Elisha Whitcomb's Story

"Alert, I'm detecting signals originating from the vessel, triangulating destination patterns now." EVE reported, this caused Admiral Whitcomb to snarl from her position aboard the Harbinger of Piety.

She turned to her tactical officer, and then towards EVE.

"Jam all signals coming from that vessel, we cannot let them call for help, or compromise our positions here." Whitcomb ordered, as the Signals officers began working the Harbinger of Piety's massive ECW Suite, sending out a barrage of signal noise towards the alien vessel, and broadcasting a wideband EM jamming field that would attempt to inhibit further communications.

"Positive lock." One of the Condor's reported, as it maneuvered into position, extending a large docking seal that was designed to rest against the other ship's airlock, several dozen Marines stacked with weapons prepped and readied inside their troop compartment, with the Adept forming up the front, and charging his heavy Magnetron rifle.

The Condor attached with an audible thunk, that reverberated between both vessels.

Each Aschen Marine had on EVA equipment, consisting of a thin, but durable bodysuit that regulated life support functions, as well as provided an airtight seal, this was worn under the hermetically sealed CUIRASSE Powered exoskeleton, the Adept had their Type 86 power armor, and every one of them were prepped for vacuum.

The Adept began prepping a plasmite cutting torch, igniting the brilliant blue-green flame, he pressed it towards the airlock door to begin cutting through.

Rather unfortunately for the crew of the Discovery, their mental interfaces picked up the signal noise. This briefly incapacitated them as they hurried to shut it off. Their most recent log wasn't going to reach Klendath, Paul realized. The aliens had advanced technology they had trouble even comprehending. The Oberon had never used jamming technology, but they could recognize it when it happened naturally and would simply find a way around it. Unfortunately, it4was quite obvious that this wasn't natural. Paul grips the wrench tighter, then realizes it likely won't do anything against these people. He calls out to the rest of the crew, telling them that they should simply surrender peacefully before they are harmed. At first some of them don't agree, but he convinces them quickly. So they line up in the hallway adjacent to the airlock, and Paul nervously opens the outer door, simply allowing in the aliens. How strange, he thinks. I suppose we are the aliens here.

To say they were surprised was an understatement, as the outer airlock door came undone. The two Adepts in the front paused, they signalled for the Marines to stay behind them as the door unsealed, the two atmospheres of the ships intermingling, and mixing.

The Adept took stock, he didn't know if the other ship could accommodate their sheer size. He made one simple gesture, as two Marines moved in front, and ignited their personal aegis shields, shimmering blue-white hard light barriers that buzzed, and crackled. The Marines moved carefully through the threshold, their sleek disruptor PDW's at the ready, faces obscured by hermetically sealed visors that gave them a sinister look with their black uniforms. They pointed their weapons first at Paul, but there was a language barrier.

Two Marines came in behind the first, but they said nothing as they moved into the ship, transitioning from the artificial gravity of the Condor, to a Zero Gravity environment was fairly seamless, as the Marine's gravitic boots engaged.

"We have positive contact, Humanoid Xenos in appearance." The Marine Sergeant called into his radio, speaking a language that sounded ancient, a close relative of ancient Latin.

"Secure the ship for transport to the Harbinger of Piety." The radio replied. "Secure all valuable data, Intelligence will be on station for interrogation. We'll prep the chair." The Radio chirped. The Marine Sergeant pointed to the Oberon crew, and then pointed to his own rank insignia on his collar, gesturing as if he was asking for the leader.

The Oberon crew displays a sort of muted anxiety at these intruders on their ship, but present no hostile actions. When they entered the inner airlock, Paul reaches over and closes the outer airlock door, and then opens the inner door. Paul knows perfectly what the weapons they hold could be capable of. Hell, he'd seen high-velocity water guns capable of tearing through metal before. At the motion of the marine, seemingly asking for the one in charge, Paul raises his hand and then folds them back behind him. The Oberon are communicating with each other through their BrainPals, commenting and sharing observations about the intruders. One of them takes an audio recording of the statement of the marine. The Adepts are simply referred to as 'the heavy ones,' and present some alarm to the observational tactician, Robert, as to him, they are the heaviest armed and armored soldiers he'd seen, and he wondered what type of being could even carry that. He then supposed that these soldiers must only be used in space, as zero gravity surely helped them.

During this time, the Oberon don't say anything aloud, not sure if that would startle the intruders, as their language was much different from theirs. They instead communicate through their mental interfaces.

Soon, Henry is remembered, and one of the crew makes a move to go get him, before swiftly being stopped. Henry is still in cryosleep, and is unfortunately probably the only person on their crew, maybe even their race, that can communicate with these other beings.

Paul then tries to convey that there is another person on board the ship, gesturing towards the Cryo room, which is only a couple of yards away.

The Marine sergeant paused, and followed the Oberon's gesture to the cryo bay.

The Marine didn't say anything, but EVE had been informing them that the Harbinger if Piety was moving on station to dock with the ship and tow it to another location.

The Marine sergeant didn't say much, as the sounds of something hitting the hull reverberated through the smaller ship, the sound of clunking, and rattling, which echoed through the entire ship.

The thirty kilometer long Harbinger of Piety had just initiated docking procedures, opening a pair of massive armored doors to accommodate the Oberon vessel inside a massive pressurized drydock.

There was a hiss as the bay pressurized, and the slight tug of gravity that was fairly unnoticed by the Marines, and the Adepts as the control crew engaged the Reverence IIs artificial gravity.

The ship jerked, and vibrated until everything fell silent, the sound of a catwalk attaching to the airlock heard last.

The Marine pointed to the airlock, he wanted it open.

The Oberon crew continues to stand as if under inspection, and Paul responds to the intruder's gesture by opening the inner airlock. He noticed the gravity as it pulled him rather suddenly down to the floor, but he couldn't imagine for the life of him why it had happened and preferred not to guess. He would understand in a bit. He motions toward his head and pantomimes putting on a helmet, asking the intruder if he and his crew may do so, as he assumes that they would want them out of the ship. He continues to telecommunicate with his crew, and again begins to feel slight panic that he does his best not to show.

The Marines shook their head, rather the Marine sergeant gestured towards one of his subordinates, whom nodded and moved to open the outer airlock with a sudden hiss.

The Aschen marines weren't worried as they had their hermetically sealed Cuirasse suits on, which sealed them from the outside environment.

The outer airlock door opened up, and a cool rush of air filled through the airlock, bright lights creeping inside from the Reverence IIs hangar deck.

The Marine Sergeant pointed to the lined up crew, and then pointed to the door of the airlock, outside things would become clear, as dozens of soldiers positioned themselves behind redoubts, and deployable cover. There were at least a dozen more Adepts of War as well, in addition to one officer in a dark colored uniform trimmed with dark blue, waiting expectingly. The Marines would escort them out of the airlock, forcibly if needed.

The Oberon crew cooperates with the motions of the Aschen Marine, filing into the airlock with Paul in the lead. They don't show much surprise, the exclusion being Paul, who is shocked at what he sees. They appeared to be in a hangar, but a very large one. The telecommunication of observations through their BrainPals was continuing. Despite the hesitation to leave Henry in the ship, the crew of the Discovery VII continues on and out of the ship. The crewmate known as Robert, their situational Analyst, shares the observation that the heavy ones must be able to operate in gravity after all. Paul is more focused on the fact that there's gravity on this ship. As the crew is escorted out of the ship, they take visual recordings using their BrainPals that they will send to headquarters when they get the chance.

If they get the chance.

The officer on the far side of the massive hangar bay, stood silently. The bay measured easily five kilometers in length, and had a myriad of fighter craft, equipment, and personnel moving about.

The officer, a Lieutenant took a step forward, as the Marine Sergeant led the group towards him, and saluted, bringing his arm across his chest abruptly and shouting.

"Ad Victoriam!" He cried out, and the officer nodded in return. "Ad Victoriam." He then turned his attention to the crew.

"Take them to detention block thirteen, Intelligence will be on station to conduct interrogations soon." The officer ordered, and the Marine nodded, turning back to the group, as several more Marines clenched their weapons tightly and began to close in. It was obvious now that these people were going to take the Oberon prisoner.

The officers eyes fell onto their ship, they'd wait until final disposition of the crew to dispose of the ship.

The Oberon crew stands silently. Paul has an uneasy feeling that he quickly dismisses, but he still tries to get the attention of the two Aschen, the Marine officer and Lieutenant, and he does his best to convey that there is another person on board the ship. He speaks for the first time, the words undoubtedly foreign to the Aschen, that there is someone else on the ship and tries to convey so through hand gestures, but quickly ceases as he realizes the pointlessness of it, and goes back to silently cooperating. They continue to take visual and audio recordings in the hope they can study them later.

The Officer directed the Marines to take the group to interrogation, and then he turned to leave, they would no doubt find the one called Henry when they searched the ship.

It was a long walk under heavy escort, the Marines escorted them one by one through a long tramway that ran the length of the ship, at least a twenty minute ride at relatively high speeds gave the Oberon crew a rough guesstimation on the sheer size of the vessel they were inside.

It was a long ride, but they finally arrived at their destination, the tram slowed to a stop with an audible hiss, and the doors opened up, Paul and his crew were now being led into what was obviously a brig, or a detention block, which was for the most part empty. They were separated, one by one, and shoved into a small eight by five cell.

Paul was the last one, the Marine shoving him forward into his cell, and turning to leave, while a second Marine latched the door behind him, and they all walked away, leaving the captain in a stifling silence.

He was there for about an hour, until the sound of heels on floor echoed through the detention block, the sound of heels stopped, and the door keeping Paul imprisoned slid open, revealing two heavily armed Marines, and a young woman wearing a neatly pressed suit, and white blouse. She also wore a dark pair of sunglasses, and a strange, but sleek looking device that coiled around her right ear, and went inside it.

Slowly she stepped inside, and took the sunglasses off, frowning for a moment, and then looking at Paul almost with a malicious smile, before she slid them into the inside pocket of her blazer.

"Who are you, and where did you come from." She asked, this time, in words he understood.

Paul's anxiety increases as he is divided from his crew, but he continues to communicate with them through his BrainPal.

When the woman enters his cell and speaks to him in a way he understands, he quickly makes a mental log before responding.

"I am Paul, of the Oberon. I come from the galaxy RA-619, star system Glendathu, base of operations Klendath.'

He references his mental interface before continuing with some statements of his own.

"We intend no harm towards your people. Our mission was simply to learn about you and contact you at a later point in time. I can say nothing else."

The woman offered a slight chuckle as the door slammed shut behind her. She offered a wicked grin, that seemed to twist her face to a wicked snarl, like a predatory animal while she produced a small datapad, and keyed in several words into it.

"I'm afraid that's not how this works. Right now, you and your crew are prisoners, and if you value them, you'll cooperate." Connors tapped her chin for a moment.

"So here's how this is going to work, you'll answer my questions satisfactorily, and honestly, you'll provide no resistance, and I will endeavor to make your stay here relatively manageable, and tolerable, and perhaps we can have some meaningful discourse." Connors said as she took a step forward.

"For every denial, every question you refuse to answer, I will have one of your crew executed." She said cooly.

"Do we have an understanding, Paul?" Connors asked plainly.

Paul has a quick moment of panic, and sends his recording of the questioning to the rest of his crew, before responding.

"I will answer your questions. Although, and remember this, nothing I say represents the views of my people, the expeditionary forces, or my people's government. I will answer your questions to the ability that I have in answering them. I understand your terms."

He mentally curses himself, wishing any Oberon but himself had been selected, as any other would have said nothing. He'll just answer what he can, he supposes.

Kathryn moved to Paul's right, her eyes staring daggers at him, she was watching his every move, something seemed off though, and it seemed her intuition was nagging at her for some reason.

She got close, close enough that Paul could feel her breath as she whispered.

"Your people, are nothing." She said, pulling away, and going back to tapping at her tablet. "Your people managed to somehow slip your vessel past our defenses, into our core systems, undetected." Kathryn said as she paced around Paul. "We will dismantle your vessel, and we will learn of it's origins. Tell me about your people, tell me about their military strength, their technology level, the location of your home world."

Paul answers.
"Our people are peaceful. We only maintain military strength in case we need it, mainly under the possibility of alien threat. Our current technology level is... Well, the most recent discovery was cold fission, and that was about three revolutions ago. Our closest colony is in RA-619, star system Glendathu, planet known as Klendath. I believe that you are misinterpreting our approaches. We are simply trying to peacefully contact your people, who are obviously much more advanced than us. I can't fully answer your question about military power, as that is outside of my department. Is this enough?"

He tries to hide his anxiety, and does pretty well.

As the expeditionaries are being interrogated, three large ships drop out of FTL travel near where the Discovery VII first appeared. These ships are at least four times larger, however, with one being heavily armed with an assortment of what could be called cannons. Each of them were marked with two parallel lines with a diagonal intersecting them, as well as a circle overlaid with four more. They begin broadcasting binary to the Aschen ships, roughly translatable to:

"Request of immediate release of six of our people. Lack of cooperation will result in attack. This is our only request. If cooperated with, we will immediately withdraw permanently. No further ships will be sent here. Waiting for response. End transmission.

On board the two smaller ships, a total of sixty-six small single-man fighters begin to leave docks in anticipation of any conflict to come.

During the interrogation, they would find themselves interrupted as a chime came over the Harbinger of Piety's intercom.

"Action stations, action stations, set condition one throughout the ship, this is not a drill! Repeat! Action Stations, Action Stations, set condition one throughout the ship!"

Kathryn made a face, but quickly turned around and moved swiftly out of the cell door, leaving Paul to his own devices for now.

Aboard the CIC, Admiral Whitcomb was watching the display closely. "Three enemy vessels of unknown class." She said to herself, as she magnified the display. "Right." Whitcomb said to herself.

"Coordinate fire from the Magna Thraecia, the Sakala, and the Commitment and Patience." Whitcomb ordered, tapping the holographic display, as the massive thirty kilometer long Reverence II shuddered.

"Bring shields to full strength, focus double front, forward weapons batteries are to target enemy vessel, let me know when we have confirmed firing solution." The Admiral instructed, while she began to scan, and analyze the new vessels.

"EVE, get me tactical analysis." She instructed, and the AI offered a prompt nod.

In the immediate zone, the two Reverence IIs, and one Imperious Class Command carrier began to come about, the Harbinger of Piety engaged it's shields, which culminated into a brilliant milky white bubble of light that resembled sunlight on water, the Committment and Patience followed suit, as did the Sakala. Coming up from one of the orbital defense platforms, were six Hastati class cruisers, and two Iconoclast Class Battleships that would be on station within five minutes at full burn.

"Enemy vessel is hailing us." EVE reported.

"Request of immediate release of six of our people. Lack of cooperation will result in attack. This is our only request. If cooperated with, we will immediately withdraw permanently. No further ships will be sent here. Waiting for response. End transmission." EVE spoke calmly, translating the message to words Whitcomb could understand.

"Transmit a reply." Whitcomb instructed. EVE offered a prompt nod.

"Attention unidentified vessels, your people trespassed into our space without authorization, thus they are prisoners, they will be interrogated, and processed according to Imperial law. If you choose to attempt an attack, we will execute the prisoners one by one until none remain, before prosecuting a counterattack against your vessels. The vessels you face are far superior to your own, and any attack would be foolish. This is your only opportunity to vacate this system with your lives, make your next decisions, at your own peril."

"Tactical scans incoming, enemy vessels appear to use crude power sources, and are unshielded, I estimate the battle will be in our favor, based on current data parameters." EVE reported.

The ship in the lead, known as the CU Henderson, grimly accepted the response, and sent another message.

Start transmission. Understood. We are in violation of your laws, although we had no former knowledge of said laws. We, however, will not leave until our request has been met. We are powering down our weapons and will wait here, as long as it is required for our people to be released. We withdraw our former statement, but if any harm comes to that crew, we shall attack. These are our demands, and this is our decision. What are yours? End transmission.

They do, indeed, power down their main energy weapons. Most of the fighters stay where they are, with half of them withdrawing and returning to their vessel. The two lighter carrier ships move until they are equal with the Henderson.

The three ships sit, in the silent void of space.

The Admiral stared grimly at the console as EVE translated their response. This wasn't good enough, so she had to draw up plans to attack, while she waited for the Intelligence officers to extract the location of their homeworld. She would bide the time to analyze the enemy ships capabilities, while the Harbinger of Piety's ECW Suite began making attempts to hack into the Oberon ships over wireless communications, probing their electronic defenses, analyzing firewalls, and broadcasting an intruder program which piggybacked on their reply.

"Standby while we consider our options." If the Oberon commander accepted the transmission, the Intruder program would silently begin working on their systems, creating back doors for Aschen information warfare officers to begin their hacks.

She looked up to the holographic display, two of the Iconoclast battleships were taking up position at the rear of the alien ships, roughly 1,500 kilometers away, which was danger close to Aschen standards.

Each of the two Iconoclast Battleships were five and a half kilometers in length, each of their eight Onager type superMAC batteries were trained on the three ships, and each individual cannon was capable of hurling a ten thousand ton ferric-tungsten slug at near relativistic velocities, the Aschen were confident that they could put rounds clean through even the hardiest ship.

Each of these batteries were mounted on large turrets, and locked in place. The three ships would find themselves outnumbered, and surrounded, with initial data coming in that there was some strange subspace field surrounding them. FTL would be impossible at this point, both outgoing, and incoming as the Aschen's Planck Packs enveloped the entire area inside an impermeable anti-FTL field which prevented any faster than light travel, in our out of the bubble. All it took was a single order, for each of the Aschen ships to dispense overwhelming firepower against the Oberon vessels.

A moment later, a Hesperides class drone carrier slipped in behind the formation of Iconoclast battleships, it didn't waste any time, as millions of Furie class attack drones poured from the belly of this large vessel, in the form of a writhing tentacle, or a school of fish, and was slowly extending outwards towards the Oberon fighters. Each Furie class drone was armed with four 30mm Thraxon MECS Autocannons which fired a dense depleted-uranium cored ferric-tungsten kinetic weapon at hyper velocities.

Aboard the Harbinger of Piety, inside the Detention Block, Kathryn promptly returned to Paul's cell, this time with two Marines in tow, one of the Marines was carrying a large briefcase, while another was carrying restraints. As the cell door slammed shut behind them, Kathryn hardened her gaze.

"I need to know the exact coordinates of your home worlds." She demanded, tossing a felt marker, and a notepad at Paul's feet.

Something about the agent's demeanor changed, from annoyance, to something else, the demeanor of the Marines changed too.