HSD Weaver, Earth Orbit The ancillary group, now having earned the title of The Geriatrics, slowly crawled to an old warp point, dating back to when Humanity first left Sol. Everything was somewhat in order, atleast, the engines and reactors functioned. Weapons had been tested, found acceptable, and were passed. All ships were fully stocked and had a full crew. In a few seconds, they would transition to Alcuberrie and into the same system as HDSTF148. The group's commander sat in his office aboard the HSV Hood, with a bottle of Siberian Vodka. Once again, he was drunk off his ass. He muttered, looking down at the old, scuffed desk that he sat at and took another drink straight from the bottle. Deep inside the CIC, one of the security officers looked at the screen worriedly, watching the commander drink himself into a stupor. "We...really should do something about him, Sarg." he says, rubbing the back of his head. "Wish i could, Ensign. Wish i could." he mutters, before turning back to his station.
At the same time, an FTL transmission left the HSD Weaver, and was soon to be recieved at the HSV Mictlantecuhtli. TASK FORCE COMMANDER'S EYES ONLY SECURE HEGEMONY FTL LINK ESTABLISHED... TRANSMITTING. FLEET ADMIRAL'S ORDERS - FLEET ADMIRAL WINTERS, ARABELLA "Tlacochalcatl Achcautli, we are dispatching an ancillary group to assist TF148 - the commander of said group is Theodore Samson. You are to follow his orders under normal circumstances - though, under combat situations, disregard all his orders. He is nothing but a figurehead for this operation." "The ancillary group consists of three Burke-Leigh Class frigates, two Benjamin-Franklin Class SCDs, one Dauntless Class cruiser, and one battleship, the HSV Hood." "What you are about to receive is a full dossier for the real reason behind this excursion close to the core." "There have been...disturbing signs of non-Hegemony ships and intelligence near the core, the main evidence we have? The destruction of a full task force, particularly HDS130, your predecessor. The HSV Montana picked up their distress beacons shortly after they signaled Code Black. We have given you everything we can redirect on short notice." "Remember, Tlacochalcatl Achcautli, failure is not an option." TRANSMISSION END QUANTUM-600 BIT DESTRUCTION IN 3...2...1 ... ... ... FILE DELETED.
Hegemony Central Command Secure Facility, Earth, 3 kilometers below Washington, DC. "Why that's just the goddamn most rag-tag assembly of ships i have ever seen in my career..." "It's the best we can muster out to that deep in the Orion arm, sir." "I suppose so. How many have arrived?" "HSVs Europa, The Vulture's Claw, and Resource." "Hm, good enough. Dispatch our auxiliary group to the system now, best they get there and establish who's who and keep that band of...miscreants from killing each other." The man who just spoke turns and stares out over the blue orb below, a tactical representation of Earth's orbital space. He shakes his head. "They ask me to send a task force to find out why a full battle-group dissipated...and this is what i get?" "Madness."
Hegemony Space Dock Weaver, Earth Orbit. The so-called Auxillary group consisted of three Burke-Leigh class Frigates, two Benjamin-Franklin class Space Control Destroyers, one Dauntless class Cruiser, and one of the fleet's aging vessel; long over due for retrofit and overhaul...a singular, decrepit Battleship, long phased out of use: The HSV Hood. Matter of fact, you could describe every ship in the ancillary group as decrepit and outdated. They had all been pulled out of mothball. The Burke-Leigh class was over eighty years old. The three frigates, HSVs Indomitable, Daring, and Supernova were roughly seventy years old.
The Benjamin-Franklin class was over a hundred years old; the two belonging to it were roughly as old as the class itself, those were HSVs Samantha Jansen and Alabama.
The Dauntless class was even older...one hundred and twenty two years. The sole ship in it's class left operable was the one in the ancillary group: HSV Jackhammer.
All had countless mechanical, electrical, and hull issues. Most of the HSV Indomitable's armor had to be replaced due to cracks in it from banging into countless wrecks while in mothball, the HSV Supernova had nearly lived up to it's name when they tried to start the reactor, the Samantha Jansen's engines exploded, and shorted out half the systems in the aft of the ship, the Alabama's railguns had to be totally replaced, and the Jackhammer's frame required reinforcing to hold up under acceleration. In short, the entire group was a clusterfuck. Worse, though, was the Hood. The hood ran on Deuterium and Tritium. Most Hegemony standard ships used hydrogen. It had taken months to get a full fuel load, and worse yet, most of the superconductors had to be replaced, along with half the power conduits in the ship. It doesn't stop there. The ship's sewage system had failed, leaving thousands of gallons of waste sitting in the tanks for who knows how long, and corroding them, the missile tubes were totally non-functional, along with most of the railguns. The computer cores had to be replaced, and the ship's AI had long since deleted itself after going insane when the ship was slated for mothball. Worse, yet, was the captain assigned to the ancillary group's command. Commodore Theodore Samson. A drunkard. Most of fleet passed him over out of respect - he had fought in the last civil war that had broken out in the Inner Hegemony. He lost everything, evidently. Wife, children, family. He crawled into a bottle and never came out. He was placed in charge of a mothball carrier - long since recycled since being assigned to the Hood.
