Space Warped as the Event Horizon tore its way into realspace, dropping out near Akina station again, the vessel pushing forward as it received docking permissions, once more docking at dock 4, which was now pristine and clean. Well. Cleaner then it had been. Several dents still were in the bulkheads, yet to be repaired due to their negligible impact to the station integrity.
Zedara walked down to the bazaar as her captain chattered with the stationmaster, likely discussing the recent…..upgrades to the ship. She snorted a little before she saw the medical shop she had been to earlier. The shopkeeper lit up as she walked in. "Ah! How can I help you today?" He asked happily, the Saline pulling out a few data chips with medical data on them.
"Captain will be by later, once he's found some more crew….. he did ask me to pick up the rest of the biomass canisters." Zedara said, grinning a little, before getting down to the haggling, working to hash out a deal that would benefit them both…..
A little while later, the Saline was counting the credit chits out, happy with the price, while his employees were happy to see the backs of the canisters, getting them onto hovercarts, and getting them out, making sure to listen to the Trikes instructions. "The ships over at Dock 4, but don't take them inside, the defense systems are quite aggressive, there should be a loading area marked near the airlock"
"Dock 4? Ain't that the one that crazy cyborg plugged some of the dock bandits" One of them asked. "Yeah, old Cloner ship, from what I 'eard." Another said. "Crazy day, that one. Control tower picked up a Dilithium Cascade and found the remains of the Black Star after it tried to chase down a deathworlder vessel. Didn't find the deathworlder ship, so best guess is, they escaped. Hell of a vessel, that one." Zedara bit back a snort as the employees gossiped, pulling the carts behind them, and made her way down to the bar and inn, a common place to find crew who were waiting to be hired on.
She opened the door…. And ducked as a cadian was thrown out, smashing against the bulkhead behind her, joining a pile of other sentients, each bearing various injuries. "AN' STAY OUT! Karking roach." Grumbled the towering innkeeper, a mollusk like alien said. His purple skin flickered red in aggravation as the cadian scuttled off, "sorry about that, welcome to StarPoint inn. Looking for a room, or here for a drink?" The creature said, calming back to his normal purple coloration, looking at her. "Here for my captain, actually. I believe he's inside, looking for additional crew." Zedara said, straightening back up as she dusted herself off.
The mollusk eyed the slugger hanging off her hip, but let her in. Within, she found several tables upended, and her Captain calmly aiding a medic near one of the tables, the saline crouched near his towering form as she worked on what looked like a Wellian, who hissed as they clutched a burned stump, a severed arm laying nearby. "I leave you for not even an hour and you've already found trouble, Captain." Zedara said as she shook her head.
"It was unintentional. Seemed the Cadian had been tormenting several of the patrons here for a while, and attempted to kill the Wellian due to a perceived slight." Asimov said, head locking onto her gaze, tilting his head. "At the proprietors request, I refrained from using my sidearm." Zedara covered her eyes with a hand. "You THREW a table across the- you know what, I'll shut up. You stopped the Killbot, and no one else got hurt." The mollusk grumbled, getting behind the bar.
Threw a…..? Zedara turned to ask what the barkeeper meant, and saw the warbot that was impeded in the wall, bisected in two vertically with a disk shaped granite table. The bot in question was designed to fight organics, Not other machines, and that single mindedness in the design resulted in them being scrapped by an older, tougher frame. "Karking….. " She said, turning slowly to look at her now standing captain, who was doing his best to right the notably scorched tables, picking up crushed plasma pistols and putting them all in a pile as the vents filtered out escaping Tibanna gas.
There was the sound of heavy tracks outside, and the door opened, revealing the bulky form of Delta four. "Scanning….. threat neutralized. Weapon….unorthodox." The towering machine said, before its optics landed on Asimov as the cyborg finished righting most of the inn, before he began examining the table imbedded in the wall. "Bounty detected. OH-91, cause of death…. Bisection. Transfering bounty money to Captain Asimov Voidbuilt. Apologies for my late arrival." The machine rumbled….and as it rolled into the light, it was shown as to why. Scorch marks littered its hull, several holes punching through, and his rocket pod was half empty.
Zedara sighed and pulled herself onto one of the stools, placing some credits on the counter. "Long Hauler special, please." She said, as the barkeeper mixed the drink together with practiced ease, and slid it across the counter. "Delta, can you split off the part of the bounty to cover the damages from the fight, and send it to the barkeep?" Asimov asked, setting down next to Zedara, nodding to the towering bot as it began to pull the granite table from the wall to collect the body. "Acknowledged. Splitting…..funds allocated." A beep was heard from the barkeepers terminal, getting a nod from the mollusk. "Much appreciated, Captain."
The bar quieted down as the two settled in, quietly discussing their options as they went over a padd that they had been handed, looking for crewmembers that would be willing to fly with them and their likely insane encounters. "The ameboid? Adequate medical training, has had histories in firefights." The cyborg said, pointing to one of the listings. "Hmmmm…… I'll tag them to look up their records. What about the glinch?" She asked, pointing at the short, cheerful looking mechanoid. "Hmm……fairly new, decent scores…… tagging him for an interview. The Wargen?" He bounced back, motioning to the very elderly looking wolf like alien "hmm…former captain, noted for marksmanship….. a little……pricey for the hiring fee and salary, but…..a good investment. Decent medical skills, enough to hold us over till we can afford a proper medic."
Asimov nodded and sent the notifications out to the little Glinch and the Wargen, setting the padd back in a dock, before accepting a drink, paying for it, while mentally allocating a large chunk of the credits he had been given for the bounty to create pay, as he had with the majority of the money they received from the second half of the job payment.
Zedara on the other hand calmly sipped her drink, thankful that they didn't have too many issues…… the door opened, as Delta Four carried out the remains of the killbot out, and the aging Wargen they had been discussing walked in, raising a graying eyebrow at the remains of the kill bot and the condition of the bar.
With a sigh, the aging wolf-like alien sat at the bar, as the octopus-like barkeeper slid a drink across to him. Zedara kept quiet as she and her Captain kept to their drinks. The old Wargen was there to have a drink, best not to interrupt.
The door opened again, this time a thin, wiry alien stalked. Tall, with a single visible eye on it's head, which moved around like a eyestalk, before focusing on the wargen with a scowl.
The alien sat down heavily next to the old wolf, and calmly drew a plasma pistol and aimed it at the wargens head. "Daresh of the clan Teno." The creature bubbles, its gaze that of unfiltered hatred. "You've caused me humiliation and the banishment for my failures." The creature snarled, leaning in as the wolf stared back impassively. "Those failures are squarely on YOUR shoulders. I gave you plenty of chances to recall your forces, and you took none." He said, slowly moving a hand to one of his coat pockets, about to draw a pocket pistol hidden within.
The mollusk barkeeper coughed a little, getting their attention, only for the alien to level his plasma pistol at the barkeeps face. "Remain out of this. I WILL regain my status-" He said, before flinching, the sound of crushing metal and hissing gas heard.
Zedara glanced up and sighed. On the ceiling was her Captain, his claws clinging to the ceiling while one clawed arm was reaching down, digging into the gas chamber on the Ka'ri plasma pistol, effectively forcing it to vent its precious ammunition into the atmosphere around them. Her captain 'straightened' down, seeming to stand on the ceiling, head in front of the Ka'ri, optics staring into the now seething single Eye of the alien. "It would be advisable to refrain from threatening other patrons." Asimov said calmly, like he wasn't hanging from the ceiling like some sort of horrific specter.
The Ka'ri hissed and flicked the barrel up and pulled the trigger, getting the single plasma bolt he had in the firing chamber to fly, splashing off Asimov's armor. Quietly, while the Ka'ri had been distracted, Zedara had gotten up and held the slugger she had been handed at center mass of the aliens back. As if sensing her, the eye stalk bent back, focusing on her after glancing down at the small caliber slugger, aimed at where his primary neural node sat. A louder click was heard and the Ka'ri twisted back around and hissed in shock, staring down the bore of her Captains much larger slugger, aimed straight down from above, rather than in front of him, safety off and the hammer back.
"Stand down." Asimov said in a flat voice, even as they all heard a whining sound, and a simple glance over the Ka'ris shoulder told Zedara that the barkeep had drawn a short barreled plasma spreader, and it was powering up, aimed at the Ka'ris eye.
The Ka'ri swirled his eye between the three before snarling, spinning and stalked out the door. Zedara sighed, shaking her head as she clicked her safety back on, sliding her sidearm back into its holster, comforted by the sluggers weight. "Sorry about that. Past opponents seem to enjoy hunting me down for a rematch." The elderly wolf said, rubbing his face.
The mollusk on the other hand snorted. "Don't think you'll be worrying about that for much longer. This is Asimov and Zedara, the two were looking into you to hire you, I believe for weapons control." The mollusk said, amused. "Ship class and armament?" The wargen said, leaning back, getting down to business. "Cephalon class, the EHS Event Horizon." Asimov said, making several regulars who were close enough to hear freeze and slowly turn towards them. A few who weren't regulars but were very familiar with ships, or had heard of the Cephalon class in general also began listening in.
"Its less of what's the armament and more of what can be used as a weapon with that ship." Zedara said dryly. At the look she got, she elaborated. "Mining laser set to maximum, and then tractor beams to chuck said exploding asteroids at a pursuing vessel." Several miners in the room nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. Others simply winced at the thought of an exploding asteroid against a ship's shields. "Course it's a deathworlder ship that comes up with using that as a weapon." Another muttered.
"Correct. And in that vein, I will remain with conventional armament. Eight 30mm ADS coilguns, with the recent addition of four turret clusters, each armed with three turrets, each turret armed with two 100mm MACs, fed via the fabrication bay and Salvage scoops. In addition, the new turrets are additionally armed with one STS/STG missile cluster. Hellfire pattern." Asimov listed off, refraining from mentioning ammo, simply mentioning how they made it.
The bar was silent, before another spoke, with a groan. "Thall damned Deathworlders and their Overkill policy." "Interesting. PT configuration?" The Wargen asked, curiosity piqued, turning as Zedara thumped her head on the table. "......exploration and test platform." Asimov admitted with a shrug. "Then why is it getting PT cruiser armament? It's a science vessel…" the wargen said slowly before it clicked….. "she's helping in the fight with these…..Demons, isn't she." He said, not a question, as ice seemed to fill the bar.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
/--------------------------------/
Daresh quietly sat at the counter, looking at the prospective captain and the Trike, the navigations officer. A karking Deathworlder sealed inside a mechanized shell……well, there were worse crews he could join up with. They promised excitement at least.
The aging wolf rubbed the eyepatch he had, feeling it ache dully, even as he glanced up…
Most of the bar was quiet, most more worried about the fact that the rumors that had been going around for the last week were true. Well. Most certainly not the worst way to go. "I'll … accept the post. But, I have a few rules." The old wolf said, as the cyborg nodded, and the trike pulled out a PADD, pulling up the contract for him to look over. "No hiding missions or mission information from me, and allowances for choosing my own armament." He said, getting a nod. "Acknowledged. Munitions required?" "Tibanna gas, class 3 powercells, and type H-40 railgun spikes."
The captain nodded, accepting his choices, as the Trike accepted the food they ordered during his time thinking. Daresh nodded to the Mollusk as he sat the steak before him, his jaws opening as he began eating, twisting and grinding the meat within his flexible maw.
The Trike was eating her fill of fried grasshoppers, even as he saw the cyborg carefully cutting up his food and placing it inside a food chute. As they ate, he went over the contract…..and it was actually agreeable one, making sure to protect both parties from foul play, and a guarantee of physical copies to be filed with the guild.
Something he noticed was a note about on board medical containing pre-first contact human cloning facilities, making him grin. A proper medic worth half their salt would give their leg to work with such tech if it was in good condition. Especially when they could just Clone it again and reattach it.
Signing it and sending a copy off to the guild, he heard his personal PADD chime as he received his copy and his sign on payment as requested. "Anyone else we will be picking up?" He asked, as he heard a second chime, and frowned, before nodding, pulling out his Personal, handing the other PADD to the mollusk with a nod, and saw it was a request for medical history from the Horizons ship computer. With a grimace, he sent it off, wondering who was on board…possibly a nurse?
"A pilot. Greenhand glinch, by the looks of it, but given that it's an older ship, and skiff, probably a good idea to go for a new hire for that. No habits with newer hardware we need to help train around." Zedara said, as the old wolf nodded to himself. "I see. Agreeable…." "We will be piratehunting once you two are acclimated to Horizons systems. Simulations are sufficient but real combat is best for training. Whether he will be flying the skiff or the Horizon remains to be seen." Asimov elaborated.
"Skiff?" Daresh asked, as a image flickered onto his padd.
"Old combat shuttle with refit weapons, impulse drives, and armor. Fairly maneuverable, decent speed, and capable of atmospheric landing." The cyborg said, leaning back. Daresh hummed, intrigued. Sounded like he had decent aircover for ground missions if they could find a decent pilot for it.
"Ah, hello! I was told I was here for a interview?" A high, very, very young sounding glinch voice piped up from almost underneath the table. Asimov's arm reached under the table, and a startled yelp was heard as a small glinch was pulled up from the other side of the table.
The little glinch was about three feet tall, bipedal, with stocky, boot like legs, thin, nimble arms, a pill like body, with a large backpack like power core, and a round head, the face section taken up by a massive screen that seemed to replicate a Ka'ri eye, which promptly flickered into a sheepish eye smile. "Eh heh heh…..probably should have been in plain view when I said that, should i?"
"Rookie….." zedara sighed and placed her head in her hands, as Asimov sat the little robot in a chair before them.
No longer under the table, the little glinch now had the opportunity to look at all of them, or more specifically, the Captain.
/---------------------------------/
Needless to say, the rookie, ironically named Blink, was as Green as they had expected. Fresh out of the local flight academy, the little living machine was seeking to go exploring, and didn't mind signing on with a deathworlder as long as they weren't going to do anything immoral. He seemed excited about the prospect of pirate hunting at the least and was willing to show them what he knew, and admitted he was more of a small crafts pilot then a large one.
He signed on, with a provisionary period, as well as let him know if they felt he wasn't yet ready, they would at least drop him off in human space on one of the ships being equipped for evacuations so he could still get experience.
Packing everything up was a quick affair. Daresh didn't have much beyond a few spare changes of clothes, a go bag, and his weapons, and being a glinch, Blink didn't have much he needed either. The two easily situated themselves in their rooms but….
They weren't used to how old all of the ships systems were. Even Daresh, who knew it was a Cephalon class, hadn't expected that.
Though he did appreciate the coffee maker percolating in the kitchen, both were having to learn how to operate a ship that was, to them, outmoded. Gone were touchscreens, remote connections, and holograms. In their place were dials, keys, physical controls and physically connecting with the system. Blink was still getting used to the lurking sensation of Horizon, just on the edge of his perception when he was connected to the large vessel.
Daresh, on the other hand, had an easier time, as the old weapons system setup was easier to use, closer to man portable weapons systems, but some of the controls he still needed to learn. Often, however, during training Sims, he would rub his head as he went up against Horizon herself and/or Asimov, who both pull out old tactics, or use something that was NOT intended as a weapon and use it as one anyways. He had been keeping an eye out for the asteroid trick, and wasn't disappointed.
What he hadn't expected was a new twist added to it where the rocks slammed together just before contact, making the detonations larger, masking Asimov's avatar chucking recently fabricated, self propelled missiles out the shuttle bay, letting them ignite their rather simple chemical motors, burning towards his opposing vessel, detonating against his hull. Adding to the distraction ,and allowing them to close in, they would pass their forward turrets past his shields and allowing them to fire them at point blank range.
Another issue they ran into was pirates. Their first batch came looking for them specifically, the sister ship to the Black Star, who wanted revenge, having learned of its destruction…..and hadn't THAT been a shocker.
/------------------/
"What do you mean, you took down the Black Star using only Mining lasers, rocks, and a Dilithium-" a Wellian cut himself off and placed his muzzle in his hands, as Zedara sighed. "You learn not to question it." The Trike said, with a wry grin gracing her beak. On the same screen, in other windows, the captains of several of the escort vessels they were flying with were dead silent, as were the cargo ships, looking at them in horror and begrudging respect.
Before the rag tag cargo fleet floated the Indomidable, and unlike its sister ship, it looked pristine, new weapons, new armor that wasn't cobbled together. A stolen Ka'ri battle, shaped like a giant Crescent, with most of its primary weapons on the inside of its Cresent, including tractor beams to hold vessels in place while they shot it mercilessly.
"We will handle this fight. The rest of the fleet, keep moving. We will rejoin when we finish up." Asimov said calmly, before cutting the connection. "Blink, are you in position in the secondary bridge?" A screen flickered on, showing a nervous Blink, hands on the controls, his personal connection jacked into the consol. "Yes sir…." He said nervously.
"Good…..Daresh? Do you recall the Divide and Conquer tactic we used in the Simulations?" He asked as the Wargen grinned at his own console, on the secondary bridge with Blink. "I do. I'm itching to see what we can throw at them with the armaments we have fabricated." The old warwolf rumbled with a grin, his muzzle split slightly into four almost hungrily at the prospect of the fight.
"Good. Zedara, how comfortable are you with the Disk Sections weapons?" Asimov asked, spinning his head to her as nodded. "Good enough to hold my own." She said firmly as her captain nodded. "Good. All hands, brace for combat!" Asimov said, as the Combat link Engaged.
They felt their minds link with Horizon, the Quantum Entanglement of Horizons three positronic neural cores allowing for them to remain connected, without wires, without a signal, even as the vessel itself….shuddered, her weapons powering up as the crew took a breath as one.
"Section disconnect in three……two……one….."
/-------------------/
The Indomidable had no clue what happened. One moment, they were threatening a small merchant fleet with the vessel that had downed their sister ship. The next, said ships impulse engines burned with a fury, racing towards them as ancient looking cannons wheeled about, taking aim at them.
The Indomedables captain barked orders as the crew scrambled to their stations. They were used to their opponents shutting their weapons off, surrendering or running. They weren't used to a ship gleefully charging at them, a ship far larger than it was. Then again, they avoided human vessels normally for that reason. Frail and squishy as humans were, they were insane.
They readied their Tether systems, tractor beams charging up, aimed at the disk section…..
When the ship Split in two, the disk section extending its four recessed nacelles, and burned forward faster, no longer weighed down by the rest of the ship, even as the back section slowed down….. and the forward MACs barked, barrels blazing as they unloaded a volley of accelerated rounds, skimming past the disk section by a hairs width, and slammed into the Indomidables shields, making them flair as the shields fought to shrug off the inertia of the physical rounds.
As if to add insult to injury, the back section was no longer accelerating but twisting to allow the broadside of the Event Horizon to continue to shell them from a distance, even as the disk section nimbly spun, avoiding laserfire like some kind of nimble gunship, turrets popping out.
The disk section dove within the main shield bubble and opened fire, the turrets closest to the Indomedable firing rapid rounds of HE coilgun ammo, detonating against the Indomidable's hull, while the ones closer to the shield fired lasers. The shields flickered and flaired as they were struck from both sides, inside and out, draining the batteries rapidly as it tried to shrug off two different armaments types from two different sides.
Normally, a ship class of the Indomidables type would shrug off the weapons fire. However, it was getting slammed with rounds going at near on lights peed from the outside, and lasers were sapping the energy from the inside as the computers fought to modulate the shields to shrug off both types. This was causing a severe strain on the shield emitters and already, several were burning out, causing weak points to open up. That wasn't to say the Indomidable was just taking the fire, no. Missiles launched from pods around the ship, racing out of the shield, aimed at the Horizons MAC turrets, as tractor beams landed out, attempting to snag the disk section as it dipped about, just too slow to snag the faster, smaller vessel as it wove in and out of the firing arcs of the ring of weapons.
One of the major downsides to the Indomidable, was that it wasn't designed for this kind of combat. It was a support ship, designed to snag a vessel, hold in place as it shelled it to pieces, while other ships protected it. It Wasn't designed to fight fast moving vessels. As such, it's turrets swung about in vain attempts to keep up, only the point defense cannons able to do so, belching plasma blasts and laser fire. These splashed off the older shops hull, making the Event Horizon laugh in amusement, letting herself be flicked around nimbly, adjusting her own course as she took aim at the massive ships engines, releasing a barrage of HE into it.
Meanwhile, those missiles the Indomedable had launched were in for a rude awakening. The massive MAC cannons had long been equipped with ADS systems, and was the basis of the combat computers. The cannons clocked onto the mass of the missiles, and released a barrage of shells, the inert, speeding masses of metals slamming into the missiles before they could make contact with the barrage section of the Horizon, forcing them to detonate early as their payloads were destabilized.
Horizon laughed darkly as she swung the recently repaired transporter dish around, static hissing through the Indomidable's comms as the dish flashed….. and then one of the crescent arms exploded, drifting away. The ship smirked to herself as she readied another surprise packadge, aiming at the other wing, right as the shields of the enemy vessel failed, unable to maintain the power needed, not when it needed to divert power to life support, its remaining weapons that began wheeling about, taking aim at the barrage segment, and hastily throwing up a transmat scrambler, not to prevent escape, but to prevent a additional payload from being express delivered to them.
The moment the shields failed, the MACs unloaded another barrage, impacting the Indomedable's hull, leaving holes where they went in, atmosphere venting rapidly, before missile pods opened up on the small ship, releasing its Hellfire pattern missiles, nimbly zipping out and arching towards the larger vessel. The larger vessel unloaded its own ADS armament, striking several in kind, but again, it was a distraction.
The disk section strafed around the corner, firing its mining lasers into the enemy hull just behind a barrage of coilgun rounds, causing the laser to bounce around within the vessel. The laser didn't do much to the vessel, what they were trying to get at was the crew, and sow chaos within the vessel.
Unfortunately for the disk section, this stunt got them within range of the tractor beams, grabbing them, automatically pulling them Into where the center of the half moon would have been…… all it did was accentuate the sheer amount of damage one small vessel did…. And made the crew of the ship snarl as one as the disk section raked its coilguns across the remaining arm, set with penetrator rounds, punching in and scrambling internal machinery, knocking several tractor beam sets out, freeing itself just as it shrugged off several plasma blasts, leaving deep pitting but not much else……..
/---------------------//
"THALLS TEETH!" Screeched the Avian Galkan, hands holding onto the retrofit Captains nest, as more alerts streamed in and the ship shook again.
"Severe depressurization in remaining arm! Engines are destabilizing, ignition coils are shot on number 5 and 6 engines!" "Severe casualties in the broken off arm, ranging from blast damage, asphyxiation, to blunt force trauma. Remaining wing is reporting severe burns, blunt force trauma, and perforation!"
Grinding her beak, the Galkan stared out at the tiny vessel as it's two parts docked to one another, staring them down as if the battle had only begun, the Horizons weapons trained on them like some starving Wargen. "Captain, the Event Horizon is hailing us." The comms officer said shakily. The Galkan nodded, with a clack of her beak, grimacing. Before her on the Vox screen was the form of the deathworlder machine, sitting there calmly. "Stand down. This is your final warning." Came the multitude of voices which set her feathers on end.
Her computer read out a mix of Glinch, Wargen, Saurian Trike, possibly human and one unknown voice in the mass, making her shudder. THIS was why she never messed with humans. You try and strike them, and then they pull THIS kind of guano. This had to be some kind of new trap vessel, designed to make them think it was a small, out moded vessel, but in reality, armed to the gills and packed with highly trained soldiers.
However, her pride and her anger got the better of her as she sneered, narrowing her eyes. "Not in a thousand solar cycles, plucked ones. We shall see you burn for crossing our fleet." She snarled, and flicked a switch. Almost immediately, the entire ship shuddered as the engines were burned beyond their normal capacity, dumping fuel into the main chambers, accelerating the ship forward towards the smaller vessel, even as a Interdiction field went up.
"We will see you join the Void Fleet with us!"