Atlantis' guns hummed again as she hammered both ships pursuing the Death's Door. Large gouts of flame erupted from the damaged sections of the vessels as the oxygen caught fire. Jon watched the destruction on the hologram that hovered over the planning table. The two ships under attack shot blindly as their guns turned to engage an unknown and unseen enemy.
"Bring us about and prepare for another attack run. Get me the Captains of those vessels," Jon said.
Jon turned and walked up the small incline to his command chair and took a seat as he waited, "Report on their current condition?"
"On screen now, Sir," Tactical responded.
Jon scanned the reports as they scrolled on the small holo screen attached to his chair. Both vessels had taken direct hits to their engineering sections. The pellets used by the guns had punched completely through the vessels, ripping holes completely through the ships. The damage was more extensive than he had wanted to do.
"Fire control set all guns for one quarter distance. I don't want to destroy them if we don't have to. I would rather capture the vessels intact along with the crews," Jon said as he continued to read the damage reports.
"Sir, the Death's Door has crossed to safety and is proceeding to Ghost Station," Comm reported.
"Have the Hammer and Scythe escort her to her assigned berth and stand by for further orders. Transmit our new IFF codes to all allied forces include our current SitRep. Then bring the new IFF online so we can communicate with our raptor teams and fighters," Jon said. He stood up and walked the short distance to the railing by his chair as he looked at the main viewer.
"Sir, I'm not getting any response from the ships they might have taken damage to their communications arrays," Comm reported.
Jon watched the two ships drift as he decided what to do. "What's the status of the other Eutharan ships?"
"They have pulled back after the initial assault," Tactical reported.
"Any communications between those ships?" Jon asked.
"Nothing that I'm reading," Comm reported.
Jon once again moved to the planning table and watched as the two ships drifted, dead in space. "Ops, launch Gold squadron. Have them break into two flights and recon both vessels. They're to hold fire unless fired upon."
Atlantis walked up next to Jon, "Sir, if the Eutharans haven't changed their communication protocols we should be able to contact them at close range on ship to ship secure channels."
Jon nodded, "Ok, have both flights approach to close range. If they encounter no resistance, they should attempt to contact the vessels on ship to ship secure channels. Atlantis will transmit needed protocols and frequencies. Prep raptor team Je'laques for a boarding mission. Have SAR team Bravo and Alpha stand by to lend assistance as needed. Recall Death's Hand squadron and have them prep for immediate boarding mission upon arrival."
On Ghost Station, a figure in pitch-black armor adorned with the insignia of the Royal House C'loth walked at a quick pace down a corridor. Seven other figures similarly dressed followed, all had weapons at ready. Marines and personnel moved out of the way of the formation as it made its way towards CIC.
"Captain, I'm receiving a communication on secure channel delta," the comm unit blared into the ear of the lead figure. "It's the Atlantis."
"Put it through sergeant," the female voice responded.
'Death's Hand, Atlantis command, ' a female voice said.
The armored figure stopped just outside the doors to CIC, "Atlantis command, Death's Hand actual go ahead."
After a moments pause the comm came to life, 'Death's Hand actual, Atlantis actual, what's you SitRep?' Jon's voice said.
"Situation stable, have regained control of station and secured the primary package. On way to CIC now for secondary mission objectives," Terri replied.
'New orders, return to base for new mission, ' Jon's voice said.
"Copy that, returning to base," Terri said.
Terri reached up and thumbed the switch on the doors to CIC. Breq turned as the doors cycled open, several marines spun and brought their weapons to bear on the doors as they opened. What Breq saw made his blood run cold, standing in the doorway were eight figures dressed in black armor. He couldn't see who was in the armor because all the face plates were darkened. All of the Eutharan personnel in CIC immediately bowed in respect.
The leading figure turned to look in Breq's direction, "Admiral Breq what is your SitRep?"
As soon as the figure spoke Breq knew who it was, "We have suffered minimal casualties and have regained control of all areas. The station is at condition red and all flight groups are ready to launch at a moments notice. I have all SAR team standing by and ready to lend assistance, Princess Terri," Breq bowed as he spoke.
As Breq spoke the last Gilas' face broke into a huge grin as he bowed, "Welcome back Princess," he said.
Terri reached up and opened the face shield on her helmet, "Thank you Captain, I have doubled the guards on Princess Deatra's level. My squad is being recalled to the Atlantis for a mission. Do you have Admiral Geenis in custody?"
"No, we have teams out looking for him. His last known location was the Main Medical Ward. We have reports of screaming before Princess Deatra exited the room," Breq said.
"Double your efforts to find him, secure all life pods and landing bays," Terri said.
"Already done Princess, I'll report when we find him," Breq said.
"Good, my brother would like to have a word with him," Terri said, a grin spread across her face, it chilled Breq to the bone.
Terri turned and left CIC without another word. Something had changed in the young lady and Breq would be interested to find out what exactly that was. As the doors to CIC closed the people, who had been following the conversation, resumed their duties.
The second in command of the Ea'quoss, Lieutenant Jeox, watched the small holo screen as damage reports flowed in from different stations. Engineering was all but in ruins, whatever hit them punched completely through the hull on both sides. The primary landing bay had taken several hits. He had his people working on bringing the secondary landing bay online. The main bridge was destroyed in an explosion when one of the power conduits ruptured and ignited. Personnel were running about trying to restore secondary power and back up systems. Every time they seemed to get a system online, another failed. The Ea'quoss was an old heavy destroyer, maybe too old. Most ships were hundreds of years old and in need of a refit or even retirement.
Jeox sighed as he limped around a cross beam that had fallen from the ceiling. The secondary bridge had taken a couple good hits from explosions. Somehow, it had remained intact and even protected the people inside from harm.
"Status?" Jeox asked as he approached a man working on a panel.
The man didn't even look out from underneath the panel as he spoke, "I have life support at sixty percent, secondary power restored to most decks. Communications are online but sketchy at best."
"Defensive and offensive weapons systems?" Jeox asked as he squatted and grimaced in pain from bending his leg.
The young engineer scooted out from under the panel and looked up in Jeox's face, "We're lucky to have the systems we do now. I'm working with engineering trying to get main power back online. Until then we don't have enough power to operate three quarters of the systems on this ship. We're also having problems with the old unused backup switches failing when we route power through them. We're replacing them as fast as we can when they fail, but some of the units we put in are bad. Very soon we will be out of the necessary part to repair half the systems."
"Engines?" Jeox asked.
"Twisted metal, we might be able to get two of the six we have up and running by scavenging parts from others. Then there's the fold drive, we can't even access that section so its an unknown at this point. When we manage to bring the scrubbers online and purge the room I'll have a better idea of where we sit there."
"So we're a large floating target right now," Jeox said as he struggled to his feet.
"Basically, yes, at least until I can get the sensors online," the engineer said as he slid back under the panel.
"You think you can get the sensors online?" Jeox asked, hope showing in his face.
"It's what I'm working on now. I should be able to get at least the secondary sensors online," the engineer said as he reached for another small tool.
"Good, do what you can," Jeox said as he turned to go check on the rest of his command crew.
"I dunno what good having sensors will do though," the engineer muttered.
Jeox stopped and looked back, "What do you mean?"
"Even at full power and all systems working we never saw what hit us," the engineer said.
"Yes, but I think that was a glitch in the system. When you get the secondary sensors online run a diagnostic on them," Jeox said.
"Well there is some good news," the engineer said.
"What's that?" Jeox asked.
"Well, we must not be considered a threat or we drifted outside the engagement area," the engineer said.
"Why do you assume that?" Jeox asked, and then realized he knew the answer to the question.
"We're not dead yet," both men said as one.
One of the officers across the room jumped up suddenly yelling, "Sir, incoming communication on ship to ship secure."
"Source?" Jeox said as he started across the room towards the officer, the engineer following closely.
"Unknown sir all sensors are still offline," the officer said as he took his seat.
"The connection was broken sir," the officer said as he worked his panels trying to regain the lost signal.
"Did the system fail?" Jeox asked.
The engineer standing next to him reached over and tapped a few buttons, "No it's still operating. Whoever it was closed the connection."
"Destroyed maybe, or engaged in combat," Jeox said. "Let's hope they come back, we need all the help we can get. I still don't think attacking these people was the right action to take."
The engineer stood up and looked Jeox in the eyes, "We'll see, the Princess has joined them and that is good enough for me. I met her once a while back and while she's young, she's also very smart. I have a hard time believing she would do something to hurt the Empire. This Jonathan Hunter could be pulling her strings, but I find that hard to believe. When was the last time you seen so many people following one man? Invaru, Eutharan, Buranis and now these Humans; he couldn't be controlling them all, could he?"
"I don't know," Jeox said sitting down in the command chair. "If the prophecies hold true, this could be the one they speak of. We'll know when those who remain hidden show themselves and follow him."
Everyone on the secondary bridge had been listening to the conversation between the two men, nodded when they heard the mention of the hidden ones and the prophecies.
Gold leader slowly approached the badly damaged vessel. Lights came to life and started sweeping the damaged areas. Internal fires raged in parts of the ship behind damage control screens. Arcs of electricity jumped from severed cables every so often briefly illuminating the darkness the light from the fires couldn't reach.
"Gold leader to Atlantis control," a female voice said.
"Atlantis control, Gold leader go ahead," a male voice responded.
"Designate my target vessel as the Ea'quoss," she said.
"Roger that vessel identified as Ea'quoss, status of vessel?" came the response.
The small fighter turned in space and flew side ways as its lights illuminated the damage. The hole directly in front of the fighter was big enough to fly into and ran all the way through to the other side. The pilot shook her head as several small explosions shook the larger vessel and some of the damage control screens failed. Small puffs of escaping atmosphere bloomed followed by debris and bodies. She watched in horror as one of the bodies hung on to the edge of a beam and convulsed several times and went still. The body slowly spun and floated away from the ship.
"Turning on camera and sending all sensor reading. Enemy vessel has sustained massive damage to aft sections and minor damage to mid sections. Sensors are reading power fluctuations through out the vessel and minimal life support. All weapons systems are offline and main power is out," she continued rattling off a list of readings from the Ea'quoss.
Four of her squadron fell into formation reporting much the same thing from other sections of the ship. She had just started to initiate contact with the disabled vessel when movement caught her attention. She twisted the fighter to orient the nose in the direction, her helmet zooming in. Standing on one of the edges of the ruined decks was a man in a pressure suit kneeling behind a twisted lump of metal. He was doing something she couldn't make out clearly.
"Gold leader, Atlantis control; I have movement of one of the decks outside of the damage control screens," she said.
"Atlantis control, acknowledges EVA movement. Can you see what they are doing?" a male voice said.
"Gold leader, stand by Atlantis control," she said.
Gold leader bumped her thrusters moving her ship close as she zoomed into the area. What she saw made her pull back on her thrusters and kicked her engines to full power. She skimmed the surface of the large vessel as a tone suddenly filled her cockpit. "Gold leader to all ships condition red, hostile identified EVA! Atlantis control, Atlantis control we have a hostile firing on our position, request permission to return fire."
A bright flare from inside the damaged section of the Ea'quoss signaled the launch of the missile. It arced up and out, seeking the fleeing fighter. Small flares erupted from the rear of the fighter as it dodged wildly trying to lose the incoming missile. The missile ignored the flares as it continued accelerating towards its target.
"Atlantis control, Gold leader; your team is ordered to return to base to escort Raptor Team Je'laques. Do not engage hostiles, I repeat do not engage hostiles," a male voice said.
Gold leader pulled up hard dodging the burned out wreck that used to be the main bridge. Suddenly, looming before her, as she crested a rise, was the Atlantis. One of the rail guns swiveled and burped briefly. The rail guns slugs caught the missile as it rose from the surface of the Ea'quoss, hot on the tail of the small fighter.
The rest of Gold flight fell into formation around their leader as they made their way to pick up the Raptor team. A sleek raptor left the Atlantis from the military landing bay. Gold flight quickly fell into protective cover as the craft made its way to the Ea'quoss.
"Je'laques, Gold leader," a female voice said.
"Gold leader, Je'laques; go ahead," Gold leader replied.
"Entry point will be the main bridge. Will deploy and begin search for survivors and access the Ea'quoss' viability for repair. Once deployed return to base and escort SAR team Alpha for deployment," a female voice said.
"Roger that Je'laques," Gold leader said.
Searchlights flared to life as the Je'laques approached the burned out bridge. Magnetic grapples shot out attaching themselves to various points of the Ea'quoss' hull. Underneath a small transfer collar sealed itself to an airlock entry point.
"Je'laques, Gold leader; we're secure and making entry now. Thanks for the escort," the female voice said.
"Gold leader, Je'laques; roger that. Returning to base for SAR team Alpha, see you in a bit," Gold leader said.
Jon listened to the dual reports from both Raptor teams. Death's Hand had just made entry into the King's Quest, Ghost had been temporarily assigned to the team. Her AI routines uploaded into one of the refitted military transports that Terri's team used when their fighters wouldn't do the job.
Terri's team had made entry through the hole in the engineering section. They were in the process of patching into the ship to ship comms to make contact with the remaining crew. SAR team Bravo had already joined them and was in the process of searching for survivors.
"Incoming communication Sir," Comm reported.
Jon looked up from where he was monitoring the situations on both ships, "Put it through."
"To the cloaked ADF vessel in the vicinity of disabled Eutharan ships, please respond," a male voice said.
"This is Admiral Hunter of the ADF vessel Atlantis, to who do I have the honor of speaking?" Jon said.
"This is Captain Lylas of the Eutharan vessel Searineas your highness," Lylas said.
"What can I do for you Captain, I'm a bit busy right now," Jon said.
"We would like to join the SAR missions sir," Lylas said.
Jon looked up at Atlantis in surprise who just arched her eyebrow, "I don't know if that would be a good idea Captain. For all I know you could be triangulating on this signal and preparing for an attack. That would be useless since I'm using the Ge'daes as a repeater for now."
"I assure your highness; we have no intention of attacking you. Eutharan High Command gave us orders to protect you and the Princesses until you make the journey to Eutharan. We're your honor guard and are responsible for your safety," Lylas said.
Jon furrowed his eyebrows, "Who says that the Princesses or I planned on taking a trip there? Why the sudden change of heart? Your reception has been less than hospitable. You attacked our station then attacked one of your own vessels."
"Your highness if I may come aboard your vessel we should discuss this in person," Lylas said.
Jon took a second then replied, "Ok, I'll agree to that. But I'm not endangering this vessel we will meet on the Ge'daes."
"I'll launch right away," Lylas said.
"Alright Captain, see you in a few moments," Jon said.
Once the connection was closed, Jon turned to his Comms officer, "Have Lieutenant Commander Wilson report to the bridge he has command. Have the Ge'daes launch two patrols and send me an escort for my shuttle. Tell them to allow the visitor to land in a isolated landing bay. I want double the security around our visitor while he is on board, but he is to be treated with respect. If he brings guards, allow him two lightly armed escorts."
"Yes sir," the comms officer said.
Jon turned and started walking towards the lift as his personal guards fell in behind him, "Come on boys and girls lets go get dressed for a meeting. Full battle dress and standard weapon load outs."
Rick had just stepped out of Medical when he got the communication for the bridge's comm officer. Kayla had wanted all people from the alternate universe to have a small check up. He turned around and started for the bridge straightening his uniform as he called Ellie.
"Rick to Ellie," Rick said.
'What's up hon? You ok?' Ellie's voice betrayed her worry.
"I'm fine nothing to worry about, fit as a fiddle. I've been called to the bridge to take over SAR operations. I just wanted to let you know what was going on so you didn't worry about me," Rick said.
'Alright, I'll continue... No, here and here. These control the new power conduits that run through the ship here and here. Yes, the power reading should fluctuate a bit, but never by more than 4 or 5 percent either way. They should read steady most of the time, this is the by pass control incase of primary power failure. This control will shunt power to the fold drive or hyperdrive incase of emergency. This set of crossovers will switch the AI cores to back up power and redirect the armor power to the weapons systems and all available engines. With a full charge from the armor, we can run the engines and all secondary power systems for any amount of time. If by chance the armor gets over loaded it will discharge... ' Ellie voice said.
Rick chuckled to himself, training the crew that had just woke up would take a while but they seemed to be grasping the new systems well enough, "Ellie I'm almost on the bridge. You have fun with the newly awakened crew."
'Yeah sure, take the easy way out. Talk to you later, I love you... No, not that panel that only controls the... ' Ellie's voice said.
Rick shook his head as he stepped on the lift, "Primary Bridge."
Rick leaned against the back wall thinking about their latest project. The protocols were already in place and the construction almost complete. The Secondary Bridge, once a large storage bay, was almost complete. Some minor things needed done before they would make the last control connections. The Secondary Bridge would become Ghost's primary station as well as the primary place to monitor the ships power usage. The idea it would free up room in the Main Engineering, reducing the amount of people present. This should make it easier for the Engineering crew to perform their main duties without having extra people underfoot. Brad, Mike and Ellie had come up with a solid plan and Jon gave it the go ahead and the project started while they had been in the Talosian universe.
If this new addition worked as planned, all ships would be getting the upgrade. The ship's AI could switch all functions to the Secondary Bridge, in the event of the Main Bridge being destroyed or its crew becoming incapacitated. It was slightly smaller than its Main counterpart and already had a security detail station there at all times. They would wait for this situation to be over before bringing it online and testing it out.
The lift stopped and the doors opened, Rick stepped onto the bridge in command for the first time. Rick walked down the incline toward the planning table where Atlantis was directing some of the operations, "SitRep please Atlantis." Rick said as he started studying the various displays. Atlantis turned and smiled as she started bringing Rick up to date on the current situation.
Deatra woke from her sleep and sat up straight in her bed. She could no longer feel the power that had once coursed through her body. Her eyes narrowed as she stood up on shaky legs and move to her door. The guards on station immediately snapped to attention as she walked out of her room.
Deatra turned to the Carex, "Captain have a shuttle ready for us, we're going to the Ge'daes I want to see my betrothed."
She turned and started walking towards the nearest landing bay. Her guard quickly fell in around her, as did two squads of marines. She glanced around at all the people guarding her.
She turned back to the Carex, "Any reason for all the added security? I thought the station was once again in our control."
"Princess Terri has gave orders that would are to have double the protection from now on," Carex said after he finished get clearance from CIC.
"I don't think all these guards are really that necessary, send the marine units back to their previous posts," Deatra said as she fell into step next to Carex.
Carex turned to the commanding officer of the marines, "You men are dismissed contact SecCom (Security Command) for reassignment."
The tall Invaru in charge of both detachments raised his upper right arm and grabbed his rifle. His lower right arm then adjusted a second rifle that was hanging on his left shoulder, "Sorry sir, we're assigned here by Princess Terri."
Deatra looked over at the large Invaru, "You presence in no long needed Sergeant you may contact SecCom for reassignment. My guard will be sufficient for now."
The Invaru bowed slightly, "I'm sorry Princess but I have my orders. We are still in a state of war and there is a battle going on outside the station. You will also have an escort of two squadrons of fighters."
Deatra huffed in resignation; if there was one thing she knew it was the Invaru were stubborn. Orders given to them would be followed to the letter until the issuing officer or someone higher up countermanded that order. While technically she was superior to Terri she couldn't countermand the order. This was because she wasn't married to Jon yet and was looked at as more of a visiting dignitary by the Invaru. She could have called SecCom herself but she would rather not create problems when there wasn't a need to do so. She decided to allow the sergeant to perform his duties as he saw fit.
"You're sure the one we seek has appeared?" a grey haired Eutharan said.
"Yes master, he has already gathered a force and will be on his way here soon," a young man dressed in beige robes said.
The old man was sitting on a raised platform in the middle of a large temple. The younger man was kneeling before his master. The old man rapped his staff three times and five women entered the room and bowed before him. These Eutharan women had been picked for their exquisite beauty and had trained since the age of five for their duty.
The old man looked down at his apprentice, "You're dismissed, return to your studies and report any more information you manage to gather."
The young man stood and bowed deeply, "Yes master."
When his apprentice was gone, the old man turned his attention back to the five females who were now watching him very closely. They all wore loose garbs for ease of movement and carried swords at their hips. In their hands these swords were deadly and their ability unmatched.
The doors to his sanctum once again opened as a tall and strikingly beautiful female strode into the room. Her copper hair floated about her head as she stepped gracefully towards the platform. When she stopped in front of the old man, she nodded her head in a slight bow of respect.
The old man's eyes flowed over all the women present finally resting on the newest arrival. This woman wore a sword on her back and her clothing was almost nonexistent, only enough to cover her so she wasn't nude.
"Opellissa, the time has come for you and your beauties to perform the duty you have trained for all your life," the old man said grinning.
Opellissa nodded her face showing no emotion and her gold eyes never wavering from the old man.