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Dreadnaught

"Well, there she is, right where they said she would be." Said the Husky at the helm of the small vessel as it stopped its advance towards their goal. The small motley crew looked out of the main view port and stared up in awe at their prize, L.S.V. Hazel's Spear. A Laponian Carrier, dreadnaught, Laponians were not warriors by nature, however they were very formidable in battle. Their skills with technology and engineering were almost unmatched throughout the known galaxies. Sadly due to a war the vast majority of Laponians were lost to myth and legend. That is until now; this small crew of five were now staring into the depths of a legend.

Blue, a young Fox had heard rumours about this ship from travellers and space pirates alike who claimed they had seen her. Some say that they had attempted to board her but were somehow fended off by an unknown adversary, others reported entire ships being completely destroyed by the ship itself in a form of self-defence, but how could a ship so old and so damaged, defend itself?

"So are we just going to sit here and stare at it, or does anyone actually want to set foot on this relic?" The young Husky asked the rest of the crew. "Well there is a lot of things an engineer could learn from a Laponian ship." Replied Red as he swung his long legs off of the bunk he'd been resting upon. "Also I'd really like to see if I can learn anything about these A.I, I keep hearing rumours about."

"But don't we have A.I now?" Ash asked. "Yeah but these guys had them long before any of us." Spring replied. "Ok then, let's go." Ash said as he took the controls of the small vessel once again. As the ship began to move off, the larger vessel also moved, one of her main guns, a quad barrelled, Heavy, Ion turret, turned to aim in the direction of the small vessel. "Uh guys, the Dreadnaught is powering up a weapon." Spring called out as he watched the sensors read out. "That's impossible." Red replied. "Has she locked onto us?" Bailey asked. "No but she is aiming directly towards us...she's going to fire." Red said as he watched the readout from the sensors. "Can we survive the hit?" Bailey asked his voice laced with panic. "I don't know, no one has used Ion weapons for many years." Spring replied.

The Dreadnaught fired a single barrel; the beam of blue light shot out from the barrel at high speed, passed just under the small vessel and struck something directly behind them. There was a sudden explosion and the small ship spun out of control for a few moments before Ash was able to regain control.

"Were we hit?" Bailey called "No but she did hit something." Spring replied. "Damage?" Bailey asked "No structural damage, shields down to sixty percent and we've lost two power conduits." Said Red "What did it hit?" Ash asked. "Sensors suggest it was a vessel, smaller than ours, it must have been cloaked." Said Red as he looked over the read out. "The Dreadnaught detected a cloaked ship when we couldn't?" Ash asked "Must have been a raider." Said the Jaxal "Does this mean raiders have control of the dreadnaught, you know like some rivalry thing?" Bailey asked. "No, she's too big, raiders operate in small groups, there wouldn't be enough of them to handle a ship of her size, the raider must have been after us." The Jaxal replied. "So the dreadnaught saved us?" Asked Ash "Well that's one way of looking at it." Replied Spring Ash landed the small ship in one of the Dreadnaught's main hanger bays.

Aboard the Dreadnaught and monitoring the small vessel the ship's A.I made its way down into the stasis chambers. In one of the many chambers, it found as far as it could currently remember, the sole surviving crew member aboard, Lieutenant, Jack Frostpaws. The A.I quickly set about the procedure to wake the warrior from his many years of sleep.

Ash manoeuvred their ship towards one of the dreadnaught's hangers. "Ash, the hanger has a shield, we will be smashed to bits if we try and break through." Red reported. "So how do we get in exactly?" Ash asked as he brought the ship to a stop once again. "Hang on, the shield has dropped." Said Red as the sensor readout changed. "Ok, that's kinda creepy." Ash said as his tail bristled. "It could be the A.I, I'm not reading any visible life signs on board." Spring said as checked his own station's sensors. "Does everyone still want to board her?" Ash asked. Once everyone had affirmed that they did, he resumed course and landed the small ship inside the hanger bay.

Everyone stared in awe as they looked through the main view port at the other vessels that were held in the same hanger. Ash in particular wasted no time in landing the small vessel and getting off of the ship to look around, "Red, you have to see these things they are amazing, multirole fighters, light and heavy drop ships, orbital drop pods, they may not have been natural fighters but damn could they build weaponry." Ash bounced around from craft to craft, investigating everything he could possibly explore.

Spring meantime had found one of the ship's main interface panels; he hooked up a device of his own design to the interface and began some exploring of his own. "Well now, let us see what secrets we can unlock."

Last to leave the ship was Bailey along with the two mercenaries; there was a Lupon and a Jaxal, Lupons were a warrior race, with deep rooted traditions, obsessed with Victory, honour and the glory of dying in battle, short tempered and very formidable in battle too. Jaxals were more like nomads; their race wandered the known galaxies never really settling down anywhere. Other than being wanderers they were also well known for their love of music both listening to and creating it.

The Jaxal carried a powerful looking sniper rifle whereas the Lupon seemed to have much smaller ranged weapons, apparently preferring close quarters combat. Bailey being the only actual person with any rank and command training looked over the hanger bay, surveying the team as they each took in the sights in their own unique way.

The ship's A.I monitored them via the ship's sensors before it descended down into the stasis deck appearing as a hologram before one of the chambers. Quickly tapping into the controls the A.I set about starting the waking up sequence. There were intruders aboard and it needed some help. The waking up sequence only took about ten minutes in all but because the A.I had not been focusing on other tasks it had not noticed Spring's infiltration into its sub systems.

The male within the chamber soon woke and looked about before sitting up, "Oh good you're awake." The AI said, excitedly. "Hazel, what day is it?" Jack asked in response. "Tuesday." Hazel stated. "Yeah, you know fine that's not what I meant, how long have I been asleep?" "Unknown, I've had to shut off many of my subroutines to conserve power, one of those was my chronometer." The A.I replied as it sat cross legged. The male lifted himself from the stasis chamber and walked around a little bit to get the feeling back into his legs. "So why the wakeup call?" He asked as he punched at the air a few times. "We have been boarded by intruders, an Ottarin, a Lupon, a Jaxal, two Vulpins, a Cervin and a Canis." The male simply shrugged his shoulders, "So, they're all members of the alliance, what's your point?" "Well just that, I don't think there is an alliance anymore." The A.I protested as it stood up. "How can you say that, when you just claimed you don't know how much time has passed us by?" "I may not be aware of how much time but since I have been online I have seen many ships pass us by and many try and board us. None of them have ever had the alliance's symbols displayed anywhere on their ships." "Not even the one that came aboard?" The male asked, looking back at the A.I over his shoulder as he stretched his arms above his head.

"No." "Suppose I should go and see what they want then." He yawned and cracked his neck left and right. "Wait...someone has accessed my program."

"Guys you have got to come and see this, I've never seen a system so complex, so many subroutines, so many algorithms, so much data, it's amazing that this thing doesn't crash ." Spring bleated excitedly. Red joined Spring at the interface and both of them began looking over what Spring had found. "Is there anything you can find to tell us more about this ship, like where the heck the crew is, how long she's been adrift?" "Hold on, don't rush me, I only just got in, this thing has some serious security, let's see, ah here we go, ship's schematics." Spring brought up a file onto the screen of the interface.

"Laponian Star Vessel, Hazel's spear, dreadnaught class, battle carrier, double hulled. No set mission parameters, twenty four quad barrelled heavy Ion turrets, twenty four double barrelled light Ion turrets, eight phaser banks, thirty two quad barrelled fifty five millimetre rail machine guns, two, two hundred and fifty millimetre Gatling rail guns, eighteen, thirty five centimetre rocket launchers, sixteen torpedo ports, two, thirty six hatch, vertical launching missile silos. Twenty Dirk class multirole fighters, ten Sabre class bombers, five light and five heavy transport craft, altogether, one bad beast of a ship."

"Can you bring up her engines?" Red asked as he looked over Spring's shoulder. "Uh yeah sure, let's see, she's got sub light engines, thrusters and a hyper drive." "If anyone needs me, I'll be down in the engine room." Red said picking up his bag of tools. "You think you can get her up and running?" Ash asked "If not, there's more than enough quality engine to salvage."

Bailey was also looking at the readouts and looked over to Ash, "It's a little odd isn't it?" "How do you mean?" "A ship of this size and class suggests she was a flag ship or even just a capital ship." "Yeah, so?" "Well...according to Spring she had no set mission, so what is she doing here, why is she battle damaged and where is the crew?" "Well she's been here a long time." "True but surely there should be bodies..."

Red meantime had made his way to engineering and had found the engine room. In it sat a warp core hooked up to two main propulsion systems, two impulse engines and pride of place sat the Hyper drive. "Wow...no much wonder no one uses this kind of engine, it's so complex." Opening up his personal computer he hooked up to the engine's diagnostic port. "You're still operational...but how?" Placing his computer down upon the floor he looked around the engine room and quickly found the power plant. "It's only running at twenty percent power, but this is odd, you seem to divide up your power to multiple sub systems or do you?" Red continued to study the inner workings of the ship but the more he thought he came to understand her the more complex she became.

In the armoury Jack pulled himself into a combat suit and began arming himself up with whatever weapons that were left. "So I take it we've been raided a few times then?" He asked the A I as it appeared near by. "I cannot be sure, so much has happened and being at such low power, many of my memory chips are not operating at maximum efficiency." "Hmm, perhaps we should wake up someone who can fix that?" "There is no one else aboard." "Really?" "I told the Captain to abandon ship, that I would take control, fend off the enemy and ensure that some of our species survived." "And?" "I do not know the outcome." "So what about me?" "I was unaware at the time that you were going through your stasis training prior to our engagement with the enemy. " "Yeah, well if you weren't aware of me, then chances are you weren't aware of Arctic either." "Arctic Frostpaws, Midshipman, eighteen cycles of age, engineering technician, section C pod twelve." "Oh, great, so you knew about him, I swear you A I" "Pod twelve is empty." "What?" "Pod twelve in Section C, is empty."

"Hazel, find him!" "Affirmative, Arctic is not on board." "That's impossible, there's been no one else aboard in that section right?" "Actually...now that I am putting additional power to my memory chips, I remember, we were boarded about six years ago by a small ship of Draconians, from my sensor logs they found Arctic's chamber and must have woken him." "But what about your defences, why didn't you do anything to stop them?" "I cannot say, my memory does not allow me to access that information." "Perhaps they used a system to immobilise you, in either case, Arctic is gone...my little brother...lost..."

Suddenly the ship shuddered and the rumble of an explosion rolled across the hull. "What was that?" Bailey called?" "Hazel, what the heck was that?" Jack asked. "We were hit with a weapon of some kind." Spring replied.

"Raiders, six vessels in all, two bombers, two fighters and two Frigates." Hazel announced. "Weapons?" "Offline, I used most of my reserve power already with that last raider." "We need to get you fired up!"

Jack made his way down the long corridors, heading for engineering. Meantime Spring, Bailey, Ash, Blue and the two mercenaries had made their way up to the Bridge. "Spring I need a visual!" Bailey called out. "I'm trying but there's so little power, come on you hunk of junk, give me something!" "Wait, I have tactical, I think." Ash called as he stood in a circle that was surrounded by glass panels, which lit up as he stood inside. Each panel showed, the positions of the raider's vessels, the weapons available, as well as, readouts of the enemy ships specifications. "Ok, what does tactical tell us?" Bailey asked as he turned around and looked at Ash. "Five, no, six ships, there's so much information here, I can't read it all. All weapons are offline!" "Spring, can you bring them online again?" "It's not a computer problem, chances are it's the ship's power plant." "Red, can you hear me, are you anywhere near the power plant, Red?"

Red didn't respond, more so that he couldn't respond, as a certain Laponian had a pistol pointed at him. "Don't answer him, answer me, who are you and what are you doing on my ship?" Jack asked. "I'm just a technician, I came on board with the others because we were curious, we were told this ship was derelict." "Well clearly she isn't, however, this isn't the time for that, have you done anything, changed anything in here?" "N...no why?" "Good, Hazel, what and where?" "Head to the station marked power control unit, enter the code, Alpha, one, one, zulu, one, eight, Echo, two, Charlie, Niner, Golf." Then hit enter, this should allow you access.

Jack entered the code and was given access to the power plant controls. "Ok, what now?" "Activate the main hub, then activate the solar panels, this will charge up the rods for the atomic reactor, then activate the reactor." "Cant we just draw power from the engines?" Red asked, not entirely sure who he was talking to. "Do I look like I came from Star Trek?" Hazel grumbled as he appeared before Red in his tallest, holographic form. A six foot, white rabbit, clad in Norse, armour, wielding a huge, spear in his right paw.

"No, we can't just draw power from the engines, didn't you learn anything from all your tinkering about in here?" Red looked at the A I, slightly surprised. "Oh yes, I was watching you the whole time, but no, I don't work like that. My engines, weapons and internal systems all run on their own personal power supplies and backups, if you want to cripple me, you had better obliterate me."

"You keep talking as though you're the ship." Red replied. "I am, the ship. I am Hazel's spear." Hazel snapped, with annoyance in it's tone. Jack nodded in the affirmative, "He's right, each ship had an A I constructed to be its computer and ship master should the fleshy ones die off before the ship did."

"Is...is that what happened here, the crew all died, except for him?" Red asks as he pointed towards Jack. "No, not in this instance, I advised the Captain to abandon ship, to save his life and the lives of his crew whilst I, took on the enemy. I am a ship of war, my survival is not important."

"Ok, I have the reactor online, now what?" "Charge the distribution nodes and then distribute the charge to activate the other power plants."

Another explosion rocks the ship. "Ash, what's happening out there?" Bailey asks as he looks continuously between Ash and the main view screen. "Two of the ships keep strafing us, the others are holding back, I don't know, maybe they're testing to see if we'll fight back?" "But no one knows we're here, right?" Spring asks. Another explosion makes the ship shudder once more.

"Ok that's it, power is coming back online!" Sure enough the sounds of power flowing throughout the ship could be heard as all of the consoles activated all over the ship. Sensors came back online as did all the warning bells. The bridge crew were steadily being deafened by the constant sounds of alarms.

"Time to go to work." Hazel said and vanished from the engine room only to reappear upon the bridge. "Who are you?" Bailey exclaimed as the two mercs pointed their weapons at the hologram. "Oh please!" Hazel scoffed and focused most of his attention onto the enemy vessels. "We have weapons!" Ash called out excitedly. "Yeah, but I control them curly tail. Sub Ion Cannons locked onto frigates, Rail machine guns, 12 through 20 locked into fighters and bombers, engaging targets."

The Ships guns swivelled and angled themselves before firing upon their targets, the two Frigates were cut in half by the beams of blue light that shot from the smaller turrets. The fighters and bombers exploded like fireworks as they flew through constant streams of bullets. "Targets destroyed." Hazel said triumphantly.

"Now then, now that they are out of the way, who are you and why are you here?" Hazel asked as his eyes narrowed. "We're here to claim and salvage this vessel in the name of the Ottarin Republic." Bailey Replied. "Like heck we are, my ship got us here, we're salvaging this ship for the Canis Confederacy." Ash Barked. "You think the Lupon Empire would allow such meek creatures to possess a ship of war like this? I think not." The Lupon Snarled.

Hazel shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "You're all so foolish, since I am online, I, am master of this vessel, in the name of the Laponian Commonwealth."

Everyone turned to look at Hazel as they fell silent from their bickering only to roar with laughter. "The Laponians....." The Lupon bellowed. "The Laponian Commonwealth has been dead for over two hundred years." Chortled Bailey as he wiped a tear from his eye and held onto his stomach. "That, that cannot be..." Hazel said and quickly hacked a nearby satellite only to confirm that no Laponians had been seen for almost three hundred years since their last engagement with the Draconians.

Hazel's eyes turned red as he burned with rage, gathering energy and sending out a pulse he knocked everyone upon the bridge to the floor. The laughter quickly stopped and suddenly everyone was aware of the danger they were now in, this was no ordinary A.I. Feeling the pulse shake the ship from the engine room, Jack grabbed Red by the collar of his top and took him to the bridge.

When he arrived, everyone had backed away from Hazel and was watching him cautiously. As the turbo lift door opened the Jaxal and Lupon pointed their weapons towards it. Jack held Red out at arm's length and called out. "If you expect your friend here to live, I'd lower those weapons." The pair of mercenaries were not so inclined to obey but if their clients died, they wouldn't be getting paid.

The Lupon and the Jaxal lowered their weapons and Jack stepped out of the lift, all six foot of him, he was a rather largely built individual despite the power suit. "Oh great, another hologram!" Bailey grumbled. "I don't think this one is a hologram..." Replied Spring. "You are correct; the lieutenant there, is as much flesh and blood as any of you." Hazel said proudly.

"A...a genuine Laponian?" Ash quizzed and tilted his head to one side. Hazel nodded. "Indeed, making him the sole owner of this vessel." Hazel stated. "So what happens if we kill him?" The Lupon asked with a snarl. "Then, I self-destruct killing everyone on board." Hazel replied flatly. "But...you've kept yourself online this long, why would you suddenly do that?" Blue asked as a shiver ran down his spine and bristled his tail.

"Hazel turned his head to look at the Blue fox, "Simple, once I discovered that the lieutenant here was aboard and alive I concluded that it is possible that other members of his race also survived the war. Thus I have remained online and intact knowing that some day I may once again be called to battle. However, should the lieutenant fall then my theory goes with him and there is little point in my existence."

Having been released from Jack's grip Red joined the others on the opposite side of the bridge. "So...so what now?" Blue asked. "Now, I take my ship; look for my brother and you, all leave." Jack stated as he sat himself down in the Captain's chair. "I do not wish to go against your decision Lieutenant but, we need them." Hazel informed. "Yeah you need us...wait what?" Blue replied before looking confused. "I may be one of the largest ships in the known galaxy but I am three hundred years behind the times. These people know the era we are now in, locations of space stations, planets and most likely Draconian installations."

"Uhm do we get a say in this?" Red asked. "Naturally, Hazel may be correct that he needs your assistance but frankly I'd far rather see the back of the lot of you." Jack replied. "So...do we stay or do we go?" Bailey asked the group. "I'm staying," Blue chirped. "There's so much I could learn from this A I, he's maybe three hundred years old but he functions like he just came online, I'm staying." Spring bleated. "Well despite having a gun to my head, I was captivated by those engines and I'm sure that they could use someone like me around so I'm staying too." Said Red. "How about you Ash?" Bailey asked Ash looked around the bridge, towards Jack and Hazel then out at the stars upon the view screen. "I'm staying; if I go back I'm probably looking at a court martial anyways." "I thought you said you got permission to take the ship?" Bailey gasped. "Well you are the one who said you needed a ship quickly, so I got us one quickly." "Ok, ok, settle down, I guess that means I'm staying too then." Bailey sighed and rubbed his temples.

Hazel looked over at the two mercenaries as they had not yet voiced their opinions yet. "What about the two of you?" The Jaxal looked at the group then towards Jack before looking towards the Lupon. "I see no profit in it for us." The Lupon replied and shouldered it's weapon. "Oh but surely the thrill of the unknown, the stories you could tell, the battles you may end up in, surely that is profit enough for such a grand warrior?" Hazel asked.

"Do not assume you will win my favour by attempting to entice me with the traditions of my ancestors." The Lupon grumbled "One hundred percent." Jack stated. "Huh?" "Any battle we end up in, any enemies you slay, you may take one hundred percent of any items, treasures, profits that you find." Jack said as he looked at the two mercenaries. The pair looked at one another before they nodded in agreement. "We want one condition, should we tire of this little trip we may leave at any time." The Lupon stated. "That's fine with me." Jack replied.

"Hazel, show our new guests to their quarters then I want everyone assembled in the officer's briefing room in one hour to discuss what we're doing next." Jack said as he rose from the chair and made his way to the Captain's ready room. "who put him in charge?" Bailey grumbled as Hazel led them all away to find quarters.

Everyone sat around the large table in the briefing room all looking towards the top chair where Jack sat. Hazel meantime had made himself much smaller and walked up and down the length of the table. "Ok, Hazel, status report." "My repairs are fifty six percent complete using repair droids alone, hull integrity is at eighty nine percent, we have shields and sensors, our weapon supply is a little low, I have twenty photon torpedoes, ten quantum torpedoes and six trans-phasic torpedoes. I have ten cruise missiles and forty rockets. My compliment of Nova weapons is still at full capacity."

"Hold on, this ship is carrying Nova bombs?" Bailey blurted. "Nova missiles to be more accurate." Hazel replied. "So that's why you two came along, you knew they were on board somehow?" Bailey gasped and pointed at the two mercenaries. "We did not; we heard rumours, nothing more." The Lupon grunted. "Enough, it doesn't matter, the point is, they are still aboard and still secure." Jack barked at the pair. "Maybe so but why did Laponians need Nova weapons in the first place?" Red asked. "Worst case scenario weapons, if one of my class came up against an opponent that it could not defeat thus putting lives to risk, the Nova weapons would be deployed." Hazel replied.

"And there was everyone thinking that the Laponians could do no wrong, who knew that secretly under it all, they were no better than those they fought." Said the Jaxal "In our entire history, the Laponians have only ever deployed the Nova weapons once, it is not a decision we take lightly, several requirements have to be reached before the deployment of Nova weapons." Hazel replied. "That's beside the point, you could have chosen to not use them, yes all would have been lost but at least the innocent would have lived." The Jaxal spat. "For how long?" Hazel asked coldly.

"Hazel, square it away and you, settle down, I have no intentions on releasing the Nova weapons, ever, is that clear?" Jack said.

"Now back to the matter at hand, where are we?" Jack asked as his tone settled once more. "I have been unable to determine our exact location, due to the three hundred years that have passed many of my stellar charts are out of date" Hazel replied. "You're in the tenth quadrant of the Cani system" Ash replied swiftly. "What are the chances of the Confederacy coming out here since we've powered up?" Jack asked "Not too likely, due to the Draconian demands for resources, the Confederacy only uses space travel when absolutely paramount" Said Ash.

"Then there's not much point in asking them for help either." Hazel stated. "No, but we should visit one of their planets or stations at some point" Said Jack as he stroked one of his long ears. "What about our own resources, food, water, fuel?" The Lupon asked. "I have enough fuel supply to last the next three years, as for food and water, the ship is equipped throughout with replicators, we also have a hydroponics bay aboard with plenty fresh fruits and vegetables from over thirty worlds. It also allows us to create oxygen without using the scrubbers." Hazel replied proudly. "I guess all that's left now then is to assign rank and positions and choose where to go?" Said Jack. "Wait, wait, rank, positions?" quizzed Blue.

"Indeed, a ship cannot fully operate without the assistance of a crew, that is why I have carefully considered your positions based on your talents that I have observed. Spring, I assign you to Operations with the rank of ensign. Red, Engineering as Chief Engineer, Ash, helmsman as ensign, Lupon, no one has ever called you by name." "It would be impossible for you to speak my true name in my own tongue, so let us go with Mick." The Lupon said with a toothy grin. "Very well, Mick, I assign you to tactical with the rank of ensign, Jaxal your name has also never been mentioned." "Lethaen." "Lethaen, I assign you to Ground Operations with the rank of Master Chief." "Uhm...what about me?" Blue asked Hazel with his little paw raised. "I have not observed a skill from you yet that I could assign you a position." Hazel replied. "Well...I can cook." Blue said with a slight blush tinting on his cheeks. "Very well, I assign you as mess officer with the rank of Leading rate." "Bailey, being that you are the only other notable officer on board, I'm naming you my first mate and second in command." Jack stated. Bailey nodded in acknowledgment as Jack handed out pips for everyone to wear upon their outfit's identifying them in their rank and position.

"Now then, first stop, home, I assume you know how to get us there at least Hazel?" "Affirmative, setting course and engaging main engines." The ship's engines fired up and the ship slowly began to move off from where it had rested for so long. The structure let out a few groans and creaks but ultimately held together despite her age.