Imperiumverse-Wraith of the Oceans

[Zor]

Wraith of the Oceans
Leighton White (Zor)

“We are NOT doing well Damnit!” Admiral Jacob Avalon yelled out, as he pointed out to the large yellow area on the Holographic map, the Conflict zone. “Estimates say the Rumaur have as many as three times our forces, and there are plenty of problems pressuring us on the Eastern Frontier! Our ships may be better, but they can spread themselves out far.” His voice was rank with grim knowledge, the Terran Imperial Star Navy was always at a disadvantage number wise, and many of there shipyards were mobile aboard there city-ships.

“That’s not our biggest problem.” Commodore Kelvin informed “Their Marauder fleet, using more reasonable estimates is around Ninety Carriers strong and were loosing one hundred fifty merchies a month." No Imperial commander liked Rumie Marauders. These small, one hundred thirty metre long craft were designed to do on thing, and they do it VERY well, Harass and smash enemy shipping. "I don’t care what you say, but we got over two hundred of the wall out there. We got the most experienced crews against Marauders but all we can afford for them the big ships they need. Terra, Mars and Nun Wa are to hard pressed with the main fleet to provide us with anything more than the odd LAC. New China MIGHT be able to give us a cruiser, but that’s ten months away at best. The Yards is still refitting a freighter repair scaffold for cruiser hulls, so we are a year away from building the big fleet ships.”

“Ok, we know what our Damned Problems are.” Squadron Admiral Wong said, frustrated to hell. “What do we have to REMIDY it?”

“We got thirty four of the wall at the front lines and twelve guarding held worlds,” Jason said, drumming his fingers on the table “but Atlantis would flush your dick out an airlock for even suggesting it. On what we got in cookin’ in the yards, theirs sixteen frigates and two destroyers being put together up there, we could make a third destroyer and another destroyer scaffold by the end of the year but anything bigger than 600 meters is non existent for two and a half years. ”

Wong scratched his chin “What class of destroyer are they and what stage of construction are they at?”

“Godslayer class sir.” The Commodore said, searching for the specs in her pad “First one will be jumping away in a month, second one in four.”

“Well, I saw this Godslayer Torpedo refit thing that one engineer came up with.” The Squadron Admiral said. “Marauders don’t pack much of Point Defense weapons and in a gunfight their carriers might be able to give my nine year old niece a run for her money. It was shelved a year ago before we were pushing the largest Armada in Human History along with twenty one million marines and army personnel Eleven Light-years from our borders witch we have to feed, cloth, arm, armor and keep drunk with several thousand aliens doing everything in there power to slow us down. I say we bring them into existence.”

“Sounds good to me!” Jacob said Enthusiastically, he knew a lot of good men and woman in the Merchant fleet and wanted to see exactly zero of there names on a Memorial Pilliar. “And I got just the crew for the job.”

[Admiral Bravo]

Pretty good, look forword to the next chapter

[Zor]

Commander Naomi Kai sat in her office on Port Nimitz as she slowly took down a swig of Delta, Nippy sleeping on his perch and hammered word after word down on her computer. The Office was modest, a mere three by three meter nook in her quarters (which are only slightly bigger) with no view, but the fact that she got these quarters is Impressive. She was only two and a half years out of the Academy and yet she had command of a Hyperdrive warship for about 11 months now. Even though it is nothing but a Corvette guarding freighter convoys. Most officers who get their own ships to command get it during their seventh year at least. She got top marks in command and engineering.

She clicked the send icon, and decided to check her Email, thinking she would play a little RTS and then go off for lunch. But the first Email she read changed all that, and she knew it the second she saw it.

Meeting requested from the Admiralty.

She poured over the message a couple of times and then got to her feet, straightened her tie out and went out of her quarters. After a walk down the hall, she reached the “street”, a hallway was six meters wide, which was for all intent and prepossess a street. She unlocked a bike and started peddling, she could have taken a ride on the Transit Cart, but she vastly preferred biking, she did not like waiting for the carts and the exercise did her good. She quietly but quickly moved across the station and after half a Kick of travailing she locked up the bike and walked to the quarters of one Rear Admiral J. Avalon. She placed her hand against the black panel, and the door opened revealing the large, spacious and well decorated office with a large viewpoint looking over Nova Terra and Heinlein.

A middle-aged man’s head risen, he had a dark nearly black head of hair, dark brown semi Asian eyes, had fair skin and a fuzzy beard and mustache. His face was friendly by design and the freindly expression only augmented this. “Not one to be late, eh Ms Kai?” He gestured towards a Leather padded chair “Have a seat and before you ask I took the Liberty of Ordering Lunch. Corn Beef on Rye fine with you?”

“Yes.”

“Very Ms Kai, you have brought down how many Rumaur Marauders aboard the James T. Kirk?”

“Five sir.” She said, with an odd mix of Pride and Embarrassment floating around inside her “Two of them at once about two months ago.”

The Admiral opened a flask that he had pulled out of his desk of yellowish orange liquid and began pouring some of the Contents into a glass “That’s impressive, particularly for someone as young as you.” He shook the flask a bit “Orange wine?”

“Thank you sir.” She picked up the glass and downed the small amount of liquid inside.

A small semi humanoid robot with a white plastic casing came rolling into the room into the room with a pair of trays, he put one of them on the Admiral’s Desk and rolled towards. “Miss Kai, your lunch.” It said kindly.

“Thank you.” This was a habit she had left over that her father put in her. Always insisting on acknowledging a waiter’s services, although her father did heir human waiters and waitresses. The Robot bowed and wheeled its way out of the door. “Admiral, with all due respects, I don’t think the Admiralty ordered me hear to have lunch.”

He smiled and reached into his pocket “Just a Habit of mine when I offer these.” He tossed two golden collar pins onto his desk in front of her, she reached over and grabbed them and noticed two stars. She had similar collar pins on, but her pins only had three Vertical lines. He shot up “Naomi Victoria Kai, I hear by promote you to the rank of Second Class Captain along with all the Privileges and Responsibilities with said rank.” She set her lunch on the table, shot up and the two officers exchanged Salutes.

She sat down and took a bite. “Well, this was unexpected but thank you sir. What about the James T. Kirk?”

“Kai, I got twenty commanders just dying for a ship like her to become available.” He grinned. “I think that she will get a good new officer.”

“And my new ship?”

“As they said in first century movies…” He hit a button, and he gestured to a floating holographic image “Behold! The Wraith of the Oceans, the first and hopefully not the last of her class.”

She looked over the craft, hand against her “Nice name, when will she be ready?”

“Three to four months, depending on whatever arises Kai. Hopefully sooner. So do you accept?”

Her mind was cluttered for a second, but certainty fell into place after that. “Sure.” This was quite a development in her carrier and she was determined to see where it was going.

[Zor]

It had been three weeks since Captain Kai’s memorable day of promotion. After going threw four hundred and seventeen pages of blueprints three times, packing her old stuff up and inspecting the officers that the Personnel Department (or PerDep as it is commonly called) shoved in her face she decided to get off the ass and do an inspection of her ship. She and Lieutenant Commander Steven Blake stood in bay six as it was pulled before them from the racks.

She stood in a waiting room waiting even though she was in the Needle section of the station and there was no gravity inside this section, she was held to the floor by the boots of her EVA Suit. The Shuttle connected to the transfer station, and the tall bald figure moved out of the captain’s way. “After you.” Steve said in his strong but friendly voice. Steve has always been a kind hearted yet somewhat assertive man, and surprised everyone when he signed up for the Star Navy.

“Thanks.” She walked into the shuttle and took her seat. Steve took her seat opposite to her, They strapped themselves into the craft. The Small craft sat in the bay, then a Linear Accelerator chucked it out like corks from a blowgun. The Shuttle was automated and both of them got a good solid view out of the front. The blue Neptune Ocean beneath the craft overlapped by clouds on the planet below, the blackness of space above and spacecraft in all directions. The distance between Port Nimitz and their destination was short, only seven thousand Kilometers and after two and a half minutes the craft arrived at dock seven of the shipyards. The ship inside was a skeleton with some of the internal systems installed and sudden bursts of blue and yellow light flaring out sporadically. She attached her helmet, checked the seal and hit the Radio. “This is Captain Kai to yard control, landing in thirty seconds.”

“Acknowledged Kai, we got hot coffee ready for you. Out.” The craft glided down towards a landing platform on the side of the scaffold, and set ‘down’ (although up and down are not existent in space). The two officers squeezed out of the narrow docking ring airlock and set foot on the metallic plate. The first Spacers had to wear large, cumbersome EVA suits that were hard to move an arm in let alone walk. Thankfully for the Spacers of the Imperial Terran Star Navy, seven hundred years of engineering and advances in materials and life support systems had done away with the need for such ungainly systems. She had all her grace inside her suit as she did outside of it, and she loved the sensation of weightlessness. A lift came up from beneath the landing plate with a Man on it, short and stout but not to any extreme.

“Ahoy Captain,” Her suit radio sounded with a strong, but not to serious voice. “Administrator Edward DeCurzio at your service. The tour has been plotted out, but if I may say so, we are a week ahead of schedule.”

‘And more likely than not with a dozen corners cut’ the captain thought. “What section would we start in?”

“Engineering. Lets begin shall we.” The two officers walked to the lift, and it lowered into the framework of the craft. Power suited “Yard Apes” moved around the metallic skeleton along with manipulator arms and railcars as the system were installed and the structural framework added upon. The Administrator gestured to certain things and kept a salesman like “At this stage, an average of Seven hundred fifty Tonnes of components are installed a day. Most of it plasma Conduits, Power Cables and baseline corridors.” He enjoyed his job and took pleasure in spilling out these Details. “All equipment is the best available as are my boys. And here we are.” The lift arrived next to a massive metallic Cylinder lying on it’s side about ten meters in diameter, thirty meters long and a Spherical Central Bulge fifteen meters in diameter with large protruding “fins” and a couple of access ports. Two massive pipes went into it on either side connecting to fuel tanks and a third one at the far side of the budge going to the drive section and dividing into smaller conduits at the Junction. Two ten-meter wide donut shaped devices sat above and below it. “that’s..”

“An Imperial Guardsman’s Amat Reactor.” Steve broke in with, slightly annoyed. “We have gone over the blueprints.”

Naomi wanted to get a little bit firsthand “Administrator.”

“Yes captain?”

“I am just going to wander around for a bit, ok?”

“Fine, I’ll tell you when we’re movin’ on.” The Captain jumped up and began moving around, looking at things with great scrutiny. She came back, and the tour continued.

The Main Reactor’s design was not a new one, the design had been used over three hundred fifty times in Imperial Guardsman class ships and it was similar to the Godslayer’s main reactor. The difference is quite simple, Size. The standard Godslayer reactor is approx. 50% larger and nearly double the energy output than the main reactor that the Wraith of the Oceans got put into her.

How ever, the Imperial Guardsman class frigate had most of that power diverted to power a Plasma Lance. The Godslayer base model also has a Plasma Lance, but that little feature was removed in the Wraith of the Oceans along with a few other things. She was originally to carry twelve heavy particle beam cannons and that number was stripped down to six, The Fighter bay was also cut down and the ORD tubes were removed completely.

The reason why these features were removed was to free up space for Kinetic Kill Missiles (or KKMs as they are more commonly used), seven meter long shafts of Depleted Uranium with maneuvering thrusters and a powerful engine capable of accelerating at fifty two G-forces. They lack warheads, but their mass and velocity more than make up for this, At Standard combat range (180,000-80,000 km), an impact from a single KKM will either cripple or destroy a battleship, and they can Adjust there coarse, something that no energy beam will ever be able to do. The Problem is that while a KKM can destroy a battleship, it needs to HIT said battleship first. A standard Point Defense Laser can destroy said missile short order, they can be sent off coarse with ECM and it is possible to evade them. To be effective against any warship, KKMs must be fired off in large swarms to overwhelm defenses. They also can with proximity based targeting they can be fired in a certain direction as movement restriction weapons, as no sane captain would fly his or her ship threw a swarm of KKMs.

A Standard Godslayer carries four hundred KKMs and has one launcher capable of firing off four KKMs a second, The Wraith of the Oceans carries eight hundred thirty with three launchers. This ship was intended to be a supplement to the main fleet, but the Admiralty deemed it to be an overly specialized design reliant on other craft for support. How ever, The ships they were going against were heavily armed for their sized, but severely lacked anything in the lines of Point Defense Weaponry.

Anyway, Kai’s little search ended, and she returned to the Administrator and the Lieutenant after a few minutes. Steve looked at him “How’s it going?”

“Fine, Mr. DiCurzio.”

“Yes.”

The Captain Grinned “Looks like your more than just another verbose salesman.”

[darthdavid]

I'm tired so i'm not going to read it all right now, but the fact that you opened it up with a "By the way Bob..." expository statement really doesn't bode well for your story.

[Zor]

The big day had arrived. The ship was to be launched latter that day and everything had been planned out. She had managed to steal a couple of days off beforehand to see her parents, but most of the Last two and a Half Months had been divided among the ship, running simulations, dealing with the yard authority, going threw a Tonne of Paperwork and making suggestions to the design. Nothing Radical, just a few minor tweaks. But all it was finally done with, and by Humanity she was glad of that.

She stood in the Officer’s mess in full dress Uniform, Nippy on her shoulder, staring at the ocean hemisphere of her homeworld. Nova Terra was a world of oceans, Only one long Narrow continent about the same size as South America and a smattering of islands. Admiral Avalon had told her several comments that the Novan Fleet uniforms should have some blue somewhere on there. It made some sense to her, the New Chinese Spacers have Red lining instead of the General gold, but in the end it did not make any difference.

She then heard footsteps and turned around to see Steve and a short (only 169-cm tall) red haired woman in a non-Naval uniform. The tunic was a dark shade of blue with Silver Trimming, Her hat was white, her pants had blue stripes, the tunic was lower to the ground and she had a patch on her left sleeve with a EVA suit helmet with a pair of Lighting bolts behind it and overlapped by a sword. The Diminutive Woman Saluted the Captain. Naomi smirked “Centurion Evelyn Swordmaster.”

“Captain Kai.” Her voice was completely firm, as was her handshake. It rolled of the Centurion’s Tong with her Vaguely British Cape-Freedom accent. “I trust my force’s will get all the resources they require?”

“Yes” She said this somewhat Frustrated. She really did not like repeating herself. “Your Century will have all the things they need to keep active and in shape.”

“If you need any reassurance, Centurion.” A Firm, but not militaristically so voice said from behind the blue coated Marine with an even stronger Cape accent, “I would be glad to show you around.” A Colossal, slightly overweight, Black haired figure strode up, grinned and extended a hand “Chief Engineer David Winton.”

“Pleasure.”

“I am afraid that I have not been introduced to this Spectacle of Beauty.” A light voice said from behind the Centurion, she turned around to see a lanky redhead in dire need of a shave, extending his left hand for shaking. “Pleasure to meet you, Chief Medical Officer Chao Striker at your service.”

She gave him quite the Grip. “Centurion Swordmaster, Although you would do better if you displayed yourself as a Star Naval Officer and not a Concubine.”

“ADMIRAL ON DECK.” The Speaker sounded as two Figures walked into the room. One average height and weight and predominantly Caucasian, the other Lanky and Predominantly Asian. The Four Officers shot towards said figures and hastily saluted.

“At ease” Wong said, somewhat embarrassed as he grabbed his chair at the head of the table. “Kai, You two were in charge of the Menu, What’s for dinner?”

She twiddled her Fingers a bit “Pierogies, Steak, Spiced Pads, Oranges, Sourdough, and a Large Selection of Liquor.”

Wong grinned as he took his seat “Just the way I like my booze Selection.” The rest of the officers followed his lead, taking their seats. A pair of Waiters came out, not robots but Human Waiters. Just a Couple of Midshipmen doing some Volunteer work before they got their assignments, which would not be long seeing on how the war is going. They brought in the Wine Trolley, laid out the Platters quickly and announcing the dishes as they were put down.

Captain Kai was pleased with how this was done, and gave out the Proper response as her glass was filled with Orange Wine. “Thank you.” She took down a sip and began taking on a few Pierogies and rice pads. “Admiral, I say we tell these fine people what they are going and what we’ll be doing.”

Jake let out a soft sign “Fine.” He pressed a button under the Table. With that, the room dimmed, the Windows sealed and a Holographic Starchart was projected overhead one hundred fifty light years wide. In the Center was a cluster of Green Stars with a Silver Triangle pointing down overlapping a blue circle floating over each of them, Sol, Tau-Ceti, 82 Eridani, Epsilon Eridani, 70 Ophiuchi, 47 Ursae Majoris and a few others. Those worlds were Territory of the Terran Imperium. “Above” the Imperium was a Bloated network of stars colored yellow, the worlds of the D’jet Republic. To the east, floating above Admiral Wong’s Head was five red stars each with a red star, wreathed with wheat and with a pair of Katanas above it. Those being the systems of the Alliance of New Columbia. To the North, just bordering D’jet space three blue dots with blue banners depicting an Avian carrying a Dagger with alien Glyphs along the bottom, the worlds of the Drell Confederation. And to the east, a Network of Orange Stars known as the Rumaur Federation. Arrows crossed both sides between Rumaur Space and Imperial Space, and Imperial Naval Seals along with Rumaur City ship symbols were at the ends of either one. “As you know, our supply lines are having are having are under a lot of strain, and Rumaur Marauders are doing a lot of Damage. Your Mission, in simplest terms, is to beat the Living Shit out of the Fuckers.” The Admiral had a strong, serious tone to his voice. Pushed a button, and a yellow line formed. “You are to follow shipping line Delta six for the First Terran Fleet, Rumaur Marauders are heavy along all the Routes, but this one is known as ‘Dead Man’s Run’, because the loss rate on this run for the past six months has been the Highest. We don’t know why, but the facts stand that there is something happing their that’s bringing up their kill rate. If you pick up a Hyperspace Jump within Half a Light year, Jump in, and do what needs to be done. Any Questions?”

“Admiral Wong, What is preventing our Target ship from jumping away?” The Centurion said

“We have captured several Rumaur Calling Codes, and have a few additional things that should trick the scaly bastards into thinking that we are non hostile. These have been kept classified for the entire product run and your ship is the first craft to get them.”

Dave rose his hand “Are any boardings planned?”

“Expected, not planned.” Wong said “God be Damned, I’m never going to send men and woman out on a ship that size without some support if Rummies manage to cut threw their hall and begin running Troopers threw the breach. If anyone is going to be boarding, it’s you.” The Admiral stabbed a portion of a Pierogie and devoured it. “Ok, I’m done with this military stuff for know. I propose a toast, to the Wraith of the Oceans.”

“To the Wraith of the Oceans.” And they took back their drinks.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Pointed out the window to the large, yellow... what? You left a dangling participle in the first sentence, which disqualifies anyone from reading it easily.

[Zor]

Naomi’s Asian eyes sunk into the narrowest of slits. “FIRE!” She bellowed as the air was cracked by the “pop” of Vipers firing and the whine of their bullets plowing threw the air at two and a half clicks per second. After a few seconds, the weapons fell silent as the eight new petty officers behind them released there trigger fingers, set their weapons down on a tray, and the holographic marks they were shooting at were moved up to in-front of their faces. The ship was nearly a day out of port, maintain a cruse acceleration.

The Captain looked at the seven floating sheets, examining the location of the red marks on each of them, and kept an officer’s face “Clinton, Takei, Hikaru, Arioch and Dalton good.” She said, pointing to their Target as she said their names. “Shepherd, Angel and Reverence need work.” She let out a mental sigh of relief, Five out of Eight was not so bad and good personnel were becoming harder to find nowadays. Over the past three years the academies cut out two months of training time and doubled class sizes, sacrificing quality for quantity in the Spacers that manned the ships. “You three just won fifteen minutes of marksmen practice each day for the next week. Any of you three don’t show up, and your asses will be tasting my boot. Am I clear?”

“SIR, YES SIR!” The three Spacers blasted out as one.

“Good, now go get some lunch!” With that, the nine Imperial Navy Spacers walked out of the stretch of cargobay designated for marksmanship practice. Just outside was a familiar face, leaning against the wall with a smug look on his face. “What is it, Steve?”

“Ass tasting boot?” He said, tagging along with the captain. “See you have been watching those war movies?”

She let out a grin, fiddling with her left glove “Hey, A Captain can watch whatever the hell she wants to, and it works. Question my choice phrases like this again, and it will be your ass tasting boot.”

“Fine, you’re the captain, just asking. I just wanted to know what want to know which one you like?”

“Ok, look up Full Metal Jacket, Saving Private Ryan, Over the Bulge and Stopping the Spearhead. A few centuries old, but good. But I suspect that you had something other to talk about beyond war movies.”

“Well first of all, You’re just interesting to watch. Second, our esteemed chief engineer has voiced a series of complaints about one of the turrets.”

“Screaming Rant?”

Steve let out a humorful grin “The next time that guy says ‘Permission to speak freely’ to me, my response will be a proper Denied. But anyway, I have gotten five complaints on crew arrangements.”

“Swap ‘em around.” Her voice was completely serious. “Last thing I need is a fistfight that ends up costing two men their careers and the ship two spacers.” The two officers then stepped into the Elevator and the doors closed shut. “Anything else?”

“The Centurion has told me three times that she does not like that a fifth of her Marines are within ten meters of a weapon’s conduit, but that’s the end of it.”

Her grinned returned “Well, tell her that she should reserve her complaints for the shipyard.”

“That may not satisfy her, Captain. She is somewhat childish in that respect.”

“But I saw her record aboard the Grasscutter, she knows her way around a Deathcaster and a suit of Spaceborn and I saw the other two Cents I could have had waltzing around this ship. First one was a drunk and the second had no firsthand experience.”

The door then opened revealing the bridge, along with a pair of saluting security officers and a certain blue suited Redhead “Well, speak of the Devil.”

The Centurion gazed at him “Commander Blake, I trust that we have no problems.”

“Every thing is fine,” Naomi said as she took to her leather-lined seat. “Just quiet up on what we can’t control. Time ‘til threshold?”

“One minute twelve seconds maim.” An Ensign said.

“Helm, cut Fusion and ready main coils, seventy percent range.”

“Aye Captain.” The main drive vents at the back of the ship, which was spewing out a think stream of superheated gas fell silent. The ship coasted on kinetic energy, as a pair of graviton coils were extended from the sides of the craft and began drawing energy. “Coils charging, temperatures on all systems within safety tolerances. Threshold in thirty six seconds maim.”

The captain pulled a keypad out of her trouser pocket, struck a couple of buttons and pulled the mike on her headset in front of her mouth. “All hands to seats and prepare for immanent Hyperspace induction.” The words were spread across the Wraith of the Ocean’s intercom, and this was followed by the sound of five hundred fifty pairs of boots pounding into the floor as they rushed and strapped themselves into seats. As the craft passed the threshold, the external graviton coils began emitting a translucent blue bubble, slowly growing to cover the entire form.

“To all the new guys,” Blake spat out with a strong grin on his face. “This is going to be a bit tough on your stomach.” He said this just before the Polarity in the graviton coils suddenly went from Negative to positive, and the ship was pulled into Hyperspace on its trajectory. Being pulled onto another level of space/time sent massive vibrations threw the craft’s framework, thankfully there were plenty of motion sickness bags provided to the crew.

“Hyperdrive Jump successful,” The ensign informed “Estimated time to drop out thirty eight hours. Looks like she held together Maim.”

The Centurion unbuckled herself and got to her feet, although she was not completely steady. “I hate Hyperspace jumps.” She muttered low on her voice, grabbing both of her arms.

The captain then pulled out from behind her chair a storage case and set it down on her lap. “So far we have not been reduced to a rapidly expanding cloud of gasses,” she said these words with a very unserious voice “Which is in my books for the first time a ship has done it is cause for some celebration.” She cracked open the case revealing five beer glasses and a 2.3-liter bottle labeled with Asian glyphs along with standard roman characters. “Kura Aramasa, Vintage 774 Imperial calendar, 582 Novan Calendar.”

Blake was the first to walk over “Sounds good to me.”

“Seconded.” Evelyn retorted while grabbing the first glass. This was the first time that anyone heard her speak non seriously, and forced a grin onto Naomi’s face.

[Myrmidon]

The Random capitalizations are Very irritating.

[Zor]

Will Be updated soon

Zor

[Zor]

Third Order Asset Commander Qualin sat in his lounge enjoying the criss-crossing and intertwined sounds of a Divine Fortress orchestra. He always loved the music that came out of his Homecraft and had an equally deep loathing of the Derk that the rest if his crew loved. Most of them were from Starforge, the least refined City-ship in the Entire Federation. Sometimes he wondered if it was such a good choice to take this command, but now he just lay back letting the music play.

Until his wrist Comm began vibrating, forcing his eyelids to open and letting slight hiss of distain to Escape from his mouth as he turned off the music and set the headphones aside. “What is it?” He said, grumblingly.

“Commander, we have a surge.”

“Acknowledged Nessic, Hail them, I’m on my way.” he said as pried his ass out of the chair and slipped on his breastplate. A few minutes latter he arrived on the bridge and took his seat. “Sensor Conductor, Imprint size Estimated time ‘til imagery will be available.”

A Female turned around in her chair halfway, two hands in her lap, one on her workstation and the last one on with a mug in hand. Her central eye relaxed as she took it away from the screen. “Class three and Half a Twelfth Administrator.”

Qualin grew somewhat concerned. Whenever a ship entered or left Hyperspace, it would make a large harmless Tacyion Surge that would alert everyone within about 1 light year of them doing so and were they were to within a few million km and what size it was. But Physics cares not for nationality or politics and a big Tacyion surge could just as easily be an enemy battleship brisling with weapons as a friendly heavy freighter stocked with finely flavored Dromas. “Lock Telescopes on their co-ordinates. Communications recall the collector. Have Marauder crews on standby.”

“Obeyed Administrator” the radio and sensor conductor said as he typed in the message. On a nearby ice moon’s surface, a few Spacers picked up their tools and went back to there nearby shuttle.

“Helm, Set a corse to the threshold and engage when the collector is onboard. Twenty percent Acceleration, point five Percent of Light speed.”

“May I recommend ten precent?”

“No.”

“Obeyed” The Helmsman grumbled as the ship’s maneuvering the ship pointed itself away from the system’s star.

Qualin fell back into his chair and closed his eyes. “Tell me when we get something more substantial.” He heard the bridge crew made their chatter, but he heard his name and a single crash of his baton against the floor stilled their mouths. Many Rumaur would call those who hail from Starforge to be intelligent, hard working and informative. He found them to being belligerent, Overly strict and intolerant of anyone who takes a few brief moments to lay back and enjoy a brief break. He used the time to get some peace, having fantasies on what he would do once he could cash in his kills and retire, occasionally opening one eye to look at his watch.

About twenty passed somewhat quickly “Administrator!” The Comm officer barked “We are received a message, code received and cleared.”

Qualin tapped his fingers “Helm, cut our velocity to 50%. On Screen.”

“Obeyed” The main screen then displayed a slightly fuzzy video of a rough bridge that had not been cleaned in weeks. A purple coated merchant marine officer stood in a cramped bridge. He was somewhat overweight, dark blue eyes and dark tan scales. The patch on his unzipped jacket had four broad copper Vs pointing down. In the background four other individuals walked around doing various tasks.

The commanding officer began speaking with a strong Skyworld accent. “This is Lacr Flarrim Nessic, Administrator of the Fourth order of the Supply Freighter Alvadiar’s Fortune to Carrier. Under orders of Unified Fleet Commander Jraliah we are to deliver additional munitions, spare parts, food, medical supplies and whatnot. Arrival in 2.5 twelfths if we converge at 80% speed. Alvadair’s Fortune out.” With that, he saluted and the screen went blank.

Qualin drummed his finger against his lower armrest “Do we have a sensor image, Conductor?”

The Sensor officer pilled through the image she had received for a few moments and then turned it over until she found what she wanted. “Yes Administrator.”

“On Screen.”

“Obeyed” With that, an image appeared on the massive screen. It did have the same radar and visual profile of one of a standard Yatser class Medium Cargoship and was accelerating towards them.

Qualin let out a slight gurgle as he thought for a second “Helm, set Corse for that ship at Fifty percent acceleration.”

“Obeyed” He said as the ship reaimed itself and began taking to a new vector as hyper velocity plasma belched from its main engines.

About twenty minutes latter, on the bridge of the Alvadiar’s Fortune, all was still, quite and dark. The four crewmen that were there were gone and only the Administrator remained sitting motionless in his chair. This sighlence would not last forever, as the doors opened and the sound of two pairs of boots against metal filled the room. A feminine hand grabbed the hand of the Administrator and rubbed it gently a bit before getting off. “Does it need be warm, it’s unsettling.”

A short man that was mostly black took a seat in a Chair nearby and let out a grin. “Rumaur are warm blooded, we want them to be as realistic as possible and keeping the skin alive is critical to that. Quite Lifelike Hensons, are they captain?”

“A bit too lifelike for my tastes,” She said as she slipped her right glove back on. “But they get the job done.”

“That they do, Ma’am.” He said with pride. It was quite clear he liked taking care of them.

“Well, keep up the good work. As you were.”

Qualin lay back, periodically opening his forward eye to check the progress. There was little for the commanding officer to do in the hours of transit and he had already issued the necessary commands, though constant murmurs made these checks quite frequent. It was impossible to tell exactly who was doing it, as it was most likely his entire bridge staff.

“Administrator, The craft is has crossed the line has not fired breaking thrusters!” This got Qualin to his full attention.

“Helm fire main breaking thrusters, Thirty five percent thrust. Comm, Open Channel and transmission set timer.” He said.

“Opened and timer, Administrator.”

Qualin pressed the button on his armrest “Alvadiar’s Fortune, This is the Unified Armed Forces warship Rlacoor Seastriker, we have noticed that your breaking thrusters have yet to fire. We can render assistance if you need assistance in repair. Respond.” He cut the channel and watched the reply time delay timer go down and kept his eyes open and on the screen. A few uneventful minutes passed and the timer reached zero, nothing, another thirty seconds. “Why haven’t these Skyworld Waraks responded yet?” he said quietly. “Has it decelerated?”

“Not yet Administrator.” The sensor officer said.

“Well you heard him helm, get us out of its path.”

“Obeyed.” He said as he turned the ship’s path slightly to one side causing it to move out ever.

A couple more minutes passed by uneventfully, lulling Qualin into a sense of slight relaxation. It would take some time to catch up with a damaged ship and he felt that was enough for him to let some of the tension flow out of him. “Administrator!” the sensor officer blurted, shattering the relaxation Qualin had managed to amass. “Something is happening with the Freighter.”

“Lock Radar on the freighter. Image to main screen, Full magnification.” Qualin ordered. A few seconds latter the screen came to life, revealing the Alvadiar’s Fortune. Even with digital enhancement, Only a silluiete was visible at this distance. But something odd was happening with its form. It opened up like a flower, part of it was beginning to fold up. For a few seconds the bridge crew watched, wondering what they were looking at, until they managed to get a decent look of what was inside.

“That’s an Imperial Ship!” Qualin yelled. “Those clever Imperial Waraks! Scramble the Marauders and Charge weapons, Full Action Stations!!”

A massive series of alarms went off around the Searunner and the corridors were suddenly flooded with dozens of Rumaur spacers. The Arms lockers were unsealed and security personnel began distributing Rifles and Sidearms. Sleeping Marauder crews got to their feet, quickly got their uniforms on and scrambled for their craft and rapidly prepped them for launch. Within two minutes four spacecraft shaped like Cigars with four boxy radial protrusions in the middle were launched from the Rumaur ship and blasted away at full acceleration.

Qualin turned on his radio “This is the Administrator to all Crews, luck be with you!”

“Agnolaged” The pilots responded nearly Simultaneously.

As they launched, Naomi sat in her chair in the CiC and watched the holographic display of the battlefield above her. Before her was a pair of two triangles (one red, one green) moving towards each other, both were inside two crossing translucent amber circles, one vertical and one horizontal marked like protractors and finally a key marked the distance of one million kilometers. For all its practical use, the holographic display was something of genuine beauty and there were plenty of Artistic Photographs and Paintings of them to reflect it.

“Camouflage Tarp has been fully retracted sir” an ensign said.

She turned her chair to face him “Good,” She had to look down at him as her chair was somewhat elevated and turned around again and buckled up “Helm all ahead full!”

“Aye Captain”

Steve buckled up and turned on his headset “This is the first officer to the crew, brace for acceleration.” The intercom blared with his voice. A few seconds latter the engines surged to life in a massive plume of Blue light and everyone inside the ship felt a sudden pull backwards. I-Dampeners and the ship’s network of graviton coils managed to lessen the effect of such acceleration, but about half a gee managed worm its way through these countermeasures, making standing up and walking problematic. The extra boost in speed was necessary for Kai’s plan to succeed, but she needed to retract the tarp first or she it risk getting torn off or melted by the main drives.

“Armory, prepare twelve KKMs and one decoy pod, load all missile launchers and port flare tube.” The captain announced into her headset.

“Aye, Captain” the Chief Torpedosman responded. A few seconds deep inside the bowls of the ship, three Kinetic Kill Missile cases were taken out of their rack, were swiftly moved on railcars and sealed inside the firing Chambers of the launchers, likewise the flares were loaded into there launcher.

Kai then called someone else up “Gunnery, Charge all Heavy Turrets and ready all PDLs.”

“Aye Aye!” Junior Lieutenant Michelotto said. A few seconds latter energy was shunted into Capacitors.

On the Bridge things were becoming more focused. Sensor officers went over every flash of the Rumaur ships maneuvering thrusters, the helmsman matched there maneuvering perfectly and the plan in Kao’s mind was focussed tightly on the enemy. She had thought the scenario of sending the ship against a Marauder Carrier through thoroughly well before the Wraith of the Oceans was launched.

“Captain, they have launched their Marauders, Looks like they are prepping for a pincer movement.”

“Time till they are in range.” Steve said, fiddling with his tie.

He got the calculations in for time delay, acceleration, distance and speed. “Five minutes sir.”

“Just as I thought they would,” she uttered under her voice as she turned on her headset “Gunnery, lock torpedoes on the following marauders, fire on my mark.”

A few seconds latter her headset buzzed. “This is Centurion Swordmaster to the Captain, we are fully suited and is ready to launch at your command.”

“Agnolaged.” She muttered. When she finished saying that lone word, the atmosphere on the bridge had become so tense you could cut it with a blade. She turned her eyes back to the hologram and watched as the display. Time seemed to slow as she waited. Some of the bridge-crew quietly swapped remarks, Steve barked out a few orders and a few ‘Ayes and Aye Commanders’ were said in response to said orders, however it still stayed quiet.

But quietness and stillness does not stop time and the minutes passed along. Eventually, she saw her ship get within three and a half light seconds of the marauders. Her ship was doing .12C and the marauders were doing 0.1C. “Lock KKMs on all marauders. Fire missiles on my signal. Standby for interception.” Kai spat to gunnery control as she watched as her ship and the triangles converged at the display as each second passed and as both sides’ craft converged at tremendous speeds. Four months of preparation for this moment, and it all came down to this moment. Then the Marauders crossed the four hundred sixty thousand-kilometer mark and a single word was forced out of her mouth with.

“Fire!”

With that, all twelve Torpedoes were blasted out of their launchers simultaneously, propelled both by their engines but also by the Linear accelerator witch gave them an early start off of burst of two fifty kilometers a second plus. The weapons tore through space gaining tremendous speed with each second; The Flare followed as the weapons converged, gaining more speed each second. Each of the weapons hurled towards the Rumaur Craft as fast as possible.

”Hard to starboard!” she yelled a second afterwards.

“Aye!” The helmsman said as he adjusted the ship’s course veering it out of the path of the ship.

“Incoming missiles!” A sensor officer hollered a couple of seconds latter. “Two, three, no Four Boogies in the air!”

“Gunnery, Standby for Incoming Missiles, and launch pod!” She said to her gunnery teams. The pod was shot out of the craft via a linear accelerator and burst into four small pods the size of dishwashers that gave out tremendous amounts of EM Energy, Two of the missiles took the bait and went after the decoys, two did not. The Point Defense Lasers turned towards the oncoming projectiles and once the missiles reached the outside of that. Eight laser beams flew through space and cut the oncoming projectiles to slag as they crossed the 75,000-kilometer mark one at a time. The laser blasts stopped the missiles from accelerating and missed the Wraith of the Oceans by a few kilometers.

The Rumaur were not as lucky, for not only were the Terran KKMs faster accelerators by two gees but they had the aid of the linear accelerators inside the launchers, as opposed to launching them from harpoints. The KKMs also were launched in a single wave instead of one at a time and three times more were launched. The Four Marauders managed to gun down seven KKM with point defense fire, but the other five got through and impacted. The Crews of the Marauders did not even have time to think once the missiles hit them, the kinetic energy of a impact at over 0.22c was so great the Depleted Uranium of the weapon and the hull plating of the ship at point of impact underwent fusion, blowing the craft to dust, gas and radiation a thousandth of a second. Against a Squadron of the Wall this tactic would not have worked. Flying headlong at high speed into a formation of Destroyers, Cruisers and Battleships (witch don’t fly straight into you), dumping a salvo (or salvos) of missiles then veering off would not have inflicted damage, the missiles would have been intercepted by either fighters (the name was somewhat out of date, fighters in modern warfare were little more than Free range point defense turrets) or by the craft’s own point defense lasers. They would also have launched their own KKMs in much greater numbers at you accompanied by a swath of Energy Weapons fire, and you would still be to a large degree flying towards them, the most likely thing to happen would be that your ship would be blown to unceremonious slag. Even with a squadron of ships, it is not all that advisable, your still flying your ships directly into their awaiting broadsides. However the Marauders were different, their main particle cannons while slightly more powered were short-range affairs, only effective at 80,000 kilometers nor respond with the massed salvos of torpedoes that a Dreadnought or Cruiser could.

“Targets Destroyed, Captain!” The Sensor officer said as the Captain watched the Four flashes of light that were once Rumaur Warships.

“Very good. Helm, Bring us in on the Carrier.” She ordered.

“Aye Captain!” The helmsman responded as he set the craft back on course. The Marauder Carrier had flipped itself around and was accelerating away as fast as it could but it could not match the Advancing Destroyer. The vast majority of Rumaur Carriers were slightly reworked Civilian Mining Ships with armor plating, a slight armament and the ore hold refitted to carry KKMs, spare parts, additional provisions and a second fusion reactor. A piece of historic irony about Marauders and there carriers was while the High Overcommanders of the Supreme Command of the Unified Armed Forces of the Rumaur Federation had put them into the role of shutting down they were originally designed to weed out the raiders that had become extremely commonplace across there territory. The Seastriker could only do 6.5Gs on full burn.

She knew what was to be done. “Comm, Hail the Carrier on all channels.”

“Comm open.”

A few seconds latter abroad the Rlacoor Seastriker Administrator Qualin’s hearts were racing with stress. His force of Marauders and 68 Rumaur Spacers had been blown to slag and a completely undamaged Imperial Terran Destroyer was coming down on him. He could here a gentle, nearly songlike murmuring though this did not calm him. It was one of his officers making a prayer for the Marauder Crews. “Administrator.” Another on of his officers said.

“Yes, Monitor?”

“Receiving a message from the Terrans.”

“Display.” He muttered. A second latter, the plasma screen came alive. He saw the CiC of the ship, It’s internal design was functional and simplistic, but defiantly with an artistic charm to it’s design. There were seven Terrans in the Image in there uniforms, white pants with green lines down there side, black boots that went nearly half way up there legs, Green jackets with cloth loops pinned down on the shoulders, Black Gloves and pieces of cloth hanging from down there necks. Two at the door at the back of the chamber with Body Protection Vests and helmets brandishing rifles and with pistols holstered on their legs, three doing various tasks at computer workstations, and two officers with visored caps, sheaths with swords hung from there belts and gloves that went up to there elbows. One of the officers with a thick finely kept crest of smooth reflective black fur and the other completely clean of it. They spoke in there own language, but subtitles were put in below to insure that while they would understand, they would here their voices. The one with the black crest said this…

“This is Captain Naomi Kai of the Imperial Terran Warship Wraith of the Oceans to Rumaur Carrier. You are outgunned, outpaced and your Marauders have been destroyed. You will cut your engines, power down your weapons and surrender your ship and your crew to us, lest we be forced to take it and your crew by force. Any resistance to our boarding crews will be met with deadly force and any escape pod detected will be destroyed. You have two minutes to respond.” Qualin was not able to make out the expression, but the captain smiled and put her fist against he chest. “Hail Terra, Hail the United Human Race, Hail the Imperium! End communication.” With that, the image cut.

Qualin groaned and scratched at his snout. “Open Channel…”

Kai got ready for the final strike “Gunnery, Target weapons systems and drives. Fire when in range.” The captain ordered. She knew that Ruamur could be just as cowardly as humans and they could be just as Fanatical and Defiant as well.

A few seconds passed, then the Comm officer turned in his chair. “Captain, we have a response, Audio only.”

“The Rumaur Captain has given his response, Captain. He accepts your terms of surrender.” A few cheers broke out among the bridge crew.

Kai called up gunnery. “Belay the final part, lock weapons on the carrier but don’t fire except under my Commander Blake’s order.” Kai shut off her headset “Helm, bring us in on them.”

“So captain,” Steve remarked with humor on his voice “I see the master plan has worked out.”

Kai grinned “Well it worked five months ago against the other marauders six months ago and we have a hell of a lot more Firepower than the Kirk did. Anyway you have the Command. I missed lunch because of these four armed bastards and I need to eat something.” She then walked out of the CiC to get something to eat.