The Edge of Two Empires (Greater New England Only)

[Aellyria]

The Edge of Two Empires

The ACS Jormungardr stopped, it was at the edge of the Aellyrian Colonial Dominion, the edge of the world for them, it was surveying the border per se, Captain Ragnar Bjornsonn rubbed his chin, they were given last minute orders to await upon a mysterious military vessel or even vessels, in order to participate in a military exercise, the command back on Dune, the recently named colonial capital was calling it Operation World Serpent, in honor of the Jormungardr. They were a big ship, a carrier. One of the newer ones in fact, the fact that they had entrusted her to a Captain spoke wonders to his commands confidence in his military expertise. Along with their two escort vessels the ACS Einherjar and the ACS Svartelheim were holding steady on either side of them, nervous but ready. The captain wondered who these fellow travelers of the void would be.

[Great New England Confederation]

Colonial Frontier
Stardate 2088
0800 Hours
NES Eden
Squadron Eden
Captain Norman Langley

Captain Langley watched as the stars flew past the view screen, as the ship flew past at warp. It had been disheartening to him when it initially seemed that Starfleet was going to eventually replace the Navy, a task which he believed the more civilian organization was not prepared to do, it was too focused on building ships that could do everything, rather than ships that were great at what they were built to do. However his fears had been lessened when he was given command of the Eden, hard evidence that the Navy was far from going anywhere.

He sat in his ready room, a very spartan room in comparison to the more luxurious Starfleet vessels, however he was no less proud to have the privilege to call it his ready room. He took a sip of his tea, and then the door to his room opened, and in walked his first officer, Commander Morgan Collingham, a skilled, if sometimes reckless officer who was known for taking calculated risks, however that was why the man had gained his rank so quickly, one did not gain success by playing it safe in the Navy, it had no use for overly cautious officers, not in these times of war.

The Commander saluted, and after the captain returned it, he began his report

“Captain, we are approaching the rendezvous point, we will be arriveing in ten minutes, sensors show three vessels, one large vessel, five hundred meters, and two smaller ones, likely escorts. Readings indicate them to be Aellyrian in design”

Norm nodded and said “Very good, notify them we shall be arriving shortly, I will be on the bridge in minute”

“Yes sir, I will have the strike-craft ready for launch on arrival”
“Good, but hold their launch until the exercise is under way, I do not want to tip our hand early, exercise or not”
“Affirmative, and the other vessels will form a Pattern Eight formation, just as planned”

The Pattern Eight was a formation developed to counter the swarms ic small vessels encountered during the Insectoid War, in which the smaller escorts in a group would form a double 8 Pattern around the larger vessels of the group, providing an effective screen against both incoming projectiles and strike craft. The other vessels in the fleet were a Hellborne Class Cruiser, four frigates , and a pair of corvettes, all of whom had been assigned as part of the Squadron, the smallest size of unit deployed by the Navy, the fleet had learned the hard way to never deploy ships by themselves, even if Starfleet had yet to learn that lesson. Several minutes later, the ships exited warp, forming into the designated formation, and holding position.

Norman stood on the bridge of his vessel, a compact and spartan bridge for a vessel its size, and more like a command center than a bridge, and as far in the center of the ship as was possible. He pressed a button on the communications console and said “Aellyrian Colonial vessels, this is Captain Normal Langley of Squadron Eden, we are reporting for an arranged naval exercise, if you read us, please respond”

He then released the button, and waited for his counterparts response, and could only hope that everything would end well.

[Aellyria]

Captain Bjornsonn had the communication screen pulled up, "Greetings Captain Langley, I am Captain Ragnar Bjornsonn of the ACS Jormangandr, I presume you are here under similar orders?" he asked. He was a little suspicious of the exercise in itself, he personally had never heard of his home nation working together with anyone, especially in home territory. He realized this New English ship was much larger than his own, he wondered why the New English needed ships that big, what were they fighting that required that kind of fire power.