The shattered edge

[Wolfs Ghost]

Levesque nodded. "Oui, Commissar."

He stepped forwards, and waved his right arm. "All of you, listen up. We're going to jettison one-third of the crew as Commissar Khan's orders. We have enough space-suits for that one-third. Now, some of you have worked with me since the Republique, others are new to my command, but I do know you're loyal to this cause, as am I. So, I will be amongst the few that will be going out."

He turned around and started towards the compression chamber, "Lets go."

---

[Rodent]

Meanwhile, Santorini had returned to the Kerimov, conjecturing that when the blow hit, it would hit the hardest on the main ship of the Flotilla, and she should be there to defend it, or die as necessary.

Commissar Khan's Orders were heard, and she was enraged. For The Love of God Khan, what the hell is here that is so important!? She barked over comms.

The cool void of space swam outside the Odin, and in the distance, a blackness could be seen, a whole fleet of them drones assembling. It was upsetting. They were cornered, cut off, without chance of retreat. She doubted that they would be let off even after the sacrifice, their enemy seemed to take great joy in torture. A sigh escaped her lips, and she decided.

Might as well make such an end that would be remembered.

Enabling Comms array again, she transmitted to Khan, Mission Lead. Listen Commissar, How much are you going to bet that they are just playing with us for their amusement and we will be attacked as soon as it is convenient?

We must get all hands near the Kerimov, those that can move, and attempt to make a last stand. You cannot trust an enemy to his word.Also, is there any help nearby...?

[Yuveraj Khan]

Khan spoke calmly to Santorini through the comms as he donned his spacesuit.

"There are other people here," he answered simply. Nodding in thanks as Razin helped him on with the bulky oxygen pack. "We can't just throw away all their lives in exchange for some glorious, and utterly futile action that no one will every hear about."

Razin shook his head, "You sure, Commissar, that you want to go out there?"

"Ask not of your men something you are not willing to do yourself," Khan answered as he accepted the helmet and looked at Captain Levesque. "This ship is vital to the Coalition, what with both the Havana and the Marx laid up in dry dock for extensive repairs. Simply put, Commissar Santorini, this is the biggest ship we have left. And some of the best officers of the Coalition are here... Do your duty and... earn this." he gestured at the men climbing into the airlock.

Razin helped him on with his helmet. Stepping back to salute the brave men who were going to risk a space walk, not knowing what the alien drones would do next.

"I am assuming command of the Kerimov," Razin announced, as the hatch closed behind them. "Santorini, you're acting XO until Captain Alvarez returns to assume command. I need a fighter screen around the Kerimov while we try to restore weapons and propulsion. Can you get it done?"

Behind him the airlock cycled, and the men drifted away from the ship into space.

---

[Rodent]

She had docked with the Kerimov in a hurry, and was still in her flight suit ready to go. All she could do was shake her head tiredly. That man has no sense, what if despite what we are risking, they still kill us all? Well, I'm prepared at least....

She turned to Razin, and fidgeted a little. This man she had not met before, and there was no time for introductions. I will see what I can do....But I still think we must be prepared for the Drones to attack. We cannot trust the enemy....But Si, it will be done.

She grabbed a Telephone nearby, designed for quick intra-ship communications in case everything failed....

Si? This is Commissar Santorini, Give me a reading on the Auxilary Reactors, Alternative power sources, anything which we can get electricity out of!

[Yuveraj Khan]

Razin gestured to the large Order-styled hatch that separated the axillary airlock from the bridge, marching back out, scooping up his baseball cap from where he had left it, tucking it on his head.

Putting both hands on his hips he surveyed the bridge, they were in a mess. Doctor XiaoBei was somewhere below decks working furiously with the engineering team to restore power.

"Where the hell did Captain Alvarez get to?" He asked aloud, noting from the glittering lights that the Social Credit had managed to power up its weapons. At least they had some kind of good news.

He sat down in Captain Levesque's chair, feeling the slight discomfort of sitting down in another man's chair. He sighed, as he began to issue orders that needed to get done if they were to survive.

---

[arvg]

Alvarez was, for his part, hardly idle.

The XKR was hammering at maximum speed towards the source of the alien signal. He was using his time in the only practical way he could think of. Without intel, they were sitting ducks. They had no chance as long as they played by the drone master's rules.

"Si, hermanos," Alvarez stated in the flight ready room aboard the Havana, "we fight on our terms, never on theirs!"

It was a mantra that had kept him alive, and had turned him into an effective and deadly battleship Captain.

It was a mantra he was repeating mentally, as he rocketed through the darkness, towards a massive shadow.

The monstrous wreck of twisted metal had once been a great and mighty starship, and the XKR was tiny in comparison to the mammoth vessel. Black and gray hull plates that were shadows in the void of the desolate system.

Some kind of alien CIWS activated, spitting laser fire after him, but the XKR was simply too agile for the ancient weapon. The fighter accelerated as it streaked along the hull, the sensors trying to penetrate the dark hull, trying to gather more information as the Coalition Captain studied his enemy.

"Si, pussy gato, now I have you," he murmured as the XKR curled upwards, banking about to make another pass, this time of the ventral hull. Looking for anything that would constitute a drone control array.

---

[arvg]

Pasha gestured to the two extra crewmen and the XO, "space suits in the airlock, try not to die."

The XO looked about ready to start crying again, and Pasha simply didn't have the time to deal with it. He pumped the rather large gauge shotgun he had in his hands. There was no doubting he was deadly serious.

"Get out and push!" he said in a growl.

---

[Pacific]

After his conversation, with Commissar Khan Petko had no choice but to do what Commissar Khan requested. He noded and starts to point people.

" You,you and you, take the space suit's and go to the airlock's 15 marine's will do the same. And try to stay alive when your out on your space walk."

The men noded and proceed to the airlock along side the marine's. Petko turned to face the main view screen.

"I hope this is not a trick! There is lot in risk here and we can't fail."

---

<3 Omicron <3

<3 Chuba<3

[Aphil]

"Listen Up, We have our orders. I trust you all know what to do, the Space Suits are in the Air Lock. Believe me when I say I'll do everything in my power to get you all back alive."

Daemon Saluted the brave men who had volunteered to take a Space Walk.

He proceeded to his technician who was working hard to try to get some systems back online.

"Any luck?"

"I may be able to get Life Support and maybe engines, I'm not sure about Shields and Weapons are pretty much a no go."

"Ah, I suppose Razors and Pulses would be useless against a Drone Swarm even if we could get them online. Anyway I can help get the other systems online?"

"Not at the moment."

"Alright. Good luck my friend."

---

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[Tabris]

As all these events happened, BAAL worked on getting his weapon systems back on-line, after a final bypass of damaged circuitry and wires he finally got the Weapons Array back on-line, however even with the weapons back on-line the shields on the Storm Chassis would not withstand another attack run, one more and they would fail.

BAAL calculated the odds and best courses of action at speeds no human could fathom, finally after an agonizing 2.1 seconds he began to initiate his plan. BAAL using it's Communications array began to match it's signature to that of the Drones, attempting to mimic it's IFF Signal, the Drones Firewall however was making progress slow, even for the advanced AI. Still BAAL continued to bypass the fire-wall's defenses one small part at a time.

The enemy was almost to the ship...It was now or never. BAAL in one last gamble tried a seemingly random algorithm, surprisingly, even to the AI, he managed to get very basic access to the IFF, quickly BAAL modified it's own IFF signal to match that of the Drones, at the very last second the drones veered off from BAAL and headed towards a new target, the Social Credit, trying to catch up to it and leaving BAAL's Chassis alone...How long this trick would fool the Drones was not known, could be minutes or even seconds, either way it gave BAAL precious time to re-route power to his shields...