On the run

[supercheese]

An SOS would be sent on all available frequencies. "We are under attack, the only survivors from our home, refugees from a century long war. Please if anyone is receiving this message we request your assistance, we can't fight them off on our own." Those who could see what's going on would find three starships being flanked and desperately trying to fight off 5 larger and more powerful battleships, along with 3 smaller cruiser ships closing in to board the ships.

Edited July 27, 2012 by supercheese

[Mara Lithaen]

Her Majesty's DesRon 15 was in the vicinity, patrolling for pirates, when the distress call came in. "Unknown convoy, this is Her Majesty's Starship [i]Falcon[/i] traveling in company. We are coming to your assistance; stand firm." The Falcon and her seven consorts swung about on their vectors, applying power to their impeller nodes and bringing the destroyer squadron onto an intercept course with the beleaguered refugees, main gun capacitors charging while 5kg slugs were loaded into the breech.

"Commodore Harrington, we have a firing solution!" came the cry from Flag Tactical, as the flag holo tank lit up with the ancient crosshair symbols over the nearest two of the battleships.

"Excellent work, Lieutenant. Pass the solution along to the squadron and prepare to fire on my mark." came the cool soprano reply. A moment passed, and the lieutenant looked up and nodded.

"Solution shared and acknowledged, ma'am."

"Fire."

Within mere seconds of eachother, the dual guns on each of the eight destroyers fired, sending sixteen five-kilo slugs screaming across the range between them and their foes at a tenth the speed of light.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Mara Lithaen

[supercheese]

The attacking ships were hit by surprise and hit hard, one cruiser being completely torn apart and 2 battleships severely damaged, but now it was their turn. Activating their heavy canons they fired off a barrage at the new ships. It was decided however, that they would not risk a second barrage. Sending off several drone squadrons to trail behind the ships hightailed it out of there the drones would intercept and kamikaze any more missiles fired at them.

The refuge ships pulled along their saviors and a message would be sent. "This is Admiral Ereson, I command this refugee fleet, or what's left of it anyways. I would like to personally thank you for saving us. If you could meet with me, I would like to discuss the predicament my people and I face and perhaps you could assist us on our mission." A shuttle would be sent over if the request was approved carrying only the admiral a pilot and a co-pilot.

OOC: for the record I'm more or less RPing the wraith from stargate Atlantis, with a few of my own twists.

Edit: $%&@in autocorrect

Edited July 27, 2012 by supercheese

[Mara Lithaen]

The destroyers rolled, superimposing their wedges between themselves and the incoming fire. Most of the destroyers were fast enough on the helm to do so, but the older [i]Albatross[/i] and [i]Hawk[/i] weren't so lucky. The [i]Hawk[/i] blew up outright as a lucky shot penetrated to Fusion One and caused the reactor to lose containment before safety measures could seal the hydrogen feed and smother the miniature star that powered the ship, turning the destroyer and all six hundred crew aboard into a rapidly expanding ball of gas and debris. The [i]Albatross[/i], riding close to the [i]Hawk[/i], took a number of hits to its rolling midships as she sought to put her impenetrable gravitic impeller wedge between herself and the incoming fire, and the [i]Hawk[/i]'s fireball melted away the sensors, weapons and impeller nodes forward of frame forty, taking brave men and women with it. But unlike the [i]Hawk[/i], the [i]Albatross[/i] was still able to limp home, streaming air as damage control teams fought to close off the afflicted sections from the vacuum of space.

"Well met, Admiral Ereson. We would be more than willing to entertain you and your staff aboard the [i]Falcon[/i]
at your convenience."

The [i]Falcon[/i] pulsed her comm system to indicate which one she was,lighting up all of her running lights for visual-range identification, her shuttle bay doors coming open.

[supercheese]

A 6 foot humanoid man slender build and dark red hair climbed off his shuttle, the only thing suggesting he was not human we're his dark purple eyes which seemed to look into ones soul. He observered his saviours for a moment before bowing his head in a sign of gratitude. "I owe you a great deal of thanks, you may of saved my people from complete and total extinction. I am a Gremlon from the planet Grem. My home was destroyed a little over 8 months ago. Our refugee fleet left during the final stages of a hundred year struggle and we have been pursued our entire journey. Our fleet started with 12 top of the line ships and now were are left with 3 battle damaged rust buckets. Our mission was to find a new home far away from our enemies, everything left of our civilization are in our 3 ships." He took a deep breath before continuing. "But that's enough on history of my people. I come asking for your assistance and protection in locating our new home. Unfortunately we don't have much to offer but we will give you whatever we can in return."

Elsewhere in the galaxy. "This galaxy is a lot bigger and has more to offer then we first imagined. I propose sending a fleet to explore the opportunities of this galaxy and see if it is worth taking. Our food sources run low, the time is upon us to find new food and our first encounter proved most.... Tasty." "Agreed, a fleet will be deployed to the beachhead in the galaxy. Don't diss appoint us."

[Mara Lithaen]

Commodore Stephanie Harrington, recipient of the Parliamentary Medal of Valor and a slew of other hard-won strips of cloth and precious metal, nodded courteously at the end of the man's speech. "And the Empire would be more than happy to assist you in finding your home. I am sure that the Empress would be more than willing to provide you with an escort flotilla to aide you in your journey. As it is, however, your ships are rather badly damaged. What would it take to get them truly spaceworthy once again?"

[supercheese]

"Our most pressing issue are our engines which have been pushed to the max to try and escape our pursurers, our generators are also nearing the end of there life and should they fail 30000 civilians will die who are currently in stasis. Several levels of my flagship the starship Goliath are breached and have had to be sealed off and all of our ships weapon systems are destroyed. And those are just our immediate problems. Currently a new power system and engines are a must if we are to continue this mission."

[Mara Lithaen]

Stephanie nodded thoughtfully, taking to rubbing the tip of her nose as she usually did when in serious thought. "Well, I do think that between our six remaining fully capable destroyers that we can manage to tractor you into New Eden orbit for repairs. If, of course, that is alright with you?"

[supercheese]

"That would be greatly appreciated and we would again be in your debt. I can't express how greatly I appreciate all you are doing for us."

On The Goliath a kamikazed dart had crashed into one of the lower decks and the pilot had survived. He sat hidden meditating with his superiors. When the ships began being escorted towards New Eden the Wraith had eyes on them the whole time and slowly began closing in, avoiding detection from the locals for now.

[Mara Lithaen]

"It is a matter of pride and honor. You needn't thank us."

With that, the surviving ships of DesRon 15 locked onto the three floating hulks, two per ship, and began the long, slow slog back to New Eden, passing the 3rd Fleet on the way, the running lights of the HMS Agni, the dreadnought flagship, flashing as the two groups briefly intermixed as the far larger force sped outsystem.

[supercheese]

2 hours into the trip

"Elise! Elise!" A pair of security guards marched down one of the lower and less used hall of the ship. "Where the hell can she be... She's been missing for an hour and a half now." One of the guards approached a storage door and attempted to open it. "What the hell. Control, please overide the lock on this door." A loud click could be heard and the guard opened the door then leaped back in surprise and horror. The second guard drew his sidearm and began watching their rear for any attackers. "Control, we're going to require a security detachment. Seal off this level untill they arrive. I have found the corpse of Elise, shes been fed upon."

(I'm assuming that my guy is still on your ship)

Eresons hand went up to an earpiece as he activated it. "This is Admiral Ereson, go ahead." He listened silently but his face showed his emotions, a mix of shock anger and sadness crossed over it all at once. He looked up at Stephanie in alarm. You got to stop, I've just been informed that a wraith has been discovered on The Goliath. Their telepathetic abilities are quite amazing giving them the ability to communicate over hundreds of thousands of light years. Chances are the wraith are trailing not far behind, attempting to locate your planet. Once they do they attack in never ending waves, wearing down your defenses untill they finally collapse. My men are currently moving in to deal with the problem, but the wraith already have a general idea of our destination, the less they can narrow their search the better."

On The Goliath, security was swarming the level in search for the wraith, they would turn the place upside down, it was just a matter of time before the wraith was located.

[Mara Lithaen]

Commodore Harrington blanched. "Then it seems I have a call to make. Excuse me, gentlemen." she said, whirling about in her conference room chair and making a dead sprint for the bridge. She reached her crash couch, and flipped a fingerprint-locked switch, opening up a compartment in the arm, inside of which resided the huge red button of an all-systems comm override. She slid into her chair, pushing her short hair from her eyes as she looked into the comm pickup with chocolate-brown eyes, and held down the key. "[i]Falcon[/i] to all Nova Terran fleet units, Case Zulu Bravo. I repeat, Case Zulu Bravo." she said, signalling that an invasion was highly likely. Like its more serious sister, Case Zulu, this signal was never used even in practice - only in times of actual distress. Unlike Case Zulu, it didn't signal an [i]imminent or ongoing[/i] invasion.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Mara Lithaen

[supercheese]

"There he is! Dont let him get away!" A pair of guards charged the wraith, but in a close combat situation the wraith would come on top, pulling a sword from his back he sliced the first guard down, grabbing the second one he lifted him by the throat and slammed him into the wall. But now more guards were upon him, these ones armed with blasters. The wraith pulled out his own stunner but now he was being surrounded, still he managed to take out another two guards before being hit square in the back.
"Wraith captured, telepathy block cuffs are taking effect. Extract or terminate?" "Extract, but I will do it personally." Ereson turned to whomever was still with him. "The wraith has been captured and his telepathy blocked. I must return to my ship, I will find out what information he has leaked to the others."

[Mara Lithaen]

Ereson was escorted to the shuttle bay by a pair of battle-armored Marines, and sent on his way, as the Nova Terran fleet woke up.

[supercheese]

"Open the cell." Ereson and two guards entered the cell as the wraith stood up a smile on his face. The two guards circled around the wraith, coming up behind him. "So we can do this the easy way or the hard way, how much have you told your friends?" The wraith said nothing, the smile still on his face as he sized Ereson up. Ereson, seeing that the wraith was not willing to tell them anything gave a nod to his guards who grabbed the wraith and brought him to his knees. "You wraith aren't the only ones with telepathetic abilities. I can see into your mind, I suggest you prepare yourself, this can be rather unpleasant the more you resist." The wraith gave a defiant look at Ereson, his smile gone. "You can't hope to stop us, even if you learn what I know my people will find you, and find your precious allies to." Ereson said nothing, instead stared into the wraiths eyes.

"He was a tough one, took a hour before I managed to get anything out of him." A message would be sent to The Falcon. "We have managed to get some info out of the wraith, currently three hives trails us at (coordinates), I also have some disturbing news, a wraith fleet has been sent to this galaxy, we can expect them here within a month. The numbers are 50 hives 150 cruisers half a million wraith and this is just a first wave. We believe they will gather their forces in my solar system. I apologize, it is our fault that they learned of your peoples existence and now know this galaxy is a potential huge source of food for them."

"We lost contact with our agent on their ship, but we have a idea of their location and destination, I suggest we send out scouts to the nearest stars to locate their planet." "Agreed, deploy scout darts." Several darts left the ship, flying off in all different directions to begin the search.

[Mara Lithaen]

Commodore Harrington nodded into the visual pickup on her flag bridge. "We'll be ready for them." she said, cutting the feed. She turned to PO Harkness. "Mr. Harkness, if you'd be so kind to confirm the readiness of all ships for battle, and send a message to New Brisbane Station regarding our current predicament." she said.

"Aye, ma'am. Confirming readiness..."

[supercheese]

A dart would soon become visible as it came flying towards the ships, making no attempt to hide itself. The dart shot off a message to the hives before setting a collision course with The Falcon. The dart would go full speed hopefully hitting the ship before it could respond.

The 3 hives that had been trailing the the Gremlons got the message and went full speed towards the ships, who had not gotten very far after. A message was sent, text only, to the ships. "Our fight is not with you, surrender the Gremlons to us and we will leave your people to live in peace. The choice is yours."

[Mara Lithaen]

The dart was blasted out of the sky by the [i]Gyrfalcon[/i] and [i]Eagle[/i]'s point-defense lasers, the high-megawatt-range lasers tearing through the Dart like a knife through hot butter.

With the attempted kamikaze of the dart, when the message arrived, Commodore Harrington didn't even deem them worthy of any response further than the one she gave. Within seconds, the battlecruiser [i]Nike[/i] arrived from FTL with her consorts in tow - and opened fire. The [i]Nike[/i] and her squadron were the newest thing that the Empire had in space, their impellers' inertial compensator designs allowing them to pull accelerations that not even the Commodore's destroyers could. They opened fire, firing thirty kilogram projectiles at .1c at the Hives, joined by the five-kilo shots of the destroyer squadron, as the Nova Terrans threw their impellers into full-reverse, accelerating backwards at 5.2 km/s^2.

[supercheese]

"We have new contacts, they are firing projectiles." "Activate anti fighter guns, shoot those missiles out of the sky." The smaller guns on the hives activated, targeting the incoming projectiles and destroying the majority of them before they struck the Hives. A few lucky missiles got through and hit the front hull of the ships, however this was the densist portion of the ships resulting in minimal damage. Sensors on the hives pinpointed the approximate areas where the missiles were fired from the ships and activating it's heavy energy canons began firing on the enemy weapons meanwhile 500 darts were scrambled for a first wave, these darts instead of being armed with a weapon system were armed with small antimatter explosives, they would swarm the ships and kamakazie them, targeting engine and weapons, but also attempting to blow a sizable hole to allow troops to be beamed inside by the next wave of darts.

Edited July 29, 2012 by supercheese

[Mara Lithaen]

The ships continued to fire, one shell every two and a half seconds from both of their barrels, putting an immense cloud of ultra-dense ferro-tungsten rounds screaming through space, even as their secondary broadside weapons and PD clusters tore into the oncoming fighter waves; the ships were bow-on to the Wraith, presenting the smallest possible target to their computers as they continued to open the range.

The destroyers rolled broadside to the Wraith, engaging with far smaller mass drivers and flinging out impeller-driven missiles, their overloaded, compensatorless impeller drives accelerating them at 92,000 gravities for the entirety of the minute they had on their drives, and given the range they still had a few seconds left on their drives to dodge point-defense fire. A number of the missiles were Dazzlers, and as they exploded several thousand kilometers short of the ships they created massive pulses of blinding jamming and interference targeted at the hives. Still more were decoys, replacing their warheads with EM suites that made their one missile seem like ten, twenty, a hundred missiles to the enemy. Half of the remainder were contact-fusion nuclear weapons, while the remainder were laser heads - bomb-pumped lasers utilizing hafnium rods to generate stiletto-like bursts of pure X-ray laser radiation, designed to punch deep wounds in armor.

[supercheese]

The wave of darts were torn apart before arriving, and jamming/interference mIssiles began successfully jamming longer range radars, however radars for the defenses were largely unaffected. The advanced defensive energy cannons still managed to take down many missiles coming in, but the Hives were taking significant damage. The fusion missiles began hitting their marks more often, though the organic hull of the hives absorbed much of radiation. A change in tactics was decided, the next wave of darts instead forming a dense wall in front of the hives intercepting missiles meanwhile sensors managed to calculate the ships positions from the missiles speed, direction, and angles the hives had a decent idea of where to concentrate their fire.

The previous fleet, from the first encounter when the destroyers saved the refugee fleet emerged from hyperspace, cutting off the ships retreat and allowing them to get in some flanking fire. While still damaged from the first encounter they were now the ones with the element of surprise, activating the ships heavy energy canons and releasing their own wall of darts they took battle positions, the ships spreading out to encircle the fleet.

On the Goliath Ereson watched the fight unfold, sitting in frustration as they sat helpless to do anything. "What do we need to get weapons operational?" "A miracle, sir. We could bring our primary canon online, but that could use up all of our power, killing those in stasis." "We can't bring on any of our smaller canons?" "No, our control system for the few that remain undamaged is completely shot." "What if we fire them manually?" "Well, it is possible in theory, but it's going to take time and it's probably a 30% chance of succeeding." "Try anyways, contact the other two ships and have them attempt this to. We cant just sit and watch. This is our fight after all."

[Mara Lithaen]

"This is the [i]Agni[/i]. Commodore Harrington, prepare to break off and regroup at these coordinates. We're jumping in behind them."

Stephanie jerked her head around, fixing a one-eyed stare at the comms officer, the other obscured by an archaic black patch. "Mr. Silverson, acknowledge that order!" she said calmly. "Contact the rest of the squadron with an evasion course, Lieutenant. Bring us about the Admiral's right flank."

"Aye aye, ma'am." came the acknowledgement, and Stephanie turned to PO Harkness. "Mr. Harkness, concentrate all of our broadside fire on one of the large ships at a time - bring them down. Roll us as we take damage, distribute it as much as possible and intercept fire with the wedge when possible." she ordered, as the [i]Raven[/i] took a hit amidships and belched air and water vapor like blood, the ship threatening to break in half as the impeller wedge flickered. In nearly the same instant, the [i]Gyrfalcon[/i] rolled to take a kamikaze on her wedge, point-defenses shrieking defiance, and a lucky shot from one of the Wraith hives slammed into her Alpha Eight node cluster, and the destroyer's speed dropped sharply before coming back up to 85 percent of max and stabilizing.

As the destroyer squadron swung about to their proper heading, space began to flash with short lived stars as the HMS Agni and her fleet came out of FTL directly behind the hive ships, capital ship missiles belching from their tubes as they brought their spinal guns to bear.

Edited July 30, 2012 by Mara Lithaen

[supercheese]

It was decided to fall back and meet the hives on the way at the beachhead. The enemy had them outnumbered and outgunned for now, but all that would change in a month. As the ships prepared to enter hyperspace one of the capital missiles made a lucky hit, tearing the hive in half and causing most of the ship to vent air and most of the wraith inside died, save a few small groups of survivors. At the same time a cruiser took two bad missile hits, one destroying the engines the other destroying the ships command center leaving the ship a sitting duck to be boarded or destroyed. The 800 darts that had been serving as the anti projectile wall were left behind and changed direction for a kamakazie run. They werent heading for any of The destroyer or battleships but instead for the refugee ships.

"!@#$! Get those damn guns operational! Now!" "They are online!" the ships anti fighter cannons came to life, but they wouldn't have any hope of destroying the incoming kamakazies on their own.

[Mara Lithaen]

"Mr. Harkness!"

"Already on it, ma'am! Firing all guns on the fighters!" came the nearly instantaneous response as the missiles that had just launched were retasked for fighter killing as they sped out to kill them...

[supercheese]

While The missiles destroyed the vast majority of the darts, a few hit their mark. The Goliath was hit the worst. The first 2 kamakazies blowing a hole in an upper level allowing the darts flying by to use their opportunity to beam several wraith squads into the ship before being destroyed.

The lights on The Goliath began flickering, several systems shutting down from the lack of power. "Shut down all systems besides stasis and life support systems!" The ship darkened and became completely still. A message was sent just before communications went offline informing the others on the current situation on the Goliath. "We got wraith aboard the ship sir, and with our life sensors offline we have no way to track movements across the ship." "Deploy security teams to gather those they can find and a defense on the power core and stasis chambers, lock those doors down after." "Yes sir."

Edited July 30, 2012 by supercheese