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~ The frame of the ship could be heard to strain from the sustained posture of flanking speed, while Captain DeCaro paused to collect his thoughts. His hand pressed firmly into the scanner pad, to lend his embedded credentials to his orders, he nodded to the communications officer to resume transmission.

~ "Unidentified vessel of the High Fleet, this is a direct command. This is not a request. This is not advice. This is a direct command to disable your weapons and shut down your engines. I am Captain Joseph Leox DeCaro, duly commissioned and in good standing.", looking to the navigations console for any indication that the receiving ship had heeded his order. The phoenix waved a hand over the indicators, slamming a fist into the frame alongside. "No.. still firing, Sir", he explained.

~ The frustrated macaw let out a rumbling groan; direct orders were supposed to work on Fleet ships. The channel still open, he took a more methodical tact. "I am Captain Joseph DeCaro, duly commissioned officer of the High Fleet. The Council and the Admirals were all executed years ago. This is my hand, still warm with my blood, that you can feel on this pad. There is no one left who outranks me. I outrank whoever has given you firing authority. I revoke their commission; they no longer have credentials to authorize you to fire your weapons.", glancing to the phoenix for any sign of change. The wisps of fire coming from amongst the navigator's feathers and and rising from his frustration was sufficient answer.

~ "I again, order you to stand down. That is a civilian convoy. They are not combatant ships, they are not legal targets. Please. Just please.", Joseph buckled in place, not ready for this degree of futility. At the sound of the ship's frame settling into a more relaxed loading condition, he looked to the ship's pilot. Without glancing up from her controls and view-screens, she declared crisply to the bridge. "Coming to sub-light speeds. Brace for evasions." The ferret's focus remained on her station as the Captain and navigator looked to each other with a lack of further ideas. Their desperation was interrupted by the unidentified ship initiating a visual link.

~ On the main view-screen before Captain DeCaro, the scorched out bridge of a cruiser appeared. The fires appeared to have been extinguished by the hard vacuum, which was straightforward to discern from the view of stars through the cracks arching through what was visible of the ceiling. The glowing blue ghost of an eagle, presumably the avatar of the ship's machine intelligence, perched atop on of the railings that had remained upright. She looked to the camera, her voice a twinge sharp as though it were being hastily spliced into the video feed, and noted, "Firing authority is no longer required."

~ The ship's pilot, her ears attentive, was already punching up calculations for an emergency jump while the unidentified vessel was coming about to bring its main batteries to bear upon her small, unarmed ship.