The "Sahaquiel" floated through the Omicron Delta system, its escorts just behind. Originally a "Kagutsuchi"-class Cruiser, the vessel had now become much more than just a shell to be operated by a crew of human beings. It had now become its own controller. It had a mind, it had a soul, for lack of a better word. Its escort, consisting of the IKN-Okonomiyaki, and a trio of Chimaera-class Very Heavy Fighters, floated just a few kilometers away from the ship, ensuring nobody came within attack range of the "Sahaquiel" without being detected.
Off in the distance, a lone Zoner monitored the movements of the vessel, jotting them down in a small notepad...
*** Approach *** Dr. Brown's ship spoke, a strange and comforting echo.
She raised her eyes from her notepad and raised an eyebrow.
"Um, hello?"
*** Greetings *** The ship spoke again, except this time, Dr Brown was sure it was in her head, *** You may approach ***
She cocked her head to one side, and glanced down at her ship's scanners, displaying five unknown ships, one of them big, one of them even bigger. And then it hit her, Nomad Telepathy.
"This is strange" Dr. Brown spoke, slipping her small, paper notepad down the side of her seat.
"Some find human speech to be more comforting" A male voice spoke, this time from her ship's comms panel.
"Thank you. That is much less strange" Dr. Brown pressed her finger on the reply button, "Are you going to kill me?"
"Negative, if we wanted you dead, we would have already attempted such action"
As the alien and the doctor spoke, a recon ship carefully observed them from a distance of nearly 20k. A Resheph. It sent off a small, untraceable data packet, to avoid detection. This packet of data found itself traveled another 40k, where it was picked up by a large Order Search and Destroy Fleet, consisting of two Osiris-class Battleships, two Geb-class Battlecruisers, two more Resheph-class Cruisers and countless escorting gunships and fighters.
"Message received, Heryshaf. Hold your position, and monitor the target groups movements. We will begin our attack shortly. Am-heh, out."
The Osiris-class Battleship "Am-heh" was one of the newest Battleships in the Order fleet. Equipped for anti-capital operations, the Am-heh was a force to be reckoned with.
"Am-heh to Duamutef, come in."
"Duamutef, receiving. We are prepared to begin our assault. Mehen and Monthu, on us. Saa and Shai, form up on Am-heh."
"Understood" the captains of the two Reshephs and Gebs chimed in unison.
The battlegroup split their formation, the Am-heh taking the two Reshephs, and the Duamutef taking the two Gebs. The roar of cruise engines echoed through the corridors of all the vessels simultaneously, as they cruised towards their target: "Sahaquiel."
"Am-heh to Duamutef, your fighters are cleared to engage the cruiser's escorts. The biggest fish will be ours to fry."
"Understood, Am-heh. Alpha wing, Bravo wing, you are cleared to engage. Target the Gunboat and fighters. Draw them away from the Cruiser."
"Roger, Duamutef. Bravo wing, you concentrate on the Gunboat. Alpha, let's get on the fighters."
2 wings of Nephthys Fighters, totaling 10 ships, roared towards their target. Just before they engaged, they split from their chevron formation, forming two lines of attack. Alpha wing engaged first, drawing the Chimeras away from the Gunvessel. Bravo wing, equipped with Sunslayer Torpedoes, flew above the fighter brawl as fast as their engines could take them, directly towards the Gunboat. Huge gouts of plasmafire emerged from bulges on the Kusari Gunboat's hull, ripping into Bravo-2, sending it spiraling into Bravo-3. The ships erupted in a ball of flame, before being silenced.
"Bravo wing, break off! Get behind it, it has fewer weapon emplacements there!"
The 3 remaining fighters of Bravo wing broke formation, taking 3 different trajectories to either lower side, and one over the middle. They killed their engines, rotated 180 degrees, and then converged once more, letting loose with Reapers, Death's Hands, and Sunslayers. The Gunboats shielding began to buckle, but not before Bravo-5 was disabled by a missile blast. Shortly thereafter, 2 streaks of white smoke became visible...
"Bravo, get clear!"
The Gunboat erupted in a great explosion as its hull buckled: it had been hit by a pair of Battleship-class missiles.
"That's that."
"Alpha lead to Duamutef, we need support!"
"Duamutef to Alpha lead, we are dispatching the Maahes to support."
The "Hathor" gunboat sped into the fighterfight with lightning speed, its Solaris turrets tearing into the hulls of the Chimaera fighters, reducing them to flaming wrecks with alarming speed.
"Maahes to Duamutef, all escorts have been disabled or destroyed."
"Understood Maahes. Am-heh, you are cleared to begin your assault."
"Understood, Duamutef. We will begin our assault shortly. Tactical, launch Charlie wing, that Eagle looks too suspicious to just be hanging around."
Sahaquiel cut its cruise engines a few kilos from the Am-heh and her 2 Geb escorts.
"Am-heh to "Sahaquiel," we are willing to allow you to survive, if you surrender yourself for study."
The cruiser remained silent.
"This is your only chance for survival, Nomad." The captain of the Am-heh signaled to the Saa to disable its shields and prepare to fire its EMP torpedoes.
A small message scrolled across the captain's command console:
"No, thank you."
Simultaneously, the Saa began releasing EMP torpedoes at an alarming rate, and Sahaquiel fired 2 bursts from its Nomad Siege Cannon. The two blasts from the Seige cannon rocked the Saa, disabling its engines. The Saa continued firing its torpedoes, releasing 12 missiles before its revolving magazines ran dry. Each separate explosion caused Sahaquiel to jerk, disabling its shields, overloading its engine core, and completely disabling its weapon systems.
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