Exule
2014-08-21 |  | OS - Encounter (part 2) |  |
Encounter (part 2)
As Admiral Morgan’s Terran ships approached closer, the unknown object appeared to begin breaking apart.
Morgan raised communications with the furthermost destroyer battle group.
“Captain, I want a status report. What is going on up there?”
“We’re not sure, sir. It looks like the unidentified object is breaking apart mid-orbit… Hold on.” After a brief pause the destroyer captain continued. “My forward scouts have just informed me that the object is not breaking apart. The detached pieces have begun to accelerate toward our fleet. Sir, I think we should-“
Communications were interrupted as the bridge of the leading Garuda destroyer suddenly exploded in the distance. Stunned, Admiral Morgan stood for just a moment as his crew fell silent. The corvettes accompanying the destroyer scattered to avoid colliding with the debris from the waylaid capital ship.
“What in the name of-,” Morgan began to say, right before his ship’s shielding flickered from the impact of something large. The ship itself shuddered under the concussion of the object colliding with the forward shields.
“We’re under attack!” exclaimed one of the crewmembers. The bridge was now being bathed in the pulsing red glow of the emergency lights. The wail of an overhead alarm was audible throughout the ship, urging all hands on deck.
“Damage report!” screamed the admiral.
“No external damage, sir, but our shields took a hit! We’re at 81% shield capacity now!”
“Open fire on that thing, I want it turned to space dust! Bring all of the destroyers to bear on that large object. All other vessels will target the smaller ships.”
“We’ve got a problem, sir.”
“What is it?”
“There are more of those smaller ships coming from the planet surface. We’re about to be surrounded sir! We’re also having a hard time locking onto the ships with our weapons. Our equipment is not designed to track that organic strafez material.” |
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Exule
99+ day(s) ago | As Admiral Morgan’s Terran ships approached closer, the unknown object appeared to begin breaking apart.
Morgan raised communications with the furthermost destroyer battle group.
“Captain, I want a status report. What is going on up there?”
“We’re not sure, sir. It looks like the unidentified object is breaking apart mid-orbit… Hold on.” After a brief pause the destroyer captain continued. “My forward scouts have just informed me that the object is not breaking apart. The detached pieces have begun to accelerate toward our fleet. Sir, I think we should-“
Communications were interrupted as the bridge of the leading Garuda destroyer suddenly exploded in the distance. Stunned, Admiral Morgan stood for just a moment as his crew fell silent. The corvettes accompanying the destroyer scattered to avoid colliding with the debris from the waylaid capital ship.
“What in the name of-,” Morgan began to say, right before his ship’s shielding flickered from the impact of something large. The ship itself shuddered under the concussion of the object colliding with the forward shields.
“We’re under attack!” exclaimed one of the crewmembers. The bridge was now being bathed in the pulsing red glow of the emergency lights. The wail of an overhead alarm was audible throughout the ship, urging all hands on deck. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | “Damage report!” screamed the admiral.
“No external damage, sir, but our shields took a hit! We’re at 81% shield capacity now!”
“Open fire on that thing, I want it turned to space dust! Bring all of the destroyers to bear on that large object. All other vessels will target the smaller ships.”
“We’ve got a problem, sir.”
“What is it?”
“There are more of those smaller ships coming from the planet surface. We’re about to be surrounded sir! We’re also having a hard time locking onto the ships with our weapons. Our equipment is not designed to track that organic strafez material.”
Indeed, there were many more Viral ships en route. Victor had been busy during the time taken for the Terran response to arrive. The nearby strafez mining colony had been infected with Virus 106 and all of its strafez harvested for constructing a Viral fleet. Victor’s Chiron star base, the large unidentified object orbiting Exule’s moon, had proven to be a valuable investment. Already it had dispatched a Garuda destroyer with a single direct hit to the bridge. The Garuda was now a floating graveyard for the trapped crew still aboard the vessel. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | Victor himself was seated at the heart of a second Chiron star base floating in planetary orbit on the opposite side of Exule, far removed from the battle unfolding over the planet’s moon. All was tranquil on this side of the infected world. Within Victor’s mind however, the chaos of the ongoing battle was playing itself out. He could see everything that his ships could see and feel everything his soldiers felt. Just as the Voice shared a common consciousness with his him, so too did he share a common consciousness with his Viral fleet. Victor watched as his Borrelly destroyers swarmed over the Terran fleet like frenzied ants. It did not overly concern Victor that his Borrellies took heavy losses from the photon class Apollo corvettes and Odin frigates. For every few Borrelly destroyers that succumbed in battle, another Terran ship would have its hull breached by mass drivers and then be boarded by infectious Viral shock troops. The sole purpose of these shock troops was to infect as many crew members as possible before being taken down. In some cases, boarding parties were not even necessary. Occasionally a Borrelly might get close enough to simply spray the enemy vessel with a deadly combination of hull-devouring chemicals coupled with infectious Viral 106 agent. Upon hull breach, it was only a matter of time before the ship would be completely overtaken by the 106 strain. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | Though the Borrelly swarms accounted for a great deal of damage, the Chiron star base lent its own contribution to the fray. The long-range photon missile barrages from far-off Thor class Terran destroyers would slam into the Chiron star base with terrifying force, detonating against their target to form ephemeral clouds of blue-tinged fire that would momentarily obscure the form of the Chiron star base. The Terrans became disheartened by what they saw as the explosions receded. The Terran missile weapons were simply shrugged off by the tough outer layers of strafez carapace that constituted the primary armor of the Chiron. The star base responded to the missile barrage with its own onslaught of weaponry. The semi-organic rail guns of the Chiron sent their huge, armor piercing slugs accelerating into the bridge of one Thor destroyer. The ship rippled with the force of the impact and took a nose dive toward the moon surface, no longer able to resist the gravitational pull. Another high velocity slug smashed through the already battered shielding of a second destroyer and blew through its starboard side hull about mid-length. All objects and crew in the affected area of the ship were sucked out into space by the resultant vacuum. An onlooker might compare the scene to a ruptured bag of sand as the ship spilled its cargo, both living and inanimate, out its side.
Crowley eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the battle so that the Viral troops could board the stranded destroyers and any other remaining ships in search of survivors to ‘recruit’ for the Viral cause. In the meantime, the battle would continue to serve as an excellent field test against actual warships rather than the ill-equipped Terran militia and Marauder pirates encountered in this solar system thus far. |
Exule
99+ day(s) ago | Back aboard Admiral Morgan’s cruiser, shouting voices echoed across the bridge.
Over the din one of the helmsmen could be heard yelling, “Shields are at 13%! One more hit and we’ll be wide open!”
Just as the helmsman said this, the shields took another hit and phased out. “Shields are down! We’re vulnerable!”
Morgan had no other choice; he had to give the order.
“Abandon ship! If we take any more direct hits we’re finished!”
From his command chamber Victor watched the remainder of the Terran fleet begin to melt away. One of the remaining capital ships, a Kalieum cruiser had began to launch its escape pods. On Victor’s command, his fast moving Kohoutek scout ships intercepted all but one of the pods. The single remaining escape pod managed to successfully flee the battle and make its automated jump to the Terran home world. Aboard the escape pod was Admiral Morgan, sole survivor of the first dreadful encounter with the scourge Viral race. |
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