49 (DSV Nautica) Remains
Zhi sat in his quarters, wringing his hands together, glancing around. He had expected Aki to be here when they had gotten back but she, not to mention Ka'ya and De'an, were nowhere to be found. He had a lot to talk to her about, but first she had to be here. He was restless in the meantime. Then the call came through.
"Alert, all engineering teams to the docks immediately; damaged ship inbound."
He sprang to action and hauled it out of the living spaces. He wasn't the only one. There were quite a few others hurrying to the docking area. He received his assignment telepathically, sending him to dock number 12. Odd. That's where everyone else was going as well.
-Earlier-
Loki surveyed the damage of the planet, replaying the recordings and data for herself.
"Flare...I believe that is what they call you?"
"Yes, Admiral."
"What is your real name?"
Flare tightened her lips.
"Is that an order, Ma'am?"
Loki met her eyes. There was something odd about them, a kind of deep seated hate.
"No...It isn't. Get your team down there and investigate what happened. See if there is anything down there that we cannot see up here."
Flare nodded and headed down to the hangar bay, still angry on the inside about the inquiry about her name.
Loki turned back to her display, pulling up the personnel file on Flare. Why was she so upset about her name...? She squinted at her full name.
"ooohhhh...that's why." She nodded to herself, smirking. They all had their dirty secrets.
Seven comets of light arced out from the bay of the Mors, heading toward the planet. Their target was the outskirts of the largest patch of destruction they could find, next to the sea. Reentry was always the fun part. They broke formation as a couple of them, dropped off their boards and entered free fall, putting their thermal protection on the maximum setting with giant smiles on their faces. Flare just shook her head and used the board to slow her decent into the atmosphere. The flames licking around their bodies slowly faded, now they were just falling toward the ocean. The members of the team who were screwing around retrieved their boards and got into position, the flat side of the board down, and they all began to apply a little upwards force, slowing them little by little. If everything went according to plan and they timed it correctly, they would hit the ground just in time to reach a dead stop.
The city was close by now. Black terrain stretched for quite some time. Skeletal, charred building remains dotted the landscape of what was once a Victorian era city. The seven of them touched down in a large open area that probably had functioned as the town square.
"Alright, spread out and see if you can find anything. Keep in contact and keep going until you reach the edge of the woods."
Her team nodded and began moving through the rubble.
Flare grimaced as she walked. The ground was dry, cracking under her feet. Not only was there dirt and stone, but ash too. It seemed as if a massive fire had raged through the city unhindered.
She stopped abruptly, looking down. At the same time, half her team contacted her.
"Flare...we have bodies."
"I....I know..."
She was staring at the charred remains of a humanoid creature.
The Erebus exited FTL a ways off the station, maneuvering into the docks. Aki, De'an, and Ka'ya prepared to exit.
"The damage was minimal, captain, but what do we tell them happened?"
"Classified operation. If higher authorities demand an answer...Ill take care of it. My orders are that anyone asking questions ask me."
Both Ka'ya and De'an nodded in agreement, hopping on their boards and leaving the hangar bay once the locks had the ship securely in place. She could see the engineers already getting on repairing the damage. But even minimal damage scared Aki to some degree. What was it that could do damage to their ships?
The head engineer for their dock gave Aki a scathing look. She could tell he wanted to scream "I just fixed this thing!" AT her, but he kept it to herself. They weren't intent on asking questions either. Good. The Erebus had been though a lot recently. This probably looked like child's play.
Aki had the scroll with her, clutched tightly against her chest, using all her self-control to not shake from nervousness. All her brethren around her, and they had no idea that one of their greatest myths was right here, in front of her. She looked around as many workers were rushing toward hangar 12. Odd. Something must have happened. She would find out what it was later, but for now, she would be going somewhere. Climbing in one of the many shuttles, she programmed the destination. Planet-side. She was going home.
Flare did an analysis of the remains, taking a sample and storing it in her board, hovering behind her a foot off the ground. Whatever this was, it had killed all these people. It was a recent attack that had taken place, but nature was reclaiming it. There were already some small plants sprouting through the cracks, and no sign of survivors.
Something drew Flares eye that caused her to stop and stare. On the side of the building was a blast mark, looking like some kind of energy weapon residue. These people were not advanced enough for energy weapons, so had this place been rained upon by fire from orbit?
"Mors, I'm relaying some info to you." She shared what she was seeing with the operators up in orbit. "You see this?"
"Yeah....looks like weapons fire obviously. Strange, and totally out of place. Keep looking for anything else strange."
"Understood."
This whole thing was strange. What it had looked like was an advanced race came along and wiped this place off the map. But they would know of an advanced race capable of that. Of the space faring races they knew of, the most advanced had barely left their solar system. So who did this? Was there a major player they didn't know about?
It took her the better part of the day to get to the edge of the city. The Mediterranean environment was untouched beyond, save where a fire or two may have scorched a tree on accident. This was definitely not native. Something traveled here and destroyed the race that was here.
"Flare, get your team back up here now!"
There was urgency to the Elites voice on the other end.
"What's happened?"
"An attack. Get back up here now!"
Flare had already given the command to return, as seven streaks of blue rose from the remains of the city back toward the sky above.
"Contacts?"
"Yes, three, Admiral." the gunner nodded, keeping an eye on the console, and the other eye on the fire controls. "They just appeared, probably using FTL technology."
"Tyr, navigate the Mors to face our friends. Ba'kun!" The gunner turned to face Loki, his eyes deadpan, serious, but the gleam of the fight was there.
"Stand by."
He simply nodded, turning his attention back to the weapons.
"Cel'ya. Send word back to New Ayr...that this galaxy has a hostile force capable of FTL space travel!"
The communications officer bounded off, her feathers waving in the wind she was creating.
"Send a message explaining our role here and that we mean no harm." Loki said it, but nothing about the situation suggested that a fight would be avoided.
"Sent, using various methods, including telepathic, and numerical interpretations. But Admiral...When the telepathic message was sent to each contact...I felt a mind, but not one I have ever encountered before. A single mind in each ship, and they are very powerful."
Loki thought this over for a moment; the ships were releasing hundreds, if not thousands of small dots, which sensors showed were some kind of attack drone. And he was right. There was a mind powering each of those ships, but nothing else. And will energy, much like their own technology, but automated.
"What are these?"
The drones closed the distance quickly, opening fire as they entered range.
"Repair conduits?"
"Running."
The splashes of energy were harmless to the thickened battleship skin, but as more came into range, the shots got more and more intense. They seemed to be focusing on the center of the ship, right over where the bridge was.
"Intensify our repairs around the main structures, and return AA fire to the fighters. Charge the main cannons."
Individual fighters popped around the Mors, as the big ship maneuvered to face the other 3.
"The drones are starting to overwhelm the repair conduits."
"Fire the main cannons at the central target."