From the Bridge...

[Koolmo]

Hanger, RACS-Terra III
Sirius Sector
Dublin System

Totenkopt, Mcintosh, and Captain V'Kosh (XO) entered the FDC (Fighter Direction Center). Several off-duty pilots quickly vacated, after dropping hurried salutes. As they took their seats, Mcintosh's jackboots squeeked gently, a harp comparison to the quick, efficent silence of Totenkopt's blank helmet and thin spacesuit.

"So, Commander, what happened after I lost the feed?"

The voice that emerged from the helmet was flat, nearly emotionless, with a slight accent, and a gravelly age that belied the apparent grace of its owner.

"About what you'd expect from those planetform pukes sir. About a dozen fighters scrambled on us, and nearly twice that headed over to the Terra's crash site, not quite sure why."

Although the helmet remained on, a hint of a grin crept into the voice.

"It's not like they could do much for the old man anyways. The southern site was completely crushed, and theres probably quite a large dent in the crust of that continent. Hopefully, with the faults previously identified, the resulting turmoil should put a stop to terraforming operations for at least a couple years."

"Roger That, soldier!"

Joy filled Mcintosh's face, and he leaned forward excitedly.

"I wasn't quite sure the Autopilot had gotten the coordinates right, we had to vent the atmosphere just before the rest of the fleet showed up. Apparently, some of the old crew had realised what was going on, and decided to make a break for it. That attempt didn't end so well..."

Laughter rebounded all three men, and a pair of passing techs scurried away, leaving only their echoing footfalls. Captain V'Kosh's comm. beeped, interruptiong their levity, and as he raised it to his lips a high, panicked voice spilt out.

"Captain, for Christ's sake get to the Bridge! We've got multiple hostiles, looks to be a heavy BAF patrol, and the heavy batteries are offline! Jesus sir, Weapons say's it'll be at least ten minutes before we can use either battery!"

"Aww, Shet! Launch any fighters you can, and send a General Distress Signal, Priority One! What're the nearest fleet units?"

"Aaah, looks to be Bomber Squadron #7 in South Leeds, and an Intelligence Gunboat in New London, sir. Sending Signal now... got it. I'll tell you as soon as they respond sir."

"Roger, on my way to the bridge now."

All three men stood and swiftly departed, Mcintosh and V'Kosh dashing to the central elevator conduit, and Totenkopt to his fighter.

Bridge, RACS-Terra III

"Commander (N), report!"

As Mcintosh and K'Vosh swept into the spacious bridge, the Navigation Officer jumped out of the Command Console, and blathered a hurried report.

"Sirs, four BAF battleships on scope, along with assorted escorts and about a wing of Templars. Both Primary batteries are down for another eight minutes, but the secondary armament is prepped. Missle bays One and Two are prepared for continious fire."

Mcintosh slid into the Command Chair, V'Kosh standing behind and slightly to the right. As the duty watch shifted to accomodate the newcomers, Mcintosh stared greedily into the screens, absorbing, and plotting. Four BAF Battleships would be far too much for him to handle normally, even with the primary batteries offline for another... seven minutes.

"How many fighters can we muster?"

"Eleven Sir, counting Totenkopt. Six Titans, two Spatials, and three Eagles."

"Support Ships?"

"The Intrepid (RH Pirate Cruiser) and The M'zav'koh (Albatross) are in formation, but The Intrepid's Hull is heavily damaged, their radiation shielding failed four hours ago."

"Shet! Get me the Intrepid!"

"Right away, Sir."

The M'zav'koh was an ancient ship, taken from an IMG scrapyard months before. He was still unsure whether or not they'd missed it, buts its firepower was seriously lacking, and with recent events there hadn't been time to refit. Its Captain and Crew were reliable however, and it's weapons were fast firing. It had been his dedicated Anti-Fighter Ship through the coup, and would continue to serve. The Intrepid, on the other hand, was a ship crewed mostly be former junkers who, although not lacking in courage, seemed to take it for granted that things were going to fall off, and made no efforts to fix it.

"Captain Usilite, of The Intrepid, Sir."

"Captain, are you functional?"

"Yessir, just need to avoid taking hits on the Port side, or abaft the scanners topside Sir."

"Right. Here's the plan..."

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OOC: okay, theres a few things I need to explain here.

Normally, The Terra III would be a Captain's command, and Mcintosh would merely "fly his flag" from it, so to speak. IE, Command the fleet from it, while K'Vosh deals with the normal command of the ship. However, Mcintosh has such an immense Ego, that he both commands the fleet AND the ship, thus putting K'Vosh into the XO's slot. However, you'll soon see that he really does still command the ship, if not in name.

Totenkopt, although a LT-Commander, will be habitually refered to as commander, due to 95% of everyone in the navy being too lazy to say such a long rank.

Aboard ship, there can ony be ONE captain, thusly, marine personell of the rank 'captain', which is actually equivilat to a naval Leiutenant, are reffered to aboard ship as 'Major'. Similarily, any Naval Captains Aboard Ship that are not the commanding officer are feffered to either as 'Commodore', or, in the case of a section chief, by their section, IE 'Engineering'. In this story, 'Weapons' is reffered to, meaning the captain commanding weapons section.

Also in that vein, a commander will usually have their branch abbreviation in brackets next to their name, this is not spoken, but is placed in writing to denote the subject. IE, Commander (N) is the navigator, and Commander (E) is the commander of Engineering.


'Abaft' - "to the aft of" - Naval terminology, much qucker and easier to say.

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<span style="color:#FFFF00">&quot;General Solo, is your strike team assembled?&quot;
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