Marcus Ruben's Story

Molecay Orbit

The shuttle shuddered slightly as it breached the atmosphere of Molecay. Marcus was staring out the window trying to locate his ship amidst the fleet and stars. Some of the points of light started to lose their shine and loom larger. The fleet came into view.

"Docking pattern initiated, sir." The pilot said.

As the shuttle grew closer to one specific object Marcus thought he could make out markings on what was quickly becoming a ship's hull.

Indefatigable

, he read out loud to himself. Finally I am home.

The shuttle bounced slightly as it docked successfully with the Inde. Marcus rose from his seat and walked towards the shuttle door. A loud rasp rattled from outside the door as pressure was stabilized in the airlock. The door slid open and Marcus walked through.

"Thank you for the smooth flight." Marcus said.

"My pleasure sir. And good hunting." the pilot replied.

The Inde was abuzz with movement as Marcus strolled down the hallway towards the bridge. Technicians were finishing their final checks of the repair work done in drydock and newly arrived NCOs moved about hurriedly trying to get to their stations. A few personnel stopped to salute, but mostly the Commander went unnoticed through the halls of his own ship. The crew was acting exactly as Marcus had trained them to be, intent on their duties.

Just as Marcus arrived on the bridge the XO, Captain Amorra shouted "Commander on deck!" and promptly saluted.

Marcus returned the salute and made his way to the con.

"All stations green Commander." said Captain Amorra.

"Excellent. Connect us to E.V.E. and let's get the Inde back in the fight." Marcus replied.

As the connection was made, and the handshakes authenticated across the vast subspace network the Aschen called the 'Datalink' the blue, feminine visage of the AI hologram EVE flickered into view. Along with her face, a three-dimensional holographic projection of the Molecay system flickered into view across a large round table that was situated in the center of the Indefatigable's CIC.

"Ad Victoriam, Commander Ruben, and welcome back." EVE reported, her soft voice resonating through the speakers integrated into the console.

"Receiving new orders!" The AI Added. "Your ship has been assigned to Classis II, Molecay Fleet, under the command of Admiral Clegg, Flagship designation: Imperious Class Command Carrier, Keeper of Abassid. Location: Epsilon Eridani, Provincia Yellowstone."

Pausing a moment, the three-dimensional holographic projection zoomed out, panning to a view of the galaxy, Aschen space highlighted in green, and the region of Aschen space they were to report, highlighted in blue, with FTL Coordinates displayed.

"Commander, During your shore leave, several key systems have been refitted, and upgraded, as well as a new version of the Command Interface, would you like to test the calibrations prior to departure?" The AI added.

"Test the calibrations EVE." Marcus replied.

The AI Nodded in affirmation, and the field began to light up with both green icons, yellow icons, and red icons in the three-dimensional battlespace.

"Friendly vessels are highlighted in green, unidentified vessels are highlighted in yellow, confirmed enemy vessels are highlighted in red." The AI explained. "You can maneuver this ship, and give directions to allied commanders through the interface by double tapping the respective icons, you can also issue attack commands by tapping allied icons, and dragging them to the enemy warships, move commands can also be issued in this manner."

The center icon expanded, and represented a full three-dimensional view of the Indefatigable, along with shield strength, operational weapons turrets, and relative deck integrity. All highlighted in various shades of green, or blue.

"When all ships are linked through this interface, commands can be issued in a streamlined fashion from the command ships. All systems have been calibrated, Spin-sync drivers report green, coordinates have been computed, locked in, and the FTL is spooling now." The AI reported.

"Status reports arriving. Reactors, online. Sensors, Online. Shields, online. Weapons, online. All systems report nominal."

EVE offered a soft smile.

"We may depart on your command, and remember, you may trust me implicitly. Always."

Something about the way EVE always said she could be trusted implicitly had always rubbed Marcus the wrong way. Nevertheless she was a major asset to the Aschen Imperial Navy and Marcus planned to make use of the streamlined interface when the time came for split second decisions. However, now was not one of those times.

"Engage the FTL, Captain. Take us to Epsilon Eridani, Yellowstone. Manually."

"Aye, Commander." Captain Amorra replied. "Proceeding to Yellowstone."

The navigation officer worked their console with a few short strokes and then the Indefatigable lurched to life and was gone.

Yellowstone Orbit

"Successful jump Commander." Captain Amorra said.

"Send a message to the rest of the fleet and Admiral Clegg that we have arrived at Yellowstone and await further orders." Marcus replied.

Marcus hoped that this posting would allow him a chance to get some pay back for the Asylian assault on Molecay. Admiral Clegg was known for his ruthlessness and Marcus was counting on him to get the Inde into the action. He would just have to be patient and wait for the rest of the fleet to arrive to find out what he was doing here.

The Keeper of Abassid slowly crested over the far side of the planet, with it's escorts, all in a tight formation. There had to be at least one thousand and five hundred individual ships, all of varying classes. There were four Aegis cruisers surrounding the command carrier, ready to broadcast their canopy shield to protect it.

Aboard the Indefatigable, EVE chirped to life.

"Commander, I have incoming move orders, and a message from the Keeper of Abassid." The AI reported, highlighting the Iconoclast's course to group with the distant fleet.

"Shall I patch the message through?"

"Captain move us into position with the rest of the fleet as per the orders." Marcus said.

"Aye, sir." Captain Amorra replied.

Marcus moved his gaze from the Captain back to the command console, "EVE, patch the message through."

The Screen displayed the face of Admiral Clegg, he appeared resolute, stern, the light of his own CIC reflecting off his bronze skin, neatly trimmed facial hair accenting the features of his face, as his hardened gaze stared down through the screen.

"Ad Victoriam, Commander." The Admiral saluted. "Welcome to the second fleet." The Admiral added.

"Ad Victoriam, Admiral." Marcus returned the salute. "It's good to be here. We're ready to get back in the fight." Marcus said.

Clasping his hands behind his back, the Admiral pulled up a holographic briefing map next to his console, and then he turned back to the feed with Marcus.

"Excellent, moments ago we tested a new defensive system, they're reporting a resounding success, and we hope we can implement it. Once we've gathered the fleet, we're to make the jump to Langara, where we'll assemble with the fourth, and fifth fleets to discuss options in striking back against the Asylian Hegemony." The Admiral explained.

"I'm going to have you running fire support for the Keeper of Abassid, preliminary reconnaissance, and deep space telemetry reports some concerning things coming out of the Asylian corner of space. However, Intelligence has instructed that we do not act just yet, I've been informed of a VIP working with Intelligence, feeding us valuable data on the Asylian threat."

The Admiral paused, as his Executive officer, a young woman with the rank of Colonel passed him some papers, he took them, and looked them over, he nodded, and then turned his attention back to the feed.

"I'll be over momentarily to inspect your ship, and personally welcome you to the fleet, and then we'll make the jump to Langara. I'm looking forward to burning the Asylian cities to ash, for what they have done to our people."

"We look forward to receiving you Admiral." Marcus replied.

Admiral Clegg certainly didn't disappoint. His words and demeanor suggested that he was just as interested in revenge as Marcus was. Perhaps even more so considering that comment about "burning the Asylian cities to ash". Gathering three fleets together for a joint operation was a good sign. Marcus was going to find himself right in the middle of a major counter offensive. Just where he wanted to be.

Sky’s Edge - High Orbit

High above the planet, where the typical comings and going of the Aschen Military, and Colonial Authority would see a pretty strange, and unusual deviation from the norm, as a brief distortion winked in high above the skies. The Imperious class Command Carrier, the Keeper of Abassid winked into existence from seemingly nowhere. The outline of the massive Command Carrier could easily be made out from the surface, and it was accompanied by hundreds of Aschen warships, all winking in one, by one. Local space traffic would be significantly disrupted. The orders had gone out, as the civilian transports were frozen by the incoming Aschen warships.

It was only a matter of time before their arrival made local news, and certainly among the local insurrectionists, the Aschen fleet in orbit made no efforts to communicate with the local planetary authorities, but the strangeness of it all was magnified only by their formation.

They were in formation to begin blockading the planet, but the Aschen Authorities seemed to give no indication as to what was going on, or why. Official sources cited a military exercise, a planned exercise to increase readiness against a possible Asylian incursion. Perhaps this fleet was positioned here to defend the planet against invasion? It certainly looked like the Ships were organized in a defensive picket around the planet.

Admiral Clegg would stand quietly at the console as his Executive officer announced the FTL jump was completed, the fleet was taking position all around the planet.

Hundreds of Iconoclast Battleships, Hera class Fleet Tenders, Athena class missile carriers, and Hastati class cruisers all took positions all around the orbital stations of Sky’s Edge, appearing as additional flickering lights in the night sky.

"Yes?" She answered Roland with a questioning glance. Rei could be prone to being absent minded or at the very least one track minded when it came to certain things. But she hadn't even begun to think about how she looked just showing up like she had. "Oh, that." She commented absently as she continued to clean and bandage the burns and lesions. Some had already begun the slow process of knitting skin and tissue together, only adding the woman's strange and lurid appearance.

"Cenote." She explained answering Roland's question as to where she had been. "El Frente Rojo wasn't the Emperor last I checked." Roland was always the worrier, and prone to panic if the least little thing in one of his plans went wrong. "Asking? For fuck's sake Roland... you're the one who didn't even bother to ask and just dumped a shit on me!" She added motioning again, this time with a roll of bandages. "I'd be lucky if they even decided I was confessor material." She grumbled testily as she finished tending to the wounds. Rei would still need the opportunity to shower and clean up, but apparently that was a long way off given Roland's current mental status.

"My ship was damaged badly out on the Rim and I was briefly captured by some psychotic IIA... LDA.. whatever bitch. I'm lucky she let me go. I limped as far as I could before having to put my own contingency plans in place." Rei explained, referring to the emergency methods for putting an individual into an indefinite cryo statsis. "After that I woke up around one of El Frente Rojo's scrap yards, they took the ship. They. Took. My. Ship." She had given as good as she had gotten, and more than likely had at least put one of the assailants down for good. "They put me in a god damn cenote, Roland! I was lucky to even escape!" She deflected with hostility.

Rei was doing good to remember anything given how much El Frente Rojo had rattled her brain around, between the drugs and the abuse. But it also seemed that there was also something deeper, something was beginning to try to worm its way to the surface if only evidenced by her struggle with the correct terminology. "Go ahead, rattle off your bloody contingency plans. Guilt me into admitting abandonment, Roland. You know you want to." She snapped as she finally finished patching herself up. Rei considered herself lucky, nothing seemed to require stitches or even worse so far as she could tell. She then sighed as he apologized, this was a mess bigger than either one of them had ever anticipated.

"But for fucks sake Roland... why.. never mind how... Kids shouldn't be involved with this."

Leaning back against one of the tables in the room, she watched him rummage about, trying to seek comfort from the one thing they didn't have, alcohol. More than likely the other supplies he was so worried about had been embargoed or stolen by another guerilla group. Sky's Edge was at constant war with itself, it was amazing that anything new managed to get more than just a few days toe hold.

"We'll have to cut our losses with this Joseph kid, it's too risky to try to do anything else." As much as she hated it, they had little other options. As much as she hated it, if the kid wanted to take on an adult's role, then they would treat him like an adult. That meant denying any existence or connection to him if necessary, it was for the better good of the rest of the group.

"And what do you even plan to do with this Imperium? How do we even know that they're on our side?" She was far from enthused about this latest development. There was something about the skull and it's purpose that made her skin crawl, never mind that the things had been used in an earlier era of occupation by some.

Thomas looks up again as a tech member runs down the hall, shoving past the occasional guard or member that got in his way. So Thomas gets up and follows, walking behind the man, who seems terrified.

The tech member bursts through Rolands door, giving only a brief glance to Harkov. He takes a breath. "Aschen blockade, seen on the scanners. Looks like they don't want to let anyone out." He pauses for a second. "Sir. I think they're going to glass the planet."

Roland was appreciative that Rei decided to share with him the tribulations she had faced, although other than his resigned silence and a couple nods she would not receive much thanks. He would note everything down at his earliest convenience. The loss of her ship was particularly distressing, and its reacquiring would have to be looked into. Her acknowledgment of the use of children resonated with Roland’s core, too. Roland was beginning to realise what was important once more, and that there was no time to lose on insignificant bickering. He turned away from Rei, eyes facing the wall in front of him. He composed himself more properly, and the human calculator was back (perhaps colder than Rei had remembered).

“You are right that we should cut ties. I’ll start the procedure.” Roland pulled a seperate, pager device and began typing digits to begin the purge of data. “The children were necessary, though. They are advantageous in the utility they provide to the cause. If you want to talk ethics, talk to those who have lost their families to civil war. To those whose parents were taken away for suspicion of treason. There is a fire in their hearts and without a guiding force they will surely destroy themselves… Much like young Joseph. Their childhood has already been taken from them.” He said.

“I’ve lost my touch, somewhat, I suppose. The Imperium is a tool to us. Not the other way around. I do have procedures should anything go wrong. The Phoenix Machine, something I’ve been working on based on a device we use to rejuvenate new plants from a single cell. The De-Re-Educator is still a work in progress, and I’ve thought about… Other… Applications.”

He turned around to face her. He would have appeared stoic, if it weren’t for the deep bags under his eyes or the redness that glazed over them.

“We need power. They have it. The Asylians have done an excellent job at keeping them busy, but more is required. We retake Sky’s Edge in the chaos. Take command. The presence of another outsider army will surely unite us. Yellowstone is on the horizon, Rei. I know it.” He took a pause.

“That does remind me, though. I’ve also been meaning to contact a person of interest who is said to have a certain affinity with very powerful creatures. Could you contact them for me?” He produced his journal once more, and from one of its binded pockets came a makeshift comms device designed by some more tech savvy rebels (with much room for improvement). It had two chunky buttons, one for turning it on and one for turning it off. In place of a screen it had a speaker. He also gave a single page handwritten dossier on the individual, labeled ‘Kassandra’. It also detailed some of the wildlife on Xamoyos Roland had an interest in with loose references to a mythical beast known as ‘Dath’. “Interplanetary one way comms unit. They jipped the heatsink or something, so uh... It gets hot.”

At this point the techie came barging in awfully impolitely. Roland acknowledged him with a nod, and turned to Rei. The techie looked terrified. “I need to use the skull, Rei. Can you get in touch with the Xamayos woman? Use the name Bennie Dwight. Don’t worry about the blockade, this is a kind of technology that won’t show up on a scanner.”

The Rocketeer was in his work room, assembling a flamethrower asked to be constructed by him on request of a younger member. He didn't know why one of the kids needed it, but whatever. He just made weapons.

He was pretty new to the rebellion, but he was willing to help. He did repairs on weaponry and designed and put things together for his comrades, and was also partially involved in some larger projects, such as helping Mr. Cossack. He wasn't sure what the things he was helping build were yet, but he didn't need to know. He had designed the interplanetary comm, and was working on the overheating problem, but it would take some time, and they didn't really have that. Not a lot, at least.

He screws the barrel of the flamethrower onto the pump and trigger, and sets it aside to be tested later.

The Rocketeer wasn't used to building things other than propulsive tech, but he was good at other things too. He could put together basic weapons, such as the flamethrower he just assembled, and beam rifles, as well as slugthrower weapons, like assault rifles. A lot of the men and women out there were able to fix their own weapons, but the younger ones weren't as usually experienced. So that was what he did part time. Fix weapons.

He flips up his mask and moves on to the next weapon.

“Then someone should have protected them.” Rei stated hotly. She was in no mood to hear Roland’s sad excuses when it came to why he had allowed children to become involved in what amounted to little other than guerrilla warfare against the Aschen currently. Sure, they were causing trouble, making things a little inconvenient; but there was little else they felt that they could do. Often enough their pleas fell on deaf ears in the government, and their worlds were continually stripped for the usefulness of the Aschen and their effort to conquer the entire galaxy.

The Children of Ash had done everything in their power to move quietly and covertly, but there were still those with power who would see them dead or otherwise forgotten by the masses in the colonial sphere.

“I don’t know anything about the Asylians, but it seems they have the Aschen running scared.” That alone was pause for concern for Rei, and she wondered just what that fleet was doing stationed around the planet. In previous times, they weren’t given so much as a nod of acknowledgement, but all of a sudden they seemed to have the albeit divided, attention of the Aschen empire. At least that was the impression that yet another one of Roland’s ill trained goons gave her, and she wondered how much of this was an intimidation tactic and how much was action.

“…they did what?” She then asked Roland as she caught the device he had tossed her. “That’s… never mind. As long as it works.” Rei muttered reading over the dossier before anything else. “But.. I think I can contact this Kassandra.”

Roland ignored Rei's pushback on the topic of children. She hadn't been here for a while, and Roland did not have the time nor the temperament to debate his ethics with her. Thomas could speak for himself with much greater effect, anyway, should Rei continue to have doubts in the future.

"It's a plan, then." He said. "I'll catch up with you soon. I have to determine if there's any link between your arrival and the fleet's, as well as how to reacquire your ship. Good luck, Rei."

Leaving Rei to exit the room, Roland headed back to tinker with the skull probe. He reached into the empty eye socket, contorting his hand into an incredibly uncomfortable position to reattach a tube leading to the ceiling of its 'brain'. The other eye's robotic lense glowed a deep red, as its systems started to whir into action. What was previously a great sense of unease was overwhelmed by the thought of the Aschen fleet above his head. Roland would wait for the probe to become fully operational, and then speak.

"Hello?" He said to the probe. "It's the Children. We're ready to talk about moving things forward."

Roland ignored Rei's pushback on the topic of children. She hadn't been here for a while, and Roland did not have the time nor the temperament to debate his ethics with her. Thomas could speak for himself with much greater effect, anyway, should Rei continue to have doubts in the future.

"It's a plan, then." He said. "I'll catch up with you soon. I have to determine if there's any link between your arrival and the fleet's, as well as how to reacquire your ship. Good luck, Rei."

Leaving Rei to exit the room, Roland headed back to tinker with the skull probe. He reached into the empty eye socket, contorting his hand into an incredibly uncomfortable position to reattach a tube leading to the ceiling of its 'brain'. The other eye's robotic lense glowed a deep red, as its systems started to whir into action. What was previously a great sense of unease was overwhelmed by the thought of the Aschen fleet above his head. Roland would wait for the probe to become fully operational, and then speak.

"Hello?" He said to the probe. "It's the Children. We're ready to talk about moving things forward."