NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: If you want to join, send me a message in NS. I put Fantasy in it to kind of cover myself. The Somniphobic aren't normal in that they exist in a parallel dimension, and they have some rather fantastical abilities. Nothing major like fire hurling or summoning thunderstorms. Simpler things like telekinesis, telepathy. That sort of thing. So if you want to do a Fantasy piece, feel free, just know that I'm not going for a Final Fantasy level of magic etc. Now, on with the story!

*****

In the coldness of space, the silence is all-encompassing. Nothing penetrates, nothing makes a sound. Nothing moves.

Most of the time.

At this point in time however, something rather odd was happening. Space, that is, the vacuum of it, seemed to bending. Liquifying, turning to glass, or ice. And then it shattered. The shards vanished again into nothingness, and the swirling black and silvery mass which they covered disappeared in a split second. No evidence remained.

Except for the ship of course.

The ship was as silent as the void which encompassed it. It was a wreck, bearing the marks of a fierce battle. Scratches marred it's obsidian green surface, holes were torn in it's hull, whole sections left open to the vacuum of the cosmos. On it's a hull, the name Aspiration was embellished in golden lettering. Yet the lustre was gone, the gold plating marred, it's perfection no longer intact.

What was really, really strange was that the damage didn't seem to be caused by missile fire. Nor kinetic projectiles, nor plasma nor laser. The damage beared the unmistakeable evidence of being caused by teeth. Tooth, claw, blade and fist.

On board the Aspiration, Gunnery Sergeant Hans Luger checked his Autorifle. 68 shots in the chamber, with two clips of two hundred in his belt. He'd be happy with the amount if those bastards didn't take about 50 to put down. Actually, come to think of it, even if they were easier to kill, he wouldn't be happy. He had no idea how many were on the ship, no idea if rescue was coming and worst of all...he was falling asleep.

He punched the Emergency Distress Button and spoke into the mic, fatigue lacing his voice.

"This is Gunnery Sergeant Luger, of the Explorator Frigate Aspiration. I need assistance. Please....somebody...anybody...."

Luger curled up against the panel and injected another adrenaline shot into his arm. He had bought himself another...three hours maybe, of wakefulness. He only had one more shot.

He lay their, cold, alone...and more scared then he'd ever been in his life.

Hans Luger, veteran of over twenty battles, who had seen some of his best friends killed in battle, had watched the murder of his wife and the death of his son to illness, who had never cried in his whole life despite all this...Hans Luger began to weep.

"Please..."

OOC: What are you looking for in responses?

OOC: What are you looking for in responses?

OOC: Ah, should've specified. I need someone to find the ship and help Luger clear it out. Mainly. You don't have to help. You could be someone who wants to see if there's anything valuable on the ship, etc.

OOC: Interesting, so firstly the fantasy thing is more like psychics than mage like things, cool. I'd love to partake.

IC: In the bleakness of space it is not easy to hear sound, but other messages are easy, Radio for instance is easy to receive and track. And so, several hundred kilometers away from the Aspiration a new ship emerged out of warp.

The Destroyer Casoway seemed to shine even in the darkness of space, a brilliant white amidst the black of space the ship sent out a signal to the ship who's beacon they had received.

<Ship Aspiration, we hve received your distress signal and are currently heading towards your position. A team will be sent aboard. If possible send a signal to help pinpoint your location.>

Halfway along Casoway's half kilometer long hull, a small party was prepping to board the damaged ship. Full combat gear was being used as well as artificial atmosphere, no chances were to be taken. Both energy and concussion weapons were to be used.

The dozen strong party that was to board was led by Sargeant Cabil Gerring, the mission was top priority, if there were survivors they were to be helped in any way possible and if there weren't any, well there was still salvage. But by the message on the beacon, it seemed very serious.

The shuttle fired up its engines and began to pull out of the airlock and into open space, directly towards the damaged frigate.

The Federation of Telros had a small amount of systems under its control compared to other powers, but it had many advantages. Easier to defend, tighter trade routes which would cut down on costs for transport fees and duties, and the lower amount of territory meant the exceedingly rich Telrosian government could spend a lot of money on its military, as small as it was, making it quite the powerful force. On the down side, in order to patrol, it had to make most of its fleet frigates, due to their speed, agility and firepower for its class, it was the perfect interceptor/pirate hunter/convoy guard/patrol ship. So it was that the TFS Unity was out on patrol, on the outskirts of Telrosian space, constantly seeking to find any sign of pirates or any other unauthorized entries into the system. Which is what led the Unity to intersect with the Aspiration.

The captain was a one Jeffry Dahlmer, a commander who had seen his fair share of pirate battles and even the last run of the war with the Skathi-Telrosian War. He was no hardcore veteran, but he was not the green, idealistic newbie either. Sitting in his chair, he had his eyes closed as he held a conference with the A.I. Every Telrosian ship had an A.I., especially one that could think infinitely and learn as much as it wanted, like a normal human. The cost, however, was that after seven or eight years they began to have too much and their brain, being electronic and not organic, could not hold that much information. As one put it, they "thought themselves to death."

Each one had an avatar it chose to reveal itself in. Be it a male, female, animal, mythical figure, etc, it chose what it wanted. The one on the ship was known as Maria and it chose the figure of a goddess. It wasn't a specific one, it was a creative adaptation of one. She floated in the "air" in front of Jeffry, a halo of light surrounding her and a flowing robe about her. Jeffry sighed. Affinity was good to have; he didn't want to have this conversation reach his people, not yet.

"So...we've entered the war the Sornei are currently struggling in then?"

Maria nodded. "The Kelauan provided a very strong case to help them, to take up the mantle they lost due to a horrific accident. Not to mention we are allies with them under the Extra-Solar Union of Systems constitution and they are facing an enemy who would do the same to us as they are doing to them without batting an eyelash. We had no choice. Not to mention the records of the Kelauan show this foe to be ungodly powerful. Luckily, we were able to obtain the record of the changes that A.I., Kertai, did to their shields, making them unable to be penetrated by their weapons like before. They're still ungodly powerful but-" There was a pause and the A.I.'s eyes half closed, showing it was working on something.

Jeffry raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

The A.I. gave him a look, its tone moving from reserved to serious and alert. The Unity's sensors just registered a massive energistic 'explosion', it was the only term that fit, not eight light minutes away from here. And the mass readings that have been hacked at by the interference from the said explosion seem to point to a ship."

He nodded. "An incoming ship. Very well, have the ship go to Alert: Level 2 and have us swallow and intercept that ship. I seriously hope they weren't trying to slip into the system with an FTL like that, its laughable."

Maria smirked. "Done and done." He could feel the ship shifting to change course and gathering power for the swallow. "We'll see if what you say is true or not. Jumping....now." Yellow lights flicked on and a klaxon sounded as the ship smoothly announced the alert level. A smooth wormhole opened before them and they entered, shooting through and reappearing near the ship near-instantaneously. The sensors washed over the ship and it became obvious the reason the ship had entered so rashly was not some arrogant attempt at sneaking.

They had been hit, hard, and been running. Jeffry gazed at the image in the screen in disbelief. "Are....are those teeth and claw marks on the ship?!" Maria appeared on a holopad and nodded.

"Apparently so. Whatever it was fighting, it must be incredibly alien and primitive, probably somehow able to survive in space and having its own kind attack ships. Scary tactics for those of us used to duking it out in giant metal cans." She frowned for a moment and then nodded as if understanding. "The ship is playing a distress call; would you like me to play it?" Jeffry waved. The A.I. snapped her fingers and the voice of the desperate Gunnery Sergeant came in loud and clear.


"This is Gunnery Sergeant Luger, of the Explorator Frigate Aspiration. I need assistance. Please....somebody...anybody...."

"Please..."

The sound of sobbing before the last part sent chills up the bridge crew's spines and caused Jeffry to narrow his eyes. He had a bad feeling about this, very bad. But he was not about to abandon someone in need, not to mention someone who was on the edge of insanity. Taking a deep breath, he sent an order to his nanonics to give him a drug to calm him down and then began to speak.

"Alright. As of right now, I am authorizing a Alert Level One. We are going red people." The bridge's lights darkened and became blood-red in color. The bridge crew was stunned for a second before they began to work on prepping the ship for heavy combat, as a Level One alert was intended to deal with. Jeffry turned to Maria.

"I want our half our HYDRA compliment awake and ready to go in ten minutes. And have a strike team of our already awakened HYDRA go on over to the ship and find this poor man. Their priority is to find the Sergeant and take him onto our ship. Subsequent teams will search the vessel more thoroughly. I want the Battle A.I.'s to understand, Maria, that althought HYDRA's are nigh immortal due to the unique way they are designed, I won't have any wasting of lives."

She nodded. "Understood." All throughout the ship, mass rows of pods began to lit up and steam shot off them as power ran into them, awakening the robotic soldiers within. HYDRA, the main force of the Telrosian military and one of the best cybernetic soldier armies the Telrosians could invent, make, and support. Their eyes filled with blue light as their power came on and they stepped out of the pods. They quickly were filled in on the situation as they armed themselves and ran diagnostics to ensure they were all set by the Battle A.I's. These were A.I's who ran large groups of HYDRA soldiers, a much more efficient way then individual A.I's.

As this happened, a small shuttlecraft left the Unity, and headed for the Aspiration, filled with six heavily armed, determined HYDRA soldiers under the command of the Battle A.I. Prometheus. He was eager to do his job, he had been bored the entire patrol and now some chance at action, even just escorting someone out under "spooky" circumstances was fun compared to that.

Jeffry opened a channel to the ship and began to speak.

"Explorator Frigate Aspiration, this is the TFS Unity. We have heard your distress call and help is on the way. Stay calm and just tell us where the bridge is on your ship so we can find you."

Jeffry then noticed another ship had arrived on the scene and saw its message. Similar to what they had said. He opened a channel to them as well.

"Unidentified ship, this is the TFS Unity. We are currently also helping the ship you have just come to aid and I recommend working together. Something is odd about this situation and I want to ensure we don't get any nasty surprises."

Aboard the Casoway the crew on the bridge watched as the single shuttle sped towards the damaged Frigate. Standing in the center of the deck, Captain John Savery viewed the scene. It seemed odd that such a ship would arrive out here, it matched no known designs and did not have any markings matching factions in near space, something was very wrong with this scenario.

"Sir, we're being hailed by another ship that has just entered the system, Telrosian sir."
The captain sighed, it was bad enough that this ship had appeared here, but now there was another ship in the region, looks like salvage was out of the question.
"Patch it through Corporal."

"Unidentified ship, this is the TFS Unity. We are currently also helping the ship you have just come to aid and I recommend working together. Something is odd about this situation and I want to ensure we don't get any nasty surprises."

So they wanted to work together, fair enough.
"Corporal, send the following message," The captain took a deep breath and prepped his thoughts.

"TFS Unity, this is the GCS Destroyer Casoway. It would be our pleasure to work with you in searching this ship. A team has already been sent towards the ship and should be arriving shortly, they are highly trained soldiers and we shall inform them that your forces shall be aboard ship as well. "

Well, that was the best Savery could come up with right now, after all another shuttle had been detected and was headed towards the damaged frigate, so this shouldn't be too hard.
"Let's hope that we find the poor bastard who send that distress beacon."

The shuttle with Sgt. Gerring and company has nearly docked with the Aspiration, and the airlocks were engaging. It was amazing that the ship still had power despite the massive hull damage, at least there might be atmo inside.
"Alright everyone, we're going in hot. I just got comm. from the ship that there will be another team from a Telros ship aboard, so watch your fire. Red team, you five are with me, we'll look towards the bridge. Blue team, you six will look towards the engine room. Keep channels open, report if you find anything."
"Aye sir!" Came the reply. The sound of clips being loaded and helmets being set filled the shuttle as the shuttle connected to the Frigate with an audible 'clank'.

The door opened and as atmosphere equalized the teams moved onto the ship.
"Okay teams, you have your orders, Move!"

"Oh thank you! Thank you!"

Two ships. Two! There was hope yet. One ship ahd already boarded with the Aspiration. Luger updated the Distress beacon:

"TFS Unity, this Hans Luger. I thank you for your assistance. I do not have control of a vast majority of the ships systems, so you'll need to get on board any way you can. I have activated tracker beacon on my person, regular radio waves, if you can track it. There is much to discuss."

One that was done, Luger reached for the intercom. No doubt they would hear him, but he didn't think they'd be able to understand anyway. If it worked.

"Unidentified boarding party. This is Hans Luger. I welcome you aboard our vessel. I need your assistance and am currently in the bridge. It's on the same level you entered, and the signs should still point the way. Be careful, the nature of my difficulty is stealthy and not to be underestimated."

Luger cocked his Autorifle and took up position at the door panel. When they knocked, he'd open, but not a moment before.

*****
Deep within the bowels of the ship, a creature stirred.

It climbed into the ventilation ducts and began hunting. It barely made a sound at all.

Looking at it, hard to believe it was once human.

Luger was wrong. They had heard. They had understood. Now they knew where he was, and where the new prey were going to be.

The Enslaved moved onwards through the ducts. Slowly, moving an inch at a time, but oh so terrifyingly quiet.

"Unidentified boarding party. This is Hans Luger. I welcome you aboard our vessel. I need your assistance and am currently in the bridge. It's on the same level you entered, and the signs should still point the way. Be careful, the nature of my difficulty is stealthy and not to be underestimated."

The sound came over the intercom with surprising clarity. There were survivors afterall. At least Red Team was heading in the right direction. Right beside Sgt. Gerring a sign pointed towards the Bridge, they were on the right path.

"Alright Team, mission's changed, we've got to get that guy offship, whatever damaged the ship is still here," Switching on the hemlet radio to a different frequency he gave new orders, "Blue Team, chage in plans, move back to the shuttle and prep for evacuation of survivors, make sure no one but us gets on the shuttle. Keep alert, Gerring out."

Red team continued cautiously down the corridor. Up ahead there was a door with the word 'bridge' on it. This must be the right place.

"Avery, Kitchell, stay here and guard the passage, watch your fire, there'll be a Telrosian team boarding soon. Williams, Festerly, you're with me." The soldiers moved into position, two guarding the corridor from behind and two with Sgt. Gerring.

Gerring couldn't think of any other way to contact the surivor, so he tried the most forward way, ke knocked.

"If you can hear us, please open the door. We're here to evacuate you from the ship."

"TFS Unity, this is the GCS Destroyer Casoway. It would be our pleasure to work with you in searching this ship. A team has already been sent towards the ship and should be arriving shortly, they are highly trained soldiers and we shall inform them that your forces shall be aboard ship as well. "

Jeffry nodded. "I see we both have similar manuals on how to act in a rescue situation. I am Captain Jeffry Dahlmer of the Federation of Telros. I look forward to opening relations after we help this poor man. I will, also, inform my own troops that yours have already gotten inside. [b]Unity[/n] out."

He turned and nodded to Maria, who sent the message to Prometheus. The Battle A.I. pulled a face, if one can in cyberspace and sighed. Ah well, at least he could have someone to talk to aside from the ship A.I. The shuttle moved to another airlock and began to lock onto it, when a message popped up, detailing a channel waited to be opened. Prometheus opened it with an annoyed flick of a thought and the sole occupant of the Aspiration's voice come on.

"TFS Unity, this Hans Luger. I thank you for your assistance. I do not have control of a vast majority of the ships systems, so you'll need to get on board any way you can. I have activated tracker beacon on my person, regular radio waves, if you can track it. There is much to discuss."

Prometheus opened his part of the channel. "Hans Luger, this is Battle A.I. Prometheus.My strike team is about to board and is heading to your location. Sit tight; we'll be there shortly. Prometheus out."

The airlock engaged and opened, with six heavily armed and armored HYDRA (http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k308/Nirokasa/Concept___Cons___Bubbles_by_Jalingo.jpg) soldiers. They were armed with a mix of weapons. Four of them had a mix of gauss and pulse carbines, both designed to be used in cutting down the enemy. The pulse weapon had an extra option to concentrate the energy into a single shot, to make it pierce through armor more effectively. The last two carried unique weapons compared to the others. One of them hefted a large gauss gatling gun, capable of laying down a huge wave of fire if needed, while the other held a pulse anti-vehicle rifle, a long rifle with a connection to his backpack generator that gave it juice. The leader, carrying a pulse carbine, looked both ways and made a motion with a hand. The one selected to be pointed, rushed out and looked both ways, weapon ready. Sensors and eyesight showed nothing was there. The point man made a motion to the right, as that was where the bridge was located, and they all began to file out. The rear guard was the one with the gatling gun.

All did not know of the strange presence of the ship which waited for their arrival...and prepared to add them to its tally of dead.

Luger heard the knock and raced to the door panel. Entering the passcode, the door creaked half open before jamming. He stepped over to the open crack and grinned, though not in a humorous way. More a sort of "I'm-oh-so-slowly-going-insane-and-this-is-the-best-happy-face-I-have" kind of way.

"Best the door will do I'm afraid. Please, come in. There are a few things you need to know, and this is probably the best place to tell you. It's the safest part of the ship, beyond the engine room. It's got its own sentries, though they're non-functional. And I don't think....they...can get through the door, or I'd be dead by now."

Luger strolled over to the console and activated the ships internal scanner. Another unit was on their way back from the engine room, probably to the boarding shuttle. He also counted five of the things, but knew that was no use. The bastards could go into a form of hibernation so deep, they showed up as dead on the scanners. There could be hundreds of them and he wouldn't know.

Luger laughed, a sort of unstable chuckle.

Hans Luger, this is Battle A.I. Prometheus.My strike team is about to board and is heading to your location. Sit tight; we'll be there shortly. Prometheus out.

Luger jumped as the sound came over the speaker system. A Battle A.I. eh? New one to him. He didn't feel the need to reply, so he just sat on the nearest chair still in one piece and breathed heavily. He turned to the newcomers.

"I can't leave, not yet. There's something that needs to be done first."

*****
The Enslaved continued its movement along the ventilation ducts. It smelled the blood of the human known as Luger.

It was getting close.

The door opened to reveal a single man, he looked incredibly tired. His exhausted grin as he saw them also gave away his fatigue.

"Best the door will do I'm afraid. Please, come in. There are a few things you need to know, and this is probably the best place to tell you. It's the safest part of the ship, beyond the engine room. It's got its own sentries, though they're non-functional. And I don't think....they...can get through the door, or I'd be dead by now."

That was probably true, but then again, Gerring though, if 'they' caused such damage to the ship, a door would probably do nothing against them.

"Blue Team, we've located the survivor. Keep the shuttle guarded until our return. Avery, Kitchell, pull back and guard the door."

While Gerring was giving orders, Luger had moved over towards the command console and was checking something on the ship. His nervous laugh told Gerring that he had seen something he hadn't wanted to see.

<Hans Luger, this is Battle A.I. Prometheus.My strike team is about to board and is heading to your location. Sit tight; we'll be there shortly. Prometheus out.>

The intercom startled all of the soldiers and even caused Gerring to jump, well, at least there would be other forces to help if anything went wrong.

"I can't leave, not yet. There's something that needs to be done first." Luger said, although the weariness in voice betrayed his determined look.

"Whatever it is I'm pretty sure it can wait for a bit, as it stands we need to get you off of this hulk and to a med-bay, you look like you haven't had rest in days."

Above them a creak was herd from the vent shaft. It was only a faint sound, but in the quiet of the bridge, everyone heard it, then came a soft breathing which cut off quickly. Something was looking at them.

"Sarge, what was that?" Williams said, gripping his gun tighter.

Gerring checked his clip and disengaged the safety, "Squad, stay on alert. I think we have company."

"Whatever it is I'm pretty sure it can wait for a bit, as it stands we need to get you off of this hulk and to a med-bay, you look like you haven't had rest in days."

Luger was about to reply when he too heard the creak. Looking quickly to the scanner, he noticed a single red dot...within the room, slowly overlaying with another blue dot.

"Squad, stay on alert. I think we have company."

Luger looked up at the grille above him.

The grinning...no, not grinning - the cheeks were just missing- face of what had been Corporal Ludaval greeted him. Luger screamed and raised his autorifle as Ludaval dropped from the vent.

*****
The Enslaved was fully active now. The one once known as Ludaval was enraged, excited by the smell of fear. His muscular form was scarred, pieces of his muscular and skeletal structure were exposed, his eyelids torn off, his lips nailed back in a cruel snarl. His mouth lay open and exposed by the lack of cheeks. Blood dripped from his face onto the prey below him. He-no it-raised what had once been his right hand and now was only a bloody stump with a cruel serrated blade attached on the end. He swung it down towards Luger's face.

*****
Luger brought up his rifle in time and knocked the blow aside. Ludaval grabbed him with his left arm and hurled him across the room. Luger smashed into a wall, rolled and lifted his rifle. But Ludaval was already moving, fast. He jumped to the roof and swung effortlessly onto the wall, talons and blade digging in. Ludaval hung there like a twisted monkey before lunging at Luger.

The whole exchange had taken five seconds.

The bastard was fast.

Luger rolled out of the way as Ludaval slammed into the wall beside him, denting it and dislocating his shoulder. With a snarl, Ludaval snapped it back in place.

"SHOOT HIM!!!"

Luger raised his rifle and let loose.

Just as the creature lunged at Luger and he began to fire at it, a hail of energy blasts and gauss bullets began to be fire at it. Strike Team Prometheus had arrived. The Battle A.I., although worried about his objective, the Sergeant, he was glad to have something to fight after so much boredom. He began to send orders to the drone soldiers.

"Cooperate with the other strike team and help them take it out. Unit 007A and 007B, take the Sergeant and escort him out of there. I have confirmation from the Captain that another strike team is enroute. We will begin cleansing the vessel after the objective is secured. Watch the friendly fire."

The HYDRA's instantly went into action. The other four of the team, two of them carrying the heavy weapons but not using them for fear of hitting their allies, but discarded them to pull out small rectangle devices that turned on into pulse blades. They were thermal energy condensed into a physical form, making it able to cut through most metal and it had a sonic field that weakened the atomic structure of what it hit before the blade touch, making their target easier to cut. They began to attack the creature viciously, doing sweeping cuts, with their two teammates firing at openings. Working together, they ensured they would not hit each other. The "commander" of the team, holding his pulse rifle, looked over at the other team.

"We recommend you coming with us and securing the Sergeant. Once he is safely away, we can work on finding out what happened here. Do not worry about our soldiers, if they are destroyed, they will be uploaded and protected." He then ran over to the Sergeant, with another gauss shotgun wielding HYDRA soldier, and hefted him up.

"We must get you out of here. Our squad will handle the monster." They both took a position in front and back of him and began to escort him out, sensors alert and eyes open. As this was all going on, another assault shuttle had been launched, afterburners authorized, wailing towards the ship with three full assault teams, twelve each, of HYDRA soldiers. That should be plenty to secure the airlock and ensure the Sergeant came back alive. And then...to sweep that monster and any like from the ship and find out what was going on.

The thing that came out of the vent could only be described as a monster. It appeared to have once been human, which would explain why there were no corpses on the ship.

The thing lunged at Luger who blocked a slice to his face, but the monster threw him across the room and leapt after him. the blur of activity that was this monster was incredible.

"SHOOT HIM" Luger shouted, this brought Gerring back to his senses, and as Luger opened up with his weapon Gerring shouted to his men.

"Kill it boys!" He shouted and let loose with his assault rifle. The .30 caliber rounds ate into the back of the creature and the other five of the team quickly opened fire.

At this moment fire began to hit the creature from the the side. Gerring looked to see the Telrosian strike team blasting for all their worth. It was always good to have allies. The Telrosian battle drones moved in to cover Luger and all the while they were sending messages back and forth between themselves, unfortunately none of the squad could understand the various machine chatter, but the message was clear, kill the beast and protect Luger.

The mass of fire felled the Enslaved. It roared in defiance and actually managed to rsie, tensing for a lung towards the new prey. But the sheer amount of firepower was too much and it fell to the ground, twitched and died.

*****
Luger watched the massive robot soldiers come towards him. He stood and kicked Ludaval over, checking the gem embedded in his back. Green glow meant he was alive, no glow meant he was dead. It was glowing red.

"Oh shi-"

A high pitched wail erupted from within Ludaval's abdomen.

"GET DOWN!"

*****
The Enslaved exploded, organic and metallic parts flying like shrapnel across the room. Rotting, toxic blood and flesh flew everywhere, barely missing Luger as he dodged behind a nearby panel. Razor sharp shards of metal which had been used to hold the Enslaved together flew like bullets

There was a reason Enslaved were just as bad dead as alive.

The four squad members pumped fire into it, watching as it went down and tried to get up again to continue to fight. They kept on, grimly, and it went down. After shooting it several more times, they were satisfied. They began to back up and head for the Sergeant, only to see he went to check on the body. His exclamation and the high pitched wail alerted them that something was up. His call to get down was heeded and they tried to jump away. However, even as they were moving, the body exploded and metallic along with organic parts blasted everywhere. The rotting and poisonous blood did nothing to the HYDRA soldiers, there was nothing to infect. The razor sharp metal, on the hand, was effective. A piece lodged itself in the foot of one of the soldiers, bringing it down heavily. Another slashed into the head of another, causing it to stagger as its systems struggled to reroute power and control to another processor. Finally several blew through the chest of one, utterly wrecking the parts inside and causing its eyes to dim and to fall backward with a loud clunk. The two guarding Luger pulled him back and jumped, fortunately dodging the shards due to their counterparts taking the hits.

When all was said and done Prometheus checked the damage. One was done, permanently until it received repairs, another was reporting the shard locking up the foot mechanism, but pulling it out should work. The third reported some head damage but it had rerouted, so it was alright. The others were fine. A message came up, showing that the assault teams were close to the airlock now. The commander turned and looked at the allies, making sure to turn on his translator this time.

"Are your men alright? Do any need medical attention? The Federation has a high level of medical technology and any wounded can get attention on our frigate. We have three assault teams coming in as we speak, so I recommend pulling out, while they go about ensuring these things," He kicked one of the pieces of the now dead creature. ", are dead and gone." He turned to the Sergeant. "Let's get you out of here, Sergeant. I think its safe to assume there are more in the ship, so I suggest you stick near us." One of the soldiers pulled out the shard in the other's foot and it stood, and readied itself. Getting into formation, they began to filter out, ready for anything.

"Alright...I'll go with you. But I cannot stay long. A quick medical check up is all I will allow. I must do something before I completely abandon the ship."

Luger brushed himself down and reloaded his rifle.

"The things on this ship are....not supposed to be here. In this universe. And they cannot be allowed to escape."

He turned to ensure he was addressing everyone.

"There are more. One of the few things I know about these things is that they do not come in small numbers. If there's less then a hundred, I will be surprised. This ship must be destroyed to ensure we get them all. But to do that, we need to weaken the shields. Even with all your firepower..." He pointed to the HYDRA units.

"Impressive as it is, our shields are the single best thing about this ship. They'll hold long enough for the bastards to escape. Somehow...through some, unnatural method, they can survive in the void of space. What's worse is they can hide from sensors. Act dead, that sort of thing. If they figure out that we want to destroy the ship, they'll bail out. At best, they'll try to kill us first. At worst they'll run en masse. Then we'll lose them. Some small frigate or shuttle will find them. And then who knows what will happen."

He shuddered. "Either we stay and finish this now, or I go with one of you and get patched up. Then I'm coming right back. These bastards were once my crew. My friends." He pointed at Ludaval. "That...that...that man was my brother-in-law and best friend. I'm not leaving until I know they're dead. The plan is simple. The engine room is protected by a disintegrator field. I've been locked out, so we can't go there to disable the shields. But if we can reach the armoury, I can let us in. We lay charges, get out and blow it. It should knock out the shields so you two can blow it out of the sky."

He rubbed his arm. He'd hurt it badly in the fight with Ludaval.

"Ultimately, I suppose, it's up to you. But that's my opinion. You say I need a check up, I say it doesn't matter, I'm dead enough as it is. But if you insist. Just one question. Who do I go with?"

Edit: Shit, I forgot to PM the Somniphobic.
Imperial Light Crusiser La Alamien
Destroyer Escort Flotilla Leader
On orders to make for the Province of Caldera at full speed
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jelal Mariat stirred in his command chair. Wires attached to the base of his neck snaked across his form, like unruly strands of metallic hair. His sleeping form began to awake as the ship pressed against his conscience with dire urgency. It had felt something.

He blearily opened his eyes. It was a terrifying and uncontrollable experience for the uninitiated, the endless double vision of powerful sensors staring into the void, and his merely mortal eyesight. His heart beat in time to the reactor at the core of his ship, his bones both the steel superstructure of La Alamien and his actual body. Blinking away the harshness of the dim lighting, he stared with half lidded eyes at the bridge around him. Only one third of the actual crew was in combat readiness, another third amusing themselves or writing after action reports, and a final third were in blissful sleep. It was the recommended crew rotation for vessels that could encounter a full combat situation while on patrol or long haul maneuvers between different stars. It was quiet, as none wanted to disturb the captain. He felt amused, his joining with the awe inspiring power of the ship’s half organic computer sped up his functions, even his own movements. If he were to jump up and yell, the crew would seem to be moving in slow motion to him. His amusement lasted only a half second as his true body gave him a rundown. Feeling like hell warmed over, the captain sagged into his chair. Truly, he should not be sleeping in a chair at his age.

Only a split nanosecond later, electronic signals fired from the main sensor relay unit met special receivers in the bridge. The sensor screen showed a terribly faint contact. The young adept at the station promptly interpreted the data and yelled his findings.

“Master Jelal! I have new signature on screen. It’s definitively a Destroyer Escort class vessel. It is emitting ion ghost wakes consistent with that of a military grade powerplant. It’s at the edge of our sensor range, about 12 System lengths aft.”

The bridge burst into action, suddenly invigorated by the scent of danger.

‘Unusual. Unannounced it rent asunder the fabric of the universe.’ the ship murmured.

“Is the ship broadcasting any IFF signals?”

“None sir”

'One possibility is that a hostile nonaffiliated party is operating in this theatre of operations. 1.) This is military grade hardware in fuction. 2.) This theatre of operations is a nuetral, uncontrolled area, overlapping several zones of disparate influence. Higher authority to restrict and control access to FTL travel lanes is unavalible.

“But the conctact remains still, it’s not maneuvering at all. Even if it was a pirate, it would have been broadcasting civilian transport signals, and I can see no target in the vicinity of its jumpoint that would make try to hide its sensor profile,” Jelal answered.

‘Truth whispers in your ear Jelal. Your deduction is has a probability of being 97.937892% correct, with a 0.023345566% margin of error. I have taken the liberty of cross referenced any records of unaffiliated hostile activities in this cluster of celestial bodies. I have come up short.’

“Bring us to full alert, all crew to action stations. We will investigate this vessel. Bring us aft, and arm the principle batteries for full saturation fire. We will not be taken unawares if this vessel should be hostile.”

'All propability trees point to a heavily damaged warship, operating at minimal operational functionality due to intense structural damage,' the warship continued.

“Master, at least two vessels are vectoring towards the unidentified contact.”

“Master, we have just received a wideband communication, no encryption, no identified malignant software package attached.”

"This is Gunnery Sergeant Luger, of the Explorator Frigate Aspiration. I need assistance. Please....somebody...anybody...."

Correction: Possibility that unidentified vessel is a hostile unafiliated vessel has dropped to .0004839%. No margin of error. Chances of vessel being a survivor of a critical ship to ship battlle has risen to 99.2384329%. No margin of error. Enemy fast reaction units are likely to be inbound to finish off survivors. Including this vessel.

Jelal sighed. Then he spoke, "I want all weapons hot! Get me the destroyers Atropos, and the Indominable, hook them to this situational awareness feed. Tell them to link up their destroyer escorts also. Get us in full battle formation. Push our engines to flank speed right now!"

The commander paused, as Prometheus talked to the captain on a quick affinity channel and then looked at Luger. "Very well. Hold still." He reached into the pack on the side of the armor, and what looked like a bulky, plastic bandage came out with his hand. He carefully took the man's arm, secured the plastic object around the hurt area, and then activated it. Luger would feel a sharp bit of pain and then it would dull as painkillers were put into his system. Aside from it feeling itchy, he would feel nothing. "That is a nanonic medical package, it will do its best to heal your arm as we move. If this threat is as bad as you say, we have no time for extraction." He paused.

"The assault teams have arrived. Thirty-six new soldiers ready to help finish this mission. If you want to continue, we have your back." He turned to look at the other group. "If you want to come along, I welcome the help. But if you need to leave, we understand." Already they could hear the feet of the assault teams as they headed for the bridge, coming down the hall. Standing up, the commander reloaded the pulse carbine and looked at Luger, before picking up the fallen HYDRA's weapon. The gauss shotgun, it wasn't heavy but it was light, but Luger would be able to work it.

"You can use this since that unit will not be needing it for the moment." He stood and grasped the door, and looked back at Luger. "We're ready whenever you are."

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

Unity was maintaining its position a couple kilometers from the ship, its shields up and weapons hot. The information Luger had revealed was given to Jeffry by Prometheus and he sighed. He knew this was going to be bad and he had been right. The assault teams should be able to handle the job. A new channel opened on affinity.

"SIR!" His mental focus shifted to Maria, who sounded worried. "I am reading an unknown vessel inbound, its weapons are hot and shields are up. They are on an attack vector towards us and the Casoway!

His eyes narrowed. "Prepare combat wasps just in case. But have a message sent to them detailing we are not enemies and are helping the ship."

The A.I. set to work, awakening the combat wasp launchers and preparing the ship for possible combat. A channel was opened in the direction of the unknown ship and a message sent.

"Unknown ship, this is the TFS Unity. You are coming in on an attack vector. We ask you call this off. We are here responding to a distress call and are helping the survivors on board. Again, we request you call off your attack vector, we come in peace."

Imperial Light Crusiser La Alamien
Destroyer Escort Flotilla Leader
Reacting to possible hostile activities
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jelal did not even need a nanosecond to realize that if these vessels were the feared fast reaction force, they would have already annihilate the wounded warship. The message would have to be taken for truth.

"Stand Down! All ships, stand down! Bring us to a halt! I will not tolerate a diplomatic situation because we were too enthusiastic! Stand down lest I have thee demoted!" he snapped, engaged in furious thought.

The silver warships promptly engaged control burns, engines roaring to life across their surface. All nine vessels of the Imperial Destroyer Escort flotilla slewed to a halt, the primitive AIs imbued in their guns, eagre for the din of battle, silenced their bloodlust and fell into fitful sleep. The screaming powerplants that powered the vessels lowered their pitch as the strain of maintaining vessels at full action stations lifted.

'How foolish of us,' his warship whispered, a hint of embarrasment in her voice. 'We did not stop to consider that due to the overlapping influence of the region, there are multiple fleets patrolling this theatre of operations.'

"I beleive that is called, 'Jumping the shark', Jelal answered.

Captain Savery was monitoring all action that took place both on the damaged frigate and in the system, things had gotten hot quickly. And with an entire battle group arriving in system, even Casoway's firepower couldn't take out all of them, a few though.

The Telrosian message had gotten out first, so let them handle negotiations, the away squad was the most important right now.

*********
On ship, the thing had gone down and exploded... quite a fierce opponent. Luckily the only ones who were hurt seriously were some of the battle drones the Telrosians were using.

Gerring was listening to Luger's plan with increasing dread. If there were over a hundred of these monsters, there wouldn't be enough firepower among their squads to take them all down. Luckily there were more battle drones arriving from the Telrosians. Now all Gerring had to worry about was getting the job done and keeping both of the teams... Why hadn't Blue Team checked in yet?

"Blue Team, do you read?" Silence. "Blue Team, come in! Anybody?"

There was a faint crackle on the other end, then a voice finally, "Sir! We're pinned in the shuttle, they already got three of us, but we've sealed the door. They're trying to get inside. Belius is wounded and we need help!" On the comm Gerring could hear a banging sound in the distance, they were in deep trouble if they lost the shuttle.

"Sorry to burst this litte planning party but your monster friends realize we're here are trying to get offship, We've got to get back to our shuttle! Help if you can, but get on with your plan soon, otherwise we're going to run out of soldiers. Red Team, move out!"

Gerring followed the others out of the door and down the hall, he saw several of the Battle Drones following but he just hoped they'd get to the shuttle in time.

"Bugger" thought Luger. He wished the soldiers luck in helping their comrades aand turned to the Battle Drones.

"Okay, looks like it's just us. Follow me to the armoury. Keep your guard up, these things could come from everywhere. Walls, floor, roof." He hefted the surpirisingly light weapon the drone had given him.

"Thanks." He lead the way out the door.

*****
The engine room stirred. The sounds of gunfire filtered through the ship, alerting a robed figure. Crude armour had been nailed to his body, self-inflicted scars ran across his figure and his robe was bloody and tattered. Beside him another figure dressed and mutilated in the same stood up, waking from unholy sleep.

The third figure was something else entirely. Of a different race, long dead. Kiradian? Not even it remembered what its race was called. The Cult had long since destroyed it, with its help of course. The smaller, human figures addressed it.

"Lord Acolyte Hir'atar. The human Luger is still alive. Also, there appears to be other races aiding in his rescue." This was the shorter of the mutilated ones. Corporal Hanser of the Aspiration.

"The Enslaved have assaulted a foreign drop pod," this figure stood more upright, but kept his face hidden. "The enemy are well entrenched, but we cannot allow them to escape. For the good of the Cu..."

"Fool! You dare lecture ME on the good of the Cult? I, who have been a member since before you were conceived. Who was it who overran your precious ship?"

"You Lord Acolyte."

"I am glad you remember it. I will call the Enslaved off, hide them again. Luger was stubborn, it is why is not like either of you, nor an Enslaved. He resisted the Dreams. He also has a misplaced sense of duty to your ship. He will not allow it to remain in my hands."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"We wait. And we hide. I can track Luger better than any machine can, I know his mind's signature. When we know what they are planning, I will have every Enslaved on this ship attack. And then." The Acolyte's twisted and metal nail and hook riddled face grinned. "Then we take those two lovely ship. And a battlefleet too. My, my. Such ripe pickings."

"Can you not implant the Dreams? Perhaps we can take the flagship of the fleet, or one of the others under our sway without a direct assault."

"Your ignorance is outstanding. Alas, I cannot implant the Dreams from this distance, it would require a Patriarch for that. I can however, speak to them.."

The Acolyte closed it's eyes and ordered its Enslaved into hiding and hibernation. Then, with no little effort, it reached out to the Captain of the three major ships.

"This one...his name is...Jeffry. How quaint."

*****
Jeffry...jeffry... Are you tired Jeffry? Don't you want to sleep? No need to fear it. We, the Somniphobic, see it as sacred. Won't you join us in it's warm, dream-filled embrace?

OOC: Somni, Jeffry commands only the frigate. Jelal, ED's character, commands the small fleet. If you want me to reply, I will to the beacon. I just wanted to know if you misplaced it.

OOC: Nope. I got the right guy. Keep in mind, it's not a beacon. It's a sort of telepathic message. Only Jeffry can hear it. Or that's what's intended anyway.

OOC: Just making sure.

The commander nodded and Prometheus sent the order to the entire HYDRA assault force, now forty-one strong, to follow Luger. A few took up point alongside Luger, while they made a sort of column, with heavily-armed rearguards as they slowly made their way into the ship. Prometheus was nearly filled with glee. Amount of enemies: Unknown but thought to be many. Potential for combat; Nearly 100% The Battle A.I. rubbed its hands together, this would be fun....


***********

Jeffry had sat in his chair and monitored the assault force, as well as the short firefight one the Enslaved, as Luger called them, had attacked and brought down one of their units. It was a good thing they moved to robotic soldiers for the most part, so their deaths weren't that distressing. Suddenly, he heard a voice in his head, calling out to him.

Jeffry...jeffry... Are you tired Jeffry? Don't you want to sleep? No need to fear it. We, the Somniphobic, see it as sacred. Won't you join us in it's warm, dream-filled embrace?

He began to feel his eyelids droop and fatigue wash over him. Struggling, he had his nanonics give him adrenaline and he shot awake. He quietly alerted the entire crew and they all connected on affinity. The Acolyte would hear the equivalent of a shouting voice in his face slamming into him.

"DO NOT THINK SUCH PETTY TRICKS WILL WORK, CREATURE. THE TELROSIANS ARE NOT SO EASILY DEALT WITH. GIVE UP NOW OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO WIPE YOUR KIND FROM THE SHIP."

The force of the combined voices slammed into the Acolyte with huge force. But he had endured worse, much worse. And at his own hands no less. The pain was to be welcomed. He laughed

My you ARE an interesting kind. Very well, I will let you be. Try and stay awake Jeffry. You want to wipe me and my slaves from the ship? Then you will set in motion a catalyst larger than you know.

The Acolyte smiled and cut the connection. Despite his hardiness, he would need rest after such an attack before he tried one of the other captains. He turned to the robed figure, the one with the hidden face.

"You know what must be done."

*****
Luger led the HYDRA units onwards. The armoury was not too far from the bridge, but fatigue was cloduing his mind and he felt as though he was walking through oil. He reached into his pocket and subtly injected another shot of adrenaline. He had another two hours.

"It's this way." He led the Battle droids onto a gantry which led to an elevator. They needed to go down two floors, and then a short walk to the armoury door.

"Not all of us will fit I'm afraid. Weight isn't an issue, but there'll only be enough room for about five of you plus myself."

The door opened and Luger stepped in, he held the door open for the HYDRA units.

Imperial Light Crusiser La Alamien
Destroyer Escort Flotilla Leader
Reacting to possible hostile activities
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tell the Atropos to continue on to Caldera. Tell Captain Fasselhoff and his star to carry this message to Lord Admiral Cunhera. The Abominable and her star is to rearrange into patrol formation and create a 3 light year control zone around the wounded vessel. We are still not sure about what is happening here. We cannot afford to be caught off gaurd.

'Orders packaged and confirmed. Should we break the Situational Awareness feeds to the Atropos and the Indominable?'

"Nay, keep them in full TDSN. If something new developes, the Atropos will have the data to explain to high command," he answered.

"Send this data package to the Atropos. Encrypt it in Enigmatus Symbiotas, security level Vermillion. Tell Fassellhoff to make for Caldera."

"Yes Master."

"Once that is complete, open a channel with the other two vessels."

"Of course Master Jelal."

"Bring us into flank formation with the Telrosian warship," the Master of the Flotilla barked.

Gerring opened fire at the back of one of the Enslaved, as Luger had called them, as the rest of the squad caught up with him. The Enslaved was tough, but it couldn't handle explosive tipped rounds that well. The beast went down, but it had taken almost a full clip, before Gerring could reload again, three more of the beasts were charging at him, his squadmates blasted two before they could reach him but another was too fast. Gerring blocked a blade swipe to his head with his rifle as he reached for his pulse knife.

The moster was too fast though and with a massive, club-like arm swatted Gerring back down the corridor. Gerring landed in a heap and looke up in time to see the monster begin leaping towards him when it was blasted from the side by the rest of the squad. Festerly helped Gerring to his feet and they continued down the corridor, the shuttle was almost in sight.

"Don't let them in the ship boys!" Gerring yelled before opening up with his assault rifle. The rain of firepower was enough to bring down an Enslaved before it could react, but another was already leaping towards the squad.

In a blur of motion it closed the roughly 30 foot distance between the squad and the shuttle door when in a hail of gunfire behind the beast, it fell to the ground in front of Gerring. Out of the shuttle, the remaining members of Blue Team stood just outside the shuttle, having come out when they heard gunfire.

"Reporting Sargeant, three dead, one injured sir."

"It's a miracle you held out this long soldier, good job Corporal. Take your men and get back to the Casoway. Get patched up there and have Green and Yellow teams come back on the shuttle."

"Aye sir, should we bring in the bodies as well?"

"Bodies? Aren't they already inside?"

"No sir, they ambushed us outside the shuttle, three didn't make it inside."

"Then where'd they take the bodies?" Gerring wondered aloud. "Oh god, they've taken them to be changed."

"Sir?"

"Get your men out of here, send the shuttle back with Green and Yellow teams, don't come back yourselves. That's an order."

The shuttle doors closed with Blue team inside and Red outside. The airlock closed before the shuttle left and Gerring watched their only ride out of this hell hole fly away.

"Well boys, it looks like we're on this until the end. So let's get it done fast."
Gerring loaded a fresh clip into his rifle and led the squad towards the armory.

My you ARE an interesting kind. Very well, I will let you be. Try and stay awake Jeffry. You want to wipe me and my slaves from the ship? Then you will set in motion a catalyst larger than you know.

"WE SHALL SEE, ABOMINATION. DO NOT TRY TO THREATEN ME IN MY SLEEP, YOU ARE DEALING WITH A FORCE YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND."

Jeffry then sat back in his chair, sweating as the entire crew was and sighed when the contact withdrew. This battle just got even worse. He could only hope Prometheus was having better luck.


Which he wasn't. The commander drone glanced at Luger. "I see. Very well. We'll go down five at a time. We'll be able to reinforce you that way." He waved to four other units and they walked into the elevator. They closed the door and the elevator began on its way. They checked ammo, gear, and their armor for the coming confrontation. Until the next group made it down, they would be on their own.

"Captain, we have just picked up massive psy waves being exchanged between the Unity and the Aspiration." Reported one of the twelve psykers on the bridge. Captain Savery looked up from his view of the interior of the Aspiration is shock, those monsters on that frigate could manipulate psy waves?! This would prove a serious problem if they were directed at the Casoway. With only two dozen of his psykers out of cryo, they would only just be able to repel the kind of attack that passed between the two ships.

"I want every psyker out of cryo and blocking this ship as soon as possible. We cannot allow our crew manipulated by enemy psykers."

As the crew went about their work waking the psykers, captain Savery wondered, "What would have happened if that attack had been directed at our ship? Could we have stopped it? Well, now we shouldn't have too many problems." As the last of the psykers were defrosted they began taking up positions around the ship to fully shield it from psy waves. Hopefully that would keep them safe.

"Sir another report," called a Corporal from farther down the bridge, "The shuttle's returning, they're requesting for Green and Yellow teams."

"Then send them out soldier, get them fully assault ready, if Sargeant Gerring thinks they're needed, they're needed."

The fact that Gerring was calling for reinforcements meant more than the other crew could know, Gerring had only once before called for backup, and that was during the capture of an entire cruiser, this was very bad.

*******
Gerring checked his clip, just over half, those bastards were durable that's for sure, even with explosive rounds they still took a good 40 before they dropped, and even then you had to stop them from exploding.

"Sir, we're coming up near the Armory elevator sir. I'm detecting chatter, sounds like our Telosian friends."

"Good job Festerly, so we're not too late, that's always good to know." At least they wouldn't be alone against these monsters. And when would those reinforcements get here?

"Lord Acolyte, the enemy soldiers have liberated their shuttle. Several of our Enslaved is dead."

"Fear not little Cultist. I would have rathered subsume them, but those Telrosians have tired me...I cannot plant the dreams. Not yet anyway. In time though."

"I did hear them, my Lord, questioning where their bodies went."

"And you wish to know as well? Do not fret, curiosity is to be welcomed. Quite simply even the Enslaved need to feed now and then. Those fools believe they are being changed into Enslaved. They know nothing of our operations. But they will know. They will."

*****
The elevator opened. A short gantry led over the Engine room several hundred feet below. The slight shimmering of the Disintegrator field cast flickering lights on Luger and the HYDRAs. Luger took the ten or so steps to the armoury door and placed his hand on a panel. Two quick jabs indicated that his blood was being sampled.

"DNA sample identified as Gunnery Sergeant Hans Luger. Prepare voice identification."

"Hans Luger. Passcode for guests, 33XJ7."

"Passcode accepted. Voice Identification confirmed. Proceed."

As the door opened, Luger sense movement. He stepped in very slowly and heard a shuffling to his right. So it wasn't an Enslaved then. He wouldn't have heard it. He switched on the lights and saw a young twenty-something man cowering in the corner, his pistol pointed at Luger.

"Stay back! Stay back!"

"Private Keller, lower your weapon."

"No no NO! You're them. I know it, you let them in. I can hear them. I can see them. They're everywhere!"

Christ, he was hallucinating. Must have gone at least four days without sleep. He was ahead of Luger, who'd only made it three.

"Jonah. It's me. These are Telrosians, well. Battle droids of theirs. They're here to help us. Put down the gun, we can go with them. You look like you could use some rest."

"Yes...rest...rest. No no no no no. Sleep is when they get you! They're in my dreeeeeaaamssssss. They're here, they're here!"

"Jonah...trust me."

"No sleep...no sleep..."

"Jonah..."

The boy raised his pistol. "I can't...fall...asleep...they're in me...I can't run....you can't run..."

"Oh God NO! Jonah don..."

There was a short crack as Jonah placed his pistol in his mouth and fired.

*****
"Such a shame. He seemed like such a nice boy. No matter, now I know what they are doing...Are you ready Cultist?"
*****
Luger refrained from the urge to scream, and instead just shielded his eyes, wiping away tears. Jonah lay dead, blood pouring from the back of his head, his eyes rolled back. Luger walked over to a nearby crate and opened it, removing five Thermal Charges. In total silence he placed them at various points around the room.

"That's it. It's done. We blow them when we're off. Let's go."

A Greywatch cruisar pulled out of PSR several kilometers away from the group of ships and instantly began to move forward. The distress signal had been picked up by an advanced Listening Post in Greywatch space. The cruisar was a Star Shadow, the Council didn't feel like taking chances and decided ships with cloak capabilities would be the best to send in. The ship pulled forward and began some surface scans.

Three other groups were already here, one of them was recognized as Telrosian. At least Greywatch had a familiar face. No transmission was sent yet, the Star Shadow simply pulled up closer. Shields up, promary weapons at 35%, secondary weapons were shiethed and invisable. Now to find out what was happening... An open message was sent:

<Hail all ships, we are representing the Empire of Greywatch. We are responding to the distress call of this unidentified ship. Please respond.>

After the message was sent, teams began to gather on board the ship. They were there to help, it would be odd if someone tried to stop them from acting as support. Drones and Droids were up for the heavy stuff. Some technicians and soldiers were sent in as backup. A solid three groups would be deployed. Another message was sent:

<We are preparing teams to be sent in to assist. Any information about the ship would be appriciated. Especially if someone could explain the odd damage done to the hull.>

The captain looked to her officer, "Okay people, be ready for anything. As doon as we get a green, send our boy and girls in." The crew around her nodded.

The Reconciliation class cruiser slid easily through the darkness of space, running lights were engaged bathing the sheep in a low monotone off white, serving only to illuminate the ship's designation and serial number. Hundreds of small windows were lit up all over the vessel's long shape, and as it turned slightly and sculled towards the location of the distress signal for a brief moment the odd ugly shapes of weapon emplacements were illuminated briefly. The ship's hull was made from a strange metal light blue in colour and tinged with a light silvery sheen, it's shape too was strange, the large cross shaped engines swept elegantly forwards into a long flat shape like some ancient form of sea life. As it's generator's gave another burst of power the dark blue engines flared silently outwards and the maneuvering thrusters compensated moving it into position slowly. As it came slowly into the range of the others there was a brief flare of activity along the sensor strips, scanning and comparing ships to those located in it's vast database.

Aboard the vessel the Captain and his bridge crew were engaged in the myriad tasks that are necessary to keep this large vessel functioning like a well oiled machine, the crew members marched along the corridors some talked idly amongst themselves as they proceeded to various destinations all over the vessel, others hurried to duty stations to relieve the fourth shift as they came off duty. Everywhere the eye could see the ship breathed and lived, the crew it's Blood, the A.I it's soul, and the Power core it's heart. Deep in the barracks Security personnel went over shift rotas and equipment maintenance, there was little to worry over for the moment. Further back in the Cryo-stasis area eight sleeper tubes were arranged in a semi-circle around a central console, their inhabitants, both male and female, wore the same uniform and arranged next to each tube was a single security locker reinforced heavily with deadlocks and keypads.

On the Bridge the Captains attention was drawn to the latest readings from the ship's gathered here, they had intercepted certain communications and his interest was piqued, and besides wasn't it the Corporations mandate to seek out new life, and new technology? Nodding at his communications officer he settled back into his chair, raised slightly as it was above the rest of the crew stations, he paused for a moment to adjust the dark blue beret atop his head with the Companies insignia attached to it before tapping on a keypad set into the arm of the chair. A small screen raised upwards from the arm and he entered in the key code for a general message. "Greetings to all here, this is Captain Nebekov of the Biodyne Corporation vessel Nightmare Child, we have received a Distress call from this quadrant. Is there any assistance that we can render at this juncture? Please respond." He settled back into his chair leaving the channel open whilst he awaited a reply, a crew member stepped through the doors onto the bridge with a cup held delicately in his hands, Captain Nebekov smiled and nodded to the young man and took it from his hands, raising it to his lips he took a deep breathe before sipping at the cup of warm dark liquid.

(OOC: Sorry about the late entry into this, I would have joined up sooner but Jolt messed up with my main account so I'm posting with this one for this RP.)

The HYDRA's stepped out from the elevator and immediately sent it back down, to get five more of their brethren to come up. They followed Luger as he went to the armory and followed the security procedures. Soon the door opened and Luger went in. The commander and another stepped in, while the other four stayed in the hallway. Two facing one way, two the other. One facing the roof, the other the ground. When they walked in and saw a weapon being aimed at them, they sprang into action, rifles up. They watched the tense scene unfold and the man's suicide. Prometheus sighed. A pity; but then organics were susceptible to the strange sights like this. Their psyches were so fragile.....

Once Luger had the bombs set up, he made to leave, saying they'd blow them when they left. The commander paused gesturing at three of the soldiers. They nodded and moved into the room, setting up positions. "They can hold this area, in case they try to mess with them." He followed Luger out.

"What's next?" The two soldiers remaining in the hallway followed, one as the rearguard.

"Crap, crap, crap."
The Cultist remained hidden behind a shelving unit. The Acolyte had not accounted for this. How was he supposed to blow the charges prematurely now...

Well, there was a way. He knew these charges were set to go off in the event of an EMF attack, so he just had to set of something similar without alerting the Battle Droids. But, then again, they were Droids, so he had no idea how sensitive they were. Maybe...

His view slipped to the hibernating Enslaved lying in front of him, hidden (mostly) beneath a Chameleon Cover. Did they have motion sensors? Probably, he'd have to be fast. Would it even set off the charges? Probably.

*****
"Two new arrivals. This just got trickier." Acolyte Hir'atar was not, however, worried. He had long ago abandoned hope of seeding a Cult in this area of space. At least, not right now. He was too burned out to attack the organics on the ship, the foreigner ships remained too far out of range...No-one except Luger would be Dreaming the Dreams, and he was tough. Hir'atar had no doubt he would last years before succumbing to the Dreams and the either Insanity or servitude they brought on.

"Lord Acolyte?" Hanser stood, his head bowed, waiting for the next step.

"Syncope has already communicated with me. I know what we must do. Come closer, young Acolyte. The void of space is still deadly to you. Hold onto me, and my aura will both protect you and hopefully shield you from scanners."

Hanser wrapped his arms around the Acolyte, not even flinching as myriad shards of metal and bone dug into his skin.

"Now we wait for your Captain."

*****
Luger exited the elevator and started on the journey out of the ship.

"I'm afraid you'll have to lead me to your exit pods. I don't know where they are."

Luger was feeling better, despite what had happened just minutes prior. The knowledge that he was going to get off the ship in one piece had filled him with strength, and he had the Telrosians to thank. He began walking, every step taking him closer to safety.

*****
Captain Von Paulen of the Aspiration lowered his hood, revealing a bald head. Large patches of skin had been torn straight off, his eyelids were pulled back by metal hooks and his lips had been surgically removed. He readied himself. he estimated maybe five seconds of free time once he moved..

1 - He lunged forward at the Enslaved, bringing the left side of his body into view.
2 - He depressed the gem in the Enslaved's back, turning it red.
3 - He pressed it again, turning it bright orange.
4 - He turned and drew his pistol.
5 - "FOR THE CULT!" he charged the battle droids.

7 - The Enslaved exploded, not like the first one, but this time in a ball of green fire. The one of the charges got coated in the acidic, flaming blood of the Enslaved even as Von Paulen fell to the ground, metallic shrapnel removing his back and spilling his internal organs to the floor.

Beep...beep...beep...

*****
Luger couldn't help but smile as he looked at the detonator in his hand. He was going to live.
*****
"As soon as I give the command, we will leave the ship."
"Yes, Lord Acolyte."
*****
Beyond the realms the ships could affect, the Patriarch Syncope stood by a massive monolith, part organic, part advanced technology, part ancient technology of the 2000s on Earth. He looked to the massive Bio-Ship beside him. How fortunate they had stumbled across a living ship that could Dream. And now, it belonged to them.

Syncope waited for Hir'atar's call.
*****
beep...beep...beepbeepbeepbeep.

15 seconds after Von Paulen's suicidal actions...the charge exploded.

Captain Nebekov was sipping at his tea and awaiting a response from any of the vessels when his science officer turned in his seat. "Captain! We have just detected an explosion from inside the Ship!" Nebekov cursed closing the vid-link as he set his tea down, staring at the 3d holo-imager in the centre of the bridge, currently the ghost image of the ships gathered here was painted across it seemingly floating like toys in the air. "Show me." His tone was terse as he stepped over to the imaging system and stared at it intently as a section was illuminated in flashing red. "What is current situation aboard that vessel?" The bridge crew began shunting data over to the Captain's neural net and he assessed it with flickering eyes as it scrolled across the surface of his optical implants. "Very well we can't wait for a response, we'll be sending our people in." Tapping a button in front of him he opened a communications line to the rest of the ship.

"Attention Crew, this is the Captain speaking, we are now at a Priority 3 alert. Man your stations, security force Alpha 1 report to the Hangar bay, prepare for search and rescue operations." He flicked the line closed and turned to his tactical officer, "Bring shields up to 25% and warm the weapons up, I don't want anyone thinking we can't defend ourselves, but leave targeting offline and keep the guns prepped, not at full power."

In the Barracks section Security crewmen were assisted into the exoskeleton's that were there stock in trade, grabbing up the ugly heavy and crude looking rifles they marched over as soon as they were suited and booted. Each armoured suit was painted a dark blue, and the glass bubble that covered the head was blood red as it slid closed over faces covered in rebreathers and targeting uplinks. By the time they were at the hangar there was a total of eight of them, two members of each team had a yellow triangle emblazoned on their right shoulderpad, one contained the symbol of a cog, and the other a single cross. Medic's and Repair men stood by as the first of the Security forces marched up onto the small shuttle and strapped themselves in before being given the final once over. A thumbs up signal and the shuttle was emptied the doors sliding closed as it was lowered into the launch bay, it was a strange design, almost like a limpet with the engines located on top of the craft.

Captain Nebekov got the ready signal from the first shuttle, all four security personnel were ready, two frontline infantry one medic one engineer, standard complement for a search and rescue mission. Pressing a button on the base of the holo-imager he sent out an all band message. "This is Captain Nebekov of the Biodyne Corporation vessel, Nightmare Child. We have detected an explosion aboard the vessel, we are sending search and rescue officers to assist. Please Respond." He left the channel open and nodded to his tactical officer who turned back at her station, "We are a Go for Launch, I repeat, Go for Launch."

As the Shuttlecraft accelerated out of the launch bay it penetrated the shielding with a gentle ease, it glided for a moment or so before the engines flared and the trail of ionised blue particles streamed behind it. It accelerated rapidly, spinning slightly in space as it tore towards the strange vessel they had received the distress signal from. Reverse thrusters fired once, twice and a third time as four leaf like sections unfolded from the bottom of the craft, it guided itself gently towards an airlock and as it's surface touched the leaf like struts slammed down on the hull magnetising themselves to secure it as multiple barbs punctured the outer skin for better grip. All was silent for a moment aboard the shuttle as the Security personnel unstrapped themselves and waited for the pressure to equalise on their side. A green light went off and an Iris span open on the base of the craft revealing the airlock door, the Engineer hurried forwards connecting up small wires from a device he carried at his belt before tapping away at the keypad silently, the others gripped their rifles steadily as there was a hiss and a beep and the Engineer cracked the entry code before stepping out of the way. "Captain we have confirmation from first team, they have entry." Nebekov nodded to his Tactical officer and went back to studying the holographic image of the ships gathered here. "What is going on here.." he muttered, as he waited for a return message.

Sending in soldiers are we? Tell me Captain Nebekov, what do you hope to accomplish. This ship is dying, and already filled with plenty of 'rescue teams'. Wouldn;t you rather enjoy a show? Wouldn't you rather...sleep. You must be tired. Why not close your eyes, just for a while.

Hir'atar grinned. Let's see if these new arrivals could fight back like the Telrosians. If they even had psychic capabilities of their own.

The explosion had torn through the ship, blowing everything from the armoury back, about 15% of the total ship mass. The shields were weakened, but Hir'atar new the others would not fire on the ship so long as they still had soldiers on board. He still had time.

Syncope could wait.

Captain Nebekov heard the voice, rattling inside his skull, the compulsion struck him like a mallet weakening his knees and weighing heavily on his eyes. Psychics, the word shot through his thoughts as he fought through the fog, he knew there was nothing he could do to combat them mentally, this was a first response vessel, an escort, they weren't authorised to carry Psychics. So he did the only thing he could, re-routing primary biological functions through his neural enhancer he shut down higher brain functions letting the software take over for him. To anyone who could touch his mind it simply felt like brain death, the state couldn't last indefinitely the strain on the neural pathways was too extreme for that, but it could still maintain him for the time being. Pulling himself together and drawing up from his hunched form he sat in his chair and met the qorried eyes of his officers, "Psychics." It was the only word he needed to say, the crew knew the protocols that were to be followed.

As the door slid open the first four person team moved out into the corridor before them, rifles raised, the airlock slid closed behind them and the shuttle powered down maintaining only basic power to keep itself from being dislodged. As they reached a corner the two in front took up flanking positions rifles scanning corridors as the steady hum of their rifles filled the air. "Nightmare Child this is Team 1, we have breached the interior and are preparing to clear the area, what are your orders?" The squad captain scanned the heads up display painted across the interior of his opaque bubble helmet, atmosphere in this section of the ship seemed nominally breathable, but he kept the shield up anyway, not trusting it one bit, something didn't sit right with him aboard this vessel, but he was the command head for this mission, and it was his job to make sure things ran smoothly. He switched through different filters running through thermal detection to electronic distortions, eventually he settled for low light enhancement to pick up the background details, to make them that little bit sharper. There was a slight crackle in his ear before the Tactical officer aboard the Nightmare Child responded, "Team 1 you are cleared for engagement, do not shoot unless fired upon and do not damage anything that we may need to salvage. You know the drill, clear the ship assess possible threats and recover whatever computer core you can. Keep it frosty men." He grunted an affirmative and gestured for his team to follow him, early scans of the vessel had detected that this was the location the explosion had occurred from, scanning the corridors for any signs of movement they crept forwards keeping a close eye on their surroundings.

Imperial Light Cruiser La Alamein
Destroyer Escort Flotilla Leader
Arming weapons

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

The Imperial Light Cruiser sat silently next to the Telrosian vessel as activity heightened around it. Its sensors screamed with effort, the strain of not only seeing the material realm, but what was around it. Boots hit grated floors as the psykers connected the ship, murmuring prayers of protection.

All Jelal could hear was the ship waling a broken, halting chant. 'Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong...' it cried over and over and over again. He grit his teeth.

"Master, the psychic signals are strengthening again!"

"Adds to the signature of HE charge detonations coming from inside it," he answered grimly, "that settles it, link all our avalible vessels to the TDSN. Weapons hot, activate all the war spirits in our vessels. Target is the wounded warship we are investigating. Load Anti-matter shells, full saturation detonations, prepare us for full combat manuevers. The others will probably dislike us killing their boarding parties along side whatever...things are inside it."

Suddenly, the Imperial warships burst into action, moving at full burn. With hisses muted in the void of space, large railgun turrets swung towards the Aspiration like snakes. Missile batteries unseathed themselves. The overpowering roar of the bloodthirsty AIs of the weapons filled the ears of the crews with data links into their ships.

"Arm weapons, give full activation codes to the AIs. Fire for effect when ready," Jelal spoke.

"Captain! The flotilla of vessels to our starboard have activated weapons and appear to be maneuvering for an attack on the vessel our team is aboard!" Nebekov cursed under his breath as he hit the holo-imager, he already felt the strain as his mind felt like it was buckling under his control, it had been bare minutes since he had shut down the organics in his mind. "Helm move us into firing range, Tactical bring shields up to full and activate targeting systems, bring weapons to ready status." Nebekov hit the button for a ship wide transmission as his bridge crew hurried to fulfill his orders, he breathed for a moment before speaking. "All crew to action stations, this is a Priority 1 alert, I repeat, this is a Priority 1 alert. This is Not a Drill." He shut off the speaker system and thumped the side of the machine in frustration, "Captain, if I may..? What are we doing Sir? They outnumber us 10 to 1!" Nebekov span on his heel and glared at his first officers face, but as always there was that infuriating neutrality that always covered her features. "First Officer Kovacs, for all we know those vessels are responsible for the damage to that vessel in the first place, and we have crew members aboard. They have not answered repeated messages and have now prepared all weapons to fire. Under Corporation Directive 14 sub paragraph A, I am entitled to pursue any action in order to prevent loss of Biodyne equipment and furthermore under Directive 8 sub paragraph G, I am authorised to aggressively pursue any chance of recovering new technologies if no other course is open to me, is that Clear?"

Aboard the vessel the first team moved slowly through the corridors rifles flicking into corners and at air vents as they proceeded rapidly towards the source of the explosion. So far they had not encountered any crew and were continuing their search for any survivors. Finally they encountered a computer console, it's flickering lights assuring them that it had power. The Engineer hurried forwards and connected wires to it's screen, he began to upload an aggressive viral infiltration program to break into the system and assess the damage to the ship more thoroughly and to see if there was anyway to shunt power from any reserve systems. In the meantime his comrades kept him covered scanning every possible attack angle and tightened their grip on their rifles.

As the Nightmare Child activated full power the low white light that had illuminated the vessels designation and serial number increased in intensity as the hundreds of windows were automatically deadlocked and sealed winking out one by one. Smooth sections of hull slid back noiselessly and one by one sleek black warheads protruded, on board VI systems locking onto vessels, calculating the most damage that could be done with the impact of bridge and engineering sections. The long low profile of the ship seemed almost to spread out a pair of wings that had been flush to the hull, until five points of light on each wing lit up a pale blue as the Ion array's charged themselves. The various protrusions on the ship that had been seen before lit up and span into life as burst missile racks came online and counter missile racks prepared themselves to engage incoming projectiles. And then there was a shimmering effect around the ship, pale blues and violets rippled outwards into a bubble around the vessel until it was wholly encompassed.

Nebekov smiled as the Tactical officer reported that all ship systems were fully charged and online. He pressed a button on his chair arm and settled back as he typed in the code for a general frequency, "Attention Unidentified Vessels, this is the Biodyne Corporation Vessel the Nightmare Child, you will stand down weapons now, we have crew aboard the damaged ship assessing the situation. Under Company Mandate this vessel and any surviving crew are now under my Immediate Protection. Respond Now." He cut the outgoing message and set it on a loop as he span up and out of his chair again pacing back and forth impatiently, he had deliberately left the lines open in case they tried to respond. He turned and seemed to be talking to himself as he gazed at the walls and ceiling, "Karina? Visualise please, main Holo-imager if you will?" There was a shimmering effect as the image of the hostile vessels flickered and disappeared, in their place stood a woman dressed in a severe business suit and long dark hair with an Slavic cast to her features. "Yes Captain?" Her voice seemed to echo as she spoke, an echo made up of thousands of other voices repeating every word she said just a fraction of a second slower each time. "Karina are your systems integrated with Weapons Control and Targeting?" The woman froze in place for a moment as streams of data ran under skin and clothing before she nodded, "Yes Captain all Systems are online." Nebekov leaned on his balled up hands and tried to shake the feeling that his head was full of cotton wool. "Karina, we detected high levels of AI control emanating from those vessels before we raised shields, suggestions on how to deal with them would be appreciated about now." Karina stepped forwards pausing at the edge of the Holo-imager where she frowned and placed a hand on her chin as though thinking. The Nightmare Child in the meantime moved elegantly in it's position, until all weapons had acquired targets and were prepared to fire.

The three HYDRA soldiers whirled about to see the dead Enslaved body crystal glowing a bright color and a disfigured human charging them. Their gauss and pulse weapons tore him to bits, but he still took his toll. The Enslaved exploded, sending fragments everywhere and slashing an arm off one of the drones. They turned to see one of the bombs smoking. They rushed and tried to cover it with their bodies, to diminish the damage. It was far too late for such actions, the explosion wiped them from existence as well as the next five drones that came up from the elevator, the explosion slamming into them.

Prometheus fumed; damn this "Cult" was a buggery one alright. He had the remaining thirty-two drones to pull back, and hurried the group taking Luger along. The ship had shuddered under the explosion, and it threw the three HYDRA soldiers around, the commander unit holding Luger steady. After a moment, it turned to him. "We apologize; there was an ambush. They detonated the explosives early. We must get you off the ship. We will get you to the craft and then hold the hangars against any attempt to leave." It set him back on the ground and hurried him towards the hangar. They saw signs detailing they were nearing it, and they hurried along even more. Out of side passageways, the HYDRA drones that survived came running along.

As this was going on, Jeffry had been aboard the frigate, trying to get himself back on his feet. He was meeting with success, stimulants administered by his nanonics. He was watching progress on the ship, when he noticed one of the new arrivals had appeared. He had received a datavise alert about it, but he had ignored it as he struggled to control his trembling. It was from a nation known as....Biodyne, that was it. They had reported an explosion on the ship, and he gazed at the alarms to see that, yes, they had sensed it as well. Prometheus was reporting the situation and his face grew grim. This cult worried him, it worried him a lot.

He opened a channel. "Captain Nebekov, I am Captain Jeffry of the Unity. I saw the explosion too, and my teams aboard are reporting they attempted to blow the vessel in order to facilitate our destruction of it and the attempt was ambushed. We are currently trying to get the survivor off the ship. I am sending you data on the enemy now. Warn your teams, since when they die, they do not come back." He was going to say more when an alert came on, Maria appeared, worried.

"Captain, the battle group that came to attack us has armed weapons once more and is on an attack vector for the Aspiration. Orders?"

Jeffry narrowed his eyes. "Shields up, weapons full power. Go to action stations, and bring us to Alert Level One." The lights of the ship dimmed and went red as the alarm rang. All over the ship, personnel went to their stations, shouting orders and getting ready. Maria shifted the frigate and moved it over to flank the Nightmare Child. A message was sent to the incoming fleet.

"Unknown fleet, this is Ship Artificial Intelligence Maria of the Federation frigate Unity. You are on an attack vector on a ship that is currently undergoing a rescue operation. We are still extracting survivors and personnel from the ship. We insist that you power down weapons and move away from your vector. This is your first and only warning. Any attempts to attack will be met with force."

Jeffry sent out a call to the closest communications array, asking for reinforcements. He got a response, two frigates and a cruiser were on their way. Until then, they would have to hold out. Two ships against at least four, if he was reading this right. He would have to make do. He sent a datavise to Prometheus, telling him to hurry his ass up. He received the usual bad language. "Have all combat wasps readied and get me targeting solutions on that fleet." A channel was opened with the Nightmare Child as the bridge crew rushed to complete his commands.

"Captain Nebekev, I will assist you in getting your men out and in holding off the unknowns until help arrives. I have three more ships coming in to aid us. I do not know when they will get here, but it will hopefully be soon."

Onboard the Aspiration, the commander unit looked to see the hangar when it stiffened. "Luger, we need to move. An incoming battle group is coming to attack the ship. We need to get you off, now." He pushed the human towards their shuttle as the twenty-eight HYDRA's fanned out, covering every angle and taking positions in the hangar area. They would stay and hold off any attempt at pursuit by the Cult. Another squad of four was moving to their location when they heard talking, and moved to positions, one easing a nanonic probe around the door to see soldiers. Prometheus ran their images and confirmed they were from Nightmare Child.

One walked in and paused as guns were aimed at it. "You can shoot us later. An incoming enemy battle group is moving to attack this ship. You all need to leave, now."

Imperial Light Cruiser La Alamein
Destroyer Escort Flotilla Leader
Pausing Attack
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The six Imperial Warships slowed to halt yet again, but weapons remained pointed at the Aspiration. Missile bays did not close, showing rows of torpedoes that shined in the light of the stars. Sensors remained firmly locked on their target.

Jelal winced as his ship's torturous chant began to turn into screams. He knew this would be no different for the Captains of his other six ships. They too were hearing their ships scream at the wrongness emanating from the Aspiration. He could feel the feather light touch of the other consciouses of his command. He had not stopped for that, however. He knew he would have to answer the other ships.

"Master, we are being painted by targeting sensors. I do believe they do not want us to destroy the warship whilst they still have personnel securing it."

"Psychic signatures are falling, slightly."

"Open wide band coms," he croaked. He was used to La Alamein's calm analysis of variables and situational updates. Licking his suddenly dry lips, he waited untill he knew he would have clear broadcast.

"Unknown vessels, I do have reason to beleive that the Aspiration is a exetreme threat. It should be destroyed as soon as humanly possible. As such, I have armed my weapons, and prepared for an all out saturation attack of the Aspiration in order to secure this system from a possible non-corpreal enemy effective immedietly. I will hold fire as you have retrieve your personel, then I will continue my attack run. Hopefully it will be enough to totally destroy this vessel."

THe Greywatch vessel preped all weapons and raised shielding.

<UnIDed vessel, Stand down now. Hostile actions are not recomended in this situation.>

An encrypted message then went to the Telrosian ship:

<Is there anyway we can be of assistance? We heard the distress call and came to check it out. Is our presence acceptable?>

Luger stared at the heavily armoured humans. He took it that this area of space was rather busy. Odd, he had never in his 30 years of service ever seen such an active area...
*****
A psychic wave ran through the ship, passing the myriad of foreigners. They were not its target.

Now.

A dreadful, inhuman screeching filled the halls of the ship. On the bridge, the scanner went haywire as hundreds of red dots began lighting up all at once. The Enslaved on board, all 568 of them were out of hibernation, and began to charge every living thing on the ship. No strategy, no tactics, just instinct.

Kill kill kill.
*****
Hir'atar pulled Hanser in close.

"Hold yourself, we will be in the vacuum of space for a few seconds at least and my shielding can only wrap around you for so long."

"I understand Acolyte. If I am to die, so be it."

With a thought, Hir'atar blasted out a circuit box, disabling the disintegrator field around the engine room and also blowing a small hole in the ship's hull. A vortex of escaping air sucked both he and Hanser out, firing them away from the ship. Hir'atar put all his concentration into shielding the two from ship's scanners. Hanser squirmed as he began to feel the effects of decompression, but in an instant they were gone. Hir'atar's shield was holding.

"Syncope, we are ready."

*****
Syncope pressed his hand to a panel on the massive Monolith. The area in front of him began to cloud over, clearing to reveal an image of the scene surrounding Hir'atar.

"My, things ARE hectic in there."

He looked to the Bioship floating beside him. It would have no more than 30 seconds from the moment it reached through the gate to grab Hir'atar and pull him. Otherwise enemy fighters would probably target it.

Syncope pressed again against the panel, and the image before him became distorted and cracks began to appear...

*****
In the darkness of space, many strange things happen. No doubt the numerous captains present would have seen their fair share. But also no doubt they hadn't seen this.

A massive area of space, roughly the diameter of a small moon, though ragged and not a perfect circle, began to cloud over. It was flat, almost 2D, but it was there. In the space of five seconds, the area clouded over and quickly turned..."frosty", as though turning to ice or cold glass. In another fifteen seconds the "glass" began to crack.

Had sound been able to travel through space, an earth-shattering boom would have been heard as the "glass" suddenly bulged outwards before flattening, as though something had hit from the other side. Ten seconds later, it exploded outwards, shards of the "glass" dissolving in seconds back into nothingness. In it's place lay a massive swirling fog of black and silver.

Out of nowhere, numerous massive tentacles and hundreds of smaller ones erupted out of the black and silver fog, flailing about in space.

Hir'atar tensed as one of the smaller tentacles wrapped around him and Hanser, and suddenly yanked them towards the black mass.

The whole process had taken roughly a minute. But when the flailing tentacles retracted, the black fog remained...It began to grow violent, bubble...something huge was coming through.

*****
The shrieking grew louder, and Luger knew things were about to get a whole lot worse. His thoughts were proven correct as a huge bulge appeared in the floor about five metres ahead of him.

"Okay, not good."

Another metallic clang rang through the room and a huge, rusted sword tore itself through the floor.

"Okay, that is NOT good. Time to go!"

The shrieking noise was almost deafening.

Nebekov settled back slightly in his chair, his hands arced in front of his face, Karina was running infiltration software through the sensor arrays, at the right moment they could lower shields and needlecast her through to the other AI's aboard the enemy vessels, if they still refused to stand down she could blow the power generators and weapons arrays from the inside. A voice came through from one of the other vessels as he scanned reports from the hangar bay regarding the status of the Gemini fighters that had finished being armed and prepped. "Captain Nebekov, I am Captain Jeffry of the Unity. I saw the explosion too, and my teams aboard are reporting they attempted to blow the vessel in order to facilitate our destruction of it and the attempt was ambushed. We are currently trying to get the survivor off the ship. I am sending you data on the enemy now. Warn your teams, since when they die, they do not come back."

Nebekov breathed a deep sigh of relief, it seemed at least one other vessel here did not want those ships firing at the crippled vessel before getting personnel off it's weakened structure. As the Data came streaming in from the Unity he didn't like what he was seeing, the Data would already have been scanned by Karina who would in turn store it for their Corporate masters when they returned, there was only one thing he could do in a situation like this, the Company protocols were very clear on the subject. "Tactical, tell our men that the original mission is Scrubbed, they are now under Company Policy 16, Extraction and Capture. We need one of those enslaved for the lab boys back home." He sighed as he sank back slightly in his chair, this did not sit right with him at all, but orders were orders whether he liked it or not. In the mean time he massaged his temples as the pain in his mind came back again like a roaring wave.

Aboard the Aspiration the Security officers paused in their actions briefly as the latest datastream came in and their orders were changed. The Engineer moved fluidly replacing the slim hand held device attached to the computer to a solid looking pack attached to his back. The infiltrations software was still active, and with a few moments work he had set up the Console to receive a data dump from all available information terminals and any data that could be extracted from the computer core. The stream of information came in fast an the rest of the team gripped their weapons that little bit tighter whilst the extraction came in, touching a few sections of their rifles in the correct sequence they altered the laser rifle's function. The beam thickness was increased from the needle thin width to one that was almost six inches in diameter, frequency was altered and the energy level was adjusted and refocused, in effect the entire rifle had become a giant electro shock weapon, capable of horrendous damage to inorganics, and producing massive levels of Neuromuscular shock in Organic targets. With the data they had received from the Nightmare Child, their altered weaponry should be enough to take one of these Enslaved down without killing it, but completely shutting down muscle control and it's nervous system.

Nebekov studied the tactical data Karina was streaming to the Holo-imager, he nodded to the tactical officer as another message came in from the Unity "Captain Nebekov, I will assist you in getting your men out and in holding off the unknowns until help arrives. I have three more ships coming in to aid us. I do not know when they will get here, but it will hopefully be soon." Turning to regard the position of the Unity in the 3d image before him he rotated the view slightly to see the attack vectors. Dissatisfied he spoke through the channel to the Captain of the Unity "Unity we are sending you our sensor data regarding the enemy flotilla, we have targeted weapons on the ships closer to the port section of the Aspiration, if you could target those on the starboard side we can split their fire evenly between us." His Tactical officer leaned in towards her console before settling back again, "Captain, Hangar bays report we are all set for launch." Nebekov nodded to her and finished sending across the sensor data from the Aspiration "Tell all Gemini fighters to launch and send in the Blacklance Assault Mecha as well, we could use all the help we can get out there."

The Security officers raised weapons and prepared to fire as the Robotic soldier came around the corner, but the Datapacket from the Nightmare Child had mentioned these as well, they were allies. As it finished speaking the squad commander stepped forwards and slid his bubble helm up and over his head. the face underneath was one tinged with concern, his head was covered in the undersuit but his face itself was uncovered, revealing some of the extensive cybernetic enhancements, both his eyes were nothing more than silver spheres in their sockets, his jaw had also been replaced as evidenced by the slightly paler synthetic skin that replaced it and the metallic silver teeth that flashed when he spoke. "I am Staff Sergeant Dodinas, we are under orders here and cannot abandon the vessel at this current moment in time, however we will be leaving soon enough."

In the Hangar bays of the Nightmare Child the launch lights were lit up a burning a red as the crescent moon shaped Gemini fighter/bombers tore away from the ship their pentagonal shaped thrusters flaring out behind them. At the tip of each end of the crescent sat a pair of heavy repeater rail cannons, nearer the centre of crescent close to the slightly protruding wedge shaped cockpit sat a pair of slender arrays, one either side. These were the vessels rapid fire plasma rifles, slung underneath the ship set into recesses in it's hull were two torpedo launchers, each one ready to fire it's deadly anti matter payload at the flick of a switch. Onboard the Nightmare Child in the Hangar the massive armoured forms of the Blacklance Assault Mecha stepped forwards into the launch bays, their hands clutching enormous rifles as shoulder mounted missile launchers whirred into life, on the back of forearms lightning crackled slightly as the electron blasters were fully charged. As they slipped from the vessel the huge tri barreled repeater gatling cannons were spun up, on the back of the Mecha the strange backpack's flared as jump engines were engaged and they split up for maximum saturation. So far the Nightmare Child had launched it's entire compliment of forty Gemini fighters and ten Blacklance, and onboard the vessel the crew waited nervously to see what was going to happen next.

"Unknown vessels, I do have reason to believe that the Aspiration is a extreme threat. It should be destroyed as soon as humanly possible. As such, I have armed my weapons, and prepared for an all out saturation attack of the Aspiration in order to secure this system from a possible non-corporeal enemy effective immediately. I will hold fire as you have retrieve your personnel, then I will continue my attack run. Hopefully it will be enough to totally destroy this vessel." The message came in on the comm system like an explosion of life from the vessels that were threatening the Aspiration. Captain Nebekov listened to it carefully before preparing a response, "Attention Hostile Vessels, we cannot permit you to destroy that ship until our personnel have completed their primary objective, at that point however we will gladly step aside and allow you to destroy the vessel if the Unity is in agreement. Captain Nebekov Out." He cut the message short as the crippling pain in his skull returned again and he sank back into his chair. "Well let's see what they do now."

Onboard the Aspiration the Security Personnel grabbed weapons tightly as the Shrieking echoed throughout the vessel, Segeant Dodinas grimly set his jaw as his helmet slid back over and sealed, "Corporal Stavros, get moving, Lance-Corporal Vidaura and Lance-Corporal Hansen secure our route back to our vessel." At the Console the Engineer finished his last few modifications and finished the download from the computer core into the storage device on his back, as he was done he packed away his tools and grabbed up his rifle, "Ready Sarge!" Sergeant Dodinas turned to look at the Robotic soldier in front of him, "Let's move people, weapons are free." This was directed back at his own squad as they began to follow corridors back to their shuttle with their cargo in tow, "Good luck Tinman." Sergeant Dodinas muttered to him as he followed his men back towards the shuttle.

Onboard the Nightmare Child sensors were going haywire as the massive spacial distortion vomited forth the mass of tentacles, Nebekov stared in awe at the sight before him, but after a moment he snapped out of it, noting the bubbling, the feeling that something infinitely worse was coming through. "Tactical alter targets and order all launched craft to splinter! Focus all weapons on that... Distortion!" Nebekov tapped furiously on the Holo-imager altering the images to include the strange thing in space, "Helm, adjust heading keep an eye on the Aspiration and don't bring us too close, but bring us around so we can fire at anything that comes out of that distortion head on!" Nebekov spat the orders out with familiar ease. The bridge crew followed his orders to the letter and the Nightmare Child moved in space taking up a new position, the onboard AI Karina meanwhile had assessed the situation quite rapidly and her reports indicated there was 98.33021% chance that the crew would encounter Psychic attack or ability's based on the Data at hand, and the sensor logs she had secured when they had arrived in system. With this in mind she sent a command through her systems sleeved and hidden by the various other tasks. Deep in the bowels of the Nightmare Child lights turned green next to the cryo tubes and steam poured off them as the inhabitants were woken from their sleep.

OOC: Bump. Waiting for others to post.