Beyond the Horizon
- Thread starter MarkWarrior
- Start date
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
TIMMY does. It’s why he’s pushing for more military bills and build up.
Systems Alliance (Canon) Omake
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Systems Alliance (Canon) Omake
“What the hell are you watching?!” Anita asked her assistant as the girl hurriedly tried to close the app she had opened on her multitool and instead projected a holographic image of what she had been watching, the moans and groans of the trio shown filling the air. “Why are you watching porn while on the clock Ms. Francis?” Then Anita notice exactly who was starring in the video. “Is that billionaire Henry Lawson?”
“Yes ma’am,” the assistant said as she finally managed to close her omnitool. “He’s kinda the biggest name in the industry right now.”
“I don’t want to know how or why you know that,” Anita growled. “You’re temporarily suspended until I’ve decided whether this is grounds for termination or not.”
“Yes ma’am,” the young woman said with an extremely vivid blush still on her cheeks.
“Just go,” Anita sighed. “I’ve got a call to make.”
Ms. Francis rushed out of the room and closed the door solidly behind her.
“Jack!” Anita said as soon as the connection settled. “Are you aware that one of your chief financial backers is currently the source of some adult and explicit content?”
“I know,” Jack said in a longsuffering tone of voice. “I’ve known for a couple of years now. You see, what had happened was…”
–
–
“So, you want me to start investing in porn?” Henry asked as he swirled his whiskey around in the glass.
“That is not what I said,” Jack facepalmed. “I said that I need you to invest in the entertainment industry as a whole. If we want to be able to compete with the council when we finally get to set foot on the galactic stage then we’ll need to break in with great content.”
“I hear you,” Henry said. “But the overall industry means that I need to not only invest in movies, and shows, but I also need to break into video games and other sources of entertainment. But if I want a return on said investment then I’ll need something bigger,” Henry leaned in. “And the biggest slice of the entertainment pie is the Adult Entertainment industry.”
“I’m not getting involved in the scandal that will occur should you head that route,” Jack puffed on his cigar.
–
–
“Henry, when I said to invest in the entertainment industry I meant financially, not physically and emotionally,” Jack tried not to beat his head into his desk.
“Jack, I’ve grown my empire by billions in the last few months though!” Henry cheered over the call. “By purchasing a lot of birth control suppliers and adult toy manufacturers, I’ve managed to not only make money off of participating in the vids themselves, but I’ve also managed to make money off of the ad revenue and the sales from the products! Plus, I get to have sex with some incredibly hot women.”
–
–
“How much has he contributed to your campaigns since then?” Anita asked over the call.
“More than he did before,” Jack sighed. “I’ve managed to put most of it into funding orphanages or other things, but I still can’t look Henry in the eye.”
“Who would have thought he’d take you literally though?” Anita asked. “I certainly wouldn’t have seen that coming.”
“What the hell are you watching?!” Anita asked her assistant as the girl hurriedly tried to close the app she had opened on her multitool and instead projected a holographic image of what she had been watching, the moans and groans of the trio shown filling the air. “Why are you watching porn while on the clock Ms. Francis?” Then Anita notice exactly who was starring in the video. “Is that billionaire Henry Lawson?”
“Yes ma’am,” the assistant said as she finally managed to close her omnitool. “He’s kinda the biggest name in the industry right now.”
“I don’t want to know how or why you know that,” Anita growled. “You’re temporarily suspended until I’ve decided whether this is grounds for termination or not.”
“Yes ma’am,” the young woman said with an extremely vivid blush still on her cheeks.
“Just go,” Anita sighed. “I’ve got a call to make.”
Ms. Francis rushed out of the room and closed the door solidly behind her.
“Jack!” Anita said as soon as the connection settled. “Are you aware that one of your chief financial backers is currently the source of some adult and explicit content?”
“I know,” Jack said in a longsuffering tone of voice. “I’ve known for a couple of years now. You see, what had happened was…”
–
–
“So, you want me to start investing in porn?” Henry asked as he swirled his whiskey around in the glass.
“That is not what I said,” Jack facepalmed. “I said that I need you to invest in the entertainment industry as a whole. If we want to be able to compete with the council when we finally get to set foot on the galactic stage then we’ll need to break in with great content.”
“I hear you,” Henry said. “But the overall industry means that I need to not only invest in movies, and shows, but I also need to break into video games and other sources of entertainment. But if I want a return on said investment then I’ll need something bigger,” Henry leaned in. “And the biggest slice of the entertainment pie is the Adult Entertainment industry.”
“I’m not getting involved in the scandal that will occur should you head that route,” Jack puffed on his cigar.
–
–
“Henry, when I said to invest in the entertainment industry I meant financially, not physically and emotionally,” Jack tried not to beat his head into his desk.
“Jack, I’ve grown my empire by billions in the last few months though!” Henry cheered over the call. “By purchasing a lot of birth control suppliers and adult toy manufacturers, I’ve managed to not only make money off of participating in the vids themselves, but I’ve also managed to make money off of the ad revenue and the sales from the products! Plus, I get to have sex with some incredibly hot women.”
–
–
“How much has he contributed to your campaigns since then?” Anita asked over the call.
“More than he did before,” Jack sighed. “I’ve managed to put most of it into funding orphanages or other things, but I still can’t look Henry in the eye.”
“Who would have thought he’d take you literally though?” Anita asked. “I certainly wouldn’t have seen that coming.”
Decorum. Decor is the sum image of a room's shape, decorations and furnishings.
Well. When I read compete with the Citadel in all aspects and one up them. I did not expect the porno angle. I appreciate the reuse of the good old Culture War plan the West used on the Soviets. But I'm quite certain pornography wasn't considered in the original version.
Well, that sucks.
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Honestly guys, this chapter is kinda crappy. probably just because I had to force this chapter through. It took me 6 hours to even get this out today. Expect quite a few revisions to it and some improvements.
Edit: sorry about the subpar chapter. Some days are a slog and what I think looks good in my head doesn’t always line up with reality.
Edit: sorry about the subpar chapter. Some days are a slog and what I think looks good in my head doesn’t always line up with reality.
To be clear, my comment was about the bad luck the Manassas suffered, not your writing.
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Had a bunch of people on SB point out that the chapter wasn’t comparable to my usual work.
It happens.
You've gotten past the roadblock at least. Now you have the great opportunity to move forward and use later ideas to improve this chapter.
Chapter 43 (Rewrite)
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Chapter 43
Imir System, February 2166
“Everything looks good so far Captain Smith,” the engineer monitoring the testing of the new eezo core said as they finished down the shakedown run. “We’re going to have to reinforce the dropship collars should we want to bring escorts with us for long distances. They just weren’t designed to handle this kind of stress, and even with the inertial dampening it’s causing some minor damage that we’ll have to repair.”
“I assume it’s the same sort of damage that the Redemption and Defender II faced?” Captain Smith asked.
“Yes,” the engineer replied. “It’s why they’re both down for repairs and replacements.”
“We’re slotted to be up-armored after they’re finished with the other two,” Smith said as he looked at the data. “The new armor is supposed to be some sort of combination of our current stuff and the kind of armor that the ships of this universe use.”
“It’s an interesting alloy,” the engineer said. “And it’s very good at handling kinetic impacts, but it’s not so great at handling energy weaponry or the kind of damage our nukes cause.”
“Well, we’ll have to see how it handles. I know that it added tens of thousands of tons of armor to the new Glamdring destroyers,” Smith said as the Manassas rounded the far side of the system before using the gas giant's gravity to boost its speed.
“Captain, do you still want us to swing by the Relay to check on the status of the defenses there?“ Ensign Paul Jones asked as he prepared to lay in any course corrections.
“Affirmative, Ensign,” Captain Smith replied. “And have our escorts come in a bit closer, I understand they’re mostly crewed by the rookies from Korlus and Torfan, but that’s no excuse to be lazy.”
“Aye sir, laying in the course for the relay now,” Jones replied as his hands flew across the console.
Omega, Sahrabarik, Omega Nebula
“Grand Admiral, are you sure that this is the route you want to pursue?” General Balak, the current head of the SIU asked bluntly. “I’m much less risk averse than much of our commanders, and I still view this as foolhardy.”
“Any smart enemy will be monitoring the relays to get an estimate of any arrival time,” Grand Admiral Orosk Drac'newar replied. “And given that we’ve already lost one battlegroup I believe that we can ill afford to underestimate this foe.” The Grand Admiral sighed, suddenly showing his extreme age for a Batarian. “Balak, I am over one hundred and twenty years of age, I am old and weary, but I will see this new foe broken and enslaved before I die. But if we are to do this, then it will take unusual strategies and tactics.”
“I understand,” Balak bowed his head slightly in respect. “I’m just concerned that you may face issues with the troops that you have with you. Some of them seem to have questionable loyalty to the Hegemony, and I fear that if you spend too long in the void between systems then they will mutiny.”
“We’re going to be arriving at the primary relay first,” Orosk explained as he laid out the course his fleet would be taking. “Omega’s relay directly links to the Eagle Nebula after all. From there, we’ll spend some time acquiring extra supplies before making our way to the Imir system via FTL.”
“So it is not as risky as I first feared,” Balak said as he looked at the plan. “I’ll send some of the supply ships that we seized when we took over Omega with you, I have a feeling that you might need the extra resources.”
“Thank you,” Orosk responded. “We’ll be leaving by the end of the week.”
Imir System, February 2166
“Everything checks out,” the comms officer reported. “Our listening station at the primary relay says that there hasn’t been anything critical through the relay since our last shipment of eezo was delivered.”
“I’m still concerned,” Captain Smith said as he looked at the console in front of him. “We know that a Batarian fleet came through the primary relay a couple of months ago. But we haven’t seen any sign of them.”
“Captain! I’ve got contacts that just appeared on the other side of the relay. Looks like we just found our missing fleet.”
“Alright, have our Stings detach from their collars, and have our ASF launch when we get closer. We’re going to have to bait them in close given we’ve only got eight escorts and none of them mount the spinal guns yet,” Captain Smith strapped himself into his chair out of habit and then turned to his XO. “Go ahead and head to the secondary bridge, and make sure that everyone is in their Mithril. The last thing we need is to lose the crew to a big breach.”
“Aye sir,” the woman saluted before marching off of the bridge.
“Check your helmet seals people, and Jones, bring us around towards the relay, I want it between us and the enemy for as long as possible, they can’t shoot what they can’t see after all.”
–
–
“Grand Admiral, we detect nine enemy ships near the relay, it seems that our gambit worked,” the captain of the Hegemon’s Fist reported.
“Sir, they’re using the relay as a shield, I’m unable to get a good lock on any of the enemy vessels,” the weapons officer reported.
“What are your orders, sir?”
“You command the greatest ship ever designed by the Hegemony, I expect you to be the captain of this vessel while I coordinate the rest of the fleet,” Orosk replied. “I was unaware that I needed to multitask the workings of every ship in my fleet.”
The captain then turned away and began to issue orders to his bridge crew while the Grand Admiral turned his attention to the FLEETCOM’s tactical console and began to coordinate the movements of the fleet as a whole.
Author’s Note: I hope this is better. It’s more of a setup for the big space battle, but it felt a lot better to write and flowed much better IMHO.
Imir System, February 2166
“Everything looks good so far Captain Smith,” the engineer monitoring the testing of the new eezo core said as they finished down the shakedown run. “We’re going to have to reinforce the dropship collars should we want to bring escorts with us for long distances. They just weren’t designed to handle this kind of stress, and even with the inertial dampening it’s causing some minor damage that we’ll have to repair.”
“I assume it’s the same sort of damage that the Redemption and Defender II faced?” Captain Smith asked.
“Yes,” the engineer replied. “It’s why they’re both down for repairs and replacements.”
“We’re slotted to be up-armored after they’re finished with the other two,” Smith said as he looked at the data. “The new armor is supposed to be some sort of combination of our current stuff and the kind of armor that the ships of this universe use.”
“It’s an interesting alloy,” the engineer said. “And it’s very good at handling kinetic impacts, but it’s not so great at handling energy weaponry or the kind of damage our nukes cause.”
“Well, we’ll have to see how it handles. I know that it added tens of thousands of tons of armor to the new Glamdring destroyers,” Smith said as the Manassas rounded the far side of the system before using the gas giant's gravity to boost its speed.
“Captain, do you still want us to swing by the Relay to check on the status of the defenses there?“ Ensign Paul Jones asked as he prepared to lay in any course corrections.
“Affirmative, Ensign,” Captain Smith replied. “And have our escorts come in a bit closer, I understand they’re mostly crewed by the rookies from Korlus and Torfan, but that’s no excuse to be lazy.”
“Aye sir, laying in the course for the relay now,” Jones replied as his hands flew across the console.
Omega, Sahrabarik, Omega Nebula
“Grand Admiral, are you sure that this is the route you want to pursue?” General Balak, the current head of the SIU asked bluntly. “I’m much less risk averse than much of our commanders, and I still view this as foolhardy.”
“Any smart enemy will be monitoring the relays to get an estimate of any arrival time,” Grand Admiral Orosk Drac'newar replied. “And given that we’ve already lost one battlegroup I believe that we can ill afford to underestimate this foe.” The Grand Admiral sighed, suddenly showing his extreme age for a Batarian. “Balak, I am over one hundred and twenty years of age, I am old and weary, but I will see this new foe broken and enslaved before I die. But if we are to do this, then it will take unusual strategies and tactics.”
“I understand,” Balak bowed his head slightly in respect. “I’m just concerned that you may face issues with the troops that you have with you. Some of them seem to have questionable loyalty to the Hegemony, and I fear that if you spend too long in the void between systems then they will mutiny.”
“We’re going to be arriving at the primary relay first,” Orosk explained as he laid out the course his fleet would be taking. “Omega’s relay directly links to the Eagle Nebula after all. From there, we’ll spend some time acquiring extra supplies before making our way to the Imir system via FTL.”
“So it is not as risky as I first feared,” Balak said as he looked at the plan. “I’ll send some of the supply ships that we seized when we took over Omega with you, I have a feeling that you might need the extra resources.”
“Thank you,” Orosk responded. “We’ll be leaving by the end of the week.”
Imir System, February 2166
“Everything checks out,” the comms officer reported. “Our listening station at the primary relay says that there hasn’t been anything critical through the relay since our last shipment of eezo was delivered.”
“I’m still concerned,” Captain Smith said as he looked at the console in front of him. “We know that a Batarian fleet came through the primary relay a couple of months ago. But we haven’t seen any sign of them.”
“Captain! I’ve got contacts that just appeared on the other side of the relay. Looks like we just found our missing fleet.”
“Alright, have our Stings detach from their collars, and have our ASF launch when we get closer. We’re going to have to bait them in close given we’ve only got eight escorts and none of them mount the spinal guns yet,” Captain Smith strapped himself into his chair out of habit and then turned to his XO. “Go ahead and head to the secondary bridge, and make sure that everyone is in their Mithril. The last thing we need is to lose the crew to a big breach.”
“Aye sir,” the woman saluted before marching off of the bridge.
“Check your helmet seals people, and Jones, bring us around towards the relay, I want it between us and the enemy for as long as possible, they can’t shoot what they can’t see after all.”
–
–
“Grand Admiral, we detect nine enemy ships near the relay, it seems that our gambit worked,” the captain of the Hegemon’s Fist reported.
“Sir, they’re using the relay as a shield, I’m unable to get a good lock on any of the enemy vessels,” the weapons officer reported.
“What are your orders, sir?”
“You command the greatest ship ever designed by the Hegemony, I expect you to be the captain of this vessel while I coordinate the rest of the fleet,” Orosk replied. “I was unaware that I needed to multitask the workings of every ship in my fleet.”
The captain then turned away and began to issue orders to his bridge crew while the Grand Admiral turned his attention to the FLEETCOM’s tactical console and began to coordinate the movements of the fleet as a whole.
Author’s Note: I hope this is better. It’s more of a setup for the big space battle, but it felt a lot better to write and flowed much better IMHO.
Chapter 44
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Chapter 44
“Keep the relay in between us and the enemy fleet for as long as possible,” Captain Smith ordered both his bridge crew and the escorting ships. “We don’t outrange them so we have to fight smarter than them, we wait until they push up, and then we move as fast as we can into one of the groups that will likely be coming around the relay.”
“Aye sir,” Jones responded as he shifted the maneuvering thrusters to continue to hold position behind the relay.
“I estimate five minutes before they circle the relay,” the sensors officer, Lieutenant Erika Johnson reported. “Looks like they’ve split into two groups with differing numbers of ships.”
“Prepare to push the group that’s the most numerous on my mark,” Captain Smith said as he looked at the current data. “Launch our ASFs as well, we’re going to need all of the firepower we can get.”
The small group of nine ships plus the twenty-four aerospace fighters began to push their thrusters to the max, using the small amount of gravity that the relay put out to boost their speed as they moved into what the local universe called the “knife-fight” range.
“Coordinate PPC and naval autocannon fire,” Smith ordered. “Knock out their frigate’s barriers and then hammer them with ballistics and missiles while our lasers focus on the cruisers.”
“Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Junior Grade Amanda Grace responded. “Ordering all of our gunnery teams to coordinate fire.”
“Escorts are to target enemy vessels as they see fit,” Smith relayed to the comms officer. “ASF are to stay close and only hammer targets of opportunity.”
–
–
“Grand Admiral, the enemy battlegroup is coming right at us, and they’re speeding up,” The Captain of the dreadnaught reported.
“Then fire at them as they come in!” Orosk roared at the timid captain. “Are you an officer of the Hegemony or not?!” The Grand Admiral punched the captain hard enough that he not only broke his hand but also broke the Batarian’s nose and sent him into sweet nothingness. “Open fire on the enemy battlegroup,” he calmly ordered as he tore a part of the captain’s uniform off to wrap his broken knuckles with. “We need to cause what damage we can while we are at range.”
“Yes Grand Admiral,” the weapons officer responded, and the dreadnaught shuddered as the first of many rounds left the spinal gun.
“No impact,” the officer reported. “Recalculating for enemy velocity and attempting to hit the target again.”
“Good,” Orosk said as a medic finally reached the bridge and began to tend to his hand. “Continue to fire as we cross paths, the closer they are the easier it should be to hit them.”
–
–
“Enemy forces are firing,” Johnson reported. “Current volley of fire mainly missed, but as we get closer it’s more likely that they’ll hit, at least for that small window of opportunity.”
“I’m aware of that Lieutenant,” Smith said calmly. “Start firing with the PPCs as soon as we are within range, I want us to use our forward firing arcs while we can.”
“Aye sir, entering PPC range in about thirty seconds or so,” LTJG Grace reported.
“Impact on our barriers,” Johnson reported. “Minor hit, barriers still near full strength.”
“In range now, Gunnery teams opening fire with forward PPCs.”
The Manassas and her escorts began to close in on the enemy fleet, the Hegemon’s fist occasionally striking her barriers with a round while most of them missed, the enemy frigates and cruisers making up for the dreadnought’s inaccuracy with their shots striking the Manassas and her escorts. One of the Stings escorting the Manassas spun out of control and struck an enemy frigate, the Sting continuing to pour fire into the enemy ship while the momentum drove them both into a Batarian Cruiser, the trio of ships vanishing as the frigate’s reactor went up, the mass effect field generated by the exploding cores sending both battlegroups off course as the new gravity well exerted its force for a brief moment in time before vanishing.
The Manassas continued to carve a swathe through the enemy frigates, her PPCs shutting down their barriers while her missiles and autocannon shredded chunks of armor before cutting into the ships and exposing them to the void while her broadside lasers began to cut into the enemy cruisers, their armor not designed to withstand lasers beyond that of the usual Guardian systems.
While the Manassas and her escorts were trying to deal with the Hegemon’s Fist and the battlegroup that surrounded her, the rest of the Batarian fleet rounded the Relay and came up in a flanking pattern, lashing out with massed but focused fire that began to pick apart the escorts one by one, eventually leaving the Manassas herself the only Commonwealth ship remaining. One final shot from the dreadnaught seemed to shut the ship down for good, but leaving her surrounded in a graveyard of Batarian vessels and the skeletons of her own escorts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Ugh,” Jones muttered to himself as he shook himself back awake, his Mithril’s HUD flashing a warning that let him know that he was operating on the internal oxygen supply. “Captain Smith,” he twisted and turned on his helmet light to see what had happened to the rest of the bridge crew only to find that they were all either unconscious or dead.
Jones unstrapped himself and found that there was still gravity, which meant that there was still power to parts of the ship, which also meant that his job wasn’t over just yet.
“This is Ensign Jones, I need a status report from any gunnery crews left alive,” he said over his Mithril’s comms system.
“This is the Port side gunnery commander, James Porter, I’ve got some wounded, and we don’t have but a couple of areas with atmosphere, but we’ve got guns if you can get our targeting back up.”
“Copy that,” Paul Jones said as he walked over to Grace’s terminal. “Give me a few minutes to reroute the targeting systems over to your direct control.”
“Understood,” Porter replied. “You sure we’re still in the fight though?”
“I have not yet begun to fight,” Paul Jones stated. “But I’ve got a new plan. I’m going to link all of the energy weapons to the main console, I want you to gather up what personnel you can and link up with what Marines are on board. We’ve got some small craft still in the hanger and a gorgeous dreadnaught out there just waiting to be taken from the Batarian bastards.”
“Keep the relay in between us and the enemy fleet for as long as possible,” Captain Smith ordered both his bridge crew and the escorting ships. “We don’t outrange them so we have to fight smarter than them, we wait until they push up, and then we move as fast as we can into one of the groups that will likely be coming around the relay.”
“Aye sir,” Jones responded as he shifted the maneuvering thrusters to continue to hold position behind the relay.
“I estimate five minutes before they circle the relay,” the sensors officer, Lieutenant Erika Johnson reported. “Looks like they’ve split into two groups with differing numbers of ships.”
“Prepare to push the group that’s the most numerous on my mark,” Captain Smith said as he looked at the current data. “Launch our ASFs as well, we’re going to need all of the firepower we can get.”
The small group of nine ships plus the twenty-four aerospace fighters began to push their thrusters to the max, using the small amount of gravity that the relay put out to boost their speed as they moved into what the local universe called the “knife-fight” range.
“Coordinate PPC and naval autocannon fire,” Smith ordered. “Knock out their frigate’s barriers and then hammer them with ballistics and missiles while our lasers focus on the cruisers.”
“Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Junior Grade Amanda Grace responded. “Ordering all of our gunnery teams to coordinate fire.”
“Escorts are to target enemy vessels as they see fit,” Smith relayed to the comms officer. “ASF are to stay close and only hammer targets of opportunity.”
–
–
“Grand Admiral, the enemy battlegroup is coming right at us, and they’re speeding up,” The Captain of the dreadnaught reported.
“Then fire at them as they come in!” Orosk roared at the timid captain. “Are you an officer of the Hegemony or not?!” The Grand Admiral punched the captain hard enough that he not only broke his hand but also broke the Batarian’s nose and sent him into sweet nothingness. “Open fire on the enemy battlegroup,” he calmly ordered as he tore a part of the captain’s uniform off to wrap his broken knuckles with. “We need to cause what damage we can while we are at range.”
“Yes Grand Admiral,” the weapons officer responded, and the dreadnaught shuddered as the first of many rounds left the spinal gun.
“No impact,” the officer reported. “Recalculating for enemy velocity and attempting to hit the target again.”
“Good,” Orosk said as a medic finally reached the bridge and began to tend to his hand. “Continue to fire as we cross paths, the closer they are the easier it should be to hit them.”
–
–
“Enemy forces are firing,” Johnson reported. “Current volley of fire mainly missed, but as we get closer it’s more likely that they’ll hit, at least for that small window of opportunity.”
“I’m aware of that Lieutenant,” Smith said calmly. “Start firing with the PPCs as soon as we are within range, I want us to use our forward firing arcs while we can.”
“Aye sir, entering PPC range in about thirty seconds or so,” LTJG Grace reported.
“Impact on our barriers,” Johnson reported. “Minor hit, barriers still near full strength.”
“In range now, Gunnery teams opening fire with forward PPCs.”
The Manassas and her escorts began to close in on the enemy fleet, the Hegemon’s fist occasionally striking her barriers with a round while most of them missed, the enemy frigates and cruisers making up for the dreadnought’s inaccuracy with their shots striking the Manassas and her escorts. One of the Stings escorting the Manassas spun out of control and struck an enemy frigate, the Sting continuing to pour fire into the enemy ship while the momentum drove them both into a Batarian Cruiser, the trio of ships vanishing as the frigate’s reactor went up, the mass effect field generated by the exploding cores sending both battlegroups off course as the new gravity well exerted its force for a brief moment in time before vanishing.
The Manassas continued to carve a swathe through the enemy frigates, her PPCs shutting down their barriers while her missiles and autocannon shredded chunks of armor before cutting into the ships and exposing them to the void while her broadside lasers began to cut into the enemy cruisers, their armor not designed to withstand lasers beyond that of the usual Guardian systems.
While the Manassas and her escorts were trying to deal with the Hegemon’s Fist and the battlegroup that surrounded her, the rest of the Batarian fleet rounded the Relay and came up in a flanking pattern, lashing out with massed but focused fire that began to pick apart the escorts one by one, eventually leaving the Manassas herself the only Commonwealth ship remaining. One final shot from the dreadnaught seemed to shut the ship down for good, but leaving her surrounded in a graveyard of Batarian vessels and the skeletons of her own escorts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Ugh,” Jones muttered to himself as he shook himself back awake, his Mithril’s HUD flashing a warning that let him know that he was operating on the internal oxygen supply. “Captain Smith,” he twisted and turned on his helmet light to see what had happened to the rest of the bridge crew only to find that they were all either unconscious or dead.
Jones unstrapped himself and found that there was still gravity, which meant that there was still power to parts of the ship, which also meant that his job wasn’t over just yet.
“This is Ensign Jones, I need a status report from any gunnery crews left alive,” he said over his Mithril’s comms system.
“This is the Port side gunnery commander, James Porter, I’ve got some wounded, and we don’t have but a couple of areas with atmosphere, but we’ve got guns if you can get our targeting back up.”
“Copy that,” Paul Jones said as he walked over to Grace’s terminal. “Give me a few minutes to reroute the targeting systems over to your direct control.”
“Understood,” Porter replied. “You sure we’re still in the fight though?”
“I have not yet begun to fight,” Paul Jones stated. “But I’ve got a new plan. I’m going to link all of the energy weapons to the main console, I want you to gather up what personnel you can and link up with what Marines are on board. We’ve got some small craft still in the hanger and a gorgeous dreadnaught out there just waiting to be taken from the Batarian bastards.”
Chapter 45
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Chapter 45
“Colonel Paige,” Porter reported to the Marine CO. “The Bridge crew is dead or unconscious, and we’re abandoning ship. Ensign Jones is the only command staff member able to give orders still he’s rerouting the weapons to his station.”
“I take it we’re going to be moving to the enemy dreadnaught?” Paige asked as she slapped the bolt on her rifle forward, chambering a round into the massive rifle.
“Aye ma’am, He figured he’d keep their attention on the Manassas while we boarded and took over the enemy vessel.”
“Go see if any other gunnery crews are alive,” Paige ordered the NCO. “We’re going to need the extra personnel.”
“I’ll have some of my people get to it,” Porter responded as he began to distribute rifles and carbines to his current group of sailors. “I hope we’ve got enough weapons for all of them.”
“I wouldn’t be too concerned about that,” Paige said as her group of thirty marines stood up, their Medium Battle Armor making them stand head and shoulders over the group of power-armored sailors. “Just stand behind us if things get hairy.”
“We only have enough small craft for about half of us, ma’am,” Mathias reported. “Some of us are going to have to leave via the escape pods or stay here.”
“Alright, listen up!” Paige yelled out in the small craft bay, getting the attention of all of the sailors and marines. “We only have space for half of us to go and board the enemy dreadnaught. If you board the enemy ship it’s certain that some of you will die. Either on our way to the ship or in the process of boarding it. If you stay here, your chances of survival go up, if you come with us, you’re more likely to die. Anyone who’s willing to step into the void step forward.”
The entire group of sailors stepped forward. Not a single one of them was willing to stay behind and wait for their end.
“Then we squeeze as many of us into the small craft as possible,” Paige shrugged. “And the rest of you get to the escape pods. If you wanna head into hell with us, then you’re going to be riding in hard.”
–
–
“Colonel Paige, you ready to depart?” Jones asked through what was left of the internal comms systems. “Because I’m ready to start the distraction.”
“Give me five minutes, and then start firing,” Paige ordered the junior officer. “How many weapons systems were you able to tie in?”
“I’ve got two of the lasers up and running, the light PPC, and one NAC/35,” Jones replied. “It’ll have to be enough.”
“Copy that Jones,” Paige said. “Make sure to take as many of the bastards with you as possible.”
“Godspeed Colonel,” Jones replied as he shoved the captain into the lone escape pod and launched the still-unconscious bridge crew into the void. “I’ll try to keep them busy for as long as I can.”
--------------------------------------------------
“This is a disaster,” Grand Admiral Orosk muttered to himself as he looked at the wreckage of nearly two-thirds of his fleet. “Begin scanning our vessels and mobilize S&R teams, we’re not going to leave any of our people to die in the void.”
“Sir! We have an energy spike from the enemy cruiser, it’s still active!” the sensors officer reported as one of their frigates that had moved closer to the port side of the enemy cruiser seemed to fall apart to enemy fire before one of their remaining cruisers also began to drift due to taking more damage.
“Open fire on that cruiser,” Orosk ordered. “It’s clear that we’re going to have to make sure that they’re dead.”
The Dreadnaught fired its spinal gun, and the ship shuddered for a brief second as the round left the end of the gun. The impact on the enemy cruiser seemed to finally cut all power off to the vessel.
“Have at least two frigates monitoring every enemy ship that is drifting,” The Grand Admiral ordered. “We won’t be taken by surprise like that again.”
–
–
While the remnants of the Batarian Fleet maneuvered around and began to scan for their own survivors, a group of small craft and escape pods used the debris field generated by the conflict to drift close to the Dreadnaught, making sure to keep some of the larger pieces of debris in front of them to conceal any movement from the sensors.
“Colonel Paige, we’re about a klick from the enemy dreadnaught,” the pilot of her small craft reported. “If we wait too long to engage our thrusters then we might miss our window.”
“Just wait for it,” Paige ordered as she looked at the data from where she leaned over the shoulder of the pilot. “There’ll be an opening, we just have to wait for a minute before we take it.”
“There,” Paige called out as they saw some sort of small hanger where shuttles were being launched. “Odds are that’s where they launch Search and Rescue operations from.”
“Sending data to the rest of the pods and small craft,” the pilot replied. “Moving now,”
“Punch it,” Paige said. “We don’t want to miss.”
“This is going to be close!” The pilot yelled as he triggered his lasers and autocannon, shredding one of the shuttles that were in the way and flying through the debris left behind. “We’re in,” the pilot said. “I’m opening the doors now, but I’d be prepared to deal with some company.”
The marines and sailors aboard the M-1 immediately jumped out of the small craft and began to open fire on the Batarians that were working in the Dreadnaught’s shuttle bay, clearing the area and making sure that the doors remained open for the remainder of the Manassas’ crew to make it aboard.
One more M-1 made it into the shuttle bay, and then two escape pods before the doors shut themselves after being overridden by someone else that was on the enemy ship.
“This should be enough,” Paige nodded to herself as he did the grim calculus of war. “Odds are that anyone who didn’t make it in time won’t be making it at all.”
“Mathias, grab one of these Batarian’s Omnitools,” Paige ordered the NCO. “We’re going to need some credentials if we want to make our way around our fine new ship.”
“Aye Ma’am,” Mathias replied as he yanked the bracelet off of the Batarian with the most ornate armor.
“Stack up on the door,” Paige ordered the rest of her Marines and some of the sailors. “They know we’re here by now, and they’ll be waiting for us.”
---------------------------------------------
“Grand Admiral, we’ve got boarders, they’ve breached one of our shuttle bays and are working their way through the corridors.”
“Do not open fire on the Hegemon’s Fist unless it is clear that we’ve been captured,” Grand Admiral Orosk ordered the remnants of his fleet. “I’ll deal with this myself,” he turned to one of his aides. “Find me some armor and a weapon. I’ll be damned if I let someone take my ship from me without killing me first.”
“Colonel Paige,” Porter reported to the Marine CO. “The Bridge crew is dead or unconscious, and we’re abandoning ship. Ensign Jones is the only command staff member able to give orders still he’s rerouting the weapons to his station.”
“I take it we’re going to be moving to the enemy dreadnaught?” Paige asked as she slapped the bolt on her rifle forward, chambering a round into the massive rifle.
“Aye ma’am, He figured he’d keep their attention on the Manassas while we boarded and took over the enemy vessel.”
“Go see if any other gunnery crews are alive,” Paige ordered the NCO. “We’re going to need the extra personnel.”
“I’ll have some of my people get to it,” Porter responded as he began to distribute rifles and carbines to his current group of sailors. “I hope we’ve got enough weapons for all of them.”
“I wouldn’t be too concerned about that,” Paige said as her group of thirty marines stood up, their Medium Battle Armor making them stand head and shoulders over the group of power-armored sailors. “Just stand behind us if things get hairy.”
“We only have enough small craft for about half of us, ma’am,” Mathias reported. “Some of us are going to have to leave via the escape pods or stay here.”
“Alright, listen up!” Paige yelled out in the small craft bay, getting the attention of all of the sailors and marines. “We only have space for half of us to go and board the enemy dreadnaught. If you board the enemy ship it’s certain that some of you will die. Either on our way to the ship or in the process of boarding it. If you stay here, your chances of survival go up, if you come with us, you’re more likely to die. Anyone who’s willing to step into the void step forward.”
The entire group of sailors stepped forward. Not a single one of them was willing to stay behind and wait for their end.
“Then we squeeze as many of us into the small craft as possible,” Paige shrugged. “And the rest of you get to the escape pods. If you wanna head into hell with us, then you’re going to be riding in hard.”
–
–
“Colonel Paige, you ready to depart?” Jones asked through what was left of the internal comms systems. “Because I’m ready to start the distraction.”
“Give me five minutes, and then start firing,” Paige ordered the junior officer. “How many weapons systems were you able to tie in?”
“I’ve got two of the lasers up and running, the light PPC, and one NAC/35,” Jones replied. “It’ll have to be enough.”
“Copy that Jones,” Paige said. “Make sure to take as many of the bastards with you as possible.”
“Godspeed Colonel,” Jones replied as he shoved the captain into the lone escape pod and launched the still-unconscious bridge crew into the void. “I’ll try to keep them busy for as long as I can.”
--------------------------------------------------
“This is a disaster,” Grand Admiral Orosk muttered to himself as he looked at the wreckage of nearly two-thirds of his fleet. “Begin scanning our vessels and mobilize S&R teams, we’re not going to leave any of our people to die in the void.”
“Sir! We have an energy spike from the enemy cruiser, it’s still active!” the sensors officer reported as one of their frigates that had moved closer to the port side of the enemy cruiser seemed to fall apart to enemy fire before one of their remaining cruisers also began to drift due to taking more damage.
“Open fire on that cruiser,” Orosk ordered. “It’s clear that we’re going to have to make sure that they’re dead.”
The Dreadnaught fired its spinal gun, and the ship shuddered for a brief second as the round left the end of the gun. The impact on the enemy cruiser seemed to finally cut all power off to the vessel.
“Have at least two frigates monitoring every enemy ship that is drifting,” The Grand Admiral ordered. “We won’t be taken by surprise like that again.”
–
–
While the remnants of the Batarian Fleet maneuvered around and began to scan for their own survivors, a group of small craft and escape pods used the debris field generated by the conflict to drift close to the Dreadnaught, making sure to keep some of the larger pieces of debris in front of them to conceal any movement from the sensors.
“Colonel Paige, we’re about a klick from the enemy dreadnaught,” the pilot of her small craft reported. “If we wait too long to engage our thrusters then we might miss our window.”
“Just wait for it,” Paige ordered as she looked at the data from where she leaned over the shoulder of the pilot. “There’ll be an opening, we just have to wait for a minute before we take it.”
“There,” Paige called out as they saw some sort of small hanger where shuttles were being launched. “Odds are that’s where they launch Search and Rescue operations from.”
“Sending data to the rest of the pods and small craft,” the pilot replied. “Moving now,”
“Punch it,” Paige said. “We don’t want to miss.”
“This is going to be close!” The pilot yelled as he triggered his lasers and autocannon, shredding one of the shuttles that were in the way and flying through the debris left behind. “We’re in,” the pilot said. “I’m opening the doors now, but I’d be prepared to deal with some company.”
The marines and sailors aboard the M-1 immediately jumped out of the small craft and began to open fire on the Batarians that were working in the Dreadnaught’s shuttle bay, clearing the area and making sure that the doors remained open for the remainder of the Manassas’ crew to make it aboard.
One more M-1 made it into the shuttle bay, and then two escape pods before the doors shut themselves after being overridden by someone else that was on the enemy ship.
“This should be enough,” Paige nodded to herself as he did the grim calculus of war. “Odds are that anyone who didn’t make it in time won’t be making it at all.”
“Mathias, grab one of these Batarian’s Omnitools,” Paige ordered the NCO. “We’re going to need some credentials if we want to make our way around our fine new ship.”
“Aye Ma’am,” Mathias replied as he yanked the bracelet off of the Batarian with the most ornate armor.
“Stack up on the door,” Paige ordered the rest of her Marines and some of the sailors. “They know we’re here by now, and they’ll be waiting for us.”
---------------------------------------------
“Grand Admiral, we’ve got boarders, they’ve breached one of our shuttle bays and are working their way through the corridors.”
“Do not open fire on the Hegemon’s Fist unless it is clear that we’ve been captured,” Grand Admiral Orosk ordered the remnants of his fleet. “I’ll deal with this myself,” he turned to one of his aides. “Find me some armor and a weapon. I’ll be damned if I let someone take my ship from me without killing me first.”
M1-Transport Small Craft
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
M1-Transport Small Craft
Type: Military Aerodyne
Technology Base: Mixed (Standard)
Introduced: 3050
Battle Value: 2,132
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-E-D
Cost: 20,739,500 C-bills
Fuel: 4 tons (320)
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Heat Sinks: 24 (48)
Structural Integrity: 6
Armor
Nose: 100
Sides: 84/84
Aft: 68
Cargo
Bay 1:
BattleArmor (Clan) (7)
2 Doors
Escape Pods: 0 Life Boats: 0 Crew: 3 enlisted/non-rated, 1 gunner, 42 bay personnel
Ammunition: 30 rounds of Ultra AC/10 ammunition (3 tons)
Notes: Mounts 13 tons of ferro-aluminum armor.
Weapons and Ammo
Location Tonnage Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV
ER Large Laser
R Wing 4 12 10 10 10 10
ER Large Laser
L Wing 4 12 10 10 10 10
Ultra AC/10
Nose 10 3 15 15 0 0
ER Large Laser
Nose 4 12 10 10 10 10
ER Large Laser
Aft 4 12 10 10 1
Type: Military Aerodyne
Technology Base: Mixed (Standard)
Introduced: 3050
Battle Value: 2,132
Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-E-D
Cost: 20,739,500 C-bills
Fuel: 4 tons (320)
Safe Thrust: 4
Maximum Thrust: 6
Heat Sinks: 24 (48)
Structural Integrity: 6
Armor
Nose: 100
Sides: 84/84
Aft: 68
Cargo
Bay 1:
BattleArmor (Clan) (7)
2 Doors
Escape Pods: 0 Life Boats: 0 Crew: 3 enlisted/non-rated, 1 gunner, 42 bay personnel
Ammunition: 30 rounds of Ultra AC/10 ammunition (3 tons)
Notes: Mounts 13 tons of ferro-aluminum armor.
Weapons and Ammo
Location Tonnage Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV
ER Large Laser
R Wing 4 12 10 10 10 10
ER Large Laser
L Wing 4 12 10 10 10 10
Ultra AC/10
Nose 10 3 15 15 0 0
ER Large Laser
Nose 4 12 10 10 10 10
ER Large Laser
Aft 4 12 10 10 1
Chapter 46
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Chapter 46
“Ready?” Paige asked her marines as they stacked up on the door.
“Yes ma’am,” they replied as Corporal Mathias used the stolen enemy Omnitool to bypass the door’s locks.
“Let’s move,” Paige ordered and Mathias triggered the door controls, the Marines rushing through and clearing their sectors of any enemy combatants before pausing to allow the rest of the marines and sailors to catch up.
“Engine room is towards the aft,” Mathias reported as he looked through the Batarian’s Omnitool. “Expect heavy resistance towards both it and the bridge as we move forward.”
“And where is the bridge located?” Paige asked her marine.
“In the center of the ship,” Mathias reported. “Seems they wanted it away from any potential enemy fire. The secondary C&C is located opposite the engine room, and will likely be fairly easy to seize”
“Fireteam Alpha,” Paige indicated a group of six marines. “You’re heading to the engine room, take some of the sailors with you, you might need their expertise.” She then looked at the remainder of the group as the designated marines and sailors began to move toward the engine room. “Bravo, you’re with me, we’re moving to the bridge. Charlie, I’m afraid that I’m splitting you up, I want half of you to head to the secondary command and control center, while the rest of you sailors and marines hold down the shuttle bay. In the event that everything goes sideways, we’ll need a speedy getaway”
The groups began to split up, and the marines and sailors that were to hold the shuttle bay began to pull some of the wreckage left from the destroyed shuttles into the main corridor to use as barricades.
–
–
The Batarians, meanwhile, were not idle. While the remaining crew members of the Manassas were spread throughout the Hegemon’s Fist, the Batarians were arming themselves, with Grand Admiral Orosk having authorized heavy weapons based on the small amounts of intel that they had received on these Commonwealth savages.
“Commander Daccachar,” Grand Admiral Orosk greeted the SIU commander that was in command of the special forces aboard his dreadnaught. “I suppose you have a plan to deal with the boarders?”
“Yes, Grand Admiral,” Daccachar replied. “We’ve moved some of the spares that we had available for the shuttle's main guns to the corridors outside of the bridge. We’ll be able to operate them as long as the power sources we rigged up are working. We also have distributed some of our heavier weapons throughout the teams that I have on board. If the enemy comes, we’ll be able to deal with them.”
“I’ll leave it in your capable hands then, Commander,” Orosk said as he turned to see the sniveling coward of a captain finally waking up. “Now, as for what is to be done with you,” Orosk said as he hefted the younger Batarian up and threw him up against a bulkhead. “I ought to have you killed for your cowardice, but I believe that I have another use for you. Daccachar,” Orosk called out the name of the SIU commander. “Send him out first,” Orosk ordered. “I do not want him to come back even when we win.”
“Yes sir,” Daccachar grinned savagely. “I’m certain that something can be arranged.”
–
–
“Moving up,” Mathias said to Colonel Paige and the rest of Fireteam Bravo as he peered around the corning and down the corridor. “I can see some sort of barricade set up near the bridge, we can try to divert, but there are only two entrances, and the odds are that they’re both heavily defended.”
“We push up,” Paige said as she did a rough count of her grenades. “I’m not sure what they have to use against us, but we don’t have time to waste. They’ll be sending in reinforcements from the other ships if we take too long.”
“Copy that,” Mathias said as he rounded the corner, a shot from some sort of massive gun carving through his barriers, and caving his chest plate in.
“Mathias is down, I’m using grenades and suppressive fire.” the leader of Fireteam Bravo said as he tossed a concussion grenade towards the bridge followed up by a frag.
“Mathias is dead,” the Corpsman reported as he dragged the body of the marine out of the corridor. “Round didn't just penetrate his Mithril, it also ricocheted around in there.”
“Someone grab the omnitool,” Paige ordered as she grit her teeth at the death of another one of her marines. “And get me a visual of exactly what we’re looking at down there.”
“Looks like one of the guns from a shuttle,” the fireteam lead reported. “There are two of ‘em down there and one of them was taken out by my grenades.”
“I’m using the laser,” Paige said as she linked her HUD to the small laser that was built into the shoulder of her suit.
“Copy that,” the fireteam ducked out of the way as the Colonel rounded the corner and melted the enemy guns and the ones firing the shuttle guns.
“Big guns are down,” Paige said as she ducked back into cover. “We should be able to move to the bridge now.”
“Let’s go,” Sergeant Rick Manning ordered his fireteam as they neared the engine room. “Considering we’ve only faced minimal resistance up til now, I believe that they’ve been holding back their people to defend or scuttle the ship should we get too close to taking the engine room,” Manning looked at the sailors with him. “I’m going to need you to prevent that from happening while we take care of the enemy forces.”
“Understood,” SCPO Porter replied. “We’ll take care of it.”
“Breaching!” Manning’s pointman said as he popped the door seals and tossed a flashbang in.
–
–
“Man, why do we always get the shit jobs,” Private Gonzales from Fireteam Charlie complained as they made their way toward the secondary C&C. “I mean, we’re experienced, we’ve taken ships before.”
“Contact!” the pointman yelled as a net made out of electricity descended on him and blinded him to the grenades and rockets that were about to impact.
“Perez is gone!” Gonzales said as he shouldered his rifle and began to fire in short controlled bursts. “It looks like they’re protecting the secondary C&C better than predicted.
“We’ll take it,” the Fireteam lead said as she triggered her jump jets just enough to give her a boost as she tackled an enemy Batarian to the ground before stomping on its head and crushing it underneath her boot.
“Oorah!” Gonzales said as he moved forward, dodging in and out of cover to hose the enemies with more bullets. “Get some!”
–
–
“Stupid,” Paige muttered as she stepped over a body that was on the bridge. “This thing isn’t going to be able to run this dreadnought for a while.”
“I’ll say,” The Corpsman said with a sigh. “We’re lucky that we only lost half of our guys with the amount of firepower they had concentrated here.”
“I’ve got a live one here,” one of the remaining marines called out. “He’s in some sort of fancy armor or something.”
“You think you have won?” A rasping voice said through the translator. “The Hegemony will soon make this place your tomb. You are deluded if you believe otherwise.”
“HVT?” the Corpsman asked as he looked with scorn at the obvious officer.
“Tag him,” Paige nodded. “And make sure that he stays alive long enough that we can get some useful intel out of him.”
The Corpsman went to treat the Batarian’s injuries, and as he began to go over him, the Batarian’s breathing slowed and then stilled as he expired.
“No dice ma’am,” The Corpsman shook his head. “He’s gone.”
“Let’s move to the secondary,” Paige instructed. “We’ve got control of the critical areas, and it’s not as if they’ll be using this shit show for anything.”
“Aye ma’am,” the marines responded.
“I just hope that we’ve got the rest of the fleet on their way out here to help,” Paige muttered. “Otherwise we’ll have done all of this work for nothing.”
“Ready?” Paige asked her marines as they stacked up on the door.
“Yes ma’am,” they replied as Corporal Mathias used the stolen enemy Omnitool to bypass the door’s locks.
“Let’s move,” Paige ordered and Mathias triggered the door controls, the Marines rushing through and clearing their sectors of any enemy combatants before pausing to allow the rest of the marines and sailors to catch up.
“Engine room is towards the aft,” Mathias reported as he looked through the Batarian’s Omnitool. “Expect heavy resistance towards both it and the bridge as we move forward.”
“And where is the bridge located?” Paige asked her marine.
“In the center of the ship,” Mathias reported. “Seems they wanted it away from any potential enemy fire. The secondary C&C is located opposite the engine room, and will likely be fairly easy to seize”
“Fireteam Alpha,” Paige indicated a group of six marines. “You’re heading to the engine room, take some of the sailors with you, you might need their expertise.” She then looked at the remainder of the group as the designated marines and sailors began to move toward the engine room. “Bravo, you’re with me, we’re moving to the bridge. Charlie, I’m afraid that I’m splitting you up, I want half of you to head to the secondary command and control center, while the rest of you sailors and marines hold down the shuttle bay. In the event that everything goes sideways, we’ll need a speedy getaway”
The groups began to split up, and the marines and sailors that were to hold the shuttle bay began to pull some of the wreckage left from the destroyed shuttles into the main corridor to use as barricades.
–
–
The Batarians, meanwhile, were not idle. While the remaining crew members of the Manassas were spread throughout the Hegemon’s Fist, the Batarians were arming themselves, with Grand Admiral Orosk having authorized heavy weapons based on the small amounts of intel that they had received on these Commonwealth savages.
“Commander Daccachar,” Grand Admiral Orosk greeted the SIU commander that was in command of the special forces aboard his dreadnaught. “I suppose you have a plan to deal with the boarders?”
“Yes, Grand Admiral,” Daccachar replied. “We’ve moved some of the spares that we had available for the shuttle's main guns to the corridors outside of the bridge. We’ll be able to operate them as long as the power sources we rigged up are working. We also have distributed some of our heavier weapons throughout the teams that I have on board. If the enemy comes, we’ll be able to deal with them.”
“I’ll leave it in your capable hands then, Commander,” Orosk said as he turned to see the sniveling coward of a captain finally waking up. “Now, as for what is to be done with you,” Orosk said as he hefted the younger Batarian up and threw him up against a bulkhead. “I ought to have you killed for your cowardice, but I believe that I have another use for you. Daccachar,” Orosk called out the name of the SIU commander. “Send him out first,” Orosk ordered. “I do not want him to come back even when we win.”
“Yes sir,” Daccachar grinned savagely. “I’m certain that something can be arranged.”
–
–
“Moving up,” Mathias said to Colonel Paige and the rest of Fireteam Bravo as he peered around the corning and down the corridor. “I can see some sort of barricade set up near the bridge, we can try to divert, but there are only two entrances, and the odds are that they’re both heavily defended.”
“We push up,” Paige said as she did a rough count of her grenades. “I’m not sure what they have to use against us, but we don’t have time to waste. They’ll be sending in reinforcements from the other ships if we take too long.”
“Copy that,” Mathias said as he rounded the corner, a shot from some sort of massive gun carving through his barriers, and caving his chest plate in.
“Mathias is down, I’m using grenades and suppressive fire.” the leader of Fireteam Bravo said as he tossed a concussion grenade towards the bridge followed up by a frag.
“Mathias is dead,” the Corpsman reported as he dragged the body of the marine out of the corridor. “Round didn't just penetrate his Mithril, it also ricocheted around in there.”
“Someone grab the omnitool,” Paige ordered as she grit her teeth at the death of another one of her marines. “And get me a visual of exactly what we’re looking at down there.”
“Looks like one of the guns from a shuttle,” the fireteam lead reported. “There are two of ‘em down there and one of them was taken out by my grenades.”
“I’m using the laser,” Paige said as she linked her HUD to the small laser that was built into the shoulder of her suit.
“Copy that,” the fireteam ducked out of the way as the Colonel rounded the corner and melted the enemy guns and the ones firing the shuttle guns.
“Big guns are down,” Paige said as she ducked back into cover. “We should be able to move to the bridge now.”
“Let’s go,” Sergeant Rick Manning ordered his fireteam as they neared the engine room. “Considering we’ve only faced minimal resistance up til now, I believe that they’ve been holding back their people to defend or scuttle the ship should we get too close to taking the engine room,” Manning looked at the sailors with him. “I’m going to need you to prevent that from happening while we take care of the enemy forces.”
“Understood,” SCPO Porter replied. “We’ll take care of it.”
“Breaching!” Manning’s pointman said as he popped the door seals and tossed a flashbang in.
–
–
“Man, why do we always get the shit jobs,” Private Gonzales from Fireteam Charlie complained as they made their way toward the secondary C&C. “I mean, we’re experienced, we’ve taken ships before.”
“Contact!” the pointman yelled as a net made out of electricity descended on him and blinded him to the grenades and rockets that were about to impact.
“Perez is gone!” Gonzales said as he shouldered his rifle and began to fire in short controlled bursts. “It looks like they’re protecting the secondary C&C better than predicted.
“We’ll take it,” the Fireteam lead said as she triggered her jump jets just enough to give her a boost as she tackled an enemy Batarian to the ground before stomping on its head and crushing it underneath her boot.
“Oorah!” Gonzales said as he moved forward, dodging in and out of cover to hose the enemies with more bullets. “Get some!”
–
–
“Stupid,” Paige muttered as she stepped over a body that was on the bridge. “This thing isn’t going to be able to run this dreadnought for a while.”
“I’ll say,” The Corpsman said with a sigh. “We’re lucky that we only lost half of our guys with the amount of firepower they had concentrated here.”
“I’ve got a live one here,” one of the remaining marines called out. “He’s in some sort of fancy armor or something.”
“You think you have won?” A rasping voice said through the translator. “The Hegemony will soon make this place your tomb. You are deluded if you believe otherwise.”
“HVT?” the Corpsman asked as he looked with scorn at the obvious officer.
“Tag him,” Paige nodded. “And make sure that he stays alive long enough that we can get some useful intel out of him.”
The Corpsman went to treat the Batarian’s injuries, and as he began to go over him, the Batarian’s breathing slowed and then stilled as he expired.
“No dice ma’am,” The Corpsman shook his head. “He’s gone.”
“Let’s move to the secondary,” Paige instructed. “We’ve got control of the critical areas, and it’s not as if they’ll be using this shit show for anything.”
“Aye ma’am,” the marines responded.
“I just hope that we’ve got the rest of the fleet on their way out here to help,” Paige muttered. “Otherwise we’ll have done all of this work for nothing.”
Lol. Terra Victor!
Chapter 47
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Chapter 47
“Alright people, we are currently sitting ducks unless reinforcements have already made it here,” Paige said as she entered the secondary bridge of the captured Batarian Dreadnaught. “So give me some good news.”
“Looks like we have total control of the engines and every weapon except for the Spinal gun,” one of the sailors said as he looked over the rough translation of the text on the screen. “Spinal gun has to be directly authorized by someone from the main command and control center according to this.”
“Then we may have just captured the biggest and most expensive lifeboat ever,” Paige said with a sarcastic lilt in her voice. “Start boosting us around the Relay st maximum forward speed.”
“We may not have to do that, ma’am,” the sailor manning the sensor station said. “The Redemption and the Defender just jumped from Veil and seem to be moving to assist, they’ve got two Glamdrings and five Stings as escorts.”
“Open comms to the Redemption,” Paige ordered. “Authorization Code Alpha Papa Mike Zero One.”
“Aye ma’am,” the sailor responded. “Transmitting now.”
“They’re asking for vocal confirmation, Colonel,” the crew member of the Manassas stated. “I’m patching you into the channel now.”
“This is Colonel Felicia Paige, acting commanding officer of the captured Batarian Dreadnaught Fuck Around and Find Out. I assume that it’s you commanding the Redemption, Victoria?”
“It is damn good to hear your voice,” Admiral Victoria Jewel’s voice responded. “Hull called us as soon as the Batarians appeared on the long-range sensors. But it appears we’re a touch too late.”
“You’re just in time to help us clear out the rest of these bastards,” Paige replied. “I’ve got a decent portion of the crew with me, but I don’t know how many escape pods managed to get out or how many we ended up leaving on board.”
“We’ve got the local fleet moving to assist in either killing the enemy or with search and rescue operations,” Admiral Jewel replied. “You just try and keep that Dreadnaught clear for the rest of the fight.”
“Wilco,” Paige responded. “We’ve got most of the Batarian crew sealed up in various parts of the ship, we’ll clear them out while we make our getaway.”
“Just do your best to stay alive,” Jewel replied. “We’ll take care of the rest of the fleet from here.”
------------------------------------------------------------------
“Am I clear to go look at the Manassas now?” I asked angrily while glaring at my bodyguard. “Or am I still under house arrest?”
“You were never under house arrest,” Melissa’s voice came from the now open doorway; Natasha standing beside her with arms crossed and a scowl on her face. “We just didn’t want you to end up dead because you were angry”
“I wouldn’t have done anything stupid,” I protested. “I don’t go running off half-cocked when I’m angry.”
“No,” Melissa agreed. “You’re normally fairly even-keeled when angry, but in this case, I think it’s time that I address something I’ve noticed over the last few decades.”
“And what might that be?” I asked as I finally uncrossed my arms and prepared to actually listen instead of being angry.
“You have never really dealt with Sapphire’s death or the loss of your first family,” Melissa said bluntly, knowing that it was the best way to get through to me. “You’ve been burying yourself into work and making everyone else’s life better, and while you always seem to be fine on the outside, I’m fairly certain that you’ve just been bottling up all of the pain that you’ve endured over the entirety of your life.”
“No,” I shook my head a bit. “I’ve dealt with the loss of my first family. It took me a while to get through it, but I had dealt with that before I even met Nat,” I nodded my head at my wife. “But you may be right about Sapphire’s death.”
“I thought we had dealt with this,” Natasha said. “I thought we had settled everything on Luthien.”
“No,” I shook my head with a sad smile on my face. “Luthien helped you more than me. I spent years having some of the spy ships we were reactivating on Luyten comb through systems that were close to Robinson in the hope that we’d find more than a lump of misshapen metal.” I looked at my wife. “I’m sorry I never told you, but you had moved on, and I didn’t want to burden you with my false hopes. Especially when we started raising the twins, because you were happy, and so I pushed everything down and just decided that I would take it to my grave. The Manassas is just a ship, I know that. But she was more than that to me. For over fifty years of my nearly eighty-year life, she has been present.”
“The space battle is over,” Melissa said simply as she looked at me with sad eyes while Natasha moved in and forced me into a hug. “We’ll tow what’s left of the Manassas into orbit near the shipyards, and we’ll let you decide what you want to do with her.”
Melissa then left the room, leaving me to deal with a Natasha that was torn between taking me to the sparring mats or giving me a hug.
“I love you,” Natasha said as she met my eyes and gave me a kiss before twisting and throwing me over her shoulder. “Now, we are going to be dealing with this the way we did before we got married.”
“Fuck me,” I muttered as I stood up.
“That too,” Natasha smirked at me. “But only after I am done showing you the error of your ways. We are partners are we not?” She asked me as she lost her playful attitude. “I truly thought we had worked through this together. Why would you have concealed this from me?”
“I honestly don’t have a good answer for you,” I replied with a half-shrug. “I’m only human, and even though I helped you deal with your grief and anger, it’s oftentimes easier to help other people work through things than to do it yourself,” I looked down at the ground. “That, and it’s always going to be easier to push something down than to actually deal with it. It’s going to take some time to work through this, and it’s worse when it’s been bottled up like this.”
“I have an idea,” Natasha said. “But I want you to listen before forming an opinion.”
“I can do that,” I replied. “But can it wait until after I’ve seen the Manassas?”
“Bargained well and done,” Natasha smirked as she pushed me through the door. “I can tell you my idea while we are on the way.”
“Alright people, we are currently sitting ducks unless reinforcements have already made it here,” Paige said as she entered the secondary bridge of the captured Batarian Dreadnaught. “So give me some good news.”
“Looks like we have total control of the engines and every weapon except for the Spinal gun,” one of the sailors said as he looked over the rough translation of the text on the screen. “Spinal gun has to be directly authorized by someone from the main command and control center according to this.”
“Then we may have just captured the biggest and most expensive lifeboat ever,” Paige said with a sarcastic lilt in her voice. “Start boosting us around the Relay st maximum forward speed.”
“We may not have to do that, ma’am,” the sailor manning the sensor station said. “The Redemption and the Defender just jumped from Veil and seem to be moving to assist, they’ve got two Glamdrings and five Stings as escorts.”
“Open comms to the Redemption,” Paige ordered. “Authorization Code Alpha Papa Mike Zero One.”
“Aye ma’am,” the sailor responded. “Transmitting now.”
“They’re asking for vocal confirmation, Colonel,” the crew member of the Manassas stated. “I’m patching you into the channel now.”
“This is Colonel Felicia Paige, acting commanding officer of the captured Batarian Dreadnaught Fuck Around and Find Out. I assume that it’s you commanding the Redemption, Victoria?”
“It is damn good to hear your voice,” Admiral Victoria Jewel’s voice responded. “Hull called us as soon as the Batarians appeared on the long-range sensors. But it appears we’re a touch too late.”
“You’re just in time to help us clear out the rest of these bastards,” Paige replied. “I’ve got a decent portion of the crew with me, but I don’t know how many escape pods managed to get out or how many we ended up leaving on board.”
“We’ve got the local fleet moving to assist in either killing the enemy or with search and rescue operations,” Admiral Jewel replied. “You just try and keep that Dreadnaught clear for the rest of the fight.”
“Wilco,” Paige responded. “We’ve got most of the Batarian crew sealed up in various parts of the ship, we’ll clear them out while we make our getaway.”
“Just do your best to stay alive,” Jewel replied. “We’ll take care of the rest of the fleet from here.”
------------------------------------------------------------------
“Am I clear to go look at the Manassas now?” I asked angrily while glaring at my bodyguard. “Or am I still under house arrest?”
“You were never under house arrest,” Melissa’s voice came from the now open doorway; Natasha standing beside her with arms crossed and a scowl on her face. “We just didn’t want you to end up dead because you were angry”
“I wouldn’t have done anything stupid,” I protested. “I don’t go running off half-cocked when I’m angry.”
“No,” Melissa agreed. “You’re normally fairly even-keeled when angry, but in this case, I think it’s time that I address something I’ve noticed over the last few decades.”
“And what might that be?” I asked as I finally uncrossed my arms and prepared to actually listen instead of being angry.
“You have never really dealt with Sapphire’s death or the loss of your first family,” Melissa said bluntly, knowing that it was the best way to get through to me. “You’ve been burying yourself into work and making everyone else’s life better, and while you always seem to be fine on the outside, I’m fairly certain that you’ve just been bottling up all of the pain that you’ve endured over the entirety of your life.”
“No,” I shook my head a bit. “I’ve dealt with the loss of my first family. It took me a while to get through it, but I had dealt with that before I even met Nat,” I nodded my head at my wife. “But you may be right about Sapphire’s death.”
“I thought we had dealt with this,” Natasha said. “I thought we had settled everything on Luthien.”
“No,” I shook my head with a sad smile on my face. “Luthien helped you more than me. I spent years having some of the spy ships we were reactivating on Luyten comb through systems that were close to Robinson in the hope that we’d find more than a lump of misshapen metal.” I looked at my wife. “I’m sorry I never told you, but you had moved on, and I didn’t want to burden you with my false hopes. Especially when we started raising the twins, because you were happy, and so I pushed everything down and just decided that I would take it to my grave. The Manassas is just a ship, I know that. But she was more than that to me. For over fifty years of my nearly eighty-year life, she has been present.”
“The space battle is over,” Melissa said simply as she looked at me with sad eyes while Natasha moved in and forced me into a hug. “We’ll tow what’s left of the Manassas into orbit near the shipyards, and we’ll let you decide what you want to do with her.”
Melissa then left the room, leaving me to deal with a Natasha that was torn between taking me to the sparring mats or giving me a hug.
“I love you,” Natasha said as she met my eyes and gave me a kiss before twisting and throwing me over her shoulder. “Now, we are going to be dealing with this the way we did before we got married.”
“Fuck me,” I muttered as I stood up.
“That too,” Natasha smirked at me. “But only after I am done showing you the error of your ways. We are partners are we not?” She asked me as she lost her playful attitude. “I truly thought we had worked through this together. Why would you have concealed this from me?”
“I honestly don’t have a good answer for you,” I replied with a half-shrug. “I’m only human, and even though I helped you deal with your grief and anger, it’s oftentimes easier to help other people work through things than to do it yourself,” I looked down at the ground. “That, and it’s always going to be easier to push something down than to actually deal with it. It’s going to take some time to work through this, and it’s worse when it’s been bottled up like this.”
“I have an idea,” Natasha said. “But I want you to listen before forming an opinion.”
“I can do that,” I replied. “But can it wait until after I’ve seen the Manassas?”
“Bargained well and done,” Natasha smirked as she pushed me through the door. “I can tell you my idea while we are on the way.”
Negotiations (A Canon Omake set in the future)
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Negotiations (A Canon Omake set in the future)
The Citadel, circa 2170
“Ambassador Goyle,” I greeted the woman who sat across from me as I took my helmet off and set it on the desk before shaking her hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”
“It’s still odd to think that there could be other humans out there, but it is a pleasure all the same” the woman replied as she shook my hand firmly in return. “Now, I believe that you had something specific to discuss with the Systems Alliance.”
“Yes,” I replied as I stroked my beard. “We have a number of Jews, Muslims, and Catholics among our number. They would like to be permitted to make seasonal pilgrimages to these locations. I myself am a Protestant, but I agree that they should be able to at least see some of the holy sites. Especially considering that Jerusalem, Mecca, and the Vatican were all glassed in nuclear fire centuries before our departure and arrival here.”
“That is likely to be possible,” Anita replied as she considered everything. “What are you willing to offer in exchange though?”
“We are willing to offer the schematics of some of our directed energy weapons along with a few samples for experimentation,” I replied.
“I think that I can agree to that in general,” Anita replied. “But I’ll have to run anything specific by Parliament first.”
“That’s fine,” I replied. “I just wanted to get this negotiated for the most part and to give you and the Systems Alliance a warning.”
“A warning?” Anita looked alarmed. “What have we done?”
“Nothing yet,” I replied calmly as I settled my hands together in my lap. “But if a single one of my people vanishes or goes missing while on Terra then the Systems Alliance will soon find itself under new management.”
“You don’t have the ships or personnel to pull that off!” Anita’s ambassadorial aid protested.
“You wanna find out?” I asked as I looked into the man’s eyes with my threat evident and then glanced down at his nametag. “I believe that you don’t want to see what we’re capable of in the Terminus Commonwealth mister Udina. Keep that in mind as you go about your business.”
“I believe that we’ve spoken enough,” Anita interrupted. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Hull, I’m certain we can have our people draw up the right sort of papers for this.”
“It was a pleasure,” I replied. “Do try to keep your aids on a tighter leash next time though. Otherwise, they might be seen as a potential issue to be dealt with.”
The Citadel, circa 2170
“Ambassador Goyle,” I greeted the woman who sat across from me as I took my helmet off and set it on the desk before shaking her hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”
“It’s still odd to think that there could be other humans out there, but it is a pleasure all the same” the woman replied as she shook my hand firmly in return. “Now, I believe that you had something specific to discuss with the Systems Alliance.”
“Yes,” I replied as I stroked my beard. “We have a number of Jews, Muslims, and Catholics among our number. They would like to be permitted to make seasonal pilgrimages to these locations. I myself am a Protestant, but I agree that they should be able to at least see some of the holy sites. Especially considering that Jerusalem, Mecca, and the Vatican were all glassed in nuclear fire centuries before our departure and arrival here.”
“That is likely to be possible,” Anita replied as she considered everything. “What are you willing to offer in exchange though?”
“We are willing to offer the schematics of some of our directed energy weapons along with a few samples for experimentation,” I replied.
“I think that I can agree to that in general,” Anita replied. “But I’ll have to run anything specific by Parliament first.”
“That’s fine,” I replied. “I just wanted to get this negotiated for the most part and to give you and the Systems Alliance a warning.”
“A warning?” Anita looked alarmed. “What have we done?”
“Nothing yet,” I replied calmly as I settled my hands together in my lap. “But if a single one of my people vanishes or goes missing while on Terra then the Systems Alliance will soon find itself under new management.”
“You don’t have the ships or personnel to pull that off!” Anita’s ambassadorial aid protested.
“You wanna find out?” I asked as I looked into the man’s eyes with my threat evident and then glanced down at his nametag. “I believe that you don’t want to see what we’re capable of in the Terminus Commonwealth mister Udina. Keep that in mind as you go about your business.”
“I believe that we’ve spoken enough,” Anita interrupted. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Hull, I’m certain we can have our people draw up the right sort of papers for this.”
“It was a pleasure,” I replied. “Do try to keep your aids on a tighter leash next time though. Otherwise, they might be seen as a potential issue to be dealt with.”