Abstract Proxy
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EliteCommanderHitosrical archive
2177 / II - Beginning of detailed scans of all explored systems
2177 / IV - First four cruisers of the Strike fleet commissioned, ECR Monster, ECR Drake, ECR Nightmare, ECR Enigma
2177 / V - Travel to Naris now possible with a visa following a public vote. 82% participated, 79% voted for visas, 12% unrestricted travel, 7% for official business only and 2% for complete ban.
2177 / V - Commander Astra reassigned to Singularity project. ECV Curious commanded by newly instigated Commander Linsis
2177 / VII - Construction of NSD Halcyon begun
2177 / VIII - First two corvettes of Strike fleet complete, ECV Katla and ECV Karm
2177 / X - Development of fusion weaponry suggested
2178 / III - ESD Singularity’s framework completed
2178 / V - Exodus and Opportunity fully scanned with no artifacts present
2178 / V - NSS Stargazer completed, replacing the NSS Independence
2178 / VI - Hazard level I zones in Faira Nebula explored without any results
2178 / VI - Narix redesignated the “Nightmares” to “Ancients”
2178 / VIII - Debris from NSS Independence recovered and returned to Naris
2178 / VIII - Narix elections see most of the councilors retain their seats with the exception of industry and military councilors of Armiden
2178 / X - Intact Relic destroyer found in Terminus Oort cloud
ECR Durable & NSS Zenith, Terminus Oort cloud
It’s taken years, but now they were looking at it. The Zenith and Durable paired up for easier defense, each scanning a hemisphere rather than a full sphere along the path, jumping twice as quickly. Even then, sometimes the cloud was so dense that the Marines were digging shrapnel form the hull. But now it all paid off. “Look at it! It’s beautiful!”
“Good thing we have the other derelicts to study their hulls, This thing must be beyond repair. Just make sure whoever comes to explore it packs a few psychokinetics, no way we are getting anyone across via shuttle or spacewalk. At least this garbage isn’t big enough to cause major damage to it, besides the hangar. If anything, there might not be any Ancients aboard. This looks like they jumped here to hide or repair battle damage. Maybe we’ll even get their sublight drives this time around”
“We can hope. I think we should start on detailed scans, if we know the internal structure, we can jump straight in. In the meantime, we’ll dispatch a camera drone to get a look into the hangar, see what state it’s in. What do you think would map the internal structure best, RTG, MRI?” Mirai asked of her Narix counterpart and her engineer alike.
“RTG over MRI, considering their materials react very poorly to magnetic field. If one ship acts as a lamp and the sensors of the other as a photo chip, we can have the entire ship done in a couple of hours form two directions, then we can build a very basic model of the internal layout. I’m rather worried how strong the sensor ray would have to be to penetrate though. It probably won’t be safe for the receiving ship. I think we’ll have to go in in either case.” the engineer noted.
“We only have 32 marines on board. If you can get them in, they could at least start preparing a sort of beachhead for when the others arrive. Shall I tell them to suit up so they’re ready when the drone is done? What we learned on the other wreck will make moving through much easier, so two squads should find a suitable access point within a reasonable timeframe. Or they’ll get eviscerated by hibernating Ancients.” She suddenly perked up in excitement. “Since the ship’s intact, do you think we could find any Relics on board, hibernating like the Ancients did?” If that were to happen, there were two drastically different ways that could go.
“I don’t know. The Ancients are species like none other, who knows if another species even can hibernate for eight thousand years. I certainly am not going to try. Have your men shuttle over, we’ll see if the Marines put their heads together if they can come up with a point of entry. Linking the drone footage to you.”
“Hangar’s taken some heat, but some of the doors seem undamaged. I’m not sure about sending out a shuttle through this junk. Swarmers loose, take out anything that would threaten the Pillagers.”
The ships left the hangars, carefully maneuvering through the rocks while the marines and their gunners squirmed nervously. The first ship made it to the hangar without any problems, offloading the marine team. The pilots then used some hook-like objects on the hangar’s floor to secure the Pillager to the deck with anchoring ropes so the away teams could use them to resupply air or as pressurized chambers.
On its approach, a brief flash of light blossomed on the second Pillager’s left engine cluster.
“Crisis, crisis, left engines gone, scythe two losing control.”
The marine team streamed out of the open rear bay, using their thruster packs to make it to the derelict as safely as possible. The pilot, down to only right engines and Z axis translation thrusters, hauled his crippled ship into the hangar, planting it almost sideways just a few meters from the first one. The landing legs bent, left aileron and a piece of the wing broke off and the ship bounced off the floor before the pilot brought it to a relative halt, allowing the marines to secure the ship.
“Scythe two is down, major structural damage and I hit my head against the canopy.” The pilot hissed over the comms, “Hull’s still airtight, but there’s no way I can limp back to the Zenith, Scythe one will have to tow me back.”
The gunner made his way over to the busted engines, pulling out several pieces of rock.
“Found the problem. Almost looks like iron ore.”
“Damn it.” Adept Auraxis cursed, “Tie Scythe two down and start working on finding an access point. Durable, how long until someone else arrives?”
“The Warden is on the way, the Admiral wants this towed to a safer region. We are to proceed though with establishing a landing zone. The Warden is launching a wing of Positrons to help with the heavy lifting. I’m moving the Durable in front of the hangar to provide shield cover for it. If you could launch a wing of interceptors to blast the heaviest rocks that are headed to towards the ship?” the lieutenant asked.
“Got it, we’re scrambling our four Halberds. Give us two minutes to arm them with dumbfire rockets. The marines are reporting the damaged shuttle is secured to the floor. They are exploring two ways out of the hangar, one looks like it leads to an airlock, the other appears to be leading deeper into the ship. We’ll reposition so our swarmers and 750s can help with the big chunks. ETA on the Warden?”
“Two minutes, they are cooling down drives still after translating the node. Have the Marines send engineers to the airlock, start making a list of materials that would be needed to make it structurally stable for docking. I’m having my Marines equip for a heavy Vanguard, just in case there are Ancients hibernating on this vessel as well. The rest of yours can join them and head to the inside, but have them keep in radio range, the Warden is better equipped to scout this out, we don’t have the manpower. The… what do we call this thing?” Mirai asked, not really coming up with anything that could be remotely associated with this ship, shape or otherwise.
“Hammerhead?” the adept offered. “If you extend a stick from the back of the ship, that would be the haft. Can you use a radio beacon to safely jump? The marines could deploy a targeting beacon to guide you.”
“Away team one, we’ve found the airlock, but the outer gate is bent inward, likely by impact, and we can see right through. We’ll need some heavy-duty tools to get it working. Or we could just cut it open, but we’ll defer to your judgement on this.”
“The objective is to secure the docking port, we don’t even know if the hull is stable enough to be pressurized. We’re sending a transport with two fabricators, materials and the fire foam for strengthening internal volumes, the Marines can hitch a ride along. I’m coming too, I want to see if the computers can be powered up on this one. Auraxis, you have the… ‘fleet’.” The CO smirked. She could dream, can’t she?
“Careful, there’s junk flying around.” Scythe two’s pilot warned over the radio, the pain in his head somewhat dulled.
“Very well, we’re cutting through. We’ll try, anyway.” The engineer wasn’t sure how much good their tools would do against something like this.
A few minutes later, the dropship touched down in the Hammerhead’s hangar. The Marines dragged out the equipment before helping to fasten towlines to Scythe two to return it to it’s mothership under the protection of the Durable’s shield. The heavy vanguard marched out to the other door to link up with the rest of the Narix Marines not working on the docking port. Mirai had to admire the architect that built the ship, the halls an almost organic shape, with ribbing on the wall that looked as structural as it was aesthetic. “Zenith, Hammerhead. There is no strike craft here, they might have either jumped here without them or left on them. Bits and pieces of ordnance and weapons in the racks, some I do not recognize from what we found on RD Beetle. Looks similar to our HYVEL cannon installed on the Muon bombers. We’ll see if we can power up any computers.”
“Received, call back as soon as something interesting comes up. Halberds are out, deck crews are waiting for the Pillager. Can you get some of those projectiles into the shuttle before you tow it here?” Now she was definitely hoping there were no Relics on board, she certainly wouldn’t be happy if she woke up after 8000 years, only to find some aliens picking her ship clean and cutting parts of it away. “Keep the marines on a short leash. If there’s trouble, the remaining shuttle can’t get everyone out. Do you think you can jump twenty people out? At least out of the hull?”
“We can hold out for some time in a firefight if Ancients shown up. I’d rather try talking if by some miracle the Relics are still around. There is something else though, something missing in the ether that we recorded on the Beetle and form the captured specimen, we think they communicate with some form of telepathy, I can’t feel any of it here. Failing that, we have the Durable’s airlock in a direction that we can make the literal jump over.” Mirai ensured. “If any ancients show up outside, make the jump to the node, the Warden will arrive soon and this chunk of crystal can hold out for some time under fire.”
“Good thing we don’t have an Ascari around to bog down the talks.” Auraxis took a shot at the primarch. Perhaps a little undeserved, but humor never hurt anyone. “Just because the Ancients are not talking doesn’t mean they aren’t there, be careful in there. We’ve lost a little too many in the past two years, no need to add your names to the list. If anything goes wrong, pull back to the hangar where Scythe one can give you covering fire. And if you decide to collect personal souvenirs, bring some for me too.”
“Well aren’t you the eager grave robber. Don’t worry, I always bring you a gift.” Mirai snickered over a private channel. “Copy Zenith, thanks. Hammerhead out.” Mirai disconnected the link and floated over to the Marines. “Alright people, primary objective is to locate a power core and control center. Stay in radio contact, drop repeaters if you need to venture further. At any sign of Ancients or possible Relic presence, inform us and return to the hangar.”
“Sir, how are we to react should we encounter living Relics without means of retreat? Do we drop weapons or hold fire and stand our ground?”
“Hm… Keep behind the heavies and lower weapons. Their shielding should give you time to escape should you need to. Jumper, take them outside of the hull if you are forced to. Should they prove not to be hostile, contact me immediately, we’ll bring in the Vanguard and Fifth personnel to handle the contact. If you encounter hibernating relics by any chance, do not do anything to wake them and mark their location.”
Terminus-Opportunity jump node, ten minutes later
“I don’t know whether to like or hate the design.” Lira said, swiveling in the chair to face the holo of the relic ship. “It seems to be attack focused, but it is strangely beautiful, in a threateningly terrifying sort of way. That’s eight main armaments on that monster that can be focused on one target. Still not as threatening as the Lucifer’s main cannons, but I don’t see anything but the Singularity and Halcyon surviving an encounter with it one on one. We have sent for Read admiral Astra to help us with the investigation. I am amazed this thing is sound enough to be towed through FTL. Lieutenant Mirai reports no contacts on the ship yet, Ancient or otherwise. Would you like to bring in anyone else, Lord-Commander?”
“We’ve notified home already, a science detachment similar to the one sent to Beetle’s Head is on its way. They’ll arrive in about an hour, one of the Discoveries had a problem with the jump drive, those ships could use replacing. After thousands of years in a debris field, I’m surprised it’s in one piece at all. Have they found anything that would indicate why the ship was where it was? I can't see many AA turrets. Maybe no pilot of its time could approach it without feeling physically sick just by looking at it. Should we dispatch more marines to help map the interior?”
“I would wait for the additional scientists and engineers before we go poke around too deeply. We do not want to accidentally fry the navigation system. If there is a node out of here somewhere, chances are the information is on that ship. Or at least a confirmation that there is none. We have one shot at this, we can not make an error.” Lira shook her head. “So… curious to see it from the inside? I heard the hangar and docking ports are now stable enough and we have installed a power unit and a gravity generator.”
“Tempting. My shift does end in sixteen minutes or so.” the Narix scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Sure, no one will miss the second highest ranking member of the Republican Armed Forces for an hour, or two, or three.” he chuckled. “Zorea to starboard hangar, I’d like a Pillager ready for liftoff in sixteen minutes. And shake the journalists awake, we’re going on a field trip. Admiral, if the Hammerhead crew needs something, I’ve got a supply Pillager waiting. Might as well do the useful along with the pleasant.”
“I think they could use the end of their shift the most. After Beetle, the heavy Marines are shaking in their suits every time they have to go into one of those. No one dares hope though. We need some good news out of this ship-” She cut her line short, listening to the comm suite, “The Enigma has arrived with the rear admiral. Perfect timing. Shall we go?” Lira beckoned to the door.
RD Hammerhead
Though he’s seen the footage and pictures, nothing compared to seeing this in person. He felt as if he had entered the hive of some giant insect. Perhaps he did, who knew? Although a sight to behold, he hoped their shipwrights wouldn’t take inspiration from these ships. For a few seconds, he was too busy examining his surroundings to notice the Narix saluting him or the two waiting Faira.
“As you were, I’m not on duty.” he finally noticed the ramrod straight marines and turned to the Faira. “Good evening, rear admiral. I see you’re wasting no time putting your future fleet to use.” he greeted Astra, still as if taking in the ship with one eye.
“Good evening it is!” Astra beamed. “Two years in waiting, and finally we have a hit. Why am I not surprised it’s those two ships that found it? Admiral, if you could spare Durable’s crew, I feel like their talents are sorely wasted in Patrol fleet. They should be with Strike or Vanguard, with their talent pool. I believe a certain Captain and possibly Primarch might be better suited for you.” Astra said so no one else would overhear.
“I am not happy with sending my people to the front lines, it’s not what they have been trained for for years, but perhaps you might be right. I won’t give them to you unless you give them space to grow though. Have you already picked the crews for your corvettes?” Lira shot back, seeing the merit in such a transfer, but wanting to do good by her crews.
“I did, not for the Frigates though. The first two are due any month now. I will be taking one as my flag ship until the Singularity or the Warrior are finished, but the other could use a crew, and a pair of in-sync commanders.” She said, looking at Zorea as well, “Talk to them about it for me? This opportunity won’t be here for another two to three years until the next batch is ready, I’d hate to waste their talents. Now, shall we?”
“Not sure about frigate people, maybe someone from the Naris and Zenith. And I think a few people from the Erythrita, one of my Vanguards, might be worth your while.” While he was all for extensive cooperation, he didn’t want to send all his best people away, but wasn’t going to suggest someone who wasn’t up for it either. “But when you start looking for crew for the Warrior, or the Singularity, I believe there are some on the Ira that you would like.“ He didn’t think there would be places left on the Singularity herself, but it was worth a try. “Whenabout is the Warrior due to be done? 2183-ish?”
“If we started building it right now, then perhaps, more likely 2185 though. We will first build the third frigate group, it will be worth more in a fight to have another frigate in two years than a destroyer in five. Unless the rear admiral buys us more of your dock time. The main problem though is, we do not want to build another Meteor. The plans for a new class will be complete in about a year with all the advances we had since. Speaking of which, the frigates being built are the refined Curious class, with the third being a Studious class. The Comet has been officially shelved, although the existing ones won’t likely be rebuilt. It’s cheaper to build a new one.” Astra explained.
“And sure, I’ll train you some people for the Halcyon.” she grinned, understanding the eagerness behind it, “I would like to take Linsis with me eventually anyway. Why break something that works? If he proves capable on the Curious, I intend to offer the Warrior to him, unless the crew makes him retire by then. Last I heard he had to evacuate from the breakroom when the news of the Hammerhead being found arrived.” She smirked, missing not being there for the celebration. “And I don’t think the Durable’s CO would accept without the Zenith’s going with them. Those two ships have quite a history.”
“I’ll be sure not to spoil the surprise to the commander, then. If that’s the case, I’m sure he would appreciate to see a few old friends from the Second aboard the Warrior.” the lord-commander paused. “Breakroom? I always thought of Linsis as the ‘work until midnight’ type, what have you done to him?” Zorea inquired with great amusement. “And getting adept Auraxis onto a bigger ship will only do her good. Maybe she’ll stop hitting her head when going through doors, it’s not easy being 228 centimeters tall.”
“Oh, he works late alright… The Admiral sees to that. How often do you get someone who likes doing paperwork to do it for you? He just likes working in the breakroom, with all the risks that entails since more Narix came aboard.” Astra smirked as she walked along their path towards what the Marines identified as a control center. “I can only imagine what it’s like to be that tall. Some of us have the luck to be born a runt. Good luck or bad luck, I can’t quite tell.”
“Good luck as far as working the duct goes, I’m sure any engineer will agree.” Lira smiled. “Very well, I’ll talk to Lieutenant Mirai about the position. I am a bit surprised you are taking on so much Narix personnel. I do not mean to push you, but every Faira you take from the ‘Dea is one more child that can be born.”
“I know, Admiral, and I am taking as many as I can, but I want my command staff to be selected on skill and merit alone, and some roles the Narix are simply more suited to. The Strikeforce will be mostly their domain, there’s no shortage of volunteers, OEP or citizenship requestors. Speaking of which, how are the ambassador and Rear admiral? I haven’t heard from them in quite a while. I imagine they will visit here shortly as well?”
“He hates paperwork, but does it because that keeps the ship working. Especially anything related to crew comfort. Ambassador Taranis has been called back home for some diplomatic project. I suspect they wanted to throw her aide into the water to see how well he can swim. And it’s the first vacation she’s taken since coming back from the Nebula, that place did not sit well with her. She should be back early next week. Have you talked to her about ways we could help with the population issue? Aside from building more ships, of course. I think there are many places in Naris that could use some of your species’ talents, from dockyards through ports to science teams.”
“Oh, what was that about breakroom problems with additional Narix? Any troublemakers?” the Narix switched into a more serious mode.
“Those are jobs, not homes. I do not mean any disrespect, but nowhere on that cold, damp, heavy ball can feel like it. Even a ship is more comfortable than Naris to live on. It is amazing to visit for certain, but beyond that… I was tired just after two hours on the surface. More than after the battle with the Ancients.” Astra shuddered. “Oh, those aren’t trouble at all. In fact most of the crew welcome the lively culture your people brought aboard. It’s just that the Commander has made it his second quarters, and the crew celebrations tend to disrupt his peace when he falls asleep in there. Seriously, I will pull rank and order him to take a vacation soon if he doesn’t let up. His face is wrinkled already in his age!”
“Good, I was worried there for a moment. I’m sure he will be glad for that.” Zorea breathed a sigh of relief, “I didn’t mean the planet, rather the system as a whole. There are numerous stations, from New Frontier through the shipyards orbiting Artorias to small science and mining outposts. Yes, they are jobs, but long-term jobs often come with long-term housing. And working within our economy and learning its ins and outs might be beneficial for your people in the long run, it can be quite a minefield at times. And I’m afraid even the good ambassador can’t help you there, math and economics are the main reasons she got kicked out of her school. Maybe minister Ertanax, he and his comrades have become a common sight in Opportunity.”
“Suffice to say we are happy he retained his post. It would waste two months of pleasantries getting to know another man, but up to six for him to just get familiarized with all the operations we have going on.” Lira said, “Gravity cuts off ahead, be careful. I see they put up iron catwalks for the boots.” she said and tapped her heels together to engage the magnets. “I like what I see of this ship aesthetically, at least inside, but I worry about the general shape. Good when you are on offense, but the armor is thinner than the Beetle’s and I cannot imagine this turns very well. I don’t think we will be adopting much of it.”
“Too dark for my taste, and it feels like it’s caving in on you. The lack of defensive abilities of ships this size is something the shipwrights lost a lot of sleep over when designing the Warlord, not to mention the Halcyon. And the vertical layout is puzzling as well, it’s much easier to build a monorail and halls than elevators. Did they at all try to get anything working, besides pressurization and an airlock, or were they waiting or someone more qualified?”
“The cruiser and corvette do not have the experience with ships this size in the first place, even on our systems it might have been too much for them to put this into working order, the power grid alone would take all of their efforts. Couple that with the fact it is an alien technology and… here I am.” Astra noted.
Lira paused for a little while examining a piece of technology the crew had on the ground next to the road. “We’ve had the same problem, but we chose to invent the cruiser to add more AS firepower. It’s more expensive, but also more flexible.”
“We did the same thing, and now we have 108 Guardians that are scheduled to be scrapped. Not an ideal solution, but the Privateer wasn’t available at that time. I wonder how the Halcyon will approach the problem.”
“So, rear admiral, having everything we’ve learned so far from the beetle and the Terminus debris available, do you have any estimate on how long until you figure out at least the basics of this thing’s navigation?”
“It seems they use good old push buttons, so figuring out the controls should be easy. Knowing how most of the systems are built also helps, but the main problem still is the language. If we can’t figure out how to read the screens, we’ll get nowhere. It doesn’t help that the Relics didn’t ever invent ‘the label’.” the rear admiral frowned. “As for the Singularity, it’s shield is strong enough to vaporize an entire fighter, not just the bombs. I don’t think the Halcyon is going to have too much trouble, and knowing you there are swarmers lining every edge.”
“I sure hope so. I heard it’s going to have about half the Warlord’s crew, I guess they needed more space for munitions, storage and fabricators. Earlier, when talking about the Warior, you mentioned a new class of destroyer, anything specific revealed about it, or is it still in too early stages of development?”
“Maybe the labels are simply worn out?” he offered a thought of hope, “There’s still a lot of the ship unexplored.”
“I put two cruiser berths on the Singularity, if you have anything similar on the Halcyon, yes, it’S going to need some space. And XD-5’s blueprints are almost complete. It is not a radical difference though, merely an evolution of the Meteor. As the development tag suggests, fifth one. The first three we never built, and even the Meteor is not perfect, I only nailed the full application of the design philosophy with the Singularity for the first time.” Astra explained. “Still no news on the fusion weapons. The concept is a promising upgrade to the standard plasma weapons we use, but it is still years from deployment, likely the Singularity will have to be deployed with the proven P-15s, to be replaced later. Good progress on the P-100 though. The dish projector is as stable as a barrel, albeit it takes twenty percent more power to operate. Still, unless I can figure out a way to store ammo in subspace, it will have two, three shots. Good enough to kill a biosphere of a planet, but the Lucifer?” she made a so-so hand gesture.
“No berths, but it will have its own strike craft production facility. As far as ammunition is concerned, I’m skeptical about the 16 meter coilguns they came up with for it. I gather the Comet’s power problems have been solved for both the Singularity and the new frigates?”
“Aye, the frigates are built to Curious and Studious class standards, with the upgraded power generation and distribution. Singularity was designed with power to spare. No point in underpowering that ship, size is not the issue. The less intrasystem jumps that ship has to make the better though. Even with dual drives, it will have to cool down two minutes on the third jump, and it’s better to cool both drives before the next set of jumps. How are the Halcyon’s drives predicted to hold? Any special measures you have taken?” Astra inquired.
“Boffins behind it assure us of four safe jumps, but we won’t know until we try for ourselves. I am quite skeptical of that claim. We might break a few things on the first trial runs, but if the first Guardian survived such treatment, so will the Halcyon. They’re using the same heatsinks as the Privateer, but scaled up, coupled with two-stage cooling. First they get the heat from engines into other, less important systems to cool the drives, then they worry about the non-critical things. That’s still proof of concept, I can’t wait to see in action. I just wish they could figure out a way to beef up the aft armoring. I am delighted it’s designed with shields from the scratch, but most of us are still used to a hard shell.”
“The sheer volume of armor should make it impervious even to a Demon. Have you received plans for the Active armor? That should give us some advantage against it’s heavy plasma cannons at least. It was quite frightening to find out that one of those could melt half a Guardian in a single shot…” The rear admiral hissed.
“Speaking of upgrades, you managed to get the strikecraft jump drive working, but there’s no space on the current fighters to mount it, correct? Have all ships been fitted with the launch gate at least? And what of new or upgraded models that could take advantage of it?” Lira pipped up.
“We have, and I believe the Halcyon will be equipped with it, though I don’t know whether it will be applied to the entire hull or just the weaker sections. No wonder the thing needs so much power output. And I can’t think of a weapon that can’t damage the Guardian, a sturdy toothpick could make a sizable hull breach. I admit our ships are defenseless against energy weapons.”
“We can’t fit the launch gates anywhere, though they are doing their best to fit the Partisans with them. If that doesn’t work, we are considering making mobile jump gates, but even minister Ertanax doesn’t seem to think that’s possible. Both the Trident and Maul bombers can be fitted with the jump drives, another argument for retiring the Corsairs. As for fighters, that’s a problem. But if they can fit it onto the Flail, and so far it looks promising, it will bury the Raiders. Marauders are mainly defensive fighters, so there’s not much incentive to even try. We’re glad we got shields working there, at the cost of a bit of fuel. What of the Muon, any upgrades to that? The Naris’ crew is very fond of that class since operation Clean Sweep.”
“Ah, yes. The Muons work quite well as they are, although with the smaller jump drive derived from the Ancient fighters and if we mount the carousel launch bays you employ, it might be possible to expand the secondary capacity at no cost to performance. I am also intrigued to see what the HYVEL cannon designed by the Relics is like and if it can be used to upgrade our own. If it could punch through Demon’s armor as well as the Lilith’s… I don’t need to tell you what priceless asset that would be.” Astra hinted.
“As for the fighters of our design, we are due for an interceptor upgrade, the Proton drone is starting to show age. The Positron was already redesigned, given a tracked understructure and carousel missile bays, making it have smaller silhouette both on or off the ground. No space for the jump drive either though, so that would likely require making a complete successor, or just using Narix designed fighters. The decision on that is still being made, but the ease of logistical support for combined fleets has a large pull.” Lira grunted, her inner patriot screaming, but the logical side of her seeing the merit.
“How are your support ships working? The support container for the Plunderer turned out to be a success. And because it’s an attachment to the ship, we don’t have to wait for the pod to be rearmed. The pilots just detach the empty one, grab a fresh one and head right back out. Now, all we have to do is boost the power output and put the jump drive in. By the looks of it, we won’t even need to reduce fuel or ammo capacity. Though its success might be for nought if we can’t sort that out. And we lost one of them to an electric fire. Whenever one goes down, it’s best to be far away.”
“We’ve taken a different approach. Rather than to create a competitive class, we made a supplemental one. Smaller ship that can get into hotter zones than the Plunderer can. It has magnetic delivery systems for secondary weapons, but it doesn’t carry any spare subsystems for the modular strikecraft. We fitted it with the fire foam dispensers to strengthen the damaged hulls though, for what it’s worth. It won’t supplement armor, but it will increase structural integrity.” Astra explained. “Ah, here we are.”
They walked into the Relic ship’s command center. It looked as strange as the rest of the ship, arranged in a circle around a raised platform. It looked similar to the layout the Faira were used to, albeit there was a clear structure and hierarchy built into the room, whereas the Faira command centers were flat. The Relics didn’t only use push buttons, but apparently flat screens as well. “Well, at least managing the controls should be easy.”
“Score 2:1, go flat screens.” Zorea chuckled, remembering the ambassador’s description of Astra’s expression when she first saw the screen cluster in the Alchemist’s negotiations room. “This is odd. I’d feel like an actor on a theater stage here. At least they thought to up railing around the podium. Falling off in the middle of a fight wouldn’t be good. Let’s just hope this ship’s not-so-mysterious-anymore mystery goo is not completely shot. Think this thing’s life support might be salvageable?”
“It’s completely dead. Not even a lightbulb. We need to get some power into the system before anything can be done here.” astra noted the lack of any electronic activity. “Bridge to Engineering, how are you looking down there?” Astra radioed to the other team she sent in.
“We are ready. The relic ship appears to be using fusion as secondary power generation, so it should be safe to hook up one of our own reactors. The primary though… I don’t even want to guess at what it’s based on.” The Master engineer form the warden reported back.
“Okay, hook up the cabling and start slowly charging the power grid. We’ll tell you when to lower the output to just sustainable levels. All we need now is control input, let’s not wake any other system, I’d hate to think what would happen if the internal defenses ran on automated AI.” Astra noted. “Admiral, Lord-Commander, this is going to take few days honestly, I’ll report to you once we have something.”
Narix National Newscast
Intact Relic ship discovered!
Mere hours ago, the duo Durable-Zenith, now widely known for coming up with the basics of Operation: Clean Sweep, the plan to weed out the remaining Ancient forces in the Terminus system, have discovered and intact Relic destroyer, now officially named the RD Hammerhead. Courtesy of lord-commander Zorea and Admiral Lira, we have been allowed access to this ship as soon as it was towed to the Terminus-Opportunity jump node. In addition to almost an hour of video footage, we’ve managed to catch a few personnel assigned to the project while they had a few free minutes.
Immediately upon entering the Hammerhead’s hangar, we came across lieutenant Mirai, commander of the ECR Durable.
Q: What state was the ship in when discovered, and what state is it in now? Roughly when will the science teams be able to start fully uncovering its mysteries?
A: The ship was merely towed to the node and the hangar and docking port reinforced. As for the latter, an alien ship this size? We could be talking years.
Q: Have you encountered anything that would indicate ani life form, alive or dead, on board? Should we worry about more Ancients, or can we hope to see a Relic?
A: We have encountered noone on board, although only a small part of the ship has been mapped as of yet. If the Beetle is any indication, any Ancients on board should have reacted already. As for Relics, it seems the ship was abandoned by them, at least judging by the lack of anything that flies in the hangar. The Marines are still looking though, it is possible that the Ancients would just be biding their time with the demise of the Demon rather than attacking directly.
Q: At this point, you were present in two very important events, and many people hold you and the Zenith partially responsible for the Demon’s destruction. Do you think there is a promotion waiting around the corner, and if so, where would you like it to take you?
A: If the Admiralty sees me fit for promotion, I will do what I can for my nation. But that is a question for them.
At this point, another major player, adept Galeia Auraxis of the Zenith, found her way into the hangar.
Q: Adept, last time you two went through a similar debris field, the Zenith suffered a few big scratches due to the lack of a shield. Has the Hammerhead been more kind to you, and could diverting resources to this ship impede the shielding refits of the First Fleet?
A: The durable offered to share the patrol route and they were able to extend their shield over both ships in hot areas. A shield system would be a welcome addition, but the Privateer class is built well enough it withstand deployment in an Oort cloud, and my crew is one of the best. As for the upgrade schedule, that is beyond my pay grade. When they call us, we’ll head to the shipyard, until then, we’ll make due.
Q: Similar question as for the lieutenant: Do you think there’s a promotion coming up, or at least a vacation?
A: It would not be unwelcome. Two years of patrolling systems we already seen is not amusing. I would like to stay for some time in open space without a ceiling.
Lastly, we scored sulfur. At the end of our excursion, we caught admiral Lira and lord-commander Zorea.
Q: Can you tell us who is going to lead this research project?
A (Admiral Lira): Preliminary search is being conducted by the crews form the Durable and Zenith, although they will be recalled shortly for a well deserved rest. Rear admiral Astra has been recalled from Naris to attend to the Hammerhead for the time being, and a sizeable science fleet is en route from Naris to render aid.
Q: With a force like that, surely no secret can stay hidden for too long. What will the research focus on. General Relic technology, getting the ship operational, or something else?
A (LCMD. Zorea): The main point of searching for an intact relic ship is to decipher it’s navigation systems and pull a node map form them. Fortune has smiled on us and we were able to find a ship which systems may well be operational, unlike those on the Beetle. We will of course conduct research on the rest of the ship, but those objectives are secondary. As for the ship itself, we would like to preserve it in operational status, albeit perhaps not for military deployment, as we do not understand it well enough yet.
Q: As superior officers of both of the commanders responsible for finding this ship AND coming up with the basic principle behind Operation: Clean Sweep, I imagine your sights are set on these crews. What does the future have in store for them?
A (Lira): They have been noticed, that is all I will say on the mater for now.
Q: Lord Commander?
Shaking of a head
Q: is it possible civilian science teams might be hired to assist on this project, or parts of it?
A (Zorea): It is possible, we will see how taxing this will be on the military personnel. The third fleet I imagine can not wait to sink their teeth into this one.
As we are currently embedded on the NSS Ira, we will continue to cover this research project as best as we can, and wish good luck to everyone working on it.
2177 / II - Beginning of detailed scans of all explored systems
2177 / IV - First four cruisers of the Strike fleet commissioned, ECR Monster, ECR Drake, ECR Nightmare, ECR Enigma
2177 / V - Travel to Naris now possible with a visa following a public vote. 82% participated, 79% voted for visas, 12% unrestricted travel, 7% for official business only and 2% for complete ban.
2177 / V - Commander Astra reassigned to Singularity project. ECV Curious commanded by newly instigated Commander Linsis
2177 / VII - Construction of NSD Halcyon begun
2177 / VIII - First two corvettes of Strike fleet complete, ECV Katla and ECV Karm
2177 / X - Development of fusion weaponry suggested
2178 / III - ESD Singularity’s framework completed
2178 / V - Exodus and Opportunity fully scanned with no artifacts present
2178 / V - NSS Stargazer completed, replacing the NSS Independence
2178 / VI - Hazard level I zones in Faira Nebula explored without any results
2178 / VI - Narix redesignated the “Nightmares” to “Ancients”
2178 / VIII - Debris from NSS Independence recovered and returned to Naris
2178 / VIII - Narix elections see most of the councilors retain their seats with the exception of industry and military councilors of Armiden
2178 / X - Intact Relic destroyer found in Terminus Oort cloud
ECR Durable & NSS Zenith, Terminus Oort cloud
It’s taken years, but now they were looking at it. The Zenith and Durable paired up for easier defense, each scanning a hemisphere rather than a full sphere along the path, jumping twice as quickly. Even then, sometimes the cloud was so dense that the Marines were digging shrapnel form the hull. But now it all paid off. “Look at it! It’s beautiful!”
“Good thing we have the other derelicts to study their hulls, This thing must be beyond repair. Just make sure whoever comes to explore it packs a few psychokinetics, no way we are getting anyone across via shuttle or spacewalk. At least this garbage isn’t big enough to cause major damage to it, besides the hangar. If anything, there might not be any Ancients aboard. This looks like they jumped here to hide or repair battle damage. Maybe we’ll even get their sublight drives this time around”
“We can hope. I think we should start on detailed scans, if we know the internal structure, we can jump straight in. In the meantime, we’ll dispatch a camera drone to get a look into the hangar, see what state it’s in. What do you think would map the internal structure best, RTG, MRI?” Mirai asked of her Narix counterpart and her engineer alike.
“RTG over MRI, considering their materials react very poorly to magnetic field. If one ship acts as a lamp and the sensors of the other as a photo chip, we can have the entire ship done in a couple of hours form two directions, then we can build a very basic model of the internal layout. I’m rather worried how strong the sensor ray would have to be to penetrate though. It probably won’t be safe for the receiving ship. I think we’ll have to go in in either case.” the engineer noted.
“We only have 32 marines on board. If you can get them in, they could at least start preparing a sort of beachhead for when the others arrive. Shall I tell them to suit up so they’re ready when the drone is done? What we learned on the other wreck will make moving through much easier, so two squads should find a suitable access point within a reasonable timeframe. Or they’ll get eviscerated by hibernating Ancients.” She suddenly perked up in excitement. “Since the ship’s intact, do you think we could find any Relics on board, hibernating like the Ancients did?” If that were to happen, there were two drastically different ways that could go.
“I don’t know. The Ancients are species like none other, who knows if another species even can hibernate for eight thousand years. I certainly am not going to try. Have your men shuttle over, we’ll see if the Marines put their heads together if they can come up with a point of entry. Linking the drone footage to you.”
“Hangar’s taken some heat, but some of the doors seem undamaged. I’m not sure about sending out a shuttle through this junk. Swarmers loose, take out anything that would threaten the Pillagers.”
The ships left the hangars, carefully maneuvering through the rocks while the marines and their gunners squirmed nervously. The first ship made it to the hangar without any problems, offloading the marine team. The pilots then used some hook-like objects on the hangar’s floor to secure the Pillager to the deck with anchoring ropes so the away teams could use them to resupply air or as pressurized chambers.
On its approach, a brief flash of light blossomed on the second Pillager’s left engine cluster.
“Crisis, crisis, left engines gone, scythe two losing control.”
The marine team streamed out of the open rear bay, using their thruster packs to make it to the derelict as safely as possible. The pilot, down to only right engines and Z axis translation thrusters, hauled his crippled ship into the hangar, planting it almost sideways just a few meters from the first one. The landing legs bent, left aileron and a piece of the wing broke off and the ship bounced off the floor before the pilot brought it to a relative halt, allowing the marines to secure the ship.
“Scythe two is down, major structural damage and I hit my head against the canopy.” The pilot hissed over the comms, “Hull’s still airtight, but there’s no way I can limp back to the Zenith, Scythe one will have to tow me back.”
The gunner made his way over to the busted engines, pulling out several pieces of rock.
“Found the problem. Almost looks like iron ore.”
“Damn it.” Adept Auraxis cursed, “Tie Scythe two down and start working on finding an access point. Durable, how long until someone else arrives?”
“The Warden is on the way, the Admiral wants this towed to a safer region. We are to proceed though with establishing a landing zone. The Warden is launching a wing of Positrons to help with the heavy lifting. I’m moving the Durable in front of the hangar to provide shield cover for it. If you could launch a wing of interceptors to blast the heaviest rocks that are headed to towards the ship?” the lieutenant asked.
“Got it, we’re scrambling our four Halberds. Give us two minutes to arm them with dumbfire rockets. The marines are reporting the damaged shuttle is secured to the floor. They are exploring two ways out of the hangar, one looks like it leads to an airlock, the other appears to be leading deeper into the ship. We’ll reposition so our swarmers and 750s can help with the big chunks. ETA on the Warden?”
“Two minutes, they are cooling down drives still after translating the node. Have the Marines send engineers to the airlock, start making a list of materials that would be needed to make it structurally stable for docking. I’m having my Marines equip for a heavy Vanguard, just in case there are Ancients hibernating on this vessel as well. The rest of yours can join them and head to the inside, but have them keep in radio range, the Warden is better equipped to scout this out, we don’t have the manpower. The… what do we call this thing?” Mirai asked, not really coming up with anything that could be remotely associated with this ship, shape or otherwise.
“Hammerhead?” the adept offered. “If you extend a stick from the back of the ship, that would be the haft. Can you use a radio beacon to safely jump? The marines could deploy a targeting beacon to guide you.”
“Away team one, we’ve found the airlock, but the outer gate is bent inward, likely by impact, and we can see right through. We’ll need some heavy-duty tools to get it working. Or we could just cut it open, but we’ll defer to your judgement on this.”
“The objective is to secure the docking port, we don’t even know if the hull is stable enough to be pressurized. We’re sending a transport with two fabricators, materials and the fire foam for strengthening internal volumes, the Marines can hitch a ride along. I’m coming too, I want to see if the computers can be powered up on this one. Auraxis, you have the… ‘fleet’.” The CO smirked. She could dream, can’t she?
“Careful, there’s junk flying around.” Scythe two’s pilot warned over the radio, the pain in his head somewhat dulled.
“Very well, we’re cutting through. We’ll try, anyway.” The engineer wasn’t sure how much good their tools would do against something like this.
A few minutes later, the dropship touched down in the Hammerhead’s hangar. The Marines dragged out the equipment before helping to fasten towlines to Scythe two to return it to it’s mothership under the protection of the Durable’s shield. The heavy vanguard marched out to the other door to link up with the rest of the Narix Marines not working on the docking port. Mirai had to admire the architect that built the ship, the halls an almost organic shape, with ribbing on the wall that looked as structural as it was aesthetic. “Zenith, Hammerhead. There is no strike craft here, they might have either jumped here without them or left on them. Bits and pieces of ordnance and weapons in the racks, some I do not recognize from what we found on RD Beetle. Looks similar to our HYVEL cannon installed on the Muon bombers. We’ll see if we can power up any computers.”
“Received, call back as soon as something interesting comes up. Halberds are out, deck crews are waiting for the Pillager. Can you get some of those projectiles into the shuttle before you tow it here?” Now she was definitely hoping there were no Relics on board, she certainly wouldn’t be happy if she woke up after 8000 years, only to find some aliens picking her ship clean and cutting parts of it away. “Keep the marines on a short leash. If there’s trouble, the remaining shuttle can’t get everyone out. Do you think you can jump twenty people out? At least out of the hull?”
“We can hold out for some time in a firefight if Ancients shown up. I’d rather try talking if by some miracle the Relics are still around. There is something else though, something missing in the ether that we recorded on the Beetle and form the captured specimen, we think they communicate with some form of telepathy, I can’t feel any of it here. Failing that, we have the Durable’s airlock in a direction that we can make the literal jump over.” Mirai ensured. “If any ancients show up outside, make the jump to the node, the Warden will arrive soon and this chunk of crystal can hold out for some time under fire.”
“Good thing we don’t have an Ascari around to bog down the talks.” Auraxis took a shot at the primarch. Perhaps a little undeserved, but humor never hurt anyone. “Just because the Ancients are not talking doesn’t mean they aren’t there, be careful in there. We’ve lost a little too many in the past two years, no need to add your names to the list. If anything goes wrong, pull back to the hangar where Scythe one can give you covering fire. And if you decide to collect personal souvenirs, bring some for me too.”
“Well aren’t you the eager grave robber. Don’t worry, I always bring you a gift.” Mirai snickered over a private channel. “Copy Zenith, thanks. Hammerhead out.” Mirai disconnected the link and floated over to the Marines. “Alright people, primary objective is to locate a power core and control center. Stay in radio contact, drop repeaters if you need to venture further. At any sign of Ancients or possible Relic presence, inform us and return to the hangar.”
“Sir, how are we to react should we encounter living Relics without means of retreat? Do we drop weapons or hold fire and stand our ground?”
“Hm… Keep behind the heavies and lower weapons. Their shielding should give you time to escape should you need to. Jumper, take them outside of the hull if you are forced to. Should they prove not to be hostile, contact me immediately, we’ll bring in the Vanguard and Fifth personnel to handle the contact. If you encounter hibernating relics by any chance, do not do anything to wake them and mark their location.”
Terminus-Opportunity jump node, ten minutes later
“I don’t know whether to like or hate the design.” Lira said, swiveling in the chair to face the holo of the relic ship. “It seems to be attack focused, but it is strangely beautiful, in a threateningly terrifying sort of way. That’s eight main armaments on that monster that can be focused on one target. Still not as threatening as the Lucifer’s main cannons, but I don’t see anything but the Singularity and Halcyon surviving an encounter with it one on one. We have sent for Read admiral Astra to help us with the investigation. I am amazed this thing is sound enough to be towed through FTL. Lieutenant Mirai reports no contacts on the ship yet, Ancient or otherwise. Would you like to bring in anyone else, Lord-Commander?”
“We’ve notified home already, a science detachment similar to the one sent to Beetle’s Head is on its way. They’ll arrive in about an hour, one of the Discoveries had a problem with the jump drive, those ships could use replacing. After thousands of years in a debris field, I’m surprised it’s in one piece at all. Have they found anything that would indicate why the ship was where it was? I can't see many AA turrets. Maybe no pilot of its time could approach it without feeling physically sick just by looking at it. Should we dispatch more marines to help map the interior?”
“I would wait for the additional scientists and engineers before we go poke around too deeply. We do not want to accidentally fry the navigation system. If there is a node out of here somewhere, chances are the information is on that ship. Or at least a confirmation that there is none. We have one shot at this, we can not make an error.” Lira shook her head. “So… curious to see it from the inside? I heard the hangar and docking ports are now stable enough and we have installed a power unit and a gravity generator.”
“Tempting. My shift does end in sixteen minutes or so.” the Narix scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Sure, no one will miss the second highest ranking member of the Republican Armed Forces for an hour, or two, or three.” he chuckled. “Zorea to starboard hangar, I’d like a Pillager ready for liftoff in sixteen minutes. And shake the journalists awake, we’re going on a field trip. Admiral, if the Hammerhead crew needs something, I’ve got a supply Pillager waiting. Might as well do the useful along with the pleasant.”
“I think they could use the end of their shift the most. After Beetle, the heavy Marines are shaking in their suits every time they have to go into one of those. No one dares hope though. We need some good news out of this ship-” She cut her line short, listening to the comm suite, “The Enigma has arrived with the rear admiral. Perfect timing. Shall we go?” Lira beckoned to the door.
RD Hammerhead
Though he’s seen the footage and pictures, nothing compared to seeing this in person. He felt as if he had entered the hive of some giant insect. Perhaps he did, who knew? Although a sight to behold, he hoped their shipwrights wouldn’t take inspiration from these ships. For a few seconds, he was too busy examining his surroundings to notice the Narix saluting him or the two waiting Faira.
“As you were, I’m not on duty.” he finally noticed the ramrod straight marines and turned to the Faira. “Good evening, rear admiral. I see you’re wasting no time putting your future fleet to use.” he greeted Astra, still as if taking in the ship with one eye.
“Good evening it is!” Astra beamed. “Two years in waiting, and finally we have a hit. Why am I not surprised it’s those two ships that found it? Admiral, if you could spare Durable’s crew, I feel like their talents are sorely wasted in Patrol fleet. They should be with Strike or Vanguard, with their talent pool. I believe a certain Captain and possibly Primarch might be better suited for you.” Astra said so no one else would overhear.
“I am not happy with sending my people to the front lines, it’s not what they have been trained for for years, but perhaps you might be right. I won’t give them to you unless you give them space to grow though. Have you already picked the crews for your corvettes?” Lira shot back, seeing the merit in such a transfer, but wanting to do good by her crews.
“I did, not for the Frigates though. The first two are due any month now. I will be taking one as my flag ship until the Singularity or the Warrior are finished, but the other could use a crew, and a pair of in-sync commanders.” She said, looking at Zorea as well, “Talk to them about it for me? This opportunity won’t be here for another two to three years until the next batch is ready, I’d hate to waste their talents. Now, shall we?”
“Not sure about frigate people, maybe someone from the Naris and Zenith. And I think a few people from the Erythrita, one of my Vanguards, might be worth your while.” While he was all for extensive cooperation, he didn’t want to send all his best people away, but wasn’t going to suggest someone who wasn’t up for it either. “But when you start looking for crew for the Warrior, or the Singularity, I believe there are some on the Ira that you would like.“ He didn’t think there would be places left on the Singularity herself, but it was worth a try. “Whenabout is the Warrior due to be done? 2183-ish?”
“If we started building it right now, then perhaps, more likely 2185 though. We will first build the third frigate group, it will be worth more in a fight to have another frigate in two years than a destroyer in five. Unless the rear admiral buys us more of your dock time. The main problem though is, we do not want to build another Meteor. The plans for a new class will be complete in about a year with all the advances we had since. Speaking of which, the frigates being built are the refined Curious class, with the third being a Studious class. The Comet has been officially shelved, although the existing ones won’t likely be rebuilt. It’s cheaper to build a new one.” Astra explained.
“And sure, I’ll train you some people for the Halcyon.” she grinned, understanding the eagerness behind it, “I would like to take Linsis with me eventually anyway. Why break something that works? If he proves capable on the Curious, I intend to offer the Warrior to him, unless the crew makes him retire by then. Last I heard he had to evacuate from the breakroom when the news of the Hammerhead being found arrived.” She smirked, missing not being there for the celebration. “And I don’t think the Durable’s CO would accept without the Zenith’s going with them. Those two ships have quite a history.”
“I’ll be sure not to spoil the surprise to the commander, then. If that’s the case, I’m sure he would appreciate to see a few old friends from the Second aboard the Warrior.” the lord-commander paused. “Breakroom? I always thought of Linsis as the ‘work until midnight’ type, what have you done to him?” Zorea inquired with great amusement. “And getting adept Auraxis onto a bigger ship will only do her good. Maybe she’ll stop hitting her head when going through doors, it’s not easy being 228 centimeters tall.”
“Oh, he works late alright… The Admiral sees to that. How often do you get someone who likes doing paperwork to do it for you? He just likes working in the breakroom, with all the risks that entails since more Narix came aboard.” Astra smirked as she walked along their path towards what the Marines identified as a control center. “I can only imagine what it’s like to be that tall. Some of us have the luck to be born a runt. Good luck or bad luck, I can’t quite tell.”
“Good luck as far as working the duct goes, I’m sure any engineer will agree.” Lira smiled. “Very well, I’ll talk to Lieutenant Mirai about the position. I am a bit surprised you are taking on so much Narix personnel. I do not mean to push you, but every Faira you take from the ‘Dea is one more child that can be born.”
“I know, Admiral, and I am taking as many as I can, but I want my command staff to be selected on skill and merit alone, and some roles the Narix are simply more suited to. The Strikeforce will be mostly their domain, there’s no shortage of volunteers, OEP or citizenship requestors. Speaking of which, how are the ambassador and Rear admiral? I haven’t heard from them in quite a while. I imagine they will visit here shortly as well?”
“He hates paperwork, but does it because that keeps the ship working. Especially anything related to crew comfort. Ambassador Taranis has been called back home for some diplomatic project. I suspect they wanted to throw her aide into the water to see how well he can swim. And it’s the first vacation she’s taken since coming back from the Nebula, that place did not sit well with her. She should be back early next week. Have you talked to her about ways we could help with the population issue? Aside from building more ships, of course. I think there are many places in Naris that could use some of your species’ talents, from dockyards through ports to science teams.”
“Oh, what was that about breakroom problems with additional Narix? Any troublemakers?” the Narix switched into a more serious mode.
“Those are jobs, not homes. I do not mean any disrespect, but nowhere on that cold, damp, heavy ball can feel like it. Even a ship is more comfortable than Naris to live on. It is amazing to visit for certain, but beyond that… I was tired just after two hours on the surface. More than after the battle with the Ancients.” Astra shuddered. “Oh, those aren’t trouble at all. In fact most of the crew welcome the lively culture your people brought aboard. It’s just that the Commander has made it his second quarters, and the crew celebrations tend to disrupt his peace when he falls asleep in there. Seriously, I will pull rank and order him to take a vacation soon if he doesn’t let up. His face is wrinkled already in his age!”
“Good, I was worried there for a moment. I’m sure he will be glad for that.” Zorea breathed a sigh of relief, “I didn’t mean the planet, rather the system as a whole. There are numerous stations, from New Frontier through the shipyards orbiting Artorias to small science and mining outposts. Yes, they are jobs, but long-term jobs often come with long-term housing. And working within our economy and learning its ins and outs might be beneficial for your people in the long run, it can be quite a minefield at times. And I’m afraid even the good ambassador can’t help you there, math and economics are the main reasons she got kicked out of her school. Maybe minister Ertanax, he and his comrades have become a common sight in Opportunity.”
“Suffice to say we are happy he retained his post. It would waste two months of pleasantries getting to know another man, but up to six for him to just get familiarized with all the operations we have going on.” Lira said, “Gravity cuts off ahead, be careful. I see they put up iron catwalks for the boots.” she said and tapped her heels together to engage the magnets. “I like what I see of this ship aesthetically, at least inside, but I worry about the general shape. Good when you are on offense, but the armor is thinner than the Beetle’s and I cannot imagine this turns very well. I don’t think we will be adopting much of it.”
“Too dark for my taste, and it feels like it’s caving in on you. The lack of defensive abilities of ships this size is something the shipwrights lost a lot of sleep over when designing the Warlord, not to mention the Halcyon. And the vertical layout is puzzling as well, it’s much easier to build a monorail and halls than elevators. Did they at all try to get anything working, besides pressurization and an airlock, or were they waiting or someone more qualified?”
“The cruiser and corvette do not have the experience with ships this size in the first place, even on our systems it might have been too much for them to put this into working order, the power grid alone would take all of their efforts. Couple that with the fact it is an alien technology and… here I am.” Astra noted.
Lira paused for a little while examining a piece of technology the crew had on the ground next to the road. “We’ve had the same problem, but we chose to invent the cruiser to add more AS firepower. It’s more expensive, but also more flexible.”
“We did the same thing, and now we have 108 Guardians that are scheduled to be scrapped. Not an ideal solution, but the Privateer wasn’t available at that time. I wonder how the Halcyon will approach the problem.”
“So, rear admiral, having everything we’ve learned so far from the beetle and the Terminus debris available, do you have any estimate on how long until you figure out at least the basics of this thing’s navigation?”
“It seems they use good old push buttons, so figuring out the controls should be easy. Knowing how most of the systems are built also helps, but the main problem still is the language. If we can’t figure out how to read the screens, we’ll get nowhere. It doesn’t help that the Relics didn’t ever invent ‘the label’.” the rear admiral frowned. “As for the Singularity, it’s shield is strong enough to vaporize an entire fighter, not just the bombs. I don’t think the Halcyon is going to have too much trouble, and knowing you there are swarmers lining every edge.”
“I sure hope so. I heard it’s going to have about half the Warlord’s crew, I guess they needed more space for munitions, storage and fabricators. Earlier, when talking about the Warior, you mentioned a new class of destroyer, anything specific revealed about it, or is it still in too early stages of development?”
“Maybe the labels are simply worn out?” he offered a thought of hope, “There’s still a lot of the ship unexplored.”
“I put two cruiser berths on the Singularity, if you have anything similar on the Halcyon, yes, it’S going to need some space. And XD-5’s blueprints are almost complete. It is not a radical difference though, merely an evolution of the Meteor. As the development tag suggests, fifth one. The first three we never built, and even the Meteor is not perfect, I only nailed the full application of the design philosophy with the Singularity for the first time.” Astra explained. “Still no news on the fusion weapons. The concept is a promising upgrade to the standard plasma weapons we use, but it is still years from deployment, likely the Singularity will have to be deployed with the proven P-15s, to be replaced later. Good progress on the P-100 though. The dish projector is as stable as a barrel, albeit it takes twenty percent more power to operate. Still, unless I can figure out a way to store ammo in subspace, it will have two, three shots. Good enough to kill a biosphere of a planet, but the Lucifer?” she made a so-so hand gesture.
“No berths, but it will have its own strike craft production facility. As far as ammunition is concerned, I’m skeptical about the 16 meter coilguns they came up with for it. I gather the Comet’s power problems have been solved for both the Singularity and the new frigates?”
“Aye, the frigates are built to Curious and Studious class standards, with the upgraded power generation and distribution. Singularity was designed with power to spare. No point in underpowering that ship, size is not the issue. The less intrasystem jumps that ship has to make the better though. Even with dual drives, it will have to cool down two minutes on the third jump, and it’s better to cool both drives before the next set of jumps. How are the Halcyon’s drives predicted to hold? Any special measures you have taken?” Astra inquired.
“Boffins behind it assure us of four safe jumps, but we won’t know until we try for ourselves. I am quite skeptical of that claim. We might break a few things on the first trial runs, but if the first Guardian survived such treatment, so will the Halcyon. They’re using the same heatsinks as the Privateer, but scaled up, coupled with two-stage cooling. First they get the heat from engines into other, less important systems to cool the drives, then they worry about the non-critical things. That’s still proof of concept, I can’t wait to see in action. I just wish they could figure out a way to beef up the aft armoring. I am delighted it’s designed with shields from the scratch, but most of us are still used to a hard shell.”
“The sheer volume of armor should make it impervious even to a Demon. Have you received plans for the Active armor? That should give us some advantage against it’s heavy plasma cannons at least. It was quite frightening to find out that one of those could melt half a Guardian in a single shot…” The rear admiral hissed.
“Speaking of upgrades, you managed to get the strikecraft jump drive working, but there’s no space on the current fighters to mount it, correct? Have all ships been fitted with the launch gate at least? And what of new or upgraded models that could take advantage of it?” Lira pipped up.
“We have, and I believe the Halcyon will be equipped with it, though I don’t know whether it will be applied to the entire hull or just the weaker sections. No wonder the thing needs so much power output. And I can’t think of a weapon that can’t damage the Guardian, a sturdy toothpick could make a sizable hull breach. I admit our ships are defenseless against energy weapons.”
“We can’t fit the launch gates anywhere, though they are doing their best to fit the Partisans with them. If that doesn’t work, we are considering making mobile jump gates, but even minister Ertanax doesn’t seem to think that’s possible. Both the Trident and Maul bombers can be fitted with the jump drives, another argument for retiring the Corsairs. As for fighters, that’s a problem. But if they can fit it onto the Flail, and so far it looks promising, it will bury the Raiders. Marauders are mainly defensive fighters, so there’s not much incentive to even try. We’re glad we got shields working there, at the cost of a bit of fuel. What of the Muon, any upgrades to that? The Naris’ crew is very fond of that class since operation Clean Sweep.”
“Ah, yes. The Muons work quite well as they are, although with the smaller jump drive derived from the Ancient fighters and if we mount the carousel launch bays you employ, it might be possible to expand the secondary capacity at no cost to performance. I am also intrigued to see what the HYVEL cannon designed by the Relics is like and if it can be used to upgrade our own. If it could punch through Demon’s armor as well as the Lilith’s… I don’t need to tell you what priceless asset that would be.” Astra hinted.
“As for the fighters of our design, we are due for an interceptor upgrade, the Proton drone is starting to show age. The Positron was already redesigned, given a tracked understructure and carousel missile bays, making it have smaller silhouette both on or off the ground. No space for the jump drive either though, so that would likely require making a complete successor, or just using Narix designed fighters. The decision on that is still being made, but the ease of logistical support for combined fleets has a large pull.” Lira grunted, her inner patriot screaming, but the logical side of her seeing the merit.
“How are your support ships working? The support container for the Plunderer turned out to be a success. And because it’s an attachment to the ship, we don’t have to wait for the pod to be rearmed. The pilots just detach the empty one, grab a fresh one and head right back out. Now, all we have to do is boost the power output and put the jump drive in. By the looks of it, we won’t even need to reduce fuel or ammo capacity. Though its success might be for nought if we can’t sort that out. And we lost one of them to an electric fire. Whenever one goes down, it’s best to be far away.”
“We’ve taken a different approach. Rather than to create a competitive class, we made a supplemental one. Smaller ship that can get into hotter zones than the Plunderer can. It has magnetic delivery systems for secondary weapons, but it doesn’t carry any spare subsystems for the modular strikecraft. We fitted it with the fire foam dispensers to strengthen the damaged hulls though, for what it’s worth. It won’t supplement armor, but it will increase structural integrity.” Astra explained. “Ah, here we are.”
They walked into the Relic ship’s command center. It looked as strange as the rest of the ship, arranged in a circle around a raised platform. It looked similar to the layout the Faira were used to, albeit there was a clear structure and hierarchy built into the room, whereas the Faira command centers were flat. The Relics didn’t only use push buttons, but apparently flat screens as well. “Well, at least managing the controls should be easy.”
“Score 2:1, go flat screens.” Zorea chuckled, remembering the ambassador’s description of Astra’s expression when she first saw the screen cluster in the Alchemist’s negotiations room. “This is odd. I’d feel like an actor on a theater stage here. At least they thought to up railing around the podium. Falling off in the middle of a fight wouldn’t be good. Let’s just hope this ship’s not-so-mysterious-anymore mystery goo is not completely shot. Think this thing’s life support might be salvageable?”
“It’s completely dead. Not even a lightbulb. We need to get some power into the system before anything can be done here.” astra noted the lack of any electronic activity. “Bridge to Engineering, how are you looking down there?” Astra radioed to the other team she sent in.
“We are ready. The relic ship appears to be using fusion as secondary power generation, so it should be safe to hook up one of our own reactors. The primary though… I don’t even want to guess at what it’s based on.” The Master engineer form the warden reported back.
“Okay, hook up the cabling and start slowly charging the power grid. We’ll tell you when to lower the output to just sustainable levels. All we need now is control input, let’s not wake any other system, I’d hate to think what would happen if the internal defenses ran on automated AI.” Astra noted. “Admiral, Lord-Commander, this is going to take few days honestly, I’ll report to you once we have something.”
Narix National Newscast
Intact Relic ship discovered!
Mere hours ago, the duo Durable-Zenith, now widely known for coming up with the basics of Operation: Clean Sweep, the plan to weed out the remaining Ancient forces in the Terminus system, have discovered and intact Relic destroyer, now officially named the RD Hammerhead. Courtesy of lord-commander Zorea and Admiral Lira, we have been allowed access to this ship as soon as it was towed to the Terminus-Opportunity jump node. In addition to almost an hour of video footage, we’ve managed to catch a few personnel assigned to the project while they had a few free minutes.
Immediately upon entering the Hammerhead’s hangar, we came across lieutenant Mirai, commander of the ECR Durable.
Q: What state was the ship in when discovered, and what state is it in now? Roughly when will the science teams be able to start fully uncovering its mysteries?
A: The ship was merely towed to the node and the hangar and docking port reinforced. As for the latter, an alien ship this size? We could be talking years.
Q: Have you encountered anything that would indicate ani life form, alive or dead, on board? Should we worry about more Ancients, or can we hope to see a Relic?
A: We have encountered noone on board, although only a small part of the ship has been mapped as of yet. If the Beetle is any indication, any Ancients on board should have reacted already. As for Relics, it seems the ship was abandoned by them, at least judging by the lack of anything that flies in the hangar. The Marines are still looking though, it is possible that the Ancients would just be biding their time with the demise of the Demon rather than attacking directly.
Q: At this point, you were present in two very important events, and many people hold you and the Zenith partially responsible for the Demon’s destruction. Do you think there is a promotion waiting around the corner, and if so, where would you like it to take you?
A: If the Admiralty sees me fit for promotion, I will do what I can for my nation. But that is a question for them.
At this point, another major player, adept Galeia Auraxis of the Zenith, found her way into the hangar.
Q: Adept, last time you two went through a similar debris field, the Zenith suffered a few big scratches due to the lack of a shield. Has the Hammerhead been more kind to you, and could diverting resources to this ship impede the shielding refits of the First Fleet?
A: The durable offered to share the patrol route and they were able to extend their shield over both ships in hot areas. A shield system would be a welcome addition, but the Privateer class is built well enough it withstand deployment in an Oort cloud, and my crew is one of the best. As for the upgrade schedule, that is beyond my pay grade. When they call us, we’ll head to the shipyard, until then, we’ll make due.
Q: Similar question as for the lieutenant: Do you think there’s a promotion coming up, or at least a vacation?
A: It would not be unwelcome. Two years of patrolling systems we already seen is not amusing. I would like to stay for some time in open space without a ceiling.
Lastly, we scored sulfur. At the end of our excursion, we caught admiral Lira and lord-commander Zorea.
Q: Can you tell us who is going to lead this research project?
A (Admiral Lira): Preliminary search is being conducted by the crews form the Durable and Zenith, although they will be recalled shortly for a well deserved rest. Rear admiral Astra has been recalled from Naris to attend to the Hammerhead for the time being, and a sizeable science fleet is en route from Naris to render aid.
Q: With a force like that, surely no secret can stay hidden for too long. What will the research focus on. General Relic technology, getting the ship operational, or something else?
A (LCMD. Zorea): The main point of searching for an intact relic ship is to decipher it’s navigation systems and pull a node map form them. Fortune has smiled on us and we were able to find a ship which systems may well be operational, unlike those on the Beetle. We will of course conduct research on the rest of the ship, but those objectives are secondary. As for the ship itself, we would like to preserve it in operational status, albeit perhaps not for military deployment, as we do not understand it well enough yet.
Q: As superior officers of both of the commanders responsible for finding this ship AND coming up with the basic principle behind Operation: Clean Sweep, I imagine your sights are set on these crews. What does the future have in store for them?
A (Lira): They have been noticed, that is all I will say on the mater for now.
Q: Lord Commander?
Shaking of a head
Q: is it possible civilian science teams might be hired to assist on this project, or parts of it?
A (Zorea): It is possible, we will see how taxing this will be on the military personnel. The third fleet I imagine can not wait to sink their teeth into this one.
As we are currently embedded on the NSS Ira, we will continue to cover this research project as best as we can, and wish good luck to everyone working on it.
