On Wings At Midnight (FT, Closed)

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Cresa

Three months.

The Polian War had been going on for three long months so far. The fighting was still mostly defensive in nature, as trying to take the fight to the Polians was extremely hard with the endless jump missile barrages and needing to stay in close to gravity wells in order to stay moderately safe. The Royal Cresian Navy was doing its best to help, lending their expert Missile defense when needed, ships and troops for less protected worlds and when in large enough formations or convoys, dragging Terrans into their own hyper or nospace for FTL travel. Even as large and overmanned a navy as the RCE had could not be everywhere at once and what the navy was starting to jokingly call their ‘taxi service’ was not practical for everyday use. It was a mild improvement over the complete shutdown the start of the war had seen implemented, but not exactly a permanent solution.

The Royal Cresian Fighter Force, the youngest military branch of the RCE (with them coming into existence only a couple years or so after meeting the Terran Empire) was also doing its best to help with the situation, as the RCE historically never had a need for fighter cover of its planets, it was mainly made up of fighter wings that were stationed at the Forward Defense Nodes and in the relatively few carriers the that were more joint navy/FF deals. They weren’t being left out of the whole affair either though given the rarity of the carriers trying to risk them wasn’t quite worth it yet. Eventually they would be used. Right now however they trained, and waited.

Given the Royal Cresian Empire’s behind the line status, Supreme Commander StarNight had offered most of her star systems as places where the Terrans could test and train new crews, rest the ships that had been fighting and generally use the hospitality of their ally since it was very unlikely anything would happen in their sector of space. So even just three months into the war there were a higher concentration of Terran ships than usual in RCE space, which did seem to bother some people but not enough to really take note.

---

Captain Francis Larson could not help a smile as he stepped up to the slip where his ship was docked. Through the large viewport sat one of the newest ships in the Navy, an absolutely beautiful heavy cruiser of the Afterlife-class, Among the Stars. Not the first of her class, no, but Francis was glad to get her as a Cresian, as while he wasn’t a very religious Cresian, he did believe in the Cresian afterlife unceremoniously named Among the Stars.

He admired it for probably longer than it was necessary. A sleek and trim design that could hit hard for its class it was yet another design that stepped away from the ‘traditional’ gravity bands that the RCN had used. He wished he could of gotten a battlecruiser like Kara had, no amount of puppy eyes at his mother could persuade her to bend a few rules and get him one. Even with the distinguished job he had done with the Nemesis and leading DS17 after Olenai’s death, he was just too young. Propaganda was all well and good but at least Kara Larson had been over 100 Earth years old before her rise to fame. Not to mention Ilenko was still pissed at the whole business with DS17. Francis hadn’t felt anyone putting pressure on him but he had the distinct feeling the he’d made an enemy out of the McKormicks even after giving Ilenko glowing praise after his small battle as the scout force commander.

Still a brand new heavy cruiser wasn’t bad at all and while he knew Kara could (and definitely would) kick his ass given that you did not fight a single Heavy Cruiser against a Battlecruiser, he was positive he would be one hell of an asset to anyone he deployed alongside. He pulled out his ID chip and walked over to the sentries guarding the tube to his ship. They saluted with precision and he handed over the ID for them to check.

Once that small formality was over he swam the tube over to his ship. According to his fairly accurate sources, Kara should be here escorting a convoy and arriving her soon for a well deserved break from the fighting.

“Captain on deck!” Someone snapped as Francis walked onto the bridge.

“At ease.” He responded, watching as everyone immediately settled down and he settled down in his command chair.

“Are we ready to depart?” He asked.

“Yes Sir,” Lieutenant Namar said crispy from his place at the comms station. “You were the last one we needed Captain.”

“Good, contact Viviara for clearance to leave. Helm,” he turned to look at the officer and ratings there. “I’m not exactly sure where exactly the Nemesis is going to come in, but as soon that ship is confirmed to be her, I want to be there. I’ll give you a bonus if she threatens to kill me for scaring her.”

The crew at the helm seemed to perky up and bit and got to work, pulling the ship out of the giant space station she was docked in and racing clear of the crowded orbit, full of merchants, civilian and military vessels to being her ‘patrol’, waiting for the arrival of one ship in particular.

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, IN
HMS Nemesis BC-459
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

It had been, Captain Kara Harrington thought wearily, been a long three months.

Just over three months had passed since the Terran Empire had found itself engulfed in full-scale warfare for the first time in over fifty years, and had found themselves as a significant disadvantage from the start with the Polians, one-time trading partners of the Empire some time ago, possessing several major technological advantages over the Terrans. Hostilities had begun following the discovery of what was latter judged to be a Polian observation post on the new Imperial Colony of New Cornwall by a naval party from HMS Ranger, leading to a skirmish between Ranger’s marines, along with their Cresian allies, and a single Polian warrior who had ripped through their number. In the days that had followed, the Polian Republic had launched a series of brutal and relentless attacks against the Empire which had inflicted losses including massive civilian casualties, whether intentionally or through carelessness, before their opening attack was checked by an Imperial Battle Squadron at New Cornwall. As it stood the working theory, for there had been absolutely no communication from inside the Polian Republic in centuries (even through its neutral trading partners), was that the Polians had been startled by the discovery of their observation post and had (over)reacted.

Regardless of the reasons for the conflict, the Polian War had begun in earnest. Although they had pulled back after their initial wave was stopped at New Cornwall, no doubt to assess how the Terrans had defeated them, the Polians had renewed their attacks along the Imperial Fringe in earnest. Given that the Polians had a clear advantage in their ability to use hyperspace, both through their ability to track and fight in hyper and their proliferation of affordable jump-capable missiles, they had successfully been able to force the Terrans on the defensive. Not only was hyperspace, formally a safe refuge and means of travel, now a dangerous and difficult theatre to fight in, but away from a gravity well, which mitigated the jump missiles significantly, the Polians possessed a clear advantage as they were able to engage any Imperial Warship from outside its effective range. As such, not only were Imperial fleets now effectively tied down to gravity wells, but they were also unable to use hyperspace freely which meant that fleet movements were only where necessary. Although the Royal Cresian Navy had done wonders in assisting them, by dragging them into their version of hyperspace, it was less than ideal and simply was not practical across the board meaning that, for the most part, the Terrans had lost the strategic initiative and were tactical hamstrung.

As a result, the past three months had been a long, draining, and frustrating series of short, sharp engagements along the frontier, as the Imperial Navy continued to try and patrol its space lest they cede even more advantage to the Polians. This was slow going, as for the most part these ships had to rely on their tactical jump engines which took orders of magnitude longer to cross the same distance as their normal drives. It had, at least, allowed the Imperial Navy to be able to protect outlying colonies, particularly small mining interests, from hit-and-run attacks by the Polian Fleet, thereby allowing them to gain some valuable combat experience, but between frequently arriving too late and still being out-ranged by the Polians when they were encountered, it was still frustrating, even if some victories had been won by using the tactical jump engines for their original purpose; to jump close to an enemy and engage them with energy weapons. The Polians, however, getting wise to this tactic and frequently disengaged as soon as this happened and were usually able to weather the fire of an equivalent ship long enough to escape into hyperspace themselves.

It was a frustrating stalemate for both sides; although the Polians had the advantage the Terrans were staunchly refusing to be drawn into a pitched battle away from a gravity well and, for whatever reason, the Polians had not yet launched a concerted effort against even a modest Terran picket. Equally, it was simply not practical (nor strategically or tactically sound) for the Imperial Navy to try and take the fight to them away from the gravity well much less in one of their systems. So the conflict remained broadly stationary, albeit with almost constant skirmishing along the Imperial Frontier, with a few more bolder raids deeper into Imperial space. By this point the Navy was becoming rather frustrated; in the Amsus War they had held the initiative, and even if there had been months or years between campaigns, in order to consolidate and build-up, they had been able to choose when and where to fight a major engagement; so for many senior flag officers, who had served in that war, it was not the way they knew how to fight.

Perhaps the only saving grace was the fact that the Polian Republic had shown absolutely no ability or willingness to strike at the Empire’s holdings in either the Gamma or Delta Quadrants, or indeed against the Royal Cresian Empire. As such, the Atlantia Sector, in the Gamma Quadrant, and both the Apilon Sector and the Royal Cresian Empire, in the Delta Quadrant, had become valuable ‘behind the lines’ areas that could be used for both training and R&R without having to worry overly much about remaining tied down to a gravity well. After all, although they had not done so yet there was no reason to think that the Polians would not be able to launch attacks against the Imperial Core, although its strong defences were likely why they had not done so, and as such even that deep in Imperial Space would have to be considered potentially hazardous and therefore not the place for either training or R&R. Nevertheless, precautions were still to be taken and the most notable of these, for the Imperial Navy as well as civilian spacers, was the imposition of the Imperial Convoy System.

Before the war, the convoy system operated by the Imperial Navy had been strictly voluntary as the shipping corporations did not have to attach their ships to convoys as it tended to increase transit times due to the need to wait for the convoy to gather. Inside the Empire this was not much of a problem, although no insurance company worth its salt would insure a merchantman going outside the Empire that did not joint a convoy, with a few exceptions like to the RCE. As a result, trading ships tended to come in two flavours; armoured transporters that were sufficiently protected and armed to protect themselves, and big bulk transports that would usually join convoys, or else operate inside the Empire. With the outbreak of the war, the convoys technically remained voluntary, however all insurers had quickly made it clear that they would not insure any ship that did not travel as part of a convoy, which had effectively made it mandatory for all but a few who were prepared to risk operating without insurance (which, whilst not illegal, was potentially devastating financially).

As a result, the Imperial Navy had dramatically increased its convoy operations, as most merchantmen were not equipped with tactical jump engines, and the challenge of refitting the navy with true jump engines was already too great before the civilians were considered, meaning that for the economy to survive hyperspace would have to be risked. However, the pre-war standard of a mere two destroyers, whilst more than capable of defending the convoy against pirates was grossly outmatched against the Polian Battlecruiser which seemed to play a particularly large role within their fleet composition. As a result, and considering that any given Imperial Warship was likely to be at a disadvantage, the Imperial Navy had put together a ‘strike group’ that would consist of a battlecruiser squadron, a cruiser squadron, and two destroyer flotillas, that would (eventually) be used to go on the offensive against the marauding Polian battlecruiser and cruisers, and split them up to allow them to escort for separate convoys. All things considered it had been effective; one battlecruiser and screen would hold the enemy in place (and absorb the fire they could not truly defend against, yet) whilst the other closed the distance and destroyed them. It was not ideal, and losses had been suffered, but had kept the Terran economy going.

It was ironic, Kara thought wryly as she sat in her command chair on the bridge of the Nemesis, before the war convoy duty had been detested and avoided where possible yet now it was (for the most part) a much needed reprieve. As such, Kara had jumped at the opportunity to command the escort for Convoy CE-219, one of many such convoys that had picked their way from the Core to the Royal Cresian Empire, passing through the Haligonian Jump Nexus, stopping off at Karin and the Gamma Oridi Naval Yards, before heading for Cresa.

It had been an interesting sight for the crew of the Nemesis, and indeed the entire escort more generally, to see all the slips at both Gamma Oridi and the Karin Orbital Yards full with the new Imperial battlecruisers under construction. When it had departed Sol, CE-219 had consisted of two dozen bulk freighters, but had lost two-thirds of that number, first at Karin and then at Gamma Oridi, as much needed components, weapons, and equipment were transported from various contractors to the shipyards for installation aboard the new battlecruisers. Throughout the journey the escort had remained the same; Nemesis was joined by an older battlecruiser, Dauntless, two cruisers, Philadelphia and Sheffield, and eight destroyers. It had been a quiet trip, all things considered, in the past few weeks the Polians had dramatically scaled back their attacks on Terran convoys protected by battlecruisers, doubtless because they had started to become more and more consistently equipped with fighter squadrons and the F-150 Spectre had proven to still be very effective even as the Polians began to bring their own fighters. Yet this adaptation was only in early days, and the task of training sufficient pilots to put into service the vast fleets of old F-150s that were being reactivated from the mothballs was easier said than done.

“Coming up on the Cresa system, Captain,” Lieutenant Commander Renée Duquesne, the Navigation, Operations, and Communications (NOC) Officer that had followed her from her previous command, Ranger. “All ships reporting ready for the vortex.”

“Very well,” Kara nodded. “Let’s go say hello.”

A few moments later, expertly shepherded through the process by Lt. Commander Duquesne, CE-219 emerged from the vortex initialised by Nemesis and entered the Cresa System, or Alpha-Deltii as it was more properly known. Nemesis was at the head of the formation, with Dauntless at the rear, Philadelphia and two destroyer divisions on the starboard hemisphere and Sheffield and the other two destroyer divisions on the port hemisphere. It was a time-tested formation that was designed to give both as much protection as possible and allow a convergence of force as quickly as possible when required. Throughout the trip the escort had been running under defence watches, that is to say half-cleared for action and capable of manning action stations in very short order, so they were alert and ready to respond to any threat if one was to appear. They would only stand-down and relax once the convoy was formally delivered to its destination and the escort was under the protective embrace of the Cresian Home Fleet. Only then could they truly let their guard down, more so than was even possible back home given the much reduced likelihood of an attack this far out.

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
RCNS Among the Stars
Captain Francis Larson

As CE-219 emerged into the capital of the the Royal Cresian Empire they were greeted by the familiar riot that always had been Alpha-Deltii. The absolutely massive home fleet sat ringed in orbit around Cresa, though now that the RCE was at war rather than the 'honor' tier system they usually enforced (with those more important getting closer in orbits no matter what kind of ship they were with the outer orbits mainly for those passing through) the actual warships were ringed around the outside with all the civilians close in. Even if the RCE wasn't close to the war, they weren't going to risk the lives of their civilians. Other warship formations were scattered through out the system, practicing or just perhaps waiting for orders before leaving. The giant yellow/white gas giant Melke sheltered a good many more ships of various types in its gravity well, some Terran merchants were even waiting to leave with a Cresian convoy that had gathered in the shadow of the great gas planet.

A sudden alert would probably give a small scare to most of the convoy, but it wasn't a bad alert. Cresian equipment tended to produce fairly distinctive and different 'patterns' from anyone else they ran into unless it was stolen tech. The distinctive surge of energy from a ship leaving nospace alerted them to the fact that their convoy had apparently gained a ship.

A very new Cresian heavy cruiser, an Afterlife-class, a class the Terrans had been told about but given how new they were, yet to leave RCE space so sightings were few and far between. After just long enough to let the idea that the ship had kinda snuck up on them, it contacted the convoy.

The message showed one Captain Francis Larson sitting in the command chair, not exactly lounging back but he definitely looked like he was way too comfortable as he smiled at the pick up.

"Welcome Convoy," Francis glanced down at one of the holograms his tone that strange cheerful fake inflection of a tour guide, "CE-219 to the Royal Cresian Empire's capital star system! I am Captain Larson and I will be your tour guide today as we begin towards our destination." His ship skittered alongside the convoy as they moved towards Cresa, though the ship stuck closest to Nemesis as the message continued. "To your starboard you will see the star" Francis managed this with a completely straight face though someone off screen made a muffled snorting laugh, "which provides us all the sunlight and energy we could possibly need, and as you can see growing in size is the planet Cresa, home planet of the Cresian race and capital of the RCE. I believe all ships should be getting their orbital assignments about now."

Which was true, Cresa Orbital Control was no joke, and they effortlessly ran and managed the many ships in their space. The merchants got their assignments inside the protective inner orbits, while the escorts were settled in what was the innermost warship tier, far enough in the gravity well that if a surprise jump missile came at them they would have time to respond, but still outside most of the civilian orbits. Most the RCN ships would be outside that orbit.

"I hope you all enjoy your stay here in Alpha-Deltii, accommodations, dining and recreational activities are all available groundside. It is currently summer time, the temperature is a blazing 23C in Telegett at the moment, clear skies ans absolutely gorgeous beach weather for those of you that like the heat. Once again welcome and thank you for choosing to visit Cresa!"

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, IN
HMS Nemesis BC-459
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

The convoy escort responded immediately to the unexpected contact detected on their screens. The trailing battlecruiser, Dauntless, immediately executed a hard turn to starboard, a move designed to bring the ship’s broadside armament to bear on the target as soon as possible. At much the same time one of the two destroyer divisions on either flank detached and turned back to quickly reposition themselves to support the Dauntless, leaving two destroyers on the flanks with the cruisers and sending four to the rear. Despite the instinctive desire to do so, Kara and Nemesis remained at the head of the column; the standard response was designed to reinforce the vector at which a threat had been identified but still keep all-around protection in case it was a feint or a distraction. The convoy would stay together and proceed towards their destination; their formation and flight path was designed to maximise the protection fired by their own defensive weaponry and that which was provided by the escorts. It was the worst possible situation to be caught however, in normal space and well away from a gravity well it would likely be a case that Dauntless would have to hold off the enemy to allow the convoy to jump away, or at least get closer to Cresa.

“It’s a Cresian Warship, Ma’am,” Lt. Commander Michael T. Kirk reported from tactical. “Looks like a cruiser, probably one of their new Afterlife-Class.”

“What the hell are they playing at,” Kara scowled, standing from her seat. “Bring up the allied warbook, see if you can identify her.”

Lt. Commander Cain was silent for a moment as he brought up the warbook, which contained all Imperial and allied warships, as well as any identified enemy ships, intended to ensure that all commanders knew who they were dealing with on their own side and to open the door for potentially taking advantage of an opposing commander’s tendencies or habits.

“RCNS Among the Stars,” Lt. Commander Kirk said after a few moments. “Captain Francis Larson in command.”

Kara rolled her eyes and returned to her command chair.

“Put the escort back into formation,” Kara ordered crisply.

“We’re being hailed, Ma’am,” Lt. Commander Duquesne reported. “It’s Captain Larson.”

“On screen.”

Kara found herself rolling her eyes again as Francis went through his greeting as the convoy moved closer and closer to the planet. It was not her first time visiting the system, but she was always impressed by the efficiency of Cresa Orbital Control, as she knew full well from watching the complex orbital dance over Earth that it was no mean feat to keep so many ships safe. At the moment the situation was made much harder by the fact that tactical considerations, at Earth certainly, meant that all warships (and therefore civilian ships) had to be crammed deep enough into the gravity well that it would give them sufficient time to defend against any jump missiles that were targeted against them. The days of distant orbits, or sitting outside of orbit and transferring down via shuttle, were long gone unfortunately.

“Shall we just put some shots into him, Ma’am?” Lt. Commander Kirk joked. “He’s lucky he didn’t get some from Dauntless.”

It was an exaggeration of course; no Imperial Captain would fire into any ship without positively identifying it as hostile, but the joke was appreciated around the bridge.

“No, I think we might have some explaining to do if we did that, I’ll just give him hell when I see him in person, I assure you, acknowledge the message and thank Captain Larson for his ‘welcome’,” Kara laughed. “Slot us into orbit, shore leave is authorised once we’re secured… I’ll be in my day cabin signing-off the convoy paperwork if anyone, or that rapscallion, want me!”

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
RCNS Among the Stars
Captain Francis Larson

It did not take long to get the ships settled into the busy orbit around Cresa, safely in the embrace of the gravity well and surrounded by the RCNs second biggest fleet. The Nemesis was granted a prime slot among the Terrans she had arrived with, while Among the Stars slotted into a formation behind the Terrans.

It took a little while longer than one might expect for Francis to get around to calling Kara. About half an hour before Francis finally commend his friend. His image when accepted looked like he was a kicked puppy.

“I was told I needed to apologize for scaring you.” Francis half mumbled the words before he straightened. “So I formally apologize for scaring the convoy and the good ships of the Terran Empire with my prank. I should know better as a captain in the Royal Cresian Navy.” He sounded like he was parroting someone and his next words confirmed it. “Admiral of the Blue Hanser took time out of his busy day to yell at me for what I pulled.”

With the start of the war and truly joint naval operations even as limited as they were at the moment, the minor problem of discipline with the RCN came to the forefront. The Cresian military had the rules in place, they had the system in place to enforce it, they just didn’t enforce a lot of it even when it clearly broke a rule.

So the Terrans had very plainly told the RCN that if they had the rules, they needed to start enforcing them or else there were going to be some big problems with command in the coming months. At first, a lot of the Admiralty had balked at the idea, especially enforcing Rule 100, which was the ‘no relations in the same chain of command’ that was the infamously ignored rule the RCN had. Most of the Cresians in the Admiralty and high rank were old enough to have had plenty of years of breaking the rule behind them. (Hell, even Kara Larson had ignored the rule in her younger days, her bondmate being the station XO while she worked under him as a traffic control officer for Serenity’s Flame..) getting rid of the rule had never been considered because it had always been there like a tradition you didn’t quite remember why you had but did anyways.

The Terrans had been very firm and unmoving on this point and the while everyone was pretty sure the Terrans couldn’t exactly stop the RCE from fighting the war, they had to cede this to the Terrans logic and the Admiralty had started to crackdown on the breaking of rules in the past months. It wasn’t perfect and the more isolated or calm posts under older Cresians tended to still be lax, but anyone that served with the Terrans followed the rules with little complaint. While there were many people who, quietly or not so quietly, decried the enforcing of rules they had, it had actually shown a marked improvement in discipline. The RCN had not lost their playful streak, considering Francis only gotten yelled at.

“So Kara, glad to see you anyways, how is Edward? And Warlord Harrington?”

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, IN
HMS Nemesis BC-459
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

Kara pinched the bridge of her nose as she leant back in her chair at her desk in her day cabin, located just off the bridge, intended to allow a commanding officer to work or rest but still be available on the bridge on very short notice.. Little more than a bunk, a head, and a desk, the day cabin was a small, cramped compartment, even aboard a battlecruiser (or indeed a dreadnought), as aboard a warship space was at a premium, even for one the size of Nemesis. Given the amount of paperwork, mercifully all contained in data tablets rather than old-fashioned hard copies, that the Captain of an Emperor’s Ship had to deal with on a regular basis was immense, and had only increased with the outbreak of a shooting war. In addition to normal logistics and personnel concerns there were now also wartime reports to complete and the adequate consideration of intelligence reports were now far more important, and pressing, than they ever had been previously. Some of this could be shared with her executive officer, Commander Jonathan Mulder, but there were certain things that required her attention as the Captain, ranging from ensuring she remained abreast of all intelligence to the countless reports she had to complete.

Of particular importance, at least at this precise moment after she had successfully delivered the convoy to its destination, was the stack of official reports that she was required to complete. As the Convoy Commander, Kara had been legally responsible for the convoy and its contents; in the event of one or more losses amongst the merchantmen the responsibility would fall on her and her actions and tactics would be judged to determine whether she had done everything within her power or whether they had been avoidable losses. From a commercial perspective, in the event that it was determined that the convoy had been adequately protected the insurance companies would pay out, however if it was determined that the Navy had not done a good enough job they would instead call upon the Navy to make good any losses brought about by their failure. The financial cost for a botched convoy escort would not fall upon individual Captains, but such a failure would be a black mark on their record and would likely prevent their attaining a future command. As long as they did their upmost the officer in question would be fine, however if they were judged to have not done their upmost then that was an entirely different matter.

As such, Kara had to formally sign-off this dissolution of the convoy now that they had reached their destination. It would fall to another officer to escort the merchantmen back to the Empire, once they had unloaded their existing cargo and taken aboard entirely new ones.

Despite needing to get through the paperwork, Kara was more than grateful when the comm panel on her desk began to beep.

“Commanding Officer,” Kara said smoothly as she activated the system.

“NOC Officer, Ma’am,” Lt. Commander Duquesne replied promptly. “Captain Larson on the comm for you.”

“Put him through, Renée,” Kara nodded, turning to the screen on her desk with a weary smile. “Good Morning to you, Francis Larson.”

Kara listened to Francis’ apology with a wry smile of amusement; it was well known that the Royal Cresian Navy and the imperial Navy did things differently, even if the Cresians were making a stellar effort to adjust their way of doing things for when they were operating alongside the Terrans.

“I’ll make sure that I pass your apologies on, Francis,” Kara replied dryly.

Then she rolled her eyes and leant back in her seat.

“Edward is doing fine, he’s been appointed as the Senior Naval Officer on the NEXTGEN Heavy Cruiser programme, he’ll oversee the completion of the construction of the prototype and put her through her paces in her acceptance trails and bring her into service,” Kara explained. “Mother is pulling her hair out, this is not the kind of war she is used to fighting, and her instinct is for an aggressive approach, or at least to be able to have the initiative to go on the offensive, so being tied down to gravity wells is really pissing her off.”

Kara sighed.

"How are things here?"

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
RCNS Among the Stars
Captain Francis Larson

"I'll need to send a congratulatory letter to him. That sounds like a great post for him. And yeah," Francis ruffled his feathers, "I would imagine someone with Jess's record to be extreme put out with how things are going right now."

He paused to collect his thoughts and shrugged. "Things here are... quiet. Understanding the idea that declaring war doesn't mean that everywhere is suddenly a warzone, but after those first few days the calm here is reassuring and unsettling. The worlds out here are throwing themselves into the war effort, it'll be the first war that the RCE has fought as a multi system empire... well properly fight anyways with all our resources behind it. Like The Afterlife-class wasn't slated for use for another... oh year or so. You put the RCN in wartime mode and we can hit the ground running." A small side effect from the RCEs military government and once again the trauma of the Reconzi War. It was a mildly open secret that only meeting, and being calmed down by, the Terran Empire had managed to put the RCE into anything resembling normality rather than the near constant anxiety state that had plagued them into severe over-reactions and traditions that made little sense. Hell the fact that the Convoy had just been able to pop into Alpha-Deltii without stopping at an FDN and being slotted into a schedule was an almost mind-blowing achievement, as it had actually been quite a few years since StarNight had gotten rid of that holdover security measure from the war.

He then sighed.

"Other then that we've had some tiny waves, people not wanting to be involved in the war because its not our space, not our problem... I think its fairly minor though. I've been hoping I'd be deployed away from Home Fleet soon but given the state of the war I don't know how soon that would be. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts." Francis's gray hair streaks brightened, turning away from the more depressing conversation to something a bit more light hearted. "Better now that you are here. I believe the beginning of the war sort of cut off our plans to catch up properly so if you have some time would you like to go groundside and get dinner?"

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, IN
HMS Nemesis BC-459
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

“That sounds like a lovely idea, Francis,” Kara replied with a nod. “Send me which spaceport to head down to and give me an hour to wrap up here.”

Wrapping up the call and acknowledging the message with the correct spaceport on her wrist-comp a few minutes later, Kara quickly finished signing off her paperwork and submitting it into the FleetNet to send it to the Admiralty. After quickly checking in with the Officer of the Watch, who confirmed that they were safely in orbit and that they had authorised shore-leave in accordance with her instructions, she made her way down to her stateroom to change. Given that they were at war all personnel aboard a warship wore their Action Working Dress, even the officers who normally wore their service uniforms on duty, in order to ensure they were fully prepared for battle at any given moment. The lightweight skin suits were perfectly suited for wear during space combat, as they provided protection against physical damage as well as exposure to safe, and were fully acceptable as uniform wear aboard ship, but they were not exactly appropriate for day-to-day war outside of the naval environment. Aside from anything else they were particularly uncomfortable to wear for prolonged periods of time, and were significantly optimised for use in space (with plumbing concerns and the like), not planetside.

So Kara changed into her No.3B service uniform; a short-sleeved white shirt with an open-collar; her rank insignia displayed on her collar and her epaulettes, worn with black trousers, uniform shoes, and a peaked cap. The only additional adjustment due to the war was the last item that she added; pulling it firstly from a small locked compartment beside the desk in her stateroom; a P1A4 pulse pistol that she slipped into a holster that she had attached to her uniform belt. Shortly after the start of the conflict the Admiralty had instituted a standing order that all officers ought to be armed at all times that they were off the ship. The logic behind this was that the Polian Republic had clearly infiltrated the Empire to some extent, although it seemed unlikely that it was not the Polians itself due to their distinctive physiology, which meant that there was a very real possibility that they would be able to carry out an assassination attempt against Imperial Officers, particularly senior ones, in order to try and decapitate Imperial military leadership. Of course, if they were really determined to do so the Polian agents would likely be able to accomplish their missions but at least this way the officers would have a chance to fight back.

As it stood, three months into the war, nothing of the sort had happened and the standing order was roundly mocked amongst the officer corps (and indeed, in the rank and file). Nevertheless, it was a standing order so Kara followed it. Once she was ready, Kara made her way down to the flight deck, which was now was crammed to the rafters with starfighters in comparison to the previously neat and orderly state it had been in before the need to fit as many starfighters as possible. The rest of the flight deck was equally busy, as pinnaces, dropships and other shuttles were in various stages of the process for taking the ship’s company down for shore leave. Nevertheless, a shuttle was brought out from one of the hangers and prepared for the quick flight down to the planet and a few minutes later they were on their way down.

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

Flying down through the atmosphere, today the colors of aurora were mild and fleeting in the clear skies over Telegett, the Stayr Tower gleaming in the strong light of the sun. The city itself seemed muted, the air car traffic not as bad, an odd stillness to those who didn’t know the city had a bad habit of acting paralyzed by the heat even if for humans it was a pleasantly warm day. Passing through the shadow of the Stayr Tower the shuttle touched down at Telegett Spaceport the oldest and busiest spaceport the planet had. The sprawling spaceport was a huge complex on the outer reaches of the the capital city, always busy with spacecraft and various vehicles funneling people in and out, The Terran shuttle was directed to the military half of the spaceport, still busy as hell given that this was the RCE at war, but seemed far less hectic.

Upon landing the shuttle would be provided any fuel or supplies it needed (Telegett Spaceport asked the pilots on the way down) and when Kara actually entered the spaceport shuttle waiting area it was surprisingly quiet, chatter of other military personnel nearby, waiting for their flights was the main noise. It was cool, very well air conditioned and the large windows let the people waiting see was going on outside.

Francis was waiting for her, looking fairly nice in his own black and gold uniform, white beret on his head to signify that he was a ship commander.

"Welcome back to Cresa Kara." Francis said as he walked up to her. "I was honestly considering abusing my mom's landing pad at our house here but sometimes I like to pretend I’m not special.” His voice was warm and friendly, obviously pleased to get to see her again. “Follow me.”

As they walked the spaceport around them continued to bustle with activity, people wore mostly the black and gold or dark blue and gold uniforms of the Navy and Marines, with a healthy mixing of those that wore the skinsuits as the ‘easier’ thing to wear. There were people greeting and saying their goodbyes to friends and lovers destined for different ships, the occasional wall dedicated to a hologram of a news station showing local headlines and the now more than occasional hologram or actual poster propaganda.

The propaganda here seemed mild but along the lines you might expect. An ‘oldie but goodie’ updated to modern day with an exploding ship saying “loose lips sinks ships”, others all were reminders of similar sentiments, reminding those that read of their duty, nation and the occasional extolling of the virtues of the Terran Empire. All of it bright, colorful and well designed, a lot of it ignored by the military personnel who had no doubt seen it before. Propaganda wasn’t a lost art to the RCE, but they had very obviously cranked up the amount due to the start of the war. Another reminder that it was wartime.

“You in the mood for anything in particular Kara?” Francis asked. “This is your time off after all.”

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, IN
Telegett, Cresa
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

Kara smiled warmly as she greeted Francis, more than happy to see her friend again after the outbreak of war had disrupted their reunion plans the last time they had met. Looking around, she saw the familiar sight of countless military personnel awaiting their transports to their assignments, having seen more than her fair share of such sights during her years in the Navy, if not with quite the same underlying tension that came with wartime. She was more than a little gratified to see the various pro-Terran propaganda that decorated the area, it was a comforting reminder that the Royal Cresian Empire was their ally in all of this. So too was the case back in the Terran Empire, not only was there a great deal of propaganda for everything from the need for operational security (OPSEC) to encouraging ‘Terran Patriots’ to do their duty and enlist in the Imperial Military. For many they would not need persuading, or they would see right through it regardless of their own political leanings, but for the lazy, the uninformed, or the unsure it was valuable in ensuring that the Imperial Government could try and shape public opinion regarding the war, as unnecessary as it was now that was liable to change.

Indeed, it was the subtle public relations effort that made Kara glad that she had showered and changed before heading down; action working dress was not conducive to fresh, much less an attractive, appearance. Before her shower, Kara’s hair had been matted with sweat as, even with onboard atmospheric control, the combination of wearing a skin suit and the tension of a combat cruise had ensured that everyone was on edge and had exhibited the natural physical reactions. It also had doubtless not helped that Kara had worked out some of her frustrations in the gym, prior to her last duty watch, which was done in the unenviable attire of the action working dress skin suit due to the need to be ready for combat at any given time. Kara liked to think that she was attractive enough, although he was by no means vain, but she certainly hadn’t even come close before her shower. Certainly, she had not had an appearance that best represented the Imperial Navy to its ally, whether civilian or military, much less for a Captain in the Emperor’s service.

Kara considered Francis’ question thoughtfully. As both an Imperial naval officer, and a scion of a High House, she had enjoyed her fair share of both extravagant meals and many from various difficult cultures and species. After all, that was supposedly one of the key allures of a naval career; the opportunity to visit strange new worlds, and to experience their culture, traditions, and cuisine.

“Well, there’s not much point trying something traditionally Terran,” Kara commented. “Take me somewhere Cresian, or at least whatever Cresian cuisine a human can eat!”

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

"Ah so no meals of murder then." Francis sounded amused, his eyes briefly flicking over a poster that proclaimed the virtue of joining one of the intelligence services. "Alright I think I have a place in mind." He looked up at the sign for which way he needed to go to catch the bullet train. Given his name he was more used to just being able to surpass all of this, he probably still could of, but just like the landing pad at the Larson Home on Cresa, a bit of just doing things like the average person felt right, allowing them to see other people and be seen, enjoy the background of noise of life that a person of high status can just straight up avoid for the rest of their life if they wanted.

He hung a right which fed down more towards the civilian areas, a particular well manned area beyond the next split-off to the train station seemed to be the junction with the civilian half of the spaceport, which seemed much louder with the indistinct noises of crowds, children, advertisements and an announcer voice in the far distance announcing which shuttle was on last call. Before the manned area where people were being quickly checked to make sure they were military before being let through, some families embraced those that were going off to their ships and stations. Francis let his gaze linger on the sight for a moment, remembering back when he first had to leave mom, dad, and (his) Jessica to go to his first assignment aboard a ship. Odd how long ago that seemed, how terrified he'd been despite having been practically raised on warships given who his mom was. Oh for simpler days he guessed, when all you worried about was not pissing off your superiors and hoping you got assigned to the same ship as a friend from the Academy.

Stepping out onto the train platform the warm air outside was a none too overbearing, as Francis had said earlier, 23C. Though the Cresians among those waiting here were doing their level best to look miserable, platform was divided up, farther down the track was the civilian area, once again more crowded and with a healthy mix of civilians and military on that side, while this side was 'military personnel (and train/spaceport staff) only.' Those of lower rank or enlisted were staying well clear of those bearing higher ranks, and why this became clear as the warning tone sounded and the train came to a soft stop on front of them. Once again in war, the RCE shifted things around, for those of higher ranks the first car in the train was reserved for their sole use while the other filed into the cars behind that and civilians got the back of the train to use as they pleased. The car wasn't terribly crowded, a few commanders and a Major in a row chatting over something in low voices, some other various ranks above commander including an Army General who sat quietly tucked into a corner, eyes on a hologram reading something. The warning note of acceleration sounded and the train gently pulled out of the spaceport and went rushing off to its next stop. The scenery blurred into a mess of blurry buildings, sky and occasional greenery, slowing back into focus as the train came to rest briefly at each stop.

It took only around 6 minutes to reach the stop Francis needed, stepping out with Kara into an open air station leading out to what seemed like a sprawling business center with walkways that twisted through carefully kept plant life and a variety of stores and restaurants. There were quite a few people, human and Cresian, wandering around looking in the shops and restaurants as they walked around. Francis didn't seem to mind the 'oppressive' heat that made the locals look absolutely miserable,(then again his home of Sunai was a warmer planet on average so he was more well adjusted to the heat) as he led Kara back to an establishment near the back.

It was called Vinteo's, the vast majority of the seating was outside in a patio seating area under a large latticework interwoven with green healthy vines covered in a spectrum of red to purple flowers as they walked into the shade it was cool with a very mild breeze stirring the air. After asking for a seat and getting sat near the 'back' away from the other families and near the 'edge' which was an old fashioned wrought iron barrier fence with the vines on the latticework above growing down the supports to cover the fence and drape down the building below (showing that despite the surroundings they were not in fact ground level but not high enough to start causing altitude problems.) It did give a fairly impressive view of this small slice of Telegett, many of the taller buildings 'behind' them and allowing then to look out over the collection of buildings leading to the shores of the inlet Telegett was situated on and on the glimmering waves you could barely see an island in the distance that was the Telegett Naval Academy.

"I'd call this place a hole in the wall if it was any less amazing." Francis said as the waiter gave them cups of water, menus and retreated to let them decide on what they wanted. He removed his beret and tucked it under a wing, gazing out over the expanse of Telegett to the island in the distance, small smile on his face. "Found it first year I was at the academy, exploring the city beyond what most of the normal off-worlders do. They make amazing food here." The menus they'd been given specified that this menu was the 'human-friendly' rotation and everything on it was safe for humans to consume. Many Cresian restaurants had rotating menus that traded off as between cooking the normally dangerous Cresian food and human food the restaurant would often need to be shut down for a day of deep clean and packing away the dangerous ingredients to insure no cross contamination. "Though," his voice took on a note of warning as he looked at the menu, "If its poultry and it says cooked 'Cresian-style' make sure ask for it fully cooked, most of the staff here knows better but..." He shrugged. "just to be sure."

Vinteo's menu itself had a large variety of meats to select from, mostly sorted into the various categories of Poultry, seafood, red meats and on the last page a mix of sandwiches, soups, and salads. Some of the meats listed were obviously human in nature (such as duck, pork or beef) while others were the native meats humans could eat (all thankfully described with their closest human analogies or mix of) A lot of the dishes seemed mainly focused on the meats and their seasonings and/or sauces and Cresians did have a leaning towards the 'carnivore' side of omnivore and could be eaten raw or cooked, deboned or bone in. The things you could get on the side was still a large variety of veggies and fruits that would be just as satisfying to eat with the meal.

Eventually the food was ordered and the waiter left a small plate with a couple pieces of wonderfully toasted bread to give them an tiny appetizer, Francis took his own piece, spreading the herbed butter that came with it over it and sat back in his seat, his gaze back on the rich blue water in the distance. It was so calm, it was honestly strange to think that in the sky above (currently dominated by the sun and the huge dark crescent of Middron) their warships sat in protective orbits, Kara here to relax from the war and he was part of the Home Fleet which were the defenders of this world in case danger did come.

"So I asked about your brother and mom, but not you." He glanced back at her. "How have you been all these years Kara?"

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, DSM, IN
Telegett, Cresa
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

Kara had remained mostly quiet over the course of the trip to the restaurant in question, concentrating on taking in the environment around her with an interested eye. She had always been something of a people-watcher, particularly as she had begun to experience the world outside of the largely sheltered upbringing as a daughter of nobility, eager to see how ‘normal’ people lived. In her uniform, both at the Imperial Naval Academy and later as a junior officer, had afforded her a degree of anonymity as most civilians tended not to look too close past the uniforms, or other military personnel the rank of the wearer. As such, despite being moderately well known by the general public due to her status as the daughter of a Highlord, she had been able to sit alone in a bar, a coffee shop, or any of half a dozen public spaces and just watch the world go by. It had largely been for that reason that she enjoyed trips by public transport, even if her family wealth meant that she could easily have afforded a private aircar or any other kind of private transport (which the Harrington Guard would likely have preferred).

She was, however, glad that she had changed into her service uniform and that she had elected for the short-sleeved version as she would have been far too hot in either the long-sleeved variant or her action working dress. Between splitting most of her childhood between northern England and Pike’s Redoubt, both of which were decidedly temperate in their climate, Kara could appreciate hot weather (in small does) but was not well suited for it. She did not, mercifully, get headaches in the heat like her younger brother, Walker, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t seek out shade if she could not strip down to a bikini and sunbathe. Spending a significant portion of her life aboard atmospheric controlled starships, which were set to the ‘perfect’ temperature for maximum productivity for the ship’s company, had doubtless not helped when it came to acclimatising her to comfortable temperatures. It had been no surprise when she had been utterly miserable during her first field leadership exercise at the Academy, on the windswept Dartmoor, and had been grateful ever since that she had elected to follow her mother into the Navy, rather than into the Army or the Marine Corps.

Kara was therefore more than a little glad when they reached their destination, Vinteo’s, and they were shown to a sheltered outdoor area with a gentle breeze. After studying the menu carefully, she decided upon a selection of native meats to try, deciding that it was best to try some of the local cuisine rather than just getting something that she could have done on Earth. After looking out at the view, Kara sipped the drink that she had ordered and leant bacon her chair as she considered Francis’ question.

“Well that’s something of a broad question, Francis, I guess I’ve been focusing on my career for the most part; you know as well as I do that the best way to get noticed as a junior officer is to volunteer for as much as possible, so I’ve spent most of my career doing that,” Kara replied with a shrug. “Not that I don’t love my family, but it was nice to get away from them and do my own thing, on Pike’s Redoubt I was always the ‘spare’ for Edward, so I guess I had the choice between getting worked up over that or taking advantage of the additional freedom that it meant that I had, so I did the latter.”

Kara shrugged.

“Both Edward and I wanted to ensure that we made our way on our own merits, rather than because of who our mother is, which was easier for me than for him, he’ll be a Highlord one day after all, and its harder for people to not consider that when dealing with him,” Kara continued. “It’s been difficult though, as much as I’ve tried to stay out of the limelight as much as possible, that simply isn’t always possible given who my mother is, and that’s only likely to get worse now that I’ve ended up with something a public profile of my own, what with the opening days of the war, and their decision to award me the Distinguished Service Medal in addition to my promotion.”

Kara sighed.

“What about you?” She asked. “How has your life been?”

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

"I would say I've been doing my best to emulate what you have been doing but as the heir to my mom's rank... well position would be a better label, I have more problems along the line of your brother. It is nice to be away from the family. I love my mom, but you really don't realize how your name and upbringing affects you until try to get out from under it." Francis shrugged as he took a bite of his bread. "I guess I could of gone undercover, the StarNIght's do that all the time, but it just didn't feel genuine to do it myself."

Another tradition of the RCE, long as the Supreme Commander's child didn't have too big an ego, was to go undercover, new name, change of hair/eye color so their career in the military was not influenced by those that may try to fall in favor or sabotage a StarNight while they learned and grew as a person out from underneath the massive burden of their lineage. The 'spares' or anyone who wasn't the second in line to inherit, didn't need to change their names if they didn't wish to. The press always made it a low-key game to try and find out who it was, but they had never successful. Once the StarNight in question felt confident enough, and had surpassed the required amount of years in service, they could announce who they were and go by their real name from there out. Byrien (Junior) had done so and no one knew exactly who he was at the moment. It wasn't usually done for anyone else but it could be requested. So while Francis couldn't completely avoid his name influencing things, going to change his whole identity for a 'few' years wasn't his style.

"I do wish I had kept up some form of communications with you, I never meant to drop off the face of the galaxy." He sounded a bit regretful. "But you wake up every day in at the Naval Academy and 5 minutes later its the end of the day and you are too tired to even think about writing to your own parents. Its so easy to forget when you are young and the navy is running you ragged. No real excuse for forgetting once I was older though." His expression returned to a smile, the vibrant colors returning to his hair streaks. "It may of caused a bit of a war, I'm glad everyone seemed to conspire to bring us back together. No Harrington without Larson as the saying goes... I think."

The waiter brought and gave each person their selected dishes, each dish expertly arranged and smelled wonderful. Francis took a small bite of what looked to be some sort of dark meat poultry, ruffling his feathers as he savored the taste. He loved Crested Fowlers, it was such a rich and flavorful bird.

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, DSM, IN
Telegett, Cresa
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

Kara nodded thoughtfully, although those children of the Emperor who had gone into military service did not to such extremes as going ‘undercover’ they were expected to be treated as any normal junior officer in order to ensure they didn’t grow too big a head. The Terran Empire was something of a paradox in many respects; although the Emperor had absolute power he was still expected to abide by certain traditions and conventions; one of which was that he was expected to ensure that all of his offspring were raised properly. It was not for naught that some of the conventions had begun to break down in the years before the rise of the Immortal Emperor and the Fall of the First Empire. Indeed, many Terran historians argued, not without merit, that it was the breakdown of these traditions and conventions that had allowed the men and women who would become the Imperial Clerics of the Cult of the Immortal Emperor to take power after the incapacitation of Emperor William II rather than the normal process being followed an a regent being appointed. In a time when the old conventions were being ignored at every turn, despite the manifest good they had done over the years, it was perhaps not surprising.

It was an every present reminder, at least for the current Emperor, that conventions and traditions were all well and gone but that they could be put aside all too easily, and the uncodified constitutional framework of the Empire was just that, uncodified, and could be misused in a way that a written constitution could not be. Indeed, from what her mother had said, Kara suspected that the Emperor was considering changing that in what would be the biggest constitutional shake-up in the Empire’s history, if it proved to be true.

“Don’t even think about apologising, Francis, I could have made more of an effort to stay in touch as well; but ultimately that is the nature of being an adult; life gets in the way, and people you don’t see often don’t have as an immediate impact on your life anymore,” Kara replied with a slight smile. “Besides, the true test of friendship is being able to not speak to someone in months, or longer, and when you do see them, or speak to them, there are no hard feelings, and you can just pick up where you left off the last time.”

Kara chuckled wryly as she accepted the food from the waiter and took a few exploratory bites and nodded her approval.

“That sounds about right; our parents did get themselves something of a reputation back in the day, and a hell of a legacy now,” She commented. “And whilst yes, obviously, the war is less than ideal, I am glad it meant that I got to see you again.”

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

Francis smiled. “It’s been years and I still feel the same compulsion to try to sneak up and try and surprise you...” He paused for a bare moment, “I even got yelled at for doing so, so not much had changed to be honest, except being grounded is a bit more serious than ‘go to your room.’”

As he dug a bit more deeply into his plate, his gaze occasionally wandering out to the not-so-distant water, he couldn’t help wondering when he would of run into Kara again had the universe not aligned itself so he was out on that drill, close enough to be sent on coyly written orders by a knowing superior to see some mysterious Terran commander to be reunited with Kara. Even without a war, Francis had trouble of thinking when it would of happened. Probably some reunion of his Mom and Jess he presumed, perhaps at The Fleet Games? (Which while still slated for 2 Earth years in the future, would be scaled back due to the war.) Growing up had led them to naturally diverge with no hard or bitter feelings, which was in no way a bad thing.

Maybe it was nostalgia for the younger days, who didn’t want to be a kid, flying around freely after school, playing with your friends having fun little scraps and games with them? Kara and Edward had been some of his best friends as a kid and he still was in contact with quite a few of his childhood friend group from Sunai and Cresa, as a lot of them had joined the navy and thus had been classmates at the Academy as well, making it easy to stay in touch.

Still he was thrilled to once again enjoy her company, away from the war.

“So how long are you slated to stay here?” He asked. “And if you want to spare the time, I’d love to show you Among the Stars, she’s a beautiful ship.... not as nice as your battlecruiser though.”

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, DSM, IN
Telegett, Cresa
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

Kara smiled as she too continued to work her way through her meal. Like Francis, she also had more than a small sense of nostalgia for the more care-free years of her childhood. Even if her mother had been away for a great deal of her early years, by the time she was old enough to truly remember, she had been home a lot more often once the Amsus War was over and she took a desk job as the Chief of Fleet Operations. It had been a comfortable, or more accurately luxurious, childhood when one considered the great houses that she had lived in, the army of servants and staff that had been at her beck and call, as well as the ever-present protection provided by the Harrington Guard. In many respects it had been a very sheltered childhood, with only her siblings, other sons and daughters of nobility and, of course, Francis, for company who did not pay her deference and respect at every opportunity, as was the case when she had gone into Pike City, or any of the other sprawling settlements that had spread across Pike’s Redoubt, due to her position as a lady of the House to which they all owed their allegiance.

Such was the life of a blue-blooded child, great luxury with more than a few unique challenges. It was perhaps no surprise that, after leaving home to attend the Imperial Naval Academy (which she assisted upon living at, rather than commuting from the family estate at Lyme Park), she had gone a little wild with her newfound sense of freedom. It was the first time she had been grateful for the relatively less attention she received as opposed to Edward, and had played a significant role in adjusting her thinking on that matter, with the resentment she had felt deep down being replaced by a realisation that, for all his future titles and power, she had far more freedom and, arguably, opportunities than he ever would.

Kara was drawn from her thoughts, and the companionable silence, when Francis spoke again.

“We’ve not actually got any official orders at this point, my last order from Fleet Operations was to bring the convoy out here safely and await further orders, which effectively means an opportunity for R&R, as this isn’t the kind of war where we can go trolling for combat,” Kara replied, then added with a grin. “I’d love to see your new ship in any case, we’ve heard about your new CA design but not many of us have seen one up close, much less go aboard one, although I will have to report my findings to ONI ahead of the fleet games.”

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

Francis made a dismissive hand gesture. "It won't stop us from winning The Fleet Games so whats the harm? I could use the time to sabotage your intel and feed you information that will only benefit us in the long term." He had to admit that if the RCN hadn't been starting to win against the Imperial Navy lately he wouldn't of had the heart to even try and say it. He knew as well as everyone else the Terrans had a bad habit of winning in the Royal Cresian Empire's own competitions when it probably seemed like they had more than enough chance to stack the deck in their favor. Hell over the past 4 Games alone the Terrans had regularly claimed the top spots that naturally the Cresian military had not wanted to give up to outsiders.

The Fleet Games were all in good jest though, though given the spectacle it had grown into, the RCE did tend to get mildly over-competitive. He could think of worse fates than having the nation that kept besting you be your close ally.

"I wanted a battlecruiser...." He paused for effect as he set his utensils down on his now empty plate, "So I could actually stand up to Nemesis in a fight, but mom and the Admiralty said no. So I can't fight you like I want to," his tone was joking and lighthearted still, "even I know how badly it would probably end for me, given the track records."

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, DSM, IN
Telegett, Cresa
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

“Only because our idiot politicians decided to stop funding the Navy properly to allow us to innovate in the way we did during the war,” Kara shot back wryly. “Now that we’re back at war, and pretty much have a blank check, just wait until we stop letting you catch up.”

Kara leant back in her chair and sipped her drink; that was at least one positive aspect to come out of the outbreak of hostilities; it ensured that the Navy, and the rest of the Imperial Defence, would be properly funded. With the Imperial Senate steadily reducing the naval budget in favour of reconstruction efforts in the Core and Colonies, the Admiralty had been compelled to make difficult choices to retain as much capability as possible. Amongst those choices had been the decision to significantly reduce the budget of once-great Office of Naval Research and Development, whose innovations had helped the fleet win the Amsus War, which had quickly resulted in the resignation in protest of it’s chief, Admiral Dame Lucy Carter. The argument had been that there was no point in coming up with advanced new technologies and weapons if there wasn’t a large enough fleet to mount them aboard, and given the struggle that the Admiralty had contended with in order to keep the fleet size up, in retrospect it was clear that it was a necessary one. It was deeply unfortunate, of course, that it left the Imperial Navy with a lot of ground to catch up in this new conflict.

Although the Cresian Fleet Games were only friendly competition, starting to lose after a fairly persistent history of victory because they lost their technological and qualitative edge had started to bruise the Imperial Navy’s collective ego. In some respects it was good, as it had forced the the Terrans to rely on their tactics as much as on anything else, but it was an irritant to say the least.

“Truth be told, I only got to keep Nemesis because of what I was able to pull-off whilst in command during the early days of the war… a battlecruiser is normally a senior grade Captain’s command, not my junior-ass self, but, well, its wartime, so things are different,” Kara replied with a shrug. “Besides, at the moment battlecruiser command isn’t all its cracked up to be; literally all but one of our traditional roles aren’t an option due to our inability to go toe-to-toe with the enemy away from a gravity well, and the one role we can perform has us sitting in a system, or escorting a convoy, fending off attacks.”

Kara sighed.

“I shouldn’t be wishing for battle, especially as I hate losing people… but I’m like my mum, I don’t like sitting around on my ass anymore than she does."

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

“Once we get rolling on the innovations, I’m sure things will improve.” Francis said, after all with their backs somewhat literally pushed to the wall any improvement would probably be welcome. He wasn’t old enough, or high ranked enough, to have the navy-spanning web of contacts and friends, but he imagined that R7D was already banging away at the massive problem of jump missiles while they confined to try and find the next great thing that will help the RCE win battles. After that, things would be much much better. Relatively speaking.

He sat back to allow the waiter to collect his dish, waiting for her to leave before continuing.

“We will get to take the fight to them eventually, just got to give the massive war machine time to set its pace.”

He looked out towards the ocean again as a bit stronger gust of wind carried a salty breeze to where they sat. It was such a lovely day, and it was a mild shame that Kara was only here because of a war, but that was the nature of the Galaxy he supposed.

“Anything else you would like to do ground side?” Francis looked back at Kara. “Before duty calls?”

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, DSM, IN
Telegett, Cresa
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

Kara nodded glumly. It wasn’t that they were in a situation where they were doomed to lose the conflict, that devastating situation had been averted by the discovery that a planetary gravity well protected against jump missiles, but it was still not the kind of fight that Kara, or indeed the Imperial Navy as an institution, liked or wanted to fight. It wasn’t even that Kara, or any other Imperial Officer, needed assurance of victory, they knew that was never possible, but sitting in orbit of their worlds and waiting for attacks to come would ultimately be devastating for morale at all levels. It was only the fact that losses had not been as catastrophic as they had been in those first few days, and the fact that there had been some minor tactical victories, that was holding the Navy’s morale together, and it could be best described as delicate at this point. The Empire could withstand defeat, it could withstand casualties, but what it could not withstand was a siege mentality with every single one of its planets at risk of attack and the fleet stuck in orbit, much less the no-hyper order that was in place across Terran space save for essential trade ships in a convoy.

In short, the Empire desperately needed some form of breakthrough, that would allow it to conduct a more conventional war against the Polians, both from a purely tactical perspective and for morale. As it stood, the Office of Naval Research and Development was working on developing an artificial gravity well generator that would not fatally cripple friendly ships, which was proving difficult as there was a reason why no commander worth his salt wanted to fight in orbital space if he could avoid it.


“Well, you can walk me to the Terran Embassy if you like,” Kara smiled slightly. “I need to handle my hard-copy of the end-of-convoy paperwork; most of the insurance companies insist on hard copies on official navy data slates.”

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

Francis couldn't help a small chuckle. "That doesn't sound very much like something you want to do given it involves paperwork, but I'd be glad to." As he stood, he tapped the skinsuit panel hidden underneath the sleeve of his uniform to the edge of the table and a small hologram flashed up green as he paid for the meal. He looked over to the waiter who gave a cheerful wave and goodbye as they exited the restaurants little area. Francis looked up, squinting his eyes at the sun still high in the sky. It was around late morning for Cresians, maybe a little after midday for humans, no where close to the midday 'night' hours which most humans kept on the Cresian homeworld with its 49 hour days. However inaccurate time telling wasn't the only reason he was staring up at sun in the west. No, he was staring up at one of the taller clusters of buildings close to the Stayr Tower, the one with a section atop it that looked mildly newer than the building it sat on.

The Terran Embassy, not terribly far at all, he was glad he picked this restaurant rather than one that was farther away or in a different city.

"I'd offer a fly up there but you still don't have any wings." Francis teased lightly as he took his beret back out from under his wing and placed it on his head. "Lets go get that paperwork delivered."

---

It took only a couple train stops, a bit of walking and lift ride to get to where the Terran Embassy was. The building was one of the newer ones in the city, as the Cresians had a habit of building up, not out, and given the Terrans a prime spot next to the Stayr Tower. Other than keeping close to where the Supreme Commander and government did most of its business, the embassy was safely nestled within the inner perimeter of the Stayr Tower's defenses, the only way it would of been more protected is if it had been in the Stayr Tower itself, but StarNight had felt offering to house the embassy in the Stayr Tower would of seemed a bit odd and it meant they couldn't expand or come and go as they needed.

To be fair though, the Terrans were the only ones who HAD an embassy in the RCE, not many other nations stayed in close enough contact to warrant one.

They were a little higher up here, the air noticeably thinner but not dangerously so, the breeze a bit stronger, making Francis spread his wings a little to catch the air before he folded them back on his back. Oh a jump off the edge here would be a lovely drop with this breeze he hoped this weather held through the next day or two.

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, DSM, IN
Telegett, Cresa
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

Kara smoothly returned the salute of the two Imperial Marines that were standing post at the main street-level entrance, unlike during peacetime they were equipped with shoulder-arms (which she had no doubt were loaded) rather than merely sidearms even if they were still in their dress uniforms as was befitting their diplomatic posting. Of course, given that they were on Cresa, and within the defensive perimeter of Stayr Tower, the threat level was minimal compared to some other worlds, but protocols were protocols and the Ministry of the Exterior were strict about ensuring that any Terran presence outside of the Empire was adequately vigilant against any threats. The two Marines seemed moderately interested in her presence, doubting it was her rank (as she would not be the only Captain to have visited the Embassy recently) she could only assume that it was who she was and, perhaps more importantly, who her mother was now; after all, it wasn’t every day that the daughter of the Imperial Warlord turned up at any given duty station. After showing her service ID to the Marines manning the security station just inside the Embassy, with Francis having to do the same as a matter of course, they were allowed into the Embassy proper.

The Terran Embassy on Cresa was its largest diplomatic mission, which was only fitting given the close relationship between the two Empires, and to say that it was bustling would be an understatement. Although there were other Terran institutions present on Cresa, primarily trade and other commercial offices, pretty much everything would go through the Embassy at some point. Boasting a sizeable trade delegation, as well as a decent-sized consular affairs section to ensure that the appropriate support was given to any of the many Imperial Citizens on Cresa who might have fallen afoul of local rules or laws, as well as a substantial office supporting a number of military attachés. In short, the Terran Embassy was a microcosm of the entire Imperial Government and Imperial Military, which was not surprising given the alliance, and that was without even considering the presence of delegations from each of the High Houses as well, due to the fact that a significant portion of the trade was directly with the individual sectors and systems rather than the Empire as a whole. In total, there were just short of three thousand diplomats, staff, and military officers stationed at the Terran Embassy on Cresa.

Kara and Francis found their way easily enough to the Office of the Naval Attaché, Commodore Penelope Wickes, where Kara officially handed over the hard-copy of her report relinquishing responsibility for, and command of, Convoy CE-219. One of Commodore Wickes’ staff would ensure that copies got to the appropriate people in due course. After checking that there were no updates to her orders, even though she knew her XO would have informed her by now if anything had changed, they were making their way back towards the turbolift when all hell broke loose.

A deafening boom, followed by a powerful shockwave, ripped through the building, seeking the path of least resistance through open doors and corridors, whilst throwing the walls (and everything on them or against them) into shambles. Pretty much everyone was thrown to the floor, whether they had been standing or sitting, by the force of the shockwave. Almost immediately the lights flickered and went off, replaced a few moments later by red emergency lighting. As an emergency klaxon began to sound, Kara was convinced she could her smaller explosions as she pulled herself to her feet, her hand immediately going to her sidearm which she drew and held by her side. All around them other military personnel were looking around themselves as they tried to work out what was going on, civilians on the other hand looked disoriented and shell shocked. Kara looked around and saw a nearby stairwell and grabbed Francis by the hand and pulled him after her. Looking up they could see that, a dozen or more floors above them, there was fire and smoke already filling the stairwell.

Making a split-second decision, Kara began to climb the stairs, calling behind her for other military personnel to follow her as she began to run upwards towards the fire. By the time they reached the floors in question the smoke was already thick, clearly the automated fire suppression system was not working, however there was an emergency fire locker in the stairwell and all the naval personnel with her were trained in emergency fire suppression as part of their naval damage control training, and on instinct they all began to pull on breathing gear and picked up firefighting equipment. Leading the way into the floor, conscious that the uniform she was wearing, whilst fire-retardant, was not designed for this sort of work, Kara advanced cautiously, spraying fire suppression fluid ahead of her from her equipment as she did so. The sight that greeted them was horrific in the extreme, where they had only faced the remnants of a shockwave a dozen floors below, this floor had clearly taken the full brunt of the explosion itself; it was totally unrecognisable as the structure it had been before and fires were belching black smoke that filled the corridors.

Worse than the structural damage were the bodies; black, charred husks that had once been humans; those poor souls that were still alive had extensive burns and were crying out in utter agony. Although she could not remember her specific orders later, Kara instructed those personnel that had followed her to start trying to get anyone out who was still alive, knowing that the building’s own security and service personnel would doubtless be setting up a staging area some floors below. Really she ought to have headed there and co-ordinated the rescue efforts, but instinct had driven her upwards alone… no matter how foolish that had been.

After a short time, or at least it felt like a short time but any sense of the passage of time had been lost, Kara found herself entering a room where the smoke was significantly thinner. After a few moments she realised why; instead of flooding the corridors most of the smoke was billowing into the Telegett sky as she had reached one of the rooms that had been at the edge of the building and she soon found herself looking out at the beautiful city without any windows or walls between her and a multi-storey drop. Gasping as she almost lost her footing, Kara grabbed hold of a remaining bit of wall and steadied herself before craning her neck to see how far along the side of the building the damage stretched, and saw that it was extensive to say the least. Her eyes followed the edge of the damage as it climbed up the building and her heart dropped into despair as she looked up and realised that the severe damage stretched for at least ten floors above her current position, with additional for several more above that, and below her own floor, and that at least twenty feet into side of the building across that extent had been totally destroyed.

The black smoke from the building continued to billow from the building into an already substantial dark cloud hanging over the building, although only a matter of minutes had passed since the blast.

“My stars,” Kara whispered in shock and horror.

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Telegett, Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

Francis was a little dazed by the shock wave and the very unexpected and sudden burst of intense emotions. But he shook his head, focusing as Kara grabbed him pulled him to the stairwell.

Looking up at the smoke filling the stairwell, his hand slapped the skinsuit panel and in an instant his uniform vanished to be replaced with the skinsuit and force fields that would protect him from any fire and smoke in the air. It wasn't perfect as without the helmet (which was left aboard ship) the smoke would still be just as hard to see through but he didn't have to worry about breathing problems or the heat from any flames. Being a naval officer just like Kara he was trained in emergency fire suppression/damage control and could help.

While some people worked on suppressing the fires, he began to help those left with the injured and dead. There seemed to be precious few people left here, though there more people, trapped, injured and dead. He could feel it, but there was only so much he could do before emergency services got here.

After a couple of long minutes he found where Kara had gotten to by following the very distinct feel of her emotions and stepped into the room, looking out over the unobstructed view of Telegett with a sour knot in his stomach. He could feel her shock, her horror. But being so close to the edge, to an unprotected drop, was in no way safe for a human that didn't have wings or emergency counter grav on. Cresian building standards were extremely tough and it was unlikely that anything more would happen to the Embassy even with the fire and current damage, but that didn't change the fact that an unexpected gust of wind or another explosion couldn't end up tossing Kara into a deadly free fall.

"Kara." He said, his voice level and calm as he very carefully walked up beside her, a hand that rested on her back digging slightly into the fabric for a grip on her... just in case. "It is not safe here. We need to leave." His voice was calm and commanding.

Even as they stood there the extremely loud wail of emergency vehicles were approaching, a few of the faster ones already here, given the clear day you could even see the distant dots and bright colorful red flashing lights rising into the sky from more distant stations, either to come help or to backfill the stations that that were helping. A sudden pillar of red seemed dominate the sky even through the black smoke and it actually took Francis a second to realize that the usually glimmering sliver Stayr Tower was now bathed blood red as the smart nanite coating that usually was used for fun holiday 'light' patterns was now broadcasting a visual message as black bars appeared and text came into focus.

Level 5 System Lockdown In Progress
Please stay in your homes and shelter in place

"Come on, we need to go." Francis' grabbed her arm and led her away from the edge.

---

Cresa, for all its military's casual and easily defeated demeanor, the jokes, the leader that was prone to being a bit childish and overbearing, did not joke around. The Terran Empire had done wonders to heal the open wounds that had remained from the Reconzi War. But there were still scars, and behind that deceptive facade lay a world that had suffered greatly at the hands of an enemy that would show no mercy and Cresa had prepared themselves for the worst. Even now, the yearly (Earth year) drills where the planet would shut down always happened and taken very seriously. It did not matter who or what you were, a merchant, a tourist, a native. You followed the procedures of the drill or you got in trouble for it. For the most part the drills were conducted at Level 4 Planetary, where the cities on the planet would shut down outer lighting sources and people would stay where they were in the nearest building or their homes and in space the shuttle traffic to the planet halted until the all clear went up and lives resumed.

Level 5 System Lockdown was something different entirely.

It locked down the entire Alpha-Deltii star system.

Planetside any shuttles not above a certain altitude had to immediately drop back down to land while those that were coming down (and still above that altitude) had to turn around and go back to their ships or to the stations above if their ships were too far away. The bullet trains stopped at their current (or next, if they were between stops) train station and let passengers out but then lock down in place, the traffic grid of aircars and various vehicles would clear out and lock down, allowing no one to fly their vehicles without clearance or override.

In space the effect was clear, the instant the message went out, hitting ever ship in orbit, the Home Fleet that had been sitting so calmly in orbit suddenly threw itself back and in a chaotic whirl of movement settled into a loose sphere around most of the planet while the large stations Vivara and Hypro both lit up as their weapons came to life, while a calm and cool voice ordered the civilians and Terran ships to stay put and any movement may result in unsatisfactory ends. It was a less a threat and more a promise. Everyone that entered this system got the same warning and it did not matter if you were Terran or Cresian.

You listen to us when a lockdown is in progress. Or else.

The Home Fleet's formation was not a battle formation, it was better described as a sort of net or cage. It was not meant to keep people out. It was meant to keep people in. While the first trickles of the news were reaching out fast on the heels of the lockdown, it was obvious that by the way the Home Fleet was acting, it was a formation meant to catch any ships that may try to leave, spread out in such a way any one point could be converged on by multiple ships if they tried to 'break free.' They could not exactly stop any Terran ship from jumping out of the gravity well, but considering how serious the RCE took these things it was in the best interest of staying alive not to test them.

Out system the mining stations calmed in their activities, their mining ships running back to hide in their docks while out system warship formations turned to start patrols at the new 'safe' limit at which ships were now allowed to jump in. Any civilian ship that was currently outside the 'cage' of Home Fleet was ordered to stop and stay where they were, one ship, an unfortunate Cresian passenger liner had been close enough that it had to actually fall back away in a bit of panic from Home Fleet but once clear it settled where it was. Any ships coming in from hyper or jumps would be hit with a message from the closest Cresian warship that they were to stay put as well. Leaving was not an option. You stayed.

It didn't take long to make the usually busy capital system quiet and still except for the almost predatory movements of the warships patrolling outsystem.

[Terra Reborn]

Captain (J.G) Kara Harrington, DSM, IN
Telegett, Cresa
Alpha-Deltii Star System, Royal Cresian Empire
Friday 3rd August 2745

---

Kara nodded mutely as she was pulled back, physically and emotionally, from the sheer horror of the situation and the extent of the damage. There was still work to be done after all. As they returned to the devastated interior of the tower the first of the designated rescue parties were appearing from the stairwell (no one was risking the turbolift at a time like this), and seemed surprised to see a dozen or more military personnel already there. Kara sprung back into action and approached them, informing them of what they had found so far and instructing them to concentrate on the higher floors where, if at all possible, the casualties were likely to be even more devastating as this floor had been on the edge of the main blast zone. Doubtless the Embassy’s own response teams would soon be joined by Telegett fire and rescue personnel, pretty soon given the responding emergency vehicles that they had seen. Although it was unlikely that, given that the tower had survived the initial blast, that there would be any more major structural damage, but there were fires raging and that was without even considering those that had already been flung from the building by the explosion and fallen to their deaths.

With more and more rescue teams, as well as Cresian first responders, making their way up the building, Kara signalled for those that had followed her up that they had done all they could and they they needed to get to safety now that they have managed to save at least a few lives. Maybe a dozen floors down, where the damage was still present but far less catastrophic, they discovered a command post had been setup, led by Chief Superintendent Harrison Graves of the Imperial Star Patrol, who served as the Embassy’s principle security attaché. Gathered around him were key figures from the Embassy, including the head of its marine detachment, several senior diplomats, and although not present yet, the senior Cresian official on-site would be invited to join when they arrived. It was fortunate that they had wasted no time in signalling to the Cresians that they would allow first responders into the Embassy; a foregone conclusion perhaps but a formality that could have been easily overlooked and caused problems.

“Captain Harrington! Do you mind telling me what the hell you were doing,” Chief Superintendent Graves said sharply as he spotted her. “Your mother would have my head if you’d gone up there and gotten yourself killed!”

Kara glanced down at there formerly white uniform shirt, which was now blackened by soot and smoke, and knew she must look like a state, she knew her hair was matted with sweat from the heat and the breathing apparatus, and there were still red marks on her face from where the mask had covered her face.

“Just following my instincts,” Kara replied with a shrug. “What’s the situation?”

Chief Superintendent Graves narrowed his eyes, apparently not satisfied with her response but deciding to let it drop.

“Not good, initial reports are confirm that at least ten floors are heavily damaged to a total-loss, there’s additional severe damage half a dozen floors on either side of the epicentre, and most of the rest of the building hasn’t escaped without at least some damage,” Chief Superintendent Graves replied grimly. “So far, we’re looking at significant casualties due to both the initial blast and the fires tat are still raging all over the damaged floors, and we’re going to have to fight them manually, given that the fire suppression system is disabled.”

“Disabled not offline?” Kara frowned, stepping into the group fully. “As in someone disabled it?”

“That’s the assumption so far, I sent some people down to take look and they reported that the control panel had been damaged, so we’re assuming sabotage at this point,” Chief Superintendent Graves replied with a sigh. “Which would suggest that the blast was a bomb, rather than anything else, but we’ve not got confirmation yet and won’t until the forensics team can get in.”

The gathered group of Terrans exchanged glances, concerned about the implications but apparently no one was prepared to start jumping to any conclusions at this point as, fact of the matter was, there were more than a few potential suspects. Perhaps of more concern was the fact that someone had managed to significantly penetrate the Embassy’s security, not just to plant what was being presumed to be a bomb but also take out the fire suppression to hamstring the response, an action that could only be assumed to be in order to maximise the casualties by preventing those who survived from being saved from the fires. Which meant that someone had deliberately set out to cause as such death and destruction was possible, which was chilling to the bone.

“Do we have any idea of how many people we’ve lost?” Commodore Wickes, the Naval Attaché asked with a frown.

“Nothing concrete yet, but we’ll be looking in the hundreds between our own people and local contractors,” Chief Superintendent Graves shook his head. “We do know for sure, and confirmed by a rescue party, that Sir Benjamin Harvey-Lottway has been killed."

A chorus of groans met the news; Sir Benjamin was His Imperial Majesty’s Ambassador to the Royal Cresian Empire, and had presumably been one of the primary targets of the attack. The question that came immediately to Kara’s mind was who was responsible… the Polians were the obvious culprits, but there were also Cresian Nationalists, Terran Xenophobes, and a few other similar, largely disorganised groups, although quite who would have the capability to pull off an attack of this magnitude (and to penetrate such rigorous security) remained to be seen. It was not, no matter how you looked at it, a good situation and did not seem to be improving.

“…we’ve also confirmed destruction of the Embassy propylon pad, meaning that we’ve lost our direct link back to Earth,” Commodore Wickes said, having been in the middle of a report that Kara and half-tuned out. “And obviously our security is severely compromised at this point, both physically and digitally.”

“We’ll need to go to a contingency site then,” Mirabelle Langston, the Deputy Chief of Mission, commented. “The naval ground station, perhaps?”

“Would probably be the most practical option,” Commodore Wickes agreed. “We’ve got contingency plans in place for something like this, so we can be up and running in a few hours.”

“Alright then, start making the arrangements, liaise with the Cresian on-the-ground commander for all the particulars and our transport needs and the like, especially with this lockdown they’ve called, ” Langston said firmly, before turning her attention to Francis for the first time, taking him in and identifying him easily enough. “Captain Larson, thank you for your actions alongside Captain Harrington, now I’m sure your government will be sending a liaison, but until that time, you’re it I’m afraid, as the highest ranking Cresian I can get my hands on… so firstly, can you find out how they want to proceed from their side of things, and inform them my intentions at this end?”

[StellarGate]

Royal Cresian Empire
Alpha-Deltii Star System
Telegett, Cresa
Captain Francis Larson

Francis did not like any of what these Terrans were saying. He could imagine, perhaps, somehow a shuttle crashing or maybe an aircar, but the extent of the damage and disabled fire systems really only pointed to this being one thing, a deliberate act of terrorism against the Terran Embassy. He wondered who it could of been, there were quite a few groups who may of wanted to see the Terrans hurt, notably the Polians, but homegrown threats were also still on the table. Until the real investigation started, there was nothing really they could pinpoint.

He started a little out of his thoughts once he was addressed, He like to think he was better than being startled like that, but the implications of a terrorist attack here, on Cresa inside the inner most zone of the Star Tower's defenses, were looming over him like a storm.

"I... yes of course Ma'am." Francis finally seemed to collect himself. "I'll get right on that."

---

It didn't take long for Francis to get the information he needed. Given his name and what he was calling for, quickly led him to being in contact with Command and Control Center buried deep in the Stayr Tower itself. Normally these people just sort of kept a eye on everything, ground and space, directing interesting information where it needed to be if they spotted something and being the ones that 'manned' the Stayr Tower's many defenses.

However when the lockdown order came they came to life, the Star Tower's defenses coming online, people turning sensors to watch the unfolding problem, and liaising with the Army Police and emergency services so they had access to the best data they could get their hands on about the state of everything around the Stayr Tower.

The Commodore in charge of the center of course listened to the plans and approved them, getting people out of the building to safety was currently a top priority as it made fire and rescue easier and would allow the investigation into the incident (with permission and in concert with the Terrans of course) happen without anyone being in the way. They wanted, first and foremost, the Terrans to be safe. The woman knew other than an initial message from the Supreme Commander which ordered the lockdown, she was staying back and out of the way, though if her input was needed she could of course be asked for it.

Francis also relayed that while it hadn't exactly been long enough for a deep look into the sensor data, an initial study of the data about the area surrounding the embassy showed no signs of an outside force hitting the building. So for now, the government was assuming this was a terrorist attack, not a really tragic accident. It explained the reaction spaceside at least once anyone bothered to look up there.

The on-ground commander, once the initial chaos of various stations arriving and beginning the fight to save lives and control fire was over, was a Colonel Ethan McCarthy. He took effortless control over the situation and various wide spread units and the second he was asked he drafted the Army Police's various craft he could spare into the job of moving the Embassy staff to their new location.

The space around the Terran Embassy continued to swarm with emergency vehicles, most around the actual Embassy itself, medical transportation flying away with people to the nearby hospital, firefighting vehicles spraying fire-retardant into the giant hole in the building while others inside searched for and helped those inside, freeing those trapped and getting them to safety. Down below outside a lone medical team was taking care of those that had made it to the ground when trown from the building by the explosion. Perhaps surprisingly there was a single survivor of the fall, a native human that had been wearing an antigravity device common among native humans to reduce the strain of Cresa's gravity, all of these devices had built in emergency settings designs to try and save a human in case they take a dangerous fall (and on a planet designed with very tall building and race that could fly, it was a very real and present danger.) It had... kind of worked. The man had countless broken bones and doubtless more injuries but he had been alive and quickly sent off to the hospital.

The rest of the building on which the Embassy rested was being evacated. But no one was leaving the building, instead they were headed into the 'basement,' a bunker designed for sheltered a substantial population in case of orbital bombardment or planetary invasion, kept locked shut and monitored except in case of Level 6 lockdown or local authority override. After the Army Police not assigned to help above had done a quick scan of the bunker, just in case, and found nothing out of place, most of the people that were in the tower were moved into there for safe keeping as the Army did a painstaking check from the base of the building upwards, looking for any more bombs or even sabotage that could send the entire building into an actual collapse.