Where The Wild Things Are [FT, INVITE ONLY]

[Great Ingen]

The middle of nowhere

---

Life as a pirate was a difficult one. Back in the FB-verse, the star lanes had been practically heaving with commerce and traffic, and the endless petty warfare meant that it was easy to get letters of marque from some nation or other. Now, in this strange new reality, things were a little different.

Captain Redtooth grimaced. He had chosen the name himself years ago, and whilst he had come to realise it sounded ridiculous, his reputation was built on that name and so he was stuck with it. His crew didn't seem to mind. They were aboard an old Skipray blastboat, a model from the days of the fledgling Laptev Axis, gifted to the Jade Empire by the Sovereign Imperial Military Systems the better part of a century ago. It had seen plenty of service, and Redtooth liked to claim it had been present at the Battle of Xcaret, although in reality he had bartered for it about two decades ago. It had served him well, and its military grade missile launchers helped him to quiet down those few merchant ships which didn't strike their flags the moment his disabling ion cannons bathed them in vessel-paralysing blue energy.

Today was his lucky day, however. They had been sat waiting at this interstellar crossroads for nearly a week, waiting for someone using direct faster-than-light to stop here to make the turn into the Great Spiral Corridor. Pickings had been miserably thin the last few months, with the Jade Navy on high alert thanks to the Merger, but now an unsuspecting small vessel was cruising closer.

He turned to his First Mate. "Fire a couple of bursts across their bow, hail them to stop. If they don't, hit them with some ion cannon fire. That'll calm them down."

He grinned as he turned his attention to the strangers on his viewport. Whoever they were, he hoped they were carrying some valuable cargo...

[Granzery]

The Qrelxex, Z'dandar-class Frigate, Somewhere in deep space

They'd been in deep space for months now. Captain Tectes Rux, a Vaadwek man in his mid-60s, thought of those he'd left behind on the colony planet of Faarce, his friends in the officers club, his wife and children. His children were 9 and 13 now, both boys, every time he was deployed on these long-distance missions he regretted every day that he could not see them while he was away, he knew the boys missed him. It wasn't right, for a mother to need to tell her children that their father may or indeed may not be violently and brutally ejected into space because some interstellar slime wanted to feast on his reactor core.

He sighed in his quarters, and put their photo away, from this range, it wasn't possible for him to contact them in any expedient way, he had sent a message yesterday, and would probably need to wait months for it to arrive. At least I've got Qrelxex, he thought, the ship he had been weapons officer of, and later the first officer and now the captain. For decades he had served aboard Qrelxex, and it was as much a part of him now as his face.

Qrelxex was a large frigate of the Imperial Duumverate, soared through the void. The Z'dandar class remain one of the most versatile crafts of the Duumverate, only perhaps outperformed by the perennial Xeddefex-class Battleship or R'fyden class Cruisers, used for transport, piracy control, electronic warfare, command, or in this case, exploration. The Exploration model of the Z'dandar voidframe had thinner armour to accompany a higher crew complement and a larger reactor, with more powerful weapons to compensate. This resulted in an exceptionally long-range craft that hit extremely hard with both its Disruptors and its missiles.

Tonight after his 12 hour shift in command he and the other senior officers were planning a night of social drinking, and playing a traditional Vaadwek boardgame, called Xeerne, which translated roughly to "Siege", a game of strategy and planning. Afterwards, perhaps, I might convince them to participate in Pyramid, he thought. Pyramid was a human game, one introduced to him by his chief engineer, a human who had grown up in the Collectivist Union by the name of Sergei Vladov, the two of them were always trying to convince some of the more narrow-minded officers to try the game, but most of them rejected traditional human games, which was unfortunate for them.

He knew how unpopular fraternising with the crew was amongst members of the Imperial Starfleet, but it kept his mens morale up, and maybe most importantly, it kept Tectes' morale up. When in space for years, sometimes some entertainment is required. He leaned back in his chair, it had been weeks since he had done anything except serve the vessel, he was looking forwards to a little relaxation at long last.

Some time later

"Anything?" The Captain asked as they arrived in the system.

"Nothing on Sensors, Captain, civilian or military," his comms officer said.

"Continue through the Corridor, we'll keep looking until we find something or they call us home," Tectes said.

"Aye, Captain," the navigations officer said.

"Craft lighting up!" his second-in-command reported hurriedly, "Their weapons locked on us, sir."

A flurry of cannonfire grazed the bow of the ship, narrowly missing the inhabited crew sections. "We are receiving a hail, they are telling us to stop, sir. I doubt this is an official vessel, looks like pirates to me," the communications officer said.

"Target them with the Disruptors, fire at will."

It took the disruptor ports only a moment to power up and begin firing, beams blasted through the ports, quantum disruptors which deconstruct and melt the targets hull upon impact, and if not sufficiently shielded, the vessel will be horrifically irradiated. The first few shots connected, the beams manipulated via magnetic fields to strike where needed.

"Both hits, captain, two seconds of contact, estimate hostiles hull integrity at 70%," the weapons officer said. "Hostile ship firing! Ion Cannons, reactor is shielded," she said.

The ion blasts hit the ship, and it shuddered throughout its core, for a moment the ship lost all light, until the reactor, shielded from the blast, kicked back in again. "One of the starboard Disruptors is inactive, reports from the third deck report power remains out in patches, the conduits on that deck were fried by that shot," she said.

"Fire all missiles, target the bridge," Tectes said. "Prepare CIWS to engage hostile targets if needed."

The VLS on the top of the vessel clanked its cells open, and twenty missiles quickly started to launch one after the other, their warheads were largely plasma or disruption warheads, from this range they'd unfortunately be in range of any CIWS aboard the hostile ship but Tectes was banking on a pirate vessel using unsophisticated CIWS that would allow the missiles to strike.

"Bring us about, bring the fore Disruptors to bear," Tectes said.

[Great Ingen]

Aboard the Cruel Twist

---

Captain Redtooth was not pleased. Freighters normally had blasters or even cannons, but the owners of this particular vessel had been especially prudent and laid out extra for a bank of missile systems. The Point Defense Lasers either side of the gunboat opened up, lashing out with thin beams of red light that disappeared as quickly as they appeared, knocking down missile after missile, but a score was just too many.

The gunboat banked and rolled away, and despite the grim situation he enjoyed the sensation. He insisted on manning the helm himself in combat, allowing his first mate to operate the ion cannon and his two other crew to operate the missile launchers and sensor arrays, and now he swept the craft in a long, elegant loop below their prey. He felt the shudder as his own ship launched four proton torpedoes, designed to detonate a short distance from their target and burst in a conical spray of lethal protons. Even as his own missiles were away, he felt the impact as an enemy torpedo exploded just off the port bow. He juked to the right and another plowed into the tip of the gunboat's left wing.

Alarms screamed and the ship rocked, going through an unplanned aileron roll, smoke trailing from its damaged wingtip. Underneath the enemy vessel now, his first mate let another burst of ion fire loose with a curse. Ellaria was a tough woman in her middle age, and she was bitter. Redtooth still had vague dreams of earning enough to quit the trade, maybe make some investments or buy a bar somewhere, but he knew his first mate had little in her heart except bitterness. He didn't know what cruel event in her past had made her this way, but it meant she was always ready to pull the trigger and fought like a wolverine when cornered, so he didn't press her too much. As he concentrated on levelling out and trying to get behind the merchant freighter, he almost missed a shout from one of his other crewmembers, Heinkel.

"Hyperspace gate detected, sir! New contact inbound!"

[Granzery]

The Qrelxex, Z'dandar-class Frigate, Deep Space

A holographic display represented the ongoing battle, in the centre of the bridge. A resplendent gold vessel represented the Z'dandar, while a glowing red vessel represented their adversary. Small golden missiles arced towards the foe, all but one were intercepted by the other ship. Quick blasts of golden lasers and ion cannons could be seen on the display as well. One after the other four large blood-red torpedoes arced out of the enemy ship.

"Disruptor PDTs engaging hostile torpedoes," the weapons officer said. The exceptionally capable Type-37 Disruptor Point Defence used three disruptor beams in a turret capable of swivelling 360 degrees in its housing, using magnetic fields to then fire the molecular disruptors at a 90 degree angle from the port, allowing the Type-37 to engage 3 smaller targets at once or focus fire on a single target for extra damage. Large torpedoes like this typically slow to accelerate, more suited to long range combat than short range combat. However, the Z'dandar exploration frigate was only lightly armoured, and should one of these torpedoes find its mark the ship would probably be destroyed.

"One torpedo threat eliminated," G'rel, the Tactical/Weapons Officer said, as a knot began forming in Tectes' stomach. "Second thre- third threat eliminated." Two more were destroyed in quick succession and Tectes began to feel a weight lifting off his shoulders. "PDT hit, starboard PDT grid non-operational!" G'rel said, looking at Tectes for some kind of re-assurance, the fear evident on her face.

"Hard to port, evacuate engineering, target their weapons with disruptors!" Tectes said. The Qrelxex listed hard, the G-forces pulling the crew like they were being crushed by the force of a black hole.

A couple of seconds later the torpedo exploded off the aft, spraying disabling protons throughout the engineering section, killing dozens and disabling the engines, thankfully the armoured, surge-protected and radiation-protected reactor housing would keep the reactor online, for a short time at least. The enemy ship was now below them, trying to get around their already damaged rear. RCS thrusters worked overtime to try and stabilize the ship, and manoeuvre to engage the enemy ship.

"Continue firing, target their weapons, take out the ion cannons," Tectes said.

G'rel nodded silently, a forwn furrowing her brow as he fired beam after beam at the enemy vessels cannons.

"Drive signatures detected, unknown vessels translating to system, distance, 0.37 AU," First Officer Gurz said.

"Emperor save us," Tectes said.

[Great Ingen]

Aft Port Hangar, IJN Vault Of Aerode
Master Chief Coredor

---

Master Chief Coredor flipped a series of switches on the dash of his S2 starfighter in preparation for launch. The S2 was an improvement on the original Sai Starfighter, introduced a few years back, and was the standard fightercraft of the Jade Empire. Durable and reliable, it was not quite as agile as some interceptor class fighters, but it was a solid balance between speed and staying power. Either side of him sat the two other fightercraft that made up his flight, itself one of four in White Squadron, which in turn was one of four squadrons that made up the 1st Wing of the Vault of Aerode's fighting craft.

He barked out readiness and waited as his two flightmates called in. He was a felidaen, a feline humanoid and part of a tiny minority in the Jade Empire. The only non-humans openly tolerated by the Jade Empire, the felidaens were much like the Imperials in many regards; both hugely isolationist, racist to a certain degree, martially-minded and heirarchical in nature. The felidaens viewed themselves as a species apart, made easier by the fact that mating between the species was biologically impossible and socially unacceptable, and this haughty reserve actually meant that the Imperials and felidaens found it easier to co-exist.

Service in the Imperial Jade Navy was for Coredor a matter of serving the planet Laptev, his homeworld. The Jade Empire, despite being feudal and non-democratic, was surprisingly socially liberal and had protected his people and their way of life on multiple occasions. The Imperials were godless heathens, worshipping dead ancestors and idols, but they were proud and honourable to a fault, something he could respect. So long as their warships protected the Pope in Kankitsurui District and allowed His Word to be taught, there was no conflict between heart and duty for Coredor.

"We've got a profile on one of the vessels, over." drawled Hangar Operations, the man's sing-song voice betraying him to be a Sattran, a minority human species in the Empire. Loud, uncouth and cheerful, their cavalier attitude towards life was more in line with the felidaen ethos, but somehow they did not quite sit as well with Coredor as their smaller, more austere Imperial compatriots.

"Let's hear it. Over." he replied, glancing out at the stars which slowly moved in the distance.

"It's a Skipray blastboat, presumed to be engaged in illegal activity. Possibly the Cruel Twist, a known pirate ship. No ID on the other vessel yet, it looks like a freighter and is presumed to be the victim. Fire Control has confirmed your mission is to disable or destroy the blastboat and secure the freighter for further investigation. Over and out."

Coredor nodded, firing up for launch. The flight, along with the third flight from White Squadron, slipped out of the bay and dropped into the void, gunning it towards the distant combat.

---

Aboard the Cruel Twist
Captain Redtooth

---

They had wounded the freighter, that was was for sure, but with the damaged wing they could only hold position for a couple of hasty shots before they lost their line of sight. Behind him, his bridge crew were yelling in panic. He peeled off, dodging the flurry of fire from the merchant vessel and clearing some space for a moment to breathe and reconsider their options, and that was when he saw it.

More than a kilometre long, hanging in space like a giant asteroid, the angular bulk of a Tanto-class Destroyer of the Imperial Jade Navy. Designed for warfare on a grand scale, the Tanto far outclassed his little gunboat, and in an instant he realised that capturing the merchant, which had been no surefire thing after the unexpected resistance it had shown, was no longer even the faintest of possibilities. Escape was the best case scenario.

His craft was much faster than the lumbering capital ship, but they had to find their way to a safe hyperspace lane - smaller vessels had to use the direct hyperspace route through realspace and avoid gravity shadows, rather than hopping wherever they liked using the expensive military-grade gate generators found aboard the titans of the galaxy. As the shipboard computer began churning through numbers, Redtooth finally tuned in to what Heinkel was yelling. Imperial fightercraft, closing on their position. A half-dozen at least. Fuck, he thought to himself...

[Granzery]

The Qrelxex, Z'dandar-class Frigate, Deep Space

"Unidentified vessels have completed translation, they are accelerating towards us, weapons appear to be loaded," Gurz said, "If they are with our assailant we cant survive this."

Tectes began to speak. "Fire every single piece of ordnance we have at the gunboat, I want those gun barrels glowing red, and if we have an operational torpedo after this is through I will personally eject whoever is responsible into the void," he paused for a moment as his crew nodded in obedience. "Do we have emergency Warp available?"

"It's hard to say, the Reactor is online and the Warp pylons are undamaged, however with Engineering evacuated, if anything goes wrong with the Warp Drive we will be in serious trouble," The acting Chief Engineer reported. "It's my professional opinion that it would be better to surrender than attempt Warp right now."

"Hostile target is falling back!" Tactical reported. "Relationship with incoming vessels is clearly hostile," he added.

"Continue fire on the Waxzaqs anyway, trying to board a goddamn Vaadwek ship. The insult cannot be unpunished, finish them, sixty missiles, antimatter warheads, fire for effect." the Captain ordered.

"Aye sir, firing Disruptors to target their cockpit, spread of missiles across their hull, that should be enough to finish them, we are as of now out of range of enemy CIWS, fox away now, three salvos," G'rel said, inputting a series of commands on her console. The VLS cells opened, and the first salvo of twenty was launched, streaking out of VLS cells on the top of the vessel, shortly after missile autoloaders input another twenty to the VLS launchers, and within seconds the second salvo was soaring through the void, before the first salvo even had a chance to strike their target, the autoloader loaded the cells and fired once more. "Sixty missiles away, current missile stock at eight, Captain," she said.

The first shot from their last operational Disruptor missed the crafts hull as it nimble manoeuvred around, firing back with its ion cannons where available. A hit from an ion cannon hit their hull, killing all the power in the ships, "Reactor shielding is about to fail, emergency power in 4 seconds," the Chief Engineer said. After four seconds had passed the lights flickered mostly online, "Reactor offline, all weapons and shielding disabled, long range sensors are disabled, we are down to LADAR," the chief engineer added.

"Multiple impacts on hostile target, Captain, hostile threat eliminated. There's nothing left of them, sir," G'rel reported.

Tectes sat back in his chair and smirked. "That's a little trick we learned from the Collectivists, you bastards."

[Great Ingen]

Approaching the Qrelxex
Master Chief Coredor

---

There was a whoop of surprise from the new guy in third flight over the comms as the unknown pirate vessel exploded, battered to pieces by a cloud of torpedoes. The freighter, whoever they were, had expended five dozen warheads in their efforts to fend off the pirates, and judging by the state of the freighter they had made the right call. If the fight had gone on much longer the ship looked like it might have disintegrated under their feet.

Coredor snarled for the pilots to cut the unnecessary chatter as the six craft, in two tight arrowheads of three fighters, approached the stricken Vaadwek ship. As the ship slowly grew larger in his viewport, he flicked a couple of switches on his dash and spoke over open comms, using rusty but passable Galactic Basic.

"Unidentified vessel, this is the Imperial Jade Navy. Please identify yourself. We are standing by with medical assistance if required."

Behind them, making up the distance, the Vault of Aerode slowly loomed. A fast ship for its size, it was still a lumbering beast compared to the agile fightercraft that had launched from its belly.

[Granzery]

The Qrelxex, Z'dandar-class Frigate, Deep Space

"Incoming transmission, sir, it's the approaching fleet, transmission is in Galactic Basic. I haven't heard that in a while," Comms officer P'au Zere'cs said. "They are requesting identification, they have medics aboard."

Tectes did not very good Galactic Basic, it was normally taught to officers in the Imperial Star Navy, but after training most officers were more focused on their own domestic languages, and the languages of the Oxus Cluster, "Patch me through." He said. With a teleprompter to assist his vocabulary he was able to string together a successful sentence. "My name is Captain Tectes of the Imperial Duumverate Star Navy Frigate, Qrelxex, our intentions are peaceful," he said after a brief delay.

He motioned to cut off the transmission, and said to Officer Zere'cs, "Tell them we need to repair the ship, and that we have wounded, radiation sickness and plasma burns, mostly."

P'au nodded and complied, his Galactic basic was far more competent than Tectes and he was able to communicate alot more fluently with the oncoming vessels. After repeating the captains message to the oncoming ships P'au added, "We require towing to your nearest drydock or starbase for repairs, and medical assistance as soon as possible, our Reactor is offline and the engineering decks are flooded with radiation, and we do not have the spare parts to repair it, we will need either to travel in your vessels for a protracted journey or require power to maintain our life support systems."

[Great Ingen]

Near the Qrelxex
Master Chief Coredor

---

There was a momentary pause, until finally Coredor reopened comms. "Qrelxex, please evacuate your ship and proceed to the fore starboard hangar. Medical crews and engineering will be on-hand to assess and assist. Please be advised our shipboard atmosphere is a nitrogen-oxygen mix. We will take the Qrexlex under tow."

With that, the fighter squadron took up protective positions either side of the stricken freighter as the BAT-1 Fire Control Suite broadcast an entry path towards an opening on the ornate flank of the looming warship. The ship's sides were painted in a lustrous purple, with golden lacquer, a Jade flag fluttering artificially at its stern and the 6th Fleet's logo of an ancient stone manse embossed either side of the prow.

---

Aft Port Hangar, IJN Vault Of Aerode
Captain Kaneko Saeko

---

Captain Saeko was an officer of the 77th Midnights and the ranking marine officer aboard the IJN Vault of Aerode. She had her own full company, J company, plus a couple of platoons from D company, as the 77th were assigned to the 6th which was currently patrolling this vast region of space, notable only for a few mining colonies and the trade routes that flowed through it.

She had a platoon of marines stood by, both as a formal greeting and as insurance, but she herself was bare-headed to reveal black hair in a tight bun. Nearby, the hangar control team were preparing for any range of eventualities with maintenance crews on standby, whilst a quartet of medical staff loitered just behind the marines. Whilst the walls of the hangar were some kind of faux stone, with wooden pagoda-style gables over the hangar control office halfway up one wall, the floor itself was a sleek reflective black, inlaid with lights and markings that clearly denoted some kind of organisational system. Overhead, four arrowhead-shaped fightercraft were racked and ready to launch, whilst to one side stood a larger model on struts, surrounded by crates. There was a tense anticipation as they awaited the arrival of the strangers...