[IC] Conflux: Pantherigos

[Alfhedil]

- Sinuiju Station, 5.17.2410

For all the beating of the drums of war across the Confederacy, rare was it to see a military station so passive. Despite the increased presence of UNISEC personnel and their warships at anchor, Sinuiju refused to be swayed. Such was the steadfast neutrality of Liaoning and her people. Among the varied ships one in particular stood out. Nearly two-thousand meters of warship sharpened to a point and bristling with enough weaponry to take down a ship three times its size, the Yoshino nuzzled close against the station's dock as it took on both supplies and soldiers for her upcoming campaign.

At least, that was how the captain saw her latest orders as they appeared on her desk within. Veteran of a dozen conflicts across three centuries, she had an in-depth understanding on the mystical ability of command in regards to understatement, and this one was hardly out of the ordinary.

"Record." Though she was rather soft-spoken, a light blinked on the desk to indicate her auto-journal's response. "Vice Admiral Genevieve Alleron, captain of the Yoshino. Mark entry as the Seventeenth of May, the year 2410 of the Corporate Era." A soft hum gave away the computer's drives working as she spoke, only recording her words and not the light pace of her footsteps across the wooden floor.

"Orders have been received from command to investigate possible alien threat within one of Liaoning's border worlds. I have taken on supplies and additional personnel in preparation of hostilities, namely in the form of additional nuclear warheads and a dozen suits of Type-85 powered armor. Aris has given assurances of the ship's anti-capital capabilities, and I have also personally overseen the adjustments to the stealth-field. Current estimate for sortie is total of six days, with travel time of 110 hours total between Sinuiju and LAT-4/877/43 already factored in."

For a moment, she debated upon concluding her initial entry there, the pause enough to register a query on the desk to that end. The barely audible ticking of the grandfather clock against the wall seemed to increase in volume in that space of time, gently reminding her that there were still things to do before underway. "Final notation: It has been discussed between myself and the ship's Engram, that executing a stealth-torpedo strike against the alien vessel would be the swiftest conclusion to the sortie, and we have both agreed that it is the preferred method."

Genevieve waited for the click of the recording ending before letting out a sigh, staring at the painting of her homeworld's capital and wondering how her family was faring through the ongoing war. All of the latest news from the station had pointed towards Pomerania being the next target of the Lexikon, and that meant their participation in the war was swiftly coming to an end. Those thoughts were a distraction however, and with a shake of her head that very nearly dislodged her pinkish hair from the tight bun, she dismissed them and focused on the mission at hand. She had new crew-members on board, people that needed to be briefed on how she ran her ship, and it would be best to go forward without thoughts of home.

Already some of them were likely on their way to the briefing room after their tour of the ship and their assigned bunks. Without delay, she fastened her officer's jacket and ensured her rank pins were in place just as surely as the rest of her appearance, and made way down to ensure that her choices of personnel would not disappoint her at least until they were underway.

[Astraya]

With a grin on her face a small girl wearing strange armor that shows her belly button. However a fine line at the center of her abdomen runs height wise along it indicating she has some sort of augmentation there. Attached to her armor is what seems like a rigid piece that has an extending and angling system to act as a bracer should she need it. Atop her head are what look like peaked metal devices only a few inches in size and designed to be interface antenna for her drones to give her better control over them. She lets the bracer raise and rest along her back as she makes her way into the briefing room after having gotten her bunk assignment, she has heard stories about the captain and she didn't want to be thrown off the ship. Her armor was meant for reminiscence and not for front line combat and judging from wear her armor didn't cover one could guess she could out maneuver most soldiers but her records would show she knows nothing about hand to hand combat or side arms which is something she could improve upon. As she walks past everyone her eyes seem to glow and watch them though as she gets to the briefing room her belly opens up letting out one small drone that starts to hover around her, she uses it to entertain herself while she waits.

[Shadow Daedalus]

The cool splash of water was pleasant across his face as James Carlyle tried to do whatever he could to regain his slowly energy levelness, the cold liquid in the basin functioning well enough to return some of the alertness to his mind. He had barely had time to find the crew quarters and quickly wash his face before he needed to make his way to the briefing room, all the while none to happy about being pulled from shore-leave early for the sake of this deployment. Exhaling though his nose in displeasure, he wiped his face off with a towel and pulled the upper half of his uniform back on, fastening it closed as he left his quarters on his way to the briefing.

As he walked, he thought back to the communication he had received concerning his advancement to the Second Division. It said that, for the time being, he was under consideration until Second Division had reviewed the recommendation submitted by his previous commanding officer. Should the recommendation fall into place, he would undergo a formal review and, should be pass, be sent back to one of the Second Division training facilities to undergo the appropriate re-training, with his foreseeable end goal being Independent Operations, Marksman Section. He pulled himself from his musing quickly enough to avoid colliding with the door before taking a breath and entering the briefing room.

Leaning against the back wall with his arms crossed, he took a moment to survey his surroundings. The room itself was fairly unremarkable, with a few Privates and other miscellaneous crewmen present for what he felt like would amount to an orientation meeting. The unusual white-haired girl caught his attention and he watched with a raised eyebrow as she entertained herself, taking note of the fine level of control she seemed to have over the drones. Shaking his head slightly, he looked back to the front of the room as he waited for the Vice Admiral to arrive.

[Evil Snowman]

It had been a day and a half to arrive at Sinuiju Station. A day and half of being in uncomfortable bunks and cramped transport vessels. So it was pleasing to arrive to Sinuiju Station as it gave her a moment to roam around and find out where she needed to go. Having never been to this station before in her decades of military service. Something she found amusing and not surprising, but given she spent most of her career fighting on planets mostly going one world straight to the next. So being her being assigned to a ship instead of the front lines was nice. Alexia feeling she needed some time away from the front. Even if it had proven hard to leave her old squad.

It was something Alexia didn’t want to think about too much. Given her former squad was like family to her and when she thought about her old squad she knew part of her would miss them. However, she was sure given time whomever she’d be working beside now would in time as highly valued. Well depending to being post to the Yoshino played out. Alexia aware her record was far from perfect and sometimes wondered how many of her infraction had actually been noted against her. However many Alexia didn’t really care, she was who she was.

It didn’t take long to find which docking bay the Yoshino was docked at and how to get there. So started to make her wave over with some mild haste. So she could be shown her bunk assignment and do whatever else was required of her. Which she hoped wasn’t much, as Alexia had to explore the Yoshino before they arrived for whatever the ship had been given.

Alexia found the docking bay the ship was at merely following the instructions she had been given. Stopping when arrived to take a moment to look at the window at the ship itself.
“Looks pretty neat, I bet those guns pack mean punch” she muttered to herself before approaching the airlock only to find a junior officer who Alexia assumed was from the ship approach her and confirm her identity. Confirming she was indeed herself the officer asked her to follow. Stating he’d provide her with a quick tour of the ship and show her bunk assignment. Once a few people had turned up.

The tour although quick Alexia found it to be very interesting. As the officer providing the tour to be most skilled in providing a quick run down of the vessel. In the time it took to be showing the key area’s of the ship she’d be using and her bunk she learned what she hoped was a great deal about the vessel. Although when ship protocol was brought she partly ignored him. Finding little interest in such a topic. To her so long as she didn’t get busted with contraband and was respectful to her superiors Alexia was sure she’d manage.

Once shown to her bunk the officer informed her of a meeting in the briefing room. Making Alexia sigh, she had thought she’d try to sneak a quick nap in to recover from the travel.
“Alright, I the way. I’ll head over.” Alexia stated giving a lazy salute to the officer before he left. She looked at the bunk she’d been given, placing a hand on the bed and pushing hard for a moment before giving another sigh.
“Ship this fancy, and you’d think UNISEC would spring for decent beds.” she muttered before leaving the room.

Alexia made her way to the briefing room entering she stopped and looked around at everyone that had arrived. Note only two people seemed to stick out a little and might be worth give some attention to at some point. After all, Alexia had no idea how long she’d be assigned to this ship. So might as well get chummy with anyone that sticks out a little. But for now, she’d reframe moving deeper into the room Alexia, but herself near a wall and like the young man leaned against the wall. Alexia having it, so her right foot pressed firmly on the wall behind her. Since she lacked anything else to do till the meeting started Alexia let her mind wonder and within moment she was partly lost in her thoughts. Enough so the passage of time was less obvious but not enough she could not hear what was going on around her.

[Alfhedil]

Sleek white hallways flanked the woman on either side with personnel saluting smartly at the sight of the admiral wings adorning her shoulder, and the pierced skull insignia pinned to her chest. Duty called to her, and she was well dressed and prepared for it even if it was a simple briefing for the new crewmen. Such was the reason for the pressed grey uniform jacket and pants, the single red stripe down her right side signifying her command rank. It held importance for her as it meant she had people to look after and guide into battle, as well as home when all was said and done. Already they waited in the briefing room on the deck just below, waiting for inspirational words perhaps or at the very least an idea of what they were getting into with this assignment. She smirked at the concept, as she had doubts herself as to what they were actually facing other than a whole lot of unknown. It was the worst kind of "go smack these guys" type of mission, as at least across the rest of the Confederacy they knew who they were fighting.

Genevieve barely noticed the transition from the command deck into the main crew deck, so lost in her thoughts as she was, but she knew the ship like the back of her own hand and made her way quite well. The briefing room was before her after just a moment's walk, filling with crew-members as they found seats or simply stood against the walls of the circular room. She had specifically requested the design of the room to be such, as she preferred everyone to have a clear and unhindered view of both herself and whatever data was being displayed on the central table.

"Captain on deck!" The call preceded her arrival, as did the shuffle of boots on metal when most of the crew rose to salute. Those who did not were the regulars who knew her a little better from being long time servicemen. Regardless, she waved the rest back down to their seats as she acquired a cup of coffee from her ensign and took a stand at the central table.

"At ease, no need to stand on ceremony." As expected some of the more green Third Division troopers seemed confused at the statement but complied anyways, finding seats and still holding that blissfully ignorant yet gleeful eagerness that could only belong to fresh recruits. "As some of you are aware, either through serving on the Yoshino previously, or just doing your due diligence... I am Vice Admiral Genevieve Alleron of the First Division Star Navy. This ship is under my captaincy, and as such for the extent of your tour on board you are my crew and subject to my protocol."

She took a pause to glance around the room to find those in particular she had singled out in their applications. There was the engineer from Solexus with his cybernetic ocular implants carefully recording everything, and beside him were the twins from Third Helix going over medical dossiers of the entire crew. Across from her directly was both the marksman Carlyle and the bruiser Mio, two who would be handy in case they had to get mixed up on a surface action. Not so much in boarding maneuvers, but she was preferring to avoid that.

"To be blunt, I don't really give a shit what world you came from, much less how your previous outfit did things. Don't put holes in my ship and follow the general regulations and I won't space your sorry asses. Otherwise, when you are not on duty you're free to pursue your off time however you wish as long as it is outside the work areas." Nods and affirmatives followed, uneasily from some but with a bit more enthusiasm from others. She preferred to keep things a bit less on the tight end than those she trained under centuries ago, but still had to set some kind of baseline or people might actually put holes in the ship.

"On to the mission at hand." The table in front of her lit up and began replaying the recording from the 'Zhao' that she had already seen a hundred times over, thus allowing her to take a moment to highlight particular segments and separate them for the others. "Approximately 48 hours ago UNISEC command received this transmission dump from the LRSD vessel Zhao that was running a long-term observation of the star LAT-4/877/43. Unsurprising to I hope everyone in the room, Liaoning hasn't said what it was the Zhao was looking for in the observation, but I am quite sure it wasn't this." At that point a 3D render of the unknown vessel appeared above the table with a small representation of the 'Zhao' at the side.

"This unknown vessel appeared suddenly and without warning within the orbit of the star, then after a two-minute engagement communications with the Zhao were suspended. Instrumentation is vague at best on nearly every aspect of the ship, but what we can gather from this image and the sensory scans in the data-dump, is that it is not from any known alien civilization and that we can assume it to be anywhere upwards of sixteen kilometers in length. Our mission is to investigate the ship and determine their intentions, with the secondary goal to eliminate it. Current plan is to torp the shit out of it with the nuclear torpedoes we recently inloaded from Sinuiju station, send in the remote fighters to clean up anything that survives and come back to celebrate. Any questions?"

[Astraya]

Once the captain was being announced as entering the room she stands up but once told to sit down by the captain herself she sits down and shrugs slightly not worrying about being confused. She lets her drone float up and record the captain making sure to save everything to a data bank. She pays attention but once Genevieve asks if there are any questions Ivory would stand up and ask with an eager tone as she smiles "Ma'am I only have one question, when do we get to start kicking ass?" The look in her eye was that of interest as she looked over the 3D image. On her armor she had the emblem of Solexus so a ship like that caught her eye greatly.

[Shadow Daedalus]

James was lost in thought as the captain neared the room, but his body moved on instinct as the call was made, snapping to Attention with a disciplined salute following sharply after. He relaxed back against the wall as she put them at ease, understandably a little confused someone as highly ranked as a Vice Admiral could be so lax with protocol, but continued to listen to the briefing anyway, laughing a little though his nose at the brief summary of how she ran her ship.

He listened to the mission briefing carefully, taking note of anything that could be important to his particular role, as well as potential tactical decisions as a whole. As she finished the briefing, he began to process his thoughts and began to form a question, but was interrupted as the bizarre white-haired girl spoke up and he spotted the Solexus logo on her unusual armour. His expression become a mix of questioning and distaste at her outburst, although leaning more so to the latter, but refrained from commenting and instead simply rolled his eyes before standing up straight from his place on the wall and raising his hand to signal his own input.

"Two questions Ma'am. Are we sure that the unknown vessel will still in that location once we arrive, or that we can at least track it down if not? With all due respect, 5 days is plenty of time to exfil even a ship of that size, and they may have tracking countermeasures we hadn't known about."

[Alfhedil]

Genevieve stared blankly at the small girl, thinking immediately that perhaps she had acquired a stowaway and glossing over the SE emblem on her chest. "Assuming the ship is still in system, a fact of which we cannot truly be certain of Corporal Carlyle, our current rules of engagement as per First Division Reactionary Fleet protocol, is to destroy with extreme prejudice. Due to the size of the ship and assumed capabilities, we expect to expend half of the Yoshino's ammunition stores in the sortie. So to answer your question, and the likely followup, it will be immediately when we exit hyperspace and there will be no salvaging operations." Of course, she had already explained as much to the Adept with the augmetic eyes. He wasn't pleased about it, but he accepted her judgement regardless.

Carlyle did bring up a good point however, and it was one that she herself had pointed out when she got the assignment. They had no way of tracking the ship, no knowledge of if the ship was still there, or where it was if not, and more damning to the mission at hand; she wasn't even sure if their weapons could damage it. Dozens of faces stared at her and expected some kind of answer better than what she had been given, and so she did what she did best. "You are correct that the capabilities of the alien vessel are quite unknown, and that we are running into a sortie blinded and perhaps even crippled without knowing it. However, the Yoshino is an old ship and battle-hardened by the Reformation. What's more, is that she's captained by two of UNISEC's most experienced captains in the fleet, one of whom has experience in dealing with alien threats. It's a pretty big bitch of a ship, this alien one, but we'll take her out. We've got enough missiles on board to take down a star-dreadnought, and the stealth capabilities to do it unseen."

A bit more than what command had actually said to her, but she knew it would do to talk up the ship they were all fighting on. The Yoshino did have the stealth tech and the missiles, it was just a matter of putting them on target. As long as the rest of the crew could focus more on that than the absolute unknown of this mission, then she could see it done. After that, she would give them a piece of her mind for throwing out such a shit mission at her.

[Evil Snowman]

The moment the call rang out that captain was on deck Alexia snapped to attention give a salute purely out of muscle memory. Before returning to her former position when told to be at ease. Quite pleased that she didn’t have to be stiff as a board, preferring things to be more relaxed. As the commanding officer identified her self Alexia mind note of the name and rank. Pretty sure she had heard it so where before. But could not recall where or when. It didn’t matter for now so quickly buried the thought focused on the Vice Admiral.

Alexia listened to Genevieve, again feeling pleased that Genevieve was pretty relaxed on protocol. It would make thing easier on her. Given follow she had issue following some of the regulations and protocol. Still following the basic and don’t put holes in the ship. It sounded easy enough so was sure even she would be able to comply and avoid get spaced. Although Alexia doubted Genevieve could space someone.

As the Genevieve gave a run down on the mission Alexia frowned. To her it sounded like this was more a space op than anything else. So began to ponder what her role in this was. Alexia not liking the idea of sitting around for the entire missions duration. She needed to pull her weight to do something that would help with the mission. Still she listened nodding her head as the alien vessel was displayed. It must have been quite the ship and from an unknown race. It made her think what kind of threat it might pose and if she’d get a chance to fight some aliens having always pondered what it would be like.

When asked if there were any questions Alexia thought for a moment. She wanted to know what her role in this op would be. There were also some other things bothering her but those she could ignore. Used to only get a small snippet of information for a mission after all it wasn’t a soldiers job to know everything only that it was the mission and it needed to be done.

Alexia was about to speak when some Genevieve soon identified as Corporal Carlyle spoke first. So Alexia kept her mouth shut for the moment listening the Vice Admiral speak. Pleased she seem confident, but now that she had a moment for the information on the alien vessel to be thought on she felt a little unsure. After all the Vice Admiral did say, it was an unknown alien race. Which showed a little as Alexia shifted a little. She wasn’t afraid of going into the unknown or fighting with know information. She just didn’t like the idea of doing that on a ship where she had no control over what happened. Still, it was her problem, and she intended to keep it to herself. She was a little time on a firing range would settle her nerves.

Once Genevieve finished speaking to that Corporal Carlyle person Alexia cleared her throat. Pushing away from the wall and taking a step forward.
“Ma’am I gotta question. Why do you pick specialist ground units for this mission? Alexia asked gesturing to herself and Corporal Carlyle. Thinking she and whoever he was would make for fitting examples. Alexia assuming that the Corporal was not just another grunt.
“I mean I could understand myself as I’m trained in boarding actions and all, but by the sound of it. You plan on nuking that thing into atoms. No boarding, no talking where might need a body guard. So I fail to see why you’d need more than basic infantry aboard or is there a ground a aspect to this mission you’ve not told us about yet? I mean disrespect Ma’am but I loathe the idea of merely sitting around and not contributing to the mission.” Alexia asked the Vice Admiral was willing to provide an answer. She also hoped it was not just for having you around encase we need you type of answer. As to her it still meant that there was a good chance of her sitting around. It also had occurred to her after she had spoken that she may have rambled a bit. Although she didn't care and would not unless the Vice Admiral had problem with it.

[Amalyra]

Just as Alexia finished speaking, in the brief moment of silence that usually lingered between a question and an answer the room was filled with the sound of a hologram forming next to Vice Admiral Genevieve. After a few seconds of somewhat bright light, the sound dissipated and a perfect hologram of Aris Foste took shape, one could barely notice the fact that she was just a hologram by sight. "Apologies for my tardiness Vice Admiral, I was making sure we did not accidentally get nuked from the inside out." She said to Genevieve, her tone expressing the experience of conversing with high ranking officials to the others in the room.

"In regards to your question Sergeant Mio" The red-haired woman replied, looking over to the person in question, "I'm afraid your role, as well as the role of others in your field of experience, is to remain on standby until either necessary or until the threat has been eliminated. However, there is a planet in the system that will need to be investigated as well." Aris announced before gesturing to the central display which in turn presented a model of the planet in question. "Unfortunately, due to regulations, we cannot simply nuke the planet of life even if it is within our capabilities to do so unless we are cleared for it with sufficient reasoning. This is where you and many others similar to you, will be active. Similarly the Zhao, we have lost contact with the planet. If we are unable to reestablish communications with the planet upon entering into the system, ground forces will be sent to investigate. Rest assured, ground forces will be able to call in orbital fire support from the Yoshino, but be prepared for anything." Aris finished, hoping her answer would be sufficient enough to both Alexia and others who had similar questions.

[Astraya]

Sits down as after her question is answer with a grin on her face knowing there may be an enemy on the ground that she gets to fight though little did she know the captain had thought her a stowaway. After her question is answered she turns her attention to working on several of her drones while paying attention using one of them to watch and listen to the captain as she also worked on her drones some. She was an expert with using her drones for recon and the work she did with them while listening was enough to show that she had such skill by the was she worked with them.