The descent into orbit had gone swimmingly. The flight towards the eye had proceeded with no problems. Besides the sadness in every crewman. But that could never be fixed. The devastators were still at mars and even though they were breaking through the defensive lines they would still have enough time to make it to the eye. It seemed like everything was going to plan. Until it didn't. Theodore had made himself comfortable on his chair sipping his water. That should have been bourbon. Theodore did realize however that drinking while on duty was a good way to get put in the brig. So he begrudgingly admitted to himself that maybe it was a good idea that someone had taken his drink away.He looked at his screen typing a few commands to make sure the ship ran smoothly. The engines were still running fine. In fact, everything was running fine. Too fine. Before Theodore could take another sip an alarm sounded through the bridge. Crewman started to look around in panic as a new ship appeared on the interface. Whatever the ship was it had never been seen before and was huge. Theodore's mouth fell wide open as he looked at the monstrosity. For a moment he stood frozen not even realizing the ship was in their direct flight path. He was able to only utter one simple sentence.

" Fuck me that thing is big!"

He looked at the alien vessel as it started to launch fighters." Fighters ! Since when do these bastards have fighter craft!" He thought to himself as he sprung into action. He started typing like a maniac and used the route the tactical officer had given him. Then the alien vessel fired. Cutting one of the arks in half. There was a moment of dread that went down Theodore's spine. There was a small part of silence in the ship. A mix of fear hate molded into one. It had only taken one shot to take out an ark. And if they didn't do something quick they would be next. Then the admiral's voice rolled through the bridge breaking the spell.
"Divert all non-essential power to engines."Theodore couldn't have said it better himself. And as the engines started to go all the way he could feel the sweat coming from him. This felt all really familiar. Way to familiar

[hr]
[i]Years ago at the last battle of the three day's war.[/i]

[hider= memories...]
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW26ldgtko0[/url]

[/hider]
The battle was a fireworks display.  As lasers and metal, slag filled the empty void. Ships exploded in spectacular fashion. Alien and human alike. But More human ships were exploding than alien. Theodore Looked over the battlefield with a mix of pride of taking part in this battle and at the same time horrified. he then heard his uncle's voice roar through the bridge shouting orders. Clearly, he was panicking. The ship they were one, A reaper class cruiser hadn't been in the battle that long and had for the most part  they had been joined by other ships. Now these ships were drifting into pieces. They were the last remaining ship left. Isolated and easy picking for any alien that found them. It wasn't such a surprising that his uncle was starting to become nervous. He had a right to be for christ sakes. Then the captain directed his commands to Theodore and his tone somewhat changed. Less harsh and with a twinge of kindness.

" Helm. set our coordinates to the nearest battlegroup."

" Yes, captain."

The idea of both of them being put on the same bridge was always a bad idea. Family working together could create problems in tense situations. But in their case, it worked just fine. With the occasional favoring of course. But that was to be expected. As He steered the ship towards battlegroup Omega an alarm rang through the bridge.

" Status report!" His uncle screamed.

" Sir, we have an incoming Devastator ship moving towards our position."

" Is it alone?"

" Yes, sir that seems to be the case."

He sighed and thought for a moment. He could either attack the ship which would follow them anyway and deal more damage towards the battlegroup. Or they could engage the enemy, Take some damage or heavy damage in the progress and limp back to anyone in range. He went for the second option.

" Helm ! Set a course for the enemy ship. Weapons prepare to fire when in range lets kill ourselves some filthy alien bastards !"
A cheer of agreement filled the bridge as Theodore steered the ship in attack position. The Reaper fired it's  first volley it's cannons firing wildly at the enemy chewing through its armor. Slowly but surely they would destroy this alien filth. Then the Devastator ship fired its laser punctured straight through the hull. The entire ship shook heavily as the light started flickering and emergency lights lit up. The  bridge itself  was chaos as some crewman had been thrown out of their chairs and some had been knocked unconscious. 

" Give me a status report!"

" Sir, the outer hull has taken heavy damage. Fires on decks 1 and 3 and loss of air on deck 2 and 4. What are your orders?"

" Remain on course and keep firing! We will destroy this alien fil--

Another laser  hit it's mark making the ship shriek as the entire hull started to break under the stress. The bridge itself had lost main light and switched to red emergency lights. Theodore looked around the chaos in shock. He saw his navigator rolling on the ground screaming in pain his face covered in glass shards. His eyes were nothing but red pools and his body started to visibly shake. His other crewman were either unconscious, panicking or simply petrified. They all knew what was coming. They all knew what grizzly end they were about to face.

" Sir we have damage through all decks and or reactor is going critical ! What are your orders! "

The captain looked on in utter silence. He knew it was over. He looked at his bridge and sighed. He then stood up and said with a sad smile.

"men !Today we find out what doing our duty really means!"

Then another explosion rocked the ship and the ceiling caved in. And everything turned black.

[hr]
[i]present day[/i]

As Theodore thought about this, he heard a voice coming in over the intercom. It was the chief engineer.  Most of it he couldn't make heads or tails with. but one thing made sense. Either they would have to loose combat abilities or the Destiny would and since the big scary alien vessel could shoot a ship in half Theodore knew exactly what he wanted. Screw the Destiney and save the ship that was running at full capacity. He quickly opened a private line with the chief and said.

" Chief, in all goddam honesty id rather have weapons at hand than being target practice for a ship that can cut an ark i half !"