Shipmaster Liam Ian Greers's Story

Far off in the edge of the Gaelian System a strike cruiser and two frigates slipped out of warp space in a low profile signatures and stayed away from installations that could alert the system of their presence. Unlike a previous visit these ships were state of the art warships and not retrofitted envoy ships such as the Tratos.

“I don’t like it.” Liam sighed.

“Sir?” His XO furrowed her brow.

“It’s been a week since that escapade with the Tratos and they sent our squadron into this sector full well knowing these aliens…the Aschen will be breathing down our necks. Has the new Hawk party been greasing palms in the Henge or pushing the Roiken to make these reckless decisions?” The Shipmaster inquired with his synapses closed to everyone else on the bridge for private discussion with the karll.

“I believe that’s way above my pay grade to know other than to say I’m inclined to agree with you.” Karll Tullulah replied with a mental shrug.

The shipmaster and the karll kept their eyes on the tactical projector board to mark out anything that could be an indication of hyperspace signatures or anything that can specify a ship. The orders were clear if the Aschen show up in force was to report fleet strength, alien response time, electrostatic signatures and long range scans of planetary bodies in the system then get the hell out. Engage only when fired upon. Liam played military games long enough to know these orders were borderline high military operations which could mean two things: preliminary clandestine operations or invasion. His gut was telling him it was the latter.

“We picked up some electrostatic chatter coming from this planetary body.” Specialist Breena, communications officer, pinged the synapse interlink to prompt the shipmaster and the karll. The long range scans of the azure planet pulsed into the interface with a few blips highlighted around it to indicate ships. “It appears they’re not aware of our presence in the system as of this moment.” She opined.

“That is about to change shortly.” Tullulah nodded. Her fingers danced across the interface leaving watery ripples across the holographics as they did. She tapped her temple. “Should we send our frigate escorts to run interference?” She asked the shipmaster.

The shipmaster stood there a moment with the options weighing in on his mind with his arms folded across his chest. “Have the Trykor advance cool and quiet.” He said. “And I want the alert fighters in their chutes.”

The UCS Nova Wolf may have been a strike cruiser of 3 miles in length it had a quantum based and energy signature of something much smaller easily mistook as a derelict weather satellite. A visual signature wouldn’t be much better since the ship’s material surface is of matte light absorbing material and the base color of the ship’s paint being a dark shade of blue with a white and cyan stripe going across its arrowhead shaped prow did not exactly pop out in the blackness unless a ship was to get very close.

On the far side of the planet Arastel, unbeknownst to those who watched, there was another entity.

While Aschen ships came and went, most of them Reverence class, a clearly alien ship was sitting rather harmlessly in orbit above the planet.

Raphael McGregor commanded the Aurora, a ship crewed by a handful of handpicked specialists who dealt exclusively with ancient technology. Specialists that were tasked with keeping this behemoth operational and in top condition scurried about the interior of the ship.

Raphael himself was seated in the central command chair, blue eyes overlooking the black and starry backdrop that was before him.

"Interesting." He said as he brought his hand up to manipulate a large hologram of the alien ship on the fringes of the Gaelian system.

"It's not a design I'm familiar with..." He said while a technician shook his head, and Raphael swept the three-dimensional design to the side, before comparing it in the larger Aschen datalink.

"Aliens that made contact with Admiral Nash's fleet, they were deemed hostile after they attempted a takeover of a Reverence... interesting." He added, sweeping the report away as the information was seamlessly processed into his mind. With a quick succession of thoughts, the engines of the Aurora came to life, and the ship smoothly began to sail forward.

Raphael slowly let his eyes slide shut, and the Aurora vanished from existence, disappearing completely without a trace. It would be technology completely foreign, and beyond even the comprehension of the Gaelian System's alien guests.

"Curious..." Echoed the disembodied voice through the CIC of the UCS Nova Wolf. Though the voice came in crisp and clean, there was no sign that any systems had been interfered or tampered with.

"Your species confuses me, you made contact with Admiral Nash only to have the outcome end in hostility, and then you send Warships; Curious indeed..." The voice continued, until a human figure clad in a white turtleneck sweater, and white khakis could be seen standing in the center of the CIC. How he got there would be a baffling mystery. His form completely visible yet completely intangible If anyone tried to attack him, or reach to grab him they would find that his form was completely ethereal, they would pass right through him, and yet he appeared real enough as if he was standing right there before them.

"Shipmaster Greers, allow me to introduce myself, you may call me Raphael. You and your people have nothing to fear, I mean you no harm; I only wish to dialogue with you." The strange blonde said. Indeed even powerful psionics could find no reading on him, as if the entity didn't even exist, and yet reality itself bent and warped around the strange figure in a sort of iridescent glow that scintillated and flickered ever so slightly.

"You do not need to explain the purpose in which you are here. I am well aware that your people dispatched this vessel to test the defenses of the Aschen Empire. Whether or not you fulfill the objectives of your mission is irrelevant to me. However, I am curious as to the purpose of this series of microaggressions against the Empire. Your people's motives seem to range from the seizure of tangible space, to.... the disarmament of the Empire perhaps? Curious..." The figure said.

“That’s strange we’re picking up a strange energy signature coming from that planet. Exact trace in on that ship’—“ Breena was cut off when the core made a few systems flicker.

“Reagan, what’s going on?” Liam inquired.

“We got company.” The core plainly said then the disembodied voice made its presence in the bridge. The crew presently on the bridge received intrusive pings in their synapses that were as annoying as having a camera shoved in your face. The power behind this must have been highly focused for it wasn’t easy to project on the minds of sprites even though they lacked the talents of their ambrite brethren on top of warships being shielded against paranormal intrusion.
“What is this?” Liam ignored the question from the apparition he saw before him. He waved his hand across the being and his hand went through it like a cheap hologram. “Someone get the origin of this—“

“We cannot trace it.” Breena cut in after her instruments brought up nothing on anything that could explain how a non-corporeal being appeared aboard the ship.

“He’s anchored his ship somewhere between warp and real space which explains few things. I can’t get an exact bearing.” Aya explained. “He’s projecting, I’ll need a moment to have Reagan to wrap the ship in a fade envl—“
“No, I want to hear what this alien has to say.” Liam spoke up. In the meantime the crew went back to put the ship on high alert. The karll was distracted for a moment until telepathic assurances had her go back to the task at hand to recall the frigates to prepare for warp space.

“If you already know what we are here for then dialogue is pretty much pointless, is it not?” The shipmaster replied to the alien’s questions tersely. All he had to do was will his mind to not see this projection and the exchange was over yet he stalled just long enough for Reagan to get a glimpse of the consciousness projecting aboard the ship to counteract this intrusion even if it wasn’t hostile. “Even though our purpose here is irrelevant to you I have no authority to continue this exchange without a major compromise to this ship’s security.”

“He’s an Alteran. They’re ethereal beings.” The core explained to the shipmaster and karll telepathically. “Raphael E. McGregor is part of Aschen High Command.” Reagan continued.

“Well shit.” Liam sighed knowing now he left a huge backdoor opened and he was going to catch hell for this breach. With a thought Raphael would find it impossible even for his own abilities to maintain the incorporeal connection to the ship as the core put up a defensive barrier enveloping the ship in a fade shell that nullified outside interference of paranormal activity. Although it wasn’t a brick wall defense, in the future Alteran related phenomena could not breach into a warship as easily since it would take far more will power.

“Get us out of here.” The shipmaster exclaimed. In moments the Cruiser and her frigates made an untraceable jump out of the system.

The strike cruiser UCS Nova Wolf and her escorting frigates the Trykor and Moon Hawk slipped out of warp space in a remote system not thoroughly charted by Avaeon cartographers.

Liam glanced over the interface then mentally had the bridge transition the walls to get a full spectrum visual of space and saw a vast of nothingness except for a few tiny clouds of distant binary and star clusters. “Reagan, where the hell are we?” He asked.

“This in the borrowed language is the Uranos system.” Aya explained. She projected her image aboard the bridge as a supple nigh-naked being in bright purple coherent light. She stared at the interface and manipulated it with her mind to make it into a star chart.

“This system is largely unsettled although here we are getting some activity but very miniscule compared to what we saw before. We hadn’t ran a probe or any automated expeditions here for the past five centuries so our charts a little dated.” She explained.

“No Aschen?” Tullulah said.

“No Aschen.” Aya replied.

“Alright, take some preliminary scans of nearby planets then drop a warp buoy here and we’ll jump home. Maybe this can be the one system we can make do for now until the Empire rears its ugly head here.” Liam ordered.

“What if these are already settled by aliens? Do we make nice or do we plan on bombing them off?” Tullulah inquired.

“I leave that to the Envoys.” Liam replied with a straight face.

As Raphael stood there, he moved to deliver his peace.

"I will not keep you long." He said, focusing his willpower to maintain the connection long enough to get his words spoken. "Your aggression won't be looked upon favorably in the international community. The Empire will use your tactics against you to solidify it's own position with the other nations. Your species and it's civilization are powerful, but even they could not stem the tide of an international reaction." Raphael explained.

"Take this message to your leaders." The figure said.

"You catch more flies with honey, than you do with vinegar. The Empire will always accept peaceful negotiations, but will defend themselves with the combined strength of her allies should the need arise. If your nation wishes to dialogue with the Empire peacefully, it must address them as equals, and mutual friends." The figure stated.

"Even as your armies prepare to march on the Empire, even as your people aim to slaughter ours, peace will always remain, for we have the legitimacy of the International Community. Consider your next moves carefully, for they may usher your civilization into prosperity, or doom it into irrelevancy."

Once the message was delivered, the figure was shut out and Raphael's eyes opened up in his seat on the Aurora. He watched as the other ships jumped away, before he swept a holographic screen out of his way, opening a new one.

"Admiral Nash, this is Admiral McGregor; Inform your forces to prepare for war, I sense that an invasion may be imminent."

"I will speak with the Coalition, and attempt to contact the Varden and Dark Rain, marshal your forces for the upcoming battle, I do not know when or where they will strike, I only know that they will strike." He said, swallowing.

"Something dark is coming." He added, and with a swift hand gesture, the Aurora vanished once more into nothingness.

Though the Avaeon cartographers missed it in their initial sweep, their preliminary scans of the Uranos system would turn up that it had a heavy military presence and an Aschen watchtower, the same as the other primary Isirian systems. While the planets had no permanent settlements or large civilian populations yet, the Isirian military, and those of the Aschen watchtower held a pointed presence here to protect the teraforming companies from Cryon pirates and the like - and to prevent Isirian insurgents from setting up shop in the as of yet still largely vacant planets.

The first string of arrivals to start colonizing the planets weren't scheduled for several months yet, which made this system one of the least favorable for the Aveon's to setup shop and hide in as they would stand out like a sore thumb. The only people present in the Uranos system were those that were supposed to be there to work on the teraforming, and other vessels would likely be flagged as incoming pirate vessels.

Furthermore the entire region was on active watch to contend with their growing problem of piracy. Cryon pirates made this system a favorite as they hit supply ships en route to begin preparations for settling the planets.

It wouldn't take the foreign vessel long to realize that it had been picked up by the locals, and given that Isirian civilian vessels weren't permitted to carry weaponry aboard, the Avaeon war vessels were swiftly being mistaken for illegal Cryon ships. Alerts went out to both the Isirian and the Aschen vessels in the area.

“This isn’t good” Tullulah said. She brought up a display of new scans of nearby star systems.“Using all that focus on kicking that Alteran out made us blind, sir we got inbound contact coming our way at sub-light speed. This place is crawling with multiple contact signatures and we may have a stealth ship at our backs. Stand by.”

“Damn it.” Greers sighed. “Plot a jump back to the nebula. Fast and don’t even leave them the tail lights.”

Aya urged the shipmaster to stay for another few seconds to complete the scans. “Wait, our scan is just nearly fi-“.

“No time we need to move now.” Tullulah assured her then she synced with the frigate navigators to make the jump.

The Trykor and Moon Hawk made untraceable jumps out of the system followed by the Nova Wolf after it scuttled the jump buoy to leave no physical trace that they were even there.

“The council is going to love this.” Greers sighed. He swept a weary hand over his scalp.

“Not as much as Carney when he gets the reports.” Tullulah spoke in despite of the sarcasm.

>Contacts are out. Looked like warp of some kind.<

Rubbing his brow, the captain of the Mist viewed the feed through his implant, pinging an acknowledgement before addressing Comms. "Get Ryder on the line, via the relay. I'll authorize the whisker beam emissions."

Coming to a full halt was difficult for most vessels, but the corvette did so with graceful ease, then turned to better align the transmitter beam with the nearest receiver of the quiet network of communications relay buoys scattered around by the scouting corvettes. A series of high burst laser transmissions began to play, invisible lines of code aligning through the relay network, bouncing through space for about ten minutes. Recalibrating alignments and stabilizing the strength, the Councilman's voice came through a scant moment after the connection was finalized.

"Ideas, Captain?"

"All we know is they were unknowns, and the nearby Watchtower was a nicely kicked hornet's nest. I'd hazard a guess our allies know who they are, sir."

"I suppose I'll have to ask them, then. Captain, keep you're eyes out. I'll be dispatching the rest of your Fist out to you, likewise for your sister vessels covering the other systems. Don't engage unless fired on, and if you catch orders from the Aschen, support only. No direct engagements. Get word in, even if you have to breach silence, and I can have a carrier there via TD in ten minutes."

"Understood sir. Abyss clearance in case of direct engagement?"

"Granted, Captain, and I'll let you relay that out. Don't play with them..."

"Blow them out the fucking sky, I hear you sir. Out."

A grim smile from the captain, as he set about preparing for the arrival of his Fist. The strength of his sister corvette and their frigate would mark a rather generous increase in presence in the system, though the thought of having a carrier involved made him uneasy. It seemed a rather heavy handed approach, but the Councilman ultimately held the disposition of the UDW ships in the Aschen's sovereign space.

"UDW Mist this is Aurora Actual, I thought I heard something out here..."

The message preceded a proverbial tear in the very fabric of space and time as the angular Aurora jutted fourth from a brilliant tear in the universe, which promptly closed behind it like a well stitched wound.

As Admiral McGregor watched the scans from his ship, his blue eyes narrowed as he waved his hands across several control consoles. These aliens were a persistent bunch it seemed. Once the Aliens jumped out of the system, the large alien Battleship tilted slightly on it's Axis to face off with the UDW Ships.

"Seems I'm a little late to the party." Raphael said somewhat disappointed.

"I've got word from High Command, Divine Shadow is anticipating an invasion of this sector and is redeploying assets. Once Chairman Inviere returns to her post at Tal'dor, she's going to weapons free all UDW Assets in Aschen space." Raphael hailed, while recalibrating his ship's communications across a wide-band frequency.

"As a matter of fact..." Raphael said as he calibrated long range transmittor arrays.

"UDW Devastator, I'm going to issue a weapons free directive under Chapter Seven of the Emergency Military Code, all allied units in Aschen Space are weapons free, that includes your Abysses ladies and gentlemen. Don't frak this up we're putting a lot of trust into Dark Rain."

Once he completed his transmission back to the UDW Assets in Aschen Space, he pulled up another screen that displayed the Mist's IFF Codes.

"Relay this message to Councilman Ryder; Any help you can send is appreciated, and all UDW assets are weapons free under Chapter Seven. UCON should be moving into the sector as well as Aschen reinforcements while we consolidate our position here."

The Shipmaster received orders from Dugal Connors 2 hours prior to leaving the veil to Isirian Space in case the Aschen proved to be hostile or in the event of catastrophe such as sabotage. Greers was not a fan of the new ultranationalist movement nor did he reserve any naive optimism towards the aliens on the same level as Ambassador Greyshaw. He sighed.

“They’re about at their window. The assembly gave them 6 hours and they’re about due in 24 minutes. I didn’t think negotiations took this long I would hav-“

“Shipmaster, we got something you should see.” Karll Tallulah prompted him via telepathically as she entered the CIC.

Greers waved his hand over the tactical display to bring up what the ship’s navigator picked up. He didn’t understand fully how Ambrites looked into the fade but all he could see on the screen before him was a bunch of white with specks of gray and random patterns of black and he saw a splotch of blue fading in and out in the far corner of a swirling pool of blackness on top of the white foreground that represented real space, supposedly.

“What is this I’m looking at?” He inquired.

“Dugal Connors. He uh…painted a part of a ship with fade resonance. It’s very weak and dissipating quickly.” The Karll explained then she reached over to manipulate the hologram to show a globe of sorts that was a star chart then she pulled back to zoom in.

“Where’s his yacht?” Greers asked.

“Blown up by hull crusher according to the ripples of the fade, I had to study it for a second to get an actual reading this far away when we re-entered the system.” The navigator replied. “This looks like the work of sabotage.”

“Carney.” Tallulah opined. “Trying to kill his own to start his little war.”

"Maybe." Greers just stood there for a moment to weigh the options then he pushed off from the tactical display.

“Kick on the inertialess vectors to full power.” He ordered then thought a moment to broadcast across the ship. “General quarters, all hands focused to stations.” He spoke in his calm demeanor. “Marines prepare to repel boarders, barriers to maximum and all QD ordinance in their tubes, reserve nothing if these aliens are going to be hostile.”

The Harbinger of Piety en route to the Aurora got the likely greeting of an UCF strike cruiser as the warship practically popped in right on top of them along with six other escorts including 2 frigates and 4 swarmer carriers.

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.

“Commander.”

Amritha’s soft voice stirred James out of his thoughts for a moment, the dim bedside lamp making long phantoms across the spartan room. The Savage rubbed at a few excess days of stubble around his chin and jaw as the capsuleer powered up the tiny pad-clock on the metal nightstand beside him. Days had passed by and he found himself tucked away into the captain’s hole now, outside though the ship continued bustling along; six hundred odd souls grinding away across the bowels of the vessel. Five hundred and ninety nine if you were the kind that didn’t consider capsuleers human.

“I’m up.” Savage finally brought himself out of the bed and into the pants at the side of the mattress, watching a holographic display jump in front of him. Amritha, rigged into the digipsionic pod somewhere in the bowels of the Malmo, might have been however far away but gave the Commander plenty of evidence that the ship and her crew were waiting on him. A screen rolled by from a surveillance camera on one of the cruiser's gundeck; olive-robed sailors checked the mechanism on a dual-purpose railgun, segue to the galley crew making a thousand pounds of icecream and Savage waved the holograms apart.

"When you're ready I need the logs for the last few hours, I'm opening the enigma package." Savage idly threw a shirt on and took one glance at the matte-black ruggedized laptop. The device had sat unmoved, as per orders, since the vessel departed in formation with the rest of Task Force Viking over Arik. With the Colonial Sphere behind them the Malmo had dropped off with the rest of Task Force Viking completely; where now a tentative carrier group seemed to inch towards the battlefield on the long range sensors, the Malmo had let its FTL drive cool dark making a chill across the hull of the vessel in the surrounding cosmos.

“The Imperial military has prepared for a large deployment in the area, and the Malmo received a broadcast piggying off of Viking’s comms. The situation in the Isirian sector seems to have developed." The woman's voice trailed into a mechanic din when she was spread all throughout the ship. Stuffed away in deep in the hull she still peered over his shoulder like a prying child as he stood in front of the desk.

"Curious, Ams?" Savage's boyish charm seemed to only draw a laugh for himself as the woman occupied the tiny holoprompter nested against the wall.

"Only to see what sort of trouble you'll get into this time." Amritha was a smart, competent woman from the Inner Empire; once or twice during pillow talk she had spoken about the IE briefly. She wasn't one of the 'fortunate' ones, like the boy who'd grown up as a Savage. "Or finally get yourself killed."

"Funny how capsuleers appreciate our mortality moreso than the ones with it." Despite his incredulous tone he knew she pulled back a bit at that, didn't stop him from letting the short chuckle come after she spoke.

"Those comms exchanges are ready, commander." It was only a certain silence that ever convinced Savage he was alone; mentally he felt the woman huff in remark and then occupy herself with something. The room remained dim as Savage undid the two latches holding the enigma machine closed.

He made a quick mental note to apologize to the capsuleer, but if he truly decided it he hardly thought of what to say as the ruggedized slowly pulled open. A floating image greeted him, the infamous dagger and eye, Counter-Balance.



The IM app made cute little keyboard noises as James watched whoever was at the other end type, and his eyes narrowed at the prospect that he might have crossed half the galaxy for nothing but a spook run.

Welcome to the Aurora, don't expect to go sight seeing any time soon.

"Who is this?" Savage began typing his thoughts as he spoke, and a split second later the other user replied curtly. Not important.

You're officially removed from Task Force Viking's roster; as of this communication, your objective is the defusal of this situation. Are you aware of the incident taking place in Isiria?

Savages reeled back from the desk for a moment, the other hand fumbling to the remote control and pointing it at the blank wall to activate the large-screen. The ships’ menu faded out after he scrolled the volume down and came back to the ruggedized.

A few hours ago the Empire declared war, Commander.

As if on que, after the enigma pulsed a short signal somewhere in the ship, the capsuleer returned to the room at the holoprompter carrying a handheld screen. “Commander Savage, we’ve received a broadcast on the civilian-comms.”

The airscreen coalesced into an image of the Empyrean heartland, two suns (though they almost appeared as one) brightly hung in the sky overhead a suited man. The calming grey color was a difference in with the greenery, modern architecture and a waiting crowd of reporters and bystanders. Prime Minister Dauch stood before the waiting cameras like an aging obelisk, and while the wrinkles at either eye furled.

“Ladies and gentlemen, men and women of the domestic and foreign press, I only have a short time and I shall be brief with this. Today my administration received confirmation from the executive of the Aschen Empire that it has initiated hostilities against another sovereign state in its nominal territory, a region called the Aurora.”

Following Dauch’s accent was a cold, crawling realization that Viking had not left “on a routine patrol”. Savage and Amritha stood side by side in front of the flickering television screen, Dauch almost talking directly to them despite being thousands of lightyears away.

“Today, frail and battlescarred nations teeter on the brink of dissolution and the graveyard of history and today, the Federal government stands once again for Aschen perseverance through war. The Aschen are ready to face any adversity that will afflict it in these upcoming tribulations -- they overcame even their own adversity. They have earned their right to exist.”

The image cut to a voice recording as Savage turned back to the ruggedized, the app closed remotely and a blank loading screen sat for him.

“Minister Narek will explain in full detail the groundwork the Federal government has suggested for a united front in support of the Aschen Empire, for a quick and stable establishment of peace as soon as possible -- with multi-lateral decisions and agreements for all belligerents. Fellow citizens of the great Coalition, pray for your Aschen brethren. Pray for their fighting men -- and most importantly, pray for our unfortunate enemies.”

Whisper swept into the CIC of the Nighthawk as her form regained its corporeal state. Word had already reached the technicians as to her arrival, and they were preparing to jack her into the Reverence. After the Avaeon had effectively shut down a military vessel only a few weeks prior, they weren't taking any chances. It would be far more difficult for the Avaeon's to override the ship's systems with Whisper jacked in. Viruses were designed to corrupt program, and AI's. They weren't designed to contend with a human mind behind the ship's systems.

She sat down in a chair that was being wired into one of the control consoles. The Nighthawk wasn't specifically outfitted for her like the Blackbird, but they were making quick work of it.

As she sat down a technician lay the chair back.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

Whisper nodded.

As before the searing pain of the jack being jammed into the back of her neck drew a jerk and a gasp from her lips before her consciousness was seamlessly separated from her physical body. Unlike before though, her consciousness wasn't contained inside of a virtual box, but rather she had full run of the ships systems. Its weapons, its sensors, its life support systems, its comm systems, everything was at her disposal.

A woman's voice filled the CIC from the loudspeakers.

"Blackbird, online. The aliens have engaged with the Harbinger of Piety. Our FTL drives are spooling up. We'll be clear of the combat zone in five seconds. Four. Three. Two -"

As the UDW vessels engaged with the Nova Wolf, several other ships bearing Isirian IFFs blinked into the vicinity. A destroyer, two frigates, and a trio of corvettes were now drifting through the open space. Though the ships were clearly Isirian in make, many bore Aschen upgrades and modifications. Many of the Isirian ships had also been outfitted with more advanced navigation systems, upgraded weapons systems, hard light and combat shielding.

Aboard the destroyer, the Astral Comet, the CIC was a buzz of activity. The entire region had been on high alert with concerns of an imminent invasion, but many had felt it nothing more than a precaution. Few had expected a return of the aliens so soon, but they had been disillusioned to that belief upon picking up the Harbinger of Piety's signal.

The DRADIS screens were displaying several alien vessels engaged with friendlies.

"Put me through to the Harbinger of Piety," Commander Renaud ordered.

'This is Commander Renaud aboard the Astral Comet. Requesting orders.'

AHSC Harbinger of Piety
Reverence II class Supercarrier
Admiral Elisha Whitcomb

The situation continued to remain tense, as the Reverence's AI adjusted the ship's maneuvering to try and catch the Frigate as it buzzed around the massive Carrier like an angry wasp.

"Main weapons are unable to garner firing solution, UDW Ships have confirmed arrival." The AI reported, and then several screens were brought up. "Isirian vessels confirmed for arrival as well." She added, and the Admiral nodded. Alarms klaxxoning in the background as she contemplated her actions.

"Do we have weapons lock?" She asked, and the AI nodded. "Secondary Anti-Frigate batteries are keeping pace, we also have reports from the Trident's Thrust and the Miracle's Grove, they have confirmed firing solutions." The AI reported, and a Lieutenant quickly turned towards the Admiral.

"Sir! Incoming communication from the Alien Hostiles." He reported

Whitcomb nodded. "Patch it through on the speakers."

“You have two of our people aboard your 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.”

Whitcomb pondered for a moment, contemplating her next move before a second CIC officer turned to face her. "Admiral, text message from the Nighthawk, it's from Admiral McGregor." He said, and Whitcomb nodded, bringing it up onto a holographic screen. The message simply read.

'Ignis'


It was at that instant the UDW Ships began to open fire, and Whitcomb moved to act quickly. "Open fire all primary batteries! Get us away from that damn frigate! I want all ships weapons free!" She shouted, grabbing the railing as the Reverence II kicked on it's massive engines, and then quickly banked a hard left, putting the Nova Wolf directly in the line of fire to allow the UDW to garner a batter firing solution, but should it manage to survive the hit, it would be greeted by the Trident's Thrust coming sharply about danger close to the Reverence's Hull.

"Wait for it..." Commander Chamlotte said, narrowing her eyes.

"Wait for it.." As the curved hull of the Reverence pulled away, the Nova Wolf would be in a clean line of fire perpendicular to the Trident's Thrust.

"Now!" Commander Chamlotte called out, and the Trident's Thrust loosed a massive and brilliant pink beam of light directly center mass at the Nova Wolf, the Polaron Blaster designed to rip through shields and deliver a high-energy impact against armor and hull alike. This initial attack was followed up as the Miracle's Grove tailed an Escort ship, loosing a pair of Avenger Ant-Ship missiles that were threaded on the Reverence's Wide-Spectrum arrays to guide itself towards the enemy ship as it zipped about. However, it was just as the Reverence's weapons came to life, with rotary flak cannons putting up a thick wall of fire danger close, and encapsulating the Avaeon ships in a wall of shrapnel, debris, and thermite clouds as it's Stormbringer Anti-Ship defense systems swiveled to life, with the AI's predictive algorithms, it would fire a fusillade of brilliant green disruptor bolts at the ship, and lead it in almost every possible direction it could go, with the intent to box it in with a wall of disruptor fire.

It was then Admiral Whitcomb opened a comm to the Nighthawk, to relay an order to Echo.

"Get yourself a Combat skin and report to one of the Torpedo turrets, see if you can't fire yourself out of the torpedo and get yourself aboard one of their ships." She said, relaying the risky idea to the Golem.

"And try not to get yourself killed." Whitcomb added.

Though on the Nighthawk, Raphael frowned and disconnected the comms from the Harbinger of Piety as the Nighthawk prepared to jump. His shimmering eyes on Echo.

"I've got a better idea, go speak with the prisoners, and do that thing you do so we can learn about their biology."


"Sir! UCON assets are in system!" Another Lieutenant reported, while Whitcomb nodded, and then opened up the comms.

"UDW Stalker, this is Harbinger of Piety actual, need you to swat some gnats, danger close; we can take it." She said, and then turned to the AI.

"Disengage flaks and turn on the Hard Lights, button us up for danger close enemy and friendly fire."

The AI simply nodded, and it was then the Harbinger of Piety ceased fire, and a brilliant, blue polygonal shield shimmered around it, encapsulating it in a cocoon of light. Almost akin to a second skin of armor.