Light's First Call [FT|Semi-Opened]

[Itailian Maifias]

OOC: Please note that if you wish to be involved in this roleplay, I ask you telegram me before posting.
Commander Servius Urbicus Sabinus
ISS Sagittarius (C.S.C - 03), Constellation-class service cruiser
Alveus Urbis Shipyards, Yol, Beta Quadrant
First Seed 19, 5E110

" Commander Sabinus, thank you for joining us so quickly"

Admiral Kaegor let the clever remark go with a small remark on his face as Servius walked through the door, his red command uniform slightly ruffled but he quickly straightened it out as he entered the room that served as his ready room. It was a small room, about eleven feet by eight feet with a desk that took up the right hand wall as you walked in and then a small couch on the opposite wall from it. On the front wall was a monitor embedded into the wall, which now had the faces of eleven commanders, commanders of the eleven starships docked at Alveus Urbis Docks here in orbit around Yol. Ever since the colony had been rapidly expanding since the turn of the century, the shipyards were the one of the first new projects to accompany them. They were completed in 5E75 and now served as the principal shipyards for the new interstellar Empire of Itailia,that is, if you could call one and a half colonized planets interstellar.

Sabinus sat down in the chair behind his desk and turned it so it faced the screen, the Admiral's face in dead center and the other commanders circled around the edge of the screen. The Admiral cleared his throat and then continued, a small star chart now being pulled up onto the screen and then being highlighted by some unknown manipulator, the Admiral's voice then coming through " What you see before you is the Sibbi System, just about twenty lightyears from Yol and our home system. One of the deep space probes launched from Ceres's surface last year by the colonists found it three days ago and preliminary scans from it show that it could be a habitable and it looks from what we can barely tell, to be resource heavy. Space Command wants the system more clearly charted and explored and if there is any Class M's in it, they want it confirmed and relayed back immediately so mining operations can begin. Apparently the coffers are starting to run dry with these new projects Research and Development keep dreaming up, so the Government is looking for a new to sustain them without raising taxes. Commander Sabinus will lead a task group of the Sagittarius, the Centauri and Aquilonis to the system and begin the operations. You're to depart immediately. Any questions?"

None of the commanders raised any questions, though Sabinus felt some concern. The Centauri and Aquilonis were one of the five new Constellations rolled out of the shipyards in the last two years and unlike the other ships of the class, they were lacking in crew experience and mission times. He just hoped it wouldn't result in any mistakes. Sabinus cut the feed to the joint chat and then opened a new one to the commanders of the Centauri and Aquilonis " We'll jump just inside the system, near what's been labeled as Sibbi I. After that, we'll deploy the probes and sit back and let the machines do their work. Standard ISF exploration formation, Sabinus out."

Sabinus cut the feed to the chat and then stood up from his chair and walked out from the ready room which lead into a narrow hallway that would fed into the bridge. The bridge itself was an uncomplex design, a somewhat large square room with two rows of consoles in the center, with holographic HUD's projected in front of each of them. Sabinus made note as he saw each of his officers hard at work before taking up his chair which was at the back of the room, melded into the back wall. " Commander, all systems are green and we are good to begin undocking. "

" Excellent, release the mooring clamps, Helmsman, take us out nice and easy at quarter thrust."

The three large NERVA engines at the back of the ship ignited in a massive burst of yellow-orange light as the clamps holding the ship to the space dock were released and the ship slowly guided itself out and away from the structure; behind it, two vessels doing the same moves. Within a few moments the three ships had formed a staggered line and then, in a quick flash of blue light, all three disappeared as they slipped into hyperspace.

The voyage itself was uneventful, it was nine day trip that was extended to eleven after the Centauri's central NERVA engine suffered a minor failure that caused the convoy to stop and wait while it was repaired. Sabinus changed formations to put the two newer ships at the fore while he guarded the rear, hoping that there would be no more delays on this mission. He was reading over a data intake report when he felt a slight lurch in the ship before his helm announced " Sir, we've arrived in the Sibbi system. The other two ships have arrived as well, beginning to deplo..."

Before the man could finish his sentence, the ship was rocked with a heavy shake and tumble, throwing Sabinus out of his chair and sending the power on the bridge and the lights flickering. It took him a few seconds to recover, seeing most of the officers on the floor and he himself with a busted lip which he stemmed with one hand " Status report, what the hell was that?"

" Sir, hostile ship bearing at 240 mark 12. It's now targeting the Aquilonis."

" Gunnery, target that damn thing with all AORS's and take it out. Direct the Centauri and Aquilonis to do the same, evasive maneuvers as well."

The Sagittarius moved right as the three NERVA engines kicked in, the ship attempting to outflank the hostile cruiser while the other two ships of the flotilla moved to assault the ship head on and keep it pinned down. As Sabinus and his ship drew closer, the cannons on top of his ship began firing off in a blaze, propelling shells down range towards the enemy. " Sir, the Aquilonis has taken considerable damage, only one of it's cannons are still online and it's reporting multiple hull breaches past the bulkheads. "

From the corner of his eye, through the large window in the front of the room, Sabinus saw a large explosion as an enemy shell tore straight through the hull of the Centauri, leaving a stream of torn and shrewn metal in it's wake. " Sir, Centauri is reporting a massive power loss, if it tries to activate it's FTL drive it may explode. We need to leav.."

With the other two ships disabled or heavily damaged, it was now focused on the Sagittarius, who was skillfully, yet barely, dodging the enemy rounds while a few harmlessly bounced into the ship's armoring. The two ships went back and forth, playing duck and goose until the enemy was finally goaded into trying to broadside the larger Sagittarius who unleashed a full salvo on the enemy ship, which left pockets of shell damage in it's hull and one of it's two engines was faltering and certain to fail. Sabinus breathed a sign of relief as he leaned over "Get the Aquilonis and jump back to Yol. Now."

[Itailian Maifias]

Commander Servius Urbicus Sabinus
ISS Sagittarius (C.S.C - 03), Constellation-class service cruiser
Alveus Urbis Shipyards, Yol, Beta Quadrant
First Seed 28, 5E110

" Commander? Commander are you still there?"

Servius snapped out of his reverie; he had apparently fallen into a daydream while the Admiral had been conducting the briefing. The last couple of days had been pure hell. Naturally, when he and the Aquilonis had pulled back into the Shipyards without the Centauri, things were heightened and then only more so when they had been debriefed by the Admiral, who was not at all pleased that they had left a ship behind, more importantly one that had a crew of over five hundred men. The situation was only made worse when long range scanners on a starbase in Yol's orbit detected an unknown group of ships in bound for Yol. Naturally, the blame had been placed upon Servius for letting a ship with charts that had a course back home on them falling into hostile hands. All ships had been alerted and a distress call sent home to High Command for reinforcements, which had arrived yesterday in the form of the ISS Constellation and Talos themselves, who were escorted by four new frigates that were rushed into service.

Servius rubbed his forehead and then looked up at the screen, attempting to put on a small smile to ward away the discomfort he was feeling " Yes my apologies, drifted off."

" Right, as I was saying, Captain Epolonius of the Talos will lead the battle group towards this frigid rock just five lightyears from Yol; explorers dubbed Premida I. We estimate that will be where you will be able to intercept the enemy fleet and, with luck, destroy them. As you are all aware, for the last four days engineers have been bustling through your ships giving them a major refit and upgraded armaments. Use them well Captains, you will be needing them. In the event that the battle goes sour, you are to revert to delay tactics; there are several ships on the verge of being completed here and we will need time to get them out, as well as the colonists on the surface. Shoot for engines, knock out power, I don't care, just do whatever you can to take them out of action. Captain Epolonius, I'll turn this over to you, Gods be with you all."

The screen went black and the ISF symbol appeared, just spinning slowly on the blank background. Servius sighed as he turned to his computer where a message, from Aulus Claudius Epolonius of the Talos, had arrived, relaying simple mission move out times and last minute instructions. Servius tapped the screen and transferred the message to the large, thin, tablet on his desk and then picked it up before walking out onto the bridge. He pulled up the ship's readiness report before sitting down in his chair and hitting the button that activated the intercom. " Commander Malchus, how are we looking in engineering?"

A few moments of silence occurred before a deep husk voice replied " Definitely ready Captain. Those dock hands just left a few hours ago and my boys have given these new reactors a run through to ensure they're working properly. I've realigned the EFG to compensate for the new power requirements of the additional cannons and missiles and we're all ship shape. Additionally, we've patched up the holes from the last encounter."

Servius nodded in pleasure before disconnecting the chat and reopened a new one, directed down to his Chief Gunnery Officer who was down in the armory. " Lieutenant Apellinus, have we got those new weapons online?"

" Aye sir, they're ready to go. Took a few hours to get all the new missiles in but we've managed to squeeze them in. I have all hands on the decks just in case sir."

Servius smiled with this good news before completing the dock pre-checklist on his tablet and then signing off on it before leaning over to his Comms Officer " Ensign, sound Yellow Alert, Helm begin undocking maneuvers and rendezvous with the rest of the fleet.

In the following minutes, the numerous ships of the battle group lit up the space sky as their thrusters were ignited as they undocked from the massive shipyard and joined up in a formation outside of the orbit of Yol. In total, it was a modest collection of ships; six Constellation-class cruisers followed by the four Gladius-class frigates for ten ships in total. The largest fleet ever assembled by the ISF, but still out numbered nearly two to one by the enemy.

As the Sagittarius joined the fleet, the ships quickly arranged themselves into a diamond like formation; the Constellation cruisers forming the diamond while the frigates were contained in the center. The theory of thought was that as soon as the fleet arrived at Premida they would engage the enemy once they were in missile range and then once they bombarded them with missiles, rush in the wake of said strike and unleash the frigates to wreck havoc behind what remains of the hostile fleet. The trip to the planet would take two days at Warp 1.8, which was the fastest the Constellation's could travel. The entire two days was spent in agonizing anxiety for the some four thousand men and women that crewed the ten ships; all of their shifts extended in case of an attack, sleep was impossible to do the anxiety of the inevitable battle; and the officers were no better. Servius himself refused to leave the bridge until his first officer nearly forcibly had him relocated to his quarters for sleep.

On the day of the battle, the Itailian fleet appeared to be the first to arrive at Premida; they're warp exit occuring just a few hundred thousand kilometers from the planet. It was an odd sight, a paleish purple but nearly white surface and arguably just as large as Yol. The scientific argument was that it possibly was once habitable but it's star went supernova and Premida was blasted out of it's sphere of influence, thereby killing all life and habitation on it.

Half an hour was spent just waiting there on the south side of the planet, waiting for the enemy. Long range scanners were limited on the ships so they relied on communication with Starbase 7 at Yol for a location on the enemy and subspace communications at those lengths took time. " Sir, the Talos says that the last scan concluded that the enemy should be here in any minute."

Five minutes went by before a large green flash was spotted on the other far side of the planet and after ten minutes of maneuvering, it revealed the enemy's fleet. It numbered twenty one ships in total, most of them just barely bigger then the Itailian frigates; save for one which was presumably the flagship, a long tube like vessel which was a few hundred meters larger then the Constellations. Uneasy seconds, then minutes went by before a on screen communication from Captain Epolonius appeared on the front screen. " All commanders, I have just concluded a conversation with our humble guests. They appear to be an alien race, they call themselves Polidans, and apparently we violated some religious thing that now dictates they must destroy us. I'm forwarding a picture on screen now of their commander. "

In a instant a large white being now inhabited the screen; it was vaguely humanoid, except it's skull was much larger and more pronounced and from what could be told, they were much larger then humans and quite vividly as pale as a cold winter's snow. They bore two eyes on either side of a nasal like formation, deeply purple with black iris's. The image only hovered for a few moments, but long enough for bile to form in many crew's mouths and a pure disgust and hatred formed within all of them; a desire to destroy those who seeked destruction. Epolonius reappeared on screen, a tense face maintained. " At my ship's signal, all ships are to engage with Type 1 missile's. We will expend our missile magazines before engaging with guns, or if they come too close, we will then revert to Phase II. May the Gods favor us."

The communication was terminated and the live feed of the space before them resumed; peaceful for a few moments as the two fleets stared each other down, until white streaks of smoke plummeted from the Talos as it fired off a full salvo of it's one hundred and sixty missile tubes, quickly followed within seconds from the other nine of the ships, putting more then a thousand missiles into the space and streaking at neckbreaking speeds towards the enemy fleet. They appeared to try to out run the missiles but more then one failed to do this as four fireballs were seen as the missiles made deadly, and ultimately fatal, contact with four of the enemy's ships and making even more contacts with less positive results on practically the entire fleet. Two more salvo's were fired off by the Itailian fleet, wrecking havoc amongst the enemy lines and spreading their formation out to a very loose one as they lost five more ships, to either destruction or disablement. At this point, the Itailian fleet surged forward to meet the oncoming charge, the red or orange glow from NERVA thrusters or impulse engines illuminating the rear. Half a minute before they were in gun range the enemy fleet finally got their change to open fire, a vicious hail of a form of laser weaponry unleashed at the oncoming ships. Within moments, the Itailian fleet returned fire, a malicious display put up as they cut through the hostile craft; but not without taking losses of their own. The Polidan's lasers began having a devastating effect, punching holes left and right through the virtually defenseless Constellation-class ships; one of which received a blast of laser fire to it's engines, which destroyed half of the craft as it's nuclear engines detonated and then exploded. The Sagittarius took several near crippling blasts from the enemy flagship, punching major holes or leaving dread trench marks across the hull as the lasers glided by. The bridge of the ship shook with each impact, and eventually, power began flickering making everyone beginning to worry, worry even more as they saw another fireball to their left as four Polidan ships engaged one of the rear Constellation's and tore the ship in half. " Sir, the Regulus and Omega are gone, and Engineering is reporting numerous HFG flame outs on Decks 4, 6, and 8. Power is..."

A more vicious roar rippled through the Sagittarius as, with the diamond now partially opened, three of the hostile craft opened fire on the ship's rear, nearly destroying one of the three NERVA thrusters in the rear. " Helm, evasive actions now but stay in formation until Talos gives the word or we see the frigates break out. "

" Engine 2 is gone sir, and there's a flame-out in Engine 3!"

" Damnint, Maluchus, get our engines back on or we'll be picked apart. Gunnery, engage with missiles if you must"

The port cell of the ship fired off a deadly salvo at it's rear attackers, and at near point blank range they caught the ships off guard, sending all three into a fiery oblivion. As soon as they were destroyed, a third Constellation took a hit that ripped open a hole in the hull a few hundred meters long, causing a power outage and the ship to be disabled. At this point, the rear of the diamond was completely broken and the frigates then broke out, letting off a furry of laser fire from their new weapons as they engaged the harassing hostile ships. " Talos to Sagittarius, join the Centauri and i in a approach on that flagship. We need to take it out of commission, target it's port side weapons if you can."

" Copy Talos; Helm increase to full thrust and stick to a the arrowhead formation. Gunny, redirect all fire on that flagship, target that portship hangar structure, engage with missiles once we're within three hundred meters"

The three ships quickly moved in on the flagship, whose escorts were now distracted by the tenacious Gladius frigates. Servius did not want to look back, for a sinking feeling inside of him told him that the frigates were probably either disabled or destroyed. Within five minutes the ships were within three hundred meters of the flagship, the Talos swarmed up and unleashed a missile barrage into the top of the enemy's bridge while the Centauri attacked it's engines. The Sagittarius was the last to fire, it's missile barrage utterly shredding the port side hangar, ripping off the outside hull, just leaving behind an exposed and destroyed remnant of what once was. At this point the flagship had noticed the attack, but was powerless to stop the Talos as all of it's weaponry was mounted on the sides save one battery of laser turrets which quickly unleashed hails of fire at the oncoming Talos, scorching in numerous areas and puncturing it in others. The Sagittarius banked left to run along the port side of the ship as it poured missiles into the laser turrets along the ship's side, destroying many of them and just leaving large gaping holes filled with twisted metal, burnt cables and plasma flameouts. A few laser turrets managed to survive the blast and managed to sneak a few collected blasts into the underside of the hull, leaving a few holes in the process.

On the bridge of the Sagittarius, things were going more tense and delicate just as the battle quickened outside. The Engineering station had long since been vacated as the officer scrambled to assist his teams in patching the repairs, and a EFG shortage in a comms panel caused an explosion near the face of an officer that rendered her dead; the crew too busy to pick up her body, it lay near the door out of the bridge, her blood pooled underneath her on the cold grey metal floor. As the ship glided across the main hull of the flagship it shook with explosions as still operational laser batteries ripped through the hull plating, one blast leaving a twenty meter gash across the hull near the engines. The light briefly flickered for a few moments and then an explosion at another console, sending it's officer manning it flying backwards and falling to the floor, his chest filled with shrapnel. A second shaking was occurred a few moments after that, sending most to the floor, Servius just managing to catch himself this time. His remaining operations officer quickly stood up and examined the flickering console, the lights now out and the emergency ones the only light sources illuminating the bridge. " Sir, hull integrity is down to fifty one percent, I'm getting numerous reports of hull breaches through numerous decks, alot of crew getting sucked out by the vortex.."

" Seal all the bulkheads and get everyone who isn't fucking fighting into their quarters. Give them two minutes before sealing every bulkhead on this ship, should minimize the damage slightly."

Servius reverted to kneeling on a knee, his one hand wiping away the blood from a laceration on his temple before activating the intercom " Engineering, what's going on down there? "

" What's going on?!? I've got more then forty five EFG flameouts and twelve of those are major. That damn engine is sucking more power then ever, Captain, we can't take too much more of this or the reactors may go critical."

Servius nodded slowly before using the armrest to prop himself back into the chair " Comms, do we still have the ability to communicate with the Talos?"

Just as the words were spoken he noticed a large explosion rip through the Talos as two of the enemy ships descended on it, firing off a full salvo at one spot. The Itailian flagship's thrusters noticeably lessened and lights began flickering as the ship began slowing to a halt. " Sir, they're not responding to hails."

" Hail the Centauri, get their status."

A few minutes of awkward silence as the comms officer adjusted radio bands and addresses and contacted the Centauri. One hand firmly placing one ear piece of his headset into his ear, he carefully listened to what was being transmitted over audio. " Sir, it say's they're running out of shells and their missile magazines are emptied. Additionally, two of the new frigates have been disabled and are not operating and they say they can see about five remaining enemy frigates or cruisers. "

Servius sighed as he considered the situation carefully; most officers at this point would retreat with what little ships remained, but the last point of the Admiral's honed in to him; if the situation was bleak, to devote yourself to defending the Empire and giving innocents time to escape. He gripped the armrests of his chair tightly with both hands, leaning forward slightly as if expecting something " Helm, RV with the Centauri, we'll use our last missiles to destroy the engines and maybe do some damage to this damnable ship. Have the Centauri break off and attempt to help those frigates"

As the battered Centauri limped away to assist the two remaining frigates, the Sagittarius glided over the engines, which were clearly barely operational as the red glare from their ignition was slowly fading. Their housings were heavily damaged, pock marked with holes from the fire from the Centauri. The guns of the Sagittarius spit out a few rounds as they flew over head before taking a few minutes to turn to broadside the engines. All rear facing of the Polidan batteries had been disabled so they were not fired upon as they unleashed a full barrage of their four guns into the central engine, followed by a final barrage of their last thirty missiles which resulted in a massive explosion that chained a replication of it throughout the entire flagship, the rear of the ship cracking from the the rest of it as the explosions disintegrated what was left of the hull. At this point the Sagittarius turned to assist the remaining Itailian ships to find they had managed to disable two of the enemy ships before the other three limped back home, severely damaged. " Comms, contact the Centauri and the frigates, get a status report."

" While we're waiting for there's sir, our hull integrity is down to thirty percent, more then twenty major hull breaches, four of which run along the spine. We're reporting one hundred and seven confirmed dead with the crew, and an additional two hundred missing, more then half of the crew sir. Wait a moment..a signal from the Talos. They took their reactors offline before they could overload, they're resetting one now but it will still be another hour before it's ready and even at that, the fastest they'll be able to travel is barely half of warp speed. It reports two thirds of the crew dead or disabled, which is on line with the Centauri who lost about a third of their crew. Our long range comms array is done, but Centauri is relaying a message to Yol now. Recommends requesting a hypertug for the Talos."

" Do so, we can not risk leaving a near operational ship here. What about the signs from the other ships?"

" All crews are dead on the disabled ships sir; total losses are nearing 4,000"

" Order the two frigates to guard the Talos and send over what engineering help they can, meanwhile, get us home; I have a feeling this is just the beginning"

[Itailian Maifias]

OOC: As a small note; instead of this taking place in the perspective of a character, it's just summarizing the first seven years of the war for you, the reader

Commander Servius Urbicus Sabinus P.C. L.M.
ISS Sagittarius (C.S.C - 03), Constellation-class service cruiser
In orbit around Demeter, Omnes System, Beta Quadrant
Morning Star 4, 5E117


The battle had been hellish. The Polidan carrier had been detected four days ahead of time but the reinforcements from Yol just barely got their in time to defend the growing colony. The carrier had not been encountered before but High Command had learned of it's design from a Polidan cruiser that attacked Yol and was damaged and crashed to the surface. The carriers were designed for deep space and carried a quite hefty compliment of seventy five fighters and or bombers and the carrier despite being engaged by the ISS Iberia which was defending the colony was able to launch it's bombers before the Sagittarius and the Orion were able to arrive. The battle was costly, as they all were; bombers managed to destroy most of the Demeter colony and the Orion's engines were knocked out by enemy fire, sending it crashing down onto the surface, mostly intact. It would take months to get it back into space and operational, assuming High Command even tried.

For the last seven years, the Empire couldn't crank off enough ships to battle the Polidans. It'd became vaguely clear after the Battle of Premida that this war was not going to be a complete push over, but the Battle of Ceres four months later was even more shocking; eight of the nine Itailian vessels destroyed or disabled, the Empire couldn't build the ships fast enough. Constellation's took three years to make and Gladius's took a full year, even with the Alevus Urbis Shipyards and the Imperii Shipyards back home getting expanded and an largely increased work force. They managed to get the production times down a bit, but it still wasn't fast enough. Servius was aware of the projections, the same ones that High Command kept on a wall every day, the ones he had made himself on his own; that within eight months, they'd be over-run by the Polidans. The attacks on Yol were getting more brazen every day, with with the Orbital Defense System. The attacks were usually easily quashed by the ODS, but now they were growing in size and shrinking the time in between them. A raid last week managed to destroy two of the ODS platforms and it would be weeks before they could be replaced. The Empire needed help; and it needed help badly.

[Interstellar Planets]

"Final checks completed, Captain," called the Romulan first officer, Commander Dorek'a, from the opposite side of the bridge, as he temporarily manned the communications station. "Maintenance crews are leaving the ship. We're good to go."

"Understood, Commander," Captain T'Lum nodded as he stepped down to his command chair and took a seat, not before a female yeoman handed him a burgundy tunic. The Oberth-class USS Kearny had been undergoing a vital refit, designed to extend her commission for at least another ten years. Most radically altered was the warp drive, which brought the small science vessel into line with ships such as the Constitution- and Miranda-classes, both of which had undergone similar refits over the last few years. It had taken the better part of four months, but it was finally completed - and Starfleet already had a mission in mind for the little ship.

"So what did Admiral Barnes have to say for himself, Captain?" Dorek'a asked, moving to stand next to the centre seat. T'Lum cocked an eyebrow and looked up at him.

"We are to support a palaeontological expedition in Beta quadrant," T'Lum informed him, in his rasping voice. "Spacedock Control have already delivered assorted equipment and personnel aboard to be used there. An independent group of palaeontologists have discovered the remains of some manner of creature which they believe to be of galactic significance, and they have petitioned Starfleet for assistance in recovering them."

Dorek'a seemed to sigh inwardly for a moment. T'Lum was well aware of the Romulan's distaste for serving aboard a science vessel; he longed for a more exciting assignment, but lacked the emotional control necessary to be promoted to such. The two - one a passionate Romulan, the other a dispassionate Vulcan, but both distant cousins from the same ancestry, often clashed on the issue, with Dorek'a frequently putting in for a transfer whenever he didn't get his own way; T'Lum found him difficult to deal with. Noticing his reaction, T'Lum stoically brought the conversation to a close. "I will pass along the details to you to peruse on the way. Now, take your station, Commander."

"Aye, sir," the first officer nodded, moving away from the centre of the bridge.

T'Lum slipped his tunic on and closed up the flap beneath his rank insignia, adjusting the Starfleet insignia on his left breast so that it was meticulously straight. He looked across to the communications station, now manned properly by a young, black-haired human male. "Lieutenant Vasquez; send to Spacedock Control - USS Kearny requesting departure clearance. Commander Dorek'a - set condition blue throughout the ship."

"Aye sir, condition blue set," Dorek'a responded, and the lights dimmed and were replaced with a dim haze of blue. Meanwhile Vasquez held his earpiece against his ear and sent the request. T'Lum picked up his datapad and began studying what they knew of the find made by the palaeontologists - Admiral Barnes hadn't gone in to much detail, preferring the Captain to garner the details for himself. He didn't have long to read it undisturbed, though.

"November-Charlie-Charlie dash Eight-Zero-One, this is Spacedock Control - you are cleared for departure, over," the cheerful voice of a disembodied woman announced through the bridge speakers. T'Lum looked at the viewscreen, watching the enormous space doors begin to open and a series of guide lights sparkled to life along the 'floor' of Spacedock's hangar, showing the way out into space - an aesthetic touch that served little purpose, and T'Lum didn't understand its inclusion in the design of the colossal space station.

"Helm, clear all moorings," T'Lum commanded immediately after the announcement had run its course.

"All moorings clear, Captain," the Andorian helmsman acknowledged. "Thrusters at station-keeping."

"Thrusters ahead, Lieutenant," T'Lum said finally. "Take us out."

Kearny's thrusters gradually brought the small starship up to a crawling speed as she manoeuvred her way past several much larger starships, gradually passing through the great space doors and out into open space. She performed an impulse turn after travelling a short distance, and began to gather more momentum as her impulse drive propelled her out of the Novus Romulus star system. When she was clear of the heliosphere, her warp drive engaged and she sped into the distance in a multicoloured blaze of light, disappearing in a flash.

***

After travelling for several days through the interstellar void, Kearny's diminutive frame dropped out of warp in an uncharted system, bathed in the glow of the distant sun at its centre. It wasn't their chosen destination, and given the abrupt nature of her arrival it didn't seem planned. She began cruising at low impulse speeds, seemingly aiming to go nowhere.

T'Lum glanced over at Vasquez, his expression remaining neutral, and raised an eyebrow. Their unplanned deceleration had been somewhat... bumpy. "Lieutenant, shipwide damage report."

"All decks reporting in sir; no damage or casualties," the Lieutenant responded. That was something, at least.

"Bridge, Engineering," a disembodied voice came through the intercom. "The warp drive has gone offline; a chronic imbalance has developed in the intermix chamber - we're not going anywhere under our own power for a while sir."

"Engineering, I thought our new warp drive had been thoroughly tested prior to our departure?" the Captain asked, somewhat rhetorically. Clearly, it hadn't been that thoroughly tested.

"Aye sir, so did we," came an annoyed reply after a moment's pause. "Main power is still online; you have impulse speeds at your discretion. We'll... we'll see what we can do down here. Engineering out."

T'Lum nodded thoughtfully. The chief engineer's pessimistic 'we'll see what we can do' was understandable; without outside help, it could take a long time to correct such a fundamental flaw, and they'd need to be very careful lest they cause more damage and render them permanently stranded. There was little they could do now but call for assistance and take a look around. Perhaps this unscheduled exploration would satisfy Dorek'a's desire for some excitement?

Glancing over at the Romulan and seeing his expression, T'Lum decided that it probably would not.

"Lieutenant Vasquez - signal Starfleet to send support," the Captain said. "Commander - full sensor sweep of this star system. We need to know what is here if we are going to be spending some time here."

"Aye sir, full sensor sweep," Dorek'a acknowledged, placing his eyes over the sensor hood on his station and flicking a couple of switches. He activated Kearny's powerful suite of sensor packets and began probing every inch of the star system they were in. T'Lum sat back in his chair, placing his fingertips together, and waited to hear what was here.

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
Mars Spacedock, in orbit around Yol, Omnes System, Beta Quadrant
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117


Charles rounded the corner on the Spacedock, his hands figeting with the silver briefcase in his left hand, which swung with his arms as his black boots pounded on the metal flooring of the station. He was fresh from the Demeter colony, having a spent the last few weeks helping rebuild it's defences following the Polidan attack that destroyed a large portion of the colony; how he got that assignment was just another result of the losses of the war, as he had been serving as the Chief Gunnery Officer on the ISS Spadii, a Gladius frigate that had been sent to help defend the colony; which unfortunately fell to the Polidan bombers. Charles was one of the few officers who survived the frigate's crash landing on the planet and then stayed until the Star Fleet sent a shuttle for him, with orders to report to one Rear Admiral Oscar Hooper, who was apparently the new Admiral in command here.

It took him a few minutes of getting past similarly shell shocked crewmen before he finally reached a large lounge that had four chairs and a table and then a door that bore a simple name plating which marked it as Admiral Hooper's office. He noticed the Admiral's yeoman was out, so he took a seat on one of the chairs. It wasn't long before he heard the door to the office woosh open and a short balding man stick his head out. " Lieutenant Commander Desolace? "

" Aye, that'd be me sir."

The Admiral motioned for Charles to enter the small office, the room itself was much smaller then the lounge and was maybe eleven feet by eight; containing a single desk which sat in front of a window looking out and down at the Urbis Shipyards attached to the Spacedock. The Admiral took up his seat behind the desk while Charles sat down at a chair on the opposite side. The Admiral clicked a few buttons before opening up a drawer on his desk and pulling out a small tablet. He transferred a file from the computer to the tablet before handing it to Charles. " Right, Commander, you've been assigned the command of the ISS Sagittarius. It's a Constellation-class, been sitting in the dry dock for a few months now after it's clash at Demeter; those Polidans did a number on her. The previous Captain was killed in the engagement as was a majority of the crew; we've kept most of the bridge officers and then plugged in as needed. Questions? "


Charles tried to not look crest fallen; a Constellation was the last ship he wanted to command. He had heard of the new Centurion-class cruisers that were launching this month and had hoped with his promotion he might of gotten one; they had more firepower then the Constellation and Gladius frigates put together. He took the tablet and looked through the file, a simple document stating his bridge officers and other crew. " No sir, I suppose it got a refit as well? "

" Don't get your hopes up, it simply got two more missile tube sets; nothing special. Now if there's nothing else, you'll find her in the Spacedock and ready to leave."

Charles nodded and then stood up and gave the Admiral a salute before departing from his office. The journey to the actual dock inside the station took a matter of about twenty minutes; it was located on the entire other side of the station which was jam packed with crewmembers and officers. He walked through the lounge's filled with crew awaiting for a ship to be assigned to before reaching the appropriate airlock that led to his ship. When he entered, he was impressed by the presence of another officer awaiting to escort him to the bridge; a Lieutenant judging by the shoulder epaulets on his blue and brown jacket. The two walked in silence for a few moments before the other broke it " Lieutenant Sam Archer sir; your First Officer. I've been on this ship since the day it launched so if you have any questions just let me know. "

It took them a few minutes to reach the bridge, where Charles immediately settled in, taking a seat in the command chair with Sam taking a seat on the Tactical station. Charles checked a few minor things before shouting out to Sam " Lieutenant Archer, is the crew ready to depart? "

" All crewmembers have reported in and are manning stations, Beta shift has begun. All systems are green, Engineering is giving us a go on the Warp drive and impulse engines. Brand new, no more nuclear rockets for us. "

" Contact Spacedock, began undocking procedures"

" Sir, Spacedock Command is contacting us. Sensors have registered an unknown hyperspace contact on the other side of the planet, actually, more closer to it's moon, June. They're asking us to investigate."

" Right, sound General Quarters and alert the gun crews; I'm not letting a Polidan ship get the drop on us. Once we're clear of the station, maximum Warp helm."

It took the four hundred meter ship about ten minutes to get out of the interior of the dock and then exit out into the space around Yol, upon which time it was a matter of moments before the warp engine ignited and at Warp 3, the ship was traveling down to June, the trip itself taking a matter of five minutes. Once the Sagittarius dropped out of warp with a brilliant blue flash of light, Charles peered out through the screen that showed the space in front of the ship; looking for this unknown contact. " Sir, we've found the contact. Sensors are unable to scan it at all, there's something blocking us, but it's unknown configuration, unknown size.. unknown everything really. "

Charles nodded and then leaned his head at his Communications officer " Send out a message on all frequencies, standard identification code"

Unknown ship, this is the ISS Sagittarius of the Itailian Empire. You are intruding on Imperial space; identify or prepare to be boarded"

[Interstellar Planets]

"Well, Commander?" T'Lum asked, in an uncharacteristic display of impatience. The Romulan's eyes were buried in the sensor hood of the science station as he manipulated various switches and buttons to get a reading. The Captain understood that it took a few minutes to scan an entire solar system, its contents, and then try to summarise it verbally, but he liked to keep Dorek'a on his toes.

"Main sequence star... several planets," Dorek'a said after a short pause. "At least one of them is class M. I'm detecting energy signatures and comm traffic. Numerous space vehicles, a starbase."

T'Lum nodded thoughtfully. "On screen."

"On screen, aye," replied the navigator, pressing some buttons. With a chirrup of compliance the viewscreen flicked to life and displayed the class M world on their screen, half-blanketed in darkness. It looked unremarkable in the grand scheme of things. Of course, in the realms of galactic politics habitable worlds may well be considered valuable and rare commodities, but to a seasoned starship captain, they were a dime a dozen. Class M worlds inhabited by advanced space-faring civilisations, on the other hand... less so.

"Detecting another energy signature now," Dorek'a continued his analysis. "It's a ship, on approach vector, low warp velocity. Configuration unknown."

T'Lum noticed the excitement in his voice. This was clearly the kind of action the Romulan had been hoping for. Not T'Lum, though. Were he in command of a more powerful starship capable of defending itself against any aliens with hostile intentions, he might think differently. But Kearny had a couple of low-power phaser banks and that was about it, and her shields weren't rated for combat at all.

She was built to facilitate studies and scientific expeditions, not first contact situations or battle.

All the same, there were protocols to follow, and at the moment there was little chance of them warping to safety.

"Set condition yellow ship-wide," T'Lum barked. "Energise defence screens - leave our shields down for now."

"Now hear this, now hear this - set condition yellow. All hands to duty stations. Repeat, set condition yellow. All hands to duty stations." The computer spewed its pre-recorded message in a politely synthesised female voice, and crew all about the small ship dropped what they were doing and jogged to their pre-assigned stations.

"Have they seen us, Commander?" T'Lum asked as damage control parties in beige and burgundy jumpsuits emerged from the turbolifts and stood out-of-the-way, ready to jump in and fix battle damage if need be.

"Aye sir," the Commander called back. "She's dropping out of warp and on an intercept course."

"Tactical analysis, Commander!"

"Four hundred metres in length. She's flying on impulse drive. No shields that I can detect. I'm seeing what appear to be missile launch tubes and gun turrets, sir."

T'Lum almost seemed relieved. Somewhat basic armaments, but potentially deadly, depending on what kind of warheads they used - but they had to hit their targets first. However, the apparent lack of shields gave little Kearny an edge if it came down to a firefight - her phasers could target their weapons systems with impunity, while her shields and superior agility would buy them enough time to use their speed advantage to get out of weapons range and hide somewhere until a more powerful starship arrived to help them. He hoped that was the scenario, anyway. Otherwise, even with seemingly basic armaments, the alien ship would have been more than a match for the science vessel.

Ideally, though, they'd get out of this without firing a shot.

"Hail them, Lieutenant," T'Lum said, glancing over at the human lieutenant.

"Sir, they are hailing us," Vasquez responded. "Audio only."

T'Lum cocked an eyebrow. "On speaker, Lieutenant."

"Unknown ship, this is the ISS Sagittarius of the Itailian Empire. You are intruding on Imperial space; identify or prepare to be boarded"" came the alien voice through the bridge speakers. T'Lum's heart sank.

"Is their any word from Starfleet Command on when we can expect a ship?" T'Lum asked.

"Negative Captain; at this range it will take several hours for a response to reach us, but they should have received our message by now."

Given how long it had taken Kearny to reach this system, even then the fastest starship in the fleet would be over a week away.

"Apprise them of our updated status, Lieutenant," T'Lum ordered, hoping these aliens weren't blocking long-range communications. "And send to commander, Sagittarius - This is the Federation Starship USS Kearny. We have no hostile intentions. Please stand down. Over."

"Aye sir," Lieutenant Vasquez nodded. "Commander, ISS Sagittarius, this is the Federation Starship..."

While the communications officer related the Captain's message to the alien craft, T'Lum glanced back at Dorek'a. His expression had shifted from excitement to concern. Perhaps this was more than he bargained for?

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
Mars Spacedock, in orbit around Yol, Omnes System, Beta Quadrant
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117


" Commander, the ship is responding, putting it on the speakers"

Sagittarius - This is the Federation Starship USS Kearny. We have no hostile intentions. Please stand down. Over."

Charles's mind immediately began racing; the Polidan had never contacted a Imperial ship before since Premidia and they were definitely never identified as a Federation. Additionally, these people seemed to speak English, which made Charles believe this was First Contact with a non-hostile race.

USS Kearny, I apologize for the nature of my first message, you've arrived at an unusual time. I'm Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace of the Imperial Star Fleet, as I mentioned earlier, of the Itailian Empire. You'll have to forgive the assumed hostility; we're in the middle of a war with an alien race, and we were not aware of any other alien races. If you wish, we can met on one of our ships or one of my starbases to discuss this further.

[Interstellar Planets]

"We're receiving a response, sir."

T'Lum, standing next to his executive officer at the science station as they discussed their tactical options should these seemingly hostile aliens start shooting, looked up from a wireframe image of the much larger alien vessel and nodded to the human comm officer.

"On speaker."

"USS Kearny, I apologize for the nature of my first message, you've arrived at an unusual time. I'm Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace of the Imperial Star Fleet, as I mentioned earlier, of the Itailian Empire. You'll have to forgive the assumed hostility; we're in the middle of a war with an alien race, and we were not aware of any other alien races. If you wish, we can met on one of our ships or one of my starbases to discuss this further."

Leaning back on the science station and gazing at the alien vessel that now loomed ahead of them on the viewscreen, T'Lum rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Their disposition has shifted rather suddenly. Curious."

"It could be a ruse, Captain," Dorek'a suggested, seemingly intent to live up to cultural stereotypes - in this case, Romulan suspicion. "Get us to let our guard down and then strike."

"Possible, Commander," T'Lum nodded. "It could be theorised that they have scanned our vessel and noticed our defence screens and deflector shields, and are now wondering how quickly we can deploy them, how powerful they are, and if their weapons could effectively penetrate them before we could inflict significant damage upon them. Lulling us into a false sense of security would effectively nullify those advantages long enough for them to deliver the first blow."

He strode down to his command chair and took a seat. "However, they claim to be unaware of aliens beyond this unknown adversary of theirs - and as they do not appear to have such technology themselves, it is logical to theorise that their enemy does not either. Therefore, I doubt they could recognise such technology for what it is even if they could scan it. And we have no evidence that they have probed us in such detail in either case."

"That doesn't mean they haven't used sensors of an unknown type that we can't detect!" Dorek'a protested.

"Supposition, Commander," T'Lum suggested. "We have no reason to believe they have such hypothetical 'stealth sensors' based on the available evidence. No, Occam's Razor dictates that the simplest conclusion with the fewest assumptions is likely to be correct. I believe their explanation to be genuine. They are in the middle of a war with another race, and had no idea that other alien civilisations existed. Thus when an unfamiliar vessel appears in their territory, they are naturally suspicious of its intentions. There is no reason for them to lie; at first glance at least, their warship vastly outclasses our science ship. Were they to be aggressive, we would be at their mercy."

"Aye, sir," Dorek'a said, begrudgingly.

"I find it more curious that they appear to be human, yet have little knowledge of the outside world," T'Lum commented.

"What do you mean, sir?" Vasquez piped up. He felt somewhat outnumbered on this ship that was, unusually for a Federation starship, predominantly crewed by non-humans.

"Well, Lieutenant - as you no doubt know already - 'Charles' is, to my knowledge, a human name," T'Lum said. "And while my knowledge of Old Terra history is somewhat rusty, the word 'Itailian' sounds somewhat familiar. It could be a coincidence, but it is curious nevertheless." Vasquez nodded in casual agreement, but said nothing. T'Lum decided that there had been enough opining on the issue - the only one way to find out for sure whether any of these assumptions and theories were correct was by taking action. "Lieutenant, open a visual channel."

T'Lum stood up and adopted a firm posture with his hands behind his back, facing the viewscreen. As the comm officer held an earpiece to his head and clicked some buttons, the Vulcan captain straightened his burgundy tunic. The single-breasted tunic, a deep red in colour, was lined on one side by a black strip that bent in a sharp right-angle near his shoulder, over which a white strip of fabric with his rank insignia was attached. A white turtleneck emerged from beneath, and similar white strips could be found on his sleeves, also adorned with rank insignia. Placed high on his left breast was the golden Starfleet 'arrowhead' logo, similar to the one featured on the black belt wrapped around the lower portion of his torso. His trousers were black and somewhat flared at the bottom, where they met shiny black boots, and had a red strip running down the side. It was a very formal, militaristic affair, as was his hair - glossy and jet black in colour, it appeared to have been cut around a bowl, except for where it went around his pointed ears.

Lieutenant Vasquez nodded as a chirrup signified a connection had been established, though the viewscreen wouldn't display anything until the aliens reciprocated - even if they could not accept visual communications, the audio component should still get through. T'Lum stared at the viewscreen with his beady, brown eyes and spoke with a deep, flat voice, his angular eyebrows demonstrating no more emotion than his tone.

"Commander Desolace, I am Captain T'Lum of the Kearny. I represent the United Federation of Interstellar Planets. My gratitude for your less aggressive posture; our presence here is dictated by a fault in our warp drive, rather than any deliberate intentions on our part. As transmitted a few moments ago, we mean you no harm, and to demonstrate that, I shall have my ship stand down from alert status momentarily."

The language he used was typically bland for a Vulcan, and he realised this as he cleared his throat and continued. "I am sorry to hear about your military troubles, but this does make your initial hostility towards us more... understandable. Given that we shall be stranded here until either our warp drive is repaired or help arrives from the Federation, and that one of our primary missions is exploration, it would be most satisfactory to meet with your people. We have many questions, but not as many as you must have if we are only the second alien civilisation you have encountered. I can beam aboard your vessel shortly, if you wish it?"

***

Meanwhile, near a planet colourfully designated as 'FSSD-562-B' by Federation Stellar Sciences, the starship USS Carpathia - a Constitution-class heavy cruiser which was the closest starship to Kearny's position - received orders to divert to an uncharted system in the Beta quadrant, where a science ship had found itself stranded after their warp drive had malfunctioned.

After recalling her ground crew, the large vessel sped out of the solar system at impulse speeds, before streaking off into the distance at warp speed to begin her several-day-journey to rescue her fleetmate.

(OOC: Many edits! I managed to go from making no mistakes in my previous posts, to making ALL OF THE MISTAKES in this one!)

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
Mars Spacedock, in orbit around Yol, Omnes System, Beta Quadrant
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117

" Sire, they're wishing for a visual communication"

Charles leaned over in his chair and looked at his comms officer " Is our projector thing even installed yet? "

The woman nodded in affirmative " Aye, they installed it during the brief refit; though, no one in the Fleet has ever tried it. It's experimental to say the least."

Charles stood up and straightened his jacket, waving his hand at the Ensign to accept the connection request. He moved forward on the cramped bridge and stood on a raised dias just a few feet in front of his chair. His uniform glowed slightly underneath the light, the blue field jacket with a single brown leather strip running from the left epaulet to the belt, accompanied by blue pants with leather brown strips down their sides where they ran down until they met his black combat boots, slightly worn from extensive use. As soon as the feed was established, he did his best not to look amazed; a humanoid, yet alien. The scientists were going to go banana's over this. While the Vulcan kept a firm look, Charles adorned a small smile and kept his hands clasped in front of him "Captain T'Lum, it's unfortunate to hear that we couldn't have met under slightly better circumstances. My forwarded condolences to the engineers working to fix that drive; I'll admit, I do not know what you mean by beam aboard, but if you can, please do so directly into my quarters. I'm sure as you've noticed we have no shields or advanced defenses, and I'll be happy to answer all of your questions once aboard."

[Interstellar Planets]

The viewscreen flicked from an image of the Sagittarius, looming over them, to an image of the 'alien' commander standing on his own bridge. T'Lum's suspicions were correct - for all intents and purposes, the commander of the Sagittarius appeared to be human. Combined with the names of both himself and his vessel, and the terminology his people used for their nation and armed forces, T'Lum grew more convinced that these people were, somehow, from Old Terra. Though, it was not unheard of for divergent evolution to produce human analogues all over the place - Starfleet's library computers were full of such instances.

He noticed the human commander stifling his reaction to seeing a Vulcan such as himself, which was understandable if this was only their second encounter with an alien species. T'Lum's expression remained unchanged, aside from one of his diagonal eyebrows raising slightly.

"Our malfunction is a minor inconvenience, and perhaps a fortuitous one if it allowed us to meet," T'Lum replied in a measured tone, putting on his best diplomacy hat and never taking his eyes off the viewscreen. "If we do not repair it soon then help shall be along within a few days, so it is of little consequence. As to the meaning of the word 'beam', we have a technology which allows us to transport people and objects from one place to another instantaneously without the use of a shuttlecraft. As per your request, two of my officers and I shall demonstrate it to you in a few minutes. Please stand by for our arrival. Kearny out."

He nodded at Vasquez, who terminated the channel.

"You're going over there, sir?" Dorek'a asked, the concern in his voice palpable.

"Indeed," T'Lum nodded, stepping towards the turbolift. "Mister Vasquez and yourself shall be joining me." He decided that bringing a human along as well would make things easier on their hosts.

"But it could be a..."

"If the next word in that sentence was going to be 'trap', please do not continue, Commander," T'Lum interrupted. "Their commanding officer has confirmed your sensor results - they have no shields. A transporter lock can be maintained on us at all times in case their disposition changes."

"Yes Captain," Dorek'a grumbled.

"Accompany me please, both of you," T'Lum ordered in a matter-of-fact way as the turbolift doors hissed apart and he stepped inside. He looked over at the helmsman as he waited for the two officers to make their way across the bridge to join him. "Lieutenant Zarath - you have the conn. Stand down from yellow alert."

"Aye sir," the Andorian responded, as the three senior officers disappeared behind the doors.

In such a small ship, it was a brief journey to the lower deck. There were, after all, only two decks that could be considered habitable besides the bridge itself. From there, the transporter room was a short walk down the narrow, low-ceiling corridors, and it wasn't exactly spacious either. Unlike larger starships, there were only three transporter pads, and no dedicated transporter operator.

It was more like a cupboard than a room.

Vasquez removed a sleek black assault phaser pistol from an equipment locker on the wall, and slid the power cell from the grip to check its charge before slapping it back into place. He then hurriedly slipped it into a holster on his belt and jumped onto the pad next to the Captain. T'Lum was about to protest, but he knew it was regulation when boarding an unknown vessel. Especially with the commanding officer going along for the ride. And it was a logical precaution - polite though these aliens seemed now, they had originally appeared to be hostile and could switch back to that stance at any moment; they had no way of knowing.

After performing a quick scan to determine where the alien commander's quarters were likely to be, Commander Dorek'a set the transporter controls, grabbed his own phaser pistol, holstered it, and joined the others on the pad. After a few seconds, the three officers were engulfed in a brilliant, white-blue column of light. The column of light split into two beams, sweeping apart and disintegrating their bodies.

Aboard Sagittarius, three similar columns of light appeared, accompanied by a distinctively high-pitched whining sound, and as they slowly parted outwards three humanoid bodies twinkled into being. One of them was T'Lum. Another had similar features to the Captain - pointed ears, a similarly bowl-cut black hair style, narrow, angular eyebrows, and a slightly greenish hue to his skin - but his face appeared to be much more expressive, at the moment showing concern.

The other was a young human male, with chiselled features and black hair, but his was swept-back and featured some styling beyond that of a bowl cut. All three wore the same uniforms, but the turtleneck, and the fabric strips on the human's shoulder and cuffs, were grey instead of white.

As the transporter beam dissipated, the three blinked and looked around as they adjusted to their surroundings, awaiting whatever greeting the 'aliens' had in store for them.

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
Mars Spacedock, in orbit around Yol, Omnes System, Beta Quadrant
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117

Shortly after finishing the communication with T'Lum, Charles felt the anxiety build up in him as he awaited the Federation officer's arrival. He turned to his Gunnery Officer, a young Lieutenant who was surprisingly good at her job " Lieutenant, have a security team on standby; just in case. The Empire can't afford to lose another ship especially like this. You have the bridge; I'll be in my quarters"

Charles's quarters were attached directly to the bridge and were not very impressive. It was a small room, about eleven feet by eleven feet which featured a desk and computer on the left hand wall as you entered and then a small bed and shelves at the back wall. The walls were all metal and still shone the grey metallic color; though Charles had covered it up slightly with pictures of him at the Imperial Palazzo, his graduation from training, and a picture of his mother, father and four sisters. He moved through the cramped quarters and made sure his computer was working before sitting down on the chair; waiting, counting out the moments before three bright blue lights appeared in his quarters, eventually transforming into people. The alien in the middle was the Captain, Charles recognized him from the communication session. But he did not recognize the second alien and shockingly, a human with him as well. Charles dismissed it and reserved his questions for later, bearing a smile and extending his hand for a handshake " Captain T'Lum I presume; a thorough pleasure. I do believe I just set an Imperial record for sitting in a room with two alien species and not getting shot by them. Please, sit down, welcome aboard the Sagittarius. I'm having the galley bring us up some waters to drink; where shall we begin? I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me"

[Interstellar Planets]

T'Lum looked around at the spartan cabin, noting its overall similarity to his own cabin aboard Kearny. The downside to working for the military was always that, while perfectly happy to shell out resources for mission-critical components, luxuries were never on the agenda. He could see that this was a universal concept.

He noticed the human commander extending his hand as he spoke. While he did not understand the purpose of humans doing this, the handshake was a common gesture throughout the galaxy, and as he was being diplomatic he had little choice but to accept it.

"Likewise, Captain," T'Lum said, shaking the hand briefly before letting go. He knew that wasn't the Lieutenant Commander's rank, but it was Starfleet tradition to refer to the master of a ship as such out of respect regardless of rank, and he saw no need to forgo it here. "Allow me to introduce my officers; executive officer Commander Dorek'a, and communications officer Lieutenant Vasquez."

Both officers nodded as each name was mentioned, so that they could be identified. Dorek'a retained his concerned expression, appeared to be keeping his hand within reach of his holstered phaser expectantly.

T'Lum accepted the offer of a seat, while the others remained upright for the time being. "Indeed, you mentioned having never encountered other aliens before. I am of a species known as Vulcan. My executive commander is of a distantly-related species known as Romulan. The Federation as a whole consists of several other species as well. You will come to find that while you and I may appear to have many differences, we also have many similarities. That will, hopefully, lead to positive relations between our two peoples eventually.

"I am curious about where your people originally come from? You appear to be human, and use human terminology from the world we call 'Old Terra'." He wanted to put and end to theorising and get a definitive answer to his remaining suspicions.

(OOC: Sorry for the short post and any errors it may contain, done on my phone over a few quiet periods at work just to keep things moving along!)

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
Mars Spacedock, in orbit around Yol, Omnes System, Beta Quadrant
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117


" I'm not familiar with the name Old Terra; the planet we come from is colloquially known as Rostil, it's moon being Mun to us and Demeter to others. The closest planet to it is the planet we just left, Yol and then there is also Hueris on the other side of Rostil; a much larger habitable planet which was terraformed in the last century."

" Your Federation sounds interesting indeed; managing to get aliens to work together, I can't say we've had any luck. Seven years ago we made our first First Contact and it turned into a very bloody war that is still haunting us. "

[Interstellar Planets]

T'Lum nodded thoughtfully at Desolace's response. He had heard Old Terra referred to by different names before (simply 'Terra', Gaia, Old Eden, Earth, Sol III; not to mention the various non-English human languages which all had their own words for the distant world) but the human in front of him now used none of them to describe their origins. Indeed, he seemed certain that they originated from this region of space.

Perhaps this was just another example of divergent evolution after all? It did seem unlikely to the Vulcan that they could have made it all the way across the galaxy from Old Terra to here without encountering any other alien civilisations besides the one he spoke of now. In that respect, divergent evolution seemed more logical. Or maybe their origins had simply been lost to history?

It didn't matter too much now, other than to satiate the Vulcan's curiosity. If relations between this Itailian Empire and the Federation developed further in the future they'd no doubt learn more. And if not, not knowing would be of little consequence in the long run anyway.

"Indeed," T'Lum nodded. "Our people are quite proud of what they have accomplished. But it was not always so. The Federation was born out of necessity; our less affluent ancestors realised that more could be accomplished by working together than if we remained apart. Perhaps if our discussion here today goes well the Federation will be able to play host to your people one day, as you have done for us, and you can see for yourselves. But that is for the future to decide."

He shifted on his seat a little.

"A seven year war must be taking its toll on your people," T'Lum said after a long pause. He almost sounded solemn, but not enough to be noticeable and his expression remained as blank as ever. "If the question is acceptable for you to answer; what is the nature of this adversary of yours? What do you know of them, and how did your first contact develop into such a lengthy conflict?"

If any further explanation for the Sagittarius's initially inhospitable approach was needed, a seven year war would offer it. Anybody would be paranoid of attack after such an experience. That they had been able to sustain their forces in such a war was impressive, particularly with so few resources - and it potentially explained why a Lieutenant Commander was in command of such a large vessel: there probably weren't enough senior officers to go around. Unless their navy and rank structure functioned very differently to that of Starfleet, of course.

There could well be a humanitarian disaster of dire proportions at work here, T'Lum thought to himself.

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
ISS Sagittarius
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117


Charles shifted slightly uncomfortably in his seat at the Vulcan's question about the war; he was sure many Senators would be loathe to share such information with a foreigner, but Charles knew the numbers; all commanders did, the war was not going well at all and perhaps this Federation could be the Empire's saving grace as it were. Charles cleared his throat and folded his hands on top of the desk before continuing. " Their nature? That's a wonderful question Captain, not quite sure on how I can answer it. In 5E110, seven years ago, exploratory probes detected a system of three habitable planets about two days journey from Yol at maximum Warp 3, dubbed the Sibbi System by our higher ups. A task force of three ships was sent to investigate; this very ship was one of them. This ship and others, are Constellation-classes. They are not meant for war; they're exploratory vessels at best and shoddy machinations of war and when they entered the system they encountered a Polidan vessel which we've now categorized as a heavy cruiser. The Polidan vessel was shielded, had laser weaponry and some advanced missile like weaponry. It blew a hole through the Centauri within the first ten minutes before finally being forced away by the Sagittarius and the Aquilius. After that, sensors on Yol detected a incoming fleet at high warp, headed for Yol. Eight of our Constellation's and four new frigates met them at a large rock of a planet just about ten hours from Yol. Only 3 ships of ours survived that battle and the war has been going the same way ever since. Twelve thousand and three hundred dead crewmembers so far; not even accounting for the civilians lost when the Demeter colony was nearly destroyed earlier this year. "

Charles sighed

" The Senate would hate me for this; but this war is not going well. Every commander is aware of the projections; within eight months, all combat operative ships will either be destroyed or overwhelmed and Yol will fall, followed by the Moon and then Rostil within the next six weeks. We simply can not make ships fast enough nor do we have the technology. We have railguns and essentially retrofitted torpedoes, the Polidans have shields, lasers, and who knows what the hell else. They're an aggressive race from what we've gathered; we've only seen one once, at the first battle via a video communication. It lasted 11 seconds and ever since then, thousands have died fighting them. "

[Interstellar Planets]

Listening intently, T'Lum sat motionless as the human explained the plight of his people passionately. Long ago he had learned that there were usually two sides to every story, particularly a story as cutting as war. But the aliens Desolace described to him seemed to have few redeeming features; entering into conflict without so much as an attempt to warn the Itailians off and escalating that skirmish into a full-scale war. Assuming, of course, that is what actually happened.

Seven years of constant fighting could warp the memory, after all. Perhaps that eleven-second transmission the Lieutenant Commander mentioned had been such a warning, which the Itailians had not heeded - or maybe they completely disregarded it? Worse still, that transmission could have been a simple hello from these Polidans, and the Itailians could in fact be the aggressors in this war. A war which they now seemed to be losing, and thus regretting.

This is why the Federation had a policy of not getting involved in the wars of others, unless they were steadfast and trusted allies. Without talking to both sides to get a complete picture, there was no way of knowing whether the side they chose to support was the righteous one. It took absolute certainty for them to commit the Starfleet's resources to a conflict that was not their own, lest their own principles and men be sacrificed for an unworthy cause inadvertently.

As T'Lum got the distinct impression that he was being asked for something by Desolace, however subtle the question might be, these thoughts were prominent in his active mind. Clearly, Federation support could easily turn the tide in this long war, even if it was just in the form of supplies and technology rather than starships, and the Lieutenant Commander had every good reason to wish its end by trying to influence him into aiding them. But while the commander of Sagittarius had seemingly been honest with him thus far, it would be illogical to take someone he had just met at his word on such an emotive - and dangerous - topic without evidence. Nor did he have the authority to commit the Federation to such a cause in any case. They'd need to try and contact these 'Polidan' people to get their side of the story first, and that was assuming the Federation was even interested in intervening in this remote conflagration.

He'd have to make a report to Starfleet Command on the subject either way, so he decided to probe the human for more information.

"That is most regrettable," T'Lum said, his dispassionate voice attempting sincerity. "I would imagine the humanitarian situation amongst your population has become an issue after so much fighting." He paused, trying to think how to word the next questions he had. "This eleven-second transmission; what was its content? Were these 'Polidans' warning you off? Have either of your governments made any attempts to sue for peace?"

Dorek'a cleared his throat behind him, and T'Lum looked over his shoulder. The Commander flipped a communicator closed, which he'd been stealthily using in the corner while they had been talking, and slotted it back into his pocket. "Sorry Captain, message from Kearny - Starfleet Command has received our signal; starship USS Carpathia en route to assist. ETA, four days. Captain Morris sends her regards."

T'Lum nodded, almost appearing relieved. Amicable though their hosts were, he was displeased with the prospect of being trapped in the middle of a warzone for a prolonged period of time with nothing but a small science vessel to defend themselves with. "Understood Commander," he said, turning back to Desolace.

"Carpathia is a vastly more capable starship than my own," he explained. "Perhaps once our warp engine malfunction has been repaired, they can remain in the sector and attempt to contact the Polidan government. It is conceivable that an outside party could negotiate a cease fire between your peoples as a prelude to peace."

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
ISS Sagittarius
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117

" Yes, following the Battle of Premida, the Senate attempted to send a peace delegation. Consul Ratilius and fifteen Senators embarked for the Sibbi System, where their shuttle was assaulted by a Polidan cruiser and we presume, destroyed. Since then, peace attempts have been forbidden by the Senate. As for them warning us, no, they were quite clear with their hostile intentions but I will leave you to your free will."

Just as Charles went to grab his glass of water and take a sip, a red klaxon began blazing throughout the ship, awakening the officers and all crew members to a heightened sense of being. Charles jumped up and activated the comms panel on the wall near the door and buzzed the bridge " Lieutenant, what's going on? "

" Sir, a Polidan attack group; looks like a cruiser and two frigates. They just dropped out of hyperspace about a thousand meters off of port. "

Charles turn to the Federation officers with a wary look " I would get back aboard your ship Captain, I have my own to defend and I can not guarantee your safety here."

Charles quickly departed the room and joined his officers on the bridge, all senior staff aroused and now rushing to the bridge to man their stations. Charles, once settled in the command chair, immediately fell into his battle mode. " Helm, activate NERVA thrusters, quarter thrust, adopt heading 145 mark 10."

The Sagittarius's engines slowly ignited and her railguns turned as the missiles cells were armed, prepped, and ultimately, unleashed in a first barrage at the closest Polidan frigate.

[Interstellar Planets]

T'Lum nodded as the Itailian vessel descended into the familiar chaos of battle. "Agreed. Good luck, Captain." He stood up, issued the human commander with a solemn glance as he left, and flipped open his communicator. "Kearny, this is T'Lum; three to beam up."

They disappeared into whining columns of blue light once more. Back aboard their own vessel, the three Starfleet officers hurriedly returned to the bridge and took their stations, with Dorek'a immediately planting his face into the science station's sensor hood as he sat down.

"Set condition red throughout the ship," T'Lum barked. "Energise defence fields, raise the deflectors. Charge phaser banks."

The various officers repeated their orders back to him, a discipline that hailed back to the age of sail when the sound of wind and spray would have made communication difficult. It still served its purpose today, ensuring that the Captain's orders had been clearly heard and understood by all parties, thus minimising mistakes that could occur from miscommunication and misunderstanding - two things that could result in colossal disaster when operating something like a starship. As his orders were carried out, the bridge descended into red lights and klaxons, with various dormant monitors displayed the flashing 'red alert' graphic to make doubly sure everybody knew what was going on, as the computer instructed all hands to attend to general quarters.

T'Lum glanced at a status screen on the far side of the bridge, and was satisfied that the shields had come online and the defence fields were giving the bridge extra protection. Then he looked over his shoulder at his first officer. "Tactical report, Commander."

"Three ships have emerged at... what? That can't be right..."

"What is it, Commander?"

"They've appeared from super-luminal travel at a range of about one kilometre," Dorek'a said in disbelief. Even T'Lum raised his eyebrow; one must be somewhat aggressive to even attempt such a manoeuvre. The margin for error was inconceivably tiny, but the tactical value in simple shock factor alone could potentially justify it to a particularly violent race.

"One ship is larger than the other two at several hundred metres, all seem to have basic shielding and DEWs," the Commander continued. "They are in attack formation. Sagittarius is engaging engines. She's loading missiles and deploying gu... sir, she's firing on one of the smaller craft."

T'Lum watched the scene unfold on the viewscreen. He quite liked these Itailians, if it were possible for a Vulcan to 'like' something. They were explorers, like the Federation, but they'd just run into the wrong aliens at the wrong time. As if intending to allay any lingering doubts he might have had, these Polidans had arrived unannounced to discredit any notion T'Lum had of there being another side to the story, and he was beginning to root for the underdog humans.

But there was nothing he could do about it.

He couldn't drag the Federation into an interstellar war just because he felt sorry for these people; nor did he have the means to do so, with the science vessel Kearny clearly being outclassed by these new arrivals. Opening fire on the aliens now would have dire repercussions for both the Federation and his crew, who wouldn't survive the exchange. Her shields weren't rated for sustained fire, and her type-IV phasers wouldn't pack much of a punch against even a lightly shielded opponent. And her small photon torpedo complement had been entirely replaced with probes in Spacedock.

So he had to be logical, and put the lives of his crew first.

"Helm, Z-minus fifty thousand kilometres," T'Lum ordered. "Come about and prepare for full impulse thrust. Get us clear of the battle."

"Z-minus fifty thousand kilometres, aye," the Andorian replied, tapping some keys and then sliding a knob downwards. The small ship responded by slowly moving 'downwards', according to the perspective of the surrounding ships at any rate, and began turning around as she went to face the opposite direction to the fight. "Bringing impulse drive online for full thrust."

T'Lum hoped that this manoeuvre would be sufficient to demonstrate that they were retreating from the combat area. But without warp drive, it would be difficult for them to escape if anything decided to come after them anyway.

"Vasquez, send to commander, Polidan vessels - this is the Federation starship Kearny, we are a science vessel with minimal defensive capabilities, and have no quarrel with you. We shall be on our way," T'Lum gave the half-hearted order to his communications officer. He had little alternative, but it still seemed like the wrong thing to do. He only hoped these Polidans were not so foolish as to randomly attack a retreating starship belonging to an unknown power.

"Message sent Captain," Vasquez said after a short while.

"And send the Itailians a message too," T'Lum said. "Send our regrets. And... wish them luck."

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
ISS Sagittarius
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117

" Sir, first missile barrage had limited success against their shields, no hull damage"

Just as the large vessel had nearly turned entirely around and fired off it's first missile barrage, the Polidan vessels were nearing closer and closer, opening fire with more then a dozen spatial torpedoes which were all directed at the Sagittarius. The Sagittarius readopted a swerving heading and managed to turn out of the way for about six of the torpedoes but the other eight impacted directly into it's hull, one going through three decks before stopping and all of it venting atmosphere, the explosions themselves shaking the ship as a tree in a hurricane. " Status report "

Charles bellowed as he held onto his chair

" Sir, eight torpedo impacts on our starboard hull. Hull breaches on Decks 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. I've sealed off the bulkheads but we're still venting."

" Tell Engineering to get a Damage Control team out there now and patch those damn holes up. Gunnery, redirect all missile cells, concentrate fire on the closest frigate. Fire off the missiles individually, four second intervals."

One by one, sixty missiles were fired off from the Sagittarius and slammed right into the frigate's shields, which blazed a dark green. " Gunnery, are we in gun range? "

" Aye sir. "

" Fire off a second barrage, same frigate, one missile cell. Have all guns redirect fire at the same time onto that vessel."

A lone missile cell repeated it's barrage which flared up the Polidan's shields again, which broke under heavy protest as dozen of rounds from the railguns aboard the Sagittarius came screaming into their hull, leaving numerous pocket marks and severing power to the vessel. " Sir, confirmed hit, power is down and all systems are deactivated. Their crui-"

The officer was cut off as the Sagittarius was thrashed around; the Polidan cruiser and remaining frigate had opened fire with their laser weapons, dozens of laser beams cutting into the Sagittarius's hull, followed by a volley of torpedoes which took out a section on the Sagitarrius's artificial gravity ring. " Sir, AG is down, engineering is activating inertia compensator but we will not have AG."

As the Sagittarius struggled to return fire, the Comms officer spoke up " Sire, this is unusual. The remaining Polidan frigate has broke of it's approach and is now heading towards the Kersky. "

" Helm adjust course, intercept that frigate"

A violent rumble shook the ship and a console exploded, sending shrapnel and sparks flying through the bridge " Sir, the cruiser has hit one of our NERVA thrusters. Engineering has taken it offline to prevent a meltdown, we're now on 60% thrust. We will be unable to catch the frigate."

" Warn the Kersky of the approaching frigate, Helm, readjust so I can broadside this damn cruiser"

[Interstellar Planets]

"Sir, commander Sagittariuswarns us to watch out for an approaching frigate!" Vasquez called.

"Enemy vessel is on a pursuit course," Dorek'a's voice announced, breaking T'Lum's sense of relief as though in cahoots with the comm officer. "Portside-aft, bearing one-nine-three mark forty, closing fast."

The exact event that T'Lum had been hoping to avoid.

"Any response to our communication, Lieutenant?" T'Lum asked the comm officer.

"Negative Captain," Vasquez shook his head after listening briefly through his earpiece as though it would make any difference.

T'Lum raised an eyebrow. Why would these aliens willingly antagonise a retreating alien ship of unknown capabilities when they were already engaged in a battle with somebody else? he thought. There was no logic to such an act. Perhaps this was a species that was inherently illogical?

In which case, perhaps they would understand something more visceral.

Basic missile and railgun assaults were penetrating their shields even now, while they had seen nothing more advanced than lasers and simplistic missiles coming from the Polidan ships in return. Powerful to be sure, but nothing exotic. Maybe a phaser would be enough to warn them off? If they were a warrior culture, as T'Lum was beginning to suspect, perhaps they would respond better to a show of force than an attempt at submission?

"Fire a shot off their starboard bow, Mister Reynolds," T'Lum ordered the tactical officer. "Full phaser power. Warn them off."

The Ensign seemed perplexed at the order; however basic the technology on display here, Kearny was still a science vessel, ill-suited to combat. But T'Lum's glare reinforced the order.

"Full phasers, aye," the junior officer responded.

A series of bright orange lightning bolts struck out towards the Polidan frigate from Kearny's saucer section, narrowly missing her hull. Deliberately so, it would seem. A warning communication followed - essentially instructing the Polidans to stay away for their own sake.

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
ISS Sagittarius
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117

The Polidan cruiser flew over the slower Sagittarius, quickly firing off two more of it's torpedoes that impacted into one of the ship's railgun turrets, destroying it and leaving a gaping hole that penetrated down two decks and just narrowly missed the magazine. The Sagittarius's lights flickered as it's EFG power distribution system struggled to handle the major strain of the beating the ship was receiving.

On the bridge, things were no less hectic. Two officers had been killed by exploding consoles and another wounded from shrapnel and the stress in the room was already mounting. The main lights had lost power a few minutes ago and now only the light given off by the consoles glow or the few emergency lights, which highlighted shuffled uniforms, sweaty brows, and knotted faces. Charles himself was intensely staring at the cruiser that was destroying his ship, intent on surviving to tell the Senate of his first contact with the Federation. " Helm, fire all remaining missiles at those hostile engines"

Just as the last parts of the Polidan cruiser flew over the Itailian ship, sixty Type 1 missiles flew out of their cells and in a relatively short time slammed right into the enemy's engines, the shields took the brunt of the impact but to the short distance, was penetrated by several missiles which destroyed two of the three Polidan engines.


Meanwhile, as the Sagittarius moved to finish off the vessel, the remaining frigate which was chasing the Kersky was not impressed by the phaser blast over their hull. Instead, they decided to activate their shields, a green layer covering their ship and they began firing off all forward laser turrets, which there was six of them located along the bow, which began firing off their rapid burst beams at the stern of the Kersky.

[Interstellar Planets]

Could this be the no-win scenario that Starfleet prepared us for? T'Lum found himself thinking as he gripped the arm rests of his command chair to avoid being flung onto the floor like a rag doll.

Barely one hundred and twenty metres in length, the small science vessel became engulfed in fire as the alien vessel pounded her with weapons far beyond the ability her defensive shielding was rated to withstand. She bore it well too, as the chief engineer diverted power from non-essential systems to bolster their integrity, without a prompt from the bridge - the sure sign of an engineer who had seen combat before.

T'Lum was confused. He had calculated every variable, every cultural nuance, that could possibly have led to this situation. And yet this situation was occurring anyway.

Perhaps my logic was flawed?

"Reynolds - target their weapons and fire, full phasers!" barked Dorek'a in the background, as sparks erupted from overloaded circuitry.

The commander was acquitting himself well under fire. T'Lum found himself frozen, however - not by fear, but by some kind of logic loop. How could I have averted this situation logically? kept flying through his mind.

"Shields collapsing!" came a tinny voice through the intercom, as the engineers announced dim prospects for the survival of Kearny. Under a simple barrage of laser fire, the ship was disintegrating.

But I tried diplomacy, and it didn't work! T'Lum's thoughts carried on racing through his head.

"Phasers ineffective Commander!" Reynold's voice announced, just as his console exploded in his face. T'Lum watched, as though the entire scene was playing out in slow motion, as the human's body hit the floor, dead on arrival.

I should have accounted for this eventuality, his thoughts continued.

"Captain! Captain! We need to abandon ship! NOW!" Dorek'a's continually antagonistic voice broke through his logic loop.

T'Lum suddenly broke free of his thoughts. He looked around the bridge; corpses and injured strewn everywhere with medics trying to triage them, wires hanging from exploded panels above, debris lying across the metal deck plating below... all of the hallmarks of a dying ship.

His concentration suddenly returned. He flicked a switch on the side of the chair.

"All hands, abandon ship. Repeat, all hands abandon ship," his voice said, the words falling from his lips with no input from his mind. "Launch the log buoys."

The computer immediately responded, opening life pod hatches across the small ship and instructing the crew to board them.

"Come on, Captain!" Dorek'a said afterwards, grasping at the burgundy sleeve of his tunic. T'Lum shook his head.

"Board an escape pod immediately Commander," the Vulcan's calm voice instructed as explosions continued around him. "I intend to buy you all time. Once you are clear, warn the Itailians to vacate the area."

"Sir, but..."

"NOW, commander!" T'Lum exclaimed, raising his voice for the first time in recent memory.

The commander nodded reluctantly, and left the bridge.

Lifepods broke free of Kearny, like rats leaving a sinking ship. Barely a quarter of the crew were carried aboard them. They immediately aimed themselves in a direction that led away from their mothership and fired their main thrusters, speeding rapidly into space. As they did so, they sent an urgent message to the Sagittarius instructing her to vacate the area at best speed.

Meanwhile, Kearny, her pristine hull scorched with weapons fire and craters, with one tiny warp nacelle bleeding plasma, fired her impulse engines at best speed in the direction of the nearest Polidan ship.

As she came close enough, still sustaining fire, the electromagnetic fields surrounding her antimatter containment pods were manually disabled. Antimatter rushed out to escape, and met matter.

The explosion was colossal.

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
ISS Sagittarius
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117


" Sire, the cruiser has been rendered mission killed; scans are showing minimal power and it's shields have collapsed."

Charles stared at the Polidan vessel, it's green hull pockmarked with breaches from the Sagitarrius's missiles and railgun fire; plasma streaming from it's dying engines while Charles swore he could see lifeforms flying out of the hull breaches. He turned in his chair to face his Gunnery Officer, who had his head slammed into the floor at the impact of a Polidan torpedo, which left a stream of blood running down his temple. " Target their engines, fire all remaining missiles."

The officer nodded and taped a button, sending sixty missiles hurtling towards the wrecked ship. Upon impact, the explosions reached the Polidan's faster then light drive, ignited their fuel source, and sent a fiery explosion through the space, ripping through all nearby mass. A few pieces remained of the cruiser, the green paint mostly gone and replaced by black scorch marks or the grey natural color of the metal. The Sagittarius fell quiet as the crew took a breathe of relief, which was broken by an Conn officer's commentary " Sire, detecting another explosion off of our stern.. sir, the Kersky. It rammed the frigate"

Silence befell the bridge once more, but not the happy kind, a belated sadness for the deaths of so many that.. were not needed. Charles was captured in the trance for a few moments before he broke it with his rough, tired voice. " Any signs of life pods? "

" Aye, sir I'm picking up a few. "

" Helm, adjust course, alert Operations to ready our grappling hook. Use it to bring the pods in, deposit them in the cargo bay. Alert Medical to have a doc standing by "

[Interstellar Planets]

Dorek'a watched. Not via the various screens in his cramped escape pod, all of which displayed the fate of the Kearny as she erupted, taking a Polidan ship with her, but through the tiny viewport at the bow of the minuscule craft. The explosion was brilliant; a pulse of blue-white light seemed to illuminate the entire universe for a brief moment, before a ball of fire engulfed an area hundreds of kilometres across. The pursuing, close-range Polidan craft was annihilated immediately in the blast; that much matter and antimatter being brought together would be certain death to anything, let alone a small warship.

The lifepod rocked slightly as the impact of the blast reached them, but they were far enough away that it was merely high-intensity bursts of gamma radiation rather than the full force of the explosion. The Captain had borne the full brunt of it, Dorek'a thought.

A part of that explosion had included their commanding officer, and the dozens of other dead or near-death crew members who'd remained aboard Kearny when she blew. Sacrificing themselves so that the majority could live.

Logical.

Dorek'a shook himself back into reality. Over a dozen escape pods remained intact and needed the guidance of a senior officer. He immediately switched places with the junior officer that was piloting his particular pod and began standard procedures; a general distress call, which he assumed the Itailians would pick up before anybody else, was issued. He also instructed all surviving pods to coalesce at a central point in space, to make it easier for the Itailians to collect them. They had limited supplies and even less morale; a quick rescue was preferred.

Soon enough, he saw the large, somewhat heavily-damaged, Itailian vessel appear near them and deploy some kind of grappling system on one of then nearby pods. Tapping a button on the small panel in front of him, he sent them a half-hearted message.

"This is Commander Dorek'a, of... of the USS Kearny... we appreciate your assistance, over."

[Itailian Maifias]

Lieutenant Commander Charles Desolace M.M.
ISS Sagittarius
Sun's Dawn 17, 5E117


" Sire, a transmission from a Commander Dorek'a, thanking us. They sound pretty beat up sir "

" Of course they do, they just lost their entire ship in a completely unknown sector of space. XO, you have the bridge, continue bringing those life pods into the cargo bay and have Medical treat them as necessary. Dispatch Damage Control teams to mop up and Helm, lay in a course of Yol. The Admiral will definitely want to hear this."

Charles stood up from his chair and stepped over a fallen ceiling panel before stepping out of the bridge, grabbing his handheld communicator out of a cargo pocket on his pants. " XO, please have a doctor in Cargo Bay 1 locate Commander Dorek'a for me. Inform me when we reach Yol"

Charles continued down the debris cluttered hallways, strewn with bodies covered in pale sheets that were stained with blood, flames licking out of their burst EVG panel, Charles ignoring most of it while he headed for the Cargo Bay, eager to talk to what appeared to be the now senior Federation officer.