IAF Envoy-class Cruiser Palatine
“Captain. No offense but is this really all necessary?” Colette questioned allowed after holding her tongue for the last hour or so of the security briefing.
“Necessary? Of course it is! The Imperial Majesty entrusts me with your continued safety and we are going into heart of enemy territory here.” The Palatine's captain insisted.
“Yes and my father is a very smart man for that,” Colette sighed tiredly,
“but this isn’t a military operation captain. We are an envoy of peace are we not?” "How will I convince an entire nation that peace is opportune if I can’t even convince my own soldiers?" Colette questioned aloud as the disbelief began to form over the Captain's features. He attempted to speak mouth forming words but without sound. Finally he seemed sighed, opting for a handful of deep breaths before he spoke.
“With all do respect my lady. These people are savages and brigands. I wouldn't even blink an eye if they decided to try and attack us. Peace will only come once we crush them beneath our heels.” he asserted. Colette opened her mouth to respond but the sound of instruments and navigation equipment blaring filled the the bridge of the Palatine.
“Captain you should see this.” A slightly panicked voice of the navigation officer called out.
The Captain gave Colette a curt bow before turning around and walking quickly towards the navigation officers post. She was working at a tense and deliberate speed, cycling through different commands and panels on her console. She gestured at the display ahead of her. A map displaying the Mist currents in the air. “Look.”
Colette remained where the captain had left her but shifted to the side to peer at the console. A large concentration of Mist colored an angry red upon the map moving straight towards them. A Mist storm. Mist storms were a rare but not an unheard occurrence, the large deposits of arcane energy sometimes gathered into powerful destructive vacuums of energy that could alter the very fabric of reality around them. Though this was odd, such storms usually occurred in the wilds and untamed lands far beyond the reaches of civilization where such mist levels could be reached.
“Brace for impact!” The captain shouted over the wail of the instruments as Colette turned her head toward the viewports ahead of her. While Mist, as per its nature was invisible, its side effects often were not. A massive stormcloud brewing around them, surging forward faster than any airship could turn. She watched closely as the sky outside the viewpoint began to shimmer ever so slightly, like a pebble had just been dropped into a lake. The shimmer grew in intensity faster and harder until the entire outside world became unrecognizable blur. The ship rumbled and shook and stopped all at once as they passed through the cloud in a little less than a few minutes.
The fading sunset cast sky had been replaced with a shining sea of stars. The land below looked completely different even as the bridge crew frantically tried to regain control of the situation.
"Were We teleported?" Colette wondered though her thoughts were cut short and color drained from her face.
“Captain...” She voiced.
“I see it.”A large flying vessel hovered in front of them. Dark as the sky around them, the entire vessel seemed to shimmer in and out of view as if the light was bending around it. Plated with deep blue armor and bristling with weapons like a porcupine, it wasn’t nearly as large as the Palatine but unlike the diplomatic cruiser this ship was obviously meant for battle.
“Is it from Rassvet?” The captain called aloud, clutching at the gunblade at his hilt as if it would do something.
“Not that we know of sir.”
“What in the spirit's name is going on?” Almost as if it was answering his question, the mysterious ship began to open fire on the Palatine. A sea of fire was released from the ship as heavy cannons tore into the Palatine. Warning sirens began to blare as multiple consoles on the bridge began to glow red. Colette almost fell to the ground from the force of the impact if it were not for Albriech next to her who gently held her up. She looked towards him, his face stern even as his eyes casted his unease plain and clear.
“Get the princess to the escape craft now!” The captain bellowed towards Albriech who was already dragging Colette by the hand out of the bridge. Personnel rushed frantically around them as they moved towards their battle stations. All while the Palatine continued to rumble and shudder from its continued bombardment.
As they made their way down a hallway the outer wall exploded. Albriech threw his hand up reflexively, a barrier appearing and halting the shrapnel in mid-air. The cold wind whipped into the ship along with smell of smoke. Something came flying through the now opened access point, smashing into the wall. Everyone froze as it slowly began to untangle itself and pull its way off of the wall. Standing so tall it brushed against the ceiling as its eyes glowed to life- four icy blue lights in a crab like head deep within its torso. One of the large arms raising its arm mounted cannon.
The royal guards rushed past them to engage the new foe. Without thinking Albriech pulled Collette down a connecting side passageway as behind them was a short mechanical whine, followed by a volley of blasts and screams. A voice came over the intercom speaker, more distorted than discernable at this point.
“In-rud-- -- boarded - ship. Repeat - have -- the ship.”The wall to the left of them exploded as one of the robots was thrown through- it a giant spike of ice protruding from his chest as it crashed into the far wall. Out from the hole that was punched through the door one of the Imperial mages stepped outwards, staff still glowing. A cadre of soldiers pouring outward around her. The mage glanced at the princess and began to point, but before any of them could react, the robot eyes began to glow again and with surprisingly quick speed it grabbed the soldier closest to it and easily crushed him in its hands as it rose upward.
“Run!” The mage commanded as she turned away from the pair muttered underneath her breath as her staff began to glow once more.
Albriech and Colette made their way through the ship with speed avoiding contact with the many assailants continually being launched into the ship. They made their way down to the shuttle bay. Off from the main hangar it was used primarily in situations such as these to allow for VIPs and others to be able to escape if the Palatine was ever compromised- not that the engineers ever imagined such a day would come. As they made their way across the catwalk connecting to the shuttle the ceiling above them buckled and burst open and two of the robots landed in front of them.
“Stand back.” Albriech command as he drew his blade from its sheath.
“I can fight.” Protested Colette, but he just shook his head slowly, never losing eye contact with the machines. Body in a defensive stance he watched and waited.
One of the machines raised its arm-cannon crackling with blue energy and fired. Albriech quickly conjured another barrier, catching the blue bolt in midair. Rather than letting them drop as he had earlier, with a flick of his hands they shot back at the robot at twice the velocity slamming hard into its shoulder. The bolt hit the robot with enough force to tear off its arm and send the robot careening off the edge and tumbling through the open sky below.
The other moved quickly rushing forward Albriech dodged out of the way as the fist punching through the flimsy catwalk, with still enough force to throw Albriech from his feet. He looked up at the robot that towered over him and began to mutter a spell as it raised its fist to crush him. Yet before the spell could be released an arrow of light slammed into the the glowing eyes of the robot and knocked the machine off its feet. Seizing the opportunity Albriech rose lunged forward, stabbing the thing with his gunblade, sending the machine down to its knees. The old man glanced towards Colette and the bow that she had materialized in her hand already vanishing into dust. She gave him a wry grin.
“If you didn’t want me to fight. You shouldn't have taught me.”Despite the situation Albriech chuckled.
“Get in.”Colette made her way around the hole in the catwalk and into the shuttle where she began the startup sequence. As Albriech turned to follow her the floor rumbled again as the robot he had stabbed, alongside several more robots punched through the outer hull of the ship, throwing them all to the ground.
“Albriech?” was all Collette managed before Albriech slammed a button on the console with the mist, sealing Collette in the darkness as the shuttle's blast doors closed, struggling to his feet, now unarmed.
"Albriech!"
