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Chapter Seventy One Alarms
going off in every direction, lights flashing, klaxons sounding, Commander
Silvas Orian quickly makes his way to the command bridge. Upon entering the door
of the bridge he finds men and women scrambling to all corners, calling out
reports and sounding more alarms across the ship. When
he ascends the dais to his command chair he sounds his own alarm, which shuts
down all the others in the room. “Status Report, NOW!” Lt.
Brizer steps forward and hands the commander a datapad. Carefully looking over
the details he calls out to the lieutenant, “Brizer, give me your report.” “Aye,
Sir! We have incoming, Sir. Grids Four through Two, Sir. Battlecruisers, capital
ships, frigates, fighters and the whole show, Sir. From the counts we’ve
received so far, I would say nearly every ship out of the Kuati Drive Yards in
the last two standard years has shown up on our doorstep, Commander.” The
lieutenant finishes his analysis and awaits the commanders orders. Reflecting
a moment on the data before him, the commander girds himself up, and calls out
to his men, “All hands, release all ships, defense formations… This is the
moment friends, so let’s not wait it on formalities. All ships, engage when
ready.” This
is the moment, the moment that will not only define a man, but a navy, and a
people. On this day Chandrila will either rise to meet the foe, or fall trying
to defeat them. As
the ships, one by one, engage their enemies, the battle begins in earnest this
time. They will not be so luck this time around, they will have fatalities, and
they will be great. The only hope they have now, is that they will not be in
vain, and Chandrila will emerge the victor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Green
Leader, you’ve got a pair on your six, you need a hand?” Just
then, Green Leader pulls a risky shake and roll maneuver that brings her to the
right of the two chasing Kuati fighters, and puts them in the clear for Green
Three to blast through the both of them, “Not this time Five, maybe later.” Green
Three comes barreling around to make another pass at the frigate, just as Four
has finished his run, and Captain Orme Tallage is very proud of her fighter
group. They are performing well above average, and are still working with a zero
attrition rate, well into the war thus far. She has the only fighter group with
such a distinction, but she knows it cannot last, not with the real fighting
having started now. “Lead,
you have an open lane on the frigate, at your leisure.” “Thanks
for the invite Three.” And with two pilots like Three and Five in her group,
she can count on high marks for the squadron come award time, if they survive
this fight. Having seen the number scrolling off on her vidscreen, Capt. Tallage
knows that their burgeoning fleet is grossly outnumbered in this battle. With
every new ship emerging to fight, she sees their odds of victory dwindling away.
However, she does not need to let her squadron know of her doubts. Right now
they need her situationally aware and ready to lead them on in this fight. And
as every great leader does, she puts the odds out of her mind and pushes on into
the present, the here and now; time to blast that frigate. And she lets loose
with her torpedoes, she finds a gaping hole in which to plant them. No doubt
opened by Three’s run, but she plants them none the same, pulling up from her
strafing run to get clear of the impending destruction of another frigate. And
in the blinding flash of light that follows, she brings her squadron’s kill
total up to four frigates. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reports
pouring in from every squadron, every flight, every ship, and the alarms going
off left and right; this is the scene which surrounds Commander Orian at this
moment. Noticing Lt. Brizer trying to get his attention, he walks toward the
junior officer. “Sir,
we’ve gotten a report from the Undertow’s
flight of Waverunners.” “Yes,
Lieutenant?” “It
doesn’t look good, Sir. She’s taken a blow amidships and appears to be
cavitating into the pull of that asteroid belt in Grid Four. The Waverunner Group Leader has lost
all contact with the bridge on the Undertow, and they fear the
bridge may have been knocked out in the last run made by the Kuatis. Black
Leader believes the Kuatis may have used ultrasonic mines on the Undertow, but
he can’t be sure, since he was busy fighting another battle cruiser on the
other side of the asteroid field.” The lieutenant looks as though he has aged
twenty years since the fighting began as he delivers the news to his commander. “Very
well, keep hailing the Undertow, and alert all ships that ultrasonic mines are
being used…” He places a calming hand upon the younger man’s shoulder,
“I’d rather they were over cautious, than blind to the possibility.” “Aye,
Sir!” The Lieutenant returns to the comm station and relays the commander’s
orders. All
around them chaos, yet Commander Silvas Orian remains the picture of serenity
for all to see. However, deep inside, where he lets no one go, his hopes are
beginning to fade. With so many ships coming in at him, and reports from the
surface telling of strikes at ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Green
Five, do you copy?... Five, do you copy?!”
Commanded the strained voice of Captain Orme Tallage. “Green
Leader… Five is off the scopes.” It was Lt. Yorel Tryashoenu’s unwelcome
duty to report the loss of Green Squadron’s first member to his captain, but
it was part of the job. The silence that follows his announcement is all he
could have hoped for at this time. With the battle raging all around them, none
of the Green Squadron Pilots had time for any other kind of acknowledgement. When
he heard the sound of the two clicks, the signal that their squadron should
listen up, came over his comm, he did just that. “Okay
Greens, we got no choice, we have to continue. Our only other option is to join
Five. So, form up on me, skate formation, and we’ll send a volley of
Starbuster Torps into that Kuati capital ship. We have to lend a hand to the
Ocean Fang. With the Undertow gone and the Tide Pool in question, we have to do
what we can to protect our flagship. Understood?” Yorel knew everyone
would understand, but when the confirmations clicks came over the comm and each
fighter jockeyed into formation he felt a bit of pride warming his heart. They
truly were a unit now, hardened by battle and drawn together by loss. His only
worry now… Whether or not it was going to be enough. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With
raised voices filling the whole space of the Grand Chamber of the Chandrillan
government, not a single member could be heard over the roar. The man standing
at the dais begins to pound upon the podium with such fierce determination, that
his wild beating of the gavel is soon heard over the raucous crowd in the
chamber. “WE
MUST HAVE ORDER!!! SIT DOWN!!! WE MUST HAVE ORDER!!!” The man speaks at the
very top of his lungs, as many uniformed members of the Planetary Defense Force
also attempt to quiet those assembled in the chamber. As the madness begins to
subside, the man begins again, “Ladies and gentlemen, we must not turn to
riotous behavior. How can we calm the whole of Chandrila, if we ourselves cannot
maintain any form of decorum?!” Noticing a woman holding up her flag, the
correct procedure during a Provincial Ruling Council meeting, he decides to call
upon her, “The Chair recognizes the Noblewoman of Havra’cci.” Bowing
to the man as she stands from her seat, “Many thanks to the Chair for
restoring order in this place…” She turns to the others gather in the Grand
Chamber, “Friends and colleagues, all. Our once peaceful world has been
threatened, and even as we debate the fact, a battle rages on within the
confines of our sector of the galaxy. We must join together, as we have been
taught by our dearly departed Ruler Mehand, and become a mighty force against
all who appose us. By pulling together all of our resources, we can fend off
this dastardly foe, but if we continue to quibble and complain, we shall fall
before the first strike on our beautiful capitol city.” And, with as much
grace as she stood and made her case, she bows first to the crowd and then to
the Chair before she quietly takes her seat once more, yielding the floor to
another. The
Chair, nodding to the Nobelwoman of Havra’cci, notices that another has raised
their flag, and then calls upon that man. “Many thanks to you, Madame Sireld…
The Chair now recognizes the Nobleman of Sevitore.” This
man quickly makes his own bows and speaks just as quickly, “My apologies to
Havra’cci, but not all of the provinces have such resources available to them.
Sevitore is an agricultural province, and we have already been struck by this
foe!” His revelation sends a shockwave of discussion across the chamber. Raping
his gavel upon the podium once more, “Order! Please, good people we must have
order!” When the talking moves down into a whisper the Chair calls upon the
Nobelman of Sevitore to explain, “How say you, Master Tillendyne?” “Our
storehouses were raided yestereve, and much of our equipment was stolen or
vandalized, Sir… It will be very difficult for us to seed our fields without
those cultivators.” The man looks weary and beaten down as he explains. “And
you believe this to be work of the Kuati’s?” The
man nods his head, “They carried the weapons of the Kuati Elite Guard. Who
else could they be?” Again the chamber is filled with chatter, “And they
were lead by a traitor!” This time the room erupts with disapproval. “A
traitor you say?” “Yes,
he bore the semblege of a long gone Nobleman of Chandrila.” This revelation is
enough to send the room into utter chaos, which it would have, had not the room
been shook by a nearby explosion within the city. One of
the Nobelman in the midst of the crowd stands up and shouts, “The Capitol has
been breeched! We must escape!” And with those words, they all begin to
scatter about like bugs suddenly thrown into the light, scurrying about into
every corner and cove. Anarchy would be the only way to describe it, and in the
ensuing melee, the Chair is knocked to the ground and trampled to death. Darkness
has come to Chandrila…
Creator: PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
*SPECIAL NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, the rest of the story will be written by PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer)
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