Desperation

[Error]

As the Restitution and the fleet appeared, the lead Novan ship - a battlecarrier by the name of Prometheus - opened a communications link.

"NeoRoman vessel, this is Admiral Meinholl of the CSV Prometheus. Please relay your IFF/ID, commanding officer, and intentions."

[Professor Fenway]

Hgalvan returned from the medical bay just in time to hear the message. He mounted the command platform and activated the communication console. "This is Lieutenant Hgalvan of the N.R.S Restitution. The admiral has been shot according to the NeoRoman Military Disobedience Convention; I am granted temporary control until a new admiral is assigned." Hgalvan paused, and looked at the cracked console next to him. The screen displayed damage reports and shield status; the ship was mostly intact. "We have been fleeing from an enemy force known as the Darkness for 10 years. Their main force has been disabled in the system we just came from; for how long, I do not know. Transmitting IFF Data and ID codes; standby."

[Error]

Meinholl raised an eyebrow as he surveyed the incoming data.

"It seems you're in need or repair and resupply. Bay 12 on the Tiara starbase is available, and your civilian ships will recieve docking instructions from the starport controllers. Repulse, please dock with Prometheus for debriefing and resupply."

[Professor Fenway]

Hgalvan surveyed the damage reports. "I request that the DSR-2 Britanny be delayed from docking until we can survey their ship and speak to the captain. Just before we escaped, sensors indicated a massive subspace pulse emanating from their ship. You may have picked it up from here. It appears that this pulse disabled the enemy fleet. We were not informed of any such device capable of producing a pulse of that magnitude being present on that ship." Hgalvan held his head for a second, which was pounding with the beginning of a migraine. "I'll send our sensor log data to your ship, perhaps you can discern something from it." Hgalvan typed a few commands and the data was uploaded to the Prometheus

[Error]

Meinholl scrolled throuh the sensor data as the fleet moved to defense positions around Pandora. Looking up at the sound of the door, he watched Valkyrius approach and salute.

Absentmindedly returning it, he continued to stare at the logs in front of him. "So, Commander..." he began, "How exactly did the ringworld fleets track you?"

"Not sure, Admiral. My first guess would be jump-flash, especially off that NeoRoman ship. Second guess, some sort of subspace tracking."

Meinholl nodded. And so now they're in Andromeda, and likely to be coming here... lovely. Just what we needed. Come with me," he said, standing. With Valkyrius trailing, he strolled intomthe CIC and stood in front of the communications station.

"Relay the following to the ships in orbit, and the planetary government." When the comms officer nodded, he spoke into the microphone;

"All recieving. This is Admiral Meinholl of the Commonwealth Star Navy. This system is now under martial law. There is a hostile force closing, and all civilians are to prepare for evacuation. Any ships in orbit are to complete repairs, refuelling, and resupplying, and then are to meet at the Tiara starbase. All military vessels are to assume defensive positions around the planet until told otherwise. Message ends."

[Julo]

"She is awake..." "CAPTAIN, A HUGE FLEET OF UNKNOWN SHIPS IS APPEARING!!" "What is happening?!" "Tamara do you hear me?" "The jump drive fails!" "WHAT'S HAPPENING TO HER?!" "LOTHO!!!" "Lotho?" "Lotho..."
"LOTHO, WAKE UP!"

Lotho woke up, it was hot around him and a soft orange light illuminated the room.

"Where... am I?"
"You are in the medical bay, Captain Lotho."

His whole body hurt, but he tried as hard as he could to get up.

"What happened?"
"Relax, you are safe."

Lotho's sense kicked into gear and everything became clearer.

"MIRU, is the ship alright?"
"Negative, Captain, we were hit by something shortly before we jumped. We have taken serious damage in the middle section of the ship and lost 23 crew members. But the most damage luckily went into the main cargo bay. There were a few fires, but they are under control.
"Well, but what is this orange lighting?"
"We don't know. It's coming from patient 356, Tamara Jolley. It is an aura that surrounds her, since she had caused a subspace pulse, which disabled the attacking fleet."
"How is Tamara doing at the moment?"
"Her vitals are low, but stable. Her momentary state is similar to the one she was in before she woke up."
"Did we jump with the fleet?"
"Positive."
"I have to go to the bridge."
"No, your muscles are not able to carry you. I suggest you leave the major functions of the ship to me and you will answer any incoming calls."
"Okay, you have the permission to control the ship fully and I will do the diplomatic part only."

Lotho set his state to private and looked at him in a mirror. He was ugly. The aqueous skin of his face was burned. It looked like a human scar went from one side of his face to the other.
He wanted to put the mirror away and tell MIRU to disable visual communication with other ships when he noticed something. When looked closer at the scar, it almost seemed as if there were symbols engraved in the scar. He made a high-res picture of himself and then told MIRU to analyze it.
He then fell asleep.

[Professor Fenway]

Hgalvan oversaw some of the repairs to the jump drive system as they approached the DSR-2. They didn't have the capabilities to restore it to full functionality; if he was right, it would give out entirely after about 5 jumps. Then it could not bridge any further jumps, and ships unable to jump will be on their own. He absentmindedly scrolled through sensor logs before he got out of the commanding chair and walked over to the communication console. He opened up a communication channel to the DSR-2.

"This is Lieutenant Hgalvan to Lotho of the DSR-2," he stated clearly.

"Lotho is not available at this time, Hgalvan,"MIRU responded.

"Who is this? I need to speak to Lotho."

"I am the shipboard AI, and again, Lotho is not available."

"This is of vital importance, and concerns the massive subspace signature we detected shortly before we jumped. I need to speak to him face to face." There was a pause at the other end.

"Very well. I will inform Lotho." The channel shut off. Hgalvan looked around. There was still a flurry of activity on the bridge; from repairs to sensor analysis, there was still a lot to be done. Hgalvan informed an officer that he was leaving before exiting the bridge towards the shuttle bay.

[Julo]

Lotho woke up again.
He slept for approximately 2 hours. His body was still hurting.
"Captain Lotho."

Lotho was annoyed, couldn't he just relax a bit?

"Yes, MIRU?"
"Admiral Hgalvan wants to speak to you face to face."
"What, why?"
"It's about Tamara's subspace pulse."
"I can't even walk."
"He will come aboard soon Captain."
"Okay, get Tamara to room 653-2 and prepare the ship for the arrival of the "Admiral". What options do I have to compensate my non-existened ability to walk?"
"We could transport you in your bed, or you could use a wheelchair."
"What about our exoskeleton prostheses?"
"They were in Cargobay 1."
"Oh, OK, then get me a wheelchair and tell Hgalvan that he can come aboard."
"As you wish commander."

[Error]

Meinholl, Valkyrius, and three other Commanders sat in Prometheus's briefing room. Valkyrius, standing, finished a report:

"...and with that many ships reserved, we have a very small chance of evading detection, should it come to it. Well over three hundred vessels in convoy doesn't make for a low profile escape."

Commander Teirea interjected, "We could split into seperate fleets. All our cruisers have ansibles, communications would be simple enough."

Meinholl shook his head. "Too risky, given that we'd need all available firepower to even slow down an attack. We keep the ships together, and I'm going to press that Hgalvan into duty as fleet defense. Valkyrius, Teirea, Arathrus, get your ships ready for combat. Gaetius, get yours ready to cover our exit."

As the Commanders filed out, Valkyrius paused. "Admiral, Hgalvan may not cooperate. Remember, that fleet was running for ten years. That's their whole mentality; escape, flee, explore, flee again. We can't trust him to stay with us at a critical moment."

Meinholl sighed. "We need every armed ship we can get our hands on. In the meantime, I need to talk to an old friend."

[Professor Fenway]

The shuttle approached the DSR-2 and docked to the side, connecting with magnetic locks securing itself against the hull. Hgalvan finished sealing his pressure suit- the landing area appeared to be depressurized- and opened the door. The atmosphere within the shuttle compartment was whisked away into the depths of the damaged cargo area. Hgalvan stepped through, noting the large hole and the starfield beyond it, and walked towards the cargo bay doors, sealed against the breach. He deployed a small shield unit next to the door, designed to trap atmosphere, before opening the door and stepping through. Once through, he opened the visor on his helmet and took a look around. Repairs were still ongoing.

MIRU had informed him to meet at the medical bay, or at least, next to it. Hgalvan followed the directions on his small holo-pad grafted to the suit to the bay. Mounted on his left hip was a small box, which was covered in several lights that continually flashed and pulsed. Very small and very dim.

On his other hip was a pistol, gunpowder, the same used on Belavrius not hours earlier.

[Solar112]

Sregor walked up to his brother and pointed to the screen displaying orbital information and the like.

"that's probably the starbase"

Sregor walked to the back of the ship, which was only about 4 or 5 strides away, while running his right 'hand' along the wall.

"How're the engines doing?"

"Not too good, they're over heated by about 200 C"

"Can we make it to the star base?"

"Yeah, it only requires about 500 m/s dV to get there and match orbit, and with our acceleration it wouldn't be but about 1 and a half minutes of burning"

[Error]

OOC: Solar, AFAIK inertial alteration drives are standard issue, orbits and dV are irrelevant with, essentially, antigravs.

[Tell]

OOC: I'm so confused at whats going on in the story.

[cats]

The Slipknot's docking coupler unlocked from Valadius' Intrepid. The two ships separated as Slipknot accelerated under its own power towards the main body of the fleet. The Novan engineer had finished a rough patch of the FTL drive in less than his estimated time. He reported that it wasn't yet running optimally, but could handle a few activations so long as Neda didn't overwork it.

Neda planned on overworking it as soon as possible.

"Kodiak," Neda barked as the arctic white hologram appeared, "Add the Novan engineer to our temp roster, I'm sure Valkyrius won't mind if we keep him for a little longer."

"Yes ma'am."

"And send a message to the Restitution, the following audio: Lieutenant, I understand that your ship suffered some damage in the skirmish and that you'll no longer be able to use your jump system to move the entire fleet. I may be able to compensate for your loss with my own drive somewhat, at least the smaller vessels." She gestured to send the message.

[Solar112]

OOC: Solar, AFAIK inertial alteration drives are standard issue, orbits and dV are irrelevant with, essentially, antigravs.

... wouldn't anti gravity push you away from the gravity source(s)? It also states nowhere in the OP we have your magic engines.