NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC note: This is closed to me, Zeonic Principality, and whoever else he should choose to let in, most likely the people he's currently RPing with in his main thread. Sorry, folks, your giant fleets o'doom will have to drop in elsewhere. ;p)

Milky Way Galaxy
Unknown System
1105 GMT


Lieutenant Ames sighs as he brings his Starfury around again, the nimble four-engined craft responding well as it angles around to go onto the next leg of his patrol route. The dim red light of the red dwarf that makes up this system's star reflects across the canopy of his cockpit, making the interior briefly take on a tinge of dried blood. Ames is bored almost to sleep by this patrol route, which he's run every day, without fail, for the past week and a half.

Several kilometers to port, a second Starfury, part of his squadron, makes an identical turn, keeping in loose formation with his own. As it does so, a small window opens on his HUD, displaying the face of said wingman, Lieutenant Harps. "This is Gamma 3 to Gamma Lead. See anything out there?"

Ames hits a switch on his left hand control, and sighs loudly and exxageratedly. "No, I havn't, Gamma 3. The answer's the same as the last five times you've asked. Nothing's out here but us, the Brazzaville, the Sutherland, and the Glouchester, and their escorts. And that ship the eggheads brought along." In the distance, true to his word, a number of glints can be seen, showing the bricklike shapes of a Nova-class dreadnought, along with two Hyperion-class cruisers and several Olympus class corvettes, surrounding an egg-shaped vessel with a rotating gravity wheel and a brick-like engine section protruding from the rear. Starfuries can be seen as smaller glints of light, broken up into two-fighter patrol groups, though they barely show up at all unless Ames squints at them, causing the cockpit software to provide a zoomed-in view.

"So why are we out here, anyways, Gamma Lead? This place is dead, dead, dead. No planets, no moons, hell, not even any decent asteroids."

Ames makes a face, and presses the button again. "Like I told you before we left, that's above my pay grade. All they do is tell me 'go here, do this'.".

The helmeted figure in the communications window smirks. "I heard the eggheads have come up with some kind of new faster than light drive. Something that allows instantaneous transportation anywhere within it's range."

Ames laughs sharply. "Hah! And where would you have heard that?"

"Cause I'm dating one of their assistants, that's why."

Snorting, Ames closes the window, but leaves the audio open. "Alright, that's enough for now, Gamma 3. We're both running a little low, so let's go back for refueling."

As the two Starfuries approach the cluster of larger vessels, something odd suddenly begins to happen. Ames frowns as little flickers of energy, like heat lightning, begin running across the science vessel in the middle of the fleet. The running lights on the nearby ships start to dim and go out as well, and consternated radio chatter suddely begins to fill his channels.

"....is the Sutherland, what the hell is going on!?" "Glouchester here, we're experiencing massive power fluctuations in all our primary sys..."

The little flickers of light begin to run across the hulls of nearby ships as well, and the comm channels dissolve into static. Ames curses as his controls suddenly seem to go berserk, and the HUD begins to ripple as though water is flowing across it. The energy on the science vessel continues to build, becoming brighter, and brighter, and brighter...

...and then an out of control Starfury, it's engines firing randomly as it spins around and around, smashes into the engine section of the vessel, causing an explosion. The effect is immediate, as suddenly, an omnidirectional field of -some kind of force rushes outwards from the vessel, faster than the eye can see, enveloping a Hyperion, the Nova, two Olympuses, and a number of Starfuries. Within this field, the vision of everyone suddenly seems as though they're within a photo negative, and everything stops...

From the outside of the effect, it appears as though an intolerably bright sphere of light has appeared, centered on the science vessel, though nothing can be seen inside. It floats there in space, for almost a minute, before dissappearing, as suddenly as it appeared, leaving no trace that anything was there... other than the sectioned hull of the second Hyperion, which has been sliced along it's bow, providing a cross section of the interior. Several Olympuses and a few unfortunate Starfuries have also suffered the same effect-- and indeed, some begin to explode, as critical components cook off and volatile compounds ignite...


Milky Way Galaxy
Sol System
Earth, L3 Lagrange Point
1322 GMT

Local Designation: Side 7


Several spheres of light appear, all centered in the same region of space. Three Starfuries, including Ames' fighter, and a Hyperion, all suddenly appear as the spheres dissappear. The running lights on all of them are out, and the cockpit of Ames' fighter is dark, as it slowly rotates through space... though, automatic repair systems begin to slowly take inventory, bypass damaged circuits, and bring secondary systems back online.

Ames himself lols in his cockpit's straps, unconscious, a single drop of blood dangling from one nostril.


Milky Way Galaxy
Sol System
Asteroid Belt
1412 GMT


Another sphere of light appears, surrounding a small asteroid. However, as it vanishes, it suddenly reveals an impossible sight-- an Olympus class corvette, occupying the exact same space as said asteroid.

This contradiction is immediately resolved as the Olympus and the asteroid both explode violently, the interpenetrating molecules of the two resolving the contradiction by converting themselves to energy.

Milky Way Galaxy
Sol System
Earth, L3 Lagrange Point
1329 GMT

Local Designation: Side 7


Ames suddenly jerks as he regains consciousness, his condition having stabilized enough that the automed suite in his suit has injected him with a stimulant. His practiced eyes flit across the HUD, showing a number of blinking system warnings all over the place. After quickly looking them over, he immediately disables them-- most of them are related to jump point tracking systems, though there is an irregularity in the port ventral thruster's tertiary power feed, and two of the rapid-fire pulse cannons that compose his primary armament are suffering shorts in their primary busses.

More importantly, passive sensors are picking up a great many contacts, with an unknown configuration-- as well as three friendly IFF signatures: Gamma 3, another Starfury his HUD tags as Delta 2, and the Hyperion-class cruiser Glouchester, which, while displaying no visible signs of damage, appears to be entangled in some long wiring.

Taking a deep breath, Ames keys his systems, and initiates a full engine restart, giving up a small mental prayer that nothing will go wrong. Indeed, nothing does, and the four engines on the ends of their pylons flicker to life, in turn, repowering the Starfury's systems completely as he gently edges the throttle forwards...

Aegina, Salamis Kai class cruiser, Federation Space Forces, Side 7

After the short but bloody uprising which ended in the destruction of the majority of combined Titan and Federation space assets, they had signed a peace agreement with the Principality of Zeon. Their now relatively small fleet had only one duty - to patrol the space in and around Side 7. It was a boring job, especially compared to what they had signed up for, but it paid the bills.

The captain yawned and stretched his limbs for a few moments while sitting on his seat on the ship's bridge. He had the worst headache he had ever had. Or at least at the moment it seemed the worst. And that was all that mattered.

"Took a couple too many, huh, cap?," asked one of the officers, grinning widely.

"... Yeah," responded the captain with a near-whispering voice, "Had a good reason, though. Ya only find out you're having your first kid once. Had to celebrate."

"Congrats, cap."

"... Thanks."

After that exchange everyone went back to their regular work, leaving the captain alone with his headsplitting headache.

Until...

"... What the hell?"

The captain opened his blood shot eyes and turned his head towards the source of the voice.

"What's up, Lieutenant?"

"Well, uh... Some stuff just appeared on radar. Kinda look like ships, but... They're nothin' I've seen before."

The captain sighed. First time in ages something like this has happened and he's hung over. Even if it's more likely it's just some debris from Luna II that's floating in the area rather than anything special, like pirates, but still...

Figures.

"Uh," he muttered, sliding his right hand beneath his cap and scratching his head, "Send a couple of GMs to investigate. Probably just some crap floating in space giving off weird signatures."

"Aye, cap."

Shortly after the order had been given, two GM IIs exited the hangar of the Aegina and begun moving towards the strange objects.

They would find out whatever it is floating around there soon enough, even if they weren't expecting anything.

Ames shakes the remainder of the cobwebs out of his head as he slowly increases acceleration, and begins fiddling with the communications system. Long range systems are down, unfortunately, but all short range things are quite online.

"Gamma Lead to Gamma 3 and Delta 2, do you copy? Status report-- you folks alright?"

Two small communications windows blink on on his HUD, even as the sensor display shows the two other Starfuries starting to move, though one appears to be having engine trouble as two of it's thrusters are pulsing in fits and starts, causing it to crab slightly.

"Gamma 3 here. I've got shorted electronics all over this damn thing-- primary navigation systems and rear pulse cannons are completely offline, and the others are iffy."

"Delta Three here. I'm having power fluctuations in two engines, and a short in missile guidance systems."

Ames nods as he absorbs this info, and takes a breath, about to issue another order, when a new voice cuts into the channel.

"Glouchester to all strike craft-- we heard that. Your three units are redesignated Iota Squadron temporarily. Your orders are to cover us for now-- most of our primary systems are offline and the ship is tangled in debris. Work crews are heading out now, but it will be at least twenty minutes before we can move."

"Roger that, Glouchester. Falling into formation-- it seems the locals have noticed us and sent someone to have a look-see."

Ames applies gentle pressure to his controls, his Starfury arcing around and heading towards the two incoming GMs, Gamma 3 forming up on his wing, about a klick to starboard.

"This is ANSF Starfury Iota One to incoming craft. Please identify yourselfs immediately."

As the electro-optical systems that are part of his sensor suite attempt to focus on the two GMs, Ames frowns as the screen's vertical synch goes out of whack. Detatching a foot from his restraints, he gives the unit a sharp kick, causing a small *frotz* noise, as the image returns to normal.

"...the hell? They look like giant space suits or something..."

Why'd they send that damn rookie with me? Bastards. Damn bastards.

Those were the thoughts going through the head of the Lieutenant Junior Grade Collins as he had sortied from the Aegina on his (t)rusty GM II. Not that he would ever complain anywhere except inside his own head.

As the two moved closer towards the object in perfect radio silence, he started to think that maybe, maybe this was a bit more interesting than the usual stuff they had found in the vicinity of Side 7. He had zoomed in onto it on a window on his screen, and... It didn't look asymmetric enough to be a part of the late asteroid base. Nor did its silhouette really look like any ship he knew.

He made his GM grab the other GM by the arm and shouted "Hey, rookie!" after having done so, startling the other pilot, causing a litany of muffled curses.

He smirked.

After a minute or so, the other pilot finally replied. Audio only.

"What, Sir?"

"You know what we're looking at?"

"Uh..."

"Thought so. If you don't wanna die, stop rushing in like you've got no brains and stick to my side."

"Roger, Sir."

At that point, in came the transmission from the Starfury, cutting this exercise rather short.

"Sir," said a whiny voice over the comms, "What do we do?"

"Don't crap your pants, Ensign," said Collins nonchalantly, "I'll handle it."

He made his GM take its hand off the other GM and pressed a couple of buttons. He wasn't the type to panic easily, which, in situations like this, played to his advantage.

"This would be a GM II under the vessel Aegina of the Side 7 Space Forces, pilot Lieutenant Collins, Junior Grade, speaking. You're trespassing on our space. Please explain why you are here."

Ames blinks as he recieves a prompt response from both the Glouchester and the GM pilot, easing back on his throttle somewhat as the text-only message shows up. Guess main comm isn't working so well.

"This is Iota One to Lieutenant Collins-- I have been instructed to inform you and your superiors that we apologize for the intrusion, but have been subject to a severe accident. If you would inform us of where we are, we will proceed to neutral space as soon as our ship, the ANSF Glouchester, is freed from the mess it's currently entangled in. I regret to inform you that we do not currently have an ETA on this, but it will be accomplished as soon as possible."

True to Ames' words, a sufficiently zoomed in view would reveal airlocks opening in various locations on the hull of the kilometer-long ship, and the tiny figures of space suited figures beginning the dance that is zero gravity maneuvering.

"OK," Collins said to himself, "Didn't see that one coming," as he listened to the transmission and saw what looked like people pouring out of the rather gigantic ship. It didn't dwarf a Jupiter Energy Fleet ship, but it sure did dwarf the Salamis class ships the patrol group he was in consisted of.

He made his GM throw its right arm upwards and fire a signal flare to inform the Aegina and its accompanying ships to come closer and that there is no danger.

He hoped.

He glanced at the rookie's GM. Didn't look like he'd pull off something stupid - he was perfectly stationary... Or at least as stationary as a GM can be in the zero gravity of space.

He pressed a couple of buttons again to reopen the comm channel on his end.

"Collins to Iota One. Sorry to hear about your troubles. You're... Uh. You're pretty much inside the area controlled by Side 7, a protectorate of the Principality of Zeon, or as it's better known as, the home of the former Earth Federation. Former cuz it got booted off Earth."

A sigh.

"I signaled the Aegina to come here. I'm sure you folks would wanna talk with someone who's actually got some say on what's gonna happen now rather than just a random pilot."

Ames sighs as the response comes over the channel, tracking the two GMs with his eyes.

I hate getting in the middle of other people's disputes.

A blinking set of text begins to appear on his HUD, but then stops... and the reason why soon becomes apparent, as the running lights on the Glouchester all light up. The ship, however, still seems to be entangled in the mass of junk and debris that it collided with after emerging from... wherever it came from.

"Iota 1, this is the Glouchester. We have main power back online, and primary communications systems are up. We'll take over from here for now."

As the Glouchester's systems probe local space, the GMs and the Salamis both have their information updated on Ames' HUD as his Starfury is finally able to squirt a microburst of data to the systems onboard. Most importantly, from the purple coloration of 'UNKN', the brackets around the GMs and the Aegina both flash several times, then change to the blue of 'NTRL', designating them as neutrals.

"This is Axis Nova Space Forces heavy cruiser Glouchester to Side 7 craft Aegina, do you copy? If you can spare any kind of work crew to help us clear the debris, it would be much appreciated. The exclusion zone around this vessel is cancelled for the moment, as you have shown no hostile intentions."

The link comes through quite clear, much better than from Ames' Starfury-- if the Salamis has compatible bridge systems, a vid window pops up in the appropriate location on it's bridge, displaying what appears to be a fairly young woman with white skin, brown eyes, and short black hair snagged back in a ponytail, presumably a junior officer of some sort.

---

At that same time, on the bridge of the Glouchester, things are a bit subdued. A few panels are open, with maintenance personnel fiddling inside them, and the main screen is offline, with a test pattern on it.

From the captain's chair, a somewhat gruff voice speaks up. "Sikorsky, what's the status on the debris clearing?" The young woman, the same one that has been issuing communications thus far, turns and nods to the captain, a middle aged man with weathered skin, a semi-perpetual scowl on his face, and more than one gray hair, and then hits a few switches on her console, communicating with the EVA crew chiefs in a quiet tone of voice. A minute later, she looks up.

"Captain, debris clearing is going slowly-- the starboard particle beam and heavy pulse cannon can be employed if neccesary, and all interceptors are clear if needed. However, all other weapons, along with the hangar bay, are still blocked, and a significant amount of wiring is wrapped around the rear third of the hull and the engine section. Chief Spencer estimates that we could pull free in an emergency, but we'd likely take moderate damage in the process. Estimated time to complete debris removal is two hours-- the wiring especially is very thick material, and our EVA crews are having a hard time manipulating it."

The Salamis did have somewhat compatible systems, and the window had appeared on the monitor which was, less surprisingly, meant for communications. What the woman would see, in turn, is a Caucasian man in his early thirties, obviously a bit hung over and tired but trying to cover it up. His short brown hair was covered by a standard-issue officer's cap of the Federation and a part of his captain's uniform would be quite likely visible. His eyes were slightly blood shot, but the color otherwise matched his hair.

"Yeah, we copy," said the captain, his voice a bit on the rough side, "This is just a patrol group, so we don't really carry that many technicians and whatnot. I'll however order all Mobile Suits under my command to be sent to help you with the debris," he continued, glancing at something on his left side and nodding, "They should be of some help with it. If you need some other kind of help, too, just ask."

Having said that, from the four Salamis Kai class cruisers launched fourteen more Mobile Suits of varying models, from original GMs to even relatively modern Nemos built by Anaheim Electronics, which took a course towards the Glouchester. While en route, they began requesting for information on where they could be of use.

While that was happening, the captain wondered where did these people pop up from. They looked human... But their ship and fighters were of types he had never even heard of. What was going on? Was this one of those first contact situations he had heard rumors of?

The face on the monitor nods, brushing a drifting lock of hair out of her eyes. "Roger that, Aegina. Any help you can provide would be appreciated."

The three Starfuries arc around, falling into an escort formation, as the MS from the Salamises begin to deploy and head towards the Glouchester. Inside his fighter, Ames relaxes a bit.

Well, they don't SEEM hostile, at least... but there are a decent number of them, that's for sure.

----

On the Glouchester's bridge, the mood is one of quiet intensity. The entire ship has been on a second stage alert ever since the event that dumped it into areas unknown, and while the debris clearing has been more or less going smoothly (and much faster, with the help of the small task force's GM's), the bridge crew is still on edge.

"Sir?" One of the sensor technicians leans closer to his screen, turning halfways around to look at the captain. "We're picking up a number of contacts at long range... they're fuzzy on radar for some reason, and that fuzziness is getting worse by the second, but they're also showing up alright on infrared."

"Go to stage one alert. Send a message to the Aegina and ask them if they know anything about it. Also, all Starfuries are to stand by."

----

In the small lounge somewhere onboard the Glouchester, Ames is relaxing, drinking from a small bottle with a tube, to prevent the liquid within from spilling out in the low gravity. For the moment, he doesn't have anywhere else to go, and neither does his wingman-- as their Starfuries hadn't originally deployed from this ship, all his stuff is light years away.

"Man, this stinks... I want to get some rest."

Just then, the lights shift to a soft red, and a female voice speaks over the intercom. "Attention Starfury pilots, report to the hangar immediately. Repeat, all Starfury pilots report to the hangar immediately."

Ames gets an irritated expression on his face and zips his flight jacket back up, tossing the bottle into a disposal receptacle, then kicks off the wall and floats over to the door, swinging his way through and grabbing one of the runners on the walls, intended for speeding movement through the ship, and waits as it pulls him along

"Already? Sheesh, now what..."

"Huh?," uttered the captain of the Aegina, scratching his chin, "Someone else's here? Gimme info, people!"

"Cap," said the officer in charge of the sensors, "Minovsky interference's growing in the area they're saying they're seeing stuff at."

"What the hell. Can we get a visual?"

"Yeah... It's... It's.... Those damn Titans! And it's lookin' like they're up to no good."

"What the... I didn't know they had stuff left! How many ships?"

"Uh... One Alexandria and two Salamis, Cap. Can't see anythin' else."

The captain launched himself up from his seat, only barely missing the ceiling of the bridge when he realized that what he had just done in a zero-G environment.

"Open a channel with these new guys!"

"OK, Sir," replied the comms officer, "It's done!"

"This is the Aegina to the Glouchester. It seems a small contingent of the Titans has found us. Well, you. They shouldn't be too interested in us alone. Normally I wouldn't think they'd be trying something weird, but they've spread Minovsky particles. That's pretty much a sign of them preparing for battle."

He sighed.

"I've sent a request for reinforcements, but it's impossible to tell if it'll actually reach anyone in time, what with the distance and all. I really hope it will, since these Titans are better equipped than we are, and if they're gonna start getting funny and we get no help... Well, I really hope your stuff's up to snuff..."

"Cap," shouted the sensors officer, cutting the Captain's message a bit short, "they've just launched 10... 12... Nah, 18 Mobile Suits!"

"What types?"

"Looks like those Act Zakus they like to use. Or HiZacks like they call 'em."

"... Well, shit. That's no good."

"Sir..."

The Captain glanced at the comms officer, and remembered the transmission.

He scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed.

"Uh, sorry 'bout that. Looks like we're gonna get some unexpected guests real soon. And they mean business! Aegina out," he said and nodded at the comms officer, who cut the transmission.

He sat down again.

"We won't shoot first, tho. I don't wanna give those bastards any reason to start a war against us. They're always actin' like they own the place... Bastards."

"Roger that, Aegina. We don't want to cause trouble, so we'll proceed out of the area as quickly as we can-- we're not here to start a fight."

With that, the Glouchester's main engines power up, a bright glow emanating from the rear as the advanced ion engines kick into action, pushing the Hyperion-class vessel forwards. While it's engines are, indeed, extremely powerful, the Glouchester's mass means it accelerates slowly-- slower than the incoming Titans vessels are moving in.

-----

As he straps himself into the cockpit of his Starfury, Ames considers complaining again, but decides against it, instead just starting things up. A rising hum sounds as his HUD blinks on, and the hatch seals with a clunk-hiss. As the Starfury's systems boot up, he is pleased to see that everything is in working order, more or less-- even his missile hardpoints are full. Clicking his controls as his engines rev up to standby mode and the automatic arm inside the bay lifts his fighter and begins moving it to the catapult, he connects to the ship.

"This is Iota Lead-- my compliments to the repair crew. I can't believe they got this thing back in shape so fast."

Ames' Starfury locks into position, a cable still connected to it's rear as the hatch on the front bottom hull of the Glouchester opens. The red lights along the linear catapult's four arms turn green as their charge builds up, and the arm holding the Starfury in place releases as the magnetic field snags his Starfury, positioning it, blast dams automatically pivoting into position behind his engines. Taking a deep breath, he squeezes his control grips a little tighter as the countdown signal outside lights up, rapidly reaching zero.

"Iota One, launching!"

The cable detaches as he pushes his engines to half power, the linear catapult grabbing his Starfury and accelerating it even more. The G-forces press him back into his seat as his Starfury is fired out of the Glouchester at high velocity. Once he's clear, he pushes the engines up the rest of the way, taking up station as he waits for the next launches. Shortly thereafter, at thirty second intervals, the other two Starfuries launch, forming up on his wing. A communications window blinks on in the cockpits of all three fighters, the face of the same female communications officer appearing.

"Glouchester to Iota Wing-- your orders are to provide escort for the Glouchester while we plot a course out of this area. Do not engage unless attacked first. Out."

"Aegina here. Yeah, I get it that you don't wanna start a fight, but the way those guys are moving in... Looks like they do. You don't spread Minovsky particles and launch your entire MS compliment for the fun of it. Proceed with caution."

The four Salamis kais, which were much smaller than the Glouchester, prepared to escort the vessel, even if it meant fighting the Titans. The captain hoped that the Federation command would send in something before things would go awry... But who knew what was going down there, especially if the Titans were now posturing so openly, ready to even go against Federation vessels.

--

The Alexandria class vessel fired its Mega Particle Cannons over the Glouchester. Obviously a warning shot to tell them that the Titans weren't playing around.

The captain of the Aegina shivered at the sight of them. They brought the memories of the war back from the depths of his mind. Something he would've preferred to just forget. They reminded him of the Zaku IIs the Principality had used during it - although he was fairly certain that that was the exact reason why the Titans used them to begin with. However, only the Titans knew why. He wasn't privy to their secrets.

A message came through mere moments later, relayed through one of the quickly advancing HiZacks. It was obvious by now that it wouldn't take much longer for them to reach the group, in part due to the slowness of the Glouchester itself.

"This is the Alexandria class heavy cruiser Damanhur of the Titans. Cease your attempts to flee and prepare to be boarded. This is your only warning. I repeat. Do not attempt to flee and prepare to be boarded!"

And so, the Titans made their intentions more or less clear.

As the Titans force continues to close in, the three Starfuries idling near it swing into a formation and begin heading towards the incoming Hizacks, their ion thrusters brightening as their output increases. On board the lead one, Ames settles deeper in his seat, squeezing his control grips a little tighter as he accelerates.

"Iota Lead to Iota Wing: Look sharp, folks-- seems it's about time to earn our pay. There's a lot more of them than there are of us, so don't get tied up in a furball-- just try to break their formation up."

The three Starfuries are moving at quite a clip now, and the gentle giant's hand of acceleration is pushing Ames back into his couch, though due to his current posture, it's not doing much besides making him mildly uncomfortable...


---

"Power up primary weapons systems. Set interceptors for long-range dispersion fire. Lock particle beams on enemy flagship, pulse cannons stand by. Load Tubes One and Two with antiship missiles."

As the captain of the Glouchester gives his orders, large missiles inside the hull slip from their cradles, gliding along rails as the automatic loading system slots them into place, . The fire control sensors of the ship come alive as the interceptors and pulse cannons swivel about as they run through their brief startup test sequences, before all the forward ones aligning to bear on the incoming Titans mobile suit squadron.

"Aye, sir. Interceptors online and at one hundred percent capacity. Tubes One and Two loaded. Pulse cannons and particle beams ready."

The captain nods. "Open a channel to the Aegina.


---

"This is Glouchester to Aegina and associated vessels. Please stay clear of our forward arc, so that the efficiency of our interceptors is increased. Your efforts on our behalf are appreciated and will be repaid if possible, but it will be difficult for our interceptors to protect you from enemy projectile and energy attacks if you're between us and them."

A second channel opens, this time directed at the incoming Titans mobile suits.

"This is Axis Nova Space Forces heavy cruiser Glouchester to approaching Titans force-- cease your approach immediately. Your demands are rejected and any attempt to attack and sieze this vessel will be met with deadly force. Your intentions will be judged as hostile if you do not break off your attack in the next minute, or if you fire on this vessel again."

In response to the transmission sent to the Federation patrol group, one of the Salamis changed course, leaving the side of the Glouchester which was facing the Titans vessels open. At the same time the Federation Mobile Suits were returning to their parent vessels as, for the moment, they were largely unarmed - they weren't equipped for a fight, after all.

While this was taking place, the Glouchester's transmission reached the Titans forces. The HiZacks slowed down. In fact, they nearly stopped moving.

"We don't know what this ship's capable of," said one of the HiZack pilots over their shared comm channel, ""Stay alert." Several acknowledgements later one of the HiZacks fired several signal flares.

On board the Damanhur, the ship's captain grinned wryly.

"They aren't standing down, huh."

He stood up.

"This is it. Alien and Spacenoid filth won't get away from us this easily! If they will not stop, we will stop them ourselves!"

"Aye, Sir!"

"Target the ship's engines! Disable it with everything we've got! And tell the HiZacks to disable its defenses, including those fighter craft!"

"What about the others, Sir?"

The captain glanced at the officer, looking slightly offended by the question.

"If they turn out to be more than we can handle, YES, I will ask them come bail us out. But for now, shut up about them! You do realize what it'll mean to us if we just go off and tell them to come here right off before we've even tried fighting them ourselves?"

The captain sat down.

"Now," he said, extending his right arm in front of him and spreading the said hand, "FIRE!"

And so, the Titans vessels began firing at the parts of the Glouchester which seemed to be its propulsion mechanisms. The HiZacks used it as a signal to begin their own assault - spreading out somewhat while most of them fired at the incoming Starfuries, and others were taking potshots at the Glouchester's more turret-looking parts.

(OOC: Didn't feel quite as good as I wanted to do, but... Well, better post than start thinking too much about it.)

(OOC: I'm really really sorry about taking so long-- it's been super busy lately and the whole thing just slipped my mind >.<

As the first mega particle blasts are expelled forth from the barrels of the Titans' mega particle cannons, the interceptors along the Glouchester's port side open up, sending streams of unnervingly accurate plasma pulses outwards. A majority of the initial salvo is intercepted well short of the Glouchester, with little results beyond large explosions as the mega particle blasts lose their coherency well short of the target. A few more flat out miss.

One strikes home, in the rear section of the Glouchester, and that section of the ship is briefly shrouded by a large explosion...

...which clears to show little more than a scorch mark on the Glouchester's armor, and some slight pitting. The extremely heavy armor of the ANSF vessel seems to be holding, at least at this range.

----

"Damage report!" The captain of the Glouchester's eyes flick rapidly over the displays shown on the main viewer, and the crew around him works with a subdued bustle. The ship's frame vibrates slightly as the pulse cannons begin to return fire, bright sparks of light leaping away from the barrels and aimed at the distant Titans vessels.

"No major damage, sir. That one shot that hit us, along with all the others that were intercepted, was some kind of particle bolt-- the armor held fine, efficiency in section 121-B down by 2.75%. However, radar sensor efficiency has decreased markably-- it seems the enemy vessels and their weapons are utilizing some sort of radar jamming particle. Due to this, interceptor effective range has been reduced to approximately 44% of normal."



----

In return, all of the portside pulse cannons on the [i]Glouchester begin sending plasma pulses of various sizes downrange, a multicolored light show exploding towards the Titans vessels and the Hizacks.

The three Starfuries spread their formation out as a hail of beam rifle fire heads in their direction. Swivelling and rotating as the four primary thrusters on each one vector their exhaust, they manage to pass the barrage more or less unscathed.

Inside the cockpit of the lead Starfury, Ames curses as a beam passes near him and his radar screen suddenly goes completely blank. "What the hell!? Glouchester, my radar's crapping out!" As the backup infrared, electro-optical, and LIDAR/LADAR systems automatically compensate, Ames flicks his eyes across the Hizack formation, targeting reticules appearing on the ones closest to his course. Aiming at the slowest moving Hizack, he depresses the triggers on his control sticks, feeling a satisfying kick from the force feedback systems as the four primary weapons of the Starfury open up, sending a hail of pulse cannon blasts at his victim. His wingmen do likewise, each aiming at their own targets.

A split second later the three Starfuries flash through the Hizack formation at a high relative speed... and then each one rotates 180 degrees, now headed 'backwards', and repeats their attack, pulse cannon streams lashing out at the enemy mobile suits.

A lot of them, but they're slow compared to us... gotta cut down their numbers as fast as we can before they know what we can do!


"Glouchester to Iota Leader, acknowledged. We are having a simi-*frrzt* disruption in our own radar systems. Cause is unknown for the mome*ccrrrt*t."

On the bridge of the Damanhur

As the Glouchester started its response, the captain stood up again, watching as things went forward. He staggered a bit as the ship was hit by some of the shots, launching off the floor in the zero G environment. When that happened, he chose to return to his seat.

"Status report!"

"Minimal damage reported, Sir! A bit of the outer armor plating got blackened a bit, but that's all. It looks like they're taking half-hearted pot shots at us rather than actually trying to hit us properly. Their weapons seem ineffective at this range - they're using some kind of plasma weapons."

"Huh, plasma weapons? That sounds kinda wasteful... But anyway. Did we hit anything? I saw an explosion."

"Only one of our shots even hit it, Sir, and caused no apparent damage! The other shots were intercepted by some kind of point defense weaponry!"

"Yeah, I saw that. I guess we can't hit it as long as it's fully functional. I was kinda hoping it would've been disabled or something."

The captain scratched his chin.

"What's the status on the HiZacks?"

"They are engaging the enemy fighters, Sir! They have taken no casualties so far!"

"Well, that's good. Any progress so far?"

"No, Sir! All sensors indicate that they have not disabled a single fighter!"

"Hmmh. There's just three of them, though..."

The captain closed his eyes momentarily and sighed.

"Continue firing! And keep throwing dummies at 'em! I want to know exactly what the hell we're up against!"

"Aye, Sir!"

--

While it was true that the HiZacks were slower than the Starfuries, a lot slower, it didn't mean that they were a whole lot less maneuverable or that their pilots would've been unaware of Newtonian laws of space combat, as Ames and his wingmen would soon notice. The HiZacks would not be capable of fleeing from the Starfuries nor pursuing them, but...

Their pulse cannon fire did hit their targets. After a fashion. The HiZacks were "looking" at the Starfuries, and as they had begun firing, the Mobile Suits had just covered themselves with their forearm attached shields. Each hit deformed those shields their targets carried. Shields which were pretty much nothing but slabs of armor, made exactly for situations such as this. The machines behind those shields were left largely unhurt, taking a few scrapes here and there at most to noncritical sections while the shields were still usable.

And with each passing moment, they would also notice that the shots fired by the other HiZacks were becoming more and more accurate. Their targeting computers were beginning to catch on.

(OOC: Well, there's something for ya. Took me a while to think what I'd post.)

Ames grimaces as one of the beams from the Hizacks comes uncomfortably close, ablative armor sublimating a bit as the beam grazes the lower hull of his Starfury. "Pick it up, people, they're starting to wake up."

His eyes dart back and forth across his HUD, and targeting reticules flash around several of the Hi-Zacks. A second later, a pair of missiles detatch from beneath his wings and lance forth.

A human being would curse if his radar targeting went out. As the missile isn't human, it's electronic brain simply notes the ineffectiveness of the radar sensors, logs it and transmits it to Ames' Starfury, and switches it's homing mode to active laser, arrowing in on one of the Hi-Zacks at incredible velocity.

-----

"Radar targeting continues to degrade! Bringing backup systems online!"

"Enemy has not responded to our initial barrage!"

"Engineering reports power flows stable for now, main engines still restricted to low output. Every time we try to raise it, we start getting power fluctuations-- Damage Control is still working on repairing the damage we sustained."

The Glouchester's bridge is a scene of quiet intentness-- everyone is concentrating, and also nervous. A fight against three capital vessels, of unknown capabilities, in a damaged ship... it wears on the nerves.

"Bring us about to heading 27 mark 4, Blue, Alpha. I want our particle beams brought to bear!"

"Blue, Alpha, aye."

The Glouchester[i] suddenly begins to swing to port, suprisingly quickly for the speed it's been going so far, and the two turrets on it's port and starboard swivel like malevolent insects as they aim downrange. A split second later, two massive red beams fly forth... unlike the mega particle cannon fire that is still making a fancy light show as the interceptors do their best to fend it off, these are continuous beams, and they sweep through space towards their prey, the Titans vessels...

...and miss. The beams scorch through space and pass below and a little to the left of the small flotilla, doing no real damage. The beams trasverse slightly while firing, but it doesn't prove to be enough for now.

"Massive fault in particle beam targeting systems! The entire board is red!"

Captain Simmons utters a quiet curse to himself.

[i]This isn't good... It will take longer to end this with just the pulse cannons. Though, from the effects observed so far, they don't appear to be armored, which means that the pulse cannon bolts are penetrating their hull...

"Bring us closer in! We need to finish this fast before they can deploy reinforcements."

The Glouchester's engines push it slowly towards the Titans force, it's barrage redoubling as the extra pulse cannons unmasked by it's turn open fire. The heavy pulse cannon mounted on the dorsal hull unleashes another stream of massive plasma bolts, aimed at the Salamis on the port side of the Alexandria this time, instead of at the small cloud of Hizacks...

While the Glouchester was maneuvering, it was hindered by the lack of information sent to the Federation ships surrounding it, causing a bit of a panic to evade it and its weapons again and again. While the armor of the Federation ships left much to be hoped for, they still had the ability to blow up quite violently when rammed - and no one wanted to die a whole lot, especially not due to friendly fire.

At this time, the ragtag group of Mobile Suits from the Aegina and the other vessels had equipped their weapons and were moving to engage - although it seemed they were a bit too late. Although, in this case, it was a good thing, since the Mobile Suits they had were generally of much older stock than the HiZacks even.

On the bridge of the Damanhur

"Holy shit!", yelled the captain as he launched up from his seat as he and his crew watched the Glouchester fire, only barely managing to stop his head from hitting the ceiling. He sighed in relief as the beams "harmlessly" hit a bunch of dummies and debris in the area, cutting the said debris in pieces and blowing up the dummies.

"Goddamn guys, did you see that?!"

"Well, uh, yes, Sir. Dunno how we could've missed it."

The captain sighed again.

"Jesus... Keep our distance, I don't want us to get hit by that."

"Seconded, Sir."

The captain sat back down.

"How the hell are we gonna take it if it has weapons like that..."

At this point, he noticed a sizeable explosion taking place on the Damanhur's port. The ship rocked a bit once the shockwave reached it.

"... What was that?"

"Um, Sir, that was the Dandarah. It just blew up."

The captain went pale and gasped, and just sat there silently for a minute or so until he regained his composure.

"You know what guys. I'm calling this mission off. We can't capture it with just us here. I think our mission objectives just changed from 'board the ship' to 'gather as much info as you can and get the hell out'."

The crewmembers on the bridge sighed in relief.

"Fire the damn flares. Tell the HiZacks to come back ASAP."

"Roger that!"

--

The HiZacks weren't faring much better than the ships they had been sent out of. They were still engagin the Starfuries, and while their targeting was starting to get a bit better, it wasn't happening fast enough to do much good, as the Starfuries managed to draw first blood even with their lack of numbers.

The three HiZacks which the Starfuries had chosen as their initial targets were as good as one after their shields had broken. While the three managed to evade some hits, it was inevitable that they wouldn't survive the fight intact.

As was in the case of the HiZack Ames was shooting at, the first shots which penetrated the shield took out the machine's left arm and damaged the right. Next hit blew its right leg right off. Next, head. After that the pilot ejected and the reactor went critical, causing a satisfying explosion which took what was left of the machine out. The two others faced similar fates, although one of them couldn't eject in time as the system had gotten jammed, killing the said pilot in the process.

The missiles had mixed results - one of them survived nearly without a scratch as the pilot had the bright idea of tossing the beam rifle and then throwing the HiZack's heathawk at the incoming missile, taking the beam rifle back in the HiZack's hand after the fact. The only damage caused by the explosion was superficial, much to the pilot's relief. Another managed to use the Mobile Suit's shield to stop the missile, but the shield and the Suit's left arm were destroyed in the process, forcing the HiZack to retreat, but not before picking up one of the ejection pods with its remaining hand.

It was quickly becoming clear that the HiZacks, which were just quite basic mass produced Mobile Suits, something the Starfury pilots wouldn't be aware of, were simply outmatched by the Starfuries. And they would have required a whole lot higher numbers even against these three - or at least they would have needed basic knowledge on what to expect.

At this point, the surviving HiZacks noticed the flares, which were telling them to withdraw from the battlefield. WHat this meant was that one of them picked up the remaining ejection pod and then they began to retreat, while staying in a relatively tight formation so as to let them protect each other better.

While that was happening, a transmission was sent from the Aegina.

"This is Aegina. The Titans group is disengaging from the battle and is retreating in full force, which means they're no longer a threat of any kind. Good job. It's nice seeing them run like that once in a while. Aegina out."

(major apologies for delay, I won't make excuses >_<)

"Roger that, Aegina. Iota Squadron, return to station keeping positions for now."

As the three Starfuries loop around and start heading back towards the Glouchester, Ames grimaces a bit as he cautiously feels a loose tooth with his tongue. With the amount of fire that had been heading his way, he had had to pull some pretty radical maneuvers.

"Feh... I don't like it. Who were those guys, and why did they show up out of nowhere and attack us? Hey, you guys, you alright?" Video windows pop open on the HUDs of the other two Starfuries as Ames looks up.

"Iota 2, no problems."

"Iota 3, I'm fine."

As the windows close again, Ames frowns. Those... whatever they ares, have potential. If they had engines worth a crap, they might actually be dangerous, and those weapons of theirs are wierd too...

----

On the bridge of the Glouchester, one of the operators flinches as a shower of sparks suddenly bursts from her whole console. A second later, the sound of a massive electrical short echoes throughout the bridge, which goes completely dark except for some emergency lights. Captain Simmons sighs, and presses a control on the arm of his chair.

"Bridge to Engineering. I take it that your repairs to the power systems just fell through?"

"Yes sir, we're sorry. It was the strain from our main heavy pulse cannon that did it-- what we had before the battle was just temporary, we need some time to lay over somewhere and shut the generators down for maintenance."

"Just get me main power back for now... and get the lights back on!"

On the exterior of the Glouchester, a few electrical arcs crackle around it's drive section, the sign of one circuit or another grounding into somewhere it's not supposed to be. A second later, all the running lights turn off, as do the engines. Fortunately, a few seconds after that, they come back on, though the engines are glowing noticably dimmer.

"Glouchester to Aegina, we read you. We've got some lingering damage and need to lay over somewhere to do some work on our ship... any suggestions? We also need a small supply of pure copper, ruthenium and... what's this say? Germanium."

The Glouchester slowly moves back into formation with the Salamises for the moment, the three Starfuries keeping their positions in front of it.

The captain, having received the transmission from the Glouchester was deep in thought. While doing his thinking he was looking at the floor and scratching his chin.

"Hmm... Where could we take 'em to..."

There's too much Titans activity all across the board on Side 7... Where the hell can we take 'em?

"Hey, cap?"

The captain raised his head in a bit of wonderment and looked at the sensor officer.

"Huh?"

"I know where we can take 'em," said the man, grinning.

"Where?"

"Lemme show ya," he said, turning to his console, "Come 'ere."

The captain did as ordered, and jumped off his seat towards the man.

"Look at this."

"Huh? What... Isn't that one of those stations those Anaheim guys used?"

"Yeah. We passed it some time ago. Looks intact and all. And it looked like no one's home."

"... And why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"When did ya become interested in debris, cap?"

"Point."

The captain straightened himself.

"OK, give out the coords and we'll head out there. I'll tell our new friends about it."

"Will do, cap!"

With that, the captain jumped back to his seat and, well, sat down.

"Open a channel."

The captain cleared his throat.

"This is the Aegina to the Glouchester. I think we've found a nice and quiet place you guys can stay at without drawing too much attention. It's an old and abandoned repair station sort of deal left by some old friends we used to have. Sure, it's not much, but it's better than nothing. Once that's dealt with, I guess we can get to figuring out where we'll find you the stuff you need. If we're lucky we might find something useful in the station. We're sending you the coordinates right about... Now. Aegina out."

"Coordinates recieved, Aegina. We will get under way as soon as we recover our Starfuries. Glouchester out."

A few minutes after the transmission terminates, the hatch in the belly of the Glouchester opens once more, the three Starfuries buzzing around it lining up carefully in front of it and moving in as the laser guidance lines extend. Ames is first; as his craft flies in, the magnetic fields grab it, and he reverses thrust smoothly, the two combining to slow the Starfury to a stop as he's pressed against his restraints. A robotic arm reaches out and gently grabs onto the Starfury, lifting it out of the way and carrying it back towards the ship's empty carousel as the next Starfury begins to come in. This one is a little off, but the magnetic fields still snag it and manage to bring it in just fine. The third Starfury docks without incident, and the massive hatch swings closed, an echoing *CLANK* sounding as it seats into place and a series of thumps as the seals engage.

As maintenance begins, the Glouchester's engines power up once more, headed for the coordinates specified by the Aegina...

(ooc: I propose we fast forward time slightly as it will no doubt take a bit to reach wherever ;p)

On the bridge of the Aegina, not too far off of Side 7

The captain sighed. The waiting was always the worst part in, well, pretty much anything. They couldn't be sure if the Titans had found the place or not. They couldn't even be sure if the damn thing was still in working order. But it was their best bet.

Hell, not only their best bet. There was no other place. There weren't any other places they could take the Glouchester to without drawing in too much attention, be it the Titans or the Zeeks. Although they were at peace with the Principality, the captain knew they'd be all over the ship if given the chance.

And he knew that'd be a bad thing.

"Hey! Seeing something 'ere!"

The captain raised his head.

"Huh?"

"We found it, cap!"

A grin came up on the captain's face.

"No more waiting, huh. Seeing any life around it?"

"Nah," said the man, shaking his head, "It's dead. It's still got some power, tho. I guess the Anaheim folks left it in a hurry. Didn't even turn the damn thing off. Looks a bit banged up, too..."

The captain scratched his chin.

"We'll probably have to refuel it and whatnot..."

"Yeah. It's been 'ere on its own for, what, sixish months? It has to be runnin' dry soon."

"Well, anyway, let's tell our guests about it..."

The man nodded.

"This is the Aegina to the Glouchester. We've found the station. It still looks abandoned, so we can use it. It's a bit damaged, but it should do the job just fine. We don't know what they've left in it, but we should soon enough. Aegina out."

(OOC: Here we go, har har!)

As the Glouchester approaches the drifting flower that is is the abandoned La Vie En Rose class ship, spotlights activate on the ship's lower hull, shining across the massive vessel. A faint halo shines around it, caused by frozen air, which has escaped from a few holes in the hull, presumably caused by meteorites. Due to same, the giant ship is also tumbling slightly... though not too significantly.

"Glouchester to Aegina-- it seems large enough to fit our needs, though we'll need to inspect it. We will be deploying a boarding party and request you send one of your own as well, as our engineers are not familiar with your systems."

----

A few minutes later, a female voice sounds over the intercom in the pilot's quarters. Ames, who has a fine sheen of sweat on his face, quickly tosses the cards in his hand onto the table and announces, "Fold!" The other two Starfury pilots look back at him with expressions of annoyance on their faces, but only for a second as all three unbuckle from their seats and float towards the doorway.

A few minutes later, Ames is in the all-too-familiar cockpit of his Starfury, flipping switches and pushing buttons as it comes to life around him with a faint hum, his HUD lighting up. "Escort mission... pfeh. Well, it beats losing even more money at cards..."

Since this isn't a combat situation, after the cavernous hatch of the Glouchester's fighter deck is opened to space, the three Starfuries arn't fired out of the linear catapult at nearly the usual power-- just enough to give them a little initial velocity, and get them clear of the ship.

A second later, however, something new comes out behind the Starfuries: one of the Glouchester's assault shuttles. The hammerheaded craft looks, if possible, even more ugly than the drifting dock ship itself.

As the assault shuttle heads towards the drifting dock ship, the Starfuries fall into formation around it. Captain Simmons has wisely parked his ship ten kilometers away to avoid any risk of collision, so it will take a few minutes for the small group to arrive...

"This is the Aegina, Glouchester. We're one step ahead of you. We've already sent two shuttles with six escorts in to check the status of the La Vie En Rose."

The debris in the area was messing up with sensors, so it wasn't all that strange that they hadn't noticed the group which was already much closer to the vessel than they were, in part due to the fact that the Salamis class ships hadn't taken position as far from it than the Glouchester had.

In fact, only moments after the launch of the Starfuries, the shuttles were close enough for the crews to exit them in their normal suits and enter the La Vie En Rose. Luckily enough it wasn't locked down in any sense of the word which allowed relatively speedy entry.

While some of the people were going for the bridge, others were tasked to assess the damage to see whether it was really up to the job or not. Although the presence of air in the corridors was, all in all, a good sign.

(OOC: Speeding things up a little again. :P)

A short time later, lights begin appearing on the exterior of the dock vessel as it slowly rights itself. Even more slowly, the Glouchester backs into position, it's engine section more or less in the center of the vaguely flower-shaped craft as the docking arms clamp down on it.

"Glouchester to Aegina-- we're all docked. It seems they have enough stuff here that we should be able to do something, but it will take at least twelve hours. Your assistance would be appreciated as our engineers are mostly unfamiliar with the equipment here..."

Several hours later, a number of large armor plates and hatches have been detatched from both the engine section and from around the beam cannons on the sides of the ships, and cables, inspection pods, and men in space suits are gathered around both sections. A number of large, charred, and melted sections of cable and copper busbars float nearby, tied into a bundle to prevent them drifting away, obviously pulled out of the Glouchester.

----

Ames yawns as he brings his Starfury around in yet another leg of the patrol pattern in the area around the docked Glouchester. With the ship down half it's normal fighter complement, him and his wingmen have been pulling double shifts, and as such, he's rather beat. Worse off, he's bored... nothing at all has interrupted the ongoing hurried repairs to the Glouchester at all thus far.

"This is the Aegina. Yes, we instructed the technicians to stay on board and help you with the repairs as well as they can. Some of them should have experience with ships like this, so there should be no trouble with anything. Aegina out."

--

The Mobile Suits had taken defensive positions around the Glouchester, all the while the Federation ships had done the same. They were well aware that while being repaired with the help of the La Vie En Rose, it would be vulnerable to attack. If the Titans found the place right now, the ship would be like a sitting duck.

--

Possibly unfortunately from the view of Ames, the pursuing Titans had lost their tracks and were having difficulty finding them thanks to the sudden change in course. They had absolutely no idea that there was an abandoned AE ship in the area, and even less of an idea where such a thing might be, thanks to all the debris floating around.

Sure, the Titans would find them eventually, but... Not any time soon.

-About 16 hours later...-

The massive arms attatched to the Glouchester slowly release, another series of echoing clanks sounding throughout both vessels as it's maneuvering thrusters slowly push it away. It seems to be moving slightly more adroitly now, and no more crackling electrical discharges are appearing on the exterior.

"Captain, Engineering reports main drive is up to 98.27% of normal capacity. Electrical grid has had all important components replaced, and jump drive is back online, along with targeting systems for the particle beams. However, navigational database remains unrecoverable."

Simmons sighs, running a hand through his hair. He looks a bit worn-down, along with most of the bridge crew-- moving so quickly to get repairs done has put everyone under a lot of stress.

"Right... contact the Aegina. Find out what they suggest we do next... we need to find some kind of basing facility, our supplies won't last forever. Some kind of astronomical data would also be useful."

---

"Glouchester to Aegina... our repairs are, for the most part, complete, however, our navigational database is damaged and we are low on supplies. What do you suggest we do next? As this area is under your government's jurisdiction, we shall defer to your judgement."

On the bridge of the Aegina

During the time the Glouchester was being repaired, the captain of the Aegina had managed to get some sleep, so he felt a lot better by the time the Glouchester sent its transmission. He wasn't even hung over anymore. Now he could actually think clearly. The Mobile Suits and the technical personnel had returned to their ships.

Things were really looking up.

"What're we gonna do now, cap?"

"The obvious," he responded matter-of-factly, "We're gonna take them to Side 7 for supplies and whatnot. Also the brass is going to wanna to talk to these guys. And we need to resupply, too."

"Huh. Sounds like a plan."

"Yeah, I know. And I don't see any alternatives."

And with that, the Aegina sent a response to the Glouchester.

"This is the Aegina. We suggest going to Side 7 proper for resupply. They should be able to help you with your navigational problems to an extent. And of course, our military leadership wants to have a word with you."