Cruiser 31

A silence that spoke volumes. That is what the bridge of Cruiser 31 was experiencing at this very moment. It began with the five alliance frigates arriving and hiding in the planetary ring. Then, the mystery ship arrived, except this time their sensors could detect it. There appeared to be a repeating low-frequency broadcast coming from the vessel. The final shock came when the Alliance ships emerged from their cover and attacked the mystery ship. It almost seemed like hours had passed as Opless and his bridge crew gaped at the scene before them, in reality only being a minute or two.

Opless turned his head in the direction of his sensor officer, but left his eyes firmly planted on the view port, "Sensors, can you get a scan of that ship now that we can see it?" The sensor officer shifted in his chair as his hands moved swiftly across his station. A few moments passed when the man replied, "No sir. I am getting complete tactical information on the frigates, but we are only getting that low-frequency ping from the stealth ship." Ordering the view port to full magnification centered on the mystery ship, Opless watched.

The situation suddenly became much more confusing. As his thoughts whirled several flashes lit up his vision. The first volley of torpedoes had reached the ship and an unknown number of them struck. He attempted to withhold the sense of awe he felt when it became clear that there was little to no damage from that first strike. The ship then accelerated towards the frigates, performing maneuvers that would make a fighter pilots stomach lose containment. It rolled and turned, pitched and slid sideways at times. Whomever the pilot was had some talent, but Opless remained confused that the ship was not returning fire. It seemed as though the ship's captain was confident that they could simply escape.

Another few heartbeats passed and a second round of flashes erupted. This time followed by what appeared to be a secondary explosion from the aft of the stealth ship. It's nose pitching down steeply and it's speed dropping by about ten percent. It was after this that he saw the ships weapons stir to life. He couldn't readily discern the type of weaponry used, but he saw tell-tale signs of anti-torpedo fire as well as heavy kinetic weapons. The sensor officer burst into Opless' thoughts with a report, "Sir, several direct hits on the closest frigate to the ship. All appear to be targeting weapons hubs and propulsion." Opless nodded as he continued to watch intently and assimilating information in his head. "That ship is only slightly larger than the 31. If I wasn't confident in a five on one, they shouldn't be either" he thought.

More salvos exchanged between the two forces and the first damaged frigate seemed to go lifeless as it's engines went down. A second frigate seemed to suffer several large detonations after being struck repeatedly on its port side, and was out of the fight. Unfortunately it looked as though the stealth ship itself was running out of time. Opless could see a long stretch of discolored hull metal along the starboard side of the ship and two of its engines appeared to be sputtering. Suddenly a decision popped into his head. It was clear to him that the ship was not an Alliance vessel. He promptly stood and turned to his crew, "Battle Stations! Bring the ship to full power and take us in. Electro-static barriers to full power." He ordered.

The Trinity

A light haze filled the bridge, reflecting the red combat lighting. The smell of hot metal and ozone permeated the air as the ship shuddered steadily. "Captain, engines are down to sixty percent thrust and we're down to just three maneuvering thrusters on the starboard side!" Amie reported. Tassos added to the report from the tactical station, "Reactive armor on starboard side is down to two layers and we've lost cannons six and eight. Anti-torpedo guns still intact and firing, Sir!" Pheny took in the reports and quickly replied to both, "Keep us moving as best you can Amie, Tassos, you got two of them out of our way, give me one more!" Both replied with a loud, "Yes Sir!"

Priya raised her voice above the din on the bridge, "Captain! We're broadcasting!" Pheny's eyes narrowed as she turned to Priya, "Explain!". Without hesitation Priya gave her report, "I've detected a low-frequency pulse coming from the Trinity sir. That must be how they are locking torpedos on us so easily. I can't pinpoint the source, but it is somewhere near or in the engine room.". Pheny felt her throat tighten, her mind replaying the cryptic message they received just as they came under attack, "Family taken, traitor onboard, ambush imminent" she recalled. She knew now that at least two of the three were true, and she hoped for a moment that the third was not.

Pheny lifted herself out of the gloom of that thought and turned to Solomon, "Sol, get down to the engine room and see what you can find!". Solomon stood and ran out of the bridge without even giving a reply. Turning back to Amie she ordered, "Roll us over! try to keep our port side to those frigates as best you can". The stars outside immediately began a rotation as Amie completed the command and then returned to trying every evasive maneuver she could think of. As much as she tried to remain optimistic, the logical realist inside of her knew that the odds of disabling the last three frigates before the Trinity itself was disabled were slim to none... and slim had just opened the door to walk out.

Glancing over to one of the propulsion engineers Pheny noticed the woman sitting at her station, knuckles white as she gripped the arms of her chair and her face turning a light shade of green. "Engineer Remany! Can we make a jump? Anywhere, any distance? Is it possible?" Pheny asked. The woman just sat wide-eyed and hyperventilating. "REMANY!" Pheny yelled. This seemed to bring the engineer back to herself for a moment, "S-S-Sir, we could but we would need to keep the ship on a straight and level heading for at least two minutes for the synthoids to make any calculations.". "Well damn" Pheny thought. Two minutes of straight and level flight would give the frigates too much time to do whatever they came here for, disable or destroy.

Out of nowhere Priya yelled in alarm, "New sensor contact Captain! A single ship emerging from the planetary ring. It's... It's a Volma cruiser sir!" Being of a practical nature, Pheny knew that at some point all life ended. She had come to terms with this. That does not mean, however, that it didn't absolutely suck. Priya continued, building on her report, "They are powering weapons and have their electro-static barrier up and they are..." Priya's words seemed to die in her throat as she stared at her display in confusion. Pheny gave the woman a quick verbal nudge, "They are?". Priya stammered slightly and completed the statement, "They are on an intercept course for the Alliance frigates Sir, and opening fire on them."