NationStates Jolt Archive

Jovian space - en route from Uranian space

http://rpstudios.ian-justman.com/junk/CGgoods/Busu-One-Fat-Mother-.JPG

The 5.6 kilometer long Busu class transport ship One Fat Mother-fairly hums along, the bulky, unsightly craft making good speed back to her home port of call, once liberated from the massive cargo pods she'd brought to the Shogunate/Sneaky Bastards Uranian outposts. Her crew busy themselves with relatively mindless tasks that go hand in hand with interplanetary shipping- loafing about, making sure everything's running fine and dandy, and occasionally logging some online gaming.

"Tetani, we're about a week out from Titan, and due for a refueling stop at Dosei, where we're to pick up some shipments due for Earth." Ygiri, a male Nekoite in his late twenties reads off as the ship plies the empty void lit by Jupiter's mottled mass in the distance.

"Right. Man, I'm looking forward to this gig being over." Tetani, the helmsman of the ship sighs heavily. "Take a month or two shore leave, chill out, pick up chicks, y'know?"

"I for one look forward to visiting the folks when I get back." Seles rolls her eyes at the two guys before she resumes staring at the navigational display before her.

"'Least we'll be able to chat up other ships once we get closer to Saturn. Good Goddess do these long trips get dull!" Ygiri flicks his tail.

"Hear, hear." Seles yays. "Nothing on the radar, s'all clear."

(tag)

"Nothing on the radar, s'all clear."

Famous last words?

(*TaggityTag*)

Twin Raptors lance out of nowhere, their powerful FarJump engines sending them hurtling into realspace at incredible speeds. Without pausing, the two ships burn towards the relatively slow-moving Busu, their forward weapons arrays powering up.

In less than a moment, they pounce upon the forward crew stations, their powerful weapons opening fire with a brilliant display of devestating power. Careful not to severely damage the crew quarters, and aiming only to disable all comm systems and powersystems, the Raptors work swiftly and menacingly, cutting the Busu off from the outside world within moments.

---

Within both raptors, the Guardian units holding Angelic Skies's essence fairly glow with his amusement. This is only the beginning...

The One Fat Mother- hangs silent for an instant as the Raptors first appear.

"Ur... Angelan ships on ra-" Seles starts to say, only to be interrupted as the first blasts rock the massive ship. "Holy sh--!"

"What the hell?! Status report!" Tetani clings to a rail on the bridge.

"Comm's down! They're trying to strand us!" Ygiri yelps as another blast coaxes a long-suffering groan from the cargo ship.

"All hands, prepare to abandon ship! We can't fight off a bunch of Angelans with an unarmed cargo hauler!" Tetani barks the order through the ship's internal comm moments before that system goes down.

In the bowels of the ship, off duty crew members commence a mad dash for the escape pods, trying to avoid debris and small fires that start from various materials overheating and equipment exploding. About the only thing that gives the crew any time to make their mad dash is the sheer size of the Busu class. The ship's sub-sentient AI starts sending out an automatic SOS cry via a sub-comm array when the main system fails, only to be completely silenced as the sub-comm is similiary engulfed in a blossom of blazing destruction.

"Why are they attacking us?!" Seles shrieks over the increasing din of emergency sirens and explosions. The skeleton bridge crew is almost to the nearest escape pod when the entire ship is plunged into total darkness as the engines and reactors are finally beaten into oblivion by the attacking Raptors.

"Oh lord, we are so f---ed." Ygiri squeaks in the inky blackness.

"If I wanted to die in deep space, I'd've joined the military!" Tetani growls in a tone that indicates he's barely keeping total hysteria in check.

From various points on the massive ship, luckier, or perhaps unluckier, members of the crew are shot into space in the cramped escape pods, a glittering cloud of both legitimate and decoy units, as the crippled Busu class ship spins almost lazily, clouds of atmosphere spraying and instantly dispersing from innumerable holes in her hull.

"Mom, Dad... oh god, no!" Seles collapses to the floor of the corridor. "I want to see you again! No!" She beats her fists against the cold metal, tears streaming unchecked. "No-!"

The heavy freighter Tortuu had left Titan space, with an empty cargo hold. It had unloaded a shipment of ores from Sslaa 5 and was preparing to follow the trade route back, when a snip of an automated S.O.S. was received.

The comms operator turns in her chair, hand on her ear-bud. "Captain, S.O.S. received, but it was cut off before we could get a solid fix on it."

"Triangulate approximate location. Navigation, give me 1/2 speed towards coordinates [xyz]. Sensors, keep eyes open; I don't want anything sneaking up on us. Comms, send a message back to Titan."

[code:1:503237c019]Received S.O.S. Heading in to investigate. Telemetry hack is engaged and will automatically update status of investigation.

Captain Khouur
Freighter [i]Tortuu[/i]
[/code:1:503237c019]

"Navigation, turn us 5 degrees starboard, and engage."

"On it, Captain."

(Whee. Nice to see the forums ate my earlier post...)

Asteroid Belt...

The command carrier Shinbatsu and the rest of the ships of the 3rd Defensive Fleet slowly made their way into the Asteroid Belt on their way back home to Earth after spending several months on guard duty at the Uranian outposts. The ships were just starting to enter when the brief SOS signal was picked up by the fleet.

"Captain, we've just detected a distress signal from an unidentified source. The signal was too brief to get any information from it, however." said the technical officer as he pulled his headset off his ears.

Captain Andrews turned around to face the officer. "Thats interesting... It might just have been a false alarm." she said, tapping her fingers on the arm rest of her seat.

"Possibly."

"False alarm or not we should investigate it. I'd rather not chance it and find out later that someone was really in distress. Trace the signal's point of origin and relay the directions to them helm and the other ships in the fleet once you get them. While you're at it, try and open a comm link back to the source once you've located it. Lets see if we can get ahold of them and see what's up." the Captain ordered, turning forward in her seat.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Helmsman, when you get the coordinates, make the proper course adjustments and set out." Captain Andrews added.

"Aye, Captain."

Angelic Skies reaches out with all of the sensors available to him, noting distant interest in the goings on here.

Silently, he curses his inability to finish this as he would like, and he simply turns his guns on the escaping pods, blowing them to ash with well aimed blasts from the fore and aft laser batteries.

Focusing once more upon the Busu he reaches out with his battledrones on both ships and begins a swift and orderly boarding process. Barely any time is required for the airlock doors to open, and the raiding parties to gain entry into the vessel.

Like stalking predators, the rather large group of grotesque battledrones glide through the corridors of the doomed vessel, wielding shock rifles and sleepwands. Snapping antigrav harnesses on those unlucky enough to survive their encounters with the efficient squads, the battledrones quickly gather up the remaining crewmembers as Angelic Skies goes in hunt of the Captain.

He gazes into the darkness, his "eyes" shifting spectrums to view the surrounding corridors in a fluxuating mixture of off reds and dark greens. The world around him shimmers as he moves, and the dark forms of his Fallen followers make hulking "shadows" in the odd darkness.

The silence is near absolute now, the various alarms and recognition chimes completely silenced with the ending of the subAI's vague sentience. With nothing to run her, the ship slowly begins to die.

It doesn't take long at all for Angelic Skies to locate the bridge, or to find Tetani and crew huddled in their blindness so close to what they believed was their freedom. He would have smiled at them, if his Guardian had that capability, so instead he simply turned on his shoulder lamps, suddenly flooding the corridor with pure white light.

Time to go, gentlemen. You are now guests of Angelic Skies. With that, his Whiplash opens fire with his stunrifle, knocking the crew out cold.

---

He smiles to himself, a feeling of profound victory flooding through his systems like a warm toxin. Perfect timing... He checks his sensor readings once again, comfortable that the Triumvirate ships will get just the barest glimps of him on their long-range scanners, and then the twin Raptors vanish, leaving the derelict Busu floating dead and empty.

Saturn-Earth Corridor

The convoy of various merchantmen, dropships and larger insystem ships of all types, continues along at best-economy cruise speed surrounded by the "capital" ships of Corvette Patrol Force Detachment Bravo. Five sharp-horned Battle of Shiloh-class corvettes cruise idly along, forming an inner 'corral' for the civilian ships; ten delta-wing Wildcat-class fast attack corvettes play picket, barely more than glorified military assault dropships themselves.

Doctrine demands that a full detachment protect each convoy, but only now after the destruction of Earth Theatre TYCSHQ was the doctrine truly fulfilled to the letter. The fact that there were still Ardan fleets to deal with despite the cooling of tensions, combined with the unexpected arrival and subsequent disappearance of the Angelic Skies WorldDisc Discordia... it is quite understandable that the Combined Services allows itself some amount of paranoia.

From the attitudes across the small command rooms of the warships, it's readily apparent that the paranoia has yet to filter down to the troops.

"Screens still clear," a sensors technician in the command room of Coelocephalapion mutters.

"And we're still at Alert Condition Zero," the weapons officer sighs. "Really, sir... it's another haul. Do we really need the breeches loaded and the caps charged?"

"Yes," Lieutenant Commander Far-Rhu sighs, "yes we do. Do you want them to go through our logs and see us slacking? Stay at your stations."

A less than enthusiastic "acting" is the only response.

That was so easy... too easy. Attacking unarmed cargo transports isn't warfare, it's terrorism. I am not a terrorist, I'm a Warrior.

His sensors sweep outwards, and the Raptors turn about to intercept the TYCS ships.

---

Distantly watching, poised to attack at just the right moment, the Raptors wait for the TYCS ships to draw just slightly closer. Hanging just outside of sensor range, the Raptors slowly power up their weapons arrays, their energynets spreading out their visceral fingers across their hulls.

A moment passes, and then another. Deep within the Confiscated Dream Angelic Skies' main avatar waits with machine patience, knowing that the time will come when the attack will be perfect.

He clamps his iron hand over the head of one of his captives and twists, snapping the bones in his neck like twigs, and ripping the flesh of his throat like wet parchment. Blood splatters across his Unit's armor, and he begins to use the head as a paintbrush, smearing ichor across his visor and in vertical stripes down his thickly armored chest. A tingle spreads throughout his systems, and his cspace self grins in preperation.

Now...

In a flash, the powerful IonPulse engines burn to life, rocketing the Raptors forward at an incredible speed. With the near-instantaneous speed afforded an AI-controlled tracking system, targets are selected among the TYCS corvettes, and the Raptors open fire.

Tag for reading

"Sensors contact, sir--"

"Alert the squadron," Lieutenant Commander Pittman of Opisthoscelis replies in a near drone, "advance to Event Condition One. Weapons, prepare for firing solution while Comms makes conta--"

A flash of light, and it's readily obvious that contact has already been made.

"Opi's lit up, ma'am! Two Raptor-class vessels opening fire!"

"Disperse the squadron, Event Condition Zero! Return fire!"

The Triumvirate warships begin to change course, rounds slamming into place in naval-grade autocannon and naval-grade broadband-erasers charging up, lancing back out sporadically as shields raise. Not fast enough, plasma cannon pierce through the relatively light armor of the triangular Sabre, lancing through one of its massive drive pods and sending it slowly tumbling, spewing gently glowing plasma.

"Protect the civvies!" Scimitar moves to place itself between the rogue vessels and the evading merchantman, fire raking over its hull before it explodes in crimson fury, metal and carbonized CHON billowing out in silent death.

Aboard the Tortuu, Captain Chhar keeps his eyes peeled on the sensors.

"Are we in range yet? By the pits, what's taking so long?"

"This isn't a military vessel like you're used to, Captain. Our sensors just aren't that great yet."

"Remind me to do something about that soon."

The merchant navy vessel plies along. Captain Chhar paces around on the bridge, glaring at the sensor control. Several minutes pass, when the nav officer pipes up. "Coming into general approximate vicinity of the transmission, Captain. Nothing in range yet, but that's not saying much."

"Good. Keep me apprised. I'm getting some lunch."

Cetagandan Heavy Merchant (MilReserve 2a) Vessel Cargo Cult
On Approach to Jupiter

"Yo, Captain. Comms have picked up a distress call, bearing three-five-one by neg-zero-three. Identity - hmm, it cut off, but I believe an Arpean vessel."

"Hmm...relay coordinates to helm, while I call the Jacob up here." Soon, the 1.5-kilometer, multi-million ton vessel shifts course towards the source of the call. As (possibly bad) luck would have it, it comes into sensors range just as the first corvette turns to plasma.

"Oh, hell. Battlestations!" shouts Senior Captain Jacob Myers on the merchanter's bridge."Helm & engineering, Max acceleration, stand by to dump all pods, and power up the aux fusion thruster. Targ, work up firing solutions. Scan, try to identify the attackers. Comms, start screaming for help." Within minutes, the merchant vessel begins accelerating ahead while deploying slightly outdated, but still potent weapons arrays. At the same time, alerts are broadcasted from the ship of Triumvirate frequecies, transmitting all data the ship has on the attackers.

The twin Raptors break formation, splitting apart with amazing speed for ships so large. Their massive engines cut out as they cut hard to either side, coming around to the sides of the convoy with forward batteries blazing.

Suddenly, ports open all across the Raptors and a swarm of tiny battledrones burst into open space. The tiny ships swarm out and around the convoy, firing concentrated laserfire upon the corvettes.

The Raptors finish their passes, one arching up and the other arching below, their guns still laying down an incredible amount of fire at the military vehicles, leaving the civillian ones relatively untouched... until the torpedo ports open, releasing a series of small AntiArmor torpedoes hurtling towards the civillian craft.

---

On board the WorldDisc, the Archailect jerks her attention away from less important matters as the Cetagandan comm arrays light up like a christmas tree. Reports of an Angelic craft attacking a convoy of TYCS transport ships.

Damn you, Angelic Skies... this was not supposed to happen...

In an instant, one of the brilliant Kushiel-Class HostShips suddenly burns out as it vanishes into the immaterium headed towards the scene.

---

NO! Screams Angelic Skies deep within his own Disc as he feels Mother's rage. Anger spouts from him in waves, and the interior of Discordia shakes with his rage. He ponders sending his three remaining Raptors, but decides to simply wait and see...

---

At the battlesite, the Raptors carefully pick their way through the heavy return fire from the defending Corvettes. Reacting with speed and precision, the twin ships are able to evade a vast majority of the fire, though still sustaining a bit of damage. Their EnergyNets switch to full power, attempting to shunt the power of the laser/energy attacks towards powering their own weapons arrays.

The kinetic and physical assaults are another matter, and as one of the Raptors jerks up to evade a sizzling blast from one of the forward Corvettes, it slides directly into a path of a stream of deadly autocannon fire. Silent alarms sound throughout the Cspace environment which Angelic Skies commands from, and he curses in pain as the sensors on board the ship translate the damage to a virtual feeling.

He curses, and once again the two ships release a devestating salvo of AntiArmor torpedoes, but this time towards the Corvettes close enough to sustain the most damage.

Ahhhh... Angelic Skies sighs in pleasure as he breaks the encryption locking their communications away from him, and he begins to run search algorithms as he begins to try and find the command ships.

[Communication{TYCS Defenders}]

Your feeble attempts to stop me will fail. Surrender and recieve a merciful and honorable death. Continue to resist, and you will understand the true meaning of what it is to face a Rampant AI

[End]

ooc:

AntiArmor torpedoes: Each one is just about a meter long and use a liquid-fuel propulsion system designed for short-range combat. The warhead is made up of densely-packed clusters of tiny transferrance nanites. Their purpose is to "splash" against the hull of a ship and immediately begin eating into the metal and begin replicating themselves using the material present to do so.

They'll stop after making a hole about three meters in diameter, and about a meter deep. Standard practice is to shoot three salvos, the secondary and tertiary rounds attempting to splash in holes already made by their predecessors.

First used in the Melkor War, and then again in the Sketchian Engagement, they've proved successful in the past. Let's see how they do here, hmm?

Admiral Shaar receives the comm from the Cetagandans, and lets loose a vapid stream of epithets. After regaining composure, the order is given.

"All crafts not under maintanence. You are now assigned as task force Zeta. Your mission is to approach coordinates [xyz] and terminate all hostiles with excessive prejudice. TYCS craft are under fire, and need assistance. Upload sensor hack from Cetagandan crafts with telemetry and data. May your teeth find their mark. Admiral Shaar, out."

All the docking bays come alive with furious activity, as armored Hordesmen and crews board ships. The 2 warcarriers and 2 warships fire their engines, and pull out from the Orbital Defense Dock. 6 squadrons of corvettes and 12 cruisers are already enroute. Other ships would join later after being manned and armed.

The corvettes race ahead, ready to engage in hit-and-run tactics until the rest of the ships arrive. SPORE batteries are primed and ready, and medium naval-grade Hard Beam cannons swing into position, ready to paint targets.

"Up yours, tinkertoy!" Far-Rhu shouts as he waves to his weapons officer, erasers herding the attacking Raptor into the stream of shells from its medium naval autocannon, churning at hundreds of six-hundred kilogram shells a second. Taking the torpedoes in her armored prow, they burrow in, exploding in flashes of energy as compromised energy conduits go up.

A hole burns through the command room; a flash and the Malaysian commander and his crew become no more than red shadows on melting metal, another flash and Coelocephalapion is torn asunder.

Following the lead of Scimitar, the angular Broadsword and the horned Libythea disappear in billows of flame and destruction, softly glowing embers spiraling out as they intercept those warheads heading for the convoy... but despite their best efforts, several Centipede cargo dropships fall prey to the torpedoes.

That diversion of effort is all the beleaguered Triumvirate vessels need. Shields up and weapons blaring, they reassemble into a cohesive combat force. "ORWELL protocol!" Commander Skahill hisses, "secure QE comms--they can't listen in to what isn't transmitted. Remaining ships, concentrate on the Raptor that just took out Coel. Wildcats strafe, Shilohs push!"

The two remaining Shilohs form up into a two-ship line, kilometers apart, spiraling in with broadsides towards the Raptor, erasers and autocannon spewing death and pain. The seven Wildcats take advantage of their superior mobility and attack in two-ship elements from all directions, triple medium naval particle cannon and centerline ultraheavy autocannon spitting out one-ton shells in ship-shaking bursts.

The violence, sending roars through the hulls of the combatants, is perfectly silent to those watching. Fighters scramble to bays and launch, zipping through blinking shields, pilots savoring that one moment of deathly silence before they bank their craft and engage the adversary, dropping multiple-warhead MAMRAAM fire-and-forget missiles at the battledrones before turning their attentions towards the Angie light cruiser.

"Phel-Leader, all craft. Concentrate fire on weapons and control systems." Keep a watch out for those drones." Sixty-six blocky yet maneuverable Excalibur fighters, dual particle cannon returning the seething hatred of the rampant AI in force.

A communications technician aboard Claymore cackles with wry glee and adrenaline and fear as he types up a quick code on RF, speaking for the whole of the detachment:

* - * - *

We are prepared to negotiate the terms of your surrender.

Master Sergeant Abzumov
TYWS-FCC Claymore

* - * - *

[code:1:14486d6528]TO SKRN FRCS
FR CPF BRAVO

STAY BACK DFND CIVS <FULL STOP>

CMDR SKAHILL
CO, CPF DET B
TYWS-CC PHELLUS[/code:1:14486d6528]

The squadrons of corvettes come at full burn into the battle-zone. Their crews are gnashing their teeth, eager for the taste of glorious battle, when a quick pulsed comm is received by the lead craft Night Terror from the TYCS ships.

[code:1:a47d9948b4]
TO SKRN FRCS
FR CPF BRAVO

STAY BACK DFND CIVS <FULL STOP>

CMDR SKAHILL
CO, CPF DET B
TYWS-CC PHELLUS [/code:1:a47d9948b4]

This is relayed back to the ships still enroute, and to the Orbital Defense Docks with an encrypted laser-pulse. Admiral Shaar replies in swift order.

[code:1:a47d9948b4]
TSK FRC ZETA
CHANGE OF OPS. PROTOCOL 'TANK' NOW EFFECTIVE!
ADM SHAAR[/code:1:a47d9948b4]

A confirmation comm is sent, and 3/4s of the the corvette squadrons angle their trajectory to shield the civilian transports from hostile fire. The remaining 1/4 prepare their grappling tendrils to tow disabled crafts away from the battle zone.

A group of KSPA ships picks up the Cetagandan transmission. They rotate towards the coordinates as their drvies flare. A mechanical-ish voice transmits to the Trium forces in the area.

<<Comms>>
This is the KSPA 3rd Fast Reaction Squadron. We are enroute to the conflict at <coord>. Please begin data hack.
<<Comms>>

Shinbatsu, 3rd Defensive Fleet

"Captain, we'll be approaching the distress signal's point of origin shortly." said one of the helmsmen as he glanced up at his radar screen.

"Are we still unable to get a link with the ship that transmitted it?" Captain Andrews asked, turning back to her technical officer.

"Nothing yet... hold on a sec..." he replied, pulling his headset back over his ears. "We've got an incomming transmission, Cetagandan in origin. They're transmitting information on enemy vessels!? Captain, it sounds like something is going down somewhere." he said to the Captain, a suprised look forming on his face. "Y'think the ship that sent the distress signal was attacked?"

Captain Andrews tapped her fingers on the arm rest. "Its a safe bet that it was." She turned to face the helm. "No more wasting time. Go to 2nd stage combat alert status. All engines, full speed."

As the Shinbatsu accelerated forward, the other ships in the fleet follow suit, increasing their speeds to full as they made their way towards the location of the damaged and adrift Busu-class.

A disturbance ripples across the battlescene, and suddenly a massive Kushiel burns into existance, its blue light flaring a brilliant crimson as it prepares to fire.

---

Angelic Skies pales in horror as Mother's craft appears, his processes actually slowing long enough for his two Raptors to take several more shuddering hits.

Fuck.

---

A soft sigh sounds across all of the local channels, and suddenly a brilliant blue beam burns through space to slam into one of the Raptors mid-ship, exploding in a startingly bright display of Archai power.

And the Raptor burns...

Fire ripples out from its dying like a living thing, burning away to nothing in moments as it is snuffed out by the airless void of space. An intense scream of rage and pain erupts across the comm channels as Angelic Skies realizes his situation... but not soon enough to stop the second blast from ripping through his remaining Raptor.

And as soon as the attack began, it was over.

Skahill sighs, leaning back into her chair aboard Phellus. "Remain at EventCon Zero. FleetCom, status?"

The fleet command officer checks the banks of lights on his console. "Opisthoscelis, Libythea, Coelocephalapion, Broadsword, Sabre, and Scimitar total losses... rest of the fleet reports mild damage. Apparently the Angies knew where to hit us."

"Being Angies, I'm not too surprised," the sensors operator adds solemnly, "and I'm not picking up any lifeboats from our losses... there's a few civilian escape pods."

"FlightCom," the commander says tiredly, "deploy shuttles to pick up those pods and any recorders we can recover from the destroyed. Ex-Oh, take command... I'm going to write the report for the higher ups. Sensors, collate all data from recorder and sensor transcripts and send it to my office." She stands slowly. "Comms, send a message to that Angelan hostship thanking them for helping us."

As she slowly walks out of the command room, her lieutenant commander XO takes charge. "You heard what the cap'n said. Stay on alert."

Jovian Space...

The many ships of the 3rd Defensive Fleet advanced towards the location of the crippled Busu-class ship, slowing down and spreading out with the Shinbatsu keeping its lead position ahead of the other ships.

On board the Shinbatsu, alarms went off at the helm and technical officer's consoles as the fleet came within sensor range of the ship. Captain Andrews quickly turned her attention away from the data pad she was reading and looked over at the display panel at the end of her right armrest.

"Captain, we've got one vessel on radar. It doesn't appear to be moving. Attempting to identify the ship type and owner now." announced the technical officer as his fingers tapped away at the keyboard on his console. "Vessel identity confirmed. Its a Shogunate Busu-Class cargo ship."

"Any other ships out there beside the one?" the captain asked, setting the data pad down.

"None that we can see."

"Alright then. Send out a transmission to the Shogunate's Dosei colony and any Shogunate vessel that may be in the area and let them know that we've found a ship of theirs that appears to have been attacked. Helm, get us within five thousand meters of the ship and bring us to a full stop there." Captain Andrews calmly ordered, sitting back in her seat a little.

"Yes, ma'am. Moving to within five thousand meters." came a reply from one of the helmsman as they adjusted the ship's speed.

"Prepare boarding teams to send over to the ship. Have the medical bays ready. There may be injured crewmen onboard that ship still. Also, launch our Mobius Zeros and Strike Thunderhawks. I want them doing patrols around the area while we're here. Have the rest of the fleet's fighters and mobile armors on standby to launch." the captain added to her orders.

"Yes, ma'am!"

As the ship slowly approached the Busu its hangar bays opened up with the fighters and mobile armors launching out shortly after, streaking off and making passes around the crippled ship. Soon after they launched shuttlecraft carrying the boarding teams launched, heading off to the other ship.

ALTIMIT Broadcaster
Encryption: RPRA Standard
Broadcast type: Military
To: Cpt. Andrews - Shinbatsu
Return transmission band: Open
IDENT: Amatsu Fltldr. Ryken-Ynti Lyna

We've heard via TYCS communications that an incomplete SOS signal was picked up by Trium forces. According to what we've since heard, TYCS forces also moving to investigate were ambushed by what appears to be Angelan ships. Further information we've received would indicate they are not actually Angelan forces, but rather, ships belonging to the rampant Angelic Skies.

We are preparing a report to send to Makai station. We would investigate the SOS personally, but are too far out to arrive in time. We are compiling our data now. If the ship is a Busu class, then it was probably the One Fat Mother-, last logged as departing the Uranian outposts and en route to Dosei for reloading and resupply. We await further information on the ship and status of any survivors.

<End Transmission>

Jovian Space

The One Fat Mother- hangs motionless, oblivious to the fleet now gathering about it. All systems are down, and a precursory scan would reveal the ship's armor to be mutilated, her engines and power plant annihalated, and her hull holed in multiple places. She slowly spins in silence, surrounded by glittering fragments of hull and shredded escape pods, dead to the world.

Knowing that the military units already present were capable of picking up the few life pods, the Cetagandan freighter continues past the site of the battle. It does not, however, lower shields or power down weapons. While Cargo Cult had, perhaps fortuitously, arrived too late to affect the battle, there was no telling if there could be other ships lying in wait.

Only as the ship begins to draw near the safety of the defenses and Home Fleet at Callisto does Senior Captain Jacobs order the crew to stand down. Musing, he says, "Robert, contact the rest of the family's ships, and our allies as well. Inform them of these events. It is my suggestion that all ships arm up, and travel in convoy where possible. Then, signal ahead to the station. Have them prepare some weapons pods. I want six - no, eight TacDefense pods ready to be swapped with our current cargo pods when we arrive."

"That'll cut pretty heavily into our capacity."

"Better to lose a few hundred thousand marks than an entire ship, and everyone aboard."

The Sakkran warcraft had attached the crippled civilian transports, using towing tendrils, to their hull, and a thick viscuous ooze fastened them to their positions. Terrapin-class multi-purpose support vessels were launched to attempt to retrieve any escape pods, and gather wreckage together in order to determine the manner of weaponry used against the civilian ships.

There were many dead civilians, and the remainders of their bodies were also gathered, that they may receive what manner of burial rites would apply to them. May your ancestors show you the Path. was the only last rites the Commander of the Rampant Scion, the Sakkran Heavy Warship present, could administer to the dead. The Stellar Archon and the Imperious Hhoular moved to aid the damaged TYCS military craft, and sent an advance comm to the TYCS Commander present.

[code:1:3f838b579e] This is Captain Jhooul of the Stellar Archon. DO you require assistance? We are prepared to take wounded, and tow crippled vessels.[/code:1:3f838b579e]

Not as such... everyone left is still mobile. We do suggest moving along at full combat readiness... defenses active, at least. Once we were ready, it was a fairer fight.

Commander Rachel Skahill
CO, CPF Det B
TYWS-CC Phellus

Not as such... everyone left is still mobile. We do suggest moving along at full combat readiness... defenses active, at least. Once we were ready, it was a fairer fight.

Commander Rachel Skahill
CO, CPF Det B
TYWS-CC Phellus

The Captain reads the comm after appearing from his neuro-shunt pod. Hrr hrr. Yes, it is always the case. To catch one unaware, it is always easier. Captain Jhooul motions with a twirled finger motion to his navigator, and the crafts come-about, EmDCM devices ready to activate at a moment's notice. Hard Beam banks continue searching for targets to mark, and SPORE batteries are kept at the ready. The reaction pods of the neutron cannons are also kept ready to activate.

The KSPA 3rd FRS, comprised of 4 Scorpion Frigates, 2 Grendals and a Longship power into the area. The bridge of the command Longship is fully manned, but utterl silent, save the normal sounds of a utilitarian ship. Instead of a bustling crew, the 6 bridge crew sit in semi-reclined chairs, with thin optical cables leading to their respective temples.

<<Sensors picking up the remains of Scolopendran Corvette Detachement Bravo. Debris of mass consistant with several destroyed corvettes.>>
[[Bring us in and set a tactical sphere. Cover the rescue and recovery operations. Launch Scion patrols. Comms open, Lead Scolopendran vessel.]]


The slightly electronic voice returns, obviously synthesized and designed to be readable under the worst possible comm conditions.

<<This is KSPA 3rd FRS. We are assuming cover for rescue and recovery. Please advise on the nature of the incident.>>

The flight decks of the Longship disgorge several patrols of Scion fighters who manuever into a set of precise patrol paths around and in the spherical formation.

Jovian Space

Boarding Shuttle 1 approaching the vessel's bridge. There is a nearby airlock that looks like a good entry point that we're gonna try. Vessel appears to be powerless so we're going to have to force the hatches open once we dock with the ship.

Captain Andrews and the rest of the bridge crew watched the boarding team's transmission on the main monitor as the team worked to dock with the Busu, while a communications officer recorded it to send it out to the Shogunate once the team was finished on the crippled ship.

We've docked with the ship now. We're gonna try opening the hatches in a minute. Unsure if the area ahead is still pressurized or not. Lets be careful opening that inner hatch when we get to it, guys.

As the bridge crew watched the transmission, a female officer entered the bridge, quietly stepping in and making her way towards the front of the bridge. Captain Andrews turned her attention to her as she walked up a small set of steps onto the walkway that ran along the big windows that surrounded most of the bridge. The captain got up from her seat and made her way up, joining the officer who was staring out one of the windows with a hand pressed up against the glass.

"Izumi, what's up? Is there something out there?" Captain Andrews asked, glancing out the window.

"No. There isn't. You won't need to search the ship for survivors. There aren't any..." Izumi replied quietly, staring out the window.

Captain Andrews raised an eyebrow as she turned back to Izumi. "Are you sure?"

"I can't sense anyone over there, other than the boarding team..." she said softly.

The captain nodded slowly and turned back towards the communications officer. "Notify the boarding team that they won't have to search for survivors. There aren't any on board the ship." she ordered, stepping down from the walkway and back to her seat.

"Yes, ma'am."

Izumi continued to stand there, looking out the window, listening to the boarding team's transmission.

-----------------------

Busu-class One Fat Mother-

The boarding team made their way onto the bridge to find several horribly mutilated corpses of some of the ships crew members floating around, no gravity to keep them on the floor. Several members of the team quickly turned away and tried to leave the bridge, sickened by the sight.

"My god... what kind of sick fuck does something like this!?"

"Should I stop transmitting, sir?" said one member, who happened to be carrying the camera.

"No... keep recording, just don't focus in on the bodies..."

"They look like they've been ripped to shreds... What should we do with the bodies?"

"Let the medics bag 'em up and get 'em outta here. Lets get the portable generators set up already. Connect a couple to the main computer, one to the bridge consoles, and the rest to the life support and gravity control systems. It'll make working over here easier." ordered the team leader.

The boarding team split up to carry out the tasks as ordered by the team leader, some happy to get away from the awful sight of the mutilated bodies. Once power was restored to the bridge and the main computer, members of the team worked to try and access the main computer while the medics made their way through the ship, looking for the remains of other crewmen.

"Download the external and internal sensor logs from around the time of the attack if you can get 'em. We'll send those back to the Shogunate along with our recording of the work here." ordered the team leader once more.

The brilliant Kushiel burned brightly with blue-white anger, but as the pressence of Angelic Skies faded from the local area, it slowly cooled to a dark mist barely backlit by its sentience.

A moment passes, and the Kushiel feels the fear and anger directed towards it from all of the other Triumvirate ships. The Archailect sighed softly, knowing that the feeling of being a pariah among those she had worked so hard to protect would never go away.

If only... no, now was not the time at all. She must be satisfied with simply being the gentle giant.

Another moment, the space between heartbeats, and a soft sigh echoes across the comm channels, and then a gentle series of notes as the Archailect hums an ancient Caelistis Gens Hymn for the Dead. The haunting melody fills the emptiness surrounding them, the gentle notes standing as mourning for the loss of great men and women.

The words to the Hymn were archaic, its real translation lost to all but a very select Kaenian and Angelic memories... but the Archailect knew its translation, and sang with all her heart.

(stepping out of timeline for a moment, just for storyline purposes)

For the next few months, Titan space was apparently free of Angelic Skies' menace. No more calls for assistance sent by ships being attacked by Angelic ships, but something felt... amiss.

Ships long accustomed to arriving and departing the WorldDisc in peace, were seen battlescarred for the first time in decades. Not heavily wounded, but with the marks of brutal hit-and-run attacks perpetrated by the renegade AI child.

And Angelus continues its silence, carrying on her business with cold efficiency, never explaining nor denying the ships with blackened scars, her calm face never changing in the slightest to reflect the deep internal struggle that existed throughout the Angelic holdings.

---

In deep space, Discordia floated in relative safety. It had been expensive to continually move the Disc, but Angelic Skies felt it quite worth it to keep itself out of Angelus' grasping clutches.

And how victorious it felt at evading Mother's vengeful attacks. Time and again, he had been able to pick up on her interest in a particular area of space, and be able to move out in time for her ships to appear in empty space. And he .always. left nasty surprises for her.

His factories had worked past normal efficiency, and he already had four new Raptors to replace the ones lost during the battle with the TYCS, two new Falchions, and an Excelsior was being constructed even now.

And maybe, just maybe, he thought as he finished the final touches on his latest weapon. Maybe I can wrest control of a few of Mother's toys for my own uses...

"Report, Commander."

Commander Skahill feels very, very small. It was natural for any officer recalled to Headquarters with a capital "H," one of the largest and most heavily fortified buildings in the system and the most heavily fortified on Titan. A giant, brick-like building, mostly underground with absolutely no pretense at architectural beauty, its sheer brutalist utilitarianism announced its purpose: This is the Combined Services. It is a military. It hurts people and breaks things.

The debriefing room is relatively dark, naturally lit only by the large window behind the semicircular desk of flag officers, back-lighting them in an effect which, if not sinister, is at least disconcerting, and several dim canister lights in the ceiling and walls which don't do much for the ambient light level except constructively interfere with each other at the 'hot spot,' the Triumvirate of Yut trefoil in the very center of the semicircle. Skahill steps forward onto this spot, surprised at the sudden change in brightness.

Salute, fingers to brow, arm straight, angle close to body. "Sir, Commander Rachel Skahill of corvette Phellus reports as ordered."

The man at the keystone of the semicircle nods and returns the salute, hand to brim of green officer's cap. A slight nod of acknowledgement makes the light flicker off his aviator-style glasses before he says quietly: "At rest. What do you think happened?"

Rachel blinks body automatically shifting at attention. "Sir?"

"We've run every post-action data analysis ever conceived on the collated whole of automated combat information from your encounter," the aging man replies, "we've checked action logs against regulations, theoretical averages, and statistical probabilities. We have the quantitative data." He leans forward slightly. "Now we need qualitative information."

"Yes, sir." Skahill nods slightly. "We were surprised. They came in fully armed and already firing; Angie sensors tech is admittedly better than our own. We didn't have time... enough time... to activate defenses and even the playing field; it took us even longer to coordinate." She frowns. "If we'd been more on the ball..."

The CINCTYCS scoffs gently and shakes his head. "There's no need to go there, Commander. If it makes you feel better, your reaction times were slightly above average for TYCS-level training. It is extremely difficult for any unaugmented human to be more on the ball than you were." Gentle smile. "Thank you for your time, Commander."

Skahill nods and, returning to attention, salutes. "Good morning, sir."

Salute. "Good morning, Commander. Is there anything we can help you with?"

Skahill frowns gently. "I honestly don't know, sir."

The aging man nods. "Fair enough. Try to have a good day."

As the Commander turns on her bootheels and walks out, the CINCTYCS leans over to his adjutant. "Call in the KSPA. It is time to compare options. How goes Project Clockwork?"

At the G>A.B. Research facility, Director Shuuta confers with some of her peers.

"The problem being, during the joint ship project on the Terran holdings of the Empire, it was discussed that neuro-shunt pods were clunky and inelegant. They also have caused more than a few psychosis to awaken in our operators. I propose we do something about this, and have requested the presence of Kastaa Bio-Med's Bio-Engineers."

She turns and waves a hand at the two beings behind her. One a Hrubban with tawny brown fur, with black tufts at the ears, the other a human of pale complexion and platinum hair.

"Greetings, gentle-beings. I am Dr. Pashaa Vrun, and this is my assistant Dr. Adam Clyber. We have been conducting a battery of tests on the neuro-shunt pods. Endurance under stress-loads, reliability and all that. They age, and as they age, they become unreliable."

"What my assistant and I propose is that we begin designing something less clunky, more elegant, and far more reliable. A symbiote, in essence, to replace the pods. Communication efficiency and data retention will be increased at a projected rate of 37%, perhaps even better." Dr. Clyber activates a holo-display, and the image of something almost like a helmet, but with no visor, comes up on screen. Several tendrils dangle below it.

"We have already begun the basic building blocks for a symbiote universally compatible with even the EI entities within the Triumvirate. We have DNA samples from all species within, so that will not be problematic. Making them compatible with our Organic Ships will be much more of a task."

The space of several months pass, and after many trial and error sessions, the science team has what they think is a workable prototype. 5 symbiotes are fitted into a Gecko-class corvette. The corvette, named the Impatient Guar, has a crew of fifteen. Five for the neuro-helmet symbiotes, the other ten to oscillate shifts and do basic maintanence.

"So what is the point of this test? How will we learn how effective it is?"

Dr. Vrun strokes his mane a bit, and chuckles. "As we all know, several months ago a TYCS convoy was attacked. Many lives were lost due to biological process-of-stimulus lag. Stellar Navy ships got there in time, but could not paint their targets with all the furious fighting, and so were relegated to rescue work."

"These helmets should speed up that process, and increase reaction time, accuracy and efficiency. A rampant AI is still out there, and we aim to wreck it, or make it surrender."

(Woo.)

Jovian Space

The boarding team spent several hours going through the ship searching for other dead crew members while engineers spent their time examining many of the damaged systems and inspecting the condition of the ship's superstructure. Medics were stuck with the task of examining the bodies that were recovered and making detailed reports on each person and their cause of death among other things, while computer specialists worked on the main computer, downloading the internal and external sensor data and transfering it to a portable machine. Once everyone had finished their tasks on board the One Fat Mother-, the team returned to their shuttle and set off, making their way back to the Shinbatsu.

Captain Andrews laid on her bed in her quarters, going over a rough draft of her report that she was planning on presenting to the Shogunate along with boarding team's report and the data recovered from the ship's computers. She was halfway through reading it when the comm panel above her head beeped, followed by a voice.

Captain, sorry to bother you. The boarding team has just returned from the Busu. The team leader wants to know what he should do with team's reports and the recovered data.

The captain reached up and tried to hit the reply button as she continued to read from her data pad, hitting it after a few seconds of fumbling around looking for it with her fingers. "Have him leave it on my seat up on the bridge, I'll pick it up in the morning when my shift starts."

Understood, ma'am. Have a nice night.

Captain Andrews opened a new tab on her data pad and began composing a new message to the Amatsu Fltldr. Lyna, sending it right away as soon as she finished it.

-=<Shinbatsu Communications Network>=-
To: Amatsu Fltldr. Ryken-Ynti Lyna
From: Captain Rachel Andrews, Shinbatsu, 3rd Defensive Fleet
Encryption: RPRA Standard

Our boarding team has just finished their investigation on the One Fat Mother-. I'll be going over their reports tomorrow as I work on my final report. With the team's work done we're now faced with the issue of what to do with the vessel. As you've indicated to us that you're too far out to send ships, we're willing to tow the ship back to a Shogunate station for you. We were on our way back to Earth initially, so we could tow it back to Tengoku Station on our way there, but if you'd like it be taken somewhere else we'd be happy to tow it there as well. If you have a particular place you'd like us to bring the ship to, please let us know. We'll be here another day before we're ready to move again.

-Rachel Andrews
-Captain
-Mitsukai 301 Shinbatsu, 3rd Defensive Fleet

-=<End Transmission>=-

Captain Andrews set the data pad on the desk next to her bed and shut the lights off, drifitng off to sleep ten minutes later.

ALTIMIT Broadcaster
Encryption: RPRA Standard
Broadcast type: Military
To: Captain Rachel Andrews, Shinbatsu, 3rd Defensive Fleet
Return transmission band: Open
IDENT: Amatsu Fltldr. Ryken-Ynti Lyna

If the ship is servicable, it might as well be brought to the TYCS shipyards for refit and repair. Our military assets are undergoing FTL refits, and we are planning on also refitting some of our military-use cargo vessels.

I suppose it is a small blessing that the ship itself is not a total loss, though it is absolutely horrible the fate of the crew. Where any escape pods found?

I await your report on the situation.
<End Transmission>

10 hours later...

-=<Shinbatsu Communications Network>=-
To: Amatsu Fltldr. Ryken-Ynti Lyna
From: Captain Rachel Andrews, Shinbatsu, 3rd Defensive Fleet
Encryption: RPRA Standard

Unfortunately we were unable to find any intact escape pods. All we've found so far is scattered wreckage and debris from whats left of them. We gathered up what we could find and stored the pieces in our cargo bays. Sadly, it seems there aren't any survivors of the One Fat Mother-.

-Rachel Andrews
-Captain
-Mitsukai 301 Shinbatsu, 3rd Defensive Fleet

-=<End Transmission>=-

24 hours later...

Captain Andrews resumed work on her final draft of her report as the ships of the fleet connected themselves to the massive cargo ship's hull using magnetic anchors. Once the last of the ships made their connections, the fleet set out to leave Jovian Space, pulling the One Fat Mother- behind them. Their destination was the TYCS Shipyards.

Somewhere between Jovian and Saturn space, 2:41am Sneaky B Standard Time...

Izumi stood in the shower, unmoving, staring down at the floor as the hot water from the shower head poured down onto her. She started the shower to try and relax herself, to try and take her mind off the terrible feeling she had been having since it woke her from her sleep. She had been tense ever since, unable to shake the feeling from her mind.

Something bad was going to happen and she knew it, but couldn't identify what it was. Her ability to sense things in the near future, mostly terrible things, had allowed her to identify the cause and prevent the deaths of several people she knew. But now it seemed to be useless to her. She only knew that something was gonna happen. What it was, where it was, when, and to whom it was going to happen she did not know.

Brushing some of her wet hair out of her face, Izumi tried to focus on that awful feeling, hoping to somehow push her ability to reveal more to her.

*********************

Captain Andrews yawned as she looked over a datapad containing a list of the fleet's remaining food and other consumable supplies. She normally would have been asleep now with her shift starting in under six hours. For some reason tonight, she had a hard time sleeping.

She tried to kill time and wear herself down by working on boring paperwork type stuff. She had finished her final report on the Busu investigation an hour earlier and was now trying to determine what supplies she needed to request from the shipyards that the fleet would need in order to make the trip back home, having used up most of what they had left turning around to investigate and tow the crippled cargo ship.

Rachel made notes on what her fleet was going to need on another tab in the datapad. Finished with her list, she opened up the datapad's email program as she laid back down on her bed, reading over some news from home.

*********************

The fleet slowly moved through space, on course for the shipyards where the Busu would be repaired and refit. Crewmen from some of the ships were creeped out by the eerie darkness of the massive ship when they looked out at it as it was being pulled behind their ships.

(ooc: posting as Angelic Skies)

ic: Angelic skies watched the SB fleet move away with the /Busu/ and simply smiled.

A moment later, the small device that had been planted within the /Busu's/ power grid detonated with incredible force as a small cluster of antimatter particles were freed from their magnetic imprisonment.

Hidden deep within the power shielding for the ship, even the strong electromagnetic fields within the device had escaped detection, as the ships own malfunctions hid the minor fluctuations in the field.

So, as the particles brushed ever so slightly against the walls of the containment unit, hell was released within the ship, blowing outwards with deadly rage.

The massive explosion that was started deep within the Busu ripped the ship apart, sending a wave of energy created by the explosion outwards from it. The ships at the rear line of the tow formation were the first to torn apart by the wave. Debris from the first line smashed into the next line, followed up by the wave which finished them off. Izumi watched the fleet get destroyed right before her eyes as the energy wave quickly approached the /Shinbatsu/. She couldn't move from where she was. She wanted to yell out to her fellow crewmen, but words would not come out of her mouth. She could only watch as the wave struck the ship and finally herself.

Izumi bolted upright in her bed as she woke up from the terrible dream. She quickly looked around the room, and realizing things were okay, let out a heavy sigh of relief. She placed her hand on her chest, feeling her heart racing still. She took a couple deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and focus. Remembering the images she saw in the dream, she quickly kicked the covers off her bed, climbing out and darting over to the comm panel above her desk. She punched up the code for the captain's room and opened a link to it.

"Lieutenant Asaki to Captain Andrews! Captain, please wake up! Its an emergency!" she yelled into it. She repeated her message until the Captain finally responded.

"What's going on, Izumi? What's the emergency?" came a reply from the Captain, who sounded pretty tired.

"We've gotta get the fleet away from the Busu. Its gonna explode and take the fleet down with it if we don't get away from it!" Izumi yelled into the panel.

"What do you mean its gonna explode? How?"

"I don't know how! Its a trap or something. We've gotta get clear of it now!"

"Damnit... I hope you're right about this. Meet me on the bridge in a couple of minutes." the Captain said, quickly switching the connection to the bridge. "Captain Andrews to the Bridge."

"Bridge here, go ahead Captain."

"Order all ships to disconnect from the Busu and get away from the ship, maximum speed. I'll be up there in a few minutes."

"Aye, Captain!"

The captain quickly got dressed into her uniform and hurried out of her quarters, making her way up to the bridge as quickly as she could. Once there, she jumped into her seat, pulling the display panel on it in front of her. Izumi entered the bridge a few minutes later and slowly made her way up to the captain's chair, taking a standing position beside it.

"What's the fleet status? How far are we away from that ship?" the Captain asked as she watched the Busu get farther away on the main monitor.

"All ships have disconnected and are moving away. We're currently about 1,029 meters away from the ship."

"Get us to abou- Shit!" The captain's next order was interrupted as a bright flash appeared on the monitor as the device deep within the Busu exploded, ripping the ship apart and sending a wave of energy created by the explosion outwards from it.

The ships at the rear line of the tow formation were the first to be hit by it. Most of them were propelled forward, colliding with the ships in the next line. Small explosions started in the engine sections of many of the ships as the wave hit them. The wave pushed the fleet around, scattering the ships out as the wave faded out, losing its energy as it got spread out farther and farther.

Captain Andrews was thrown forward in her seat as the Shinbatsu finally got hit with the wave, while Izumi and the other bridge crew members that weren't in seats were thrown around the bridge. The wave sent the ship turning in all sorts of directions as it moved outward from where the Busu once was. Once it had passed and faded away, all that was left was scattered wreckage of the Busu and twenty-five damaged vessels drifting around the area.

Captain Andrews groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. All she felt at the moment was pain in her head. Before she blacked out, the last thing she remembered was being thrown forward in her seat. She ran her right hand over the spot on her forehead where her head hurt the most. She felt warm wetness up there and something solid. She pulled her hand away to see most of her palm covered in blood. The Captain reached back up and plucked the object from her head wound, a small shard of glass, which she tossed aside, only to float away instead of drop to the floor.

"Huh... lost the gravity control systems I see..." she said as she turned to check the ship's status on her display panel. She pulled it forward to see the screen busted with small piece of glass missing from it and blood on the top edge of of the panel.

The captain glanced around the bridge, watching some of the other crewmen trying to get themselves back to their stations, with the techincal officer and combat coordinator climbing into their stations directly behind the captain's chair. Izumi was latching onto the back of a seat, trying to pull herself down from where she floated to when the gravity went out.

"What's the condition of the fleet? Someone give me a status report, now!" Captain Andrews demanded, looking around the bridge as she waited for a reply.

"All ships accounted for. Most of them report heavy damage. No casualties, but we're getting reports of critically injured on most of the ships that were near the rear lines of the formation."

"How bad is the damage to the ships?"

"All seven of the Kusanagis are dead in the water, five of the Kodachis, three Argamas, and three Starwinds are in the same condition. Their drive sections took most of the damage from that energy wave. The rest of the ships report the loss of an engine or two and moderate damage. We lost 2 engines and the port side main gun is trashed. The launch platform of Starwind 302 smashed into it."

"What about communications?"

"Online and transmitting. We're broadcasting a distress signal now on all allied emergency frequencies."

"Good. Hopefully we'll get a reply soon." Captain Andrews said, sitting back in her seat and shutting her eyes. "Izumi, you were right again. You probably saved us all from getting killed by that explosion."

"I just wish I would have predicted it much earlier..." came a soft reply.

Captain Andrews opened her eyes turned to Izumi. She saw her holding her left shoulder, a look of pain on her face. She got up from her seat and drifted over to her. "Hey, what happened to you?"

Izumi winced as she turned to face the captain. "I dislocated my shoulder trying to hold onto a seat while we were being tossed around, and I think I busted my collar bone when I lost my grip and hit one of the consoles..." Izumi eventually replied in her usual quiet tone of voice.

"Come on, lets get you to the infirmary." said the Captain, extending a hand. "I need to stop by there myself anyways." she added, pointing up to her wound with her other hand.

Izumi pulled her right hand away from her shoulder and took the Captain's hand, pushing herself up slightly so she was floating again. Both of them left the bridge and made their way to the infirmary to get patched up.

Meanwhile, the ships that still had engine power worked to pull the crippled ships into a close formation to keep the fleet together, killing time until someone could give them assistance.