Derek Adams's Story

"Yes, Sir," Derek replied. "May his merciful shadow fall upon you."

Once outside Derek let out a heavy breath of air and ran a hand through his hair. Well that could certainly have gone worse. Shaking his head, he headed off.

Back in the CIC of the Unyielding Hierophant, the command center was as much a hive of activity as the hanger bay.

"Commander, we need to go to ground," executive officer Ian Marshal advised.

"Get another squadron in the air. Isaac, damage reports?" Commander Adams asked.

"It’s not good Sir. FTL is down, the engines are damaged. We can’t take much more of this."

"Commander," Mashal urged. "If we don’t take the fight to the ground, we don’t stand a chance."

"We stay until the Admiral orders us down," Adams replied. "Now get those ships in the air."

He rested his hands on the large communications table that took up the center of the CIC. His expression was grim.

"Commander," Isaac called out. "DRADIS contact, unknown fleet."

Adams eyes flicked across the display screens and he grit his jaw. The Taiyou were cutting through the Aschen fleet with all the unrelenting fury of a swarm of bees. Bees with nuclear weapons.

ITN Nagato (長門)
Yamato II Class Battleship
Flagship and Command vessel of the Imperial 1st Armada
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

"Admiral, How do you want to proceed?" Kuwabara spoke up after the transmission clattered on the speakers, the Nagato had just finished a tough knife fight with an Aschen Reverence that somehow managed to slice it's way through the Taiyou formation.

"How do you think I would want to proceed? The Emperor has given us strict orders to maintain this offensive against the Aschen - Naturally they will be our targets. These Civilians, these... Meddlers are not our targets, prepare a reply." He said, lowering himself into the command chair.

"This is Admiral Yamamoto, of the Imperial Taiyou Ship Nagato, we have no quarrel with you or your fleet, but we advise you to proceed at your own risk. If you attack our vessels we will respond in kind. A Force that will crush you like a great Tsunami crushes a city."

Yamamoto then brought his attention to the large map played out before him. "Advance three nine seven, Neutralize that formation of Aschen ships and proceed." Yamamoto called out calmly, the massive Taiyou vessel pushing forward as Kuwabara interjected.

"I don't like this, we have an unknown fleet, with unknown intentions or weapons. If they attack us--"

Yamamoto interrupted.

"If they attack us we will obliterate them." He said, folding his hands in front of him.

"The Taiyou Empire has an objective, and we will achieve that objective." He said calmly, before he leaned back into his chair.

---

The Taiyou and Aschen fleets seemed to slug it out for several long drawn out hours, the arrival of the third fleet had less of an impact then they had thought. Of coure, the the Taiyou had planned this surprise attack through the galaxy and ultimately into Aschen space itself. The Taiyou were the obvious victors in this skirmish, with the assets of the Aschen fleet starting to dwindle and rout. It was clear who was starting to win this fight.

Admiral Steele shook his head at the response of the other fleet. "They responded to the Taiyou but not us... damnit." He said shaking his head.

"All Pilots give it your all, if Terra falls to the Taiyou then inevitably Aschen space too will fall to the Empire." Steele hailed, turning to the large holographic image in the center of the ship's CIC.

"We need to figure something out.. something to turn this fight around... We need to wait for the rest of the Aschen fleet... we need to hold out just a little while longer." The Admiral said, growling as he looked out, red icons still illuminating the status screen.

"Ready forward Turbodisruptors, engage hard light shields and bring us forward..." He then opened a channel.

"Unyielding Heirophant, this is Clarity of Faith Actual, need you to form up, side by side with your task force, We're going to regroup and try to push against the Taiyou fleet. If we can provoke them to shoot at that unknown fleet, it might give us an edge and we can push the Taiyou back."

He then pulled up a Taiyou naginata cruiser.

"Commander Adams I have a plan to provoke that unknown fleet into firing at the Taiyou - If we can hijack a Taiyou ship, we can fire at the unknown fleet and start an engagement between them and the Taiyou, this will buy us enough time to get some reinforcements into this theater."

Derek started at the news that Steele intended to bring these xeno's back aboard the Clarity of Faith. The surprise was evident only in the subtle arch of his brow as he opted not to question it. At least not openly.

Derek frowned as Steele's orders that came through. Opening fire on a neutral fleet? He wasn't of the mind to question orders though, not when the safety and security of the Aschen Empire hung in the balance.

"Understood, Sir."

Cursing under his breath he opened a channel to his pilots. "Reform. We're regrouping with the Clarity of Faith. Let's hit them hard."

His ship lurched and shuddered causing him to catch his balance against the communications table.

"Hard light shields up, and prepare a boarding party," he ordered as the Taiyou naginata cruiser came up on his display screens as well. Their target was in their sights.

The Reverence II 'Unyielding Heirophant appeared in a brief flash. Fresh out of the fight over Terra, they were more than battle ready.

Within the CIC of the ship, Derek opened a channel up to Nagala as his ship opened fire on the Varden vessels. Descending into the fray, most of their weapons were focused into the Varden battleship that appeared to be the primary target. Flashes of explosive lights, missiles, and bolts of plasma filled the space as the Reverence let loose with a devastating salvo. With initiative and surprise on its side, it lay into the fray hard.

'This is Commander Adams of the Unyielding Heirophant. It looks like you could use a hand. Your orders, Admiral?'

As the order came through, Derek too passed the cease fire down the line.

"All weapons, hold," Derek ordered.

He glanced up at the display screens, waiting for sign or word of a continuation in the hostilities.

Daemala looked around at the Tavern, noticing activity had picked up again. She then looked to the Aschen officer before her, disgruntled as he was. A space adventure did sound amazing, but...

Casren would kill her. Not literally, but figuratively, if she abandoned her responsibilities for a Space Vacation.
But they were potential allies! Maybe. They didn't seem very receptive. Oh wasn't this a hard choice!

No, she couldn't go, but yes she could. In the end she supposed it was up to diplomacy, as usual. Diplomacy was so boring sometimes.

She looked from one Aschen to the other, awaiting their response, calculating. She could vacation, if it didn't look like a vacation.

United Aschen Empire
Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence
Reverence II 'Clarity of Faith'
Admiral Joshua Steele

-- "Maneuver four nine eight carom one two two." Steele ordered as the Reverence II banked a hard right, clearing a small swathe of Taiyou vessels.

"Sir! Turbo disruptor batteries four through seven are reporting overheating across their cooling mechanisms, if we continue an engagement of this intensity they'll inevitably overheat!" A Lieutenant reported. Steele nodded and rubbed his face. "We can't keep fighting like this... we need to prepare to go groundside." He said, shaking his head and grasping the railing.

Meanwhile outside, the Aschen and Taiyou fleets continued to slug it out among the debris of each-other's vessels. Green flashes of turbo-disruptor bolts whisked across the battlefield while each fleet engaged, tossing ordinance in every direction. Brilliant green-yellow plumes of flame erupting on the smaller Taiyou ships. Despite the obvious gap in superiority that the Aschen ships boasted, the intensity of the engagement was starting to take it's toll on the Aschen vessels, leaving only a handful of 1st Generation Reverences, and the two Second Generations of Steele's fleet. The Motherships putting up an impressive wall of fire against the encroaching Taiyou ships.


"Admiral!" A Lieutenant reported.

"I've got long range DRADIS Contact! Bearing fast nine one nine carom two one one! Easily five thousand contacts! I'm sorting now!" The Lieutenant added before the instrumentation on the Clarity of Faith lit up

To the observer outside, it would seem to appear out of nowhere, at first it was a glimmer, which rapidly and quickly escalated into a blinding fever pitch, a spear of white light searing across the Taiyou fleet encroaching on Steele's fleet. A stellar lance of sorts coming from a formation of ships in the distance.

Once the lance of light moved through, the Taiyou ships seemed to detonate in violent explosions, clearing a swathe of destruction from the point of origin, towards the asteroid belt and even the outer planets.

"Admiral Steele we have an Incoming transmission, Priority channel." He reported, and the Admiral nodded, the hologram of Admiral Inviere flashing onto the CIC, Steele swelling with pride as he saluted. "Admiral Inviere!"

Inviere slowly nodded. "Admiral. We've finally managed to mobilize and rout the Taiyou from our systems. Our troubles are over, Admiral." Inviere said, while delivering several orders, the other fleet now identified as two additional Aschen fleets, the Fleet of Inner Knowledge and the Fleet of Profound Solitude.

"How do you mean, Admiral?" Steele inquired.

Inviere then leaned forward. "Tomorrow we go on the Offensive." She said. "We'll show those golmonging Taiyou how to fight now! Yes, by the Lords of Kobol, the Taiyou Empire is about to fall!" She called out.

---

Aschen Second Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose
AHSC Reverence II 'Far Sight Lost'
AHSC Reverence II 'A Psalm Every Day'
Admiral of the Fleet, Gina Inviere
Admiral of the Fleet, Sheila Nagala

Nagala focused on the Taiyou targets as the screen lit up, the ship's AI Collating and deciphering information for the Admiral. "All guns salvo fire, do not relent, do not let up until we've cleared ourselves some breathing room. Hard Light shields double front." She ordered, turning to the Comm.

"Far Sight Lost, this is Psalm Every Day Actual, concave formation broad sweep. Maintain firing solution and don't give the Taiyou a chance to regroup. If any of these other fleets intervenes neutralize them." She said, grasping the railing and pulling up a real time map. "Too much shit in the Crossfire." She growled.

"Attention all Imperial Aschen units, Flag transfer is going from all smaller fleets to this vessel, all supreme directives will germinate from this ship." Nagala called out, then nodded. "Regroup at my location and initiate formation Alpha, salvo fire. Damaged ships are to fall to rearguard formation for repairs." Nagala hailed.

"Let's do this." She said, pointing forward. "Reverence Two Psalm Everyday! Engage!"

Terran Space had been woefully devoid of Aschen vessels since their withdraw during the collapse of the Empire, though many ground troops and civilians had been left marooned upon the planet in the process. Still, no sign of Aschen return had been detected until today. That sign came in the form of a single ship appearing within Terran space, an Aschen Reverence S class vessel. Many moments passed but no accompanying fleet appeared, and it seemed that the lone stealth vessel had arrived on its own.

---

"You know this is daft, right?" Commander Adams asked as he watched the display screens within the CIC for enemy vessels. Pointedly for Taiyou or Coalition vessels that might still be within the area.

On the other side of the command table stood Whisper, her eyes on the screens as well. She didn't reply to Adams, seemingly set on their destination.

"We have several DRADIS contacts. It looks like the locals have some sort of blockade setup," executive officer Ian Marshal noted as a wide array of Terran vessels began to fill the display screens. "We can probably get through undetected," he suggested. The stealth vessel was well suited for such things, and wasn't uncommon to be utilized by smugglers and the like.

"No, open a channel," Adams instructed. "You sure about this, girl?"

"Yes." She didn't take her eyes off the screen as she offered the simple response.

Adams sighed as he took up the com device. He didn't much care for taking direction from the peculiar girl, but his orders had been clear. Get the girl where she wanted to go and keep her alive. Whatever business she had was of some manner of importance.

'This is Commander Derek Adams aboard the Reverence S, Blackbird, requesting passage.'

The ship was new off the line, but it seemed a peculiar thing that Whisper had requested it be named after the very ship she had stolen years prior.

It was in the background of the room that Echo stood, a small figure amongst the taller and older Aschen crew. Glad in the grey uniform of the Special Projects Division, the golem was a very different person to when he had last seen his home world. His expression was hard to read, watching the screens, and it would have been easy to doubt he even recognised the planet. What chance had he had to learn of it, after all, having been created mere weeks before Kianna lured him away?

The fall of the Divine Shadow had left him confused. He had been fed the propaganda that the Empire had touted daily for the six months he spent in captivity, undergoing tests, and having known nothing else he accepted it as truth. He had always wondered, who was this Divine Shadow that they worshipped so? Why did they worship him?

Such questions had not been received well, and he had quickly learned not to ask them.

But now he was told that it had not been true, that the Divine Shadow was nothing more than a war criminal on the loose. To be hunted down. It had taken him some time to adjust, initially resistant to the news. His attachment to the abstract concept of a man he had never met nor felt the influence of had been resilient.

Many conversations, many questions, many inconsistencies later and he had found himself here. He was still confused. For a brief moment, his purpose had been clear - worship his shadow, serve it. Now it seemed all that had changed was switching the words 'his shadow' for 'the nation'. Perhaps it was not important, and his purpose was simply to serve. It was all he knew.

His eyes rested on the white-haired girl at the command table. She had picked him out to accompany her on this mission. He had felt some measure of pride in that fact, though he did not know who she was. She had chosen him, judged him useful, valuable. Whisper, she was called. She seemed disconnected from the other officers, like him in a way. He wondered if she too was unsure of her place in the world. He still found it hard to read people in that way.

Echo looked back at the screens, the world that was his home, and wondered where his creator was on that massive, imposing globe. He found that he was not as attached to it as he thought he would have been. He had no place there, either. Not even as much as he had here - a position, a role to fulfil, a unit, a division. Things that he belonged to.

No, Terra was no more his home than any other world. Creator or no creator.

---

Amongst the ships over Terra, Jayden yawned lazily, kicking back in the hangar of one of the larger ships with an unappetising looking sandwich. He was sprawled back on the wing of the Eclipse where it was docked, listening to music through his headset. He almost didn't catch the transmission on his communication system, but when he did he almost choked on a mouthful of plastic-like processed ham and bread. That was a voice he hadn't expected to hear again.

Quickly messing with his HUD to patch himself into the fleet's comms, the militiaman sat and listened with interest, sandwich forgotten.

"We're being hailed." A bridge officer aboard one of the Terran Naval vessels told his captain, "Patch myself and the others through." The captain said, "Should know it's an Aschen ship. Weapons are ready to fire, scanning for stealthed ships in the immediate area." Another bridge officer added.

"Channel open, sir. You may speak." A bridge officer told the captain. "This is Captain Rythorn of the Terran Navy, along with Lieutenant Murs of the National Police Agency, and Saito Mishima of the Invictus." Captain Rythorn said almost immediately, "State your business, Aschen vessel. Do know we have weapons ready and already aimed on you."

"What he's saying is that we'll blow you the fuck up if you try anything funny." Saito added, "In a simple man's words, that's exactly what I mean." Captain Rythorn said.

"We can't afford to fight an Aschen fleet while we're dealing with a Taiyou fleet unless we have a Death Star." One of Rythorn's crew said, "For all you know we might. Who knows what the TIB and NPA were working on? What their leftovers are still working on?" Another asked.

'We're here to retrieve our people,' Derek replied over the com device. 'We have wounded that were left behind.'

"Tell them I want to meet with the Invictus," Whisper added.

'We're also transporting a passenger to speak with the Invictus.'

Derek glanced to Whisper. "All of this for one pilot?" he asked.

She hadn't taken her eyes off the display screens and she seemed distant and unfocused as she replied.

"There are others. Do you really want to just leave them there?" she asked.

She already knew the answer though. It was why she had such an easy time convincing him to take her back to Terra. They hadn't the resources to evacuate all of the Aschen stranded on Terra, but they could transport the ones holed up at the temple. Though truth be told, she didn't really care about the rest anyways.

"Speaking with the Invictus now." Saito informed Derek, "Give us a moment." Rythorn said, the channel to the Aschen ship closing. "What does everyone think?" Rythorn asked, speaking to the rest of the fleet. "Let them take their people." Saito told Rythorn, "Keep UCON in the dark lest they shoot down the ship." Saito said.

"I agree. For now." Lieutenant Murs said, "We have to keep a close eye on them, tell our men to fire if they try anything at all that we don't like." Murs told the others, "We'll take the middle road." Captain Rythorn said, "Open the channels back up." He commanded.

"Aschen vessel, while I can't speak to if the Invictus will speak with your unidentified passenger, I can say we will allow you to take your people and leave. Do not stay for more than a day. We'll be informing UCON of your arrival, but will make it clear that you are a medical vessel only. They can do whatever they want to you as soon as you are out of space." Rythorn said once the channel was open again.

"That means your ship better be fast." Rythorn told Derek and anyone else listening from their Reverence.

"Huh," Derek remarked as he hung his com device back up. "More than I expected. Better make the most out of your day, unless we want to be shooting our way back out of here with the Coalition on our heels."

Whisper shook her head. "A day is long enough."

With passage granted, the vessel continued along its route towards Terra.

Derek and crew trudged their way to the temple, their thick winterized coats heavy with snow and ice. With only Whisper's rough directions and heavy winds tearing through the icy peaks, the journey had been arduous to say the least. Trying to get a reverence down in here would be an impossible feat, and even the smaller transport vessels they had to set down in Windcrest to make the rest of the trip on foot.

Getting anyone moved out of this temple was going to be a feat unto itself - let alone in a day. He had brought only a handful of his crew, and Echo at Whisper's request, to assess the situation and to determine how many men they could feasibly get transported back.

"Well unless there's two temples built at the top of inhospitable mountains, this looks like the place," Derek remarked.

The Aschen military still largely dominated the courtyard and the barracks, and there was a tension in the air between them and the locals that was hard to miss.

"Best stay out of trouble, I'm going to go find who's in charge here."

Echo hadn't felt the trouble of the journey the same way that the rest of the Aschen crew had. Though the cold and cutting winds had been uncomfortable, he had not been tired by the climb - fatigue being something he did not suffer from. He did not speak as they filed into the temple courtyard, nor as Derek moved off to find someone to speak with.

The rest of the crew milled about uncomfortably, some going to speak with the members of the military already here, the others sticking together and muttering suspiciously about the temple full of strange and magical peoples.

Left alone with nothing to do, Echo found himself unsure what to do with his newfound freedom... if it could be called that. Perhaps more accurately it was a loosening of his leash. Until now he had not been able to so much as wander a building unsupervised.

Casting a final pensive glance at the nearby soldiers, Echo started to walk. He went where idle curiosity took him, slipping up the steps of the temple a few minutes after Derek had disappeared inside, and entering.

The situation at the temple had reached a near boiling point since Nagala and Rhea's departure. The Aschen wounded had begun to exceed the barracks capacity and the use of the main temple had been provided, a fact that didn't sit well with many of the locals even before the Taiyou had arrived.

It was the barracks that Derek entered, as it seemed to be the central point of operations at the moment. The interior was packed to the brim with bodies, Aschen and Terran alike - a strange conglomeration of archaic and modern equipment and dress. There was a great deal of heated arguing going on as Derek arrived.

An Aschen soldier approached Derek as he entered.

"Sir?" the soldier asked.

"Who's in charge out here?" Derek asked.

"Technically you are now, Sir," the man replied.

"I want a briefing on everything that's gone on here since Admiral Nagala left," Derek instructed.

"Well we've got Taiyou snipers in the mountains," the man explained.

"Show me," Derek replied.

Leading the way into the room the soldier moved some maps around on the table before directing Derek's attention to several locations within the region. "Here, here, and here, that we know of. Probably more that we don't know of."

Derek rubbed at his jaw as he looked over the maps. "My ship is nearby, but with this weather there's no way to get it down into these mountains. I have orders to evacuate the wounded here." He made no mention of the fact that his orders had come from a woman of no rank. Come to think of it, why was he here? Whisper's psionic influence had begun to fade enough for him to take note of the peculiarity of him agreeing to return to Terra with her. He shook the thoughts from his mind and focused on the situation at hand. "How many men are here?" he asked.

"About a hundred and fifty, sir. Most of them wounded. Maybe fifty or so of them are in any shape for combat."

A hundred and fifty? Derek frowned. That was a lot of wounded to get evacuated in twenty-four hours.

Meanwhile the direction of the conversation had several of the locals exchanging glances. Some seemed glad of the news that the Aschen were departing, while others were less so.

"And just like that you're going, to leave us to clean up your mess?" one of them demanded.

With that said the arguments began anew with accusations and angry words flinging back and forth between Aschen and local. Derek let it ensue for several minutes before he finally interjected.

"Enough," he barked, slamming a fist against the table with a resounding echo. "Now listen here. I have twenty-two hours to get these men out of here, or you're going to be having the Coalition knocking on your doorstep as well. With any luck once we leave, the Taiyou will divert their attentions elsewhere. In the meanwhile we can either learn to get the frak along, or we can die alone. These Taiyou, they don't take prisoners, and they don't differentiate collaborators from Aschen. Throw accusations all you want, but we're all in this now and surrender isn't an option. Maybe we'll all die out here anyways, but if we do, maybe, just maybe we can take out as many of these fraking sons of bitches with us as we can."

It was then that the sound of a gunshot echoed ominously through the mountains. Silence. Eyes raised as a second gunshot echoed. For many long moments no one said a word. Somewhere out there was another casualty, possibly two.

There was a cough from the side of the room, where one figure had been watching the bickering and arguing going on with unphased calm. Arrow stepped forwards with a stern expression, "Am I to take it that you're the new ranking officer on site?" he inquired, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Arrow Flight, I'm the leader of the Knights of Le'thorien and a member of the Patronus. About as close to a military commander as we have here, I'd say."

He glanced towards the window, frowning. The gunshots had been noted worriedly. He knew that there were several Patronus out there who hadn't been at the Temple when the snipers first got into position, and he feared for them.