| Author |
Darkspace - The Week of Hell |
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
|  Posted: 2006-03-04 13:59
Here we go again folks! Before you read this, you might want to check out Rocko's story, The Forgotten Fleet, as this takes place within just days of the final chapter of TFF.
Two things you need to know other than the TFF story. First of all, this takes place approximately 10 years before Twilight. Second, it will be a much smaller scale story than Twilight was, so the few cameos that I will have will be small roles that use cameo names just for the sake of novelty. No asking for more parts than are given, please.
As per usual... the MS Word Doc Linky. Enjoy!
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Chapter 1 - Don't Panic? Like hell...
Coeus grunted as he rolled over. Staring up at the strange sky overhead, the young Captain sighed. With the success of The Forgotten Fleet less than two days behind him, he was aching from stress of the last couple of days. Trying to remember the last time he got sleep, he was startled by the nudge from the Marine Lieutenant less than a foot away. The kid - barely out of officers training - was lying flat on his stomach trying his best to not stand out like a sore thumb among the short green wavy grass surrounding them. He motioned towards the makeshift spaceport in front of them, where with any luck they would catch their first glimpse of the crew of the Icarus, one of the Combat Dreadnaughts that has been reported as missing and presumed defected by ICC High Command Intelligence - a contradiction in terms if Coeus had ever heard one.. Where they were getting this intel he dared not guess, all he could do at this point was follow orders and investigate reports of the missing ships whereabouts and try to get a reading on their crews.
"Well." Lieutenant Kerney grunted. "If they are here, they're keeping a low profile." he whispered, though he really didn't have to, glancing over at the landing field he could see a small civilian freighter lifting off. While it was confirmed that the Icarus was indeed in orbit getting re-supplied, there was no evidence that anything other than repair drones and supply craft were going between the ship and the surface. No crews, nothing.
"That settles it." Coeus said with a sigh of resignation. Kerney assumed mission scrubbed and started packing up his gear. Coeus let him but not for the reasons he thought. After Kerney had the intel equipment packed up and had cleaned up his MRE Bar wrappers, Coeus nodded towards the space port. "Ready?" Kerney stared at the captain blankly, his mind not quite comprehending what was about to happen, although most likely realizing it was coming.
"Uhh, for what, sir? Our mission was recon the Icarus crews on planetside. They never said anything about stowing away on a renegade Combat Dreadnaught bound for UGTO space." Kerney was visibly upset because he knew that if the Captain decided to go, he'd be tagging along, even if just out of morbid curiosity.
"Oh come on, Kern'. Don't think of it as stowing away. Think of it as... hitchhiking!" Coeus smiled that lopsided grin of his whenever he had a funky idea. "Now lets get moving, that supply shuttle is gearing up for another run, might be the last from the looks of the little bit of cargo they have left.
The two started down the slope of the hill. The spaceport itself was rather unimpressive, nothing more than a scattering of buildings, a magnetic launcher for the unmanned shuttles and a moderately sized low gravity pad to assist in the landing and launching of the larger freighters that flittered through randomly. Coeus used his pulse pistol set on low grade continuous burn to cut a hole in the primitive steel chain link fence surrounding the complex, then squeezed through the small gap. Kerney wasn't as lucky, but did a good job of not screaming when some of the molten steel managed to ease its way onto his uniform and through it in a matter of seconds. The burn itself was small and would heal just fine, but it looked, and - from the muffled grunts and groans that Kerney was making - sounded quite painful. Coeus moaned softly to himself as he examined the wound, then cheered up a bit when he realized that Kerney had quite literally taken the burn for Coeus. The burn was on his right forearm, which could only have gotten burned if Kerney was reaching out with his hand, which he would have had no reason to do other than to protect Coeus.
"I owe you one, now get your butt back to the shuttle and wait until the Icarus is out of orbit to head down to the southern pole and meet up with the Charger. That’s an order, no questions." Fury flickered in Kerney's eye, but was quickly replaced with a look that screamed of a war between Kerney's willpower and his urge to scream, cry, moan, and just plain die from the pain of the burn. Superficial or not, there was no way that Coeus would ever want to get scalded with burning metal if this was what it was like - not that he could think of a time in his life that he ever did want to get scalded. Kerney fired off a crisp salute with his left arm, and made his way back through the now cooled off hole and up the hill they had just descended, all the while keeping his right arm pinned in close to his body.
Coeus watched him go for a fleeting moment, then turned back to the spaceport. He had little time to waste, the shuttle was almost full.
Sneaking his way around the back of some power converters that had been left rusting in the open, he slipped around behind the ship to where a hydraulic lift was laying unattended. Powering it up, he moved the lift to the nearest crate that was labeled with an ICC Ident Tag. Confirming that it was destined for the Icarus he picked it up with the lift and started making his way towards the shuttle. Making sure that his fatigues were open and sloppy, and that his red and white hockey jersey was visible underneath, Coeus did his best to blend in, not that anyone would have noticed. Most of the other hands were letting the computers maintain the lifts. The few that did glance his way were far more interested in the fact that he was manually driving a lift at all rather than what he was wearing or the fact that none of them had ever seen him before. Typical union workers.
One of them did get a little curious, and when he looked over at Coeus questioningly he simply shrugged and pointed towards the computer box, indicating that the computer was messed up. Doing his best to look disgusted Coeus slumped over the controls a little bit more and sped up the lift before Mr. Inquisitive could catch up. Finally reaching the loading ramp, Coeus took a look around inside the cargo bay to see what else was being taken up. Nothing unusual this flight, except the fact that the shuttle wasn't an ICC registered transport but rather a local shuttle that seemed to have been contracted out. "So much for ICC regulations." Coeus said to himself. Driving the lift carefully into a corner, he set his crate down carefully, making sure there was plenty of room for him to squeeze in behind it. Setting the lift computer to take it out the main loading ramp and around to the front of the ship and away, Coeus hoped that Mr. Inquisitive wasn't all that interested enough to pay attention as one of the three lifts exiting the back of the shuttle was the one that Coeus rode in on.
Luck was with him, the guy wasn't paying attention and Coeus managed to squeeze in behind the crate with little difficulty, only making sure that the magnetic harness was keeping it in place, and for an added bit of security he slipped the emergency straps around the crate to make sure it didn't jar during flight and squish him. It was several minutes before the preflight checks were complete, during which Coeus almost managed to fall asleep, but never quite made it. Images of his fight with the Ganglia flittered through his head, along with the brief time that he got to spend with his father before the ICC sent out emergency orders describing what Backslash had done and demanding all available ships spread out across the ICC territories in a vain effort to corral some of the AWOL ships and crews. The fact that most of the available ships were the destroyers and cruisers from the beat up Forgotten Fleet that Rocko had commanded, and also given that most of the AWOL ships were dreadnaughts, Coeus didn't hinge much on actually corralling the ships. Instead, he resigned himself to board the ships and see what in the hell was going on. Silly him, he never thought he would actually succeed.
Within minutes, the shuttle was in the air and on its way through the upper atmosphere. He imagined the sight of the giant ICC warship in parking orbit as seen from the confines of the cockpit of a small private freight shuttle, with its looming superstructure arching around the primary freight docking ports on the outer pylons. He had to admit, ICC ships were a thing of beauty, and at the same time so ugly that not even their designers could look at them for very long most times. At least, thats how Coeus thought of it. Most people's imaginations went straight to the ugly part. With a resounding clank all imagination of movement stopped, although there was no indication they had ever been moving. Inertia compensators have come a long way since the academy days, Coeus thought randomly. With a bit of effort, he managed to squeeze into his ICC Crew Coveralls, hoping that the Icarus crew hadn't time to change over to UGTO uniforms. He had a pair of those as well, but would rather not get caught changing in a tight space.
"Damn." He thought to himself. "I'm getting really lucky today." he peered out past his crate and saw the dozen or so crew entering to inspect the contents were indeed wearing ICC Crew Coveralls. When they started out to get their hydraulic lifts, Coeus trailed along behind the last one, his navy blue cap pulled low over his eyes. When he was out of the shuttle, he made for a lift nearest the exit hatchway into the corridor. Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention, Coeus keyed in his authorization code, praying that they hadn't had time to remove command codes from the network. His luck held and the door slipped open. Opening his eyes and settling down from his preparation against the alarms and security that wouldn't come just yet, he strode confidently through the door, as a crewman would on his way to attend to his proper duty. It would take the duty officer some time to get around to reviewing the access logs of the shuttlebay, time which Coeus could use to wander the ship and gather some intel on exactly what the hell was going on.
*****
"He did WHAT?" Beatte shouted over the comlink. Kerney winced at the thought that he was flying on his way back into. "And you just left him?" The first officer of the Charger asked. The Icarus had left less than twenty minutes after the last shuttle arrived and unloaded. The shuttle was barely into the atmosphere before the massive hulk was coming about and making way for a hyperspace jump. Kerney was in the air and en route to the Charger at the southern pole shortly after. All told, Coeus had been on board the Icarus for thirty minutes now, and god knows what was happening. From the way the dreadnaught made her way out of system it seemed as if he hadn't been caught yet, because one would think that they would have investigated how an ICC Assault Cruiser captain had boarded their ship.
"He ordered me, Sir, and I would be more of a hindrance to him than anything else." Kerney explained through the meds. While he deeply regretted his decision, he knew it was the only one that could be made, and so did Beatte.
"Very well, make all speed for docking bay two and prepare for an immediate hyperspace jump. We plotted their course towards the Ross 148 system on the edge of UGTO territory. We're going to try and beat them there." Kerney knew that it was possible, but they had to be gone like five minutes ago. Not literally, but close enough. He flew the ship as best he could with only one working hand, as his right arm had long since gone numb with pain and drugs. As Kerney maneuvered the small two man shuttle in to position around the starboard underside of the Charger and awaited the computer takeover, he noticed a small glint just beyond the range of his vision, followed by a ring of hyper wake that signified a ship dropping out of FTL speeds nearby. He had little time to think of it however as the hull of a beaten and battered Assault Cruiser came sharply into view as the computer piloted the shuttle into the docking bay. Shortly after that, Kerney was slumped, passed out with pain and intoxication over the controls which were, thankfully, still under computer control.
Several more minutes passed in which the shuttle was decontaminated and the recovery crew and their marine escorts donned hazmat suits and opened the hatchway once the entire scene was moved inside an airtight safety hangar. All of which was standard procedure for when a shuttle's pilot falls unconscious during flight. The threat of infection on board a starship was a serious threat indeed. The close quarters and recycled air and water made for a very inviting target. It was almost ten full minutes after Kerney passed out that the crews were able to get to him. By that time, it was too late. The doctors determined immediately that he would be in his coma for at least two days, and possibly as long as a week. Some of the molten steel had gotten into his blood stream and mixed with the drugs that he later took, and the resulting chemicals forced his brain to shut itself down out of self preservation. Beatte stood hovering over his bed for the better part of an hour, trying to will him out of the coma. All he got out of it was a loss of appetite from the smell of the infirmary.
"Bottom line it for me, Lt. Jameson." Beatte looked at the young man who was the 2nd officer of the ship. Kid would make a good captain someday. Good head on his shoulders, and the experience with the Forgotten Fleet had taught him well. Out of the corner of his eye, Beatte noticed the ship's fighter wing CAG, Arron Potter, wander into the infirmary and make a beeline for Kerney's bed. He was not only Kerney's direct superior, but his sort of brother-in-law by way of Kerney's sister and Potter's brother. The only thing that surprised Beatte about Potter's appearance is how long it took.
"Well, from what we've been able to discern so far from the shuttle's database Coeus made it on board just as Kerney said, and there were no indications that he was captured or discovered. From the way the Icarus broke orbit and headed out of system I'd tend to agree with that. We have their probable heading and it is indeed 148. We're underway and making all preparations for combat. Honestly, however, I really don't think we have much of a chance. Not just the specter of fighting an ICC ship with an ICC crew, but also the superior firepower and shielding she’s carrying. The Icarus wasn't just any regular Combat Dreadnaught. She has been custom modified by ICC R&D for close ship-to-ship combat. Specifically, cruisers, sir." Jameson paused as Beatte took this all in. It didn't seem possible that something like this could happen, but it was. He reviewed the list of ships that have been reported as defected in his mind, but Jameson was one step ahead of him as he brought out a datapad and started pointing out ships from the list that Beatte was just going over in his mind. "That’s right sir, they are all from the batch of ships that R&D has custom modified for cruiser specific targeting. Considering the bulk of the entire Confederate Navy is cruisers I would say this has been in the works for some time." Jameson took a beat to consider the implications of what he was about to say. "This may have been the entire reason that R&D developed, or was ordered to develop, these anti-cruiser modifications."
"Hmm." Beatte frowned, wrinkling his forehead in a way that seemed to ensure permanent wrinkles. "How many people know about this?" he then asked.
"As of right now, on the ship, just you and me. The information is readily available, although I don't know of many other people who would dig it up, or know of the correlation." Jameson's voice had grown notably lower in volume since the subject of the Icarus and her modifications had come up, to the point where the two officers were effectively whispering in the loud and busy infirmary. Glancing around, Beatte couldn't see anyone actively listening in on their conversation, but that really didn't mean jack all if someone was really intent on listening to them. Jameson caught the commander's sudden apprehension.
"I've got some duty's to attend to, sir. I'll report back later." the Operations officer said professionally. Beatte snapped off a brief salute, and turned to face Kerney and Potter as Jameson spun on his heels and walked out.
*****
Coeus fought exhaustion as he wandered aimlessly through the guts of the massive dreadnaught. As time passed and all the routines of the ship appeared to be just that - routine, Coeus had less and less faith in the decision he made. He finally concluded that if there was going to be anything to discover it would be on the bridge. Sneaking into a corner to consult the blueprints on his mini-comp, he then made his way to the nearest lift to take him up to the command deck. All in all, the design wasn't that dissimilar from the Charger's, just on a much grander scale. It wasn't until the lift stopped on the bridge exit that Coeus realized who he was sharing the car with.
"Good morning, Captain. We've got a report about that sensor ghost that passed us by in hyperspace a few hours ago. It appears to have been an Assault Cruiser that tracked us from the re-supply base on Masco." Coeus froze for a split second, then made his way unobtrusively past the captain and first officer to an empty sensors display and pretended to be taking down notes from the readout. "We have IDed her as the I.C.C.S. Charger. She was a member of Rocko Willis' detachment up until a few days ago. Report came over the newsnet a few hours after they found that settlement in the middle of nowhere, the whole story about the fleet and the news that it was being dismantled."
"Uh huh..." The captain nodded her head. "Rather convenient timing, wouldn't you say Colin?" The first officer nodded his head. Something about the way she said that caught Coeus' attention, and immediately he was on his guard and had the distinct sense that he had been made. Rather than trying to slink away or fight his way out, he did the least expected thing. He turned and faced the captain. Of the ship.
“Captain Tarne, I believe we have much to talk about.” Coeus said.
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Crim
Fleet Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 16, 2003
Posts: 1336
| Posted: 2006-03-04 14:04
You always know how to please me...
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2006-03-04 14:08
shhh... that was supposed to be personal! 
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Darkspace: Twilight
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2006-03-04 14:46
More.
Now.
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2006-03-04 15:07
Deja vu? =P
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2006-03-24 20:47
Gonna clean up chapter 1 a bit, just some minor fixes, nothing to do with the storyline. In the meantime,
Chapter 2 – Mount up kiddies!
Timebase: May 23rd 2283 – 08:35 Sol Standard Time
Coeus shifted uneasily in his seat. “If what you’re telling me is true, then you truly believe that the ICC have betrayed you.” Coeus scoffed internally at the idea. The ICC High Command was made up of the most trustworthy, intelligent, reliable people he knew of. Whatever interpreted betrayal that this agent convinced Tarne of was simply misrepresented to sway her to the agent’s side. It had to be. “Which, is of course, impossible because you are blaming the entire Confederation of conspiracy… a conspiracy that myself, my crew and my fleet seem to have been left out of.” Tarne visibly controlled herself from rolling her eyes. Coeus was fighting a losing battle – an hour of rhetoric is no match for years of misinformation, lies, propaganda, and brain washing.
“Captain, you waste your time. Seeing as how your ship has gone on ahead of us to the Ross 148 system, and have settled into a nice orbit around Ross 4, one of the few planets controlled by the confeds left in the system.” Secretly Coeus cheered, because he knew that Beatte had other things in mind. He decided to probe a bit.
“So is that a good thing for you or bad?” He asked idly. Tarne was too quick, however. He had to keep reminding himself that she had undergone the same training as he did and had more experience. “Right, silly question.” He said before she could make a comment to match the bemused look on her face. “What now? Kill me? Present me as a prize?” Coeus’ face was dead serious now.
“Now,” Tarne said with a neutral expression. “We get you out of our hair, hopefully for good if you know what’s best for you.” The manor in which she said that told Coeus that they were going to drop him planetside someplace where the ICC would be likely to pick him up. While that was helpful, it was nowhere near enough. The time to act was now. Letting his hand droop lazily to the side of his chair, Coeus inched his right foot back marginally. The lazy guards who were unimpressed with yet another ICC captain weren’t even looking.
The familiar pressure of Coeus’ combat knife, as reassuring as it was, didn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence against trained marines carrying pulse rifles. Luckily, Coeus had a serious advantage over the guards. It was also a simple advantage … his plan was so outlandish and incredibly stupid that it would be completely unexpected. In the blink of an eye, he had the knife in the palm of his hand, with the tip of the blade against Tarne’s neck. The guards, as expected, were too confused and scared for their captain’s life to even so much as raise their weapons. “Ok.” He thought to himself, “Now what…”
“Ok Captain, now what?” Tarne echoed his thoughts. It was a full ten count before Coeus responded.
“Do I really have to state the obvious? As much as I love clichés, it really isn’t necessary.” Coeus said to the guards, who got the message instantly and set their rifles on the ground and stepped back. While they didn’t raise their hands they also made no effort to conceal the fact that they were keeping them in plain sight. “Didn’t think so. Face the wall, kneel down, hands behind your head with fingers interlaced. There ya go, you boys know the drill.” Coeus slid over to where the pulse rifles were and picked them both up. Keeping one trained on Captain Kempler, and the other trained on the marines. With his thumbs, he flipped the safety on the rifle trained at the marines off, and swung the other rifle by its sling around his neck and onto his back. With the remaining rifle, he promptly walked over to the marines, and clubbed them in the back of the head, slamming their faces into the bulkheads. He checked their pulses to make sure that bloody noses were the worst of it, and turned his attention back to Tarne, who was still sitting impassively behind her desk. There was no way of knowing whether or not she had tripped an alarm, but Coeus was out of options. He reached down and picked up a pulse pistol from one of the marines and moved over to sit back down in front of Tarne.
“Well,” she said, “Theres certainly no denying that you’ve been keeping up with your hand-to-hand practice.” Tarne kept her hands interlaced in a temple just in front of her, a non-threatening and yet non-yielding posture that said she was willing to talk, and to listen.
“Not here.” Coeus said, he finished fidgeting with his left boot and then stood up, a small object in his hand. “A personal identifier, the Charger is on its way. Up.” Coeus said, motioning with the pulse pistol. He took the charge clips out of the pulse rifles, and shot the inside door control panel with the pistol. Tarne didn’t even flinch, and walked calmly out into the corridor, Coeus hot on her heels with the pulse pistol casually hidden under his flight jacket draped over his right arm. “Fighter bay.” He said before she could ask where they were going, and together they moved naturally through the corridors of the Icarus.
*****
Beatte spun his seat around to face the comms officer. “Are you sure?” He said. Lieutenant Pali just nodded his head, as if to say “Would I have told you if I wasn’t sure?” Beatte got the message, and said “Right, of course you’re sure. Relay the coordinates to the helm, Ensign Arnett, lay in a course and power up the Tachyon drive. All fighters to ready stations, stand by the launch catapult, raise shields and arm weapons as soon as we are out of FTL space.” Beatte flipped a switch on the 1mc, and then said “All hands this is the XO, stand by for an intra-system jump. Secure all stations, lock down all compartments, and fasten your seatbelts folks – we’re jumping into a hot zone.” Beatte glanced over at Lt. Commander Jameson, the operations officer and 3rd in command of the Charger. Jameson’s head was focused intently on his panel, making sure the ship was safe to jump. After a few seconds, Terry looked back at Beatte and nodded his head.
“We’re good to go, Commander. All sections report ready.” Jameson said. Looking at the comm., Ensign Arnett was busy working the controls in preparation for the tricky business that was a short hop through the upper tachyon ranges. The FTL of the Charger was an antiquated, but Chief Powers kept it operating in pristine condition. It was not without its problems, however. The old design, a Tachyon Mk. IV, was problematic when it came to short hops of less than 50,000 galactic units. Coeus’ personal beacon, most likely still aboard the Icarus, was registering from less than 20,000 gus away. The size of the Icarus as well as her signature was being masked by the radiation emanating from the star of the system, ironically named Ross 148. That could mean only one thing.
“Prepare marine boarding pods, as well as security forces to repel boarders.” Beatte added to his string of orders. He switched off the 1mc, and when Jameson looked back at him, he said, “They know we’re here, and probably know we’re coming.”
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Crim
Fleet Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 16, 2003
Posts: 1336
| Posted: 2006-03-24 20:50
=)
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Lux (Polaris)
Fleet Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: April 20, 2004
Posts: 835
From: Asgard
| Posted: 2006-03-24 21:17
Tis good.
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ICC Security Councilor - Raven representative
Loyal Admiral of the Interstellar Cultural Confederation Navy.
Senior Commander of the Raven Warriors, the ICC elite.
Captain of the Assault Dreadnaught \"Gungnir\"
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Veronw
Marshal
Joined: December 13, 2004
Posts: 554
| Posted: 2006-03-24 21:45
I want to be in the story plz!!
[ This Message was edited by: Veronw *FC* on 2006-03-24 21:45 ]
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2006-03-29 16:54
Woo hoo! Finally finished the damn chapter & remembered to bring the disk home! MS Word Doc Linky
Enjoy
________________________________
Chapter 3 – Walk this way
Timebase: May 23rd 2283 – 08:50 Sol Standard Time
“Turn left.” Coeus said, consulting his personal computer & communications device. It had taken a bit of weaseling, but he managed to empty out the security office so he could go in and get his own pulse pistol, his PCCD, and some remote access codes to roam freely through the ship without having to threaten Tarne at every doorway. It then took them a good ten minutes to get down to the launch bay, where Coeus was trying to decide whether to try and sneak aboard a ship with the Icarus’ captain in tow, or just walk out blatantly brandishing his pulse pistol and her as a prisoner. The decision was soon made for him as the alarms sounded indicating battle stations.
“Tactical alert, ICC Assault Cruiser 4000 gu off the starboard side aft.” The overhead speaker said. “Captain Kempler to the bridge.” It then stated. As if in response, a voice from behind Coeus and Tarne spun them around.
“Captain? Shouldn’t you be on your way to the bridge? Sounds like an emergency.” The young mechanic said. He seemed innocent enough, but there was no way of knowing.
“Shes gonna be a little late, I’m afraid.” Coeus said as he did indeed brandish his pulse pistol. The mechanic put his arms up instinctively, and Tarne stiffened at the prospect of one of her crew being threatened. “Put your arms down. Don’t try anything cliché and stupid, and both you and your captain will be fine. I give you my word.” He then motioned for Tarne to start moving towards the closest shuttle, a small orbital transport usually used for ferrying personnel to and from the surface of a planet. “All aboard.” Coeus said. Twenty seconds later, Tarne was strapped into the co-pilots seat, her console switched off with a few pulse blasts, and Coeus was maneuvering the shuttle towards the launch bay doors. “Crap…” he said, and gunned the throttle trying to make it through the launch doors before the sealed shut. This was his one chance to escape.
“Trying to get us killed? I don’t think that will uncover any hidden truths you think exist if you’re dead.” Tarne said impassively. Coeus saw out of the corner of his eye as even though her face was set in stone, her hands dug into the armrests of the chair with white knuckle intensity. Coeus ignored her and ducked under an F-29 fighter that was hanging from a rack by its launch tube. They were already preparing to intercept him, he could only hope that Beatte had launched the Charger’s own fighters. Holding his breath, Coeus turned the shuttle sideways to squeeze between the doors, a maneuver that turned out to be highly unnecessary as Tarne had already entered the codes into the central console between them to override the doors and open them. “I have no particular interest in seeing what it feels like to become a bug splatter.” She said. Her voice betrayed no emotion, and was indeed rather monotone, which told Coeus that she was scared out of her wits. He was impressed with her self control, though wouldn’t dare let it show.
The comm. squabbled before Coeus could say anything. “Attention shuttle C.T.S. Remorse, this is Raven Flight Lead, shut down your engines and prepare to be tractored in.” Coeus looked out the window to his left and saw an F-29 flying close escort, the pilot – Coeus read his call sign to be Crimson, was motioning Coeus to cut his engines. ‘Damn they got out here quick’ he thought to himself. Instead of shutting down, he decided on the easiest course of action. He powered up and attempted to ram the F-29 Steelhead fighter, an effort he knew to be in vain, but Crimson would have to swing around in a wide arc after dodging the shuttle in order to get a weapons lock.
“Damn,” Coeus said after a few seconds as the fighter had already reestablished a lock. Tarne just glanced at him and shrugged. “They would really risk killing you?” He asked. She just sighed and faced forward again, but not before tightening her harness. “Wonderful.” Coeus muttered, and put the surprisingly nimble shuttle into a sharp dive, followed by a corkscrew climb. It was several minutes into these maneuvers before the lock turned into a radar warning.
“Holy crap!” Tarne shrieked as a small anti-ship missile passed within a few meters of her window.
“Warning shot.” Coeus said, as he pumped energy from the life support system into the shields.
As if to corroborate Coeus’ assumption, the radio squawked an incoming transmission, “Attention shuttle C.T.S. Remorse, that missile was your last warning.” Crimson said. Eternity seemed to pass before the status of the lock changed to an active missile targeting warning.
“Crap… where are you Mark…” Coeus muttered as he put the shuttle into another series of spins, twists, and desperate nosedives and climbs against the invisible plane of the Ross 148 planetary orbits. He was about to spin around to try and get behind Crimson’s F-29 when his scanners blared a warning of new missile lock signals. “Oh goody, he brought friends…” The shuttle started to rock as long range cannon fire from the new fighter group impacted all around them. Instead of trying to outrun them and without even thinking of surrendering, Coeus cut his engines briefly and spun the shuttle around 90 degrees to face the new fighters, and fired up at full military thrust. The booster engines kicked in with a groan, and Coeus and Tarne felt themselves pushed back in their seats before the inertial dampeners jolted in and compensated.
“We can’t keep this up for very long.” Tarne said. She glanced at the scanner console and practically yelled at Coeus, “There are more of them coming in, you have to surrender. Give it up, and maybe I’ll let you live.” She was starting to feel as if she had the upper hand when the radio squawked again.
“Attention aggressive fighters, this is Lt. Aaron Potter, callsign “Crossbow” of the C.S.S. Charger Interceptor Squadron Hornet Flight. Please acknowledge.” A new voice said. Coeus practically cheered, but was still dodging active homing missiles, even though no new ones were being fired.
“Signal acknowledged. Responding Lt. James Watts, callsign “Crimson” of the C.S.S. Icarus Attack Squadron Raven Flight. Stand down Crossbow, you are heavily outnumbered. We are taking the shuttle C.T.S. Remorse in, or we are taking her out. Acknowledge.” Crimson said over the squawk. By now the missiles had all run out of fuel and were drifting about harmlessly and disarmed automatically. Coeus maneuvered his shuttle off to the side of the middle ground between the two squadrons as they grew closer together, and listened intently.
“Negative Raven Flight.” Crossbow said, and suddenly Coeus realized why. They weren’t flying the standard F-29 multi-role fighters. “We have superior firepower and maneuverability, Hornet Flight is composed of I-19 Interceptors. Stand down Raven Flight.” Coeus was only half listening at this point, as the two CAGs went back and forth with procedure and trying to one up each other. He turned to Tarne instead.
“You can end this now.” Coeus said. After a moment of Tarne remaining silent and staring out at the starfield. “Good pilots will die if you don’t order Crimson to stand down. If he’s a CAG like any other I’ve ever met there is no way he is backing down without direct orders.” Coeus didn’t feel like seeing good pilots die, especially not good ICC pilots, even if they were misdirected.
“You don’t understand,” Tarne started to say, when a shriek rang out from the computer consoles.
“Crap!” Coeus said and fired up the engines, starting into emergency evasive maneuvers.
“C.T.S. Remorse, missile! Evade, jink right!” Crossbow said over the radio. “Hornet Flight, engage. I say again, engage!” Then silence, as both squads switched to private encoded frequencies. It took Coeus a moment to dodge the missile before he could tune into Hornet Flight’s radio frequency.
“Hornet 3, tally ho on two bandits closing on the shuttle, mark point six GU.”
“Hornet 4, Hornet 5, form up on the Shuttle’s flank.
“Hornet Leader, you’ve got a trio on your six. Pull in, flank left jink right and flip around, bring them to me.”
“Roger Hornet 7.” Coeus keyed in the onboard cameras of Crossbow, and winced as a series of cannon shots sprinted past the camera and rotated out of view when Crossbow threw his nimble little interceptor into a barrel roll. He didn’t have time to track the progress of the battle though because it soon became apparent that though Raven Flight was outgunned, they still had the numbers to spare to try and take out the shuttle. Coeus was involved in some complicated maneuver that involved dumping some fuel from the thruster pods when the comm. squawked again.
“Shuttle Remorse, this is Raven Flight lead, this is your final warning. I have missile lock, shut down your engines and prepare to be towed back to the Icarus.” Crimson said. It was obvious that he was bluffing, he was losing too many pilots to maintain superiority long enough to keep the shuttle under control until the Icarus arrived.
“Negative, Raven Flight lead, stand down your weapons.” Crossbow came over the comm. channel, “I have your fighter locked, stand down your weapons.” Coeus risked a glance down at his nav panel. All of the rest of Raven Flight and Hornet Flight were involved with each other, only Crimson and Crossbow were near the shuttle, and they were facing off on opposite sides, with Crimson on the port, and Crossbow on the starboard. It was clear that they were trained on each other, but the shuttle was still close enough to the middle ground to risk getting a stray shot.
“You think I’m going to back down to some cruiser patrol jockey?” Crimson said, and cut the channel. Coeus threw the thrusters into full reverse in time to see Crimson’s F-29 open up on Crossbow’s I-19, which spun sideways on thrusters and handily ducked under the cannon shots. Powering forward, he looped up into a camel hump maneuver, dropping chaff to distract the F-29’s missiles. Swooping down from overtop of Crimson, the I-19’s superior speed and maneuverability enabled him to swing around behind the slower, but more heavily armed F-29.
“Disengage, Raven Flight Lead.” Crossbow gave Crimson one final warning, and powered up his interceptor missiles. They packed a far weaker punch than the F-29’s ASM’s, but being designed to engage and destroy highly maneuverable enemy fighters, they didn’t need to be able to punch through interstellar armor.
“Go to hell, Cruiser Jockey.” Crimson said, and fired his afterburners and pulled up in an attempt to outflank the I-19. He wasn’t halfway through the loop when one of the missiles that Crossbow fired found it’s mark, and tore off Crimson’s right wing and engine pod. His small craft began to spin out of control, and the entire canopy popped off as the emergency ejection system engaged.
“Captain, the rest of Raven flight is regrouping with the Icarus, we are detecting at least three more attack squadrons, we can’t hold them off. Its time to go, sir.” Crossbow radioed in. Captain Kempler was still as silent and stoic as ever, so Coeus proceeded without consulting her.
“Roger Raven Flight, make best speed for the Charger and get aboard, we’re going to need to make a quick exit from the system. We should be able to outrun those fighters with the lead we’ve got, as long as the Charger makes full steam to get here.” Coeus was already on his way to rendezvous with the Assault class Cruiser. Hornet flight shot away ahead of him in the same direction – being much faster and smaller, they would be able to dock quickly, but Coeus’ shuttle was another matter. They would have to tractor him aboard while under fire from enemy fighters.
“Good luck, sir. I’ll tell Commander Beatte to expect you, and your company. And sir, you might want to attune your beacon to the Charger’s FOF identifier, otherwise the point defense could make it a very short flight.” Crossbow said, his fighter lingering at the edge of the shuttle’s limited radio range.
“Very well, thanks for all your help Crossbow. Remorse out.” Coeus closed the channel.
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Crim
Fleet Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 16, 2003
Posts: 1336
| Posted: 2006-03-29 17:47
Darnit =)
Great job nocking me off, though
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2006-03-29 19:09
Notice the escape pod 
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Crim
Fleet Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 16, 2003
Posts: 1336
| Posted: 2006-03-29 19:12
Yeah, im waiting for that 'unplanned planet' to hit me..
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2006-03-29 19:40
Ooo, good idea!
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Darkspace: Twilight
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