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Learned a few lessons last time i posted a fanfic, so here goes *Bites lip*

The Hunt For Osiris
By Emperor Brandon
Prologue

The Tempok Empire was formed in the midst of a civil war of a Empire called the Pratempok. The Tempok, while more ruthless than than the Empire which it suceeded from, was more keen on issues such as civil rights and equal treatment. These are the only reasons they suceeded; The Ruling government wanted only Purebred Prat's to be allowed to own land, and leave the planet.
The war lasted nearly 600 years, when, finally the deciding battle took place. A peace conference was arranged, and, as the end of the peace talks approached, a bomb was set off in the negotiation room shortly after the leader representing the Tempok left the room to use the "~/35]P\"(unpronouncable, but the best translation would be bathroom).

Both fleets were gathered there, and, fortunately for the Tempok Empire, they had caught the enemy off guard. Even thoughtheir shields were up, the battle was horribly one-sided. They used a Rocket Propelled Asteroid Torpedo, which was equipped with a energy disrupting plasma generator, which went directly through the shields of the enemy's ships. The battle was over in hours.
And only one side emerged victorious:The Tempok Empire.

In the war, over 10.5 Billion had died, over half on the Pratempok's side. There were over 6,000 ships built , and at least 4000 were lost at the final battle, or the battle of Krentor 4.

At that point, the Tempok empire established what it called, "The New Era". An era of peace, trust, understanding, and civility amongst all Tempokians. That era was short lived, however.

Now, 40 years later, the Tempok Empire has degenerated into anarchy. Bloody battles take place on the ground, and, the fighting in space has become so horrible, that not even civillians with the lowest of profiles can survive the massive melee of weapons fire.


So, this is the story of deceit, treachery, violence, romance, despair. More so, is this The Hunt For Osiris.

Chapter 1: The price of war

Gretharp Kringtor looked over his bridge in disgust. The latest battle with the Telpor insurgents had cost him more than half his crew, and the ship only has 45 fighters combat ready. Another attack and The Carrier would be useless.

Gretharp is a leader in the Tempok Military, winning over 60 different confrontations, and helping to end the 600 year long war with the Pratempok by designing the Asteroid Torpedo. (The Torpedo design proved too costly to produce and too hard to control;over 1/3 the losses at the battle of Krentor were accidental malfunctions in the guidance system.)

He is about 6'4" tall, The standard among Tempokians, He has Dark Blue Skin, and His feet are webbed. His hands however are not;Having four arms makes their race more......productive than most others. He has hair, but only a little, because most of his head is ridged, front to back. Even his chin shows ridges.

"Helm, Status." Queried the Admiral.
"Engines at 56 Percent and rising. Warp Drive power will be back online soon."
"How Soon?"
"3 Hours."
"Make it 2, and that's an order."
"Aye Sir. Chief?"
"Yes Charzak?," the officer replied.
"We need warp in 2 hours. Captain's orders."
"On It. Frople, out." The Comm channel closed.

Charzak is a dedicated helmsman aboard the TIS Morning Light. She got moved to the flagship only recently;The other helmsmen was killed in a battle with the Trepol, another militia faction fighting for control.

She has Brown hair, Green eyes, webbed feet, and is about 6'1" tall. She is about 933 years of age, relativly young for a helmsmen.(About 24 in earth years.)Her father died in the battle of Krithog 7 when she was very young. She joined the military to restore honor to her father's name. He was an accused traitor.

The only female on the starship, she was deployed there only because Kringtor asked for her by name; her service record was impressive. She already held 3 of The Tempok military's highest honors;not much when compared to his, but still, considering her age, that was an outstanding achievement.

"Sir-5 Phantom Class Cruisers de-cloaking off our port bow!" Cried Kelvek, The tactical officer officer.

The tactical officer's name is Kelvek, He is 5'4", Webbed feet, no hair brown,ridged skin. About 34 Earth years.

A highly respected officer, he was once the greatest fighter pilot in the fleet until the loss of his right upper arm. The bleeding was too bad, and had it not been amputated, he would have surely bled to death. After the operation, he had this to say:"Give me yours or I'll take it myself!"

"Shields up! Activate weapons and deploy fighters!" ordered the Admiral, surprised by the sudden appearence of FIVE dreadnought class cruisers
"They're firing!" Kelvek hastily replied
The Morning Light took 5 Disruptor hits to the port. Hard.
"Report!"-shouthed Kringtor.
"Port shields down to 12%," came Kelvek's hasty reply.
"Fire all weapons!"
7 Torpedoes are launched at the flanking Phantom, and 8 bursts from the disruptors disable it.
The other Phantoms launch a fierce volley of Photon Torpedoes and Disruptors on the carrier, weakening it even more so than it was to begin with by exposing the hull of the ship to fire, by collapsing the shields aft of the ship.
"Aft shields down! Port shields about to collapse!"
"GET ME THOSE FIGHTERS ENSIGN!" Kringtor sternly ordered.
3 more hits to the port.
"Fighters deploy-"
A shower of electricity rains out of the helm console.
Charzak is knocked unconsious by the subsequent debris which falls on her.
Kringtor took a moment to examine the severity of the situation.
"My helms officer is unconcious, my aft shields are down, and we're outmanned, outgunned and outmanuvered; what do I do?

Put them in our shoes. Fighters, we need them now!"
Kringtor looked over at kelvek.
"Tactical, fighters?"
"Fighters in chevron formation," Kelvek replied.
"Fire all weapons at the Left most Phantom!"
"Disruptors and 4 torpedo tubes off-line!"
Another hit. A fire starts on the bridge.
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR A DAMAGE REPORT, JUST FIRE THE DAMNED WEAPONS!"

The tactical officer dutifuly obeys his orders. Just as he starts firing, the ship takes another hit. A piece of debris falls on the knocked-out ensign, burying her effectively.
"Sir, Fighters report they have disabled one phantom class."
"Call for reinforcements!"
A torpedo ruptures the aft hull.
"Warp-core breach in progress!"
"Engineering, Can you stabalize it?"
"Negative, We are seconds from it blowing!"
"Attention all hands abandon ship!Repeat all hands abandon ship!"
The warp-core is ejected moments before it explodes.The ship is knocked sideways due to the shockwave from the explosion, causing it to collide with 2 fighters.
"Sir, the phantoms are breaking off."
The remaining phantoms cloaked and engaged warp.
"Sir?"
The tactical officer looks over to see his CO struggling to get the debris off the unconcious ensign.
"C'mon damnit don't die! Don't die on me now! URRRRRGGGAAH!"
He finally lifts it with his tactical officer's help.
"Take her to sickbay. Get those burns treated ASAP, and order fighters to maintain a standard patrol vector around the ship until help arrives. I want all efforts put into the tactical systems. Make the-"
"Si-Si-Sir?" The ensign awoke in his hands.
"Yes ensign?"
"Permission to, to, speak freely?"
The captain gave a coy smile.
"Granted."
"May I say it-,it was an honor serving with you, sir."
"No Ensign! You Are NOT going to die! MEDICAL TEAM TO THE BRIDGE!"
The Ensign, looked longingly into the Captains eyes.
"Sir?"
"Yes ensign?"
"I always thought of you....as the father i never knew........sigh"
With that final sigh, the ensigns life came to an abrupt, and early, end.

Gretharp let the ensign's cold, lifeless body slip out of his hands and land on the deckplates with a small thump. There was no time to grieve now; there was work to be done.
Gretharp eyed Kelvek dubiously.
"Don't tell me," he replied, almost as if reading the captain's mind,"Damage report."
There is heavy damage to all decks and stations. Life support is failing on all decks aside from decks 21.....," He punched in the scanner main power coupling reroute as he read internal sensors,"13....and 14-18."
Gretharp gave orders almost instantaneously.
"Evacuate those decks, and reroute all auxillary power to the life support systems. I want all recreation areas or empty spaces on this ship turned into immediate trioge stations, anyone who can walk and move their arms and legs is now a nurse or engineer. Get impulse on-line and repair as many weapons systems as possible. You have 1 Hour."
Kelvek gasped and almost choked on the air he was breathing.
"Sir, an hour isn't enough to-"
"Are you backtalking, Ensign?"
"Sir, No, and I am a Lt.."
"You won't be for much longer if you don't execute my command, understood?"
"Understood," said the Lieutenant, embarassed as he walked off the bridge deck. If it's one lesson he learned that day, its this: Don't argue with a CO.
Especially if it's Gretharp.

The Captain of the Phantom Class P.R.W. Revolution looked at his officers
disapointingly. Not only had they lost the battle with Gretharp, and miserably I might add, but they had lost two fully operational Phantom class attack cruisers to an old fool who is far to aged for the burden of command. Why do
I even bother? Wondered Heveken silently. No one in the entire fleet had lost so badly to One carrier, let alone a beat-up one. And what would be his excuse? That the 2 Phantoms were really disabled? That his crew got drunk at a Graduation party and were clearly not fit for duty? No excuse would be great enough. There was only one option: Secrecy. He would have to keep this quiet; if he didn't it could cost him his command, maybe even his career. That was the best he could do.
And, as he was about to find out, it isn't enough.
"Captain, we are being hailed. Admiral Yurew on channel. Priority one."
Here we go, Heveken thought silently to himself.
"On screen."
The Admiral's old, sagging face appeared on the screen.
"Hello admiral, how's life on Krethor 2?"
"Dispense with the pleasentries. How was the battle?"
Heveken Began wondering how the whip would feel. Probably painful at first;then after about the 300th time it wouldn't hurt that much.
"The battle went......."
"Don't tell me," She said with conviction, "you lost."
No, The whip probably isn't as bad as it sounds; after all, more than half the captains in the fleet had gotten the whip at one point, it's about time he got his whipping. He wondered if the sentence was doubled if you lost 2 ships, and what life as a farmer on Grudthor 5 would be like.
"Unfortunately," he answered carefully.
"Too bad, I suppose. How many ships were lost?"
Farming has it's upsides; after all, it IS an honest life, with benifit of free food, minus the cost of growing it. Be awfully lonely though.
"T-T-Two," he finally stuttered.
"Unfortunate, indeed. You have been re-assigned to sector 2351 in the Rancor System. You are to wait with the rest of the fleet there for further instructions. Yurew, out."
Heveken gave a sigh of relief.
"Did she even hear you?," asked the ensign at the helm.
"You know," he replied truthfully,"Im not quite sure."


I'd like some advice, as I have gotten some very good reviews from other people on the Flashtrak forums, and I wanna see what you guys think.
Emperor Brandon

Heveken wasted no time in carrying out his orders.
"Well?” he asked, "don't just stand there! Do it!"
"Aye sir," replied the helm. Dumbfounded as he may be, he had no excuse for sitting there.
There was a war to win.

"Status?"
"Main Power at 42%. Warp Power at 12% and rising," answered Kelvek from main engineering.
It had been nearly 45 Minutes since the ambush, and already they were at their target repair level. Gretharp was pleased, to say the least.
"Weapons?"
"We have 3 Torpedo bays operational, but we have almost exhausted our entire compliment."
"And what of the Disruptor Arrays?"
"Only 2 Online, sir. Three-six are disabled."
"Good, good, keep it up, lieutenant. If you keep-"
The new helmsman cut in.
"Pardon me sir, but I am detecting a large subspace distortion in the Rancor system.... the distortion matches that produced by large numbers of cloaked ships," he exhaled exhaustingly.
Gretharp raised an eyebrow.
"Intensive scan. I don't want to alert the fleet for no reason."
The Science officer replied, "Aye. My readings confirm those of ensign Kretao. There is a fleet at the Rancor system."
"Go to warp, and head to the nearest Starbase. I don't know what they are up to, but we are going to find out....."
The ship let its fighters dock, and it kicked into warp. In a flash of light, it was gone.


Chapter 2: An unfortunate Meeting

The Phantom Class cruiser under the command of Heveken appeared at sector 2351 in the Rancor System damaged and weakened from the engagement with Gretharp.
"Hail the fleet let them know we have arrived."
"Aye sir," came the reply from helm.
After a few moments of waiting, the helmsman alerted Heveken to the completion of his orders.
The captain got up from his chair.
"First officer, have the chair. If you need me, I will be in my waiting room."
"Aye." The first officer arose from his chair to sit in the Captain's. "Warm," he thought to himself.
Heveken stopped just short of the door. "Everyone, hold your current position until I tell you otherwise. If you don't, I will see to it that my Razor bird has enough food to last him a week. K[-.<a?"(Understood)
The crew nodded in unison.
"Good.", Heveken thought, as he walked into his waiting room.
"Computer? Give me Tempokian Cholnble ( Chol-nub-lee) tea, 42 Degrees standard. Twist of Fire fruit in please." The captain rarely said please, but since his crew was not present, he could drop his defenses for now."
Exactly what he ordered appeared at the small industrial replicator just short of his hand. He grabbed it hastily.
The Captain sat down in his chair, and let out a long sigh as he put his legs on the table.
"I wonder why we are here", Heveken thought silently.
"Why would the admiral just divert us from our operations in the Krethor Sector just to put us in a backwater place like this? Why wasn't I punished? Had it been any other time, I would have been stripped of rank and court-marshaled. Oh well, not that I'm complaining." Heveken finished that thought before having another sip of his tea.
"And why is the fleet here? There are no important military bases near here, none under threat of attack, and none that would be worth attacking."
"Wait a minute. There is one on Rancor 2. Rancor 2 is the location of our top research facility. But only a few know of that; how could such important information leak out? Intelligence must be dragging it's ^%$." The captain let out another long sigh.” Still, it's a feasible explanation as to our presence here. The Admiral must have learned of the leak of intelligence, and ordered us here to stop any possible incursions. Well, we won’t let them get in. Not by any means at al-"
Beep*
"Sir?"
"Yes Krithen?"
"I apologize for the interruption, but we have detected a subspace scan originating from the Krethor system. It does not match the type our military employs."
Heveken choked on his tea.
"Damn! That old fool has learned of our presence! We needed to have our ships more spread out! Red Alert! Alert the fleet, prepare for battle!"
Engineering, give me a damage report."

"This is engineering. Weapons are functional for the most part. Primary disruptor turret 2 is damaged, and the forward firing torpedo launcher is disabled."
"Get the weapons fixed! Heveken out."
"But sir, don't you want more on the damage to the ship? There is a-"
"HEVEKEN OUT." He practically shouted into the comm.
Heveken chugged his tea as he made his way to the bridge. He set the tea glass down in the replicator, and ran into the bridge.
If Heveken was right, things were worse than he thought.
A lot worse.


The Dull gray hull of Gretharp's carrier emerged from warp speed at Starbase 212 in the Grubei system. Damaged, underpowered, and undermanned, it was towed into space dock.
Gretharp beamed over to the Starbase to get the results from a structural analysis that was performed upon docking. It was standard procedure, after all. As he arrived in the transporter room, he was greeted by two engineers and the admiral in command of starbase 212, Admiral Eri Zosa.
"Gretharp! Stand at attention! Never did learn proper discipline."
Gretharp's jaw dropped. "Admiral! So good to see you, how are the kids?" he replied.
"Well, very well indeed. I haven't seen them in 6 months now, but I get communiqués from time to time. Still, I can't get over missing Kreaa's birthday. She turned 42 last month."(42 is roughly eight in human years.)
"Sad. This war will never come to an end it seems. Ah, enough catching up."
"Right. I have some reports to file anyway. Nice talking to you."
Gretharp turned toward the two engineers who had been patiently waiting.
"How's it look?"
"Well........your warp core is missing, you have about 43 holes in the ship, and more than half your crew is dead," replied the first engineer.
"Don't even get me started on the engines. Whoever kept that wreck you call a carrier together on the trip here deserves a medal."
"Can you fix it?" Gretharp asked hopefully.
"Well..........no. So, it's to be decomissioned. Instead, you'll get command of the newly christened Phantom Class MK2. She's waiting for you."
"Oh well. That was my first command, the TIS Morning Light. Been in service for almost 23 years. About time it retired. So, where do I go to get my new ship?"
The first engineer shook his head in disbelief. "What? Already? Don't you want to at least stay for a day or two? Rest up? Give your crew some R&R?"
"Nooooo," Gretharp replied. "My crew doesn't need R&R, they'll be fine. Besides, I'm eager to take command. There's a war to win!"
"Alright," the engineer replied. "Right this way. Maybe you'd like an outside view of her?"
The admiral nodded his head in agreement. As he walked down the hallway, down the corner and into the shuttle bay, he thought about what he was going to do to the person who cost him his ship and most of its crew.
Gretharp could be truly evil when he tried.
Admiral Gretharp stepped into the shuttle, and sat down in the guest chair.
The engineer lifted up the Comm.-speaker. "Requesting permission to disembark."
The voice of the other person crackled over the comm. "Permission to disembark granted. Maximum of half-impulse."
"Roger," he replied.
He took out the shuttle at half, and then went to full. He slowly turned it into Drydock shipyard A and began making his way towards. As he made his way there, Gretharp took the time to sightsee. It was rare he got to take trips like this, even on shore leave.
Then he saw his new command: The newly christened Phantom Class MK2. She was beautiful; a true testament to Tempokian engineering. He wasn't nearly as impressed as he was until he saw the registry:
TES 5312 TIS Morning Light-A
"We were going to decommission it as soon as you got back," the engineer piloting explained.
"It was 23 years old. So, I and my engineering crew pulled an all-nighter painting the registry," he said.
Gretharp was speechless, but he had this thought: "Oh my god! They actually gave me another Morning Light? I can't wait to test ‘er out!"
Gretharp had never looked as happy as he did then.

Yes, Yes, another part is to be added, but I will first ask for a review. Keep in mind, that if you read my first Fanfic submission here, I was an infantile brat.

I Assure you that I have matured MUCH more in my absence. Your criticisms will be taken into account, and if you raise a major point, I will see to the issue asap.

Now that that's out of the way, what is your guys' review?

Emperor Brandon

Bah, no advice? Screw it. Here's more.

Report!"
"Fleet acknowledges. All systems primed and combat-ready," Krithen Dutifully replied.
"Good," commented Heveken as he sat in his chair.
"Tell the Kretarpe to move to 21345 mark 6, and the Pride to move to 21346 Mark 1. I want all fighters on any carrier to be combat ready. Send a coded subspace message to Admiral Yurew, informing her of our status," the captain ordered.
"Aye sir. Kretarpe and Pride acknowledges, sending message to carriers, encoding subspace frequency to the Admiral," the comm. officer took a breath, "sir."
"Good, Good."
"Engineering!"
"*Crackle Crrrcchhh* Yes Captain?"
"Antimatter Status?"
"One moment....." Heveken could hear the sounds of his chief engineer pressing buttons on the engineering access panel.
"We have enough for 4 more days, at most, and that's being generous."
Heveken bit his lip."D@mn!" he thought silently. "The nearest repair facility is at least a week away........oh well. We'll just "Borrow" a ship from our Imperial Friends...."

Gretharp was about to explode with excitement.
"That's....that's....."
"The Morning Light A. Like I said, I spent all night painting the registry."
"*AHEM*!!!"
The Pilot rolled his eyes. "Fine, WE painted it."
"You know, I did the engines. I've always been fond of that color.”
"Ok, Ok, I appreciate it all! Just Shutup and let me out," Kringtor snapped.
"Fine. Opening doors."
Gretharp ran out of the shuttle into the bay. He activated the comm channel as soon as he was out, trying to signal his command crew.
"Commander? This is Admiral Gretharp."
"Yes sir?"
"Is she ready?"
"Well, I'd say so, but-"
"What the blazes do you mean "I'd say so?" It's got no warp capability, the cloak is all screwy, and the blasted fighters aren't loaded! Why, I've never seen a ship so disorderly, let alone a flagship! Back in my day-"
The Commander cut in.
"Errm...sorry sir. We have a new Chief Engineer. He's a fiesty old coot-"
"Coot? COOT?! I'm at my prime boy! I was fixing ships when your great great great grandfather was in diapers! I was there for the civil war! Why, in the civil war we were.."
"Yeah....fiesty."
Gretharp rolled his eyes.
"Alright, I'm on my way."
He stepped into the turbolift shaft and sternly said "Bridge!"
Just as he stepped in, he recieved a message from Admiral Zosa.
"Gretharp? Come in."
"This is Gretharp. I read you."
"Gretharp, we have your orders. They are too delicate to discuss over an unsecured channel, meet me in your ready room."
Gretharp raised his brow.
"My ready room?"
"Don't tell me you're deaf?"
"Heh, sorry. Meet you there."
The Turbolift shaft came to a stop.
"Gretharp out."
He walked onto the bridge. It was small, and disorganized.
Just how he liked.
"I'll be in my ready room. Inform me when we're ready to leave," he said to his new first officer.
"Aye captain."
Gretharp walked into his ready room, to find Zosa drinking Tempokian Chemble Tea..........in his chair.
"Gretharp, please take a seat." He motioned towards one of the chairs in front of him.
Kringtor pulled out a chair in front of his desk, and took a seat.
Zosa put down the tea.
"I'll cut to the chase. We have detected a large amount of cloaked starships in the Rancor system. This is a hotly contested area in the war, not because of it's resources or strategic values...because of this."
He activated a holomap which displayed an egg-shaped sculpture with ancient writing.
"It's an Pratempok artifact....what's the big deal?"
Zosa winced.
"Translate the inscription."
Kringtor studied it carefully for a minute or two.
"Osiris?!"
Zosa nodded his head.
"Are you sure this is THE Osiris? The real deal and not one of the counterfeits that's popped up over the years?"
"We scanned the planet it's supposed to be on. Rancor prime. We didn't scan it too deeply, however; doing so would alert the Revlans stationed there to it's presence."
"What's the mission?"
"There are three phases. Phase one will require that you lead an attack force of 53 ships to Rancor. Destroy the enemy fleet completely,
leave no survivors, take no prisoners."
Gretharp nodded his head.
"Phase two?"
"Phase two will involve you landing on the planet and locating Osiris. Determine if it's the real deal once there. If it is, attempt to capture it. If not, destroy it.
Phase three Will require that you bring it to one of the outward planets, in this case Rrstch 5. It's out of the war and out of the way. There we have a secret research facility where it will be tested for usefullness."
"Understood."
"The attack will begin in 1200 hours. Get your ship in shape, and let your crew get ready. Godspeed old friend," he hugged Gretharp warmly, and Gretharp hugged him back.
"Bye Zosa. Say hi to the kids for me, ok?"
"Aye "Admiral" Gretharp."
And with that, he beamed off.
As the admiral beamed off the ship, Kringtor jumped right to his orders and hit the comm badge.
"Engineering, status?"
The new Chief Engineer buzzed over the comm.
"WELL WHAT THE DEVIL?! CAN'T YOU SEE WE'RE BUSY REP-Oh, admiral, sorry sir. What be the orders you have for me?
"Contact the Starbase, have them send us a full compliment of fighters. Get all systems ready for combat--We leave in 12:00."
"Aye, sir."
He then walked out of the ready room, and looked around the bridge.
Gretharp stood in the center, as he patched the comm on over intercomm.
"Crew this is the captain. Some of you may have served under me before, some of you may not. If you have, then you know what to expect when sent on a mission. If you don't know what to expect, you're probably going to find out what it's like being on the flagship in the next few hours.
I don't expect many of us will make it back from this trip; In fact, I don't expect this ship to make it back in one piece. But, as long as this mission goes off without too many hitches, it could very well mean the rebirth of the empire, and the end of the infighting that has made our once proud empire nothing but a group of kids fighting over the toybox.
If you die on this day, die proud. Die strong. Die knowing, that you gave your life for a good cause. The end of the Civil wars. The end of the division. If this mission is successful, the Tempok Empire shall become more than just an empire. It shall become unionized. It shall become one. Gretharp out."
The new tactical officer, Krishtol, looked at him with a tear in his eye.
"That was inspiratio-"
"No time for that now. Get the ship ready for combat. All of you. I'll be in my ready room; Contact me in 12:00 hours."
Kringtor walked off the bridge, and rested in his chair. Little did he know, he'd need that rest.


The Phantoms and various Teprol Insurgency ships lay cloaked, silhoutted against only the light of the stars, impossible to detect unless observed up-close.
Heveken ran into the bridge.
"Tactical, report! Science, scan the surounding area, three systems away!"
"Three.....systems?! Sir, our sensors can't go that far!"
"Then you're useless to me. Tactical, kill him."
The tactical officer got up from his chair, armed his Disruptor Cannon, and fired at the science officer's head, point blank range. Needless to say, the bridge was a little messy.
"Tactical, can you rig the sensors to detect ships 3 systems away?"
"Aye. I'll reroute it through the navigational array."
"DO IT!! Helm, set course 246 mark 210. Engage at max impulse, after 50 snargles(Km) stop."
"Aye sir."
The tactical officer and the helm officer responded simultaneously. Heveken was clearly po'ed, so there was no point in delaying in anything. When he says jump, they ask “How Far?”

"Sir, incoming ship detected on sensors. Unknown configuration."
"Onscreen."
The helm officer patched the other ship in, just after saying "Aye. On screen."
*Beep* The ship appeared on the viewscreen.
"Tactical. Analysis?"
"Scanning.......detecting one weapon. Unknown configuration. Appears to be Faran in origen."
"Faran?"
"Aye sir. The species we ran into just a little over a month ago?"
"Oh, yes, them. Hail the vessel."
"Hailing....." came the reply from helm.
"They have responded. On screen."
Beep*
Sure enough, a Faran appeared on the viewscreen.
"This is Captain Kringtor Gretharp of the TIS Morning Light. What is your status?"
"We are well, Captain Kringtor Gretharp of the TIS Morning Light, well indeed. We request assistance, however. Our impulse engines went into an imbalance, and we were thrown far off course until we ended up here."
Gretharp raised a brow.
"What kind of.....assistance?"
"We request an impulse power coil to replace the one we've ruined. In return, we offer Faran ale, the best this side of your galaxy."
Gretharp made a cutoff signal at his head, and the helm quickly shutoff communications.
"Well, suggestions?" Asked Kringtor.
"We do have an extra impulse power coil in our cargo holds."
"And of their intentions?"
"We can't trust them! We don't know them! This may be some sort of trick!" Quickly hushed the science officer.
"Scan the ship. See if what they're saying's true."
"Aye. Scanning......." He looked up from his pannel after a few moments.
"Sir, I am reading an imbalance in their impulse engines. Their power is dropped about 12% from what we'd expect."
Gretharp thought for a moment.
"Aye, beam over the supplies. Hail the ship first."
"Hailing frequencies open."
A nervous Faran Captain appeared on-screen.
"So Captain, do we have a deal?"
"Aye, Captain. We will lower our shields and transport it over. Kringtor out."
"Lowering shields for transport," the tactical officer repeated.
Just then, the science officer's head twisted around to the captains.
"NO! WAIT! IT'S A-"
*BANG SPARK BANG*
Three DUFF Class carriers had just decloaked, 1 Behind, 1 starboard, and 1 port. The Faran vessel had raised it's shields, too, and had begun to fire.
The ship took a severe pounding. After three shots the Starboard warp engine had been obliterated, and the front part of the ship was barely left in one piece.
"Report!!"
"The Farans have opened fire! Three DUFFS have started an attack-"
*RUMBLE* BANG*
"FIRE ALL WEAPONS!"
"FIRING!"
The Morning Light fired at the Aft Phantom with it's disruptor turrets, and managed to glance a shot off the Faran ship as well.
Unfortunately for the Morning Light, the ship took more than just a glancing shot.
*BANG* *RATTLE* RUMBLE* SPARK*
A torpedo launched by the Port side DUFF went smashing straight through the ship, through one side and out the other. The Morning Light subsequently started to rotate on the Y-axis from the shock of the blast.
"LAUNCH THE FIGHTERS!"
"LAUNCHING!"
Just then, a flood of fighters began pouring out of the ship. Only 86 of the 150 compliment that were on board were flight operable.
"FIGHTERS LAUNCHED, IN FIRECLAW POS-"
Another torpedo ruptured the hull, only this time coming from the front. The bridge was barely missed.
"FIRE AT WILL! ORDER THE FIGHTERS TO DRAW OFF THE FARAN VESSEL!"
The fighters then flipped, and rotated, and performed dodging manuvers as they advanced on the Faran vessel.
"Snlop 1, mark 1."
"Snlop 1, mark 2."
"Snlop 1, mark 3."
and the fighters reported to each other like this until all 86 were accounted for. (Tempokians count fast )
"All fighters, Fireclaw formation! Target the weapons systems!"
Meanwhile, on the carrier, Gretharp had ordered some manuvers of his own.
"USE THRUSTERS TO GET US TO STOP ROTATING! FIRE AT WILL! ALL NON-MILITARY PERSONELL, ABANDON SHIP!"
The ship fired as it rotated. It managed to get past the Port Duff's shields, and hit the Engineering section. A warp core breach was not too far behind.
The Fighters began to advance on the aft of the Faran vessel, targeting it's weapons with vigirous conviction. The group kept sweeping back and forth, forcing the Faran ship to pull out of firing arc from the Tempok Vessel.
With the Faran vessel off it's heels, the Morning Light began to really shine in battle. It turned 360 degrees to face the aft-most DUFF and fired it's weapons in rapid succession. The ship's shields couldn't take such a large amount of fire, and the shields collapsed. Disruptor fire cut straight through the hull of the ship, tearing it straight in half.
The other DUFF exploded, due to the warp core breach caused by the Morning Light's earlier disruptor fire. The Faran ship, already under heavy attack by the fighters, was a sitting duck. Or at least that's what Gretharp thought.........until he saw the DUFF class warp in right behind the Morning Light. Apparently, it was a little late to the party.
*BANG BANG BANG SPARK RUMBLE*
The enemy ship fired rapidly on the aft of the Morning Light. It was crippled even MORE than it was just seconds before. The warp and sub-light engines disabled, the Morning Light began spinning violently out of control. The DUFF began creeping up on it, firing fiercely, unstinting in it's efforts to destroy the ship.

Meanwhile, the Faran vessel was not fairing so well against the fighters. It was clear that the Faran Captain was not prepared for a blitzkrief by dozens of small, agile craft.
The Faran ship put up quite a fight, taking down 3 fighters. Just as it was about to destroy a few more, the firing stopped.
"Snlop 1, this is Snlop 3. Reading a massive drop in power to all systems on the Faran Vessel. I think we've disabled their power source."
"Roger Snlop 3. All Fighters, break off the assault and prepare to board the ship. Let's take it."

Things were not shaping up well for the Morning Light, either.
"Sir, we have lost all power. Auxillary power's failing. Life support failing."
"Evacuate the ship. Attention all hands abandon ship! All hands abandon ship! Repeat, all-"
Just then, a Large, distorted football-shaped object came right up behind the DUFF class, and tore straight through it. It was destroyed in seconds, and the Morning Light was once again out of danger.
"Sir, unknown ship design coming in, but by the weapon configuration I'd say it's Tempokian in origin."
"Hail them."
A scruffy, young Captain appeared on-screen.
"Gretharp, this is Captain Zosa of the TES Kliazno. Sorry to be late to the party."
"Don't worry, I'm just glad you could show-"
"Sir, core breach in progress!"
*BOOOOOOOOM*
The Morning Light flew apart in a massive explosion.


Gretharp woke up, covered in sweat, shaking. He had another nightmare about the war; certainly not the worst, but pretty bad by standard nightmares he had.
He had no time to reflect upon this dream at the moment, however. For just seconds after he awoke, he was called to the bridge. He immediatley snapped out of it, wiped the sweat off, and went to the bridge.
"Yes?" He queried.
"Sir, it's been 12:00. You said for me to alert you in 12:00?"
"Oh, yes."
He patched in the intercomm.
"All senior officers, report to the Executive Lounge."
Unused to the layout of the bridge, he instinctively walked right into the wall where the lounge on the TES Morning Light used to be.
*Thump*
He sustained a minor bump on the head in doing so.
"Umm, sir?"
The helmsman looked at him with a smile on his face. He was obviously trying to hide his laugh.
He did it quite poorly. His cheeks were red and his lips were tight together.
"I think you should walk to the other side."
He immediatley exploded in a hardy laugh. All the other crew mates began laughing, too, and Gretharp instantly joined in. He was going to laugh anyway, but felt too embarassed to initally.
His cheeks were purple as well now.