The shattered edge

[arvg]

"We did as they asked, why are they attacking?" Pasha asked, sitting in the co-pilot's chair on the Social Credit, watching the drones commencing their attack.

Dancing his hands across the console he brought the weapons online for Commander Brooks, the Coalition Officer working the anti-torque pedals, turning the nose of the Storm class gunboat about so that it could target the inbound drones. It's rapid fire cannons spitting out a stream of tracer fire that the TADS (Target Acquisition and Designation System) headset Jayce was wearing over his right eye controlled.

The first drone exploded, followed quickly by the second.

"The overhead drones are holding position..." Pasha muttered. "It seems these two were just a test of our defenses."

The problem with the test was that it indicated the drones wouldn't stay idle for long, and despite the Coalition's best efforts to appease them, an attack was looming on the horizon.

---

[arvg]

Weaving amongst the drifting wreckage of the derelict alien warship, the XKR danced into and out of the range of the one operating CIWS, a weapon vaguely reminiscent of a Solaris cannon, hurling angry weapons fire after the prototype fighter. Alvarez watched the BDI scanners on his HUD, as the XKR searched for the drone control array, the one thing that would give them the ability to end the crippling threat that was poised to destroy them all.

The only logical superstructure containing any power was a large dorsal dome lit with a glimmering spectrum of purple light, near to the aft propulsion generators. The problem was the heavy armour panels meant that he would need a significant amount of firepower to bring it down. Firepower he simply didn't have aboard the lightly armed XKR.

His assessment of the drone threat to the Flotilla, and the fact that the XKR could detect no other active weapon system indicated the importance of him taking action. The problem was, the only way to accomplish it was to overload the Hessian reactor aboard the XKR and turn the prototype fighter into the equivalent of a flying bomb.

Well it had been a good life so far...

The mildly reassuring thought, as he accessed the engine controls and fed in his command overrides to trigger the overload, was that they would probably award him another medal.

"Comradas," he spoke into his TAC as he worked. "I have located the source of the drones, and I am about to neutralize it. Hermanos, when I signal, you should attack the drones quickly and destroy them all. I am transmitting my guncam telemetry..."

He broadcast as he swept the XKR out away from the debris field. A thought tickled his mind at how beautiful it looked, the ghost ship amidst the darkness, drifting lit up by the glittering stars.

"Si, Hermanos, make the most of this, eh?" he commented shutting off the TAC to stop the flood of frantic calls for him not to attempt it. He'd heard it all before, and he simply didn't feel like debating his own mortality when he was making a deal for his soul with the devil.

He hit the throttle.

The XKR screamed to full speed, slamming back down through the debris field, trailing fire as it barrel rolled around the desperate alien weapons fire. The range to target counting down rapidly, the guncam data relayed back to the flotilla as the alien warship filled the cam view.

And with a slight pop, the transmission ended in silence.

Above them the drones broke formation, confusion reigning in their ranks as they tracked each other with the absence of a master control signal.

---

[Yuveraj Khan]

Silence rang heavy on the bridge of the Kerimov as the guncam went dark.

Razin stood up from the Command chair.

"Captain?" he called into the TAC, "Captain Alvarez? El Coyote, come in!!!!"

"Sir, orders?" one of the bridge officers asked, as a second later Lieutenant-Commander Santorini brought the Kerimov's power back online.

Razin's jaw worked in shock. "F-fire... fire everything on the drones!"

The Kerimov came about, it's weapons hurling fire up at the drones, tearing into the drones as the ships around it went active spitting fire into the drones, ending their threat.

---

[Pacific]

Dimitrov saw that the drones were inactive and order'd the Tactical officer to Open fire.

"Open Fire all weapons Normal Missile to full salvos Engage at will !!!!!

The Officer Noded and respond

"Aye Sir locking weapons opening fire"

And the Botev started raging at the drone's destroying one by one each one of them. The Razors of the Botev cry d like thunder and its missiles were raging like fighter among the drones. Destroying all the drones that were a direct threat to the Botev.

Petko sited down on his chair and awaited a Comunication from the Kerimov.

---

<3 Omicron <3

<3 Chuba<3

[Aphil]

Steele immediately noticed something had changed after Alvarez's link went dead. The once orderly cloud of Drones had been thrust into chaos, attacking each other indiscriminately. At this point in time the Krazni had managed to get Life Support, Engines, and Minimal Shields, however the Weapons were still a no go.

Instead of fighting which would of been silly considering he had no weapons online, Steele began to move the Krazni and began collecting the spaced crew members of each vessel and ferrying them back to the Kerimov. While the battle raged outside, Steele carefully managed to extract almost all of the crews that had been spaced.

Once this had been done, he moved into position near the Kerimov to assist in Target Acquisition. Outside his vessel the battle continued to rage with all sorts of weapons fire from the other Gunboats present and the Kerimov as well. The tide had shifted, however he felt he had a duty to Captain Alvarez, he immediately set off towards his last known location in the hopes of being able to recover him. He dodges drone after drone, taking advantage of the general chaos, slowly, he began making his way through the cloud.

---

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[Pacific]

Dimitrov was sitting in his chair and when he saw the CPW-Krasni October to Move towards the cloud. Petko Decided To Fallow the October to Support it Petko Contacted Steeles.

"Comrade Steels, we are going to come with you to give you support you cant go alone like that."

Petko turnd to his helm Officer

"Helmsmen Mach speed with the October and Fallow it"

Helm officer responded

"Da comrade Commondir"

Petko Turned to his tactical officer.

"Keep the October covert from any random or deliberate drone attacks they can't defend themselves"

The Botev moved right above the Octover and matching its speed. Botev started firring Razors keeping the October covert and safe. Untill they get their weapon systems back online. Petko resumed the comm link with Steels.

"Comrade Steels we got you cover'd and we are going to proceed with you. Dimitrov out"

Having said that Petko keep't his eye on the view screen observing the drones, who are been blown up buy the Botev razors.

---

<3 Omicron <3

<3 Chuba<3

[Aphil]

"Alright, the Botev's got our six gentlemen, lets give these drone's hell"

Steele kept weaving through the Drones as the Botev cut them down with well placed Razors. Steele's tech was making slow progress towards getting the weapons online and finally, he had control of two Razors. Together, the Krazni and Botev cut a swath through the drone fleet. Taking advantage of the chaos created by the disruption of the master signal they moved closer and closer to Alvarez's last known position. Slowly, they approached and had to immediately begin evasive maneuvers as something within a shroud of shadows began firing at them. Steele recognized it from the video feed of Alvarez's last transmission. Immediately he began looking for something that had the fresh burns of a XKR Reactor Overload. He only hoped that Alvarez managed to survive that.

---

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[arvg]

The escape pod trill-beeped again.

Alvarez's eyes shot open, as he realized he wasn't dead... there were small miracles at work, that he was sure of. Maybe his wife's spirit, and the God she believed in were still watching out for him.

The tell-tale trill beep.

He reached out to rub the condensation on the glass of the escape pod, and was surprised to see he wasn't drifting in space. Quite the contrary, he was on a deck, somewhere, surrounded by snow?!?!

"Atmosphere detected, warning climate beyond the pod is at exposure levels... you are advised to..."

Alvarez, as usual, promptly ignored the computer.

Safety wasn't sitting in a pod on some alien ship waiting to be rescued, when any old beastie could come along and view him as a tasty sardine in a little can.

He slipped the BDI helmet off as he took his first breath of the alien air. Stingingly cold...

Dropping to a knee beside the pod he quickly flipped open the survival gear hatch, tugging out the warm thermal sweater and the heavy wool coat, he donned them, glancing around him... finally tugging the warm fur cap that was Coalition standard. Taking just enough time to sling on the Klashnikov assualt rifle and ammunition he needed.

Armed, warm, and feeling moderately better about his situation he stared around the gigantic bay. There were ships there, buried beneath a thin layer of crisp white snow... indicative of a severe environmental malfunction somewhere in the ship... he turned and blinked at the massive force-field separating his bay from the depths of space.

"¡oh mi dios!" he uttered watching the ships, slivers of light, battling the drones. Flashes of weapons fire flickering too and from, followed by the brilliant blooms of Razor fire.

"Alvarez to Kerimov," he called, clicking the TAC-LINK...

Static

"Si, si, typical," he murmured. Shaking his head as he searched for a way out of the bay.

---

[Yuveraj Khan]

The drones were quickly dispatched, as Razin crossed his arms, looking in concern towards their point of origin, the ships were flowing swiftly towards the alien behemoth that seemed still and dark, save for the sparkling play of lights along its length. There was nothing dead about that ship, and that meant they had to move with caution.

"Order the Botev to recover the drifting crews, and bring them back to the Kerimov," Razin commanded. "Santorini, get across to the Social Credit... Prepare a full boarding party, we're going aboard that ship... BAAL, Krasni... I want you to scan that ship from stem to stern. On your word, we will launch. Be cautious... sensors indicate there is at least one active weapon system onboard, there may be more."

"Permission to go with the boarding party," Doctor XiaoBei requested.

"Not just yet," Razin replied. "Let's secure it first, then allow our best minds across... I'd rather not risk loosing you to some kind of alien bear trap, at least not yet."

---

[Jayce]

Brooks ordered the pilot of the Credit to maneuver towards the alien derelict, aligning it to the hangar bay. "Navigator, initiate landing procedures."

"Colonel," the gunner said in a thick Russian accent "We've dracked Captin Alvarez' pod to zis landing bay.

"Good, set us down, and arm a detachment. We're gonna' go find the boss." Jayce said, a smile creeping across his face. He always loved using his favorite gun.

Not long after, Jayce returned, clad in a thick wool trench-coat, a breath processor and a large tactical shotgun slung across his back

The squad leader said, a wince coming across his face as he did: "Sir, you need to stay here. The skipper is not permitted to go on landing and boarding parties until the first wave of troops has landed. Remember the last time..."

"Shut up. I'll stay. But if you take too long, well... I wont be happy and neither will my trigger finger.

As the boarding party trotted off into the distance, a multitude of vile screams were audible over the tac-comms, along with the harrowing sound of weapons fire.

"Alright, second wave, with me. Let's find out what's going down... You too, Pasha. Let's roll." Jayce said, swinging the shotgun off of his shoulders, checking the load, and trotting off the boarding ramp of the Credit.

---