Echo Alpha's Story

"I can mimic the physical traits of a vampire and a dragon, now. I also have some understanding of bifrosting, though I do not believe that any experimentation would prove to be ... reliable. I do not know how to direct it, though I could mimic the exact bifrosts that I have experienced. I am also capable of recreating simple illusion spells, though I have not had extensive practice with creating images of my own devising, only those which I have directly witnessed." Echo explained. His time on Terra might have been better spent in terms of acquiring abilities, but without directives to seek such things out, it had not occurred to him.

He did not question Whisper's abrupt change of topic, used to such things. He himself was prone to jumping around conversations as questions occurred to him.

Whisper only nodded briefly, offering no further words in return. She wasn't the best conversationalist these days, and she seemed content to let the conversation slip into silence as their vessel neared the Isirian border. They crossed into Isiria without incident as their ship possessed an Aschen IFF, and their passage to the planet of Arastel was cleared.

It wouldn't be long now before they reached their destination.

The other vessel in the area likely would not prove so fortunate, for if they crossed the border into Isiria it was unlikely that they possessed an Aschen or UDW IFF. If they kept on their current course, they would soon be detected and identified as a foreign vessel.

It was this foreign vessel that gave Whisper pause as well, a flicker of a frown upon her lips. She couldn't see the ship, nor could she know it was out there, but the presence of other psionics nudged at the edges of her awareness. Psionics weren't entirely uncommon in Isiria - or at least they hadn't been prior to the Aschen's systematic extermination and enslavement of them, but it was a curiosity out here in the middle of open space. It was probably nothing, but her curiosity compelled her to investigate this foreign presence that brushed against her senses.

"Stay here," she told Echo.

She slipped from the room to go have a word with the ship commander.

Whisper was engaged in a brief discussion with the ship captain when she felt the more pointed brush of the foreign psionic. Whoever was out there was as aware of her, as she now was of them. She offered no response though. Projection of her thoughts had never been one of her strongest skills - though not for lack of capability. Her chaotic thought patterns, and mental instability left her running the risk of projecting more than she had intended via a stray thought, or a random impulse. For now, she remained silent with her thoughts drawn to herself.

The ships navigation systems had the foreign ship displayed on one of the many display panels of the command room, but it didn't appear to be one of their own.

She frowned.

"Can we hold our position here for a bit?" Whisper asked.

The ship captain gave her a curious look.

"Please?" she asked.

The please was tinged with just the subtlest hint of a psychic suggestion. She couldn't force the man to perform an act out of character for him, but she could nudge the emotions that would influence his decision.

"Eh, whatever you want, Lady," he replied.

Didn't much matter to him if they were a bit late in arriving to Arastel.

"Thank you," Whisper replied.

She continued to make no effort to return communication with the foreign entity, and instead she simply waited. If she was right and it was a foreign vessel, the Aschen would be mounting a response swiftly enough.

She could have had the foreign ship hailed, but the transport ship she was aboard wasn't a military vessel, nor was it armed. She didn't want to draw anymore unneeded attention to it and decided it better to let it be disregarded as a civilian ship of no consequence.

Whisper's Gambit would seem to pay off as a single ship broke from a formation near the fringes of the star system. A Second Generation Reverence, the Harbinger of Piety would be picked up on the Transport's Scanners, with a confirmed military IFF and it's sheer size denoting it as a Reverence II.

The ship's massive engines pushed it forward as it rapidly began to close the distance. Admiral Whitcomb leaning against the console of the main AI Core as she frowned.

"Unidentified DRADIS Contact, three nine seven carom one two one." The AI Parroted and the Admiral nodded.

"Alright... what do you got." She asked as she turned to the AI Holocron.

"The unidentified ship matches profile and markings for the hostile alien faction that Admiral Nash encountered some time ago."

Whitcomb frowned.

"Very well, all hands Action stations." She ordered, before she pulled up a hologram of the immediate system.

"Forward Turbodisruptors primed and ready for engagement, bring our shields up, signal the UDW and the Aurora." Whitcomb continued before she turned to the screen, preparing to send a hail.

"Unidentified Vessel you are entering restricted airspace, turn back or you will be fired upon, this will be your first, and final warning." Nash ordered.

"If the ship maintains it's present course, terminate it."

"Acknowledged." The AI said.

Dugal attempted contact again with the distant psionic only to be ignored afterwards then gave up his attempts to establish communication.

Dugal was puzzled by this cold shoulder approach. “Well, we know someone’s out there maybe they don’t know to talk back.”

“Or maybe they were ordered not to.” Morieghan surmised.

“I hate to interrupt here folks, we got company.” The core prompted them. A holographic display blew up in front of them to indicate an Aschen warship in the area.

“They’re hailing.” The helmsman said. “Uh…sirs they want us to turn back.”

“All stop. Send a response we’re here to make amends for our last visit.” Morieghan said.

The helmsman attempted to do as ordered only to have the ship’s communications suddenly fail. “What the?” He exclaimed. Suddenly the blood curdling scream of the core filled the cabin as a dark liquid was permeating inside the core’s containment unit. The poor half-ambrite was dead.

“What in the name of Olberon is happening?!” Morieghan began to panic as the ship’s systems began to fail.

“Warning: cabin pressure dropping.” An automated voice announced.

“We’re losing the ship, warp drive is offline…inertia drive is dead…” The helmsman began to panic.

“It’s Carney! I knew it! The bastard is going to have us killed to start the damn war!” Dugal cursed. He reached for a latch and yanked it to open a compartment with vests. “Enviro-vests on! We’re abandoning ship!” Dugal shoved one of the vests into the Ambassador’s chest as they made a beeline for the yacht’s lifeboat. The helmsman, engineer and cook were the only other crew left with their vests already on. They were activated to release a dark gel which started to expand into the fabric of their apparel from the vest to form a suit made of durable material to safeguard from the hard vacuum of space then a clear membrane was morphed around their heads to form the helmet-like portion.

“Everyone suited up?” Dug inquired. The engineer stepped forward to access the lifeboat panel only to have it malfunction and blow up in her face, killing her instantly. Suddenly there was a violent explosion that shook the ship.

“Maker’s mercy…what now?!” Morieghan gasped.

Running quiet, the trio of ships patrolling turned as one, answering the Aschen's general hail. The UDW Stalker, and it's cohorts, Knife and Arrow, spread their formation, the corvettes keeping dark as the frigate powered on active scanners, searching ahead with more focused detection principles.

>Stalker to Reverence, hail received. Inbound.<

Dropping in their wake, a TD relay, flickering out of realspace to pass the call along to its sister squadrons, and ultimately the standing Carriers. Warning them of contact made, pending further engagement.

As an eruption flared on the long range scanners, synapses shot like lightning through the crew entering heuristic state, reaching a consensus. The frigate hailed the Harbinger of Piety, updating the analysis.

>Unknown Vessel, recent explosion signature doesn't match any of our ordinance. Excepting your kill, contact appears to have suffered from an internal detonation. Pending instruction.<

Among the vessels, recently powered Abysses primed, armaments entering readiness, as the relay primed for the call to "snap the trap", as the UDW dubbed the short range TD hop maneuver.

"Put me through to the Harbinger of Piety," Whisper spoke up after a moment's deliberation.

The Captain took only a moment to hail the Reverence. Once he had identified himself and his ship, the comm device was handed over to Whisper.

"This is Jacquelyn Rose, with the ASPD," Whisper transmitted. "They have psionics aboard that ship," she warned Admiral Whitcomb.

She felt something else then...

She closed her eyes and her brow furrowed. Something was going on out there. The sharp stab of fear and pain pierced her psyche, but she met it with a sense of neutrality. Emotionally she kept herself detached from what was unfolding aboard the foreign vessel, but she kept her mind's eye open.

She quieted her thoughts before she let her consciousness slip free from her body and when she re-opened her eyes, it was aboard the foreign vessel. She manifested no physical form, choosing instead to observe from a state of pure consciousness. Another psionic might sense her presence faintly, but physically she still remained aboard the transport vessel and it would take some pointed observation to take note of the diversion of energy signatures as she astral projected her consciousness across.

As the Aschen Reverence II slowly eased forward, the AI noted that the alien ship had suddenly began to lose power.

"Admiral, the unknown alien vessel is losing power, and apparently seems to be suffering catastrophic structural failure across the board." The AI parroted.

"Tactical situation; the ship appears to be self destructing." The AI continued. And Admiral Whitcomb scowled. "Something's not right here.." She said, before she turned to the AI holocron.

"Get a Marine Strike force and an SAR team prepped and ready for launch, send them to that ship. I want answers and if there's any survivors, I'm going to get them."

"Have the Marines and Medical personnel sent with psionic inhibitors and personal psionic isolation units."

Unknown Vessel, recent explosion signature doesn't match any of our ordinance. Excepting your kill, contact appears to have suffered from an internal detonation. Pending instruction.

The Admiral listened to the Dark Rain hail, and then she keyed the comms.

"We haven't opened fire, we're picking it up too, it's an internal detonation and we're also picking up survivors. I've dispatched Raptors to investigate, and bring them aboard for detention and questioning. Keep an eye out for bogeys, this might be a trap." The Admiral warned.

"SAR team away." The AI Affirmed.


----

As Morieghan and Dugal seemed to drift through the blackness of space, a single Reverence S Class corvette, escorted by a squadron of FX-1 Apollos moved across the vast void of space.

Slowly and surely, the black glossy, curved ship moved directly above the pair, and the team was ready to recieve them.

"Grav lift is good." One Marine called out, while checking his Disruptor rifle, and then his Psionic isolator, which was a small device on his head designed to keep himself shielded from psionic intrusion.

"Reel them in." A Sergeant called out, and a column of purple light engulfed the pair, and slowly drew them into the cargo bay of the Corvette. Once they were inside the ship, the circular doors closed shut under them, and the gravity of the ship took hold, which meant air, and gravity would greet them, along with a team of Aschen Soldiers and a pair of Medics.

"Get them both stabilized." The Medic Sergeant called out, while trying to move them to a stretcher.

>Received and understood. Going dark.<

The Stalker's active scanners flipped off, resuming passive scanning while boosting the feed from the micro-satellite array they'd been ordered to expand. The Fist executed radical course changes, splitting into multiple vector approaches that altered to general area orbits as they closed distances to the the Harbinger.

Quietly dropping its fighter wing in its wake, the fighters adhered to the mandate of stealth, their size, coupled with UDW's penchant for stealth features, making them even more of ghosts than the Stalker's cohorts. These were tasked with getting a closer look at the wreck, plying more focused passive scans over the battered pieces remaining from the blast.

Satisfied with the arrangement, the captain's of their respective vessels held off further reports to the Devastator, instead posting their own psionics to awareness, maintaining caution.

Whisper saluted once more and was gone as she re-opened her eyes back aboard her transport ship. With the psionic inhibitors up on the prisoner's holding cell, she would to physically board the Harbinger of Piety. The inhibitors would prevent her from projecting her consciousness in.

She updated the ship captain on the situation before she turned to leave the command room in search of Echo. The pair of them would have to catch a pair of shuttles. Echo would need to head across to the Harbinger of Piety, where he could join with one of the salvage crews, while Whisper needed to head over to the Nighthawk to sit in on the LDA's interrogation of the two captive aliens.

Leaving their allies to their devices, Knife and Arrow ranged, as the UDW Stalker positioned itself below the wreck, keeping in communication with the fighters playing their sensors over the vessel. On board, the bridge crew remained in heuristic stasis, monitoring the vessel and its surrounding as its captain met with the Midnight lieutenant and Agent assigned to them, going over the data.

"From sheer visual, it looks like catastrophic explosives, but I'm not sure. Phantom?"

Reaching into the holographic display, the female agent cleared her throat, twisting the image to focus on the damage, then tapping sub-menus, bringing up various windows. "Going over the satellite feeds, the signatures are vaguely reminiscent with those we've seen of the Watchtower's Singularity Cannon. Not gonna lie, if it's gravity based, that's some ugly ordinance. Without more intel though, I couldn't tell you from Athena's archives effective it could be against our Luminaran hulls. Still, gravity weapons tech? I don't like it."

"Crane, anything from your side of things?"

The Midnight man leaned against the bulkhead, closing his eyes for a moment. "Depends on the personnel on the ship. Military, I'd call it trying to pull our eyes off of some offensive somewhere, or tie our forward elements up to blindside us. I doubt the latter, or they would've hit while we closed, not after we've gotten here and set a watch. Anyone else, I'd say either rogue approach and retaliation of perceived treason, or sanctioned and then used as a pawn. Claim we took down civvies to make us the bad guys. Doesn't make sense, that one. Considering the ease of matching a foreign weapon signatures against our own, it's a no go. Got me stumped. If its an attempt at false flag, it's a piss poor one. If it was the bait for an ambush, then they've either got shitty timing or their badly out of position."

Letting out a heavy sigh, the captain ran a hand over his head, shaking it. "Seems we're all at an impasse. Too far out and passive scans, and we couldn't get a better idea of their weapons capability, and motivations are muddy."

"Still, it's better than nothing. Get Comm to drop another relay to the Devastator to update Archfiend."

"Received."

A few minutes later, the corvette Knife hailed the Harbinger of Piety via whisker transmission, the tightly controlled, encrypted communications of dark-running UDW vessels. >TD transmission, minor spike in three, two, one.<

Nearly a dozen kilometers distant, the signature of the TD relay bloomed for an instant, a fair energy readout, but nothing nearly weapons grade. Rather than risk friendly fire by spooking alert allies, this relay also warned orders to go out to announce further relay drops.

The Agent shrugged. "Sit, Stand, I don't care." He said, as he went through the folder, looking up to the pair of aliens before him. "So you claim that you were the victim of a shakedown. Do you have any proof?" The Agent said. He was regarding Morieghan with an intense gaze for a few moments, and then he took down a few more notes.

"You seem confident that we're going to be facing a war we cant win." The Agent said, huffing slightly.

"Your people don't seem to be going very well for first impressions. You deliver some concrete proof of this, and we might be able to convince an exchange. But you don't fuck the Empire." The Agent said, standing up and grabbing his file folders.

"We have some people better equipped to discuss things with you." The Agent said, as he stood to his feet, and then he started towards the forcefield cell door.

---

As the Harbinger of Piety moved through the void of space, with the Nighthawk alongside it, they recieved the hail from the Dark Rain vessels in the area, and then prepared for the TD relay as it bloomed out in the distant space.

The Nighthawk silently drifted through the void of space as it waited for Whisper to come aboard, she would help carry out the next leg of the interrogation.

Aboard the Harbinger of Piety, the small vessel that had transported Echo across came into dock. The Special Projects agent emerged from within to be greeted by a group of soldiers who joined his smaller escort from the transport ship in leading him through the ship to where he could receive his commands and be sent on the task of analysing the remnants of the detonated ship.

Moreighan was aghast at the crude instruments used on her for the mind bridge. “We didn’t mean this to put you through pain.”

He was hesitant to go into her mind if Whisper had to be subjected to this sort of treatment which made him more wary of these Aschen for their total disregard in the well-being and quality of life of others where weren’t like them. Dugal on the other hand was meditating somewhat as he closed his flaring eyes to wait for the handshaking to kick in when Whisper’s consciousness opened the door for him.

The two closed their eyes to have full focus in the mind bridge because their safety depended on their caution. The transition was seamless as with any mind bridge between two opened psyches only this time when the final phase of the alteration where their essence semi-melded, the entrance itself into Whisper’s consciousness was what his people call in antiquity ‘neural turbulence.’

“That was a little bumpy.” Dugal opined inside the vast white nothingness of the foreign conscious. The layers of psychosis and chaos gave him a very vibrant line in the sand to not cross but still he was compelled to feel pity for Whisper having her mind compartmentalized like this. To his people this was considered cruel and unusual punishment. Morieghan materialized into the vast white in his normal projection attire in mind bridges. He wore the almost gaudy blue robes while Dugal stuck to gray robes for a more neutral appearance. Whisper could see them as anyway she saw fit after all they were inside their head unless she allowed them to be seen in their default mental or otherwise ‘virtual’ projection.

“Bumpy? Like entering someone’s pain. I didn’t mean for this and you shouldn’t have compelled her.” Morieghan scolded him.

“Excuse me? This was your idea!” Dugal retorted. For a while the two completely forgot they were inside Whisper’s head and only for the ambassador’s attention to detail he noticed Whisper in a slightly different appearance from before.

“My apologies.” He inclined his head. The apology was sincere and she knew it mainly due to the fact they were inside her head and she had the right of way in terms of neural protocols. However she could not exactly breach them to find out anything vital unless she did want to invoke the LDA's insurance policy.

"I sensed an ethereal being before making the bridge. Is this to be expected?" Dugal inquired in a language Whisper could understand. When making a mind bridge the cognitive experiences of the exchanging minds are shared therefore she could understand the two in her own language and vice-verse.

Whisper snapped into a salute as she rounded the corner, nearly running into Raphael

"I worship His Shadow."

She stood at attention, wary of speaking until he had addressed her.

"I worship his shadow." He replied as he made the typical salute, his hand moving from his chest in an almost nazi style stiff arm, but instead of up, he swept out.

"I see your mind bridge was... successful." The Admiral said, quickly turning to face the now sealed room.

"I'm going to have their lives terminated, information forcibly extracted from their brains, and then I'm going to prepare an offensive into their home worlds." Raphael said flatly.

"I think they're stalling, and I'm not going to tolerate some alien wasting my time."

"I agree, Sir," Whisper replied. "They're wasting our time, but we don't know why yet. I think we should put the other fleets on alert, in case this is simply a distraction. If I might... I think we should also have Echo examine them before you have them terminated - with your permission."

"Very well." He replied, clasping his hands in front of him. "let's let them think their stalling tactics will work, while I have the Military consolidate in this sector for an offensive, or better yet a Defensive." Raphael explained.

"You have until Chairman Inviere arrives with the Combined Fleets, then I will have them Terminated to pave the way for the invasion."

"I understand, Sir. Thank you," she replied.

She reviled the warmongering nature of the Aschen, but at this point nothing would stop what was coming. When two sides were so set on a collision course, there was little anyone - least of all herself - could do to dissuade them. She snapped another salute before heading off in search of Echo to begin preparing for the inevitable.

As Raphael and Whisper began to part ways, the LDA Commander went wide eyed and then pointed to a DRADIS Screen.

"DRADIS contact, confirmed hostiles!" A Lieutenant called out, and Raphael scowled slightly.

"Alright let's do this. Whisper, I need you to jack into the Ship's AI and get us, and Echo out of here. Beam him aboard if you need to."

So much for getting Echo in to see the prisoners, Whisper thought. It would seem they had their answer though as to why the prisoners had been wasting their time.

"Yes, Sir," Whisper acknowledged as she turned and took the more direct route to CIC - directly through the nearest wall as her form grew intangible and insubstantial enough to allow her to pass through it.

AHSC Harbinger of Piety
Reverence II class Planetary Assault Carrier
Admiral Elisha Whitcomb

"Sir! DRADIS Contact! One Nine Seven Carom One One Zero! Confirmed hostile alien vessels!"

Whitcomb scowled only slightly, before she grasped the railing. "It is upon us, all hands action stations! Emergency Protocol Epsilon!" She called out while the Bridge screw scuttled, and the ship's AI Came online.

"All crews are confirming reports of hostile alien contact." The AI Chimed in. "I have targeting solutions." She added, and Whitcomb nodded.

"Very well, shields up, calibrate them for psionic inhibition." She ordered, and then turned to Echo once he was aboard the CIC.

"Echo, I need you to report to the Nighthawk, Datalink says they're bugging out once you're aboard. Get going before we light these frakkers up." Whitcomb ordered.

It was then the Harbinger of Piety, all 32 Kilometers of it engaged a brilliant and shimmering polygonal shield that encapsulated the ship, and shunted out readings on the massive Reverence II, with psionic energies, and a host of other weaponry likely unable to penetrate, the Reverence moved away from the small fleet of ships with unusual speed and surprising alacrity.

As the Reverence II moved away, a pair of Sagittaron class Battlecruisers closed in, their hammer shaped facade approaching like Mjolnir towards the Alien fleet. Behind it was a single Atlas class Heavy Cruiser, which bore it's Trilinear Polaron cannons to bear. Their shields engaged a shimmering white, before fading out as Commander Meracle Chamlotte, a lithe woman with stark eyes and dark hair ran her hands across the console.

"Harbinger of Piety this is 2422 Trident's Thrust Actual, requesting instructions! I have targeting solution and am ready to engage!" She called out, while the Sagittaron class ship banked sharply to the port side, while the Miracle's Grove slid to a stop. "Copy Trident's Traffic, requesting instructions!"

As the Aschen communication systems lit up, the Harbinger of Piety banked hard as the Commitment and Patience moved in for a targeting run.

"Harbinger of Piety Actual this is Commitment and Patience Actual, Singularity Cannon is hot and our weapons are go, requesting instructions."

Admiral Whitcomb was silent for a split second as Chaos erupted on the CIC around her.

She silently tuned it out while she contemplated her decision.

"Send a signal to the UDW and the Coalition, All ships are to engage only when fired upon, say again engage only when fired upon."

Her orders reverberated across the Aschen channels through hashed and encrypted lines even to the most competent cryptologist, it was random code of letters and numbers that would take decades to decipher.

But there was one single Unencrypted communication, likely directed at the aliens that came through.

"Hostile Vessel you are ordered to vacate this system immediately or you will be engaged."

Whitcomb ordered, and as that order came through, every Aschen ship in the immediate area suddenly began to lose it's form, flickering in and out like a glitch, a distortion. This would make it difficult for enemy weapons to garner a positive lock, as the ships shifted and flickered about, their ECW Systems making them tricky to lock onto.

The AI Paused a moment, and then continued. "Confirmed response from Glorious Consequence, ETA Five Millicentons." She chimed.

"Confirmed Response from... Righteous Purpose... ETA Eight Millicentons... Chairman Inviere has confirmed ETA Route and will assume supreme command from Fleet Admiral McGregor."

Whitcomb nodded. "Verify it, hold the line until reinforcements arrive, let them fire the first shot."

The Nighthawk engaged it's stealth drives and slipped into blackness.

Echo nodded his head mutely. Being given the runabout by his orders didn't seem to bother the obedient young golem, though he did look a little perplexed. He didn't understand what was happening.

As chaos erupted around him, Echo proceeded to transfer across to the Nighthawk, appearing in the CIC of the other ship in the same instant that he vanished from the Harbinger. There he glanced around, awaiting the appearance of one of his superiors.

“That got their attention.” Karll Tallulah remarked when her screens blared red to indicate weapon fields being trained on the Nova Wolf.

“We got to do this sharpish people so everyone sync up.” Greers prompted the crew aboard the CIC. Everyone was synched up at maximum readiness, their training kicking in immediately. The frequency of thoughts, signals and mental patterns were sifting through his synapses faster than any computer could sift through.

“They got psionic blockers up, hacking them with neurologics won’t be easy.” He received from the tactical chief. “We also have signatures from that celestial from before aboard that ship.”

“We don’t have to hack the ship." Greers replied. The core and navigator were already aware of the intrusion from before by the Raphael persona. Any attempts to get aboard the ship this time will be met by feedback that made him wish he stayed incorporeal.

This entire exchange was discussed and resolved in a fraction of a second as the Nova Wolf zipped around the Harbinger of Piety’s six o’clock and stayed there no matter how much they liked to think their lumbering PAC could outmaneuver a ship ten times smaller than it. The Reverence II maybe maneuverable for a ship its size and mass but the Nova Wolf was too fast for it, in fact so quick the Harbinger of Piety’s firing computer couldn’t keep track. Greers’s helmsmen kept the Nova Wolf lined up with Harbinger of Piety perpendicular to Commitment and Patience’s trajectory in an effort to make it too risky for friendly fire the moment things got heated. The frigates buzzed around the Harbinger of Piety like angry wasps while giving her targeting solutions a hard time just by popping in and out of range and swiftly darting out of their firing arcs and there was no sight of the Swarmer Carriers.

“We cannot stay here long, their fleet is moving in quickly.” Tallulah notioned.

“That’s not an issue.” Greers thought then hesitantly replied to the Harbinger of Piety, knowing the likely outcome of this. “You have two of our people aboard yout vessel. You have 2 minutes to surrender them to us or we will take them from you, dead or alive. This is your only warning.”

"Contacts, damn near on us already." Calmly spoken by Sensor, the bridge scarcely paused as they shifted to full battle-readiness. As they settled into the heuristic connection, the captain was already running for the bridge, engaging the secondary link on his implant to join the network in a limited fashion, already having ordered Phantom and Crane to their stations. >Status.<

>Contacts, taskforce grouping, well inside direct engagement range. Knife and Arrow are moving in dark to flank, fighter group keeping quiet at the wreck.<
>Burst relay to Devastator, we have contact. Ready status confirmed.<
>Aye. Orders from the Harbinger are fire in response.<
>Assume that to be if fired on, return until threat is eradicated.<
>Aye sir.<

The UDW Stalker gave little warning to the TD burst as they launched the relay from it's bay, venting the bloom through the rear hatch. Unveiling from stealth, the cyberwarefare suites of the frigate caused its signatures to flux with chaotic randomization, torpedoes sliding into launch chambers, weapons cycling online and tracking to targets. The knife-shaped vessel itself was difficult to spot visually, it's black hull quite nearly a perfect match to the backdrop of the void around it, making the subtle opening of its Abyss hatch virtually imperceptible. With short bursts of whisker transmissions, it knew where it's cohorts were without exposing them.

Knife and Arrow ranged out, slowly creeping into flanking positions, prioritizing their broadsides facing the alien fleet, the stealth corvettes, even at close range, scarcely echos on even their own Fist's advanced sensor array. Moreso than normal, these sister vessels were the proverbial daggers of the UDW's military forces, second only to their single craft's stealth capabilities.

Around the wreckage, the fighter wing of the Stalker hovered, patching in to their mother ship's array with whisker transmissions, virtually lifeless but for the bare essentials. Waiting to leap into the action in ambush.

Now settled in the bridge, the captain entered the Stalker's heuristic network, coolly relaying his directives. >Taskforce Marauder Primary is inbound, five minutes. Secondary, ten. Hammer drops in thirty peop-<

Unease then anger rippled through the bridge as the returns from sensor showed aggressive maneuvering on the Harbinger's rear, the Stalker racing forward as the unspoken consensus of the network called them into action. Bearing inbound with startling swiftness, though dwarfed by the hulking Reverence II, , the frigate pursued with a dogged determination, giving off no betraying, telltale firing solutions. They didn't need to, linked intimately with the AIs, "seeing" through their sensors, the projections of their weapons, "smelling" the trails of shed energy from the other vessels, "hearing" their own sensor waves. Even as they focused on their tasks, the few Agents on board readied their psionic talents to answer assaults of the like, hammering back telepathic intrusions and psychokinetic assaults with the power of multiple psionics strung in their own union, channeling their powers together as a greater being.

The captain grimaced, then hoped like hell that the Aschen built them tough. Sensor acknowledged the thought process, waiting until the Harbinger banked once again, Helm cutting the corner and skewing the frigate for broadside exposure.

>Ignis.<

Beamed broad channel, the Stalker's transmission hadn't even completed when it's four broadside Hellbores spat fire, four lances of nuclear energy that screamed in silence in the vacuum as they tore out from their guns, the union of man and machine guiding them manually for targeting. One leading, the next to above and below to box in, and the final for center of the Nova Wolf's mass, each shot carrying a punch of 25 kilotons/sec of highly focused power traveling at lightspeed. Dumping their fire and spinning on it is center axis with smooth grace, the Stalker brought its nose back in line, pumping out first one trio of torpedoes, then another less than a second later, the sleek, stealth coated weapons racing on their own gravity drives for their locked target, the Nova's signature initially.

If they closed enough, the signature track would become a imaging trace, specialized camera units on the warheads snapshotting the vessel and locking down its system to follow the silhouette and slam into it. The aptly named Scab warhead, it was a two stage explosive that a split instant before impact triggered a ring of one shot, hyperkinetic launchers firing armor piercing cataclysmite charges into the hull, then setting off a tremendously powerful shaped charge to blast the weakened hull section into the vessel's innards. Staggered in striking succession, unintercepted they would hammer scant instants apart.

As one, the closed eyes of the bridge crew bared their teeth in cold smiles.

The fleet of the Dawnscar Ascension was treading the blackened expanse of Auroran space. Patrolling the Aurora for dangers was never a bad move if a nation valued their security. Admiral Kerta Fex, a vresk if ever there was one, helmed the Warhorse-class vessel as its fleet scoured the void for hostile activity.

That is, until the scanners picked up hostile activity.

"Sir, detecting multiple energy signals not five light-years away. How shall we proceed?" The admiral contemplated for a moment before opening his mouth to speak. However, he was cut off by his ranking officer; the Paladin Killian Io.
"Investigate. I want to know who is causing commotion in this sector and I want to know why."
Kerta, unnerved by the Paladin's interjection, retorted. "Sir, I don't think that is in the best interest of our cause."
Killian turned to the admiral, a snarl forming on his upper lip. "May I remind you, admiral, that the Ascension is my ship. You just have the utmost privilege of steering it."
The vresk looked down at the comparatively small human. Had it been anyone else, they'd have been wrangled in the admirals massive hands and broken over his knee like a twig. However, the admiral knew of Killian Io's exploits; his lengthy and hellish campaign as a Knight of the Union; He knew better than to trifle with the man.
"Yes, sir," he finally resided.
"We'll go in alone, lieutenant, leave the fleet behind just in case."
The navigator acknowledged the order, bringing the ship to full speed as to meet the source of the activity.

What they found was more than expected...

It was a battleground alright, with many players in the game. However, one particular group of vessels stood out to the crew: Avaeon Republic ships. Up until now, the Union had only heard of these people. Now it seemed they were in a full scale assault. Who initiated the attack the was anyone's guess.

It would take some more observation before Killian could decide what to do.