NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Alright, first to clear up any confusion, this future tech RP is closed, unless you get permission from both NG and I. If you are allowed to participate, the most you would be allowed to field is a few cruiser size starships, or perhaps a squad or two of troops in boarding actions. Also, please pay attention to what's happening in the story. If you were to just pick a post later on in the RP, you might mistake the actual meaning.

IC: Since the great migration several decades ago, the people of Brandoniats had felt fairly safe, literally a universe apart from any ordinary threat. The general opinion amongst the public Brandoniat was that when they left Earth, all other holds in that universe were severed, where as the truth was much different. The Federation in fact maintained an area of space out to a radius of about 10 lightyears around the Indri system, in the original universe. In this dominion, trade was conducted, experiments too dangerous to have around the population centres and many other important events took place. For it's neutrality, the Federation thought itself quite safe. However, today, in one small corner of Federation space, that was all about to change...

tagged

OOC: well, that doesn't include me. I'm modern tech

Meanwhile: A man in a field attempts to partake in this, buy throwing a paper airplane up in the air as hard as he could

:D

Bumped

June 25th, 20XX
0700 Hours
NGC Reimer

Office of the Commanding General of the Northrop-Grumman Air Force Space Command
------------------------
Colonel David Hailey,
Your orders are to escort nine BC-303s to the nation of Brandoniats. The coordinates are XXXXXXXXXXX. Expect communications blackout for six days due to limited range of signals.

Each of the BC-303s will contain thirty-nine techinicans for the purpose of recalibrating engines and testing different aspects of each ship. Protect them at all costs.

Signed,
General Walter Turner

Colonel Hailey wearily put down his mission orders and sulked over to the window.This is all I ever do: escort new ships to the customers. I've been at this for eight years, and where has it gotten me. Nowhere. Other people are exploring the galaxy, but here I am escorting those damned ships. Well, I might as well do what they say. Hailey walked toward his door. If there was some action or something going on, these trips might not be so bad. He opened it and headed towards the main bridge.

Little did he know, his wish was about to come true.

June 30th, 20XX
1528 Hours
NGC Reimer

Colonel Hailey strolled onto the bridge of the Reimer and looked around. The vessel was a Columbia class battlestar that was built over twenty years ago. It had participated in the ESUS/Shivan War some time ago and was beginning to show its age. The walls still had burn marks on them, quite a few of the crew members' quarters had been gutted for storage, and some of the armoring was missing on the outside. Also, most of fighters had been reassigned to other vessels in the fleet. The reason for this was because a plan was initiated to reorganize the entire military. The plan was to decommission or refit all of the older vessels, begin construction on two new battlecarriers, and essentially triple the size of the military. Soon, the Reimer would become one of the vessels to be decommissioned. While Hailey pondered these things as he walked to his chair, Chief of Security Major Mark Phillips patiently watched both his computer screen and digital watch. Right at 1530 hours a red dot appeared on the screen and alerted Phillips that someone had broken into the armory. He had wanted to disable the security systems earlier, but he could not take the risk of alerting anyone beforehand. Right on schedule as always, he thought as he carefully began to override the security protocols. A minute later he had successfully completed the override, and relaxed in his seat. Now just ten more minutes and the third part of our mission will be underway.

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

Dr. Cecil Berkley had been specially chosen for this particular mission because he was very knowledgable in the area of spacecraft technology and construction. He sat in the captain's chair on Prometheus 3 and looked at his watch. He finally turned towards Andrew Peterson at the science officer's station.

"Peterson, what is the status of our people on the Reimer?"

"Well, from our scans, it looks like they've entered the armory and are taking quite a few weapons."

"Excellent! Let's hope their mission is a success."

USS Da Vinci, Epsilon Sector
1535 NST (NG Standard Time)
----------------------------------
On the frontiers, a Sabre class scout was patrolling. The Da Vinci cruised along at Warp 9. At this speed, a full circuit of the Federation territory took about a month and a half. Right now, Da Vinci was passing through sector Epsilon, about halfway through the patrol. Lt. Jaeger called up a sensor report from one of the multitude of long range sensor platforms scattered in the area. Unofficially, the Federation controlled quite a bit more than the twenty lightyear radius, in fact, it was closer to 100 lightyears around the Indri system. Throughout this area, Starfleet had scattered sensor platforms disguised as rogue asteroids. One right on the edge of the 100 lightyear boundary was sending information to the Da Vinci right now.
"Commander," Jaeger called out, "I thinbk you'd better come see this."
Lieutenant Commander Tollen walked over to the Ops station, looking into the display.
"What is it, Jaeger?"
"This contact sir. Coming from the direction of Terra, bound straight for the portal. Sensors show a Columbia class battlestar, and nine Prometheus battlecruisers. FoF tags are either scrambled or being interfered with, but I am getting intermittent NG signals."
"Any disturbances to cause the interference?"
"Sensors also show a class 7 ion storm pretty close by, that's probably it. But sir..."
"What is it?"
"This shipment isn't on our schedules."
"It's probably a NavSpecOps flight. Don't worry 'bout it."
"Aye sir," Jaeger said as he turned back to his console. Tollen returned to the conn, ready to wait out the rest of his afternoon shift. Life continued unabated aboard, despite the growing storm.

June 30th, 20XX
1540 Hours
NGC Reimer

Twelve men, fully armed, ran from the armory towards the main bridge. Leading them was Captain William White. They split up into two groups of six, and a few seconds later, they stormed the bridge. Colonel Hailey spun around as the armed men ran in. "What the hell?!" he shouted just before a bullet smashed through his skull killing him instantly. Those that tried to draw their weapons were gunned down almost immediately.
"Men, here's a list of those who are with our forces. Take those that aren't to the cargo bay and lock them up for now," ordered White. "Also, flash the external lights three times to let Dr. Berkley know that the Reimer is under our control."
"Yes, sir," replied a lieutenant as she flashed the lights.

--------------------------------------------------
Andrew Peterson continued to monitor the Reimer on Prometheus 3.
"Dr. Berkley, it looks like they've taken the bridge."
"Good, now we wait for..." He was immediately cut off by Peterson.
"There's the signal, the lights are flashing!"
"Excellent, onto the fourth part of our mission. We wait."

(bump)

(Rebumped)

June 30th, 20XX
1540 - 1700 Hours
NGC Reimer

During the one hour, twenty minute wait, Dr. Berkley moved his command center from Prometheus 3 to the Reimer and continued to prepare the vessels for battle. At precisely 1700 hours, each vessel opened a hyperspace window and proceded through it towards Brandoniats space.

U.S.S. Da Vinci June 30th, 20XX
1700 Hours

"Sir, the NG convoy has disappeared!"
"Where the hell have they gone now?"
"Unknown, they just vanished."
"Go to yellow alert. If they reappear, they may be in need of assistance, and it looks like we're the closest vessel."
Around the bridge, as the captain reclained his seat, the lights dimmed and yellow beacons flickered on.

Dr. Berkley relaxed in his chair and awaited their arrival in Brandoniats space. Peterson turned and called up to him.
"Sir! Just before we entered hyperspace, a ship appeared on our scanners. I believe it is a Brandoniats Sabre-class scout ship."
"Hmmm...any chance they saw us?"
"Most likely."
"Alright, we'll drop just the Reimer out of hyperspace and reduce power to everything but the life support. Let's let them think we're in need of help."
"Yes, sir."
The battlestar exited hyperspace soon afterward, powered down, and slowly drifted towards the enemy ship.

U.S.S. Da Vinci June 30th, 20XX
1735 Hours

On the Da Vinci, stress was high. The NG ships had disappeared into hyperspace, and now they couldn't be tracked. The could literally be anywhere. Even right on top of them. The mystery was cloying. Captain Traton fidgeted in his seat.
"Commander, hasn't there been reports of vigilante activity in NG space?"
"Sir? Yes sir, there have been a few isolated incidents, but I don't see-"
"You will see. I bet it's posible for those vigilantes to create reasonable facsimiles of their I.D. tags. Ops, power down everything except minimal life support and passive sensors. I mean everything. That should render us largely invisible to them, hopefully we'll appear as a hunk of rock."
"Aye sir," said the young officer, "powering down."
As the lights faded around him, Traton pushed a control on his armrest.
"All hands, prepare for battle stations. Stand by."
Outside, the running lights of Da Vinci slowly faded, as did the warp grilles and impulse exhausts. She started to pitch and yaw against the weak solar wind from the nearby star. Running silent, the crew watched and waited...

June 30th, 20XX
1840 Hours
NGC Reimer

The crew was beginning to grow impatient for they had been waiting over an hour. Dr. Berkley leaned towards Peterson.
"Anything yet?"
"Not a damned thing."
"It appears they've wisened up."
Berkley turned around his chair around and looked at Victor Griffin, who manned the weapons console.
"I want a space search using eighteen Vipers. Each fighter is to cover a ten degree sector. That’ll give us a one hundred and eighty degree look ahead of ourselves."
"Yes, sir."
Within a few minutes, eighteen Vipers screamed out of their launch tubes towards open space.

EDIT: Whoops! Forgot to add a person's name in.

U.S.S. Da Vinci
June 30th, 20XX
1855 Hours
------------------------------------------
On the bridge of the Federation starship, all was quiet. Even the heartbeat of the ship, the warp core, was muted, quieter. Everyone sat tense in their seats, belted down, as the gravity net had been shut down as well. Only the dim emergency lights pierced the darkness, and the ventilation fans were the only other noise on the bridge. Onscreen, the passive visual sensors showed only empty space, with the pinpricks of stars seeming infinitely distant. The captain quietly gave orders, as though the enemy could somehow hear him through the vacuum of space.
"Ensign Takoya, prepare for a hot-start of everything. Shields, impulse, phasers, everything."
"Aye sir. Any particular system priorities?"
"If we see them first, I want a shot off quick. The torpedo launchers will warm up the quickest. Give the order for a manual load of five fish on both launchers."
"Working..."
"Commander, I want you to get the word around that all non-essential personnel are to gather in designated evac sections. Don't use the internal comms. Autonomous commbadges where possible, word of mouth where necessary. These odds don't look good for us."
"Aye," said the young officer as he scrambled for the Jefferies tube.
"If they see us first, we're pretty much toast. If we see them first, we're toast. All we can hope is that A, they're friendly and this is all one big goof-up, B, when we go, we take a few of them with us, or C, if we go first, no shots off, that it's quick..." the captain said, to no one in particular.

June 30th, 20XX
1900 Hours
Space, in front of the Reimer

The Vipers continued to search the emptiness of space for the Brandoniats scout not with scanners but with eyesight only. Judson Crozier, the pilot of Viper Gamma, studied vast darkness the around him. Damnit! he thought to himself. How in the hell are we supposed to find a small ship like a Sabre-class with only our eyes? His eyes shifted over to the "Active Scanner" On/Off switch just to the right of his weapons control console. Maybe if I just turned the scanners on for a few seconds, we might be able to find that ship. After debating it for a few minutes, he reached over, and with a flick of a switch, he turned it on.

June 30th, 20XX
1901 Hours
USS Da Vinci
"Sir, we've got a sensor pulse." a lieutenant said quietly from her glowing computer panel.
"See anything out there?" the captain said.
"Visuals aren't getting anything captain, but for all we know they could be too far away."
"Remind me to put in a request at dock for better visual sensors."
"If we ever get back to dock."
At that, the bridge was silent. Everyone took a moment to look at what they might lose.
Where do you think the pulse came from?"
"Well, it was too low in intensity to be from a starship. Probably a fighter."
Great, now we've got fighters to worry about. Everyone stand ready. It won't be long now."

June 30th, 20XX
1902 Hours
NGC Reimer

Meanwhile, Dr. Berkley paced the command center, glancing at Peterson every now and then.
"Did they find anything yet?"
"No, not a....wait! Viper Gamma has turned on its active sensors!"
"WHAT?!? I gave them explicit instructions not to turn it on!"
Berkley threw himself into his chair and slammed his fist on the armrest. We might as well wave a big sign telling them that we are here, he thought. Time to find them the old way.
"Peterson, power up every system on the ship including the active scanners. I want a full sensor sweep of the area around us."
Berkley turned around in his chair.
"Griffin, get the pilots to the hanger bays and prepare to launch all fighters."
Soon afterward, the Reimer began to shudder as each system came online. In the hangar bays, the pilots rushed to their fighters eagerly waiting for battle.

June 30th, 20XX
1903 Hours
U.S.S. Da Vinci
"Fuck!!"
"What?!"
"Active sensors, sir. Starship grade."
"Bearing?"
"340 mark 086."
"Damn, out of our torpedo arc. Engineering, ready for a hot start of the core anf coils."
=/\=I wouldn't advise that captain, we'll be risking total overload of the coils.=/\=
"If we don't do it, there won't be coils to overload."
=/\=Aye sir. Readying for cold start.=/\=
"Tactical, get ready to warm up phasers too. Torpedoes are loaded and hot, are they not?"
"Fish are loaded, though without the launcher to accelerate them, they are pretty much useless."
"I don't intend to use them without the launcher, I just want them ready. Last scan of the squadron indicated how many Battlestar class cruisers?"
"Unknown sir. But there are 9 Prometheus battlecruisers."
"I think we can handle the Battlestar, but we won't live long against the Prometheii. Commander, from what we know about NG sensor systems, can they detect us at warp?"
"They've never shared that information with us sir. For all we know, they could be reading our lips through space without us even knowing it."
"Well, we'll have to hope they can't. Recall your high school physics. How to we change our orientation without giving off a detectable energy signature."
"Well, sir, I can think of two methods. One, a large mass pushed off at a low speed. Two, a small mass pushed off at extremely high speed."
"Well, we mass as much as an old wet navy cruiser, so we are going to need a lot of force either way. I doubt we have a large mass to puch off, so what about a small mass? What sort of cargo are we carrying?"
"Not much sir. And I don't know how we'd accelerate them anyway."
I've got an idea. Tactical, have the torpedo launchers unloaded."
"Captain?"
"We've got four torpedo launcher, two on each side of the vessel. Two pointing for, the others aft. Load them up with junk, and we've got some low energy, high speed thrusters."
"Of course!"
"Load them up, commander. And make calculation for a short warp jump to the projected position of that Battlestar, I want to drop out right on top of it."
With a smile, the officer said, "Aye sir!"
The bridge crew buzzed with activity. At the Conn, the young Ensign plotted a warp jump. At Tactical, the Lt. Cmdr. there calculated what firing pattern of the makeshift thrusters would put them on the correct bearing. Everyone had something to do, and the best motivation possible. Preserving their own lives.

June 30th, 20XX
1904 Hours
NGC Reimer

"How are we doing so far?" Berkley asked Peterson.
"Most of the systems are online and we're bringing up the shields now."
The reactors rumbled as the shields increased to full power.
"Good. Now, how about the engines?"
"In three minutes, the ion-particle engines will be ready to go on your command, and the hyperdrive will be available in twelve minutes."
"Excellent," Berkley replied as he leaned back in his chair and contemplated his next move.

June 30th, 20XX
1904 Hours
U.S.S. Da Vinci
"How are those calculations going? Are we ready?"
"Thruster firing pattern ready sir. On your command."
"Alright, start firing. Give Engineering a 5 cout to when we're properly aligned. Five seconds before we're aligned, I want them firing up the core."
"Ae sire. Engineering, this is the Bridge. T-minus 35 seconds to core hot start. Acknowledge?"
=/\=Acknowledged. Just make sure they spell my name right in Memory Alpha, either in the stupid category or the heroic.=/\=
"We'll do. Stand by."
"Ready to fire thrusters, sir."
"Fire away"
At that moment, junk started to strem out of the right fore tube, spinning the massive escort to the right. Then, junk streamed from both the left fore and stern tubes. This stopped the rotation and starting to angle it upward.
"T-minus 5 seconds to core cold start."
A minute burst from an emergency cold gas thruster stopped the rotation, and settled the Saber into a heading.
"T-minus zero."
The warp grilles started to glow as the remaining junk was expelled from the tubes slowly. Impulse vents also started to glow their customary crimson.
=/\=Core is hot captain, you've got your warp power.=/\=
"Thank you, commander. Helm, engage on intercept course, maximum warp."
In space, you couldn't hear it, but the rising crescendo of the plasma injectors became a solid humm as the ship stretched to infinity, and disappeared in a flash of light.

June 30th, 20XX
1905 Hours
NGC Reimer

Peterson rubbed his eyes as he monitored the sensor station. This day was becoming much too long and tiring for him. He reached over for his cup of coffee when suddenly the lights on the console lit up and started to flash wildly. As he leaned forward, he yelled out loud what was appearing on the screens.
"Dr. Berkley! We have detected a ship that has gone to warp speed."
"Bearing?"
"Unknown, the Reimer still uses the older sensor systems."
"Damn, how are the ion-particle engines?"
"We still have two minutes before they come online."
Berkley nodded and leaned back in his chair. He was beginning to grow impatient. The attack on Brandoniats was supposed to have begun and here he was trying to destroy a little scout ship. He hoped that the other nine ships will be able to carry on the attack in his absence.

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

Meanwhile, on the edge of the Brandoniats region of space, nine Prometheii shuddered as they dropped out of hyperspace. Fully armed with naquadah-enhanced nuclear missiles and eight F-302 space fighters apiece, they intended to unleash a deadly blow to any force that came against them.

June 30th, 20XX
1907 Hours
U.S.S. Da Vinci
The Da Vinci dropped oput of warp right where it had planned to be, about 2 kilometres behing the insurgent Battlestar. In the viewscreen, the blinding light of the engine exhaust was dimmed automatically to save the eyes of the bridge crew. She moved rather slow compared to the nimble Sabre, but she also mounted an unhealthy amount of fighters and heavy weapons. on the Starfleet bridge, there was a feeling of confusion. THe tactical officer reported the situation.
"Sir, we have arrived right where we expected to be. That is a Battlestar ahead. The Prometheii appear to have departed already."
"Something of a mixed blessing, isn't it. We aren't going to be killed by them, but we have no idea just what they are doing. Have you confirmed the FoF tag?"
"Confirmed, it is forged. I don't read a true tag though."
"Alright. Let's take care of this. Put a dozen torpedoes up their tailpipe and raise shields."
"Aye sir. Firing..."
A moment later, a salvo of twelve torpedoes flew from the forward torpedoe tubes. The crimson starbursts sped toward the glowing engines of the Reimer, to unleash hell on them.

June 30th, 20XX
1908 Hours
NGC Reimer

Peterson grinned as he looked over the engine system console.
"Dr. Berkley, the engines are fully operational."
"Good, now..." Peterson abruptly cut him off.
"A Sabre-class vessel has dropped out of warp two kilometers behind us."
Berkley grumbled, "Peterson, turn us ninety degrees starboard. Griffin, prepare the side blaster turrets and launch all fighters."
The Reimer began its turn. Its massive hull slowly began to pivot as fighters began to scream out of the launch tubes. The blaster turrets along the sides of the ship rose up out of their bays and powered up.
Berkley motioned towards Peterson. “Status, please.”
“We have two fighters leaving the tubes, and the blaster turrets are powered up and ready to fire.”
His console began to flash wildly.
“There are twelve, I repeat, twelve inbound torpedoes on a course directly for the engines!”
“Everyone, brace for impact!”
The ship rocked as each torpedo hit the rear shields. With each hit, the shields grew weaker until only one torpedo remained.
"There is one torpedo remaining and the rear shields are down! Peterson shouted.
"Cut the power to..."
The last torpedo flew directly into the starboard engine and exploded inside. The blast burned out the starboard engine and overloaded the port engine causing the entire ship to spin out of control. Meanwhile, another fighter was being launched through the tubes, but the force of the explosion threw it into the wall. The fighter exploded upon impact and damaged the launch tubes. The four fighters that had launched before the hit were beginning to fire upon the enemy ship with their laser-torpedoes.

June 30th, 20XX
1909 Hours
U.S.S. Da Vinci
As the first salvo of torpedoes detonated, the bridge crew watched as the Reimer spun out of control. On screen, four small dots emerged from the Battlestar's launch bays and vectored towards the Da Vinci.
"Sir, enemy fighters inbound."
"Tactical scan."
"As far as I can tell sir, the fighters carry rather primitive plasma charge weaponry. It shouldn't be able to severely damage our shields."
"We don't have time for this. Power up the phaser arrays and if they start to present a threat, disable them if you can, destroy them if you must. Helm, set a course directly aft of the Reimer. I want to find out just what the hel is going on."
The Da Vinci moved in closer to the stricken Reimer, taking care to stay out of any remaining active fields of fire.
"Open a channel."

June 30th, 20XX
1910 Hours
NGC Reimer

Dr. Berkley rose up from his chair and looked towards Peterson.
"Damage report."
"The starboard engine is damaged beyond repair, the port engine is damaged but can be up and running within the hour, and the starboard launch tubes are severely damaged. Also, it appears that our fighters are causing very little trouble for them."
"Damn outdated ship!"
Berkley motioned towards the viewscreen which showed the Da Vinci.
"Why the hell aren't they trying to destroy us?!?"
"I don't know, sir." His console lit up. "Wait...they want to talk to us."
Berkley was confused.
"Really? I thought that they would have blown us out of the sky already. Anyways, open the channel."

June 30th, 20XX
1911 Hours
U.S.S. Da Vinci
"Sir, FoF tags confirmed. This is the Reimer. She was sent out to escort a flight of Prometheus to our docks."
"This hardly seems like something NG would do in their right mind. I think that they've come under new management, or this ship at least."
"The commander of the Reimer has responded. Shall I put him through?"
"Sure, let's see the face of betrayal."
The face of a somewhat older man appeared on the semi-holographic viewscreen. He wasn't wearing the standard NG uniform. Instead, it looked like he was wearing civilian clothing. The captain overcame his stupor for a moment to ask the million dollar question.
"So, since it appears that you aren't a ranking officer, I'll address you as sir. Anyway, do I have to state the very obvious question, or do I simply take out your other engine and leave you to die when your supplies run out?"

Berkley shrugged. "I am merely a pawn in this chess game. Destroy me if you wish, but larger pieces will soon follow."

"And just who is the king in this interstellar chess game? Because you do realize that the Federation won't take kindly to these acts."

"The king will reveal himself when he wishes to do so, but when he does, you will know his true power."

"Riight. And are you going to tell us just why you've made hostile gestures towards a Federation vessel?"

"Your nation is a threat to us because it is allied with the current administration. We cannot allow this."

"Do you really expect our people to just stand by and let you do this?"

#tag#

"Do as you wish, but your nation will be brought to its knees soon enough."

"The Federation won't fall so easily, you know. We will fight to the last to keep the freedoms we have earned. Now, if you aren't going to be more cooperative in giving us the information you hold, you're going to cease your meager existence. Clear? Lieutenant, target another torpedo salvo. Right up their exhausts."

Berkley rolled his eyes and cut the transmission off. He then punched the button on his chair to communicate with the chief engineer.
"Engineering, cut power to every system, including life support. Then I want you to create a feedback loop for the reactor."
"Do you realize that the reactor will reach critical overload and explode?"
"I do. If we're going to die, we might as well take the enemy with us."
"Yes, sir."
Seconds later, the lights on the bridge fizzled out, the computer screens turned off, and the life support systems winded down. All that could be heard was the increasing sound of the reactor building up power.

As the viewscreen reverted to the starscape and the Battlestar, a console beeped incessantly.
"Sir, I'm reading a massive power build up in their main reactor, and a power drop off in every other system. Looks like an overload. It isn't going to be healthy to be here sir."
"Shit!! Helm, hard about, Warp 5, NOW!!"
In space, the Da Vinci could be seen spinning on her axis away from the Reimer. In a flash of light, she disappeared.

Berkley stood on the bridge in the dark and waited for the reactors to reach critical. His head turned when he heard someone with a small flashlight call his name.
"Dr. Berkley, I was just looking out the window, and I saw the enemy ship go to warp speed."
"Understood, back to your post."
He sighed and turned himself back around. He knew that once the overload started there was no way to turned it off. A few seconds later, the reactor exploded and vaporized the entire ship, leaving nothing behind.

June 30th, 20XX
1921 Hours
U.S.S. Da Vinci
The Da Vinci drifted in space, gas venting from multiple hull breaches. When she had jumped to warp, it wasn't quite quick enough. A stray energy burst caught the tail of her and sent her spinning, a few million kilometres from the former wreckage. On the bridge, Traton picked himself up off the floor, dusting himself off and smoothing the wrinkles.
"Alright, Ops, give me status, what's up, what's down and what's really screwed."
"Warp is offline sir, with no chance of repair, impulse is barely operable at 20%, we might be able to get it back up. Weapons are offline and we have minimum short range sensors."
"Communications?"
"I think we're still online, but I don't think we've got the range to reach the gateway."
"Try the relay network, any signal?"
The young officer tapped at his console for a moment and was rewarded by a comforting tone.
"Got it sir. We've got a connection."
"Right, just to be safe, prepare text only message. Send our situation, and add this: Full tactical alert. Intercepted renegade NG vessel, only stopped one. Possibly six hostiles inbound, recommend full precautions."
"Message away sir. What do we do now?"
"We wait."