Special Applications Group/ Delta (XIV)
Near the Site of the Disir Dressed in Black
"As far as I know this system was secured when the Navy took out a pirate gang that hung in this stretch over 30 years ago;" Arciore noted. As the Stratos lifters dusted off, the Marines settled into place among rocks and trees. Following along with them, armored fighting vehicles were dropped- lighter, heavy-autocannon mounted vehicles that would stand in place of heavier tanks or siegeworks vehicles that might be deployed on planet at a later time. As the Sparrowhawk fighters broke from the now hovering Everglade to provide their own orbits, additional vehicles were shuttled down slowly, coming to a stop after a sufficient amount could supply the company's worth of men now on the ground.
As Captain Poling pointed to the sky, Arciore followed. The outline of three ships were visible in low orbit, one coming into view as it was unobscured by a cloud. That was the figure of the Ohara, the structural damage she had sustained visible minutely from orbit, and much more so compared to her sister ship, Mistral, who sat at a distance to it, perpendicular so its MAC cannon pointed away from the planet and into the night sky. The figure that easily dwarfed them all was the three-pronged figure of the Cinncinnatus-class capital ship, Jeanne d'Arc, who sat in a much closer proximity to Ohara.
"..Those are ours, all right. We came with a capital ship and three destroyers. The close is the Ohara. She got jumped trying to investigate this planet, she's beat up bad. Mistral's off in front of them, and the big one's the Jeanne. Our third's above us now."
Corundan Federal Navy
Corundan Federal Navy
Cinncinatus-class capital ship Jeanne d'Arc, OCS-36
Low Orbit, Kheti Gamma
Gaholke paced the hangar gantries as a pair of Stratos gunships came aboard. Hovering and turning to land, they were met by a swarm of sailors and medical personnel. The situation's management was not going as well as he nor the commander of the Ohara had hoped, her hair disheveled from its usual immaculate style. The primary weapons systems, most of the attitude and maneuvering thrusters, and life support systems were working aboard the shellshocked destroyer, but her propulsion had gone from disabled to dead. Now they had received word that the primary reactor was just reported to have averted a meltdown. While engineering crews flooded the Ohara, which even now had fires on some decks, beyond her essential crew she was being evacuated.
"On one hand, Amonette;" Gaholke began, facing his subordinate as he walked. "..Your immediate course of action should have been a withdrawal. With the ease Jeanne had in destroying one of those ships, it would have been prudent to abandon whatever vessel that was to fate." Amonette, as he expected, bore a grit, her military bearing keeping a retort from exiting her lips. With that note, he made a comment.
"But in hindsight, everything is clear. Commander, your tactical decisionmaking in the heat of the moment saved your crew- if not your ship- and made the job a hell of a lot easier. Decisions like that aught to be rewarded. I'll see too it that your exchange is highlighted in my report to FLECOM.
"..Yes, sir." She nodded, a quiet tinge of pride touching her lips as the hangarbay filled with the whine of another shuttle lifting back off. Whether Ohara would be saved or not, yet, was an unanswered question.
Corundan Federal Navy
FLECOM EAST HEADQUARTERS
Naval Station Point Sara, Tennrius Prime, 1,104 LY from Kheti System
The sun had just risen above the wind-battered, rocky cliffs that NS Point Sara occupied. Situated to overlook Gambler Bay, where Tennrius Prime's space tether rose into the sky, Point Sara was a sprawling support facility and the home of the Federal Navy's Eastern Fleet Command.
Sat in her office overlooking the waves crashing against the shore was Fleet Admiral Lucine Handley, a veteran officer who had rose to who her position without the splendid victories or gleaming accomplishments that might often rocket others to rank. She was a former pilot, and that energy had never left her. Even now, as most of her staff would be arriving to start the workday, she sat at the glass window, overlooking a team of Marines in the choppy waters below practicing operations on watercraft. Thick grey clouds hung on the horizon, indication of a storm to come. Even now, the wind battered against her window.
Her thoughts, however, were interrupted as her computer sprung to life, a notification rapidly alerting to its presence. Unlocking her computer, she accessed the communique she had received.
- Code: Select all
ZULU ZULU ZULU FLASH ZULU ZULU ZULU
ENCRYPTION MIL STANDARD
SENDING STATION OCS-36 CO
RECEIVING STATION FLECOM EAST CO
FLASH- CONTACT IN KHETI SYSTEM IN ORBIT OF KHETI GAMMA- OCS-36 CBG ENGAGED AND DESTROYED 3 WARSHIPS UNKNOWN SOURCE
DDH-414 HEAVY DAMAGE, CASUALTIES CONFIRMED IN HUNDRED- ALL IMMEDIATE HOSTILE CONTACTS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED
PRESENCE OF FOREIGN SCOUTING PARTY BELONGING TO JADE EMPIRE- HAVE COOPERATED WITH FEDERAL EFFORTS
POTENTIAL PRESENCE OF SUBLIGHT CAPABLE SENTIENT SPECIES IN SYSTEM, STRENGTH UNKNOWN
UPDATES TO FOLLOW
MESSAGE ENDS
ZULU ZULU ZULU FLASH ZULU ZULU ZULU
