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Story for Feb, final in a 3 part series.
In this story, I help someone remove their engines, Aohong sees a microwave and Quaren uses the antivirus
Part 1: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/60324041/
Part 2: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/60370748/
Part 3: You are here
Story is pasted below as usual
Time Capsule III
By Tanorath-drgn
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
I was actually surprised that Aohong decided to follow me up to the ship despite the approaching Alliance vessel. Perhaps he thought we were pulling his tail, or perhaps he didn’t quite understand how unpredictable these things can be. I did try to make it clear that this could go either way, but he seemed adamant even though dropping him back off wouldn’t have cost us any meaningful time.
Either way his tour would be delayed until this was sorted out. While the doctor was doing his checks, I had the bridge send down a quick brief. Something about a shiny new frigate headed our way. Fresh registry and a search of the database gave me no hits for the commander. Strange, if anything, their border is a long way away and it’s an awfully nice bit of kit to send this close to our lines.
Maybe they’re exploring too, though I doubt it.
Major Aohong
Cmdr, Altus Colony Security
It was surprising that Tano’rath didn’t insist on sending me back, though he did try pretty hard to dissuade me from following. Not sure, but despite his words of warning, the Captain himself didn’t seem overly worried, so I stayed.
As the blocky ship came closer, I couldn’t help but stare at the behemoth he called a medium cruiser. Sure, it’s smaller than our colony ship, but there was nothing medium about it. I could see windows dotted along the flanks, raised lines and what undoubtedly looked like missile ports.
We were led towards the hangar, whose doors sat already open for us, with the air inside held back by some sort of energy field – something I’ve only heard of in science fiction books. They even call them force fields, just like in the books. Tano’rath wasted no time once the shuttle was landed. As I walked out and waited for the ship’s doctor to conduct his checks, I couldn’t help but notice the sheer number of people. Our colony isn’t large and there are probably more of our kind on this ship alone…
While the Captain busied himself with a tablet, flicking through goodness knows what, I looked around at the metal walls, with racks holding docked craft, some identical to the shuttle that we’d arrived in and others with sleeker and more aggressive lines, with missiles and guns underslung on the wings. Off on the other side, there were two more trucks like the ones that they were using down below that were shackled to the floor. There were a few supply crates dotted around too and all the walkways were marked out in yellow paint.
I was only really snapped out of it when I heard Tano’rath speaking into his phone, “Yeah, yellow alert, raise shields and go to stand-to. This stinks too much for my taste.”
I glanced around to find that the doctor had already walked off and barely glimpsed his tail as he left the room through a large set of double doors. Tano’rath himself snorted, “Might be in for a bit more than we bargained for, but we’ll see. We’ve informed the colony that there might be some trouble, so they know to sit tight.”
With that, he beckoned for me to follow as he mentioned something about going straight to the bridge to do his job. As he walked, he would nod to other crewmembers, most of which seemed to be rushing somewhere or other, presumably to their stations. Almost all of them were checking their sidearms, Tano’rath included.
…maybe it would’ve been wiser to stay on the surface, but as I’ve been told, Daranakaans never run from battle, and I don’t intend to be the first to start…
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
We had a bit of time, so I let Aohong be a tourist while I pulled up the stats on this new Alliance ship, only to find that outside of a few basic numbers that you’d get from a passing scan, there wasn’t much else. Quaren had found a few reports of similar ships harassing some of our freighters and border patrols, though no real reason was ever given for why. They all fit the same general template and the ships all had strange energy signatures like this one.
If anything, whatever they were doing was toeing the line between harassment and act of war. ‘Poorly aimed’ warning shots that would hit shields, unnecessarily intrusive inspections of civilian ships traversing through space and things like that. Yes, we could start something on that basis, but we’d look petty for it and they’re clearly exploiting that. The I.I.S. had also taken an interest, so I had Tal send Telricktus a note.
Seems like this tour would be of a different kind if things go the way I suspect they will. Either way, I had Aohong follow me as I headed to the bridge, with the crew giving him more than a few looks for his old-style fatigues. The fact that he was looking at everything wide-eyed also probably didn’t help, but well, it’s his first time on a FTL ship.
At least this time there was no drama about sidearms – he hadn’t brought his and I let him keep his knife. Either way, I led my guest to the Bridge, gave him, a quick rundown on what everything was and then resumed my post. Again, Aohong was busy looking at things as I flicked through the report that Tal had left for me when he vacated my seat. As I flicked through the report itself, the terminal dinged with an incoming transmission and the ship shook as the shields took a hit.
Major Aohong
Cmdr, Altus Colony Security
As Tano’rath flicked through the reports on the touchscreen mounted to the chair, the ship pitched violently to one side as the HUD up in front showed that the pilot had taken evasive action, though the energy bolt from the newcomer grazed the energy shields which flared an angry red.
Energy shields! Things of science fiction?! They have them!
The bridge crew didn’t seem too fazed, though my counterpart’s head snapped around, looking less than pleased as he tapped a few buttons on his screen, “Ah yes, shoot first, hail later, fucking arseholes. Put them through, hold weapons at half power and prime engines.”
“I’m having the transmission flagged as malicious, they’re trying to break in,” the first officer, who looked a lot like the captain added from his station as he tapped away, “routing them to the isolated buffer and comms, do we want to give ’em a ride?”
“Yeah, counter and breach, “ Tano’rath replied as he squinted at the ship on the screen, “That’s a tiny frigate for the power it’s putting out. Do we have a read on weapons?”
“Light arms, but a lot of sensors,” another brown-scaled male replied with a snort, “Their captain is demanding that we leave, they want to stake a claim.”
Tano’rath snorted as he pulled up a zooned-in view of the admittedly much sleeker craft on his screen, “Tell them we are engaged in negotiations with the colony, we will leave when that’s done.”
“Thay’re charging weapons, sir.” The same officer replied as he glanced over at Tano’rath, “Orders?”
“Warning shot, half power, port bow.” Tano’rath snapped, zooming in more on the ship on his screen, “Weapons to full, general quarters. Inform Command and I.I.S.”
Having stood there the whole time, I couldn’t help but feel more than out of place, with the crew all clad in armour and Tano’rath himself having jumped out of his chair at some point and put his own set of combat fare on, all this being a stark contrast to my more than faded combat fatigues. I ended up tapping him on the shoulder, “Captain, do you need me to move elsewhere?”
“Nah. This is probably the safest place for you, they’ve been playing games but they usually pipe down after a while.” Tano’rath replied as he waved a hand, “Just take cover if we get boarded, but it shouldn’t-“
“They’re jumping!” The first officer shouted as the image of the other ship stretched and vanished in a flash of light, “we managed to disable their comms, but not much more. They probably noticed and left.”
“Give them a minute, let them think we’re not interested and then intercept,” Tano’rath replied as he sighed, “We’ve gotta get to the bottom of this and that ship has the answers.”
As Tano’rath spoke, I couldn’t help but notice the ship shift as a low hum made itself known in the background. As we shifted around and people tapped away at their consoles, I was half expecting someone to say that another ship had intercepted the runaway. Instead, however, I watched our colony move further and further from us on the screen, realising a little too late that we were breaking orbit. The next thing I knew, the low hum turned into a whine that grew in volume and frequency.
The dots of light that were the stars grew into lines the ship’s engines spooled, with the lines of light growing as the whine grew in volume, before the ship seemed to settle into a cruise with said lines drifting past as it moved…that’s until Tano’rath braked out “Swap!”
The ship shook as the lights dimmed, I saw a bolt of white light lance out from what was presumably the front of the ship as it lurched violently forward, the frame creaking and protesting as we were flung forward then dumped back into the previous starscape of light streaks…then again. Tano’rath himself glanced over and said something about cheating with two different types of FTL, but the details were lost on me.
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
Not all of our ships have this fancy new Slip-space drive, but I had been asked to test it in tandem with the Trans-light drive and overtaking a more than suspicious frigate is more than a good reason. As Aohong started at the screen, I sent a few orders down to have boarding shuttles and teams readied. Word came down that reinforcements were on the way, but it was pretty clear that they’d arrive too late to see any action. Either way, I was ordered to resume pursuit at all costs – Command has been trying to figure out what these ships are trying to do and this is the best chance yet.
With weapons hot and us closing the gap on the increasingly frantic frigate, which was trying to eke every last bit out of their engines, I glanced over at Aohong who was gripping my armrest so hard that he could’ve plucked a chunk off the thin padding, “You alright, Major?”
“I…uh, didn’t expect this today,” He replied slightly tersely as he looked over, “I’m sure you understand.”
“Oh, neither did I,” I replied with a nod as I tapped away at my screen, pulling up some data on the other ship only to find that their hull had been deflecting our scans, so there was none. “But shit happens.”
Major Aohong
Cmdr, Altus Colony Security
What they say is right, I suppose. Captain Tano’rath just casually referring to a FTL pursuit as ‘shit happens’ is almost exactly what I would’ve expected my great grandfather to say if he was in that chair. He probably did say that when a chunk of the ship exploded under him upon launch, but who knows.
The bridge was actually better lit than I thought it would be and the staggered layout of the stations made sure everyone could see the big screen up front. Tano’rath mentioned something about windows on the bridge always being a big target, so we weren’t actually close to the outside at all. They also had toilets, and a little office that Tano’rath pointed out that was for himself, though he didn’t bring me in since we were caught up with all this. There was even a fridge behind one of the wall panels and a small cupboard full of snacks.
Despite being in pursuit of another ship, Tano’rath still found the time to make small talk with me. He explained a few of the terms they used, especially with the course and heading callouts, which are similar to ours, surprisingly. When I mentioned that I would’ve thought a warship would be more…bare than this especially since their chairs are also quite nice, Tano’rath let me try his for a moment, but the Captain simply snorted. “We’d have a bar up here if we could.”
As if to emphasize his point, one of his officers opened the cupboard as the microwave inside that I had missed earlier dinged and helped themselves to a meat pie. Tano’rath did turn around and tell them to hurry up and finish it because he didn’t want ‘another flying pie incident’ and the food was eaten with much haste as a result.
As we drew closer, though, the bridge crew exchanged chatter, with Tano’rath dispensing rapid-fire orders, having missiles loaded with special payloads to knock the other ship out of FTL and having his troops get ready to board the other vessel. I had entertained the thought that this might be staged, but well, I don’t think anyone is that good…
We overtook the little frigate with yet another of those strange hybrid jumps, with the shipframe protesting the whole way, before the missiles were fired from behind, knocking the other vessel out of their ‘FTL bubble’ as they called it with twin brilliant blue explosions. As the other ship careened back to sub-lightspeed, we followed…
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
I was told that the I.I.S. only cared about the databanks on the ship and maybe a few sections of hull plating to see how they were deflecting our scans, the rest they could take or leave, so I glanced at the sensor readouts and minimap on my console as we dropped to sublight and snorted as Talorath called out that the other ship was trying to jump again, “Lock onto their FTL field emitters, fire missiles with proximity fuse and use our grapplers. Rip em off.”
“Aye, warheads armed and ready, I’ve got a lock on the emitters, just two at the top of the hull,” Quaren, who was being coached by the duty tactical officer replied as he tapped away, while Revelation stood by and watched, “Grappler is coming up on power now.”
“Their drive is priming already,” Talorath replied, “Recommend wearing their shields down to slow it.”
“Do it, intercept course, full engines. Fire once ready.” I replied as the little ship came to bear, already firing their energy bolts at our fore shields, “Get Engineering to pump up those shields, we’re going to have a bang. Boarding parties to make ready, launch once missiles away.”
As the ship lurched forward, Aohong gripped the backing of my seat and slightly flared his wings to steady himself. I half regretted not sending him back down to the colony, but well, I thought this would’ve been a short routine conversation with another ship as these things usually are. It wasn’t, of course. Never is when you have something else going on.
Either way, we surged hard forwards, towards the other ship as the missiles streaked towards their hardpoints, blowing the field emitters loose from the hull. As they sparked and the little frigate shook, our twin grappler hooks, usually used for reeling in debris or samples, shot out, grabbed each assembly and ripped them off the fuselage, dragging them away and leaving the other ship venting plasma and atmosphere in our wake.
As we came around for another pass, our boarding shuttles made contact and the troops started storming the ship. By the time I was ready to give the order for another round of weapons fire, the other vessel finally hailed us.
Major Aohong
Cmdr, Altus Colony Security
Brutal! They literally tore the engines off the other ship before boarding it, with Tano’rath overseeing things from his seat with almost cold efficiency, a stark contrast to the jokes he was making earlier and whatnot. I watched as they stormed the little ship while we deposited the chunks of engine that had been torn off a good distance away and came about.
Tano’rath was busy looking through his weapons readouts and the starmap, so I didn’t bother him. He was busy barking out course corrections to his officers to get the ship on the vector he wanted. As we moved, energy beams streaked out from both ships as they fought, before the other abruptly stopped and a notification came up on the screen that we were being contacted.
It’s over…? I glanced around at Tano’rath who was already eyeing the popup with suspicion, “Is it full of fucken malware again?”
“No, we ran it through the buffers four times, the handshake and stream are clean,” One of the officers, whose rank insignia looked like a cadet’s one replied, “Revelation has taken a look and he can’t find anything nasty in it.”
“What do they want, then?” Tano’rath replied as he raised an eyeridge, “if it’s video, patch it through.”
“Text only, we broke their comms earlier and they’re being transcribed by one of the marines,” Came the reply as the cadet turned back to his screen, “They want to surrender. Our troops confirm that the reactor core is also secure, so they can’t blow everything up either.”
“Well, cuff the lot, officers come here to be put in the brig, the rest put in the cargo bay and weld all the access hatches shut. You know the drill,” Tano’rath replied with a snort, “Strip all weapons lockers. Helm, line them up to be towed, tell the two reinforcements to meet us at the colony, it’s closer for them. Jump when ready.”
With that, Tano’rath stretched a little, before getting up and looking over at me, “Well, while that’s being sorted out, how about that tour I promised you, Major?”
“I’ve uh seen a lot more than a tour will show me, Captain,” I replied as I couldn’t help but raise an eyeridge at him, “But I’ll take it.”
Tano’rath nodded and nodded to the bridge in general before walking with me to the lift, “Great, I must apologise for this pursuit business, it was more than a little unpleasant, I’ll admit, we don’t usually go running around shooting at random shit.”
“No, I understand, they antagonised you, even I can see that,” I replied with a nod, “you do fight very well.”
“Thanks, it’s a dubious honour to have, believe me,” Tano’rath relied with a flick of his tail as he pressed a button in the lift, “Either way, lets start at engineering, so that you can see the engines that got us here.”
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
I gave Aohong his tour as things were wrapped up with the other ship. He did have a few questions about how the FTL worked and how we swapped around between the two types, so I gave him a quick explanation. He gave me a blank look in return so I just gave him a few ebooks on a tablet about the subject instead. Once the small arms were removed from the other ship and the prisoners were secure, we headed back to the colony with the other ship under tow. Apparently their captain was demanding to speak with me, but I had a guest to take care of.
Besides, Telricktus has already asked to be the first to question the officers, so they can talk to him instead. Doubtlessly they’ll have a very insightful conversation, especially since a familiar Agent was standing with Telricktus during the call.
By the time we had reached the colony, two cruisers were already waiting, with one in I.I.S. colours, so the whole thing was painted black. Doesn’t make a big cruiser any harder to see, but sure, black is sneaky.
The prisoners were whisked away and while the other captain tried to spit at Telricktus, he simply sidestepped it and shook his head. He thanked me for bringing the ship back, though questioned my method of obtaining it. I told him that I got results and that he should shut up, so he did.
Meanwhile, while the other ship stuck around to keep away more troublemakers, I sent Aohng back down to the ground, where the whole colony crowded around to ask him what had happened. As he told them his story, I was pulled aside and told that they had voted to become a protectorate for now, and perhaps they will rejoin us a bit later. A try before you buy option that we do offer, so it’s fair enough. While a proper diplomat was dispatched to finalise the nitty gritty of the arrangement, I was asked to stick around with the other cruiser to keep away any other troublemakers.
Thankfully, we received no more unwelcome visitors. Instead, a trade route was set up and an agreement was reached to help modernise the colony and provide some amenities to them in exchange for us being allowed to maintain a small supply station in orbit. I have to admit, it felt a bit weird watching the diplomat negotiate with what’s essentially our people, but it is what it is. Most of the original colony will be preserved as a museum and a monument to the early space effort.
Telricktus called a few days later to tell us that these ships were sent to try and steal information from our ships – comms codes, personnel details and whatnot. Some were even trying to hijack the ships entirely, but because of the decoupled way we design our vessels, that is thankfully not as easy as they thought it would be. He didn’t say what happened to the prisoners, but the ship was being pulled apart for further analysis. They even retrieved the chunks of engine that we had ripped off, though those yielded no insight.
Aohong and I still correspond now and then. He’s even gone to the Commune back home and had a good time, a family reunion of sorts. I showed hm around the Capital too and of course, took him to see the city of Alronnas, the former capital of the Alronnian Republic. He seemed happy to see that we’d all survived, but I could see the bitter sweet in his eyes when he saw the preserved ruins.
We can’t change the past…or well, it’s illegal to change the past. However, we can learn from it and I think we have, or well, I hope we have. Time will tell.
In this story, I help someone remove their engines, Aohong sees a microwave and Quaren uses the antivirus
Part 1: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/60324041/
Part 2: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/60370748/
Part 3: You are here
Story is pasted below as usual
Time Capsule III
By Tanorath-drgn
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
I was actually surprised that Aohong decided to follow me up to the ship despite the approaching Alliance vessel. Perhaps he thought we were pulling his tail, or perhaps he didn’t quite understand how unpredictable these things can be. I did try to make it clear that this could go either way, but he seemed adamant even though dropping him back off wouldn’t have cost us any meaningful time.
Either way his tour would be delayed until this was sorted out. While the doctor was doing his checks, I had the bridge send down a quick brief. Something about a shiny new frigate headed our way. Fresh registry and a search of the database gave me no hits for the commander. Strange, if anything, their border is a long way away and it’s an awfully nice bit of kit to send this close to our lines.
Maybe they’re exploring too, though I doubt it.
Major Aohong
Cmdr, Altus Colony Security
It was surprising that Tano’rath didn’t insist on sending me back, though he did try pretty hard to dissuade me from following. Not sure, but despite his words of warning, the Captain himself didn’t seem overly worried, so I stayed.
As the blocky ship came closer, I couldn’t help but stare at the behemoth he called a medium cruiser. Sure, it’s smaller than our colony ship, but there was nothing medium about it. I could see windows dotted along the flanks, raised lines and what undoubtedly looked like missile ports.
We were led towards the hangar, whose doors sat already open for us, with the air inside held back by some sort of energy field – something I’ve only heard of in science fiction books. They even call them force fields, just like in the books. Tano’rath wasted no time once the shuttle was landed. As I walked out and waited for the ship’s doctor to conduct his checks, I couldn’t help but notice the sheer number of people. Our colony isn’t large and there are probably more of our kind on this ship alone…
While the Captain busied himself with a tablet, flicking through goodness knows what, I looked around at the metal walls, with racks holding docked craft, some identical to the shuttle that we’d arrived in and others with sleeker and more aggressive lines, with missiles and guns underslung on the wings. Off on the other side, there were two more trucks like the ones that they were using down below that were shackled to the floor. There were a few supply crates dotted around too and all the walkways were marked out in yellow paint.
I was only really snapped out of it when I heard Tano’rath speaking into his phone, “Yeah, yellow alert, raise shields and go to stand-to. This stinks too much for my taste.”
I glanced around to find that the doctor had already walked off and barely glimpsed his tail as he left the room through a large set of double doors. Tano’rath himself snorted, “Might be in for a bit more than we bargained for, but we’ll see. We’ve informed the colony that there might be some trouble, so they know to sit tight.”
With that, he beckoned for me to follow as he mentioned something about going straight to the bridge to do his job. As he walked, he would nod to other crewmembers, most of which seemed to be rushing somewhere or other, presumably to their stations. Almost all of them were checking their sidearms, Tano’rath included.
…maybe it would’ve been wiser to stay on the surface, but as I’ve been told, Daranakaans never run from battle, and I don’t intend to be the first to start…
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
We had a bit of time, so I let Aohong be a tourist while I pulled up the stats on this new Alliance ship, only to find that outside of a few basic numbers that you’d get from a passing scan, there wasn’t much else. Quaren had found a few reports of similar ships harassing some of our freighters and border patrols, though no real reason was ever given for why. They all fit the same general template and the ships all had strange energy signatures like this one.
If anything, whatever they were doing was toeing the line between harassment and act of war. ‘Poorly aimed’ warning shots that would hit shields, unnecessarily intrusive inspections of civilian ships traversing through space and things like that. Yes, we could start something on that basis, but we’d look petty for it and they’re clearly exploiting that. The I.I.S. had also taken an interest, so I had Tal send Telricktus a note.
Seems like this tour would be of a different kind if things go the way I suspect they will. Either way, I had Aohong follow me as I headed to the bridge, with the crew giving him more than a few looks for his old-style fatigues. The fact that he was looking at everything wide-eyed also probably didn’t help, but well, it’s his first time on a FTL ship.
At least this time there was no drama about sidearms – he hadn’t brought his and I let him keep his knife. Either way, I led my guest to the Bridge, gave him, a quick rundown on what everything was and then resumed my post. Again, Aohong was busy looking at things as I flicked through the report that Tal had left for me when he vacated my seat. As I flicked through the report itself, the terminal dinged with an incoming transmission and the ship shook as the shields took a hit.
Major Aohong
Cmdr, Altus Colony Security
As Tano’rath flicked through the reports on the touchscreen mounted to the chair, the ship pitched violently to one side as the HUD up in front showed that the pilot had taken evasive action, though the energy bolt from the newcomer grazed the energy shields which flared an angry red.
Energy shields! Things of science fiction?! They have them!
The bridge crew didn’t seem too fazed, though my counterpart’s head snapped around, looking less than pleased as he tapped a few buttons on his screen, “Ah yes, shoot first, hail later, fucking arseholes. Put them through, hold weapons at half power and prime engines.”
“I’m having the transmission flagged as malicious, they’re trying to break in,” the first officer, who looked a lot like the captain added from his station as he tapped away, “routing them to the isolated buffer and comms, do we want to give ’em a ride?”
“Yeah, counter and breach, “ Tano’rath replied as he squinted at the ship on the screen, “That’s a tiny frigate for the power it’s putting out. Do we have a read on weapons?”
“Light arms, but a lot of sensors,” another brown-scaled male replied with a snort, “Their captain is demanding that we leave, they want to stake a claim.”
Tano’rath snorted as he pulled up a zooned-in view of the admittedly much sleeker craft on his screen, “Tell them we are engaged in negotiations with the colony, we will leave when that’s done.”
“Thay’re charging weapons, sir.” The same officer replied as he glanced over at Tano’rath, “Orders?”
“Warning shot, half power, port bow.” Tano’rath snapped, zooming in more on the ship on his screen, “Weapons to full, general quarters. Inform Command and I.I.S.”
Having stood there the whole time, I couldn’t help but feel more than out of place, with the crew all clad in armour and Tano’rath himself having jumped out of his chair at some point and put his own set of combat fare on, all this being a stark contrast to my more than faded combat fatigues. I ended up tapping him on the shoulder, “Captain, do you need me to move elsewhere?”
“Nah. This is probably the safest place for you, they’ve been playing games but they usually pipe down after a while.” Tano’rath replied as he waved a hand, “Just take cover if we get boarded, but it shouldn’t-“
“They’re jumping!” The first officer shouted as the image of the other ship stretched and vanished in a flash of light, “we managed to disable their comms, but not much more. They probably noticed and left.”
“Give them a minute, let them think we’re not interested and then intercept,” Tano’rath replied as he sighed, “We’ve gotta get to the bottom of this and that ship has the answers.”
As Tano’rath spoke, I couldn’t help but notice the ship shift as a low hum made itself known in the background. As we shifted around and people tapped away at their consoles, I was half expecting someone to say that another ship had intercepted the runaway. Instead, however, I watched our colony move further and further from us on the screen, realising a little too late that we were breaking orbit. The next thing I knew, the low hum turned into a whine that grew in volume and frequency.
The dots of light that were the stars grew into lines the ship’s engines spooled, with the lines of light growing as the whine grew in volume, before the ship seemed to settle into a cruise with said lines drifting past as it moved…that’s until Tano’rath braked out “Swap!”
The ship shook as the lights dimmed, I saw a bolt of white light lance out from what was presumably the front of the ship as it lurched violently forward, the frame creaking and protesting as we were flung forward then dumped back into the previous starscape of light streaks…then again. Tano’rath himself glanced over and said something about cheating with two different types of FTL, but the details were lost on me.
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
Not all of our ships have this fancy new Slip-space drive, but I had been asked to test it in tandem with the Trans-light drive and overtaking a more than suspicious frigate is more than a good reason. As Aohong started at the screen, I sent a few orders down to have boarding shuttles and teams readied. Word came down that reinforcements were on the way, but it was pretty clear that they’d arrive too late to see any action. Either way, I was ordered to resume pursuit at all costs – Command has been trying to figure out what these ships are trying to do and this is the best chance yet.
With weapons hot and us closing the gap on the increasingly frantic frigate, which was trying to eke every last bit out of their engines, I glanced over at Aohong who was gripping my armrest so hard that he could’ve plucked a chunk off the thin padding, “You alright, Major?”
“I…uh, didn’t expect this today,” He replied slightly tersely as he looked over, “I’m sure you understand.”
“Oh, neither did I,” I replied with a nod as I tapped away at my screen, pulling up some data on the other ship only to find that their hull had been deflecting our scans, so there was none. “But shit happens.”
Major Aohong
Cmdr, Altus Colony Security
What they say is right, I suppose. Captain Tano’rath just casually referring to a FTL pursuit as ‘shit happens’ is almost exactly what I would’ve expected my great grandfather to say if he was in that chair. He probably did say that when a chunk of the ship exploded under him upon launch, but who knows.
The bridge was actually better lit than I thought it would be and the staggered layout of the stations made sure everyone could see the big screen up front. Tano’rath mentioned something about windows on the bridge always being a big target, so we weren’t actually close to the outside at all. They also had toilets, and a little office that Tano’rath pointed out that was for himself, though he didn’t bring me in since we were caught up with all this. There was even a fridge behind one of the wall panels and a small cupboard full of snacks.
Despite being in pursuit of another ship, Tano’rath still found the time to make small talk with me. He explained a few of the terms they used, especially with the course and heading callouts, which are similar to ours, surprisingly. When I mentioned that I would’ve thought a warship would be more…bare than this especially since their chairs are also quite nice, Tano’rath let me try his for a moment, but the Captain simply snorted. “We’d have a bar up here if we could.”
As if to emphasize his point, one of his officers opened the cupboard as the microwave inside that I had missed earlier dinged and helped themselves to a meat pie. Tano’rath did turn around and tell them to hurry up and finish it because he didn’t want ‘another flying pie incident’ and the food was eaten with much haste as a result.
As we drew closer, though, the bridge crew exchanged chatter, with Tano’rath dispensing rapid-fire orders, having missiles loaded with special payloads to knock the other ship out of FTL and having his troops get ready to board the other vessel. I had entertained the thought that this might be staged, but well, I don’t think anyone is that good…
We overtook the little frigate with yet another of those strange hybrid jumps, with the shipframe protesting the whole way, before the missiles were fired from behind, knocking the other vessel out of their ‘FTL bubble’ as they called it with twin brilliant blue explosions. As the other ship careened back to sub-lightspeed, we followed…
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
I was told that the I.I.S. only cared about the databanks on the ship and maybe a few sections of hull plating to see how they were deflecting our scans, the rest they could take or leave, so I glanced at the sensor readouts and minimap on my console as we dropped to sublight and snorted as Talorath called out that the other ship was trying to jump again, “Lock onto their FTL field emitters, fire missiles with proximity fuse and use our grapplers. Rip em off.”
“Aye, warheads armed and ready, I’ve got a lock on the emitters, just two at the top of the hull,” Quaren, who was being coached by the duty tactical officer replied as he tapped away, while Revelation stood by and watched, “Grappler is coming up on power now.”
“Their drive is priming already,” Talorath replied, “Recommend wearing their shields down to slow it.”
“Do it, intercept course, full engines. Fire once ready.” I replied as the little ship came to bear, already firing their energy bolts at our fore shields, “Get Engineering to pump up those shields, we’re going to have a bang. Boarding parties to make ready, launch once missiles away.”
As the ship lurched forward, Aohong gripped the backing of my seat and slightly flared his wings to steady himself. I half regretted not sending him back down to the colony, but well, I thought this would’ve been a short routine conversation with another ship as these things usually are. It wasn’t, of course. Never is when you have something else going on.
Either way, we surged hard forwards, towards the other ship as the missiles streaked towards their hardpoints, blowing the field emitters loose from the hull. As they sparked and the little frigate shook, our twin grappler hooks, usually used for reeling in debris or samples, shot out, grabbed each assembly and ripped them off the fuselage, dragging them away and leaving the other ship venting plasma and atmosphere in our wake.
As we came around for another pass, our boarding shuttles made contact and the troops started storming the ship. By the time I was ready to give the order for another round of weapons fire, the other vessel finally hailed us.
Major Aohong
Cmdr, Altus Colony Security
Brutal! They literally tore the engines off the other ship before boarding it, with Tano’rath overseeing things from his seat with almost cold efficiency, a stark contrast to the jokes he was making earlier and whatnot. I watched as they stormed the little ship while we deposited the chunks of engine that had been torn off a good distance away and came about.
Tano’rath was busy looking through his weapons readouts and the starmap, so I didn’t bother him. He was busy barking out course corrections to his officers to get the ship on the vector he wanted. As we moved, energy beams streaked out from both ships as they fought, before the other abruptly stopped and a notification came up on the screen that we were being contacted.
It’s over…? I glanced around at Tano’rath who was already eyeing the popup with suspicion, “Is it full of fucken malware again?”
“No, we ran it through the buffers four times, the handshake and stream are clean,” One of the officers, whose rank insignia looked like a cadet’s one replied, “Revelation has taken a look and he can’t find anything nasty in it.”
“What do they want, then?” Tano’rath replied as he raised an eyeridge, “if it’s video, patch it through.”
“Text only, we broke their comms earlier and they’re being transcribed by one of the marines,” Came the reply as the cadet turned back to his screen, “They want to surrender. Our troops confirm that the reactor core is also secure, so they can’t blow everything up either.”
“Well, cuff the lot, officers come here to be put in the brig, the rest put in the cargo bay and weld all the access hatches shut. You know the drill,” Tano’rath replied with a snort, “Strip all weapons lockers. Helm, line them up to be towed, tell the two reinforcements to meet us at the colony, it’s closer for them. Jump when ready.”
With that, Tano’rath stretched a little, before getting up and looking over at me, “Well, while that’s being sorted out, how about that tour I promised you, Major?”
“I’ve uh seen a lot more than a tour will show me, Captain,” I replied as I couldn’t help but raise an eyeridge at him, “But I’ll take it.”
Tano’rath nodded and nodded to the bridge in general before walking with me to the lift, “Great, I must apologise for this pursuit business, it was more than a little unpleasant, I’ll admit, we don’t usually go running around shooting at random shit.”
“No, I understand, they antagonised you, even I can see that,” I replied with a nod, “you do fight very well.”
“Thanks, it’s a dubious honour to have, believe me,” Tano’rath relied with a flick of his tail as he pressed a button in the lift, “Either way, lets start at engineering, so that you can see the engines that got us here.”
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
I gave Aohong his tour as things were wrapped up with the other ship. He did have a few questions about how the FTL worked and how we swapped around between the two types, so I gave him a quick explanation. He gave me a blank look in return so I just gave him a few ebooks on a tablet about the subject instead. Once the small arms were removed from the other ship and the prisoners were secure, we headed back to the colony with the other ship under tow. Apparently their captain was demanding to speak with me, but I had a guest to take care of.
Besides, Telricktus has already asked to be the first to question the officers, so they can talk to him instead. Doubtlessly they’ll have a very insightful conversation, especially since a familiar Agent was standing with Telricktus during the call.
By the time we had reached the colony, two cruisers were already waiting, with one in I.I.S. colours, so the whole thing was painted black. Doesn’t make a big cruiser any harder to see, but sure, black is sneaky.
The prisoners were whisked away and while the other captain tried to spit at Telricktus, he simply sidestepped it and shook his head. He thanked me for bringing the ship back, though questioned my method of obtaining it. I told him that I got results and that he should shut up, so he did.
Meanwhile, while the other ship stuck around to keep away more troublemakers, I sent Aohng back down to the ground, where the whole colony crowded around to ask him what had happened. As he told them his story, I was pulled aside and told that they had voted to become a protectorate for now, and perhaps they will rejoin us a bit later. A try before you buy option that we do offer, so it’s fair enough. While a proper diplomat was dispatched to finalise the nitty gritty of the arrangement, I was asked to stick around with the other cruiser to keep away any other troublemakers.
Thankfully, we received no more unwelcome visitors. Instead, a trade route was set up and an agreement was reached to help modernise the colony and provide some amenities to them in exchange for us being allowed to maintain a small supply station in orbit. I have to admit, it felt a bit weird watching the diplomat negotiate with what’s essentially our people, but it is what it is. Most of the original colony will be preserved as a museum and a monument to the early space effort.
Telricktus called a few days later to tell us that these ships were sent to try and steal information from our ships – comms codes, personnel details and whatnot. Some were even trying to hijack the ships entirely, but because of the decoupled way we design our vessels, that is thankfully not as easy as they thought it would be. He didn’t say what happened to the prisoners, but the ship was being pulled apart for further analysis. They even retrieved the chunks of engine that we had ripped off, though those yielded no insight.
Aohong and I still correspond now and then. He’s even gone to the Commune back home and had a good time, a family reunion of sorts. I showed hm around the Capital too and of course, took him to see the city of Alronnas, the former capital of the Alronnian Republic. He seemed happy to see that we’d all survived, but I could see the bitter sweet in his eyes when he saw the preserved ruins.
We can’t change the past…or well, it’s illegal to change the past. However, we can learn from it and I think we have, or well, I hope we have. Time will tell.
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Dragon (Other)
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 157.3 kB
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