(DS RP)
And now the Continuation of Distant Stars...
Shuttles of varying forms clutter the flight deck of the David, people dashing between smaller vessels while taxis move gunships and bombers into neat rows along one side of the deck. Pilots are checking their suits and engineers clamoring over final systems checks and loadouts. Captain Levin approaches a shuttle on the busy flight deck when he is stopped by an officer calls his attention, "Captain Levin."
Levin turns to the officer with eyebrows up, "Yes?"
"Sir, Lieutenant Commander Frishman wanted me to have a marine report to you before your departure," he states before waving over a nearby marine.
Levin's thoughts catch up the moment and he says, "You must be the marine which detonated those explosives aboard the Osiris."
"Corporal Nelson, sir. Yes, it was my call," he responded with a salute.
"Any particular reason you decided to deviate from the mission parameters, marine?"
"Sir," Nelson replies, "I had reason to believe sensitive information was aboard the vessel. I wanted to recover the data while denying it to the enemy if the ship was to be abandoned."
Levin's face remains straight, "I did not authorize any such action, marine."
"It didn't take long... sir," Nelson replies with an uneasy voice.
Levin smiles, "Marine, I think I have a job for you. Suit up."
On the bridge, Alexander sits in his chair. "Lieutenant Commander, are we ready yet?"
"Waiting for confirmation from all captains," Frishman replies.
Alexander nods with a slight frown. A moment later, Paragon Carbon enters the bridge, "Admiral, are we ready?"
"Not quite," Alexander responds. "Paragon, are you willing to take command of the ground forces?"
"Absolutely," Carbon replies.
"Lieutenant Sokolow, would you please see the Paragon to his station?"
From off to one side, a female officer, bearing dirty blond hair tied back into a ponytail and a toned physique which makes up for the generally unflattering uniform, rises and approaches the Paragon, giving him a salute. "Sir, this way, please."
She leads him to a station placed ahead of tactical, her fingers running across the panel in a little dance that raises a host of visuals over the control system. She retrieves a headset hanging to one side and dangles it from two of her fingers, "If you'll wear these, I'll get you acquainted, sir."
Carbon gives a little smile which the lieutenant returns. The two work over the station for some time before Frishman finally announces, "Sir, Captain Levin is aboard the Rebecca and battle ready."
"Alright, we're ready to move," Alexander announces. "Have all vessels form up and prepare for jump."
"Yes, sir," comes from all angles as officers arrive in their final positions and prepare. The fifty-nine capital over one thousand smaller vessels of the combined fleet arrange in a broad capital phalanx and engage their drives, TEC and Vasari vessels alike spreading glitter across space before being yanked into phase space.
In orbit of Kyrene IV, the remaining Advent host continues with local operations. The Progenitors are in close orbit of the planet, dropping search teams to assess the damage and pursue any remaining forces. Three Halcyons remain close to each Progenitor, their fighters and bombers hanging in space. The Revelations and Raptures form a wall between the planet and the phase lane to Kyrene I while the Radiances remain further away from any likely combat zone.
The combined fleet enters the gravity well. The Kols and Kortuls lead the group straight towards the planet, barreling down on the Raptures and Revelations. The two meet, a flurry of weapons fire trading between the two, but where the Advent hold their positions, the TEC and Vasari continue to move forward, tapering off their ranks to file past the Advent front. The adaptive forcefields and shield regenerators take the brunt of the force while the Kortuls strike the enemy's antimatter supply down.
"Sir," Lieutenant Gross calls out, "The Cyrus is having a malfunction with their beam weaponry."
"Is it the upgrade?" Alexander inquires.
"Uncertain," comes the reply. "Captain Strauss is having their engineers address the issue."
"Alright, have the Cyrus fall back to the second line and have the Hagar tone down their acceleration. They're outpacing us," Alexander orders.
The inner ranks have all reached weapon's range, maximizing the amount of fire being traded. The Elisha fires her new missiles with no noticeable increase in targeting due to the system incompletion, but the weapons perform no less admirably than they have in the past. The Aaron makes no use of the new projectiles, their equipment needing much further work before safety can be ensured. The Free Trader engineers react with speed and precision, but the impact of battle slightly rattles their senses, causing wide eyes and stiff jointed movements all around. A Free Trader engineer aboard the Josiah feels an impact and stammers back as a piece of loose plating tumbles across the deck. He looks to a nearby Lion and says, "This is one hell of a ride."
The Lion smiles, "Welcome aboard the Josiah. Just wait until we lose shielding."
That realization causes the engineer's eyebrows to lift.
The vessels continue to strike as they pass the Advent, the cruisers and frigates coming up on the front of the formation, a front which is beginning to turn to face the first rank of assaulting vessels. The Kanrak Assailants near the rear come to a stop, firing off two volleys in unison, totaling eight hundred phase missiles cluttering up the empty space. The missiles converge on a single Revelation, tearing into the vessel and sending it into a drift.
"Sir, the Assailants have brought down a Revelation," Frishman announces.
"I credit that bug with having some sense of his own power. Bring us in behind a Progenitor and have all strikecraft ready," Alexander says.
The Assailants punish the rear of the enemy formation, the flank weaponry of the Advent vessels failing to cause any true concern to their crews. As the main force approaches one of the orbiting Progenitors facing towards the planet, a Rapture falls to the Kanrak barrage. The Advent fighters, previously spread about in orbit of the planet, have mustered their numbers and sweep in from two directions. The TEC and Vasari strikecraft remain docked as the blue drones swiftly approach. Upon arrival, a swarm of small phase missiles rise into space and scatter themselves amongst the enemy numbers. While still making their strikes, many of the small vessels are torn apart by the assault of the Sentinels. What the frigates fail to accomplish, flak, now released in abundance from the surrounding Kols, achieves in doing, truly decimating their numbers. Despite the power of the Dunovs, the attack has cost many of the vessels a bulk of their shield power, putting a great burden on the antimatter reserves, even in spite of the flux fields.
The fleet focuses its fire on the first Halcyon escort within range, the sheer mass of fire tearing into it and sending it into an explosive fit soon delivering it to the underworld. The other Halcyons fare no better, being pushed to death by the overwhelming force. The Progenitor attempts to use their sacrifices as a means of escaping, only to be caught on the edge of the formation and pummeled on its broadside. The tall structure is burnt away on one side, revealing the multitude of decks within the vessel. The assault discontinues as the mothership floats into the planet's atmosphere, accelerating as it approaches the surface.
"Sir, we're in low orbit," Frishman announces.
"Form a schiltrom and dispatch rescue teams. We can only hold the line for a short while, so let's make this quick," Alexander commands.
The formation turns itself inside-out, the cruisers and frigates nestling in the center with the bulk of support vessels while the Kortuls and Kols form a sphere of ships facing outward. From the gut of the formation, strikecraft launch in mass, all heading for the planet's surface. The Halcyons and Progenitors maintain their positions in proximity to the planet. The Revelations and Raptures discontinue their pursuit, still failing to throw off the horde of Assailants continuing to assault their flanks. They turn toward the Radiances near the phase lane to Kyrene III.
High Psintegrat, our forces are under assault, a voice is heard.
I can see that, she thinks while watching a projection of the battle. Have our Radiances cover the fleeing forces. We must maintain a presence until we can evacuate those on the planet.
All four of the Radiances hold their positions, watching as the Kanrak Assailants break off their pursuit, except for a single Radiance which takes it upon itself to approach the engagement.
Why are they attacking? the new High Psintegrat questions.
Unknown, an officer explains.
The High Psintegrat reaches out with her mind and asks, Why have you broken formation?
We remain loyal to the High Psintegrat, a mind responds. She would not allow the oppressors to take this ground from us.
The High Psintegrat desired to engage the unruly crew, but she would be forced to attack those who are already on their way to death and she had no intention of attempting to maintain the planet long enough to recover traitors. She maintained a defensive screen for the others while watching the single vessel fly toward its doom.
The Advent vessel approaches the forces directly. The Cyprus lines up a clean shot towards the tail of one lagging Revelation when the forward beam emitter gives off a flash of light and then does nothing.
"Sir, the Cyrus is suffering a power surge in the forward capacitors. The beam emitter is overloading," Frishman warns.
"Any response from Strauss?" Alexander asks.
Gross turns toward the captain, "Sir, we're getting evacuation orders from his ship. I can't make out the details..."
Onboard the Cyrus, Captain Strauss alerts the tactical officer, "Have all crew evacuate the forward sections."
"Yes, sir," the response comes. "We still have power feeding into the capacitors. Controls are offline."
A beeping comes from the armrest of the captain's chair and he presses on a button, "Ja?"
"Sir, this is forward engineering. If we can't stop the power feed, we could have a fire or worse," the voice cries.
"Ich weiß. Get out of that section," the captain responds.
"Yes, sir," the voice replies.
In the forward engineering section, the Free Trader engineer releases the communications panel and turns to view the flow of soldiers heading out while the room is lit red and beginning to choke with dark smoke. She hesitates before reaching out, grabbing the nearest marine she can.
"I need a weapon and a few more men. Can you do that?" she asks.
The marine looks around, "Yes, ma'am. Marines, form up."
Four marines gather around as he hands the engineer his rifle and turns to one other marine, taking a replacement rifle from the soldier and saying, "Get this area clear, marine."
The man salutes and heads off to conduct traffic. The four armed marines and one engineer head in the opposite direction of the evacuation, the heat of the air growing as they approach. Past a point, the heat and smoke begin to stifle their breathing and any soft material exposed to the hallway is catching fire. The engineer looks along the wall until she finds a large maintenance hatch. She tries to pry it loose, but the temperature of the metal causes her to immediately pull her hands back while releasing a hiss. She drops the rifle for a moment, removing her jacket and wrapping it around her hands. She tries again, this time succeeding in activating the release and allowing the metal cover to fall to the ground. Beneath it are bundles of high voltage lines, the insulation sagging as it melts from the radiant heat. She backs away, recovering the rifle from the ground and orders the marines while cocking the weapon, "Fire on those lines."
The marines hesitate until their commander yells, "You heard the lady, open fire."
The five of them open fire with fully automatic weapons, the rounds pushing into the hot metal wires by the dozens. Thin trails of smoke seep out as they tear up the materials, flames and sparks flickering about the mess. After nearly two hundred rounds are expended, a large explosion of sparks lights up the room, sending the team reeling to the ground.
The tactical officer watches as energy levels drop off on two of the beam arrays, the emergency protocols now ramping down the power feed on the other two, but still relatively high. He informs, "Captain, we're having a drop in power. I think someone initiated emergency protocols, but I have no idea how."
Strauss asks, "Geht es allen gut?"
"No report of casualties or wounded, sir. The area is still being cleared."
The sensors pick up an explosion, pulling everyone's attention toward the holoprojector. The Cyrus suffers an explosion aboard the vessel, blowing out a forward section and causing one of the beam emitters to detach and spin off into space. The Cyrus continues to engage the enemy with their lasers and autocannons. The admiral asks, "What's their damage?"
Frishman replies, "Uncertain. They're not venting atmosphere, but that was not a small explosion."
"I'm not getting details, sir," Gross inserts, "but the Cyrus is continuing to engage."
"I'll trust the captain can handle himself," Alexander says. "Paragon, where do we stand on that extraction?"
Carbon responds, "Dropships are descending under heavy cover. Still waiting for our boys to show themselves."
On the surface of the planet, a -Ue_ soldier stands at the mouth of a cave on the side of a short, worn mountain watching the distance with a pair of binoculars. He sights a group of footprints in the dirt some distance away, the remnants revealing a group of Advent heading toward their position. Panning a short distance he sights another group, this one less stealthy, approaching from a slightly rockier area. A boom sounds and the lenses turn toward the sky, sighting an elongated form, broken into several flaming parts, approaching the ground. He lowers the binoculars, the large object still quite clear, and calls into the cave. Alkali Braken approaches the mouth with his rifle hanging at his side and looks at the wreckage falling to the surface.
"Looks like someone else decided to show up," he says.
None too soon, two TEC bombers pass overhead, their engines screaming through the air as indiscernible objects fall in trails from their underbellies. The objects fall to the ground, exploding into flames and covering the areas over with thick smoke. Braken turns back toward the cave, "Rescue party is on its way. I need an IR beacon."
The party moves to the mouth of the cave, one holding out a spherical object while the others prepare their arms. Once handed to Braken, he twists the sphere, a small gap formed on one side to expose buttons. He presses a couple of them and then rolls the object out onto the precipice before the cave. He crouches with his men, readying his weapon and pointing towards one of the inclines which leads out of the area.
Above, a couple of Advent drones attempt to duel with the superior number of TEC fighters, leaving the bombers free of harassment as they spot Advent ground forces and swing into place to deliver their payloads. The largest of the Advent forces, near the rubble of the data archive, is decimated quickly, their tight formation leaving them open to such an opportunistic attack. The smaller forces sprawled about attempt to find cover, some more successful than others, but all subdued under the threat of the bombing runs. Transports survey the area from on high, each sweeping methodically for signs of survivors. Onboard one of the transports, Corporal Nelson leans over the shoulder of the warrant officer piloting the craft.
"If we can't make visual confirmation, we'll have to land the transport and survey it on foot," he tells the pilot.
The pilot shakes his head, "No, marine. It's looking a little too busy for an extended drop."
"Well, nice of you to be so concerned, but we're making a pick-up, one way or another."
The pilot sneers at the thought when Nelson says, "You have a spectral scanner onboard?"
"Yeah," he replies while motioning with his head, "the console over there."
Nelson reaches over to the console and has the computer sweep through the light spectrum, the screen changing colors as one range of wavelengths after another are displayed. An infrared image passes, a faint spec appearing in the corner, causing Nelson to switch back to it, "I think I found something. Recognize that?"
The pilot glances over, "Not sure. Could be a beacon or something." He flicks at a switch on the overhead panel and speaks into his headset, "This is S&R Five, I have a possible contact at latitude: 29.7630556; longitude: -95.3630556. Do you copy?"
"Roger that," Carbon responds. "Make your approach and deliver confirmation."
"You heard the man," Nelson smiles. "We're making the drop."
The pilot calls in two gunships, hovering slightly higher in orbit, to form up on either side and provide escort. The three vessels swing around, approaching the cave from one side. As they approach the surface, a sizeable bolt of energy passes the transport's wing, causing the pilot to slightly weave. One of the gunships makes a reply as the turret gunner points toward the origin of the blast and begins rattling off rounds, the hot rounds making a dusty mess of the area which either kills its target or blinds it. The gunships release suppressive fire on any moving target as the transport arrives over the precipice, rotating until its tail faces the cave's opening and the hatch opening up and making the connection to the ground. The two gunships lift off, making a large circular path around the transport's position.
Nelson is first off, followed by a dozen marines taking positions where they can use the vessel for partial cover. At the cave's opening sits the -Ue_ soldiers which relax their posture upon sight of the marines. Nelson approaches the first to step toward him. "Corporal Nelson, David's Lions Marine Corp," he says as he salutes with his left hand.
With a smile on his face, the other replies, "Alkali Braken, Unified Explorers Corporation. I am glad to see you."
Nelson smiles back, "Well, if you want to come up for some cookies and milk, you'll have to get your men on the vessel. I wouldn't be too slow about it either."
Braken looks back to one of his men, "Start getting people aboard. The rest of you give us cover."
Braken's men add to Nelson's, putting nearly twenty men on the firing line. The transport is nearly full when the first beam shot is fired, passing through nothing but air. The soldiers on that side of the transport begin firing off controlled bursts, seeing no target but hoping for the best effect possible. The transport fills up and Braken's man alerts them, "We don't have enough room."
Nelson waves him away before activating the transmitter strapped to his shoulder, "Commander, we have the survivors, but we're going to need another transport."
Another beam carves through the air, this time cutting through the arm of a Lion, causing him to fall over screaming. Most of the soldiers return fire while a medic makes a low dash to the wounded, first stabbing him with a sedative dose, then proceeding to staunch the flow of blood. Nelson yells into the transmitter, "We could really use some close-in support too."
"Roger that, paint targets at your discretion," Carbon replies before switching over to another frequency. "S&R Six, this is ground command. Proceed to the recovery site." He presses another series of buttons, "Gunship wings Bet and Gimel, proceed to the recovery site and wait for a targeting directive."
Nelson yells out, "Who has laser sights?"
No response comes back and Nelson continues, "Really? No one? Geez, you guys are not helping me today. Braken, you have anything I can use?"
Braken turns over, shifting to the ground, "All we have are IR beacons."
Nelson looks at the beacon, quiet and without a visible trace of light, sitting where it landed in the center of the precipice. "I think that'll do," he says. He shuffles over, recovering the beacon and returning to his former position. The soldiers now lie prone to avoid the enemy fire. Nelson waits until he sights a beam fire and tosses the beacon in that direction.
Braken looks back, realizing that the men are firing at more than one node of Advent troops and calls out, "I want beacons painting those targets. If you have them, throw them."
Two more beacons trade hands before being tossed away from the group. A transport appears in the distance, making its approach when two full wings of gunships pass it up and approach either side of the evacuation site. As they make their first pass, the buzz of their weaponry override all other sounds and wash long strips of land with ammunition. The Advent assault discontinues and the transport arrives, turning to receive the men. The wounded is moved first, followed by Braken rushing the last of his men aboard while Nelson and his provide covering fire. A couple more beams fire, this time cutting into the armored sides of the vessel. The gunships make another pass, this time from behind the cover of the mountain and again sweep the area with their weapons. Using the moment, Nelson pushes the last of his men from behind into the bowels of the vessel and orders the hatch up as he takes his last steps in. The vessel lifts off, the hatch closing as it picks up speed and ascends. The gunships form up , the transport now the spearhead of a delta formation.
"Command, we have extracted the men. We're on our way up," Nelson radios.
"Glad to hear it, marine," Carbon's voice replies. "Is Alkali Braken with you?"
"Yes, sir," he says before unclipping the device and tossing it to Braken.
"Braken here."
"Glad to see you're doing okay. I have someone here who wants to speak to you," Carbon says.
A moment passes before Alexander's voice is heard, "Good to see you're alive. Get yourself up here as soon as possible so we can get the hell out of this system."
"Yes, sir," Braken replies. "Thank you for the rescue."
"No thanks necessary, I'm just repaying an old debt," Alexander says before handing the station back over to Carbon and returning to his seat. The ship rocks slightly as he sits. "Lieutenant Commander, what's our condition?"
"Shields are low across the board, sir," Frishman says, "but the orbital vessels are keeping their distance and except for a single Radiance, most of the Advent are fleeing. It's down to their remaining fighter coverage."
"Then let's take out that Radiance and call back our strikecraft," Alexander orders.
"Yes, sir," comes the reply before one side of the schiltrom undoes itself to create a small wall before the approaching Radiance. The Advent vessel reaches weapon's range and is fired upon by a group of Kols. The nose of the defiant vessel lights up and releases a broad beam of energy which engulfs the Josiah, shards of metal flying free as the last remnants of its shielding fall away. The other vessels drift away from the continuous beam, the periphery of the blast shearing off shield energy from a couple other capital vessels. As the Josiah comes back into view, people aboard the bridge of the David pause in wait. The Kol sits still, scorch marks stretched across the plating from end to end. The tension is broken when the vessel continues to fire upon the Radiance, inciting a collective response to bombard the vessel relentlessly until it cracks and breaks up.
The last of the strikecraft and rescue teams make their approach as the contra terrene explosion engulfs the Advent vessel. The glittering debris spreads out, a thin layer of metallic rain plunking against the hulls of the task force.
Lieutenant Gross announces, "All vessels confirm strikecraft are aboard."
Alexander nods, "Then let's get away from this damned planet."
The forces arrange themselves again into a phalanx and head away from the planet. The Advent recall their strikecraft and the fleet departs unabated. Upon arriving on the other side, the David is hailed. The transmission is accepted and an image of the chief engineering of the Esau appears, "Sir, we have good news. The Esau is operational as well as the Osiris's engines."
"Good," Alexander says.
"And one more piece of good news," the engineer states, perking Alexander's attention. "We managed to get the damaged Kortul running, but like the Osiris, the crew will have to operate from within spacesuits and each jump will put strain on the system. I don't know how many jumps we'll get, but the interstellar jump might knock out the engines altogether."
Alexander nods, "That is perfectly acceptable. You did a good job." The admiral has the communication cut and sits back. Assuming the Advent hold up their end of not attempting an assault, the task force would only have to man the remaining vessels and make the short path to Portage.
