mr Szabo, that isn't meant to happen at all."
Through the mess hall window, a bright light could be seen, jetting through space, toward the indomitable. The winged cat spat through the communicator. "Mika, what have you done!?" As he said this, the fighters shot out from the ship, heading to the human ship. "Stand down, Mika, wait until I'm there!" The captain grabbed his steak, shoved it into his mouth and ran out the door, only turning back to say, "Stay here, dont move. It's safer on this ship," to the R-20 cats.




Out in space, Shock was practically screaming with joy, "Is it my birthday? I just dont care!" she yelled down the comms to the other fighters.
"Shock, shut up, focus," said Asia.
Ragged spoke up, "Asia, this makes no sense. Why are we fighting the Indomitable?"
"Because we were born to kill all humans!" said Shock.
"Shut up!" Asia replied, "I dont know why we're doing this but we are. We're fighter pilots so we fight."
"I can live with that explanation," Strike said, as he did final checks on his new fighter set up.




Mika murmured to himself under the wall of commands from all sides, "Beam cannons charged and in range... fire."
The main forward beam cannons powered up with a deafening hum and a corridor of light streaked out from the Ellan, cutting through the Indomitable.