Operation Vaisseau Admiral

[Aoi Voilé]

Operation Vaisseau Admiral

Fourchambault Shipyard, Dauphine System

The shipyard is bustling with activity, people often seen rushing in the corridors of the station between hangars and berths. Ever since the full-blown Gallic War began, the shipyard has been operating non-stop all around the clock. The workers are overworked, barely able to get any sleep due to the sheer workload that the shipyard gets. Being the closest shipyard to the Gallic Borderworlds meant that it had the majority of the ships damaged or crippled by the ongoing Gallic offensive flying directly to this place for repairs and inspection. It was an everyday sight to see mighty military vessels such as Valors, Obstinates and occasional civilian ships that were ambushed by pirates or enemies of the Crown make their way into the berths of Fourchambault.

This was an ordinary day, just like any other. The team leader of the workers that were repairing ships in one berth, Dany Allais, was constantly heard shouting, demanding that they hurry up as they don't have the time - there were always some ships in queue for repairs. They were finalizing repairs on a Taureau, an armoured landing transport that was caught in crossfire and received giant gaping holes in the crew quarters. The sights were usually grim when these sort of ships arrived, there were often signs of death evident in one way or another. The Taureau was specifically carrying royal marines that were intended to reinforce the siege on Leeds, quite a lot of them were lost before the transport made it planetside.

The supervisor of Dany arrives, handing him a file. "This is the next one. I was told it's going to arrive in a few hours - finish this one up and free up the berth, it's a priority." Having given the next ship in queue, the supervisor rushes away back into his office.

The files contained information and service history of RNS Tarasque, and Obstinate that was apparently damaged in one of the recent skirmishes against the Bretonian Armed Forces and Liberty Navy. Though these military ships were a frequent sight on Fourchambault, they were always given priority over civilian or non-military vessels under the orders of the Crown. Dany quickly scanned through it, already knowing where to look for anything interesting, and went back to rushing workers to finish up.

Hours later, the berth was finally made clear. The Tarasque was already near the shipyard by that point, and it was brought in. It's usual for these ships to usually suffer from something major, but it seemed to have maintained usual structural integrity from first glance. The armour plates were damaged, at some areas the armour was pierced, but the ship is in relatively good shape in comparison to the usual ships that frequent the shipyard.

The docking clamps attach to the capital vessel's sides, ensuring it stays stable in place. A bridge extends and connects to one of the entrances, opening up the passage to the shipyard. It doesn't take long before the captain of the ship, along with a few of his personnel, come out of the Tarasque. They are greeted by the team leader, the other workers were still finishing and cleaning up the area from the last repair operation.

"Bonjour, capitaine! I'm here to inspect the damage of the ship, is there anything damaged that we must know about? The pierced armour plates will be replaced, anything internal?" Dany Allais spoke, saluting the captain.

The captain stops facing Allais, and salutes in return. "The power was fluctuating after we took some hits, the engineering deck was their primary target. Check the systems and see if there's any damage."

"Oui!" loudly replied Dany, motioning a shipyard worker to come to him to relay information to the rest of the brigade.

The captain sighs, seeing the team leader run off to begin his work. The skirmish where the Tarasque was damaged was awful. The Gallic fleet underestimated the Sirians, dismissing the options that they would go for 'under the belt' tactics and thinking they'd just stand their ground and get crushed by the immense firepower of the Gallic Fleet. The crew of Tarasque thought it was over when the conflict started and a battleship uncloaked right next to the capital vessel, firing its hardest-hitting weaponry. That's when engineering was hit, but the Tarasque managed to maneuver away from the battleship, which was then crushed by the Valors once they angled and charged their Warwolves. The damage was done, however. The skirmish was won, but the Tarasque was forced to return to the shipyard as the damage it received wasn't possible to repair on the scene.

Now he has to deal with the paperwork and write an explanation on how he managed to get the Tarasque in such a state. The Tarasque's stay on Fourchambault was for at least a few days...

It was considered "evening" on the station when a ship bearing markings of the King arrived. Rumours quickly spread, various versions of who they are were spreading. Agents of the King, royal investigators, messengers from the King that bring orders to work more. Two men came out of the ship's hangar, dressed in official clothing. When they asked for the location of the captain of Tarasque, it all became clear.

Moments later, they entered the temporary office room of the captain.

"Captain Gauthier Malet, I presume?" the two men ask in a very official accent.

"Oui, that will be me." the captain responded. He was sitting at a desk, covered in all sorts of paperwork. He stared intently at the guests, laying down his pen.

"We are royal investigators sent by the King. He was curious on the situation on the battlefront, as well as what caused the skirmish to sustain so many losses despite you having the firepower to ward off any threats. We were sent to extract information about what happened, and why." The man nods to his escort, as he leaves through the door. "He will be ensuring that this conversation will not be eavesdropped. Now, I'd like to hear your version."

Malet gulped as sweat droplets started to form on his forehead. The royal investigators are known for being ruthless if they suspect that someone is lying. They are allowed to take any measures they may think of in order to extract information. He knew that any wrong word could possibly lead him to a very bad fate. The captain sighed, trying to gain a steady composure and remain calm. The investigator sat on the chair opposite to the desk and stared intently. This didn't help the captain in the least.

"Well, erhm. I'm writing paperwork regarding that right now.... The Sirian fleet we encountered was low in numbers, so our fleet commander ordered us to enter a line formation to decimate them before they even got close. That was only a decoy for us, however. They used their shady tricks and ended up with a lot of their heavy hitters behind our line, uncloaking them as the first Warwolves fired. The Taras-" the captain was cut off by the investigator's gesture.

"So it was your incompetence and lack of situational awareness that caused this, hasn't it? You, the captain of the ship, gave the order to flee like cowards away from the ship that was hitting you. Not only have you shown cowardice, you completely neglected to ensure your gunners fire on the Dreadnought that appeared behind you." the investigator menacingly berates the captain. Malet, however, was completely stunned.

"How did you know about the details that fast? The reports take much longer to arrive, let alone get processed" the captain blurted out.

"Don't forget that we have eyes and ears everywhere, captain Malet. Your crew also harbours a few. Now, get on with your story."

It was these words that rang confusion in the captain's mind. He's never heard that the investigators operate at such a quick pace, never has he actually met one that hasn't formally introduced himself before.

"Before I continue, may I see the king's stamp as proof that you are a royal investigator, monsieur?" the captain demanded.

A frown lit up on the investigator's face. He stood up, staring at the captain for a brief moment.

The yells and thrashing were muffled behind closed doors, and the 'investigator' guarding the door in royal clothing made it clear that an interrogation was underway to those who've heard. Nobody wanted to cause trouble to them, as everyone was afraid of their rare appearances.

The captain hasn't been heard of for a few days, nobody dared check his temporary office after rumours spread of the captain being interrogated. The only one who has been entering the office was the second investigator, bringing food and water. The third morning he re-emerged from his office, along with the investigator he was with. He headed straight for the Tarasque, along with his escort of the investigators.

Dany's voice was clear as day when they arrived at the berth segment. The team leader spotted the captain and quickly ran up to him.

"Finally! Capitaine, the Tarasque is as good as new. We were wondering when you were going to come, the next ship's already waiting. Sorry it took so long, we're really stretched thin at the moment." Dany briefed the captain.

"You're stretched thin? I think I can help with that. I will allow half of the Tarasque's crew to help you in helping with shipyard work. Our next mission will not be requiring us to participate in active combat. Orders from the Crown itself." he gestured to his escort in formal, royal clothing.

"I... see. We certainly have a lot of work, but half of the crew? That's a bit too much, I doubt we'll be able to get a bed organized for all of them!" exclaimed Dany.

The captain paid no attention and walked off towards his ship along with his two escorts, leaving the team leader dumbfounded. The crew were surprised to see the captain in one piece, and quickly went off to do their duties before leaving the station. When he brought the news of staying on the shipyard temporarily, they weren't too enthusiastic, however. The captain left it up to his subordinate to choose which of the crew members will get to enjoy their stay on Fourchambault for a bit longer, excluding a list of those that will be crucial for the next operation. The list, given by the agents, included seemingly simple and non-important personnel, which made the crew guess what even caused them to be selected.

The captain ensured that the Crown has given them a special mission on the borders of charted space, claiming that only a select few have the honour of participating in these secret, special missions. The mood of the crew was alternating between confused and enthusiastic, the weird situation turning out into something positive was truly unexpected. Some of the crew noted that the captain has been acting strangely, but it's been largely dismissed as a natural thing after getting the full experience of being talked to by investigators.

It wasn't long until the ship's entrance was sealed and the docking clamps detached, the Tarasque flew away out to the borders of Gallia, half its crew lighter.

The ship was last seen in the Tau-23 system, after which it disappeared off the radar entirely. Nobody was told where exactly the Tarasque was heading, the only information on where to go was given step-by-step by the agents of the Crown, with having no clear direction of where. It was in a bright system that the Sirians called Tau-37 where the the calm ended up truly being a calm before the storm.

It seemed that the Council has been aware that the Tarasque has been going without any escort and predicted their course, establishing an ambush in the Tau-37 system. This came as a complete surprise to the captain and the agents, the Council should've been busy fighting the forces on the Bretonian front. A brief fight ensued, but the Council forces were specially geared towards destroying capital ships. The lack of crew and lack of escort proved to be fatal to the battlecruiser, the ship was crippled once more - antimatter cannons pierced through the thick armouring of the ship and damaged the weapons systems, leaving the ship completely defenceless on the outside.

The ship and its crew, not giving up to the vile Council, proceeded to go full evasive and managed to get some distance between the bombers. With clever use of asteroids as a blocking measure and excellent timing, the Tarasque managed to charge cruise engines and escape before the bombers managed to hit a cruise disruptor on the ship. They didn't chase the battlecruiser for long - the crew could only guess they were certain that they wouldn't survive the journey to wherever they intended to go next.

It was true, however: without immediate preventative measures that weren't possible at the time, the life support systems would fail in a matter of hours. They had to make a stop somewhere with utmost haste. The situation was grim: the crew with a complete loss of morale, the ship in disarray and impending doom, measures had to be taken.

The investigators demanded that the navigator sets course towards Kusari, giving her the details and coordinates of where to go. After crossing through a few systems, they managed to find a marvellous, enormous asteroid with a base carved straight inside of it. Kusarian ships were seen flying in the distance, but they paid no mind to the Gallic battlecruiser - it was as if they were expecting it.

Having no choice but to ask for help, the crew rejoiced once they heard that the Kusarians would bring the necessary mechanics and supplies to repair the ship. The O2 systems were, at this point, beginning to malfunction. The Kusarians didn't take long to send a supply ship with the necessary materials to conduct makeshift repairs, as the captain told them that they do not intend to dock on the station or stay for too long and attract unwanted attention. WIth the useful supplies the Kusarians had given them, the life support systems were back in proper order within an hour. The weapons systems, however, had to be repaired by specialists that the crew didn't have available.

Going against the wishes of the now-paranoid crew members, the ship set forth with the weapons systems disabled. The next systems they flew through were all eerie, dark. The ship's exterior windows were almost always smeared in dark, monotone green or purple, rarely exiting the nebulas they traversed.

Then they finally entered the system that was their destination. The ship was joined by an escort of a pair of Rheinland fighters, with blue beings seen in the distance. They eventually reached a large system shrouded in a nebula, the sillouete of the entire complex appearing briefly from the thunder of the nebula. Some of the crew realized what was going on and tried to resist, but they were quickly pacified by the infected in their midst. The captain didn't hold his cover any longer.

"Monsieurs et madamoiselles, we have arrived. This is where we will begin our new operations. Welcome to the Altair Research Complex."