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Rodent · 01-08-2012, 10:16 AM,

Seth listened to old rock songs, his concentration on his task at hand. He moved the shard of metal, applying more heat from the welder. A few moments later, he let up, setting aside the piece of metal and removing his mask. He wiped some moisture from his forehead and looked at his creation. A necklace charm made out of the blow-off armor plates of any Manta who didn't stay moving while near Isis. He looked satisfied and set it aside. He looked at his chrono and sighed.

Standing up, Seth exited the machine shop on the Ghost Eye and headed for his quarters. He slipped past some ensigns loitering in the hall. He returned a salute to a passing marine and took a corner, nearly running into the sensor operator. After avoiding a collision with the man, Seth continued onwards, finally arriving at his destination. Keying open the door, he collapsed on his bed.

The Ghost Eye slipped through the dark space of Omicron Delta, slipping under the gentle curve of Tuvalu. Alyson Hawke, the XO, was busy commanding the vessel as Seth slept. She shook her head and directed her attention to the RTI station.

'Anything?'
'The usual clutter of a million and one Nomad signatures and a thousand and two Core ones.'
'Lovely, lovely. Tell me, why am I seeing a Nomad Gunboat off our prow?'

The entire bridge looked forward to see the Nomad Gunboat. It had a pair of escort fighters and was cruising right past them. Without needing to be given an order, the weapon's officer immediately launched a cruise disrupter, dropping the hostile to regular impulse speeds. The main gun coughed a teal star at the Gunboat, catching it on its side. The two fighters broke off and rocketed towards the Ghost Eye, the whine of their guns starting up. The entire Resheph became alive, its turrets spitting fire at the enemies, catching one of the escort fighters in the crossfire as another light mortar shot hit the tail of the Nomad. A few more salvos and it began to break up. The last fighter continued its assault, and ultimately ended up become little more than organic debris. Alyson sighed and rested her cheek against her knuckles. Every so often that would happen. Wasn't growing old, not by a long shot. The entire ordeal of patrolling Tuvalu was stagnant. They had been pulled out of the Omegas for this; it did not bode well with Seth or Alyson.

It was ten days since the Ghost Eye had encountered the Nomad Gunship near Tuvalu. They had been directed to Tokelau Ice Cloud to investigate sighting of Nomad capital vessels. They were part of a small task force that included one of their cruisers, the Anukhet. Seth was again in command, and was directing their escort wig, comprising of a single Hathor, the Amun, five Nephthys VHFs, four Bastet VHF-X, and two Sekhmet heavy bombers. He had broken up the entire group into three groups; the Amun and the Bastets, him and two Nephthys, and the remaining Nephthys and the Sekhmets. He was going straight into the Tokelau Ice Cloud, with the Amun going in up high and the remaining group down low. Seth told everyone to stay frosty; Nomad could come from anywhere. He hoped he did not need to call the Anuket in for some heavy support; it was holding in Tuvalu Orbit with another Resheph cruiser, the Akila, two more Hathors, the Echidna and the Heqet. They had a dozen strike craft with them. Seth really did not want to call in help; for once he'd like to go on a milk run. He sighed.

'This is Ghost Eye Command, Sector Four clear down the middle. Continuing.'
'This is Keket Wing, we've encountered nothing.'
'This is the Amun, nothing so far.'

Seth sighed. He was about to shift their search pattern a bit when the screen snapped on to show the face of the captain of the Anuket. He heard shouting and the sounds of a ship fighting.

'Commander Hunter, we are under attack from Core forces! Fall back to the Anuket immediately! We can hold out, but we need you if we're to hold the line until reinforcements arrive."

Seth did not waste any time.

'Abort search and fall back to the Anuket, they are under heavy fire. Move there now, do not wait for anything. I want all weapons unlocked and warmed up, do not wait to engage, the moment you are in range, engage immediately! You all know your main targets, we have done the drills!'

The Ghost Eye and her group hit their cruise engines, rocketing away from Tokelau Ice Cloud as fast as it could go, looming out of the dense ice. The group roared towads Tuvalu as fast as they could, and arrived within an hour.

There was three Core warships; A Bullhead Battle cruisers trading fire with the Anuket with a pair of Threshers lobbing pulse and Light Mortar fire at the cruiser. Explosions rocked the cruiser, gouts of flame erupting where turret fire and mortars impacted. The Ghost Eye exited cruiser near the wrecks of the two hathors Echidna and Herqet. He roared at the Core.

'All ships, burn them! Avenge the Echidna and Herqet!'

The small battle group leapt into the fray, the fighters pestering one of the Threshers while the Amun and the Sekhmets let loose on the other.

Alone, the venerable Ghost Eye squared off against the Bullhead.

'Anuket, focus all fire on the Bullhead, don't switch fire for even a second. ' Seth looked to his weapons officer. 'I see a Bullhead. Make it go away.'

The Ghost Eye released a light mortar strike as the Anuket unleashed a dual-pulse barrage, downing the remaining shielding on the Bullhead. There was a moment where everything hung in time; Nothing moved, everything slowed so much. Seth took a breath. The Bullhead had launched a missile salvo.

The Anuket exploded.

Toledo Orbit, One Hour Later.

Seth listened to Lynch on Hamunaptra. It was not his fault. In the end, it was the fault of the Order for not keeping a closer eye on the mission. No one could have known that the Core would have had that much firepower on regular patrols.

Seth sighed as the Missing Ache limped past, it's hull on fire and being dragged by the Eternal Flames and Bakari, both looking worse for wear. He glanced over to where the Oathkeeper was having some new armor plates welded on. He glanced at Alyson.

'Want to get a drink?'

Unfortunately, drinks were the last thing on their minds.

//Written by Jeremy_Hunter. Proofread by me.

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