| Author |
Beginning War |
Doran
Chief Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 29, 2003
Posts: 4032
From: The Gideon Unit
|  Posted: 2006-08-12 12:33
THE CAST
UGTO
Admiral Ayral Berrict (Male, Mars, Captain of RED THIRD)
Commander Corle Sythen (Female, Mars, Executive Officer)
Lieutenant Commander Tiar Nalther (Female, Ganymede, Communications and Intel Officer)
Major Jorun Rhakar (Male, Triton Colony, Navigations Officer)
Major Relaia Calerin (Female, Luna, Engineering Officer)
Captain Morishima Hirasawa (Male, Earth, Flight Officer)
Lieutenant Tsin Cholin (Male, Europa, Helm Officer)
Lieutenant Frichassa Lisast (Female, Miranda, Alpha Centari, Weapons Officer)
Farstars
Enaraset (Male, Unknown, Farstars' Command)
The year is CE 2111, the eve of what would come to be known as the Second Stellar Conflict. UGTO fleets are sporadically engaged with forces of the Farstars. Caught relatively unprepared during a time of peace, UGTO ships were forced to withdraw to their last remaining stronghold in the SOL system, the Neptune Shipyards at Proteus. In the ensuing brawl, one dreadnought, the RED THIRD, flagship of Third Fleet under Admiral Berrict, managed to maneuver through the Farstar battle lines and escape into the relative safety of Tachyon Space, the realm of super-luminal transit.
As the RED THIRD reverted to sub-light speeds, her Captain called for status reports from his bridge officers. Lt. Cholin and Maj. Rhakar, Helm and Navigation respectively, called in all systems green. Navigation also reported their position to be northwest of Neptune (SOL-relative) at a range of 30 minutes for most mainline combat vessels. However, the Weapons, Engineering and Communication stations under the able direction of Lt. Lisast, Maj. Calerin and Lt. Comm. Nalther, all reported various levels of damage with repairs commencing. An hour later as the Captain brought RED THIRD down from General Quarters to normal alert operations status, an explosion rocked the ship. Even as Berrict asked what had happened and fearing the worst, he recalled an ‘all ships’ communiqué from Fleet Command advising that the Farstars had started deploying vacuum-hardened infantry units as zero-g sabotage squads. A repair crew passed the bad news via Engineering, a mine had indeed been hastily grafted to the hull in battle, and had detonated, shredding the drive systems, as workers were inspecting the engines.
With RED THIRD now stranded outside SOL, the Captain ordered Communications to re-double her efforts in trying to raise any surviving ships of Third Fleet that might have escaped the Farstar blockade. When Communications reported a brief contact and that they were being hailed, hopes of a rescue soared. Berrict called for the incoming transmission to the bridge’s primary holoplate, which normally displayed a tactical overview of local space. These hopes were crushed as the cloaked image of the Farstars’ Commander-Active Theaters and Ships, the enigmatic man known to UGTO Intelligence as Enaraset, materialized in the center of the bridge. Stunned, the Captain could only exclaim “It’s You!?!” Lt. Comm. Nalther looked up from her console, “It’s a wide-spectrum broadcast Captain, everyone from SOL to Bernard’s Star is receiving this. That ship out there is probably acting as a relay.”
Enaraset spoke, “Hello Gentlemen, greetings from the mighty Farstars to the puny imperialist weaklings. This day, your loyal forces have been routed, purged, EXPUNGED!, from your home system. We are even now in possession of all your bases in their whole entirety, we own all your jump gates, we control all your shipyards.” Looking at the unlistening hologram, the Captain could only mutter, “I can’t believe this, what you’re saying can’t possibly be true.” Enaraset continued his ranting, “So you see, there is no means by which you can oppose us, resistance will certainly lead to your destruction. Indeed, you are already along this path. You would be well advised to make the most of the time you have left to come to terms with your inevitable termination. Coming to terms of your surrender would also be acceptable.” With this, Enaraset broke into laughter and continued until Communications shut off the transmission, leaving Admiral Berrict brooding in his command chair.
A cacophony of proximity alerts ripped into the silence on the bridge as the Communications and Navigation simultaneously reported the appearance of a heavily armed Farstar war patrol exiting tachyon space almost directly on top of the RED THIRD, yet Berrict barely lifted his eyes at the bridge windows. Near his side, Comm. Sythen, the ships XO, called for orders, for any response, “Captain? Captain!” Realizing he was out numbered, out gunned and had no way to run, the Captain finally looked up. Addressing both his XO and Flight Officer Hirasawa, he give the last orders of his command, “All pilots to their fighters and launch, all crews to escape pods. Abandon ship, initiate self destruct.” Equally shocked by the fatalistic orders, the bridge crew was slow to react, prompting the Captain to begin to repeat his orders, “Launch all fighters… You know what you have to do,” he said as officers finally began leaving their posts for lifeboats.
Deep in the belly of the dreadnought where the hangers were located, alarm klaxons blared, and chaos reigned. Pilots scrambled into their B-29 fighters and made a piecemeal break for open space. Once clear of their launch tubes, squadrons suffered heavy casualties as their were raked by defensive laser fire and pulsed shields from the Farstar ships. As a salvo of torpedoes hammered the bridge windows like a titan’s fist, and with the RED THIRD burned around him, Admiral Ayral Berrict stood in the middle of the now empty bridge. He barely had time to yell, “For a greater Justice!” before the crystalline shrapnel spalled off the shattered windows and rendered him incapable of continued life, much less yelling.
And the remaining fighter pilots set a precedent for great UGTO carrier fleets to come, fought with a heroic determination, a single-minded ferocity, and against all odds managed to drive off the Farstar patrol. Thus it was that this one small light in a day of darkness, became a catalyst victory that, over the months and years to follow, paved the way for larger victories to come.
[ This Message was edited by: Doran on 2006-08-12 12:36 ]
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Sixkiller
Marshal
Courageous Elite Commandos
Joined: May 11, 2005
Posts: 1786
From: Netherlands
| Posted: 2006-08-12 15:14
since still no replies, there are people that like it!
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2006-08-13 07:50
If you where female, I'd ask you to marry me.
If you where male, I'd turn homosexual for you.
It's a shame your a mad, crazed cyborg hell bent on the destruction of the human race...
*sigh*
Life isn't fair.
10/10
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YIIMM
Grand Admiral
Joined: June 16, 2005
Posts: 851
From: Barcino, Hispania Tarraconensis
| Posted: 2006-08-13 10:32
Genius. It did make me laugh, too.
[ This Message was edited by: YIIMM on 2006-08-13 10:34 ]
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