EDFS Andromeda

Bridge

Hijikata frowned as the Imperial Officer brusquely declared that the system they had come from did not exist and demanded to see the real data. He wasn't in the mood for games, and certainly not threats. "I assure you, that is our navigation data. Why would we do something so foolish as to try and smuggle war criminals into your system using navigational data for planets that don't exist?"

That question, never got answered, as weapons fire struck the ship, flashing through space outside the bridge as the deck shuddered beneath them all, those not seated struggling for balance in the aftermath. Red lights flashed up on consoles as alarms rang off, the bridge bursting into activity, Richards moving without having to be ordered back to the helm, and Hijikata resumed his seat in the Captain's chair above it all.

"What was that," he asked urgently, with an added. "Damage report?"

Flynn was the first to respond. "Sir, we're being fired on by the Imperial vessels."

Toma followed quickly on her heels. "Damage to starboard side, decks 12, 13, and 14. Hull breaches reported.

Hijikata growled, leaping straight to combat mode. "Seal off the breaches and dispatch repair teams, now." He turned to Simon Cabrera, their weapons officer. "Lieutenant, target the Imperial warship, prepare to fire shock cannons and prep missile tubes for launch." Cabrera nodded and began relaying instructions to the firing rooms for the bow and stern shock cannons, which rotated to target the Venator class they were in formation with. .

Hijikata then turned to the other issue, looking down from his perch at the Imperials on the bridge. "Gentlemen, I wish it had not come to this, but your ships have fired on us, and I have no choice but to declare us in a state of hostilities. Marines, please escort them to the brig immediately. Under the Geneva Convention I promise you will not be harmed."

There was a scoff from the Imperial officer, who stood tall as his stormtroopers leveled their rifles at the marines opposite them. "Surrender? To rebels, thieves, and liars? I don't think so. Surrender now, or you will be destroyed by the fleet that surrounds you."

Hijikata shook his head. "I can't do that. Marines, relieve them of their weapons."

The marines moved, and the stormtroopers reacted, opening fire. Most everyone there hit the deck as energy bursts leapt from their rifles, and the marines took cover to shoot back with pulsar rifles. With the firefight, security quickly responded, coming in behind the Imperials and taking them out, but not before the Office rmanaged to get a message off to his men down in the hangar, and sadly none of the three were taken alive. As medical teams handled the wounded, the bridge resumed normal operation, shaken, but not too damaged.

---

Hangar

It had been nothing close to an anxious wait, Marines staring down stormtroopers across the hangar bay, with both sides not far from their weapons. The Imperials guarded the shuttle and waited for their commanders return, and the Marines did the same. It was a standoff, but both seemed fit to at least give each other military courtesy, even if the stormtroopers armor seemed a lot more useful than the body armor the marines wore, even if they must be suffering from the heat.

Colonel Stoffman, head of the marine contingent on board, looked from his men over to the Imperials, alert when faced with this new possible foe. That armor looked tough, and there was no knowing what kind of ammo they used in those guns of theirs. Add to that the dangers of having a shootout in a hangar bay where fighters were services, and it made a fight a very dangerous prospect. So hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Abruptly and without warning, something hit the ship, the deck jarring beneath their feet as both sides were sent stumbling. Red lights flashed and the alarm sounded again, calling the crew to battle stations and directing repair teams. "Steady men," he said as both sides recovered and aimed weapons at each other across the empty space, only a few guesses as to what that might have been.

Then, lines of red light burned the air as the Imperials opened fire and the Marines reflexively fell back. "Take cover," Stoffman yelled, finding some himself behind a packing crate. About this time a message came down from the bridge. "Colonel Stoffman, the Imperials have opened fire on us. Consider them hostile. Seize their transport if able, and otherwise protect the ship."

In this moment he was so tempted to make a snarky response, but he refrained, instead focusing on the job at hand. The flight crews scurried out of the way as the marines returned fire, pulsar rifles barking as they fought back. A few stormtroopers fell, but they did a fighting retreat back into their shuttle, the ramp closing behind them. And though they shot at the thing, their guns didn't do much as it rose and smoothly left the hangar as it had arrived.

As damage control went about fixing everything, Stoffman turned to the radio. "Bridge, this is Stoffman. They got away, sorry. No major damage to report here."

---

Bridge

Things had settled down, slightly, when Stoffman's message came back. "Oh well," Hijikata said thoughtfully. "It would have been nice to have, but we have bigger worries about now."

"Sir, enemy ship is launching fighter craft," Flynn reported dutifully.

"Right then. Helm, prepare to put on a heading out of the system, and prepare for Warp. Weapons, shoot down that shuttle if you can. Comm, contact the Icarus and Osprey, and warn them of what we're about to do. Then contact the Culling of Prospero and tell them that we plan to leave the area, but we want our XO back when we meet again."

Dmitri nodded before getting on the comm. "UNSC Icarus, Osprey, the Andromeda has been fired on by Imperial vessels, and is preparing to leave the system via warp. We have no hostile intentions towards either of you. I repeat, we are not firing upon you." Then another message. "Culling of Prospero, this is the Andromeda. We have been fired upon by Imperial vessels and are preparing to leave the system. We understand transport is risky at this time, and request that you show our crew all hospitality until our ships link up and they can be returned. Do you copy, over?"

Hijikata surveyed the scene, and nodded to Cabrera. "Shock cannons, fire."

"Yes sir, shock cannons firing," he replied, and hit the button which would communicate orders to the firing rooms, who would then hit the button. It seemed Earth was now at war with the Galactic Empire

---

Outside the EDFS Andromeda

Mortini had waited patiently in his Cosmo Tiger, watched as more and more ships arrived, some similar to the triangle, some radically different. To be honest, he wasn't sure whether he should have an itchy trigger finger or not, since the situation was so strange. He wanted to test his skills against these unknown ships, but the consequences of doing so was dangerous in the extreme.

It seemed he would get his chance after all as bolts of blue energy erupted from the triangle shaped ships they were in formation with, headed straight for the Andromeda. "Incoming fire, evasive maneuvers," he called as he swerved his fighter, dodging the projectiles that swept through space. Still, they kept position waiting for orders, even as the Andromeda was hit.

The shuttle emerged from the hangar and booked it for their mothership as swarms of ships began to emerge from their own hangar bays, and the guns on the Andromeda reoriented behind them to target their new opponents. Then other order came across. "Alright boys, looks like we've got a war after all. Alpha Squadron, you're with me. We're gonna splash that transport. The rest of you, keep those fighters off the Andromeda until she's ready for Warp. Let's show them how we do it on Earth." With acknowledgements via comms, Alpha Squadron broke off to accompany him as they raced after the lumbering transport.

Fortunately, they seemed to have speed if anything, and soon caught up. They wasted no time then, opening fire with the dual cannons they had above the nose, stuttering through space and beating a double drum against the transports frame and rear. It was crippled, at that, giving the lead fighter the opportunity to fire two missiles, which sped through the vacuum of space before impacting against the rear of the transport, exploding and setting off the engine, the ship vanishing in a ball of fire

Target down, they turned to return home as fighters angrily buzzed their way. a smaller ship was approaching too, but the Cosmo Tigers could hold them off, that Mortini was sure of. And he watched with satisfaction as the four Shock Cannons the ship boasted fired, tachyon energy in powered triple beams. They slammed into the Venator, pounding and overwhelming their shields in the volley fire, biting and tearing into the ships superstructure at four different points. If they'd had the Wave Motion guns this fight would have been easy, but they fought regardless, as a spread of missiles followed on the heels of the cannons, to slam into the breaches made and worsen the damage, leaving the Venator crippled if not dead. and in the aftermath, the Andromeda turned and began to pull away, fighter escort still covering it, as they headed four outside the system.

---

Aboard the Culling of Prospero

It was an...interesting walk for Roche and the medical crews off the Andromeda, to say the least. After all, one didn't usually expect to see a headless corpse being carried down a hall by a half human, half robot...thing. That certainly caught their attention as they passed by, if another one of the things mopping up the blood after it didn't. Yeah, not many headless corpses aboard Earth Defense Force vessels, or cyborgs for that matter.

Then there was the other one, the cyborg who appeared to be...praying? as it worked on a broken console? Well, that was weird as well. Seemed the weirdness was adding up, and Roche was getting some disturbing vibes from this ship. Not that he was trying to judge them or anything, but it was getting...uncomfortable, to say the least. Fortunately, they soon reached the medical bay where they could get to work. The work they had came here to do in the first place.

Or he would have, if he hadn't been interrupted by the....thing, which turned his gaze, and which his escort seemed to handle in such an offhanded manner. "I...see," he replied somewhat hesitantly, turning to the business at hand. He wasn't really sure he wanted or needed to see more for that matter.

Then the ship rocked beneath them, and the news that they were under attack. That was of some concern, to say the least, since if they were under attack here then who knew what was happening to to the Andromeda. "Of course," he replied with a nod. "If you could, what is the status of my ship as of now? As the ships executive officer, you can forgive me for being concerned."

He looked around at the medic teams, their equipment ready though they showed unease at their situation. "Well, get to work then,' he said, motioning them forward. "It's what we came to do after all." With his prompting, they moved to action, using their skills as they had them and adapting as needed to deal with cybernetics and alien biology. Tourniquets, bandages, painkillers, and other drugs, all would be used as Roche watched on, himself not really trained for what was happening. He just hoped his ship was okay. He didn't think he would appreciate having to hitch a ride home in this thing.

/+ NSEA Protector II .

"Hey, uh, guys. There's some red... thingies moving toward the green thingy," Guy said. He was pointing to his console while turned around. The display with the circle and the green dot had lit up like a christmas tree.
"What?" Tommy asked.
"Red thingies-" Guy started, before the entire bridge shook violently, interrupting him. "Oh no," he moaned.

The series of impacts threw Guy from his console, but the rest of the crew managed to stay seated.

"Tommy, get us out of here!" Jason shouted.
"Whoo!" Tommy shouted as he twisted the throttle control.

The ship lurched from underneath the wreckage of the Magicienne, climbing upward at a steep angle. One of the saucer shaped ships came into view.

"Guy, now!" Jason said.

Guy was busy crawling as far away from the consoles as he could.

"Guy!" Jason said, turning around to see what the problem was. Tommy juked away to avoid crashing into the Aurora, destroying the opportunity. "What are you doing‽"
"The consoles always explode on the show!" Guy said, now near the elevator. Frustrated, Jason got up from his command chair and started toward Guy's console.
"Oh, shit," Gwen said. Clearing the Aurora revealed three Venator-class star destroyers, each deploying fighters. The weapons console beeped again as another battery of turbolasers arced across from the Venators. Tommy put the ship into an evasive roll. As the ship spun, it presented a bigger target for the turbolasers, taking fire that was intended for the Aurora and Illustrious.

"Oh, brilliant! Great maneuver, Laredo!" Alexander said.

The bridge shook violently again, throwing Jason off his feet. Guy screamed. Jason dragged himself up by the edge of the console and slammed his hand down on all the red buttons. Streaks of blue and red shot out of the particle cannons, slamming into one of the Venator's shields but failing to disable them in merely one salvo. The pulse catupults fired, shooting two waves of energy that slid neatly between all three Venators, completely missing the targets. Resonance cannon batteries roared into life around the ship, utterly useless at this range - especially so without fighters or missiles to fire at. One Gannet Magnet fired, lasing ethereally into one of the Venators, overloading its sheilds and a few ancillary computer systems. Jason clambered back into his command chair. By now, the distance between the Venators and the Protector II was starting to close.

"Get us away from the ships! Away!" he shouted. The Protector II started to loop back the way it came.

Engineering suddenly popped up on the viewscreen. Fred stood in the foreground with a small cluster of Thermians frantically working a console. A perfect shot of the Beryllium sphere - the heart of the ship - took up the background.

"Hey guys," Fred said. A Thermian raced past in the background with a cardboard box, following another with a clipboard. "They're telling me the weapons... energy conduits have overheated. So don't fire pulse catapults or particle cannons for a couple minutes."

"Alexander, fire a... a... rocket," Jason said.
"You mean a quantum rocket?" Alexander asked.
"Yeah!"
"Oh, sure, I'll get right on it! Does it look like I have the slightest idea how to do that?"
"Well, just look for a red button!"
"You can't just press every red button you come across!"

Jason found a red button on his command chair. He pressed it. The lights suddenly cut out and started flashing red as a klaxon sounded. Panels in the wall flipped over, revealing signs that read "High Alert".

"Stop that!" Alexander said.
"I can't see shit!" Tommy shouted.

Another salvo hit. Mathesar had made his way over to Guy and was attempting to lift him of the floor. By the time Jason lifted the high alert, the Protector II had looped back around and was facing the Venators again. V-wings were closing the distance. Jason, desperate, scrambled back to Guy's weapons console. He slammed his hand down on the red buttons again.

A second salvo of weaponry lanced out at the Venators. At point-blank range, it was hard to miss. Some particle cannon fire impacted the shield-less ship, doing marginal damage. A gannet magnet disabled the hangar shielding on another Venator, exposing it to space. The resonance batteries, suddenly much closer to acceptable targets - ie, the fighters - tore a swath into them like flak into aircraft. The real star of the show, however, was a pulse catapult. The energy weapon managed to impact the shieldless ship, leaving a large borehole of re-arranged metal, twisted beams, and exposed wiring.

"Yeah!" Jason shouted, just before Guy's console exploded. Jason was flung against the command chair dias. Guy started screaming uncontrollably, and crawled into a console-less corner.

Click This said The officer nodded before moving to the turbolift, and Noelle turned to address Alara. “Hopefully our phasers and torpedoes aren’t too dissimilar from yours,” she said. “If it’s not too much to ask, you would be a great help on tactical.”

“And Nephenee, see if you can’t maintain communications with the Aurora, discreetly. I don’t care if it’s Morse code or a secure subspace message, as long as it doesn’t compromise us and gets the job done.”

USS Illustrious - Bridge
”Thank you Captain Noelle” she said, looking briefly around the bridge to find the station she was talking about. With a choice of two picked one and hoped for the best. When no one made any comment assumed she had picked correctly, and went through some of the menu routines to try to ensure things worked the same. What she found was somewhat amazing – changing shield rotation, frequency, alternate methods of scanning, and other functionality her time did not possess. it was nothing short of remarkable.At this point her nervousness began to take hold, and did not want to disappoint.

“Nephenee, would linking through my communicator help?” She proffered it helpfully. “I’m sure our science officer can help.” Briefly, she glanced through something that shook her to the core, and her hands began to shake.

Their Stardate was over a century ahead of hers.

Stepping down from tactical, “Captain Noelle, if I may?” Briefly she sighed, “Having glanced at your tactical I can safely say that half of the things you can do are unknown to me. And I come from the year 2259, which would explain why things are so different.” Her suggestion was the cut short as weapons fire impacted the Magicienne throwing off some shrapnel which just missed the Illustrious.

“Captain there is another ship coming up from the underside of the Magicienne. Signature unknown,” it seemed that this was to be a trial by fire.

Queen Raidne said Tommy juked away to avoid crashing into the Aurora.

USS Aurora - Bridge
L’Pel eyes his scanners warily. “Captain we have another ship coming from the underside of the Magicienne, configuration unknown, weapons unknown.”

“Whoaa!” that was closed moaned Marcus, who banked the Aurora slightly, all noticed as another ship barely avoided a collision. “It seems the Imperial ships are firing on us and the Illustrious.”

“Damn it, can they not keep their weapons in their pockets!” His tones held obvious infuriation. “Katie can you please send a transmission to them to hold fire, as we still have wounded onboard.” He then turned to the helmsman. “Okay, let’s show them we can fire back. Arm weapons, and raise shields.”

At the science station, the lone member of the Confederacy of Surak commented briefly, breaking his stoic silence. “Captain, the unknown ship has opened fire at the Imperials, as has two others.”

Peter nodded, and looked in Lieutenant Weller’s direction.

“I know, I’m on it, sending a transmission to both ships.” Squinting briefly she played the incoming again. “Sir, the ship that just missed us has sent a message in Morse Code.”

“What id it say?”

“In essence, hello,” she shrugged. “There was a bit more to it, but that was the essence.”

“Reply, and ask if we can help. Lieutenant Frank, turn us around and point our weapons at the Imperial ships and open fire. Try for non-critical areas so as not to endanger too many of their crew.”

He smiled at this point. “’Bout damn time if you ask me. And you didn’t.”

“Yes it is.” The Captain replied. “Inform the Illustrious of our intention and advise her to set a course out of the system as fast as possible, we’ll be following shortly.”

Multiple phaser volleys impacted the Imperial vessels. As a result of previous fire by other vessels that shields were weakened and eventually overwhelmed. Ruptures appeared on the ship and firing from the oblique angle that they had made it difficult for them to return fire. Unfortunately some fire hit the engines, slowing the chance of pursuit.

OOC: We’ve sent a communication to: Sundered Echo, the Wraith Hive, and Queen Raidne.

"Attention all crew. The Facists are now opening fire on multiple other ships. A Facist vessel is currently moving towards the airlock, and Facist fighters are surrounding the station."

Vladimir charged down the hallway, nearing missing the turn to the bridge security airlocks. Quickly making his way through the doors, he stopped his charge with the ThinkDOS Communications computer.
"AI! What do you mean by that?!"
"The Facists appear to be attempting to board. You filthy capitalists should prepare for a Nuke ops."
"Fuck!"

Turning away from the computer, Vladimir looked to the announcement intercom. Moving over to it, he swiped his ID.

"Alright, everyone," he said, "we will open the airlock door when they come in, throw in a hellmix grenade, and close the door again. Chemists, get on it."

A high pitched tune shuddered throughout the station, followed immediately by a feminine, but robotic voice. "Priority announcement." His voice then filled the intercoms, an exact repeat of what he just said. Several confirmations came over the radio, and he began his trip to Medical.

---

"It's simple. The station doesn't seem to have a hangar, so we'll do some spacewalking. We'll go through the airlock, and shoot everyone we see."

The trooper, clad in armor consisting of mainly white, checked his weapon. The crews of ships never gave much of a fight. The admiral had ordered the ship seized, and so it would be seized.

The shuttle slowly shuddered to a halt, the front ramp opening. Stepping out into space, the squad of troopers floated towards the airlock, painted in red with massive white letters on it saying "AIRLOCK". They closed the distance quickly, grabbing onto the hull of the Exodus. One of them hit the cycle button, and the outer door quickly opened, them marching inside. As the airlock door closed behind the white-clad men, they stacked up, aiming at the interior door. It slowly slid open.

Before they could even fire, something smacked into the helmet of one of the troopers, and the door shut with a slam. One of the men looked down, screaming out.

"GRE---"

He never finished. The grenade exploded, filling the airlock with a strange orange smoke. Smoke that was extremely hot, immediately lighting them on fire. They watched in horror as their bodies twisted and warped, some of them becoming short and fat, some going blind and mute. Another literally turned into a giant lizard. They barely had time to scream on their radio before falling to a pile of ashes, and all that came out was gibberish a la Swedish Chef.

"MEESEEN-A EES DEESOOSER!"

From the main viewport, Bradley managed to witness the huge cruisers belonging to the Empire move in closer to the Andromeda and its company. Soon after, the ships opened fire, lashing out with storms of lasers and deploying many smaller ships from their underbellies. A few of the small craft streaked by the Osprey, quickly pelting down the shields at their close range.

He wasted no time in sounding the alarm. "All hand to battle stations! I repeat, we are under heavy attack from the Imperial fleet! Strum, get on Engineering and bring me full power, stat! Sam, get the weapons up. I'm pulling us out until we can afford a jump." As Brad issued the commands, he followed on his own and opened up the throttles on the Osprey, breaking their makeshift formation to duck under and past the Icarus. All the while, the repeated fire from the fighters and destroyers quickly broke through their shields and began to tear apart the Osprey's vital frame.

"GAH! Sir, we've got fires in the teleporter-"

"Shielding can't keep with the enemy's assault,sir- NNGH-!"

"Warning! Hull integrity: 75%"

"I'm giving the engines all we have!"

Doing his best to press through the danger, Bradley cursed the situation from going bad to worse to outright hellish. He noticed, however, the crusiers themselves were not giving direct pursuit, instead opting to let the fighters be their first wave of offense. Though it meant they were well armed, it also implied their propulsion was somewhat lacking... "Change of plans. Sam, get the missiles powered up. We're giving one of these bastards a hard time if we can help it," the pilot said, pulling evasive maneuvers as best as he could under the circumstances. Shields managed to pulse back to life, only to get shredded again by the agile fighters.

"I need twelve more seconds."

Brad pulled up one of the destroyers on a monitor, setting a course designation. He felt his knuckles tightening on the helm controls as he braved the Osprey through the hail of laser fire. The pilot set the weapons locks on what looked to be the starship's command center, if their structure would be at all similar to the Osprey-class.

"Three seconds. Two-"

"Fire at will!" Bradley heard himself yell, over the computer's declaration of 'Hull integrity: 62%' and 'FTL charge: 46%'

The Hiveship shuddered under the onslaught as across the hull the armour was being weakened by the repeated impacts. There was no point in launching darts, not in what was supposed to be such a short battle. He commanded the Hive to turn facing directly at the heavily damaged star destroyer, as the hive fired the volley of all 12 of its forward plasma cannons. They ripped what was left of the Star Destroyer to pieces in a fiery explosion. Batteries over the rest of the hull peppered fire onto other ships that continued to try to approach, apparently they were still wanting to board. The hive pointed his mind to the sensors, when what could be explained as one of the projectiles similar to that the Lantaens and Humans used began approaching the ship, only to be shot down by their temporary ally. He was about to open a channel when a different face appeared on the screen. Quicksilver just whisked it away. He didn't have time to deal with even more ships right now. If they had communicated with him earlier it would be a different story but now it was too late. They were getting ready to leave.

The little crew that were left on the Star Destroyer were panicking as escape pods launched, right into more weapon fire as the husk and debris of the ship were continuously fired upon. Some shots flew straight through the debris field into ships further afield though most were focused upon the larger chunks of star destroyer that would cause damage if they were to hit the hull. He activated communications with the smaller ship for what was likely to be unpleasant for the hive to undergo. "If you plan to leave with us. Now would be the time." With that he locked in the Hyperspace co-ordinates for the outer edge of the system, near a smaller planet that was likely desolate. Weapons fire continued to move out from the hive, as several breaches began to open up as the hull was made too thin. Staying linked with the Hive he informed Ember via the telekinetic link to send teams after he had sealed off those sections as pieces of the star destroyers hull began either bouncing off the Hives hull or burning into the hull, then he got confirmation that the hyperdrive was charged.

As the fighting continued, the Venators shields began to fail, as such, it started to back away, unfortunately, that's when they launched the boarding parties. LAAT's flying through the void shields and blasting their way into one of the hangars. The wrong hangar... The clones took no notice of the large Wraithlord, standing motionless. The doors opened and several Guardsmen burst in to repel the boarders. Lasgun rounds and blaster bolts flew between the two sides of the hangar. The Wraithlord began to stir as it watched the loyal sons of the Emperor beginning to fall against the heretics. "Heresy..." it said. "HERESY!!!" It roared as it struggled against its bonds, but unheard over the sounds of gunfire.

"Fall back!" yelled the Sergeant as they began to file out of the door, continuing to fire. "Use the corridor as a choke point." he said. The Clones began to overrun the hangar, too busy focusing on Guardsmen to notice the Wraithlord. Finally, his bonds broke, an arm broke free, which quickly broke his other arm free, before his legs. The clones noticed this and began firing, but their DC-15a's doing little to the Wraithbone armour. His boot went in, kicking one of the clones against the hangar wall. He then grabbed the wing of one of the LAAT's and threw it towards a squad of clones, it exploded and he grabbed a wing as it flew at him, he then began using it as a mace, smashing it against the swarming clones, he then hunched over and went onto one knee as a missile hit him in the back, he looked around to see the clones unloading their heavier ordnance. He took aim with his shoulder mounted Brightlance and blasted the remaining LAAT's, before turning back to the rest of the clones with his wrist mounted flamers.

Outside, the Guardsmen waited for the Clones to break through... But it didn't happen... A door opened at the end of the hallway, and Kurn rushed through with a squad of Wolf Guard. "Report" he ordered to the sergeant.

"Sir, we have boarders, we fell back to this more defensible position. the moment they break through, it'll be a shooting gallery." he said.

"Good work, Sergeant. But me and my men will take it from here." he said, pushing through the makeshift barricade and walked towards the pressurized doors, taking up positions, Kurn put in the code to release the door, before they stormed in, weapons raised and ready to fire, when they saw him, the whole hangar consumed by fire, with the Wraithlord stood in the middle, drenched in the blood of a dead Clone that he has squeezed to death in his hand. It looked at the Space Marines.

"Brother!!!" it roared as the ship rocked. "I have tasted battle once again, and I am not satisfied!!! I am going to fight!!!"

"You... Are not going to kill yourself?" he asked.

"No... I will die as a servant of the Emperor, surrounded by dying heretics and daemons, rather than dying alone, in doubt." it said. The Extinguishing system activated and water was sprayed across the hangar to douse the flames. The Wraithlord knelt down. "Please... Brother... Accept me again as one of the Angels of Fenris." Kurn approached and placed the top of his staff on the head of his Brother.

"It would be my honour, Brother." he said. "I will see Lemanicus makes you a weapon worthy for the brother of the Great Wolf of the Angels of Fenris."

"They will not pass me. I will keep this bay safe." He walked over to the Voidshields keeping the air in the bay and looked out, his Brightlance fired out, shooting down an ARC-170 that was skimming along their surface.

"Then I will leave them to you." Kurn said up. He then walked out into the hallway again and looked at the guardsmen. "Stay with Worf, you will be under his direct command until the fighting concludes." The guardsmen looked at each other, whispering their confusion. Kurn then walked back, through their midst.

"And if he orders us to kill him?" asked the Sergeant.

"He will not." replied Kurn. "The Mark has him now."
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kurn walked onto the bridge and the Admiral turned to face him. "Sir, more ships are closing in on us. Our engines are still online... I suggest pulling back whilst we can." he said.

"Alright." he looked at the immediate starchart that the Cartographers had managed to pull together. "Pull back to their." he said, pointing to a small planet on the edge of the system. Tell Andromeda to follow us." he said. "Open a jump point." he said. The Vox officer pulled off his head set.

"We're being jammed." he said.

"Very well..." He walked over to the Intercomm and pressed it. "Medical Bay..." he said. "Let me talk to one of the Andromeda crew. Tell him its urgent." As soon as one of the Medics came on the vox channel, Kurn began to talk again. "We are pulling out of the area, our intership communications are being blocked, so we cannot inform your crew, and we cannot use our Teleportarium whilst the Void-shields are operational. As such, we will need at least one of your crew to return to your ship to deliver the message and coordinates of our jump personally. "Your ship is not an assault craft and is not likely to survive the trip, but one of our Thunderhawks could easily. I would ask you make your decision quickly, we have 5 warships on an intercept course that will be in range in 8 minutes and 29 seconds."

Bridge
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Caber didn’t have time for this. The imperial officer had ludicrously suggested all his navigation data was incorrect. “According to your records, these systems don’t exist” he jabbed a finger at the screen “yet according to my records this system” caber motioned out the front view screen at the illuminated planet bellow “should not exist, but it does. Now, I’m not sure wh-“ he was cut short as the ship violently shock from some sort of impact. He immediately returned to his command chair and opened his console. “Report, what hit us?”

“Imperial ships are firing on us sir” lieutenant Garza was frantic as he reported hostilities “No haul breaches but we have fires on decks 2 and 7, dispatching crews to deal with them” Caber hesitated a second before issuing orders “Bring ship to full combat status, all hands brace for maneuvering. Major Raza, arrest those men” he pointed at the imperial officer and his escort.

The major turned to face the imperial group “Now please co-“ she didn’t get to finish her sentence as the white armored troopers started to raise their short barreled weapons. The two Spartans flanking the major leaped into action with blinding speed, their armors edges seeming to blur in and out of focus. The one on the left stepping in front of the major he ripped the weapon from the man’s hands before lashing out at the white armored trooper’s leg, snapping it cleanly above the knee, kicking his other leg out from under him the trooper fell to the deck with a muted scream. The Spartan forced him lower to the deck with a boot on his back while pointing the troopers own weapon at the back of his head and drawing his pistol, bringing it up to aim directly between the imperial officers eyes. The rightmost Spartan simply stepped forward and punched the remaining trooper in the throat. Gasping for breath the man’s weapon clattered as he dropped it to the deck and slowly suffocated, soon joining his rifle. The entire encounter took less than 2 seconds. MP’s rushed onto the bridge to secure the two imperials. The bridge crew paused slightly at the violence but quickly resumed their duties. Caber brought up the comm to the hanger bay security team “Arrest the foreign troops, lethal force is authorized if they do not comply” switching off the comm he turned his attention back toward the bridge.

“Enemy ships are launching strike craft and pursuing sir, The Andromeda is moving to leave the system” Officer Garza tapped on his console and a hologram of the surrounding area appeared before the bridge crew, the Andromeda and quickly approaching enemy fighters were highlighted.

“Wendak, evasive maneuvers. Remove the safeties on one of our nukes. Calculate a firing solution on venerator class ship bearing three nine four” This ship in question was firing on both the Icarus and the Andromeda, and more importantly was blocking the Icarus’s best escape route. “Navigation, Bring engines to 300% power course adjustment bearing two eight four declination one one zero”

“Aye Captain bearing two eight four declination one one zero” Kim repeated his orders back to him and the view out the main monitor shifted slightly.
“Caden” The A.I. appeared next to his counterpart in the holotank “initiate Cyberwarefare, jam there targeting, overload generators, anything. Just keep them off our backs” The A.I. silently nodded and blinked away to bring the powerful offensive comm systems online and attempt to disrupt the imperials.

The fighters chasing the Icarus caught up and started peppering there engines with some kind of high powered particle beams that mostly did little damage, spinning up the Icarus’s point defense cannons Wendak decimated any fighter willing to come close enough for a shot, the heavy slugs tearing through the flimsy shields and hulls.

“Firing solution ready, on your orders captain” it had taken Wendak less than am second to calculate the trajectory, given that the distance to target was so low. Another volley struck the Icarus.

“Hull breaches on decks 4,5, and 11 sir” Garza reported before sealing of the decks, preventing decompression of the rest of the ship.

Caber gripped the arms of his command chair “Wendak, Fire. Navigation, follow the Andromeda and prepare for pinpoint slip space jump.” Bridge officers and Wendak responded “Aye sir”. The ship turned slightly, aiming the large barrel of the MAC cannon at a Venerator some 15 kilometers distant. The ship shook as the cannon was fired, a blinding streak flashed between the two warships, tearing through the upper shields of the venerator, punching through every single deck and the main reactor before destroying the lower shields of the vessel and continuing out into space. Fire and debris spewed from the large entrance and exit wound the high velocity tungsten round had created before the main reactor detonated in a blinding flash, vaporizing the ship and causing the shields of two nearby venerators of flare up and overload. Caber smiled at the efficiency of the round Not quite as tough as covenant ships then, good.

Weapons officer Scott reported there weapon readiness “MAC charge holding steady at 64.8% sir, trickle charging at 5 percent a minute. Should I acquire target locks on the damaged vessels?”

“Do so, officer Scott but do not fire until I give the command” Caber was worried about their ordinance supplies, while they had over 4000 archer missiles the nearest UNSC armory was very, very far away. “Wendak, Navigation, lets follow the Andromeda out of here and see if we avoid further damage”. Wendak, having been built specifically to pilot and fight Autumn-class cruisers, handled the Icarus like a sport Yacht and swung the beefy ship around to match the outbound vector of the Andromeda, bringing the engines to full power and charging the slipspace drive.

Aft hanger
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The hanger was empty except for the 2 squads Storm Troopers, a 60 person security team made of UNSC marines set up behind hastily constructed barricades, and 4 mantis walkers. ODST snipers had concealed themselves in the upper rafters of the bay and identified the squad leaders of the Trooper forces. Both sides eyed each other wearily, the storm troopers guarding the shuttle with the marines guarding the troopers. Both sides moved into firing positions as the ship rocked from being struck by weapons fire.

The radio buzzed inside the Platoon leader’s helmet “Arrest the foreign troops, lethal force is authorized if they do not comply”, The platoon leader barked at this troops and rifles hit the tops of barricades as 60 men leveled weapons at targets across the bay. Mantis walkers settled into combat crouches weapon pods sliding open to reveal dual chain guns, missile launchers and gauss cannons humming gently as there systems warmed up. The Platoon leader poked his head above the barricade.

“Surrender, we have your leader, hostilities do not need to escalate” the only response was a flash of red light that struck the barricade in front of him. Both sides opened fire, a few marines were struck by flashes of red light and went down either screaming or dead. The storm troopers, devoid of cover, were cut down. Mantis walkers advanced quickly, the heavy slugs of their chain guns cutting through the stark white armor like a knife through butter. The few remaining troopers retreated back into the shuttle and it began to hum. The platoon leader made a few quick hand gestures and a single mantis launched a rocket directly at the shuttle cockpit, reducing it a smoldering crater. Troopers rushed the ramp of the craft, dispatching the last few troopers and taking the co-pilot prisoner. Double clicking his radio, the platoon leader reported to major Raza that the hanger was secured.

EDFS Andromeda

The ship was engaged in battle now, blue beams of light flashing out from the shock cannons to cross the void and slam into the Venators that fired back with turbolasers, scoring damage to the hull and guts of the ship in the process. Around the ship Cosmo Tiger II squadrons and Imperial fighters clashed. Missiles pumped out from launchers, flashing in space as they detonated to form energy webs that intercepted incoming Imperial missiles before they could reach the ship, and pulsar cannons fired in anti-aircraft duty, picking out Imperial fighters as they came in.

To call it a furball would be an understatement, even as the Andromeda swung to leave the system. they had to get out of the gravity well and to 40 knots before they could go to Warp, and they were soon to be nearing that.The Icarus followed behind, and was ignored by the Andromeda and her defenses, but other things were indeed picked up.

"Sir, the Osprey is taking damage," Flynn called from where she watched the mess on the circular radar screens.

Dmitri winced as feedback hit. "It's no good on comms. They're jamming our frequencies. I can't contact the Culling of Prospero

Hijikata nodded in understanding as he held on to his seat, the bridge rocking with further impacts. "Weapons, target Imperial main guns. If they can't shoot at us then we don't have a problem. Have the fighters keep them off us until we can get to warp."

Cabrera nodded and relayed instructions. Outside the ship, the four shock cannon mounts swiveled, the triple beams of energy they spat out now focusing on Imperial main weapons, gouging out armor and superstructure, punching through shields, and ripping open hulls to let vacuum in. The melee continued, as they neared the ability to Warp, and the Cosmo Tigers began pulling back to land in the hangar bay for Warp.

---

Aboard the Culling of Propsero

Working here was...an experience. So many different traditions, customs, strange things. Half the injured had augments or mechanical bits of some kind that made operating on their wounds tricky at best. Still, Roche watched with satisfaction as the medics did the best job they could under the circumstances. They truly were the best that the Earth Defense Forces had to offer.

Hearing that there was a message from the bridge, Roche came over to hear the bad news. The fact that they seemed to have teleportation technology was interesting in itself, but the fact that it wasn't working now wasn't exactly a good thing. Nor was the fact that this ship was leaving. he thought quickly as he looked around. "Very well then. I will go.' He turned back to the medics. "I'm going back to the ship. Lieutenant Cadman, you are in charge. Got it? Don't let them badger you into doing anything you're uncomfortable with."

"Yes sir," replied Cadman, taking a quick break for a salute before returning to work on one of the injured personnel.

Roche nodded and looked over to their escort. "Back to the hangar bay then?"

As the two Hermes missiles launched in vain pursuit of the destroyer's cockpit, the pilot attempted a twisting turn away from a collision course with the enemy ship. Of the many lasers screaming towards the Osprey, however, a few managed to blast at the main engines, significantly cutting down his maneuverability. Brad braced himself for the shunting impact of the Osprey's underside versus the destroyer's side.

The Captain of the Star Destroyer, however, noticed the inevitable collision, and with a hanger at the front of his vessel he could not risk the collision. "Fire deceleration thrusters!" He didn't even get strange looks from his completely obedient crew as they complied with his order, and with the thrusters all firing to below the vessel, it moved upwards. However, the ship shook slightly as there was the brieftest of contact between his vessel and the hostile target.

---

If there was anything Brad was fortunate the enemy was doing, it was that they were pulling up and way from the Osprey's impact course. Rather than a huge scar along the ships, the Osprey instead got a crushed front thruster, bouncing off into a slow, but uncontrollable spin.

"Dammit... Sturm, report engine capability. Sam, warm up another round of miss-"

Another explosion of lasers from the rear of the Osprey blasted the back of the command center, shattering the rear thrusters and bringing the cruiser's capability yet lower. Engines were at minimal power, sensors were down, one of the Mantis died burning in the teleporter, there was at least four different breaches in the hull, shields were damaged and even more unable to keep up with the barrage of laser fire.

"Gah... All crew, report."

"...Zhan here. Shields are no good against their laser tech."

"I'M GONNA HAVE YOUR HEAD ON A PLATE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THRIK-"

"Bow weapons are down, working on keeping missiles up- AUGH!"

That was it. This was it. Not even a chance at the Rebel Flagship, just doomed to be killed at the hands of this Galactic Empire. This was more than hell, if Brad could imagine it. But he already communicated he wasn't going down without a fight, and he hoped he could keep it that way.

"Gentlemen, ladies... aliens... It has been an honor to be able to work with you all. If we can't win, we're going to die trying. Maybe -nngh- someone else will achieve what we couldn't..." Bradley looked forlornly at the next Venator, the computer's message of 'Hull integrity: 27%' filling a corner of the screen among many other warnings. With a final spark of fire in his eyes, he gunned the engines for all they were worth and sped towards that ship. "Open fire! We'll take them down with us!"

---

The Osprey lurched forward a final time, the remainder of its propulsion bringing it to the next Venator as fast as it could, while another silo of missiles was launched at the enemy craft. Again, the energy shields proved ineffective at projectile weaponry as the shots rocked through.

That was when the Imperial Captain realized what this vessel was doing. "Turn us around! Get us out of here!" The megalith began to turn, ARC-170s and V-Wings racing towards the ship in an attempt to stop it, firing on it again and again. There was no telling if anyone was still alive on it, but she burned as she vented out into space, while the Venator had turned to face to the left of the incoming ship it began to move, lining up with its starboard hanger...

---

"Hull integrity: 22%"

The engines died, leaving the Osprey to drift at its remaining speed towards the Venator-class starship. Somehow, Bradley thought it wouldn't be enough. Without thinking, and with no further use for the helm, he dashed out across the ship.

"Hull integrity: 15% Warning! Critical damage!"

Sturm and Michiel's body were both in pieces within the Engineering Bay. His heart gripped at his chest, as if it intended to tear itself out and console the cadavers. Brad pressed on, heading for the inner workings of the ship.

"Hull integrity: 11%" Warning! Warning!

The scaffolding shook and sparked around Bradley as he worked his way to the reactor; the Osprey's command center must have been blasted apart. There was only one way this could end- with a final bang.

"Hull inte-e-ty: 8%" Evacuate immediately!

There. The reactor... and the manual console for it. The precautions of several additional layers of plating around it ensured there was to be few times where a crewman would need to see this in flight. In a fitting twist of fate, however, a maunal detonation of the reactor was such a time.

"-ull int-...y: 3%..."

A few more swift, desperate keystrokes would release all the safeguards on the reactor, and from there, one errant twitch was all it would take to unleash the megaton blast.

---

The Osprey's impact into the hangar would be met a second later with a shattering explosion. Debris turned into high-velocity projectiles as the shattering frame of the smaller starship was turned into the equivalent of a massive grenade. Though nobody could've survived aboard the Osprey, the Venator had just as much a chance as the rector detonation sent out shockwaves of destructive energy, tearing apart the Star Destroyer from within.

The debris flew out in waves, smaller pieces being flung at high speed into space (or into the starfighters) while larger chunks drifted out in different directions, some towards the opposing gathering of ships.

“Our little display seems to have caught their attention captain.” Valerie’s physical avatar said as she walked into the Bridge. “One of their cruisers has switched fire from the Hive to target us.” As if to illustrate her point, the ship shook again from another shot finding them. “And they hurt” she continued as she took up station at one of the bridge consoles. It always amused Rhea that the android body the ships AI used as an Avatar would bother to manually enter input into a terminal her greater mind could control with a thought. sometimes she wondered if the android was actually doing anything or just miming to appear as though she was. The bridge shook again as another shot impacted.

“Is there anything we can do about that fire Valerie? I can’t stand just sitting here and waiting for them to figure out our ECM.” Rhea’s disposition had changed quite radically over the course of this battle, from almost disinterested nonchalance to considerable concern for the present and future. It was starting to look rather like instead of dodging a proverbial bullet by ending up in unknown space, she had ended up with a far bigger problem. “No, but we can do something about those incoming missiles.” Valerie said as she motioned at the display on the central viewscreen. “Then by all means do so. Switch to defensive missiles, keep us and the Hive safe. There’s no telling the kind of damage they could cause.”

“Captain, an incoming message!” One of the bridge crew exclaimed. “Do leave me in suspense.” Rhea said with a stern glance at the crewman. He must’ve been a new member on the bridge crew. Valerie’s hologram appeared on cue to answer. The crewmen might not always understand Rhea’s expectations and humour but at least her ship did. “It’s from a ship called the USS Aurora. They’re relaying coordinates to a meeting point at the edge of the system. We don’t know if the Hive will take us there, and if we want to make sure we’re there, we need to go right now. Orders captain.?” Before Rhea could reply the ship rocked again, Rhea barely keeping her footing and her temper. “Oh dear.” The voice from helm control said. Rhea turned to face the man who owned it, a Perseid who was prone to significantly under-reacting to terrible situations. “It seems the Slipstream drive is offline.”

Rhea sighed at that news. Now they definitely only had one option. “Recall drones and use the AG fields and bucky cables to secure us to the Hive. when its done, signal them that we’re ready to go.” A chorus of affirmative responses came from the bridge crew, though Rhea hardly listened to them. The majority of the crew knew that it was best to exhaust every alternative to solving a problem before bringing bad news to Rhea Shohashi of Kenja Pride.

Grumm followed Roche down to the Hangar, he had his orders to protect these people, and whilst the rest of them were left in the capable hands of the Wolf Priests. As they reached the hangar, they were greeted by a smiling, female pilot. "Turns out that our Thunderhawks are too big to fit in your hangar, so it's going to be me and The Lady Rose over there to bus you back." she said, pointing to a Valkyrie Gunship with a decal of a Sister Repentia wearing only roses to cover herself, decapitating a Genestealer with her Eviscerator. "The Valkyries are only airtight in the cockpit." she said. "So you'll need to take the co-pilot seat." she said. As she walked back to the ship, the laspistol on her belt was rather accented. Grumm pulled on a mask and proceeded to climb in the back with the rest of the gunnery crew. Ogryn skin was hard enough to survive the preassure of a vacuum. It was most of the reason that they were accepted into the Militarum. He walked over to a side door and attached his belt to the sturdy floor and he grabbed the triggers for the Heavy Bolter. The Valkyrie flew out of the hangar and bee-lined through the fighters. Its multilasers blasted one of the ARC-170's, flying around towards the hangar of Andromeda. "Andromeda, this is The Lady Rose from The Culling of Prospero, we have your medic aboard and request landing permission." said the Pilot into her Vox Caster, with any luck, the proximity would be able to cut through the jamming.

“Hmm?”

Nephenee Harper looked up from the display of her console as commander Alara spoke to her. The security of the communication was a little dated compared to current Federation standards, but for their current fast moving and critical situation, it was perfectly fine.”

“That would be a good idea,” she agreed. “We shouldn’t need to do much to get a compatible link.”

She was about to proffer another suggestion, but she immediately noticed that Alara was a bit shaken.

“Commander?”

It seemed she had realized that their time was more than a century apart.

“That is… Not exactly the case,” said the acting captain, speaking carefully. “I think Nephenee can better explain our situation.”

The science officer nodded, brushing aside her hair as she looked up again.

“We haven’t gotten a 100% grasp of the situation, but we ran a quantum scan on several of the ships in the area during our sensor sweep, including the Aurora. There is reason to believe we are not just from different time periods, but of separate quantum realities, as is this current universe. Our records of the USS Aurora differ vastly from the ship we see now, which seems to confirm this theory. There’s still a concern for the Prime Directive, but this is not exactly a black and white situation…”

Nephenee’s explanation was cut short by the sounds of weapons fire, followed by Alara’s indication of another vessel approaching.

“Evasive maneuvers,” commanded Noelle. At the same time, she received a communication from Lee in the engineering department. Shields were up.

“Shields up, get us out of here at full impulse,” she continued. “I want us out of this system before those ships can get into a proper firing position.”

She turned back to Alara.

“I know this may be a bit much at the moment, but we actually have no dedicated tactical officer. He was due to come aboard tomorrow… A day too late. The console interface we have may be different, but the essential functions should be the same in principle... I suppose we’ll have more time to discuss our situation after getting out of here.”

Aboard the Culling of Prospero

Arriving down in the cavernous hangar bay, Roche was met by a female pilot, who announced that she would be taking them back because apparently the ship they had wanted was too big to fit in the Andromeda's hangar. His gaze followed to the hulking gunship, a bit put off by the decals. "I see. I had noticed that everything on your vessel is relatively large compared to what the Earth Defense Forces use." he commented as he followed over to the Lady Rose. Getting into the offered copilot seat, he was surprised and somewhat impressed as the Ogryn got in the back, where there seemed to be no seal from space. If they could survive hard vacuum like that, then they were incredible indeed.

There was no more time to dwell on that though, as he hung on and the Gunship beelined for the nearby Andromeda. He was worried to see it engulfed in combat, but proud at the same time for he could see them shooting back with the shock cannons, and knew they were giving as good as they got. He just had to hope they got the message.

---

Bridge

"20 megameters until we can warp," Brandon called, riding out the bumps and shocks from another impact. Those energy weapons were packing a punch, and damage control was spreading itself out to deal with it. They were lucky no critical systems had been disabled yet.Light flashed as reports came in and the weapons fired, a blue wash from the forward guns that made it back through the screen to the grey steel that comprised the bridge.

As if the coordinated chaos of a ship at war wasn't enough, something caught Flynn's attention on the radar, and her eyes widened in surprise before she whipped about to face Hijikata. "Sir, we have incoming debris."

Hijikata looked down to Brandon. "Helm, evasive maneuvers."

Brandon nodded and hit the wheel and throttle, the Andromeda turning to avoid the oncoming blows, only suffering a few glancing hit from Venator wreckage. Chunks of metal, fighters, superstructure floated past the bridge window as the fighters outside moved to compensate for the interruption. "What was that," Hijikata asked, his gaze unflinching.

Flynn hit the time radar and followed the logs back. "That was..that was the Osprey, sir," she reported, voice taking on a subtle quiver. "They suicided into the hangar bay of one of the ships and destroyed it, and themselves.'

Hiojikata frowned. "I see."

Over, Dmitri was still listening to the comm, when he managed to pick something out. Fiddling with the controls boosted the signal and allowed him to make out the message through the static, and he looked over to the Admiral. "Sir, we're being contacted by a fighter from the Culling of Prospero. They want permission to land."

Hijikata nodded sharply, almost without thought. "Granted."

Dmitri turned about and relayed the message. The ship powered forward through the hail of fire, the fighters withdrawing in time as they were able, until they were clear and in the hangar bay as well, the ship breaking contact to warp out.

---

Hangar

The Lady Rose was escorted to the hangar bay by two Cosmo Tigers, who moved out of the way once they had landed. The Gunship itself was met by a squad of green clad marines, nervously eying the Ogryn while holding to their pulsar rifles, ready for trouble Before anything could occur though, Roche exited the Gunship and strode up to the commander, earning a salute and doing th same in turn before he moved to business. "Tell the Admiral I have coordinates for our Warp,' he said, passing across the message from Kurn.

That was quickly relayed to the bridge, and all too soon a ship wide broadcast came as the hangar buzzed around them, fighters, in varying states of damage, landed and were moved out of the way. "All hands, prepare for Warp."

Roche walked back over to the Lady Rose and spoke to the pilot, Grumm, and the others, saying "You may want to stay seated for this. Warp can be a very...disorienting experience."

Click This said She turned back to Alara. “I know this may be a bit much at the moment, but we actually have no dedicated tactical officer. He was due to come aboard tomorrow… A day too late. The console interface we have may be different, but the essential functions should be the same in principle... I suppose we’ll have more time to discuss our situation after getting out of here.”

USS Illustrious - Bridge
Alara nodded, “Absolutely Captain. I’ll what I need to, to keep your ship safe. And so will the Aurora.” As it was her feet were killing her, and she was glad to be sit down at her console and got to work, and hoped this situation would not intensify anymore than it already had. All they could do was sit, and wait.

USS Aurora – Bridge
The Captain was waiting for the Illustrious to set course, they’d just relayed some coordinates to some other ships for a rendezvous point just outside the system and hoped they could all meet there. After the cataclysmic mess of one ship exploding, and taking some others with it, he doubted that remaining near to the planet would have been a good thing. So they set course at full impulse and caught up to the damaged sister ship as best as possible. He only hoped things could not get any worse, or of reinforcements arriving too soon as the lst thing they needed right now were more hostiles.

He looked at the helm, “How long until we reach our destination?”
“A few minutes” came the reply.
“Good, keep it up and take whatever sensor readings you can, and ask the Illustrious to do the same. Maybe by working together one of us may pick up something the other may miss.” He paused for a second. “Actually, see if the Illustrious can make a short jaunt to warp – may make us harder to track. Until we know what kind of superluminal travel they’re using.”
"So do you want to jump to warp now?" Asked the helmsman.
"No, wait for the Illustrious to signal they can, and then follow."
"Yes, sir."

The Hive objected as the other vessel attached to the outside of their hull, he merely brushed away the feeling as he continued to direct weapons fire towards the burning hulk directly towards them. Eventually it began to break apart in several pieces each of which were moving away from the hive that was moving towards it. "Divert secondary system power to the hyperdrive." He didn't wait for an affirmative as he could already feel the power being routed from one system to another within the ship. The Hive knew it was happening so he knew it was happening, as the hive broke through the debris a green window formed onfront of the vessel and the hive sped off into it. Once within it was surrounded by a tunnel of blue and black as the hive coursed through hyperspace. Though of course the trip was a short one and shortly after everything returned to normal above a small ice world on the edge of what was the Corcusa system.

Quicksilver activated communications as he mentally informed the bridge crew to begin repairing damage. "We will wait here until we have repaired damage and can more accurately get a scan on nearby systems and then plan what to do next. Our Hive is having discomfort with you docking and cannot heal the wounds from where you grappled it while you are docked. So to that end detach yourself from the vessel so it may do so."

Loff (A.K.A Everyones Favourite Admiral

Loff swore as his Venators apparently proved too little for the the enemy assault. There were two options, he could try and requisition a Stealth ship that would never arrive in time or take a slightly larger leap. "Launch all fighters, have all Golans fire upon the remaining vessels with proton torpedoes. Call in the interdiction ships and send authorization code two nine two two eight on the Imperial private band.""Yes sir." On that signal, five brand new Victory Star Destroyers dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the mass shadow. Their shields were improved as were the weapons compared to the Venators, and they were not firing out of sync like the Venators. They began firing into the formation of Icarus, Prospero and Andromeda in unison and concentrated fire.

Loff smirked. They could try and get out but they wouldn't. He looked at one of the Clones on the bridge, "Send ARC troopers to the Space station as it seems to be repelling our usual boarding parties."

Rhea stepped from the open front of the bridge to stand next to her helmsman at the helm station as she watched the viewscreen showing them moving forward. She had no idea what this ‘hyperspace’ would be like, especially since the Intent wouldn’t have any of the safeguards that may or may not’ve been required. Thus, she was preemptively holding on to the helm console to avoid getting thrown ignominiously across the bridge. A glance at Valerie was all the android needed to know to give a shipwide announcement - if the captain was bracing for acceleration, everyone else should be too. “All crew brace for acceleration” her calm voice stated in every section of the small vessel.

As the pair of ships pulled clear of the chaos of battle, a great green rent opened up in space in front of the Hive, and for a moment they just hung there. Rhea likened it to a different coloured flatter looking slipstream portal. But the moment quickly passed as the ship half flew and half was sucked into the portal. The sudden acceleration made her grateful to be holding onto the console, as it was a moment before Valerie compensated the AG fields. Despite that, once they were traveling in ‘hyperspace’ it was a remarkably smooth ride, especially compared to slipstream. For one, they seemed to be going directly to their destination and the ship wasn’t shaking from gravitational turbulence. She didn’t have long to observe the phenomena though as it soon came to an end and they reappeared in normal space, accompanied by deceleration similar to the acceleration before.

The moment Rhea could see they were in normal space, she was ordering them to undock. They had already reeled in the bucky capable and begin the manoeuvre to push away from the Hive when the communication came through requesting it. Once the vessel had completed the elegant AG field assisted manoeuvre Rhea spoke again. “Damage report?” The response came in the unusual chittering yet musical voice of Rhea’s Than lieutenant, Mirrors of Starlight. “Slipstream drive is still inoperable, engineering reports it should be online in two hours. Hull damage is already being repaired. Missile supplies are plentiful, but we’ve lost over fifty percent of our drones.” Rhea was concerned about that, drone cover was important to the ship and having a high attrition rate on them would make resupplying slower. “Very good Mirrors. Tell Engineering they have an hour. Valerie, I need you to keep an eye out for any unusual energy signatures, anything that might resemble another ship exiting whatever kind of FTL they use. We could use more allies. In particular, keep an eye out for the Aurora and the Icarus if you can.” “I’ll do my best, but I won’t guarantee anything.” Hologram Valerie answered.

"One new transmission," the computer said.
"Jason!" Gwen said. The bridge was filling with smoke, making it harder to see. But Gwen had heard a thump from somewhere behind her. Guy's console was a burnt mess, full of exposed wires. They weren't going to be firing weapons soon. Behind the chrome command chair dais, Gwen could just make out Jason's hunched figure. He wasn't moving. As the vibrations from the latest series of hits died down, Gwen leaped up, leaving her chair spinning. Guy was still screaming.
"He's not moving!"
"Tommy, get us out of here!" Alexander commanded.

Guy's screams drowned out everything.

"Shut up, Guy!" Tommy shouted. He didn't stop.

Gwen felt for a pulse. His arm was warm, thank God. And there was a pulse, too. Knocked out, not dead. She should... she didn't know what to do. Gently, Gwen layed Jason on the floor.

"Tommy, leave, now!" Alexander shouted again. Their current course and speed was taking them closer to the V-wings than was necessary.

Gwen got knocked to the floor by another explosion. She sat down by Jason, still not sure what else she could be doing.

"Guy!" Alexander said. "Oh, for the love of-." Alexander walked over to Guy and slapped him. Guy stopped screaming. "There. Now, Tommy, get us out of here!"
"What the hell do you think I'm doing, man?" Tommy retorted.
"Well, do it faster!"

Tommy twisted the throttle all the way open.

The Protector II turned away from the Venators and smoothly accelerated. Tommy's console smoothly kept track of their speed in the completely useless unit of "Marks". Mark 1... mark 2... mark 3.... The V-wings were starting to lose pace. Mark 4... mark 5.... The viewscreen flickered as the computer compensated for visual distortions due to travelling at light speed. The Protector II smoothly accelerated to light speed, and then just kept going. Mark 6... mark 7... mark 8. His console beeped, and the display changed from a radar screen of some sort to a map of known local space. A straight line was marked through it. In the upper corner, it said "Computer assisted navigation". At mark 10, the console beeped again, and changed to "Computer-controlled navigation."

The Venators were long gone, and the V-wings, of course, were incapable of travelling faster than light. A luminal boom lagged behind the ship - fleeting distorted afterimages of the Protector II as it traveled through real space at speeds faster than light.

"I think we lost them!" Tommy said. He twisted the throttle to zero. The ship decelerated, smoothly dropping below light speed without so much as a bump.

Years ago, when the Thermians were first building the Protector II, they'd been faced with a conundrum. Though the original Protector had a boost, it was also obviously capable of breaking the light barrier without it. After all, the historical documents had the ship travelling from system to system in days and hours, not the years and months it would take otherwise. Yet the ship never accelerated visibly or audibly except for the extremely quick one-minute boosts. As a matter of fact, the viewscreen didn't even distort. It had been one of Mathesar's team's greatest triumphs in the recreation of the Protector - to not only implement a faster-than-light in realspace solution, but also do it without any visible or audible change. Humanity was one very advanced species.

So, while the heroes of the Protector were sighing with relief, Mathesar was smiling, briefly. It had occured to him that, despite the great triumph that the Protector II was, it was obviously flawed. He had seen the crew escape far worse situations without even getting damaged, but the ship was severely damaged. What did he do wrong? Perhaps they had missed something. Many sections of the ship had had to be extrapolated, like the bathrooms. Many parts still puzzled him, like the crushing hallways, or the pipes that went nowhere and emitted steam, or the pipes that went nowhere and contained glowing plasma, or the two rec rooms, both nearly identical, but mirror images of each other. Surely these systems all had a purpose, but without the knowledge of precisely where the pipes terminated or the purpose of the crushers, they'd had no choice but to include them and assume they were integral to the functioning of the ship somehow. Indeed, they'd utilized the crushers to syphon off some of the excessively generated power.

"Finally," Alexander said. They were alone. Save for the other ships that were arriving.
"Mathesar, Jas-Commander Taggart's hurt," Gwen said. Mathesar leaned down and picked up Taggart effortlessly. He carried him to medbay.
"One new transmission," the computer said.
"Computer, play transmission," Gwen said.
"Transmission translated from morse code. Transmission reads: Hello. Do you need help?"
"Yes!" Tommy and Alexander said simultaneously.
"Computer, please reply that we would like help. Invite them to our conference room," Gwen said.
"Transmission sent."

~o~0~o~
OOC: Anyone who can read morse code can get that message, by the way.

The Helfrost Cannons of the Culling of Prospero blasted away at one of the encroaching Venator's as they came moved into Broadside range. The Venators hull was protected from extreme heats, but the extreme colds that the Helfrost Cannon produced were not imagined by the Venator's designers. The Shields proved little help, their design built to absorb the energy from the heat of incoming weaponsfire and use that energy to power the shields, redirecting what else it couldn't absorb. The Helfrost cannon, instead drained the energy from the shields, as well as the temperature from the hull, the hull would rapidly contract, ripping microfractures in it, the weakened shields then falling prey to the broadside cannons, the frozen hull exploding with the rapid superheating from the prometheum core. Large chunks exploding out of it.

"My Lord, Warp Engines fully charged, Warp portal forming!" yelled one of the bridge crew. Ahead of them, space ruptured and convulsed as the ruinous energies of the Warp opened and swallowed the Culling of Prospero whole.

-Aboard Andromeda-

The crew of the Lady Rose heard that they were going to Warp. "I hope their shields are good, or we could be in for a rough trip." said Jhaven, the pilot as she sat in the back of the Lady Rose. She grabbed a shotgun from the gunrack and began loading it, she finally pumped it. "In case of close encounters..." She laughed. Grumm laughed as well, unfortunately, the problem with him laughing was that, not only did he not understand the joke, but he hadn't cleaned his teeth in quite some time, so the stench of rotting meat filled the back of the Valkyrie. As soon as the gun was loaded, she placed it down beside her. The Ogryn was panting heavily. "Claustrophobia?" she asked. Grumm looked confused, but then nodded. She pressed a button and the door opened, letting the Ogryn out to meet Roche. When he said to strap in for the trip, the Ogryn sat down on the edge of the craft, causing it to rock a little with the immense weight being put on it.

Jhaven looked out of the craft at him. "Your shields good enough to keep Khornes mutant fuckers out of here?" she asked.

EDFS Andromeda

Hangar

Met by the Ogryn and aware of the imminent Warp, Roche moved to sit down as well, lest he suffer the disorientation that Warp provided. Warp sickness was not a fun experience. The question did catch him by surprise though, prompting a question that he asked after he responded to her own query. "We don't have shields. EDF Research is supposed to be working on them, but they haven't told us if they have them working. Fortunately, we don't need shields to Warp." Then the question. "If you don't mind my asking, who is Khorne?"

There wasn't much time to dwell on that though as the last of the Cosmo Tiger's landed and the hangar bay closed, the crew secured for the Warp that was to be imminent. There was a countdown on the ships comm, a lurch as they breached the barrier, and they were gone.

---

Bridge

The shock cannons spat blue fire across the void as the Andromeda pulled away, reports called out from impacts and radar, the Cosmo Tigers withdrawing in synch, and Navigation input the coordinates Roche had provided.

The arrival of the Victory class Star Destroyers was quickly picked up, and Flynn reported it to the Admiral. "Sir, new hostiles at 45 degrees. They're firing."

Hijikata did a good job of keeping his balance even as the ship rocked from the impacts of lasers that scorched the side of the hull. "How much longer until we can Warp?"

Brandon didn't look back as he struggled with the controls for the ship. "5 more megameters."

Another report came in. "Sir, all fighters have landed, and hangar is closed." "Warp speed reached."

"Good." Hijikata watched on as red and blue laser fire streaked past, as well as enemy fighters. "Warp when we're able."

Brandon nodded. "Yes sir. Warping in 10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1.."

Hijikata gave the order." Warp." It was reiterated by Brandon then, "Warping!" He slammed the throttle forward, allowing the full power of the Wave Motion Engine to flow. Tachyon particles were caught and harnessed as energy surged and a hole was torn between dimensions. As missiles and enemy fire raced in, the ship seemed to waver, and then vanished, swept away in the sea of time to their destination.

It would be an...interesting trip for those not used to it. There was nothing particularly unusual about this Warp, but the senses were barrages by a multitude of oscillating colors and sensations, the feeling that one was falling while sitting in gravity, coming dangerously close to sensory overload in a span of time that seemed infinite, yet was only a fleeting minute or so before the ship emerged from Warp, shifting back into normal space near the coordinates given to them by the Cullnig of Prospero

The crew on the bridge recovered, their bout of unconsciousness only lasting a few seconds once they had reverted, and they quickly set to work, determining where they were and the leftovers from that battle. Damage control crews swung to work, sealing bulkheads and sautering off air leaks, more extensive repairs needing time they didn't have. Radar waves swept space, looking for nearby contacts, and fighters prepared to deploy again as guns perked up, ready for anything.

The search was quickly returned. "Sir, I'm picking up ships bearing at 70 degrees to port at a distance of 20 megameters, 45 to starboards at a distance of 46 megameters."

Well, mused Hijikata, seemed hey weren't alone still after all. "Imperial ships?"

Flynn looked closer, checking readouts, before shaking her head. "Negative. Profiles match other vessels we saw around Coruscant, not aligned with the Galactic Empire."

That was good news, to say the least. If they weren't hostile then there would be no immediate danger. "Keep an eye on them, and maintain battle stations."

Dmitri poked up yet again, a series of long and short sounds hitting his ears from the headset he wore. "Sir, we're receiving a transmission in....Morse Code." That was strange, given the prevalence of video and audio communications in the EDF. Fortunately, it was still required learning at the Academy, and the computers could help in translation. Apparently Morse Code didn't differ between dimensions. "They're inviting us over for a meeting."

Hijikata was intrigued, to say the least. "Who is 'they'?"

Dmitri frowned a she worked out the origin, eventually pointing to the vessel on their starboard side. "That one."

While Hijikata was interested, they still had things they needed to do. Not to mention the fact that much of the Andromeda's medical personnel were still aboard the Culling of Prospero, so they would have to wait for it to arrive so they could get them back, and for the situation to stabilize before the Admiral was willing to leave the ship, the sole remnant of Earth Defense Force here. "Leave them be for now. Continue repairs. If the Imperials show up I want to be able to Warp as quickly as possible. And get the Wave Motion Gun back online. It's our best weapon, and we need it." Confirmation, and it was to work again, and the waiting game.