Boros - Legionaire War: The Leviathan's Layer
Space is quiet, you can't hear anything in vacuum. Though, if the noise can be heard it would be filled with the rumble of engine thrust from the now Legion Flotilla that orbits Boros. The Shipyard and it's Space Station are now nothing more than occasionally sparking and colliding debris. The planet seemed quiet though on the dark-side fires could be seen burning in clusters of more populated areas as she slowly spinned in her orbit. The Harbinger was hard to miss, a leviathan of a ship with full compliment last anyone checked. A few other Destroyers and Cruisers, gunboats... and of course any fighters that came with them and weren't destroyed in the previous battle to take the world. The lumber like gods over the world in silent perpitude. Comms are silent, there's nothing coming from the world. <English>
On the bridge of the Destiny, Commander Heather Jacy stands holding the rail, watching the displays unfold before her. "Planetfall in twenty minutes," calls out an Ensign, and she acknowledges the man's announcement with a curt nod. With Acting Admiral Wong on Londinium and unable to return to her ship, Heather's in charge. "Battle Stations," she says calmly, keying her mike to the public address system. "Lock down the blast doors, isolate the compartments. Everyone stay sharp. The Alliance expects nothing but the best from every man and woman, and so do I. Better worlds." And, keying the mike off, she nods to the communication console. "Hail anything that moves. If it replies, find out who it is and what the hell they're doing here. And let Lt Morris know we'll release her rescue fleet soon." <English>
If Jacy had taken a moment to study the specs of the Harbinger that was given to her, she would know the threat it was. Not only did it have specification of it being a far fast ship, out maneuvering most of anything the Alliance had until this point, but the shield recharge rate was something out of this world. She boasted a mirade of missile tubes and guns. However, some of the weapon specs were missing, like for the Hyper-Velocity Canon that took out the station. That was classified DARPA and SEC DEF only. They were trying to keep that all under wraps. Listings of it's munitions for the HVC were under wraps too. She had fighters and despite losing about a third of their number, the defense fleet was still there providing support craft. Other than basic patrol craft at the moment, none of the ships seemed to be moving to intercept the Destiny and her approach. The calm before the storm. <English>
Jacy speaks into her comm. "This is Commander Jacy, Destiny Actual. Esfera, do you receive?" <English>
A voice crackles and finally offers up life towards the attempted connection, "--Roger. Good Copy, Destiny Actual." A male voice resonants back from the comlink. "Patching you through to Voivode Captain Esfera. Hold--" Almost immediately a familiar female voice snaps across the link, "Commander Jacy, always a pleasure." Ezzi almost stats offhandedly, clearly entrenched in her data.
"Esfera, Destiny Actual. We're approaching planetfall over Boros. We have a detachment ready to investigate if the Academy is holding out against the hostiles, and are preparing to engage the Harbinger. What is your status?" <English>
The leviathan and her support craft wait as those on the other side plot and scheme as if it didn't matter what they did, it wasn't going anywhere. <English>
"Holding at Yinyang for proper analysis, Destiny Actual. Advise, hold position and do not engage. Also advise, Legion controlled craft has possible experimental weaponry. Scans so far are inconclusive. How copy?" It seems that Esmeraldas has good enough scans that she recognizes more components that make up this new ship than she would like to admit and there is a strange sense of familiarity.
"Copy you five by." Jacy stares down at the displays on the bridge, gripping the rail perceptibly tighter. "How long do you advise holding? Alliance Academy is down there, no comms. If there are cadets still alive, I want to extract them soonest." <English>
There is a swift response, "Understood, Destiny Actual, but there isn't a set ETA. I have comrades on the ground and their lives are priority also. Give us half an hour." It's a simple request as they are doing the best they can. The signal also begins to get clearer and more crisp. The Geist is getting closer but it's not showing up on sensor scans at the moment.
"Geist, going silent. Use authorization 1134, Destiny Actual." Esmeraladas doesn't make mention that her ship is creeping up on their position via cloaking, attempting to move into a flanking position all while scanning the shit out of the proto-craft that is all too familiar. One can never be too careful when new tech is involved and especially when Legion is at its helm. <English>
There is nothing on standard comms. Either Legion took over a satellite and or is actively jamming the area around Boros. Harbinger still lingers off in the distance. Though, if looking for it, one might pick up a tight beam of light being transmitted. something radio comms couldn't jam. <English>
"Destiny Shuttle Charlie, Destiny Actual, get over that beam," Jacy orders quietly, and one of the comms shuttles, bristling with sensors and antennas, slides steadily in a deep orbit out towards the potential transmission. "If it's the cadets, set up two-way comms. Get a SITREP and tell them we're coming to get them," she says grimly. <English>
The Geist has managed to be positioned on the Harbinger's flank but there is still no contact attempted. Whatever that ship is up to, it's still a mystery. They are in range enough to start analysis upon the opposing ship's mystery weapons, all the while dredging for any information that cross-references a match. <English>
The beam can't be an ongoing communication. Instead it's a data-packet holding a video message. Figures one of the eggheads in the Academy would put some sort of comm device together. A scrawny looking fellow comes over the screen when it's viewed. "This is Cadet Mayhew... Well. We're doing our best holding out. They got Anti air all around. They're trying to starve us out. Far as we can tell they killed a lot of people in the city. We tries to make a push but it didn't work. It's weird... THe Commandant... he's with them... he's not normal. THat day... when that signal happened when we were watching the Christening... He just up and left after. Without a word. And now, he's commanding a battalion of gorrman Legion..." The man takes a moment to gather himself. "We could use some reinforcements..." There's an explosion and he flinches. "We thought we saw some resistance folks checking out the Academy. Not sure, watch did what they could. If anyone gets this, I'm sending a list of dead as well as some of the crew that escaped that we managed to retrieve from the fleet above." He takes a breath, "They say... they say that ship is a monster and that there's no way anyone can put it down. I still have hope. Mayhew out..." The only way to respond is to send another message. <English>
"Patch me through," Jacy snaps curtly, and the message is bounced via the comms shuttle. "Cadet Mahew, Commander Jacy, Detiny Actual. We're coming. Hang in there." She abruptly breaks the link and turns to her Marine commander. "Major Nathaniel, I'd appreciate it if you could take some shuttles and rescue our comrades. Take a gunship and two troops carriers. We'll cover your approach with our offensive. Go in hard and fast, get our people out, get out. Let me know when you're ready." <English> You paged Esmeraldas with 'Herm... Should I blow them out of the sky or...'
Though there is nothing but silence and stealth towards everyone in regards towards the Geist, as the initiative to drop marines comes into play, it forces Esmeraldas's hand. They will surely be blow to all hell if she doesn't do something, so their laser begins to whir up. Eventually it will fire upon the Harbinger's flank, a thick bright blue beam of energy, which isn't toned down in the slightest. The lights within the ship literally dim down to almost nothing at the canon charges to pique before discharging out into the black of space. It's a way to distract away from the drop ship but test the Harbinger at the same time. Unfortunately, the cloaking would give out long enough for their position to be compromised and the thrusters have to scramble back up to par before they can move to perform evasive maneuvers and a location change. "1134, Destiny Actual. Once it turns, hit it with all you have." Comes back over the comms, piercing that dreaded silence as the twinkle turns into something -- more. <English>
As Jacy prepares and executes her orders the Harbinger comes about, her support craft and her own bays launching a fighter screen. The sky erupts into explosions and light as the two fleets battle and merge. Fighters dog fighting and weaving between Capitol ships, support gunboats, bombers, and escort frigates like APCs battle it out. In order to cover the escape of the rescue ships the Geist, step sister to the Harbinger, launches a single attack from distance and the cover of cloak. It's a bright blue beam that takes nearly a minute to charge. The whole time it would be a star growing brighter and then it would release a single thick blue beam. It would arc towards the Harbinger but dissipate before it made it to the Destiny. It leaves a long scar on the Harbingers flank, like a deep knife wound. Debris falls off, floating into the frey. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to stop the heavy frigate. Harbinger brings it's main guns online. Destiny is almost no match for a direct assault from the Harbinger. That one Hyper Velocity Gun? Well it's actually one of three, two fore and one aft. Two guns turn on the Destiny and fire their rounds. They pierce through her shields and armor like a hot knife through butter. There are several secondary explosions after the hits inside the Alliance ship. Analysis would sort out that each gun is firing multiple rounds of rather powerful loads. It does quite some damage, though not having that third gun trained on Destiny may have saved the older ship from being outright destroyed. Any counter from Destiny would do damage but would seem more superficial than anything. Her shields had a better modulation and a higher rate of regeneration. The armor was above board as well.
The Harbinger's third gun spins towards the new target which it's advanced tracking systems have not picked up, the Geist no longer safe in its cloak. It fires three rounds from the Canon, each spreading out to cover the breadth of the Geist. Despite evasive maneuvers, the projectiles seems to follow. As they near there is a large explosion from the center as they close the distance. The other two seem to follow suit after penetration. The two penetrating projectiles are sonic chargers which pierce and then explode, the other one being a rather large tactical nuke meant to throw the Geist off her axis. It flashes bright and then sends a powerful shock-wave across the battlefield.
Each fleets support craft seem to take equal hits, tactics and experience winning the day. The drop ships and her escort navigate through the chaos and make it to the ground thanks to Geist and Destiny distracting the main body of the fleet. The rescue comes just as Legion forces are making their final push on the Academy. Some of the marines fall in battle, including Major Nathaniel who died helping a wounded Cadet get onto the ship. The gunship gets shot down as it covered the retreat of the troop carries after they pick up the cadets. "Destiny Actual, we've got the Cadets. Permission to dock... it's hell out here." The shuttles are vulnerable without the gunboat as fighters are now converging on them. Still there is no sign of Legion's infamous 'black fleet' of advanced and modified Harpoons. <English>
Commander Jacy's face is grim. "Bravo One, Bravo Two, Destiny Actual. Get the hell in the docking bay." She breaks the comm to turn to gunnery, "Anything tries to follow them into my gorram docking bay, shoot it the hell out of the sky. And drop an EMP in that big bastard's lap. Helm, as soon as they're aboard, get us the hell out of here." Her eyes flicker around the room, watching the tactical displays. <English>
A broadcast trumpets through the Geist as the third rail gun is turned upon them. "All personnel, man your stations and brace to impact." The strong voice of the heavy frigate commander is clear and crisp in the precise instruction. She then stands from her seat on the command bridge and barks off towards the crew that is already in a full scramble to resolve the issue at hand, "Divert power and angle shields to intercept projectile trajectory. They are shooting powerful rounds at hyper velocity but they are throwing them out sloppy. We need to use this against them. It's obvious that they haven't come to fully understand what they have yet, just it's destructive capabilities." Esmeraldas has no doubt made the most of her time cloaked and has already begun receiving reports in regards to those three cannons that the Harbinger is sporting, not wanting to get into the fray without at least knowing what she's up against.
It's now -- Amiss the inbound -- that all this information would be packaged and sent towards the Destiny to distribute as it saw fit, which includes approximate measurements along with a theoretic workup of the cannon's construction. There are also relevant points on the Harbinger that have been pinpointed as being weak spots necessitating those cannons and the ship's overall acuity. There isn't time for a communique, however, as those hyper-accelerated projectiles are raining in upon the Second Captain's command ship. The shields converge upon the trajectory points and almost create a shimmer as the power is pumped into them, and while slowing the acceleration down, they still catch the impacts upon the haul. The final round would explode off the port bow and cause the frigate's powerful thrusters to work overtime to compensate -- just barely keeping the ship's nose pointed towards their opposition and the sights of those powerful cannons away from their broadside.
Ezzi jolts and slams back forward, gathering herself after being flung upon her console. "Commander, we've managed to stabilize but we have breaches on level 3, A deck. The sections are being locked down so that we can stabilize and resources have been reallocated towards more essential systems." Sprouts forth from the Geist's engineering officer, as she gathers herself. "We need to counter, now." Ezzi responds. "Cycle the arc laser and fire again. In the meantime -- Release everything we have at that ship, including our fighters." Those words are pitched in cold calculated anger as a steely finger raises from it's post on her terminal to reign upon the Harbinger with malevolence. "FIRE." A deadly concoction of kinetic cannon fire, guided missiles, and heavy bombs are released just before that blue light begins to amp up again, slowly pulling the glow away from the shields. They might not be hyper-accelerated rounds, but they are plentiful and are bounded to at the least overload shields so that the arc laser can explicitly target the Harbinger's engines in an attempt to breach the reactor core. <English>
Zank has been standing watching all of the this unfold. He walks among the screens looking over sholders, expertly standing out of the way of moving crew members. He watch's screen data fly by. Info on the weapons, engines, sensors. He finds a lone console and starts grabbing feeds from the other consoles. All the data still on the crew's screen but Zank can see as well from there. As Zank looks over the data a concussion rocks the Geist. The screen sputters and comes back up with a bunch of unreadable code. Zank blinks and smacks the side of the console. He mutters some curse under his breath. <English>
The drop ships weave in and out of fire, attracting a few fighters on their tail. This forces them to come in hot to the Destiny's bays. The two guns protecting the bay open fire as soon as they can. One ship impacts against the hull. The other explodes and skids straight through the bay and slams against the back hull, exploding as it does so sending shrapnel everywhere and killing a number of deck crew. Fire crews respond quickly to put out the fire before it gets to the fuel stores.
As the Destiny starts to pull away the Harbingers engine burn hard as the Geist opens fire and starts to charge the Arc Lazer for another deep wound the Harbinger is likely to take. All three of it's guns come to bare now along with the majority of its defensive guns meant to keep fighters from penetrating it's perimeter and missiles and other projectiles from sticking the hull. It does a good job of keeping the fighters back but a good amount of Geist's initial ordinance gets through and impacts the hull of the leviathan. The Harbingers missile pods open to return fire on the Geist, the HVC weapons now all tracking its step sister and opening a hail of fire at her. The ordinance meant for the reactor never makes it through the barrage. The sky lights up as the distance between the two ships become a flash of explosions and tracer rounds.
Zank's PDA goes off as the hostilities increase. It's a message from the ship running cold on the edge of the system on the other side of Ares now. The report is rather grim. 30 black clad Harpoons just passed his sector on their way from behind Ares. The Black Fleet has arrived, severely outnumbering our intrepid heroes. <English>
"Damage control, status," Jacy snaps out, even as her eyes flicker over the displays lighting up with the information being received from the Geist. "What the hell...alright, seal up the bays and bring us to full speed." She watches the battle displays and the explosions flickering on the Geist dispassionately, then says quietly, "Then turn around, bring everything you have to bear on that son-of-a-bitch." <English>
Zank smacks the screen again and its brings up the data he was looking at. Then his Message screen comes across. Confirming what he was looking for to being with. The Black fleet. Zank's worry has never been completely focused on The Harbinger. It was on the black ships that vanished after the battle. "There!" he says across the "Captain...my recon ship report 30 plus harpoon Corvettes on the other side of Ares. There headed this way....There gonna be on our flank before to long." he says. Zank adds "There's that black Fleet i was wonderin' about." <English>
As the Geist's ordinance slams along the side of the Harbinger, Esmeraldas grows ever more impatient and desperate to get the engineering officer in gear. Her fist rises, cutting through her console's holo-display and slams back down upon it's interactive deck. "Dammit, do something about these power fluctuations! Reroute the Arc Laser to use the auxiliary circuits and build up the capacitors. We can't keep being the sitting duck out here!" Those green eyes passionately burn towards the officer, "I'm working on it now, commander." He chirps back as his fingers blaze through the available systems and deal out orders to the technical crew to start the adjustments. "Arc ready to fire!" Splits through the comms from the ARC control, "Discharge on that ship." Ezzi states as the jolt from the powerful laser causes the ship's side strafe to hitch in it's movements while the discharge actually happens. It's clear that whatever the engineering and technical crew are doing, it's helping and the Geist is at least retaining some of it's mobility and able to evade and push power back towards the shields to absorb the impact of the Harbinger's counter ordinance.
The beam itself is wider as it was partially bolstered by the primary and auxiliary systems before the discharge was fully complete, the auxiliary being a huge array of capacitors and transformer circuits that were actually designed for the laser but only about 50% complete. The beam is wider and more dense than before but the discharge doesn't last as long. It's still enough to reach the target well enough.
As Zank reports on the encroaching fleet, Esmeraldas rounds on the man before barking once more, "Evasion actions and reestablish our cloak. We can't hold our own with that many. We need to regroup." There are flashes of light all across the black and visibility/data on the opposing ship is askew due to that and the pockets of radiation that are forming between them. Of course, that would work both ways. <English>
As the Destiny opens fire once more on the Harbinger the larger ship doesn't seem to overly care. Her ordinance strikes along the rear hull and shield. Some of the defense guns picking off what they can. It was like a monster, an enraged bull with one target and that target was now the Geist. When the Arc Lazer is discharged is fires and pieces the flak field striking the nose of the Harbinger and peeling away decks and compartments, almost to the tip of the first fore canon which still fires its deadly rounds. There is a moment that the ship disappears behind it's wall of protective ordinance and is unseen except . A reprieve but the Destiny can notice something. "Commander. She's seemed to expended all of her missiles and a good number of her smaller munitions. Most of the Enemy fighters and support craft have been eliminated." There is a pause, "Wait something funny is going on with its reactor." The Lights on the Harbinger seems to flare and then dim but not before it engages it's pulse engine sending the ship reeling forward at a far greater speed than standard thrusters. To the Geist it would seem that the Harbinger emerged through the wall of fire like a whale breaching water, the way the Arc Lazer tore apart its bow like a gaping maw of burned and molten metal. Legion didn't care how many died, they certainly didn't know the true potential of the Harbinger. They were steadfast in their beliefs and radicals. They would sacrifice anything to keep the Geist there and let their black fleet pick away at it like vulchers. "It's engaged it's pulse engine! It's going to ram the fucking Geist!" Shouts Jacy's officer. The impact can't be stopped. The damaged leviathan slams at full speed into the Geist. Debris goes everywhere and the lights on her flicker. <English>
Commander Jacy is calmer than her subordinate. "Helm, come in fast behind the hostile ship," she declares. "Aim like you're coming in below, but at the last moment pull up and come in above. Gunnery, as we come in, fire on the engines, and as we come over the top, everything you have on those big weapons turrets. Launch bays, we got any shuttles in the bays that are operational? Comms, see if you can raise the Geist. Tell them we'll send shuttles to pull off survivors if they have any. Damage control, update please, and get me a Medbay SITREP. Intel, get to my cadets and get intelligence from them fast, no time for a full debrief now." <English>
Zank send the black fleet tracking data and opens a comm channel to the destiny. "Destiny, Geist, long range tracking from scout ships has 30 plus harpoon corvettes on approach, recommend....oh you gotta be kiddin' me." the comm shuts off and Zank looks at Ezzy. "We're not diein' here..." <English>
Over Boros a space battle rages but has calmed. The support fleet of the Harbinger has been mostly defeated. The Destiny is battered and broken but still putting up a fight, especially now as it is ignored in favor of the Geist. The Harbinger, it's bow cut open by the Arc Laze engages it's pulse engine to ram the Geist, using it's barrage of flack as cover. It's running low on ammo, not having a full compliment for a simple shakedown cruise. <English>
For the first time in the long time, there's real urgency in Esmeraldas's eyes as the Harbinger simply turns and winds up her engines to full while barreling towards the Geist. Explosions flash out in the blank, lighting it up like it's a dotted paperboard backdrop and still, a hitch in her voice creaks out an utterance before her composure is regained and she's issuing commands; a brief beat in time to collect herself. "Charge all starboard and ventral thrusters. Fire on my mark. Ready the port-side cannons and have the fighters focus on the drive engines." She spouts off towards the command bridge crew as that daunting figure that is the Harbinger gets ever closer, closing that distance.
As the Harbinger is close to a full impact, Ezzi shouts, "Fire off the thrusters, now!" And the prepared charge and redirected coils ignite in a burst of blue fire as the designated thrusters spin the entire heavy frigate so that they avoid an all out collision without giving the Legion controllers time to compensate for the movement. It's risky and still ends with the Geist throwing a massive amount of shrapnel that has been literally scraped off its ventral hull, taking with it missile racks and kinetic cannons. The kamikaze attack is avoided as far as fatality goes and the ship seems to still be viable, though there are systems all over the ship lighting up in the red.
"Commander, we have reports of breaches in sectors: 6, 12, 13, and 19." An officer reports back to her before she's regaining her balance from the maneuver and issuing new commands; as they are now floating upside down by comparison to the commandeered Legion ship. "Fire port cannons now, charge the ARC, and bring us a-bow." She states as this just got too close and far too personal. She's hoping that the Alliance will be able to smash on the vessel and buy them the time they need to line up another shot. The black fleet is still a ways out but they haven't been forgotten, they just aren't the primary priority for the Geist and her crew at the moment. <English>
The Harbinger just keeps going, Jacy's rear assault plowing and taking apart the aft of the ship. One of the engines flutters out and so does the rear HVC. It seems to have lost maneuverability at the moment. As it crashes against the dodging Geist, it's own shrapnel flying about. The last remaining gun comes to bare and just keep firing HVC rounds of all kinds at the Geist. It's last bit of ordinance discharged before it just continues on in space without much preamble, An exhausted beast.
"Commander Jacy the reactor on the Harbinger seems to be bleeding power... it's over charging." <English>
Heather Jacy, on the bridge of the Destiny, is the calm at the eye of the storm. The Destiny's heavy cannons thump their ammunition against the Harbinger's hull. "Helm, full ahead, I don't want to be near when that bastard's reactor blows. Gunnery, keep going until you're out of range. SITREP on ammunition levels. Any intel from our cadets?" She pauses, watching the dance of death between the Geist and the Harbinger. "Comms, hail that frigate. Ask them if they need assistance. Then hail our fighters, get them back aboard and refueled, rearmed, recrewed. Damage Control, SITREP." <English>
Zank is all to familiar with how not to get thrown by a sudden emergency maneuver. Zank holds on tight as the ship lurches. He even grabs a loose crew member stumbling across the deck. when the ship settles he lets the crew member go and looks at his screens. "Captian! Her reactor is leakin' an powerin' past the red..suggest we move now unless we wanna be whole a lot less alive" Zank 's voice though urgent dose not sound panicked. Just energized <English>
The new batch of HV munitions released by that now exhausted beast tears through the Geist's dorsal compartments; ripping open holes throughout the observatory and causing the combat bridge to be evacuated so that the entire level can be sealed and isolated. Fortunately it seems that all the ships priority systems are still online but there is a fuel leakage as well, which means they might not have much time anyways. It all adds up to no good. The flicker of light and combustive explosions from the damage along the Geist's hull ignite the dark intermittently before drive engines and thrusters are fired up again to full power. "Full reverse!" She commands as the ship has drifted a bow to line up another shot before that intel was presented forth by her guest officer, Zank. She gives the man a nod while attempting to control the jerk from the sudden blast of all the engines booming out desperately at once.
She really doesn't know how big the blast radius is going to be and even though they might not be as far as safe would like to be, she order the discharge of the ARC laser hoping that the recoil will push them back harder and deliver the coup de grace to the singularly experimental vessel; not to mention deal some righteous justice to those that were afflicted by those hyper-velocity cannons. The rest is in the hands of fate. The fighters aren't ordered back to the ship just in case, but the distance does part quickly however.
Towards the Alliance officer that is trying to hail them on the comms, it seems they aren't receiving anything more than static right now. The communication array has been torn off the ship with that last volley from the Harbinger. <English>
The Arc Lazer tares right through the mid section of the Harbinger. Slowly the ship splits in two and there are secondary explosions along the precipice. The Destiny's Canons tare into the monster as well. If anyone is watching, despite the attempts, that countdown is still happening. Three... two... one... A moment of stillness before a brilliant flash, the shock-wave rumbling towards the two ships. The distance helps but it's a powerful blast. Sensors indicate and now pick up that fleet of 30 heading their way. If there was time to escape... it would be now. <English>
Commander Jacy is wasting no time. "Engineering, assessment. What's our current status? Can we survive shooting thirty of those shit-turds out of the sky? Also: can you hack into their Blue Sun computers and disable them? Disable the whole gorram ship? All thirty of them?" She's watching the long-range monitors now, ignoring the disintegrating Harbinger behind her. <English>
Zank returns the nod to his fellow Churara Captain and then turns in time to see the Harbinger ignite. He gives a small smile before looking back at the assembled screen in front of him...."Those harpoons are still on approach....if ya plannin' on fightin' I got a plan if ya want it but we need comms with that cruiser" he says pointing to the holo of the destiny. "Can you get LOS?" he asks half to her half to the comm officer. <English>
The Geist is wrenched and fired like bullet by the blast. They were fortunately just far enough away to not get blown to bits but just close enough to surf a shock-wave out into barren space before able to recoup. The Destiny is far below them on the z axis now and all is quiet up here away from the flicker of battle. Just the abrasive sounds of the ships damage evaluation system chirping away and red lights pulsing as Esmeraldas raises her hand up from the floor and latches on to the back of a chair to pull herself up but instead she finds that they lack gravity and simply floats up to bounce back off the ceiling. "SITREP." She orders past moans and groans before she can steady herself back into the command seat. The reply comes but it's background to the information she is diving into, "Extinguish all fires and lock down compromised sections. If we are going to help with the Harpoons... Zank, we'll need that plan--" Then towards the comm officer, "--and a way to communicate with the Destiny."
The ship is currently on reserve power as the main reactor is getting a quick patch and the source of the fuel leak tracked. Technicians and Engineers are all working on other systems as well so that the craft can at least keep the Alliance cruiser in sight. So far, they are using small bursts from the life systems to keep angled. <English>
Nothing of the Harbinger remains, other than debris from battle. The beast was dead, evaporated in a likely self destruct caused by the Legionaire crew. Those ships keep coming. "Weapons are having a hard time tracking ma'am. The ship is pretty well screwed up and we're running out of ordinance... We can't communicate with The Geist. From my end, the AI says it's not looking good." <English>
Commander Jacy frowns at the news. "Thank you. Get a laser comm firing at the Geist. Morse code, plain text. Ask them if they need assistance, tell them we're getting out of here unless they do. Prep a shuttle in the docking bays, skeleton crew plus medics, to dock and transfer personnel if they do. Navigation, plot an escape route that takes us across the path of the Harpoons. Gunnery, work with Navigation and Sensors, I want you to drop a whole shitload of mines and decoys out the back if they pursue. Medbay, prepare for incoming casualties." <English>
Zank steps up and looks at the consoles in front of him calling to the comms officer "check for laser or flash message. if tight beam is out they will try an hail through old means." he pauses. "captain hate to say it but this plans a fighting retreat. State were in we wont last long against 30 harpoons in a straight fight not right now" he floats over to another screen "forget the arc cannon wont do no good against ships that fast and were to damaged to keep up. reroute the power to weapons and engines. we get level with Destiny get behind her and cover her rear and flank while she takes the front. she gets to hammered we take the lead...." he pauses "its how we inflicted damage to superior number in the onset of the Battle of Sturges" <English>
"We are being lased." The comm officer finally announces towards Esmeraldas after a short wait that felt entirely too long. "They are asking if we need assistance and that they are retreating." Ezzi just looks at Zank with an exhaled sigh. "Your plan is going to have to wait, comrade. All we can do now is hope that our companions on the surface stay out of harm's way." She doesn't look very thrilled to be relaying that news to the Third Division Captain, but she has to make a call and right now, there is no way they can hold out without the Alliance support. "Lase them back, inform them that we are withdrawing with them." She states as engineering reports operational status is regained. "We need to resupply and conduct repairs. Engaging their fleet would be complete suicide for us both in our current state. I can only assume that the Destiny is very low on ordinance as well." She shakes her head. "No, we gave it a good push but we need to fall back and reassess." She turns to her flight officer, "Fall in line with the Destiny. We'll offer what protection we can given our state, but if we leave now, we'll be ahead of the fleet. For a time." Then back to the comms officer, "Let the Destiny know that we are joining them, will provide coverage, and that if we are pursued, to rally in the dark of the moon." Space is the shits. You can't just cover your ass because it's on all sides. <English>
They are pursued, at least for the the first bit. The ships swarm forward into the mine field laid by the Destiny. Some explode bringing their number down by at least ten before they group comes to a complete stop. They starts to work their way through the mines but once they're all gone, they just stay there. They watch the two damaged ships retreat and don't move as if they would wait for their return. <English>
Commander Jacy watches the pinprick explosions in the rear-viewing sensors, and although there's a few muted cheers on the bridge and among the crew, everyone knows they are retreating. "Tell the frigate we're sending across a damage control/engineering team and medical crew. We'll get their comms working. I'm not pissing about with lasing Morse code at them all day," she orders curtly. "Comms, get a full report to HQ Londinium ASAP. Tell them we'll hold station and monitor, but we need re-arming and re-fueling." <English>
Zank blinks as his retreat plan is listened to, then sorta kinda cast off then sorta used all in one string of commands. He looks around and then looks to the captain as the ship get clear. "ill message my scouts...see if they can slip into the system to and get a update in 24 standard hours." he says "still need to see about getting comms with the surface" <English>
There isn't really a comm that can be repaired as the hull in that section is basically.. well.. gone. The only thing the crew can do is put up a temporary array someplace else but they are busy tending to other matters that demand priority. Thankfully, Jacy sent over some engineers to do set up the temporary array for them. First transmission, "Thanks for the assist. So where we headed?"
Towards Zank, "Good idea, though establishing communication with the Jia is on them. Also, I have reservations about them beaming a signal openly. It can easily lead Legion right to them. Encryption or not. You don't need to listen to a broadcast to be able to trace it." She sighs a brings a hand up to rub over her temples as she turns and makes her way into the CDC from the bridge. <English>
"Destiny is going to hold station at long range, monitor the Harpoons. We're waiting on support from the fleet, and when that arrives we'll re-engage. What are your plans?" If Jacy is surprised at the voice on the other end of the communications line, she doesn't show it. <English>
Zank nods to Ezzy. "R&D might have somethin' that can get us at least one way...ill let you known when I have more...ill go check an make sure we ant gonna explode..." he walks within arms length of the Captain "you would made hell of a admiral.." he says chuckling and then turns to go about checking on the ship and her crew. <English>
"We need repairs. Do you think we can get authorization to use the Ares Shipyards?" Ezzi comms back, knowing it's a stretch but it would be the quickest and most viable option to get them back in the fight as well as keeping them close by. She then turns towards Zank, "Hey, thanks for being here with us. It means a lot -- and -- thanks. That's one hell of a compliment." <English>
"I'll work on that authorization for you," Jacy replies, nodding to one of her ensigns to start the work on that. "And, I appreciate the work on the Harbinger. Tell your crew I said that." She looks back at the displays, some of them still critically red and warning yellow. "Comms, watch those bastards. If they even breathe in that minefield, I want to know. Lieutenant Commander Gregson, you have the bridge." And she heads down to medbay to start talking to the cadets herself. <English>
Zank turns and nods "Wouldn't be anywhere else..." he turns and then calls back "an don't let that compliment go to your head!" he says. <English>
Ezzi laughs at Zank before responding back to Jacy, "Copy that. We look forward to the next go round. Over." Before moving on to other things and awaiting approval to use the shipyards. <English>
