Demise

[Boss]

"Captain Mason, we have a transmission coming in from the Raleigh!"

Darryl frowned. A siege cruiser, modified to act as a forward reconnaissance assigned to the 106th Light Assault Division based out of Juneau, the Raleigh's primary task was SEWACS, Spaceborne Early Warning And Control Systems. The ship had been moving into long-scan range of a rumored Order incursion when contact had been abruptly lost at 0422 Naval Standard Time three days earlier.

Mason's XO, a man by the name of Eric Mathers, spoke up. "Sir, with all due respect, we can't just stage a rescue. Fleet command..." Darryl cut him off. "Fleet couldn't come up with a plan of action in time and you know it." If they were going to go after the Raleigh, it would have to be soon.

Darryl made his decision. "Can you get a fix on the transmission origin and verify its legitimacy?" This was aimed at COMSCAN's Steven Johnson.

"Already done, sir. The transmission is genuine, but it's a bit short to get a fix. The best I've got is somewhere in sector E4. Other than that, it's anybody's guess, sir." Mason nodded and pointed at each station in turn.

"Fighter Control, this is Mason. Recall all orbiting wings and cycle bombers into cradles one and three. Fighters in two, four, and five. Gunnery, place all weapons on standby power. Engineering, I want the weapons power diverted to the cruise engines for immediate startup. Navigation, get us a heading. Juneau Control, this is the Reliant. We're going after the Raleigh."

"Roger that, Reliant. Godspeed. Juneau Control out."