FSE

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~ Doctor Bane held her tongue during the entire inspection of the soon to be scrapped ship, down the echoing hallways of dust and dim. It was not until, at the bridge, her and the captain started the process of removing the authorization core from the main console that the ferret spoke her mind.

~ "Just give me two more years, and I know I can get it to work."

~ Captain Donovan did not reply, the tiger's tail a slow swish.

~ "The stealth system works perfectly, and the FTL works perfectly. I only need three more years to get them working together. More data. Imagine what we could do!"

~ The captain turned to the weasel with a gaze of steel left out in the rain to chill, his reply simple. "Not my call. No longer my ship. No longer your project. Not my problem."

~ ~~~~~[Time skip]~~~~~

~ Captain Hitch's immediacy focused on the ship's positioning information, overlaid with the heavy commercial freighter's positioning information. He knew better than to interrupt his pilot while she was harried with the task of maneuvering both ships' descents out of FTL and into the Bethalo colony's orbit. Hitch's recollections, however, lingered on the fear he felt years ago at the sight of the Bethalto fleet arriving at the Godfrey colony's meager port. They were obviously more interested in intimidation than the refueling they requested, but to the basilisk's pride Godfrey colony had remained neutral in the skirmishes between the larger powers.

~ When the pair of ships came out of FTL, the basilisk captain looked to a comms terminal. Doctor Bane, her whiskers and facial fur bearing stark whisps of gray, gave a thumbs up to the captain as the stealth system kicked on. Captain Hitch looked to the ship's pilot, "We make it in without notice?"

~ The corgi at the ship's controls stared intently at the displays, "Yeah... Sir. The Ulysses is being told to FTL the remaining distance to a lunar orbit to wait for an opening at the main port. And we're on course to reach the Authena in a couple days at sub-light. We're under way, Sir."

~ The captain let out a prideful chuckle of success, making a sound like a sewing machine that discovered itself without oil as it stitched several layers of denim to the side of a house.

~ "Let's show them how Godfrey sails, then!"

~ ~~~~~[Time skip]~~~~~

~ Admiral Spritz shifted position in her chair, settling into the long haul of patience needed to wait for the order to break orbit and join the fray several systems away. The woodpecker glanced over the indication of the heavy cruiser's readiness status. Long rows of green text laid out on the pad before her, when her communications officer let out a sound not dissimilar from a yelp.

~ "Incoming communications, Ma'am!", announced the pug as he scrambled out of a partially awake stupor to glance to the Admiral who gave a confused hand-sign to put it on the bridge intercom.

~ "You have contacted the Bethalto Fleet Heavy Battlecruiser Authena; this channel is reserved for military use. Unknown vessel, state your intentions."

~ The reply came through with the tone of a bag of glass marbles that had realized the truth of fear and void, "Exercise. Exercise. Exercise."

~ The communications officer winced and tried to clean up the signal, adjusting modulations. The basilisk's voice remained unnerving. From the distant halls of the ship a sharp echoing clank could be heard from something slamming into some lightly armored portions of hull.

~ "This is Godfrey Colony Fleet Destroyer Escort Barrery Change. Please acknowledge short range targeting lock; please acknowledge strike of seven simulated nuclear missile slugs.", the basilisk pausing for reply.

~ Admiral Spritz looked to her first officer with an expression of panic and confusion as the raccoon tapped away busily on a datapad before announcing with stunned reluctance, "...Acknowledged weapons lock, Destroyer Escort Barrey Change.... Acknowledged weapons strike...", slowly looking up to Admiral Spritz, "Heavy Battlecruiser Authena, acknowledging sunk from Wargames Indigo. Standing down."

~ A stunned silence held over the gleaming battlecruiser's bridge, as the Barrey Change's stealth systems powered down and what looked like a floating box of rust and weldment became visible a hundred meters from the ship's conning tower. With a throaty chuckle that felt like someone was trying to drown a set of bagpipes into a thunderstorm Captain Hitch replied, "Thank you for your cooperation. Destroyer Escort Barrery Change resuming Wargame Indigo activities.", the ship hobbling into FTL within the minute before the battlecruiser's own escorts could join the party.