Helix Orbital Station

It started as a whisper, a brief distortion far beyond the planet Cortex and it's defensive orbital station.

That brief whisper culminated into the flash of a merchant ship, beaten and badly damaged, the scoring from energy weapons fire evident all over it's hull as it drifted through the black expanse of the void - undisturbed for a moment, and broadcasting a distress signal.

"....Molecay... Requesting assistan..... venting a.... wounded on board... someone please help!"

The message repeated only twice before a second signal flickered in, a much larger signal on order of roughly a kilometer and a half, and proudly bearing the phoenix and shield of the Imperial Aschen Navy.

"Jump completed, commander, initiating target re-acquisition!" Commander Elroy shouted from his station, eyes affixed to the holographic WideSpec scanner installed in front of him, while his hands glided across the keys, clattering upon each metallic key as he worked diligently to keep the tracking of this much smaller, badly beaten vessel in front of him.

"Adjusting for visual acuity, WideSpec is picking up a planetoid and several signatures, I'm working to identify them now." Comms officer Finn called out. "I've got unknown on the stellar patterns, it's going to take a moment for Navigation to plot a course back home."

Amelia sat quietly, her uniform jacket hung loosely across the back of her chair, legs crossed over each-other as she steepled her fingers.

"Shields double front, re-acquire targeting parameters, adjust our approach two nine three carom one six nine." She ordered, narrowing her eyes as the ship shifted it's pitch, and the lone transport slowly came into focus on the large visual display in front of them.

"Adjust acceleration, thirty percent." She added, keying in a series of commands into her chair's console.


"We've got a clean line, forward batteries report positive lock." Finn reported, grasping his headset and holding it close to his ear.

Amelia narrowed her eyes even more, and then she almost seductively licked her lips.

"Fire."

Two impressive energy spikes followed from deep within the ship that was moving at speed towards Cortex, in pursuit of this strange transport that seemed to be fleeing them, those energy spikes were immediately followed by two streaks of brilliant green light, like a one-two punch they impaled the battered transport, and it slowly began to break apart, having completely lost control.

"Target neutralized, confirmed casualties, no life signs, sir." The Weapons officer reported.

At that moment, Amelia nodded. "Reacquire for the new contacts and bring us about, get damage control to their stations and full power to shields and weapons. Our new friends aren't going to like the dispensation of Imperial Justice."

"How delicious." She added, as the Hastati cruiser slowly started to come about, facing directly off with the orbital bastion of Cortex. The ship did not hail, nor did it open fire, the only change was that it was starting to slow down, eventually coming to a stop relative to the planet.

Helix Orbital Station: Command Center
Director Korou

The station had been calm for weeks now, if one could call stacks of paperwork and bustling trade calm, of course, and Yreia Korou had almost gotten used to it. Today, though; today she had woken up with an itching feeling in the back of her mind that she was about to be given a very rude awakening. The door to the command center clicked dully as the heavy composite thing swung outward on a great big hinge. She nodded and her dark honey eyes flashed gratitude to the soldier manning the door. Before she had even finished stepping into the neocortex of Helix's arc of technological advancement, it was clear that everyone was tense.

"Report." She said calmly as she walked up to the observation window at the far end of the of the dim, computer-packed room. From there she could see everything. High in geostationary orbit, she was afforded a breathtaking view of Cortex, the entire ring of the absolutely gargantuan station, the shipyards and docks extended from it, and the stars beyond. She smiled slightly.

"Sensor network readings have picked up several spatial distortion building at 90 degrees incline." A technician reported, standing up and handing her a data-pad.

"And that is significant..." she responded with the intonation of a question but paused as she took the pad, looking it over. She skimmed the mess of details until she saw what was important: the single line that detailed the size of the second spatial distortion. Her tone of voice changed to one of understanding as she handed the device back to him. "... Ohkay that is significant." Without turning or even moving she raised the tenor of her voice and calmly commanded the room.

"Comms: Set CDF and Customs to Alert-Standby-One: We might need them to enact security on the station if this is some unknown phenomena; Systems: Station-wide Yellow Alert and set banks 2 and 3 to charge: get the docks retracted, lock everything up and get ready to enact countermeasures."

She took a deep, steady breath.

"As far as anyone is concerned, this is a routine-" She was interrupted by the technician again. "A small vessel has appeared out of the proximal distortion." Then comms piped up "Incoming Transmission" and silence befell the dimly lit space. The comms technician played the distress call after a moment. Director Korou turned around finally and inclined her head.

"Give them approach clearance and ready a CDF Relief Vesse-" She was interrupted again. Her finger twitched behind her back.

"A large vessel has come out of the second distortion. High energy readings detected off the bow." The sensor technician reported as the distress message played again. The vessels were 150 megametrs off at least, giving the station due space and timeto respond if any kind of assault. But, even so, Director Korou's heart leaped in her chest. She spun around in time to see lances of coruscating emerald converge on a single point in space. "First vessel has been destroyed" the sensors reported.

Yreia Korou watched with half-lidded interest.

"Code Red, Ready Welcome Wagon, Ready Shields - Standby." She commanded with ice in her tone and the crew set about their business with draconian efficiency. She whirled around, coat swishing slightly and marched over to her chair at the center of the space to sit gracefully. She crossed one leg over the other and dawned a headset.

"Comms: get ready to beam a transmission to the vessel."

Her eyes took on a steely edge and silence befell the room for several minutes as the 1500 meter vessel moved inside the 100 megametre mark 90 degrees incline to the station. Visuals were now projected on the dimmed glass and she saw the phoenix emblazoned shield clearly in the sun's light and the call title IAN Ice Queen. She smirked at the irony in the name but it was a marker she would commit to memory.

"Transmit now"
She paused and the comms officer nodded. Her voice was calm, commanding, and alto.

"IAN Ice Queen, you have entered Helix Corporation controlled space and discharged
weapons. Please state your purpose."

The station's control arms and docking clamps were all retracted and the bays were buttoned up. The station was nearly sealed to standard Yellow alert fashion. By now, the information was likely reaching the board of directors on Cortex and an emergency meeting being called. Today just got interesting.

(Jackson tagged because he was alerted. Not here.)

Amelia watched the displays with half-hearted interest, while using her free hand to key in command sequences to the ship's AI.

Her command staff were not so half-hearted. They were watching the station's response with keen interest, gauging data readouts, power spikes, weapons status and shield density, whoever this construct was, did not appear to take kindly to the Aschen's dispensation of justice.

Amelia was drumming her fingertips on the console, when she called out to her XO. "When is Astrometrics going to get back to me with that stellar pattern? We can't sit here forever." She growled.

"Nothing on stellars." The Navigations officer replied. "Astrometrics told me they need at least a millicenton before they can triangulate our position, and plot a jump back to the Empire. It looks like we've jumped way beyond the red line."

Amelia kept growling, before she slowly rose to her feet, and moved towards the large holographic display of the planet and the surrounding station.

"How do you want to play this, Commander?" The XO, Colonel Harland asked.

"Haymaker salvo, delta pattern." She said, keying up the display. "Tricobalt and Thalaron warheads in optimum spread, the spatial distortions will distract them while the thalaron cleanses the lifesigns. Get a flight of condors and raptor talons to recover that transport wreckage, and notify me as soon as we're ready for jump!" Amelia ordered, and on cue, without even a moment's respite, the comms officer called out.

"Incoming transmission!"

Scoffing, Amelia replied. "Put it on the speakers."

"IAN Ice Queen, you have entered Helix Corporation controlled space and discharged weapons. Please state your purpose."

Growling to herself, she picked up the receiver and took a breath, so these aliens could read Aschen IFF. A slightly amusing prospect to the Commander. '

Licking her lips, she spoke. "Helix Corporation... uhh... I'm not at liberty to divulge that sort of information to Xenos, you understand. We're maintaining a strict AO, and any attempts to approach this vessel will be construed as an act of aggression and we would be forced to defend ourselves with every terrible weapon in our arsenal; we'll be out of your hair soon enough."

Clicking the communicator, she turned to her XO. "Maintain action stations, get the Alert fighters in the black, now!"

Helix Orbital Station: Command Center
Director Korou

The response swift and clarion but Yreia Korou found herself imagining that the vessel's respondant was a flippant teenager.

"Helix Corporation... uhh... I'm not at liberty to divulge that sort of information to Xenos, you understand. We're maintaining a strict AO, and any attempts to approach this vessel will be construed as an act of aggression and we would be forced to defend ourselves with every terrible weapon in our arsenal; we'll be out of your hair soon enough."

The communication cut off and the only the background hum of power in conduits reign in it's absence. Director Korou stared at the screen and the vessel's markings. There was a pregnant silence as the woman pondered and brooded over the current situation. It was not as though Helix could allow it to be known that this... IAN vessel... just waltzed in and did as they pleased but it was also not as though the company could afford to declare war from a single misunderstanding, either. These were the decisions laid on Yreia's shoulders.

"Sensors, gather every shred of data you can on the vessel and send it to me and the board." She finally said as she stood in a slow, languid motion. "Systems, charge the remaining capacitor banks and set defensive grid to Stage 2." Then, she clicked the button on her headset once more and said, with what could be construed as either sarcasm or professionalism, "Acknowledged, Ice Queen. Helix understands discretion in the line of duty. That being said, you are trespassing. Who do you represent?" She doubted that would get an answer either but it had been Director Korou's experience that no one acted so brashly unless they felt they were incredibly entitled or powerful. The vessel before them was neither of these, if still impressive, and if she had to guess they were backed by another corporation, a wealthy mercenary company, or a stellar nation.

Risks were not in Yreia's character or job description, but she had to get answers. As she spoke, the station went into full lock-down and field emitters across the docking sections and command section amplified their output slightly: Enough to thwart direct energy or kinetic weapons. The sensors and communication towers remained on low shielding for the moment, however. Behind the shields, hundreds of AMS nodes waited in their silent vigil, ready to take down any incoming threats.

Helix Orbital Station: Command Center
Director Korou

Yreia stood in silence as she received the communique from the Board.
She switched channels.

"Comms, play any response from Ice Queen for me. I'm in a call with the board."

She listened, heavy lidded eyes gazing at information readouts. They had just finished scanning the residue of the merchant vessel and the data was being actively transmitted as well. Two voices she did not recognize spoke up first. A whole lot of needless information was spewed out and Yreia's pinky twitched.

"So, to summarize..." She said lackadaisically "... the energy weapon utilized against the merchant vessel some kind of scientific marvel; the ship utilizing it belongs to an empire and claims to have terrible weapons; ... Terrible meaning terrifying, I am sure ...and this empire attempted to invade Terra, easily the most famous planet in the galaxy?"

She straightened her spine.

"My recommendation is that we leverage their association to the Empire and contact the Empire directly. Maybe our unexpected guests from off-world know more about the location of the Empire. In the mean-time, we can just as easily assume that the vessel was full of criminals escaping justice as we can that it was full of innocent people escaping tyranny. That is not my purview to judge. I leave the rest up to you."

Then she waited. Both for the Aschen vessel and for the board. Her job entailed a lot of waiting but she didn't particularly mind. She gestured to one of the armed guards in the room.

"Be a dear and get someone fetch me a cup of Ginseng Jasmine tea?" The guard blinked several times and nodded, walking away. Yreia smiled for the first time since she was apprised of the situation.

The Aschen Cruiser held it's position despite the prying eyes of the station, and the Helix corporation as a whole. It's direct fire batteries remained at ease, but what was disconcerting about a ship seemingly intended for deep space patrol runs was what was happening.

All along the dorsal bow structure, armored doors slowly slid up, and away to expose roughly a dozen dome shaped devices within cylindrical chambers; these were the Type 20A-2 Thunderbolt strategic missile system, each missile carried up to three hundred Multiple-independent targeting kill vehicles; and their decoys, each of these independant kill vehicles was packed with either a tricobalt warhead, which upon detonation tore the very fabric of space, rending massive holes into subspace, but these were not the most fearsome weapons the lone cruiser were preparing.

The second signature was an odd signature on the tertiary EM band, piggybacked on a device designed to emit a cascading biogenic pulse. A single detonation was capable of sterilizing an entire continent, or even an entire ship. These specific warheads were explicitly designed to maximize casualties wherever they were deployed.

The Aschen could sterilize entire planets of life with the proper deployment of Thalaron weapons.

With the missiles out, and hot, but not launched, the cruiser began garnering targeting solutions, as each AMS node came online, the Aschen cruiser readied any possible counterattack, or even a pre-emptive strike should the situation call for one.

The next moment a squadron of F-13x Raptor Talon star-fighters, and two Condor transports emerged from a bay on the ventral side of the ship. Each raptor talon was elegant, spinning and weaving about in formations towards the wreckage, which was slowly beginning to drift back towards the cruiser, under the influence of the Ice Queen's powerful gravity projectors.

Back inside the CIC, Amelia was silently weighing her options, they had her outgunned, and could technically do with them as they pleased, though, if these xenos tried, they'd take staggering losses. Of this the Commander was certain.

"They're preparing for attack." Colonel Harland commented, as he watched the screens intently. The station was retracting docking bays; diverting power to shield systems.

"Can we signal the fleet?" Montrose asked.

Harland nodded in the affirmative.

"Then do so." Montrose said flatly.

With a nod, the communications officer began keying the datalink, sending a short-burst pattern of coded bitstream signals through subspace, facilitating nearly undetectable; faster than light communications.

It was then the transmission from the station came through.

"Acknowledged, Ice Queen. Helix understands discretion in the line of duty. That being said, you are trespassing. Who do you represent?"

The reply generated an almost stunned silence within the CIC.

In Amelia's experience, people either cowered in fear from the Aschen Empire, or openly challenged them. These people, while presenting slight challenge, were neither fearful nor openly hostile. These people were not aware of the reputation the Aschen upheld, and Montrose thought for the briefest time, to teach them the folly of that.

Clicking the reciever, Amelia spoke her reply.

"I represent the Aschen Navy's Fleet of Imperial Retribution, of the United Aschen Empire." Montrose replied, interrupted by an outburst from her communications officer.

"Standby..." She said, disconnecting the link.

"This is Ice Queen Actual, go ahead." She said, changing screens to display Gina Inviere, her commanding officer.

"We recieved your signal, and we're coordinating your location... I understand we have a first contact scenario, transmit all data you've collected so far. Additional units will be en-route in three millicentons."

Once Inviere terminated the link, Amelia turned her attention back to the readout with Yreia, awaiting further replies.

Jackson listened to the first feed, while he wasn't aware of the scientific implications shared by Hyde Oriander in regards to the vessel, but he gathered what he had needed to hear. The Ice Queen was dangerous if not directly then on a greater scheme of indirect affiliation.

"Thank you doctor for your time and your patience, your advice won't be taken lightly. " He paused a moment, before continuing, "Please send me a report in concern to the Project described, its current capabilities, and the requirements for its furtherance. I'll go over the project in the coming days and consider further funding to get you the conditions you seek.Please bare in mind we cannot all be scientists as much as i admire your hard work.." He had meant it as a compliment, The Corpse Flower project was indeed to be marveled, but there were times when Jackson felt his knowledge on the experiments was inadequate. "Lehman's terms in the report please doctor."

He turned his attention to the feed coming from Doctor Errin, who surprised him by having direct knowledge of these people. The Aschen Empire.

"Doctor Errin, thank you, you have provided information we can use efficiently to gauge our visitors with greater care. If you can think of any more information, i trust you'll contact the board."

Lastly the transmission from the Commander Korou focused his attention. "Leverage, the only request they have made of us is to be left alone. Very well, i shall be in touch shortly Commander."

He looked down at the table before pulling out his chair and sitting, slightly turned to one side. His fingers interlocked as his brow furrowed and a worried expression crossed his face.

"There really is no more time to talk." He turned to the commander in a military uniform. " Ready our flight squad for a pursuit if things fail to move forward on peaceful terms, your orders are to detain and return this captain to Cortex for questioning. Inform Commander Korou she will take the head of the operation."

The rest of the table looked at him expectantly, they had the same information he did, and there was every chance this could end badly.

"Get me the Ice Queen on a communications line."

The technicians took a bit longer this time, pressing buttons to find the correct frequency on which to broadcast.

"Sir, patching you through now"

Jackson took the moment to prepare himself, a small sigh escaped his lips before he was live on the channel.

"Ice Queen, this is Jackson Helix, president of the Helix Corporation speaking. I apologize for hacking into your frequencies but i wanted to talk to you in person. You have left us in a precarious situation, There was no prior communications before the fatal engagement, had there been perhaps the situation would have been different. Therefore i offer you one chance of a peaceful resolution to this situation. I ask that you dock your vessel aboard the orbital station where you have been contacted previously. You will be transferred to the planet surface from there, and treated as a guest for the duration of your time on Cortex. Some of my board believe your actions had malicious intent, i wont jump to conclusions and would like to hear your side of the story, face to face."

Some of the board gasped as Jackson suggested the idea, the armed guards in the room also looked startled as if there jobs had become a thousand times harder, but none of them said anything.

"If you fail to comply, i will be forced to pursue justice by whatever means, having no other evidence or options. I hope my initial thoughts were wrong about you captain, and that we can figure this out diplomatically."

While Amelia was awaiting a reply from the command station, another transmission came in piggybacked on another frequency, considering the unsecured nature of the channel, there wasn't much hacking going on, and even if there was, Aschen ships were notoriously difficult to hack, with newer generations even more so.

The Commander considered this ignorant Jackson's words, but she was making a face at being addressed as a captain, such brought snickers from the various command stations within the CIC.

"My rank is Commander, Mr. Helix." Amelia retorted, while Colonel Harland was going over the tactical options. "We've recovered the wreckage and the ships are returning to bay seven." He reported, while Amelia steepled her fingers. He had given her an ultimatum, and protocol was clear in this matter. The ship's commander was forbidden to put themselves in a position where they could be captured, or their ship could be jeopardized by hostile enemy forces. The way Mr. Helix worded his transmission, conveyed hostile intent, something that was not tolerated Imperial military officials.

"I will not put myself in a position where I, or my ship could be captured. I don't trust your intentions, Mr. Helix." Amelia said coldly, depressing the mute key.

"Tell Astrometrics to get their asses into gear, if they don't come up with a jump solution so help me I'll have them all tossed out the gods damned airlock."

The Comms officer nodded before getting back on the intercom, while Amelia turned to Col. Harland.

"Spool the FTL Drives, we can re-acquire somewhere else, let's just not have it be here. Get internal Planck systems online, all hands prepare for combat!" Amelia called out.

"Initiate the self destruct, one millicenton countdown."

The pair of officers inserted their command codes, bringing up a flickering red display and a numerical countdown. The Communications officer worked swiftly to signal the fleet, appraising them of the turn of events, the weapons officer prepared his master arm codes, arming each of the thunderbolt missiles, and bringing the ship's massive gun batteries to life.

At that moment, the Commander brought the communications back up to Jackson Helix.

"Any attempts to interdict or attack this vessel will be construed as an act of war, the Imperial fleet is aware of what is transpiring here, and reinforcements are en-route. If you truly desire peace, then you will allow us to depart without hindrance. We have ambassadors and diplomats en-route who would be more qualified to speak with you."

The Navigation officer cleared his throat, watching the display intently.

"FTL Drives are spooling, we'll be ready to jump in five centons."

There was a surge of energy within the ship, much like the energy spike that immediately preceded it's arrival, along with the ship's aft thrusters coming to life, slowly it began to pick up speed as the energy surge increased astronomically. Shield systems redirected in real time

Helix Orbital Station: Command Center
Director Korou

The response came tacked with what seemed like a note of indignant pride and Yreia found her eyebrow involuntarily raising. "I represent the Aschen Navy's Fleet of Imperial Retribution, of the United Aschen Empire." It seemed as though Doctor Errin was correct about the emblem and Commander Korou was not about to wait and find out if the rest was true. She did not move a bare inch as she spoke, save for the steady rhythm of her breath.

"Ready SD-Launchers with Amplifier payload. 120 degree spread. Distance 75 megametres. Begin charging V-Field generators and prepare to pulse the emitters" she ordered with the type of authority that one simply embodied rather than projected. Then a communique rang clarion once more, this time from the surface. "Mr. Helix is attempting to negotiate a talk with the commander of the enemy vessel. If the negotiation fails, we are to pursue. It's your operation. I'm in a shuttle inbound to the station now.."

Commander Korou paused and stare at the screen as the smaller craft carried the merchant vessel wreckage back to the larger ship. "Understood, Commander." she said in a tone that sounded distracted. She ended the link, her eyes never leaving the screens in front of her.

"They're getting ready to leave."

She said aloud mere moments before her sensors officer shouted "Energy spike detected in enemy vessel. Spatial distortion growing." Apparently negotiations had failed and she had not responded to Ice Queen. Oh how she hated being in the dark.

"Fire." She barely finished speaking before there was a surge of hundreds of high-power spikes across the station signaling the deployment of Amplifiers. Unseen and unregistered ghosts wrapped in a warp bubble of space moving at magnitudes the speed of light. Clusters of large metallic egg-shaped devices blinked into existence in a hemispherical spread 75,000 kilometers from the station. There was not even enough time to register their existence save for a blib before they detonated. What might have been fire and radiation was instead a colorful streaming cloud of particles and gasses that spread out like fireworks. Between the thousands of munitions, the resulting cloud was enormous and created an odd nebulous partial dome so far away from the station.

A moment's silence fell between the cloud's emergence and the deafening roar across the station as capacitor banks dumped the last of their power into the emitters, pulsing a titanic wave of energy across the distance between station and vessel. The pulse moved at nearly the speed of light and took a fraction of a second to reach the nebulous cloud of gasses and particles that were intended to land upon the Aschen vessel. The entire hemisphere lit up like fire and previously nullified compounds in the gas underwent rapid change, turning the calm sea of space into a raging storm surge intended to inhibit FTL Travel, Communication, and Readings.

Hoping that the tactic had worked, Yreia Korou beamed a transmission at the point of space where the ship should have been.

"IAN Ice Queen, you are hereby detained for the crimes of discharging a weapon in protected space, evading arrest, inciting civil unrest, resisting arrest, disrupting trade, and any other charges that are found by the preponderance of evidence. Stand down, Ice Queen. This doesn't have to be difficult."

Little did Yreia Korou know, more Aschen were on their way. Had she known, her little comfort would have been in the FTL Inhibitor preventing them from jumping inside of 100,000 Km of the planet. Far too distant to make effective military strikes. Of course, that also meant that no one was fleeing from this side of the planet. Not even a warp field would remain stable now.

"The commander's team has docked and are inbound to secure hangar 3." Yreia nodded.

Jackson seemed slightly offended at the accusations, he knew as did his citizens that if he made a promise then he kept to it, whether financially related or personal it didn't matter, but he couldn't blame these people for their lack of knowledge. If anything, it gave him more incentive to expand.

He looked around the table, clearly he was in deep here, the last thing he wanted was a war on his hands, he had to consider more tactile means of negotiation.

"We have a situation here that is turning more temperamental by the second, i suggest we look forward at the bigger picture, if this faction is as big as Dr Errin suggests, they could prove useful. I appreciate the necessity for justice but we need to consider the facts. For all we know the merchant ship was more of a threat to us, and these people have firepower that could cause some issues. The safety of Cortex is paramount." He looked around the table in search of opposition.

The older man down the left hand side of the table looked astounded.

"If your father was still here he'd have sent out a fleet by now. Whats right is-" but Jackson interrupted before the man could finish.

"Where is my father now? hmm? And what kind of justice did his murderer receive? None. I won't let the biased opinions of a few claim the lives of the many."

One of the hard faces of a stoic man from the medical center spoke up.

"Forgive me, if you remember Mr Helix, Aino Iwamoto, she may be of interest to you, while i cant disclose details due to confidentiality, i believe she may be of some use in this matter."

Jackson had remembered her, They had met a handful of times beforehand, on exchanges of intelligence. He knew very little other than her military background and her once affiliation with the Terrans.

"Very well." He turned to a technician sitting up against one of the panels at the side of the room. "Send for Major Iwamoto, ask her politely that her presence is urgent. In the meantime tell all advancing parties to cease any advancments immediately. Lets give them some room, and see where things stand."

"Ice queen, come in. Commander, my apologies for any offence given, and whilst i don't have any agenda's concerning my invitation i can also understand that trust must be earnt. I have called back any attempts to detain you, could you perhaps tell us of your intentions as you engaged the merchant vessel, this might clear up any concerns my board have regarding your presence here. I personally am aware we may not have all the facts." he eyed the man that had mentioned his father daringly as he said the latter in complete spite of his outburst.

Aino was at the sniper range. It wasn't time for to qualify but perfect practice made perfect. Despite the environmental conditions, the sun beating down on her, a bug crawling up her neck, and other distractions, her focus was unshakable. Her breathing kept her heart rate low, she could hear each heart beat and when she was certain her heart couldn't get any slower, she took a breath. She held it in for a moment and released it. She commenced to squeeze the trigger ever so lightly, increasing the amount of pressure slowly...If she just slammed down it would jerk the rifle slightly. Years of practice on live targets and the distant paper silhouettes at ranges made her perfect this art...She fired in between heart beats and surprised herself when the gun fired, the flight of the bullet perfectly calculated as she lowered her heart rate... It was smooth sailing from the end of her barrel to the target some few hundred meters out. Next target...distance, approximately 950 mete_

A siren started blasting and a pre-recording warning started being transmitted across the installation. To Aino the scene changed to an artillery flattened cityscape. The air raid sirens were blasting and for the last 74 hours, she had not moved from her position... Mars was next to her, looking through a pair of binos as she stared through the scope and kept her other eye open to scan the general area her scope wasn't covering. "Ready to go?".

"What?".

"Go!? You ready to go Major?!" She returned to the present, a lieutenant standing over her with a concerned look. "Go...?"Aino replied, slowly raising from her prone position. She took in her surroundings and the sounds to gauge the situation. "I know where to report to in this kind of situation, Lieutenant." She replied sternly, the loaded rifle in her grasp still pointed down range.

"Maim, President Helix asked for you personally. I'm here to escort you to him.".

Aino thought his timing was off, actually more than that. There were better times for him to do this. However, part of her was relieved. He finally was going to get his favor huh?

"Very well, Lieutenant. Lead the way.".

SOMETIME LATER

Aino was standing before the door leading into Mr Helix's office, the President and owner of the multi billion dollar Helix Corporation. She would have liked to change uniforms, the one she was wearing was what she called a field uniform, one she did not care to get dirty, and the nicer ones were back in her quarters but supposedly this was urgent. Before knocking she formally dismissed the Lieutenant and then knocked three times before taking a step back from the door and waiting at the position of parade rest.

"The aliens forces have called for a retreat, they have opted not to pursue our vessel." Colonel Harland reported, while Amelia carefully considered the words spoken over the radio.

"A wise decision, Mr. Helix." She replied, depressing the communicator. "The truth is the vessel which we destroyed, were weapons smugglers caught trying to smuggle weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups in the Empire, had they succeeded, many lives would have been lost; I wanted to ascertain your intent before revealing that much informati-- standby.."

Amelia was suddenly interrupted by the communications officer calling out. "Additional contacts!"

There was another distortion, a brief wink, and then a massive spike of energy, as roughly 250,000 kilometers from the station, a massive sixteen-kilometer long vessel, torus shaped in nature jumped in, it's insignia and IFF Displayed it as the IAN Rosa De Maius, and it was a command ship of some kind.

A few seconds later, a massive thirty kilometer assault carrier jumped in, sending spatial shockwaves out in all directions, the Reverence II 'Valorous Salvation'

A dozen Hastati class cruisers followed suit, similar in build to the Ice Queen, each taking up a staggered defensive line around the Rosa de Maius, while also allowing a defensive position around the Valorous Salvation.

Two Iconoclast Class battleships winked in next, massive three-barreled weapons batteries swiveling into position, each eight kilometer long ship positioned itself between the Ice Queen, and the Command Carrier.

None of these vessels readied weapons or shields, and they held position while a firmer, more seasoned female voice called out over the radio.

"Attention all involved parties, this is Gina Inviere, supreme commander of the Imperial Aschen Navy... Will the designated leader of this world's government come forward and identify, we are prepared to initiate peaceful first contact."

Sabnach has arrived, coming from Cortex.

In a cacophony of obliteration, everything to the down vanishes.

Sabnach has left the area, heading down into Helix Ground Station.

Tadashi has arrived, coming from Cortex.

Tadashi has left the area, heading down into Helix Ground Station.

Suddenly, a swirling vortex appears to the up. You can see something appear in that direction.