Fallen Grace

[Eduard]

After he received the message from Sefegiru, Forlorn found himself at the command of an X-shuttle; the same X-shuttle which would allow him, and his boarding party, to board the Chante du Cygne and carry out the mission objectives


"Status?" Forlorn said to one of the pilots of the ship as he stood right behind them, observing the battlefield


"The enemy forces are retaliating in great numbers, but our side is matching. On the other hand, our cloaking fuel is running low." the pilot answered


The ship remained cloaked at the edge of the battlefield, free from all the shooting, acting like a silent predator and watching for the perfect opportunity to strike.


"Bien then…" Forlorn said, examining the course of battle and planning his next move. "Let us commence the operation! Approach the Chante du Cygne, thrusters at maximum power!"


The pilots complied to his orders and the next moment, the X-shuttle appeared out of nowhere in the midst of battle, the cloaking field disabled as it approached the Chante du Cygne at maximum speed for the attempt to board it while in the meantime, the Order squadrons began doing their best to secure a clear path for it as the Gallic reinforcements continued to combat them.


"Sacre bleur! What was that?" Forlorn yelled right after the ship received a heavy shot, shaking it badly.


"We lost one of our thrusters, we’re being pursued by enemy fighters! They somehow managed to slip by our squadrons." the pilot anxiously answered.


It was clear that under these circumstances, the Shuttle won’t be able to land as it would be destroyed right before it could make it to the landing deck, despite it being now under friendly control. Forlorn had realized this. Even without his experience as an ex-Gallic officer, he knew that his ship would be a primary target, leaving only one solution to this problem…


"...Pilot, find us a secondary hangar! We’re going to crash land through it! " He ordered to his pilot with no hesitation. "There’s no other choice, we either die here for nothing or take the battle into the Chante du Cygne!"


Encouraged by his last phrase, the pilots had no other choice but to listen to his orders and accelerate towards the side of the ship at the maximum speed in its attempt to crash land on it.

With the enemy squadron now dispersed by the friendly fighters, the Crew onboard the shuttle began to concentrate on closing in on the ship.

As each moment passed, the Valor’s metal plating grew larger as the Shuttle got closer to it. In a final moment, the metalic armored plating now reveals a sealed secondary hangar employed by ships in emergency evacuations. Full thrusters ahead, the X-shuttle breached through the sealed hatch like a blade through butter, but at great cost too; the Shuttle's nose crumpled inwards and the landing gear legs completely sheared off. Moreover, the pilots had lost control of the ship, as it lodged directly into the inside of the hangar’s walls, becomming a useless lump of scrap metal. A powerful shock on impact followed the crash, announcing everyone in the Battleship about this event.

A sudden void silence emerged inside the hangar. The landing was successful, more or less

Five minutes passed when the void silence inside the dented shuttle was broken by Forlorn’s call:

"Status?” he asked as he tried to get back on his feet.

"There’s only seven of us left, we’ve lost a total of three members in the crash…" one of the crew members said, still trying to recover as well.

"Negligeable…" Forlorn muttered, "Everyone, gather your equipment and form up! Assemble at the main hatch. Expect heavy resistance, so arm yourselves!"
The six remaining members assembled in front of the hatch at the side of their leader, awaiting his signal to begin.

Forlorn waved to one of the men to open the hatch. The hatch was opening too slowly, and there was no sound except for the grinding of metal-against-metal made by the hatch’s opening action, hydraulic fluid dripping from one of the pressure tubes. Everyone else was silent, waiting anxiously for any form of resistance waiting to greet them with weapons fire from the other side.

After the hatch opened, the boarding party were relieved to see no resistance waiting for them. Their crash surprised a small group of guards tasked to protect the hangar, which now lay dead or incapacitated due to the harsh collision. Those who were not dead, were quickly shot down by Forlorn’s party.

After a brief moment which allowed the party to form up in the hangar Forlorn stepped on the floors of the hangar, a man aged around thirty, ex-gallic officer, now a trusted member of Task Force One Four One. His face wore ill, scarred, pale skin suggesting that this man has been through all sorts of dangers. He approached his company and ordered them to prepare themselves for any resistance that might show up. He then reached for his ear, activating a communicator:


"Sefegiru, Forlorn l’ici. We managed to land on the Chante du Cygne. Everything is going as planned. Alert the others onboard about our presence, s’il vous plait, I don’t want to cross into any open fire, bien? Au revoir!"


He then closed the transmission without waiting for any reply. No, a reply would cost time and time was now invaluable... Thus, he proceeded forward, with his party by his side, and prepared for any form of resistance as they headed where he believed all of the required data he is looking for is supposed to be located.

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King Eduard is the greatest