The spark in darkness quickly dispatches of the drones, none of their attacks getting past it’s shield. The mirions in the accelerator soon are ready to fire. The spark aligns itself, it’s spinely mounted lance pointing towards the shuttle. Suddenly many tiny lasers and particle beams activate, probing the shield, determining it’s frequency and other info, swiftly calculated into the perfect fiering solution for the lance. The magnetic containment is opened.
A bright beam of tachyonic particles glowing a brilliant blue, traveling superluminaly is released, going straight trough the shuttle’s shield, and penetrating it’s reactor, causing a chain reaction and detonating it.
“The shuttle is splashed sir!”
“Good, but i doubt we’ll be celebrating for long, that couldn’t have been their only ship in the region”
And his prophetic words ware right, as with long range sensors going online they could finally see it, the Quasar shooter. A truely massive warship, larger even than the throneship, only comparable with the large defense stations around Ilanor.
All color fades from captain Ribedir’s face as he looks at what the sensors are showing him. He falls into his chair
“We’ve angered gods” he says with a soft, weak voice, with a expression of what can only be described as pure, utter terror. So strong was the feeling that even in the engineering hull they felt it, the feeling of a man reading his own death sentence, which he personally signed.
“Captain we won’t give up without a fight, will we?” Said the weapons officer
Ribedir comes to his senses, and color returns to his face. “No, we won’t” he says, with determination in his voice. He will not let his crew die that simply
“All hands battle stations! You’ll never fight again like you’ll fight today! Let’s show them that the Edhelrim are a brave people!” He pushes the navigator out of his chair, “I’ll personally take control” he says, and unfolds the wings of the craft
“Engineering if there’s any moment to get FTL back online, it’s now!”
“Limited FTL is back online sir! Just enough for a few tactical skips!”
“That’s all that i need. Coms make sure the transmition doesn’t brake, we need to give high command all the info we can, and let them know how bravely we stood at the face of death.”
“Aye”
“If everything goes south, i want you to know, all of you, you ware the best crew i could have asked for. I am proud of you. I am honored to have commanded you. May the gods have mercy on your souls in the afterlife”
He was ready and waiting, waiting for a battle stacked against him in every way, but he was determined
Headquarters of the armed forces of Calerost, Tartirion, space serounding Gil Miria
Half a hour before the engagement with the Quasar shooter
Since the start of the situation high command was in a meeting. This wasn’t just a matter of the navy, but of the state, and because of that prince Randirion was there as well.
Admiral Luthaleth was deep in thoughts, stress flowing through every vein of his body. She is the highest ranking military officer in the empire, holding the title of supreme commander of all of the armed forces. She has fought many battles, but this was different. Thanks to all the data sent by the spark in darkness the supercomputers of the station have decifered the language of the aliens
“We need to send in a starbraker,” she finally said, “it’s a one ship fleet, equiped with a translation matrix and the capability to bring our men home trough mirial space”
“But sir, that would be a major esc…”
“YES, YES IT WOULD” she bursts out in anger. "BUT WHAT OTHER CHOICE DO WE HAVE?! LET OUR MEN DIE? YOU’VE SEEN VERY WELL WHAT OUR TELESCOPES SAW IN THAT SYSTEM! A STARBRAKER IS THE ONLY THING THAT COULD POSSIBLY COUNTER IT! The aliens don’t care about escalating, officer, hell they don’t even know what that word of ours means (ooc: referring to them not knowing each other’s languages), this is war, not diplomacy.
“The damn xenos have shown that they are agressive, and we will treat them as such. Their ship might be massive, but i doubt it’s as densly armed as the Spirit of Death. It is made to anihilate planets, it and it’s escort can easily deal with one ship if it’s necessary, but i think that a show of force will make them recosider diplomacy very fast. It is well in range to make a jump in a reasonable time. About…”
“40 to 50 minutes, your highness”
“Correct. It is our best option. Admiral Luthaleth will have it her way, send in the Tararan.”
The rest of the command agreed with him, some reluctantly, but so it was done. The tararan set a course and entered mirial space. Hopefully by the time it arrives there still will be a spark in the darkness