(Raven) "Brightburn"

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MayorOmega
Newbie

The "Devil's Scientist"

Posts: 48

(Raven) "Brightburn" May 31, 2019 21:55:18 GMT -8

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Post by MayorOmega on May 31, 2019 21:55:18 GMT -8

Somewhere deep in the swirling, chaotic energized depths of Metaspace sat the Alliance Fleet Starship Raven, the modified Valefore-class starship hung like a darkly bronzed spider in the swirling webs of energy as the Manticorian Sector Alliance special operations ship hung there as the constantly shifting waves of energy that made up the very existence of Metaspace swirled and pulsed around the ship.

On the main bridge of the Raven, her chief of security sat in the command chair, watching the constantly swirling sea of energy move. "Tch, I'm telling you...this has got to be the most boring assignment I'd ever been apart of."

The man who was sitting at the tactical station simply looked over at the person in the command chair and rolled his eyes before going back to what he was doing.

"I mean seriously, we're to just sit here and do nothing while everyone else stays active in this fleet that the president has thrown together?" the woman griped.

Before the man at tactical could do or say anything, there was a ping as a yellow dot suddenly appeared on the terminal screen before him which he tapped and read the data there before pressing a command. "Operations to the captain."

<This is Gibson, go.>

"Sir, they're here."

<On my way.>

The woman in the command chair was about to ask what that was all about when a moment later the doors to the bridge's turbolift opened and the Raven's commanding officer, Captain Kyle Gibson, stepped onto the bridge of his ship, adjusting his uniform jacket as he went, his face was slightly flushed and that brought a couple of chuckles from the person who was taking over the navigation station from the crew member who was manning it. "Something funny, lieutenant?" Captain Gibson growled softly.

"No sir." the female lieutenant stated with a wry grin to her counterpart over at operations who simply rolled his eyes as he quickly inputted a few commands at his station. "Metaspace drive is charged and ready to revert us back to realspace at your command, sir."

"Very well, Lieutenant Cruz, jump." Gibson said as he settled into his command chair.

Lieutenant Alice Cruz nodded as she activated the command, "Jumping now, sir." she replied.

It only took a couple of seconds for the Raven's Metaspace Generator to open up a Metapoint that allowed the capital ship to transverse from the energy void of metaspace to cross back over into normal or "real" space before it glided to a smooth stop in front of the Ifrit-class starship that was waiting there.

"The ship is sending recognition protocols...and confirmed, it's the Czar'ak, sir." said the man at Operations before there was a beeping at his console. "Sir, Captain Fadel is requesting communication."

Gibson nodded, "Patch her through."

On the main view screen there was a slight flicker of motion as the connection was made and a moment later, Captain Phoebe Fadel of the AFS Czar'ak appeared on the screen. "Captain Gibson, good to see you again." she said respectfully.

Gibson nodded, "You as well, Captain. However I would like to state that you a six point nine minutes early." he returned.

"I know and I have a good reason to. Permission to beam myself and two of my crew over to the Raven?" Fadel asked.

Gibson looked over at the station to his left hand before turning to look back at the viewscreen. "Acceptable. We'll see you in a few moments, Captain." he said before Fadel nodded her approval and terminated the link. "Number One, with me." was all that he said.

"On your six, captain." the red-haired woman at the executive officer's station said.

"Mister Tencorr?" Gibson said as he turned to face the tactical station.

"Aye captain?" the man there asked, sparing only the briefest of moments to look at his commanding officer.

"Keep a steady eye on your boards, I want to know if anything changes within a nano seconds notice." Gibson stated firmly.

"They haven't left since we got the notice about the Czar'ak, sir." Tencorr said with an even firmer nod.

"Good." Gibson said before he and his executive officer entered into the lift. "Deck Seven."

"What's going on do you think, Kyle?" asked Number One as she studied her commanding officer.

"I don't know, Faith, and that's bothering me to no end." Kyle said as the turbolift sped across the Raven. "Phoebe has never been this calm or quiet before in the entire time that I've known her."

Faith didn't say anything more as the car slowed down and then the doors swished open as the two walked down the short corridor before reaching the transporter room. "Are our guests ready for transit?" she asked the officer on duty.

"Yes ma'am." the transporter officer on duty stated.

"Good, clear the room. I'll take over." Faith said and the junior officer simply did as he was told as Faith quickly took over and beamed Captain Fadel and her party aboard the Raven.

A moment later three pale gold energy columns appeared on the pads before they materialized into three figures-Captain Fadel, a Fox woman, and a nervous looking man in an ill fitting uniform.

"Captain Fadel, welcome to the Raven." Kyle said as he moved to greet his guests.

Captain Fadel didn't waste any time with, "I wish this visit was under better circumstances, Kyle, but I need you to take custody of this man." she said before indicating the nervous looking man.

"Why's that, captain?" Faith asked simply.

"Because he has evidence of a plot against President Astrovick." was Fadel's only response.

<TBC>

Quill: [to Yondu, floating in the air, hanging on his arrow] You look like Mary Poppins!
Yondu: Was he cool?
Quill: [grinning] Hell yeah he's cool.
Yondu: I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!

Proud doctoral graduate of Miskatonic University.

MayorOmega
Newbie

The "Devil's Scientist"

Posts: 48

(Raven) "Brightburn" Jun 30, 2019 19:35:28 GMT -8

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Post by MayorOmega on Jun 30, 2019 19:35:28 GMT -8

"Brightburn" part 2

//////////////////////////////

“Excuse me...do what now?” asked the Raven’s first officer as she arched a single crimson eyebrow at the other ship’s captain.

Before Captain Fadel could say anything, the nervous looking young man stepped forward quickly with a nervous energy that was almost physical in its presence in the man as he moved in front of Kyle. “It’s not a lie, captain. I’ll undergo anything that you need me to but the threat to the president is real!”

Kyle looked over at Fadel with a curious look on his face before turning to look back to the young man. “I think we’ll need the big room for this kind of talk.” he said before tapping his communicator. “Gibson to Havoc.”

<Havoc. Go?>

“I need you to report to the primary conference room, but pass the word along to Eraqus that I want the room swept for anything before I get there.” Kyle instructed.

<Understood.>

Kyle then motioned for the small group to leave the transmat chamber and a lift ride later, the group found themselves entering the main conference room on deck one of the Raven with a broad view port windows looking out over the sleek bronzed hull of the Raven and the vastness of space beyond. A tall man in the standard uniform of the Alliance navy was there, pushing his thick black hair back a little bit as he slowly got down from atop a chair. “Captains...and company.” he intoned respectfully.

“Eraqus, I wasn’t expecting you to check everywhere.” Kyle said to the man.

“You said you wanted the room swept, so I made sure the room was swept.” Eraqus said with a faint smile on his face.

Kyle couldn’t help but smile at his security officer’s efforts before he motioned for the group to sit down and a moment later the door to the room opened again to allow two more men to enter. One was wearing the standard naval uniform but his uniform color was the standard dark and somber shades of gray and black common with naval intelligence with his short dark hair and sea foam green eyes.

But the other man was a little bit different as he wore the standard colors of engineering but his uniform was a slightly older version of the Class B which was more of a jumpsuit than an actual service uniform and he was a bit more...stocky than what you would usually see in a career naval officer complete with glasses and a more bemused look on his face.

Kyle arched an eyebrow. “Amon...and Druig.” he stated as he was halfway into his chair at the head of the table. “Why is Druig here?”

“He had a feeling that he might be needed.” Amon said as he motioned at the engineer as he did a quick check around the room himself, bringing a couple of panels online and checking them with his scanner before moving onto the next one.

“Well this is your meeting, Phobe.” Kyle stated as he finally sat down in his chair.

“Ensign Talal served as the personal shuttle pilot for Admiral Armstrong of Alliance Command.” Phobe started, indicating the young man next to her. “Vijay, perhaps you can explain this next part since it is your story to tell.”

The young ensign nodded, “Yes, ma’am. Um Admiral Armstrong singled me out to be his personal shuttle pilot due to my understanding of hyper-spatial navigation.” Vijay explained looking a bit nervous. “It’s practically the only thing that I am good at, to tell the truth and the admiral knows this...I’m still an ensign at thirty six.”

Amon arched an eyebrow at that but otherwise stayed quiet.

“I recently flew the admiral to a meeting out on a planet near the triangle and things kinda...went sideways.” Vijay continued as he ran a hand nervously through his hair. “The meeting was held on Wotan…”

Druig stopped what he was doing and looked over at the ensign. “Wotan, that’s the home of Senator Mazool...he’s one of the more outspoken members of the senate.” the engineer said as he walked over to the table. “He’s part of the Centrist party...wants to have the alliance pull out of anything that has to do with the Federation.”

Vijay nodded, “Yes sir..I flew the admiral to the senator’s estate and was told to wait. But I went for a short walk and got kinda lost on the senator’s grounds...but that’s when I heard them talking about a plot involving the president and it’s big..I mean the Centrist party leadership is in on it as is the Lennin Committee.”

Amon’s eyes narrowed at that last part, the so called “Lennin Committee” was a rather loud but somewhat small block of senators from a collection of worlds in the Alliance’s eastern block that followed a more connected belief to the old system of communism from the days of Old Earth...but they really didn’t have any real say in matters of the senate.

“And you have more details about this plan, ensign Talal?” Kyle asked simply.

Vijay nodded, “Yes sir. I’m willing to go through anything including a scan from someone from Beta Colony if it helps any.” he offered up.

Before anyone could ask for any more details, there was a chirp from a station on the table and Faith tapped it. “This is the XO, go ahead.”

<Commander, fleet command just issued a standing arrest order for an Ensign Vijay Talal. Apparently he attempted to harm Admiral Armstrong.> came the voice of Lieutenant Commander Tencorr from the Rave’s bridge.

Kyle looked at his XO and then over at Phobe and Vijay. “Have you responded or anything, Mister Tencorr?”

<Negative sir, but we might want to think of something soon. Captain Johns of the Danzig has already been commissioned to find him.>

“That’s a little abrupt..sending a Vindicator series heavy cruiser after one man.” Druig stated from his spot in the room.

Kyle nodded but kept his attention firmly focused on Vijay as he wondered what is it exactly that he had overheard that would the admiral send a ship like that after him indeed.

<TBC>

MayorOmega
Newbie

The "Devil's Scientist"

Posts: 48

(Raven) "Brightburn" Jul 31, 2019 8:06:20 GMT -8

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Post by MayorOmega on Jul 31, 2019 8:06:20 GMT -8

"Brightburn" PART 3

Date: Three and a half weeks earlier

Location: Senator Mazool's estate, planet of Wotan (Manticorian Systems Alliance)

Ensign Vijay Talal looked around the wide estate of Senator Messam Elmdore de Mazool, one of the heads of the Alliance's "Centrist" party which felt that due to the constant situations that the Federation kept finding themselves in that the MSA should be the ones now running the entire show-especially in the aftermath of the fall of Earth.

Vijay looked around and saw that Mazool's estate took up a good part of one of the mountains that surrounded the Wotan's capital city of Aincrad and was mostly composed a pure white stone mined from the local quarries and it was quite beautiful as Senator Mazool was known for his enjoying the extremely finer things in life.

Vijay looked around and saw the Senate Guardsmen and Mazool's own personal security force patrolling the grounds and he knew that the admiral was here for some kind of meeting...why Admiral Armstrong had to come all the way out here to WOTAN was beyond him but orders are orders.

Vijay then blinked a couple of times as he looked around at which point he noticed that he was no longer where he was walking but some place else completely and he looked around for a couple of more minutes, trying to figure out where his mind had been to get him this lost when he heard a voice speak that made him stop abruptly.

"...and I'm telling you, we should act now while the damned fool has most of his loyalists out helping that bloody child!" barked the voice of Dycedarg Korso, a man that Vijay knew was the head of the so called "Lennin Committee" and a staunch opponent of the current Alliance president.

"I understand this, Dycedarg, but we can't simply speed things up just because our president's little fleet is elsewhere." came the cultured and refined tones of Senator Mazool. "We must keep this entire affair appearing as it is completely legal, otherwise that might cause a much bigger problem for us."

"Agreed." came the voice of Vijay's own superior officer in Admiral Armstrong.

Vijay felt the very air in his lung become like lead as he realized what he had accidentally came across-a conspiracy of sorts. Vijay then quickly removed a small PADD that he kept on him for routine operations and quickly inputted a command for it to start recording.

"I agree with Mazool, Senator Korso." A smooth but slightly ruff sounding man's voice then spoke up. "Is your party able to stop not only the combined elements of the fleet that Astrovick sent to help the Trinity forces but the Trinity forces themselves?"

"*BAH*!! You know as well as I do, Yelgrun, that it won't matter once we have the presidency in our hands because Astrovick made sure that the admiralty was stocked with officers who put their own ambitions in third place to their precious president and country." came back Dycedarg's voice.

The very conversation went on like this for another two hours, Vijay's PADD was getting every single important moment of it just in case he needed a secure way out of this situation.

-Renzor to Mazool- came a voice that made Vijay's body shudder.

"Mazool here, what can I do for you?"

-Sir, we can't find Admiral Armstrong's pilot. He apparently went for a short walk and now we can't find him anywhere currently on the grounds and you told us to leave the sensors off for your meeting.-

"Hmm...Very well, I'll look into this. Thank you Renzor." Mazool said before cutting the link.

Vijay's mind quickly started to panic as he stopped the recording and quickly ran a few feet away, quickly saving the file under a different name and heading, finishing up just as his communicator chirped at him.

-Admiral Armstrong to Ensign Talal. Where are you?- the Admiral's annoyed voice came back.

"I'm slightly lost sir, I was admiring the beauty of the senator's construction and I believe that I turned wrong once or thrice. My apologies." Vijay said, sounding much more embarrassed than anything.

-Hm, very well. Stay put, I will have some of the senate guards come to you and then escort you back to the shuttle. Armstrong out.-

=======================================

Date: NOW

Location: Main Conference room, AFS Raven.

Kyle leaned back in his chair, having finished listening to both Vijay's story and the recording itself. It was rather damning to hear some of the highest members of the Alliance senate discussing a coup like this but there was still questions to be had.

What was Admiral Armstrong's part in all of this...and who was this Yelgrun?

<TBC>

MayorOmega
Newbie

The "Devil's Scientist"

Posts: 48

(Raven) "Brightburn" Aug 31, 2019 19:08:29 GMT -8

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Post by MayorOmega on Aug 31, 2019 19:08:29 GMT -8

"Brightburn" part 4

Date: 2 days after part 3
Location: "Tarturus" (TR/052/GS/PW-L - Uninhabited System), unclaimed space

Deep within the Blackstone-class Fortress starbase, Vice Admiral Nash Armstrong sat at his desk and watched the various status reports come across his terminals, technical data on the newest starships being developed by the other factions in the universe to the latest in genetic research flowed past him but his mind really wasn't on what was before him but the simple matter of a situation caused by the disappearance of one man;

Ensign Vijay Talal

Shortly after their return from Wotan, the young ensign had started to act strangely...practically paranoid for some reason before he disappeared all together and the admiral had sent an order through fleet security that Talal was to be found and secured for possible acts of treason against the Alliance.

But apart of Armstrong wondered as to *why* Vijay had been acting so strange.

Had he overheard something that he shouldn't have during Nash's last trip to Wotan, did the young troubled naval pilot overhear some aspect of the conspiracy?

Or was Vijay's problems simply more personal as he was assigned to a specialized starbase located deep in unclaimed space and maybe his mind was slowly slipping into a kind of space madness after being able to breath in the purest air on Wotan?

Had he possibly condemned an innocent soul to a galaxy wide manhunt under the cover of him being a traitor to the MSA on the grounds that he may or may not have heard something that he shouldn't have that could very well just be a case of him needing some major shore leave??

Armstrong picked up his glass and took a sip of the cool water within before he stopped it almost to his lips and he shook his head.

No, the success of the conspiracy called for any and all leaks-real, possible, or otherwise-to be plugged no matter what and if Vijay had overheard something or not-the simple fact that he was a tie to Armstrong's secret trips was reason enough... no matter how badly he felt about doing it.

As Armstrong was taking a sip from his glass, a sedate beeping caught his attention and he tapped a control. "Yes?"

<Communications here sir. You have a priority signal coming through on Gold Channel Two Alpha>

Armstrong's eyes narrowed as he heard that before he let out a small annoyed noise. "Very well, patch it down here."

A moment later Armstrong's main viewer blipped and the face of Senator Messam Elmdore de Mazool appeared on the screen, looking as respectable and calm as ever. "Admiral Armstrong, have you found your missing man yet?" he mused.

Armstrong shook his head, "No and I have fleet security looking as we speak. Which means that I should have him in a matter of hours to a day, sir." the admiral explained before taking another sip of his water before sitting the glass back down.

"I would hope so, I can only keep certain aspects of our dear colleagues at bay for so long." Mazool calmly said, brushing off a piece of imaginary lint from the right cuff of his suit.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Armstrong asked, his eyes narrowing sharply.

"I just got done talking with Dycedarg yet again, he feels that he should be the one to find your missing man as he feels that his party can field a proper response force, despite my assurances that you could handle the matter."

Armstrong's eyes grew a little bit hard but he understood what Mazool meant-Dycedarg wanted nothing more than to unleash his precious Red Army into the universe and show up his main military rival in Armstrong.

The problem being was that Dycedarg and his party favored the dogmatic teachings of an ages dead rabble rouser and criminal from Earth that was' distant past, whose teachings the "Lennin Commity" followed like it was some kind of holy writ and keeping the conspiracy a secret be damned!!

"Tell Dycedarg that I will find Talal and to keep his bloody jackals leashed and out of sight." Armstrong said, fighting to keep his tone civil and respectable. "The last thing we need is the red army being deployed because that would cause Layton and her toy army to start noticing things."

Mazool nodded, "I agreed, I was simply calling to let you know of the situation, my dear admiral. Not to rattle any cages or what not. But...that does raise the question of should we use our person in Layton's camp?"

Again, Armstrong shook his head. "No, if that little bitch and her deluded followers discover that we have an agent among her people, then that would cause her precious Trinity forces to start looking into what we've been doing, sir."

Mazool nodded again, "I understand, I was simply putting the thought out there and nothing more." he explained. "I shall leave you to it then, admiral. Good day."

After Mazool terminated his transmission, Armstrong simply stared at the blank screen for several moments before reaching over and tapping a control.

<Communications>

"I want you to open a private direct line to Captain Johns of the Danzig at once, use gold channel if you have to but get it done!"
////////////////////////////////////////////////

After ending his "chat" with the admiral, Mazool sat and looked at the black screen for several seconds before a smile creased his face as he picked up a shifter glass cut of the purest and clearest crystal and brought it to his lips, drinking deeply of the rich red liquid within before sitting it down again. "Do you believe him?" he asked.

There was a rich sounding deep chuckle from across the room before an equally deep resonant voice said in a mirth filled tone "No...no..."

"I thought as much, how long would it take for your people to find something?" Mazool then asked before taking another drink.

There was the sound of footsteps before the voice spoke again, "From the moment you reached out to my people, I had my best net runners start checking things and that's when one of them discovered this."

There was a clicking sound and the blank screen before Mazool came back to life to show first one and then two ships suddenly appear out of wildspace and faced each other.

"They stayed like that for just under an hour before first one ship jumped away followed by the second one a few minutes later. The first ship, the Czar'ak, resumed its patrol duties while the other ship rejoined its fleet." the deep voice explained.

Mazool looked at the bronzed ship and watched how it lazily flew through space before jumping back into the twisting nethers of metaspace. "How quickly can you be in position?" he asked simply before turning to look at the other man in the room.

The other man reached into a pocket of his waistcoat and withdrew an old fashioned ornate silver watch on a chain, opened it for a moment before closing it and replacing to its pocket. "Six standard hours if we deploy within the next few minutes, sir."

Mazool looked at the other man and then slowly nodded, "I want your best people assigned to this, no mistakes."

The other man let another rich chuckle escape him, "Did we fail the other times, senator? Did we fail you when you asked us to arrange for that ship to find Layton's people or our nudging of the swarm to approach old Earth?" he mused.

Mazool thought for a moment before he allowed himself a private smile, if anything the man before him had never failed in one operation or another...no matter what needed to be done.

"Then you know what must be done." was the only thing that Mazool said.

The man set down a crystal glass of his own onto Mazool's desk before tapping a communicator. "Palantir."

{Yes, sire?}

"Bring me aboard."

An instant later, Mazool was once again alone in his private office.
//////////////////////////////////////

A moment later, the other man found himself on a starship bridge that was full of subdued activity as the man pulled out his pocket watch again, checked it, before replacing it. "Navigation."

A bearded vulcan male looked up from his spot, "Sir?"

"Do we still have a track of the Raven?"

The vulcan nodded, "Aye sir."

"Good. Once we are out of the system, I want us secured from stealth operations and I want us to be on station at the Raven's current location at once." the man said in a firm tone.

"At once sir." the vulcan said as he quickly started to inputted information into his station.

"Keval." the man said next.

A roguish looking Andorian stepped up from the shadows next to the man. "Sir?" he asked in an accented voice.

"Our employer wants a specific target found and brought back in one piece. How quickly can your people do a hard target search of the Raven before they can get their senses together?" the man asked.

The andorian, Keval, rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The Raven is a modified ship of her class with thicker shields and armor...I would need to do some research on her before I could give you a proper answer, sir."

The man nodded, "Then go. I can spare you three hours to find the answers you seek."

Keval bowed his head respectfully before he turned and headed off of the bridge, passing another a human in civilian clothing with a red vest as he went with the human stepping next to the human. "Do we have new orders, King?" he asked.

"Yes, we do....Palantir!" the man with the watched then said.

At one station, a lovely Trill woman turned and looked at the speaker. "Yes sir?" she asked in a utterly professional tone.

"Call together the first estate, we have a matter to discuss." was the only thing that the man with watch said before he turned and strode off of the bridge, the man in the vest close at hand.

/////////////////////////////////

In the vastness of space, away from the prying mechanical eyes-a starship suddenly appeared...almost like it was coming out from underneath the water of some sea at night before a large portal into metaspace appeared before it and then...

it was gone.

<TBC>

Last Edit: Aug 31, 2019 19:09:09 GMT -8 by MayorOmega

MayorOmega
Newbie

The "Devil's Scientist"

Posts: 48

(Raven) "Brightburn" Sept 30, 2019 19:15:12 GMT -8

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Post by MayorOmega on Sept 30, 2019 19:15:12 GMT -8

"Brightburn" part 5

Date: the day after part four
Location: AFS Raven, metaspace en route to the Onyx.

In his ready room aboard the Raven, Captain Kyle Gibson was reviewing some of the information that his counterpart in Captain Phobe Fadel of the Czar'ak had been able to find out before she asked to meet with him a few days back.

There was some movements that were unexplained. A battalion of marines here, a Prime Directive unit there, two older model destroyers were reportedly scrapped but their hull numbers marked them as newly completed ones, and more.

Gibson's eyes narrowed sharply as he reached up and tapped an icon on the screen in front of him and a separate set of files appeared in a descending order from upper right to lower left with various sets of numbers and dates that he started to study.

Before he could dig any deeper into his research, there was a beep at his door and he said "Enter."

A moment later and Druig Doan entered into the ready room, the older officer approached his captain's desk and waited.

"Druig, do you know why I've called for you?" Kyle asked as he turned to look at his officer.

"You're curious if anyone in the circles that I've traveled has heard anything or you need me to ask a favor?" Druig mused.

Kyle nodded slowly and while it wasn't known throughout the entire fleet but Druig Doan was a man with a long and varied career in the universe and as such he had access to certain "groups" that normally a respectable naval officer shouldn't have access too.

But then again, most "respectable naval officers" didn't have "expert sushi chef, visual effects technician, top-class galactic linguist, motorcycle cop on Nova Italia, and played accordion in a Newfoundland folk-punk fusion band" among other such jobs either.

"Do you think that you can reach out to your contacts and see if any of them might have noticed anything odd in the..." Kyle started to ask when suddenly the lights in the room went to a bright red as the red alert klaxon started going off.

*RED ALERT, RED ALERT. SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE SHIP, REPEAT SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE SHIP. CAPTAINS GIBSON AND DOAN TO THE BRIDGE AT ONCE!!* came the voice of Commander Faith Striker, the Raven's XO said through the comm system.

Both men quickly left the ready room and stepped out onto the main bridge. "What is the situation, number one?" Kyle asked as he approached the conn.

"We just got hacked!!" snapped a very frustrated communications officer from her spot on the bridge.

Kyle's eyebrows shot up as he turned to his XO who quietly nodded, "Confirmed sir. Someone or thing hacked our communications system as what appeared as a standard compressed data packet from Admiral Leyton's office." she explained as she gave up the center seat.

Druig right eyebrow arched, "Was the hack contained?"

Faith looked over at the Raven's cyber warfare officer who turned and nodded back. "Yes sir, it seemed to constrain itself to the Raven's communications system and has a set lifespan."

Now this made Kyle's eyes narrow, "Why would someone create a hack like that for?"

Suddenly the main view screen came to life and what was shown there brought a large number of gasps and the reason was enough to make even the most seasoned of spacers blanch;

On the view screen sat an image of what was once an Ifrit-class Cruiser, but it was now a blackened and shattered wreck with one of it's nacelles sheared completely off and the other looking like it had partially imploded from the inside out.

The "spine" of the ship was twisted partially like some kind of massive hand reached out and brutally twisted it like some kind of demented taffy puller and the ship's main saucer was a shattered wreck as frozen fires seemed to bleed from a good portion of the ship.

Then the image abruptly switched to the lettering on the remains of the saucer section.

It read: AFS Czar'ak

After a few seconds, the screen switched again only this time with a simple message on the screen.

DO WE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, CAPTAIN GIBSON?

<TBC>

MayorOmega
Newbie

The "Devil's Scientist"

Posts: 48

(Raven) "Brightburn" Oct 31, 2019 19:18:28 GMT -8

Quote

Post by MayorOmega on Oct 31, 2019 19:18:28 GMT -8

"BrightBurn" part 6a

Date: Same, negative five hours
Location: Unclaimed space

Captain Phobe Fadel was charting in hostile waters as she chewed on a fingernail as normal space floated past on the main viewscreen as the ship was on a standard survey duties in this region of unclaimed space.

But her thoughts were on the situation presented by what she and Kyle had stumbled into in the form of a massive coup that was set to tear down the fledgling galactic power-but also set things back in known space by well over two decades.

Phobe stopped chewing on her nail and clenched that hand into a tight fist before she slammed her fist on a portion of her chair that didn’t have any controls…*I won’t allow this to happen* she thought to herself.
//////////////////////////////////////////////

In the inky blackness of space hidden sat two moons that generated a massive EM shadow that hid a horrible secret that lurked like a massive predator there, a warship composed of black and white materials with it’s engine nacelles cold as it hung there in space.

On the ship’s primary bridge, a man sat in the command chair, fingers steepled before his face as he watched the constantly jumping arcs of orange energy between the two moons far in the distance.

“Sir?” a voice softly commented from the man’s right.

Two steely eyes slid right. “What is it, Decius?”

“The target ship is now within sixty thousand killocams from the moons. She is almost within range.” Decius said from his spot.

“Good… pass the word down but keep the ship powered down until the trap is sprung.” the commander said as his eyes slid back to the view screen...waiting…
///////////////////////////////

On the bridge of the Czar'ak, the ship’s operations manager made an odd noise and that simple noise broke Fadel out of her thoughts, “What is it, Auria?”

Auria, a bald headed woman who wore the standard MSA naval uniform only with a strange half-cape as custom to her people, kept her eyes focused on her boards. “I do not know, captain Fadel. But I am picking up several random ionization patterns in the local space.”

Fadel quickly stood up and started to make the circuit around the horseshoe to where Auria’s station was as she watched the younger woman’s eyes widen in abject terror.

“CAPTAIN, THEY ARE ASSAULT SHIPS!!!”
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In the seconds before Auria made the announcement, several warships the size of the MSA’s Remora-class Cutters suddenly came to life, engine nacelles glowed a bright green as they started to charge forward, weapon ports glowing brightly.

Meanwhile behind the twin moons, Decius smiled tightly as he looked over at his commanding officer. “Sir, the Firebrand and it’s assault wing have deployed…”

“Operations, power to maximum! Tactical One, prepare to deploy torpedo banks one through seven...Tactical Two, engage intersection operations!” the commanding officer snapped as he leaned forward as his ship came to life around him.
//////////////////////////////////////
Fadel had to quickly lashed out and grab the railing of the stations as the first moments of the attack hit her unshielded ship. “Bring the shields to full, prepare to return fire!” she shouted as the red alert kalxons started going off throughout the ship, setting condition one. “Get me IDs on the hostiles and prepare to jump into meta…” she then continued.

Suddenly there was a shudden sound akin to a “SHIIOOM” that reverberated throughout the ship as her helmsman spun around in his seat and shouted “METASPACE GENERATORS OFFLINED!!”

“Report!!” Fadel said as she made her way over to the front of the bridge.

“Unknown captain, it was like we where hit with some kind of energy field and the metapoint engines just went dead.” the navigator said as he indicated the board in question which had a large flashing error message on the symbol for the metapoint fields.

“Captain... “ Auria said in a dreadfilled tone at which point Fadel looked up at the screen and what she saw there made her blood run cold.

Emerging like some kind of wicked predator from over the twin moons not too far from them was a rounded, block like ship with twin protrusions that were like the engine nacelles on both the Czar'ak and the attacking ships...only this one was more sinister looking.

“What is that thing?” the navigator asked quietly.

“An Erebus class Heavy Interdictor. I thought I’d seen the last of those things in the last war.” Fadel said with a hint of dread in her voice as she slowly started to realize something as things started to fall into place…

<TBC>