Fall of The Anchorage: A Story of Survivors

[Sarawr!?]

Planet Manhattan,
Central District Spaceport,
Libertonian Space.
Unknown Date

The first thing she felt as she regained consciousness was cold, an absolutely frigid cold washing over her entire body -- even her mind.

Then, as she struggled to roll off her stomach and onto her side, she became aware of a moist, and...almost comfortable sensation of warmth covering her abdomen. She had felt this before.

"You're losing blood." The thought cut through her, jarring her eyes open.

Propping herself up with her left hand, she looked down toward her stomach with a grimace, using her right hand to press the wound, blood quickly escaping through the space between her fingers.

"Guess that was pointless..." She shook her head, shrugging weakly, and even laughing to herself before she cast her gaze toward the iconic Manhattan skyline.

The Sleeper Ship Liberty, and other buildings surrounding the spaceport for all to see, testaments to the greatness of the Libertonian way of life...but there was nothing to be proud of this day. Half of the buildings were burning fiercely, others -- including the Sleeper Ship, lay in complete ruin, the sky, thick with black smoke and fire.

"Couldn't even make it to your ship, Rach...you're so-"

Her thoughts were interrupted as a single black-painted Guardian dropped through the lowest of the clouds, diving straight toward the streets below with a deafening roar -- though it's pilot quickly pulled out of the dive and leveled out, two Gallic Lynx fighters dropping in behind it, plasma bursts firing wildly, mostly missing and serving only to cause further damage to the civilian structures.

She watched the ships dance around in the sky for a long moment before desperately grabbing her personal communicator, shouting into it with all the vigor she could muster.

"Roy?!....what the hell did you come back here for!? Get the hell out, we're all done, there's no damned point!"

Static. No reply came, The pilot of the black guardian hadn't received her message.

"He won't even know that I was here...that I called out to him at the end...tried to save him.."

She winced, exhaling a jagged breath as the pain from her wound finally hit her. There was nothing she could do though, save for watch the fighters dancing in the sky.

The Black Guardian twisted and rolled around, almost gracefully avoiding the continued burst fire being thrown in it's direction by the pursuing Lynxes. After coming out of a violent roll, the Black Guardian shot straight upward once again, it's pursuers close behind.

"They're almost right above me now..." She sighed weakly, finally allowing her fatigue to put her on her back...she didn't mind though, she could still see the dancers.

The Black Guardian was flying perfectly straight up, dropping what appeared to be mines, despite the fact that they were flying in an environment where gravity mattered. As the mines fell in free-fall the Black Guardian finally stalled out, nearly hovering for a moment before flipping end over end and dropping straight down toward the pursuing Gallic fighters, brilliant golden beams tearing into the Lynxes before it -- and the rain of mines slammed into the lead Gallic ship.

This brazen action by the Guardian pilot resulted in an incredibly violent explosion that incinerated the Black Guardian and the lead Gallic fighter, forcing the second Gallic ship into a stall and throwing it toward the surface, along with a rain of burning debris and twisted metal.

Rachel lay there virtually paralyzed, watching the debris fall toward her, there was nowhere she could go, nothing left to do. Manhattan ruined, Roy dead, herself dying. Tears began to drown her eyes as she held her wound and glanced toward a single exposed patch of blue sky that had managed to show itself through all the madness.

That blue sky, calm and unchanging, was the last thing Rachel saw as her world faded from view.

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Libertonian Carrier L.N.S Anchorage,
Leeds Defense AO Grid E-4,
Bretonian Space.
Current Date (Early 821AS)

Rachel opened her eyes, glancing left and right quickly, scanning her surroundings for any abnormality. She had been laying in her bunk asleep, her shirt and hair were drenched in sweat.

"It was just a dream..?"
She yawned loudly, stretching out before rubbing her face groggily and reaching for the comm-receiver next to her bunk, holding it to her ear for a moment before pressing the key and speaking into it.

"CO, CIC..."
She exhaled softly, waiting for a response.

"CIC, Ma'am?.." '
Came the reply from the softly accented Lieutenant Commander Pierson.

"Pierson...what's the status of the CAP?"
Rachel rubbed her eyes again, swiftly moving to the metal chair at her desk, still trying to shake off the sleep.

"Ma'am, all ships on CAP are reporting green status, zero problems, zero hostile contact...it's 00:32, is there something particular you're concerned about...if you don't mind my asking, I mean."
Came the soft-spoken reply.

Rachel shook her head, even though the Lieutenant Commander couldn't see the gesture.

"No, Commander...it's nothing...I was awake so I figured I would check on my pilots.If that's okay with you. CO, Out."
She growled, pressing the comm-receiver hard into it's holder before relaxing into her chair to slouch against her desk.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Commander Pierson stood in the CIC with a half-bewildered look on her face, biting her tongue at her mistake in questioning the Admiral.

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[LN] Recruitment | Rachel Baker Bio