Fall of The Anchorage: A Story of Survivors

[Sarawr!?]

Control Center,
Naval Forward Fleet Operations Base "FP4",
Magellan System.
1805 Hours


The atmosphere inside the Naval Command Center at Freeport Four was one of utter chaos, junior and mid-level officers were running all over the place screaming orders and trying to relay information, watching from the viewports as dozens of "small" explosions erupted from within the hull of the Anchorage, propelling fire and debris out into space in a silent display of violence and destruction.

In the midst of all this, the Acting Commander of FP4 stood quietly, staring intensely into the scene unfolding just outside his station. After a long moment, he leaned forward, shouting into the ear of the radio operator seated in front of him.
"Keep trying to open a goddamn channel to that ship, Lieutenant, I wanna know what the hell is going on out there!"

With fresh "incentive", the young Lieutenant continued speaking into his radio piece, trying to raise the bridge of the Anchorage. After repeating himself several times, he looked toward the base commander with a defeated expression, shaking his head. "Goddamnit, Lieutenant!...switch channels, order the first and second Station Defense Wings to get out there, we need eyes up close!" The commander barked, only looking away after he noted the Lieutenant nodding agreement.

------------------------
------------------------

Libertonian Carrier L.N.S. Anchorage,
Commodore Aleksandr Melnikov,
MARSEC-1,
Flight Deck 8,
1810 Hours

His head felt like it was on fire and he couldn't hear anything except the ringing in his ears as he began to regain consciousness. Despite the pain, it wasn't until a clearly discernible gun shot rang out next to him that his eyes shot open, bringing him back into the world, though at a sidewards angle.

"Frak...what the h-..." He started to think, interrupted as the recollection of what had happened came back to him. As he lay there on his side, his sight limited to just one eye, he could start to make out the shapes and colors of things in front of him.

First he noticed the blood, red splatters against the metal floor plates, then he noticed man-shaped blue and black figures scattered across the room, Marines, his men, some of the finest soldiers in Liberty, now silent and still. He wanted to move, to go to his people, but it was all he could do to choke and cough up blood as he roll onto his side. The front-plate of his helmet choosing to crack and fall away from him at that moment, forcing Melnikov to realize just how bad a state he was in.

"Regarder!...Regarder! that one is alive!"Somebody unseen called out, the ones responsible for decimating the ship, and Melnikov's men, had noticed him coming around. "This will be good..." Melnikov thought, shortly before a booted foot drove into his chest, knocking the air out of him and forcing him onto his back, bringing him face to face with a long-haired, bearded man, clad in what looked loosely like Gallic military attire. "But that couldn't be right...they don't do things like this..." He thought, while offering a defiant smirk to the man glaring down at him.

"Y-You know..." He coughed, clearing his throat. "This is...the worst thing you could've done." The smirk returned, blood visible in his mouth. "She'll see you tried and...executed, for what you've done here!" He glared at the man standing over him, his eyes desperately searching for some sign of weakness, or fear, anything that might hint at what kind of man was leading these...terrorists.

The bearded man simply shook his head, pushing back some of his hair as he offered his own cold smirk to Melnikov. "It is a shame then, monsieur, that you will not live to see it." With that, he winked, laughing harshly as he brought his rifle around, smashing the buttstock into Melnikov's exposed face.

------------------------
------------------------

Libertonian Carrier L.N.S. Anchorage,
Lieutenant Commander "Ashleigh Pierson",
CIC,
1815 Hours

Admiral Baker was shouting again, Pierson was used to this by now, as it seemed to be the normal state of their "relationship"."Pierson, I'm gonna link up with MARSEC Two at the foredeck armory. We've gotta take that damn hangar bay back and get these terrorists off MY ship!" She nodded to the Lieutenant Commander, pulling her sidearm from it's holster as she headed for the CIC entryway "You have Command, try to keep me updated as things change!" With that, the Fleet Admiral was gone from the bridge, and Pierson was left alone, presumably in command.

"You lads keep at your current tasks, I've work to do!" she spoke in her best "authoritive tone" as she briefly addressed the CIC staff before disappearing beneath her console, popping open one of the panels.

"Good...she's gone, hope this thing still works.."Ashleigh begun to dig around through the maze of wires and circuits inside her console, which was responsible for communications within the ship, and to points outside of it as well. "A-ha!" She thought, grinning somewhat proudly as she found the small, speaker-like device that had been jerryrigged into the circuitry by none-other than herself, several days earlier.

After gently moving some things around, she pulled the 'speaker' outward a bit, revealing it's back-panel, which was lit up green, indicating that it was still powered, and working properly. "Good..." She whispered quietly. "Then they'll be here soon enough.."

"Commander..?" Came the curious tone of a young bridge officer, startling Pierson and causing her to nearly whack her head off the inside of the console as she quickly shoved the speaker back down into the maze of wires and turned to see who was there. "W-What!? What is it.." She searched for a rank on the man's uniform. "Ensign, what could you possibly want that's worth disturbing intricate repairs on our ship's main communications system!?"

"O-Oh..I was just wondering what you were doing, ma'am, but now I know." The Ensign nodded, returning to his post. "Hmp..." She shook her head, sighing to herself. "You'll probably be dead soon anyway, Ensign."

------------------------
------------------------

---

[LN] Recruitment | Rachel Baker Bio