Sigma — Roleplayer Guild

Collab between @Darkspleen and @Sigma

Yojai System
Augustan Frontier Systems
The rather abrupt entry of the Vambrace had caused an uproar in the Yojai System, reports coursing through the channels of the local defense forces of an unknown warship seemingly firing in all directions with no clear target in sight, stray shots even scoring hits on passing by civilian vessels. The crew of these alien warship seemingly gone mad, followed by even more flashes of light from an unknown source. Regardless of these strange reports, a foreign vessel trespassed in Imperial Space, and citizens of the Empire were clearly fired upon, and that needed a swift response. 

The 18th Frontier Patrol Flotilla were the nearest warships that could respond to the incident, to investigate and if necessary, properly dispose of the interlopers. The 18th consisted of three vessels, a lone Peacemaker light carrier, the Bird's Nest, and a pair of Legionary frigates, the Stellar Rain and the Fafij's Wrath. For now, they were all the system could offer as a defense against whatever they were dealing with, and if the worst comes, buy time for others to act.

The 18th were on approach to the last report coordinates of the unknown vessel, the ship itself was within visual range as it still seemed to be in engagement with whatever they think they see, followed by flashing lights that clearly weren't sourced from the ship itself, something indeed seemed off. Regardless, the Bird's nest and her escort made an advance towards the Vambrace, attempting to open channels with them. "This is Commander Karksom of the 18th Patrol Flotilla, in the name of the Empire, you will shut down your weapon systems and submit to imperial authority, fail to comply and we will be forced to engage your vessel." 

The first response the 18th received was a high pitched squeal. A sign that the Vambrace’s communications systems may not be compatible with those used by the Augustans. However a few moments later received confirmation of an established communications channel, complete with video. The apparent captain of the Vambrace was not human, although at first glance he could have been mistaken for one. His long pointed ears identified him as a Yrrani, specifically a Yrrani-Twei to those who knew of that ancient ethnicity. He bled freely from an open headwound.

The Twei captain spoke in the clipped tone of a busy captain, but his words came out in a language the Augustans didn’t know. He paused, bracing himself as his ship shook from some unseen blow. He then turned to someone out of view and snapped an order. A moment later his image disappeared, only to be replaced with that of a woman of the same species. She seemed… oddly out of place. Unlike the captain she was uninjured and calm. She spoke calmly and slowly, but her words were in the same language as those used by the captain.

The revelation that the crew of the Vambrace were Yrrani was...unexpected to say the least. Although a portion of the citizenry of the Empire are very much aware that remnants of the Old Masters still linger, said remnants being the key driving force behind the Armistice that, for the time being, had put an end to the 4th Reclamation War. It was unheard of for remnant Yrrani to venture so far from the throne systems, especially in such a backwater system. In addition, these Yrrani seemed different from what was typical of the Old Masters, mainly their ears. Once the shock washed over, the Commander visibly shook his head as he snapped back. "Forgive me, I can't understand." He said, feeling tense from the chaos taking place within the Vambrace. Although the objective now seemingly has taken a drastic turn. "All ships on combat readiness, do not engage the vessel, the vessel is Yrrani, I repeat, it is Yrrani."

The last thing the Augustan commander said certainly caught the attention of the woman. “Yrrani!” She said, making a sharp cutting motion with her hand. “Yrrain-Twei. Twei!” She held a hand up to her right ear, showing that the ear’s length matched the length of her hand from the bottom all the way to the tip of her fingers. The woman then placed a hand on her chest and said “Twei” followed by a word in old Yrrani that could have been translated to friend, comrade, or even distant cousin depending on the context. She then made a sweeping gesture around her and said another word in old Yrrani. The word had held many different meanings over the millennia. It could mean secret or hiding. Or it could refer to a predator or assassin. It could even be translated to something along the lines of “lurking in the undergrowth.”

Commander Karksom's understanding of the Yrrani language was limited at best, although words and meanings of the Old Masters had carried over through the generations, adopted by the many species and cultures that had been under their thumb, some altered and evolved, others remained static, when spoken centuries ago. He did, however, picked up "Twei" and "Friend", a quick observation that they were friendlies, although the next few words were concerning, amounting to a warning that can summarized as "hidden enemy." Before he could process the thought, the Bird's Nest begun to tremble, sending the Commander towards the floor, quickly assisted by his second in command. "What in the burning hells was that??!" Karksom exclaimed, before anyone could answer, another tremor shook the foundations of the ship, the hull screaming out as something hit, several plasma bolts flashing out from the darkness as vague forms from the void of space begun to take shape, this "hidden enemy." the Twei was warning about. "No wonder they fired off like mad." Karksom said as he returned to his seat."All ships! Ready weapons!".

Vambrace’s main drives lit off, shoving the heavy cruiser forwards, towards the Augustan warships. Its fighter complement, now reduced to four strikecraft, moved as one group ahead of Vambrace. They weaved around each other, dodging plasma bolts shot from an unseen enemy, with an agility no unmodified biological pilot could ever hope to match. They answered their attacks with a volley of particle beams that struck true. For a moment the outline of a tentacled beast, the size of a corvette, could be made out. But just as quickly as it had appeared, the apparition disappeared. Then something struck one of Vambrace’s fighters. The lightly armored strikecraft simply crumpled and fell out of formation, even as its comrades pivoted in place to fire upon whatever had killed it. Two missiles shot out from Vambrace, their courses steadied onto an apparent intercept with Bird’s Nest. The Twei woman continued to try communicating with the Augustans, but most of her words were unrecognizable.

Even if he couldn't understand a word she was saying, Karkom can at the very least clearly see from the bridge that something was out there as he and the bridge crew bared witness to shadowed tendrils crushing one of the alien strike craft into stardust. The Vambrace was one fast approach to the flotilla, the officers looking to the commander for their next move. "Launch all fighters, I don't know what we're dealing with, but we need all the guns we got out there." He paused as he linked channels with the captains of the two frigates. "Focus your fire on our guests but do not fire upon the ship, we're dealing with unknown number of cloaked hostiles and they either could be everywhere or pursuing the ship, either way I want them gone."

Moments after the order was given, the Stellar Rain and the Fafij's Wrath moved ahead of the Bird's Nest as they blindly fired off their gun batteries into the void of space, energy bolts zipping by the Vambrace as it sped ahead. Meanwhile several squadrons of assorted strike craft emerged from the hanger bay of the Bird's Nest, ready to engage their unseen foe.

As they neared Bird’s Nest, Vambrace’s missiles flipped end over end and exploded. Their explosions were tiny, far too small to be a realistic weapon against a warship, but their explosion let loose a dense cloud of shrapnel in what effectively was a shotgun blast. The debris slammed into… something… that the Augustans had been previously unable to see before. Black ooze and ichor fell away from the body of a massive creature. The bulk of its body matched that of either the Stellar Rain or Fafij’s Wrath. Its long tentacles doubled its overall length. Having been revealed, the creature turned to the closest of its foes that was nearby, the Stellar Rain, and put on an alarming amount of speed as it put itself onto a course to ram the Augustan warship. Vambrace’s remaining three strikecraft quickly intercepted the creature and began firing at it with their particle beam weapons, but the creature simply ignored them.

The Stellar Rain attempted to avoid the beast, making a port side turn as it continued firing off its batteries and launching a wave of missiles, the bolts and projectiles cutting through the beast and making it bleed, but not slowing it down one bit. In what seemed to be a blink of an eye, the creature collided with the frigate, snapping the bow in two, its tentacles wrapping around what was left of the vessel, slowly crushing it into countless pieces. The screams of the doomed crew heard over inter-ship intercom. The Fafij's Wrath moved against the creature, attacking the flank with its own volley of weapons fire, a wing of Hammerstrike Assault Boats joining the fray as they advanced.

The creature writhed under the assault, but refused to let go of its prey. Its tentacles reached out to swat at the Hammerstrike assault boats, but its reach was just a tad too short. Vambrace’s strikecraft, which had been harassing the creature, suddenly began taking evasive maneuvers. Even the most junior of pilots could tell they were in some kind of dogfight. One of the fighters spun end over end, firing its cannon as it did so. The pilot’s aim was true and his shot struck another tentacled creature, this one about the size of a strikecraft itself.

Vambrace fired its spinal particle beam cannon. Its target wasn’t the creature wrapped around Stellar Rain, but instead at a seemingly empty region of space. The beam struck yet a third tentacled creature, this one the size of a corvette. The creature squirmed and writhed about as its bodily fluids leaked into space. Vambrace was already closing in on Stellar Rain, its secondary batteries letting loose on the creature wrapped around the dead frigate.

The Twei woman trying to communicate with the Augustans said “One big.” The words came not in old Yrrani, but actual modern Augustan. “Several small. I see so you see.” Her image was replaced by a sensor readout with Vambrace at the center. The readout showed the Augustan combatants relative to their location to the heavy cruiser, as well as one large hostile indicator, moving towards Bird’s Nest, three small hostiles dogfighting with Vambrace’s strikecraft, three small hostiles sneaking up behind the Augustan assault boats, and one small hostile heading towards the asteroid belt. This last hostile signal was weak, blinking in and out and seemingly jumping around.

The Vambrace becoming the eyes of the remain Augustan vessels was much a needed boon, as now they had a clear idea on enemy positions in the battle space. Although a larger creature heading straight for the Bird's Nest was a worrying prospect. "Captain Jyras." Karksom called to the Fafij's Wrath's captain. "You saw what those things did to the Stellar Rain, and we got a big one heading towards us, stick close with us and by the gods, we'll live another day." 

"Understood." Captain Jyras replied." Reposition in escort pattern." The last remaining frigate disengaged the beast crushing the Rain, making its way back to the flank of the Bird's Nest. "Hammer team." Karksom contacted the Hammerstrike wing. "Keep at what you're doing, distract the creatures in view, and help our new guests in their fight, mow down the bastards."

Karksom paused another moment as he switched channels again. "Wild Wing Leader." Karksom contact one of the squadron leaders. "Return to the Nest, I repeat, return to Nest, we got a big fight incomi-" Karksom was abruptly interrupted by one of the bridge staff. "Commander! We got a energy spike coming from the Stellar Rain...its reactor is about get critical!" Shortly after, what remained of the Stellar Rain was engulfed in a bright flash, its last act of defiance, rather then be at the mercy of a predator.

Debris from Stellar Rain struck Vambrace, marring the heavy cruiser’s thick armor and damaging several secondary batteries, but otherwise doing little apparent damage. The heavy cruiser’s energy output spiked as it began charging its spinal cannon again, already reorienting itself to fire upon the remaining large creature.

Vambrace’s strikecraft had won their dogfight, trading one fighter for all three creatures. The remaining two strikecraft formed up and headed to provide aid to the hammerstrike assault boats. The paint schemes of the two strikecraft began to rapidly change from bright orange to dark blue and they released a torrent of flares. A moment later two of the creatures chasing the assault boats changed course to engage the strikecraft.

Just as Vambrace’s spinal cannon seemed to finish charging something went horribly wrong. It began with a single small along the front of the spinal cannon. This explosion was quickly followed by a rapid series of other small explosions that ran the entire length of the spinal cannon. Several seconds later a large explosion burst out the side of the heavy cruiser at its middle most point. That last explosion disrupted the heavy cruiser’s main propulsion units and threw it into a slow, uncontrolled spin. Still the cruiser wasn’t out of the fight. It fired a barrage of missiles at the final large creature.

The Fafij's Wrath focused all batteries and emptied its missile salvos on the creature, supported by Wild Wing Squadron as a dozen Starhawks made strafing runs along the surface, shredding the flesh off the beast. After one ceaseless barrage, a gapping wound opened right up, a tempting target for the Wild Wings to deliver a killing blow. The Wild Wings moved into a delta formation as they drew close to their target. "All wings, let loose." Wild Wing Leader order, looking to his right as flipped a lid open, pressing down a button as he unlocked the missile loadout. "Fire!" Within moments a wave of missiles all converged towards the wound, large chunks of meat splattering across the void, the creature now limp. Its death signaled a roar of celebration aboard both Augustan vessels, barely surviving first contact with a new, and dangerous enemy, one where a report would no doubt lead to better things to come. 

"Shit, we made out alive." Karksom said to himself, and any who would listen as he slumped on his chair. "Well, we still need to deal with that small one the fled." His XO commented.

Karksom sighed, lifting himself back up and straightened himself out. "Have Hammer Team break off and hunt the thing down, if they lose it....that's a problem for another day."

"And our new guests?" The XO inquired. Once the adrenaline wore off, Karksom did come to the realization that a mysterious group of Yrrani randomly jumped in the system, and as far as he knows, their origin point is completely unknown. "This is way above me. We gotta contact Command, let them know what just went down." Karksom paused as he stood up, making an audible stretch. "In mean time, we'll try to help with what we can, doubt we have the resources to repair a ship like that though."

Jara System
Augustan Frontier Systems
IAS Fury of Augusta
Flagship of the 7th Eastern Fleet
Grand Admiral's Quarters 

"I don't like this one bit, ma'am." One of several senior officers spoke in protest to the Grand Admiral, who at the moment, was enjoying herself a small cup of tea, and was reading through a few reports of recent activities in the Eastern Theater. A particular incident catching her eye regarding "giant space cephalopods", she shelved that report for later, before turning her attention back to the officers, her eyes meeting theirs. "I understand your concern, commander, and quite frankly, I don't like the thought of dealing with these barbarians either." She paused before taking a quick sip. "But as you're all well aware, the war's over, has been for quite some time." 

The senior officers were still uneasy with the thought of working with the Abyss Front, the horrors of the Eastern Campaigns were very....vivid to say the least. Judith can see the looks in their faces, the hurt and anger of left friends and loved ones, she wouldn't dare invalidate such emotions, such a loss was something Judith herself was no stranger to, she had reassure her men. "While I did say I was open to hear out what the Abyss Commanders had to say, and we may very well end up working together on this particular front. " Judith paused as she took one last sip of tea. "This is a temporary measure, an short-lived alliance of convenience to contain a potential threat, nothing more." Judith paused, observing reactions of the officers, their expressions growing more calm then before. 

"We understand, Grand Admiral, thank you for hearing us out."

Judith simply gave a warm smile. "No trouble at all, now back to your posts, we've got guests incoming."
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