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Starbase - 11, Environs

(2:32PM)

Not more than two minutes ago, a medium sized Humanitist Fleet; comprised of forty or so ships, led by Outcast forces dropped out of hyperspace. Believing the stations shields and defenses to be down, the Humanitists didn't bother raising their shields; the Outcasts however had raised their shields as to be prepared for any unforeseen events.

Several of the Humanitist ships closed in on the station as they tried to hail the Outcasts that were supposed to be on the station. Little did any of them know that the station was still under Federation control. They were so busy trying to hail them that they didn't notice the stations shields had been raised and that what was left of their defenses had aimed and locked onto their Hyperdrive engines and shield generators.

In one swift move, the stations defenses opened fire and left fifteen ships without shields or the ability to jump away. Before the rest of the fleet could raise shields, another seven ships were left without protection; leaving more than half of their fleet unprotected. The moment the station had opened fire, the Outcast ships started to return fire while the Humanitist ships scrambled to open fire on the station. However the stations shields were much too powerful for conventional weapons to breach, causing their attacks to do little or no damage.

The stations automated defenses could leave the Humanitist ships crippled but could not destroy them. The shields of the Outcast ships were strong enough to protect against most of the stations incoming fire, leaving them with only minor damage. Yet two minutes after they arrived, four of the crippled Humanitist ships were destroyed simultaneously. Something had breached the ships energy stone containment centers and destroyed the energy stones causing the ships to explode.

**************

T.P.C. (Tactical Positron Cannon) Operations Control

(2:32 PM)

"Holy shit! I love this thing..." James said after firing a single shot and witnessing an enemy ship explode in an amusing ball of fire and death.

James, Lliam, Sylvia, Albert and Kathy were led to this room by Nate. He had them all man the stations four Positron Cannons to hopefully lighten the amount of attackers on the station. Albert and Kathy had been led to Nate after the Luxuria was safely tucked inside the station; with a few of the stations personnel having been left to keep the kids out of trouble. The room they were in had them sitting in the corners while Sylvia and Nate watched over them from the center of the room which held a device that fed targeting information to the T.P.C's.

"You may have been able to destroy a ship with one shot but that's only because of the tactical data we're getting from the Luxuria's sensors." Nate said as he watched the sensors and locked onto the enemy's energy stone containment centers.

"When the hell did the Federation have time to develop these weapons?" Kathy asked as she watched the cannon recharge.

"Actually we just stole the Outcasts' beam cannon technology and threw in a Federation twist on the matter. It makes them so much stronger then the beam cannon... depending on the size of course. We can only make them so big before they would overload unlike the beam cannon." Nate admitted.

"So they do have a downside then?" Kathy asked as she fired the cannon again.

"Yes unfortunately and the recharge rate is slow as well. There just wasn't enough time to fix those issues. So we make do by limiting the size of them so they don't overload but the recharge rate is still an issue though." Nate informed her.

"Hey... it looks like they're pulling back." Lliam said from seat number three.

After a few moments of observation Nate said "Shit, they're not pulling back... they're clearing a path for one of their battleships to fire its main gun at us while simultaneously trying to get out of our firing range."

"It's definitely out of firing range." Albert stated after trying to fire at the battleship, only to have the shot dissipate before reaching its target.

"Can the stations shields handle a direct shot?" Kathy asked.

Nate looked up from where he was standing and noticed everyone was looking at him. He sighed as he shook his head "The stations already taken too much damage before this, the shield emitters have also taken damage so the shields aren't at full strength to start with. They may be holding against their normal weapons but..." He said and trailed off.

"Enemies beam cannon charge is at forty percent" Albert called off.

"Great... we're fucked." James said.

"Shut it James!" Sylvia said.

"No, we are truly fucked! Damn... seven years in hell just to die like this." James said before yelling "FUCK!"

While a few of the others tried to calm down James and think of some way to get out of the situation they were in, Nate noticed a small blinking symbol on the top left corner of the screen he was looking at. The screen showed data that the Luxuria was feeding to the stations systems so he figured it was something the sensors on the Luxuria were picking up that the station could not identify.

"Kathy... could you come here please." Nate asked.

"What is it?" She asked with worry in her voice.

"Can you tell me what this symbol is? It started blinking a few moments ago." He asked; looking Kathy in the eyes.

The moment she spotted the symbol her eyes widened in surprise, she looked at Nate and said "Is there a comm uplink in this room?"

"Yes" Nate said and pointed to one of the other control panels near him.

"Everyone shut up and get out of view. Don't even make a sound!" Kathy said; looking at James when she said the last part, as she patched into the Luxuria from the comm station. The screen lit up to the one that the Luxuria used and Kathy pressed on the symbol that was blinking before saying "Freelancer Lure, authentication code: Alpha-six eight Delta-five nine Echo-five zero zero Zulu."

*******

Somewhere close by

"Ma'am, we're being contacted from an unknown source." A human with the rank of Ensign on his shoulder said.

"Put it on the screen Ensign." The commanding officer with the rank of Rear Admiral said.

The Rear Admiral was an Ocelot with sandy brown colored fur and dark brown short length hair; she had beige white colored fur under her jaw and down her chest and stomach. She had hazel colored eyes and an hourglass figure. She stood at only five feet tall but held a strict command about her. She was wearing the white captions uniform of the Federation; and for a personal touch she openly wore an old officer's sword.

The moment the screen lit up, her eyes widened for a moment when she saw the symbol that was displayed. Putting on her captain's hat she said in a command tone of voice "All personnel will leave the bridge now! Lieutenant Omar, Sergeant Yun and Ensign Parker, you will stay."

Once everyone else had left the bridge the three that the Admiral told to stay joined her and waited for the connection to complete. When the connection completed they were looking at Kathy. The admiral was the first to speak.

"Freelancer Lure?!" she said in joyful surprise "It's good to know you're alive..."

"Look, I don't have time to talk. I'm on starbase eleven and the outcasts are about to fire a beam cannon at us. Shields won't hold and the stations already badly damaged. Are you in any position to render assistance?" Kathy cut her off, recognizing the uniforms were that of the Federation afterwards.

"Yes we're viewing the situation from where we are. I was hoping to have reinforcements before revealing our position but it looks like we have no choice. Lieutenant Omar, prepare to fire the main gun." She said in a more official tone of voice.

Lieutenant Omar; an albino mouse, quickly and efficiently did as she had told him. He had everything set up within seconds and said "Ready to fire on your command."

"What did you have it loaded with?" she asked him as Sergeant Yun; a female red panda, entered the coordinates into the targeting system.

"A ship that size, about three grams of antimatter."

"Oh..." She said and looked back at the main screen "Should've brought the hotdogs." She added and grinned as she gave him a nod to fire.

"Particle Accelerator Cannon activated. Five seconds till firing." The ships main AI computer announced.

*******

T.P.C Operations Control

(2:34 PM)

"Freelancer Lure, if you are viewing the enemy from a viewport do not look at them once we fire unless you want to go blind." The Rear Admiral advised.

"Understood" Kathy said and wondered "Why does the Federation have access to the Freelancer Emergency Channels? And how does she know who I am?" She would have asked them but they simply did not have the time.

Viewing the enemy battleship on the main screen, everyone watched as the ships beam cannon was preparing to fire. Just as everyone saw beam of energy form at the tip of the beam cannon, something hit the battleship so hard the entire ship shifted. Just as the ship shifted it had fired the cannon, luckily when the ship shifted it also rotated just enough for the beam to miss hitting the station.

However damage was still sustained due to the fact the beam was comprised of pure energy. The heat produced from the beam alone was equal to that of a star. Due to that heat, part of the station started to heat up quickly; turning a bright red in the process, while systems and wires failed and shorted out due to the electronic discharge of the beam.

What happened to the station however was trivial compared to what everyone witnessed happening to the enemy battleship on the display. Once the ship had been hit only a moment later did a jet of pure white flames erupt out of it. The sheer force generated from the flames forced the ship to crash into and destroy one of the smaller enemy vessels near it. Seconds later the ship tore into two due to extreme stress of the impact and the heat generated from the jet of flame as it melted the interior of the ship. Each half of the ship was burning a brilliant bright light before both halves of the ship exploded, sending burning chucks of starship in all directions.

A hailstorm of intercepted chaotic transmissions from the enemy fleet flooded the speakers within the T.P.C Control room when suddenly all went quite when two ships were destroyed simultaneously by beam weapons. Tracing the origin of the attack an enormous sized ship appeared on the sensors.

Nearly two kilometers in length; over a whole kilometer longer then the Darwin, and so heavily armed that a small fleet would be forced to retreat; or be destroyed, the C.S.F Excalibur made its presence known. Despite the sheer size of the ship, the most surprising detail of its appearance was the fact that the entire ship had been cloaked prior to firing its main gun.

"Holy shit!" James said in surprise.

"I've never seen a ship that big." Sylvia said as the others also said something similar to what she and James had said.

The only thing any of them could do was really just sit back and watch as the Excalibur opened fire on multiple ships at once. They counted over sixty energy cannons, twenty phase cannons as well as ten space variant Ship to Ship missile launchers firing on the enemy ships. Every so often the Excalibur's twin barreled beam cannons fired and destroyed what they had fired at.

Besides the array of canons firing, fighters and mechs had also launched to fight. Everyone watched as fighters weaved through enemy fire to attack key points on enemy vessels and disable them. Yet as the Excalibur launched fighters so did the enemy. James and Albert were the only ones to notice that the majority of the fighters; from both sides, were Z-34 Hellions with newer models mixed in. It was when the mechs started to fire their weapons when everyone became surprised again. The mechs had positioned themselves behind the Excalibur's shields and fired weapons through them.

The weapons the mech's fired were long range beam rifles. Only Nate noticed that the mechs were SvHM (Space variant Heavy Mech) Titans; the largest of any kind of HM made with weapons easily capable of destroying starships.

It was a couple destructive minutes later that a large fleet of Federation ships dropped out of hyperspace. Once clear of the gravimetric distortions of so many ships exiting hyperspace, the Federation ships took up positions near the Excalibur and started supporting her. Ten minutes later all but eight ships were destroyed; three of which managed to escape but the remaining five were completely disabled. As the Federation ships closed in to send in boarding parties, the enemy vessels self destructed.

*********

C.S.F Excalibur, Captain's Day Room

(3:00 PM)

"So, we have the four of you to thank for sending out the distress signal?" Rear Admiral Vasquez said as examined Lliam, Albert, James and finally Kathy.

They all sat in front of the Rear Admiral and three others that Kathy had seen when she spoke to the Rear Admiral earlier. She then looked at Kathy and said "If you would send your... crew out so we can talk."

"Drop the theatrics and tell me why an Admiral of the Federation has access to Freelancer channels!" Kathy said in an annoyed voice.

The Rear Admiral gave Kathy a death stare before looking at the others. There wasn't even a moment's hesitation as they started to draw their weapons, however Lliam noticed before they could fully draw them and thanks to his quick actions, had them disarmed and thrown to the other side of the room. Albert knew that others would have heard what had just happened and had quickly locked the door to the Admirals day room as both he and Lliam drew their sidearms and aimed at the three others.

"God damn! What the hell was that about?!" James yelled as he too pulled out his sidearm and looked at the Admiral.

"What do you think you're doing?! You would expose yourself in front of them!?" the Admiral demanded from Kathy.

"They already know who I am and I trust them... but we know nothing of who you are, now answer me! Why do you have access to Freelancer channels... and how did you know I was Freelancer Lure?!" Kathy demanded.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe the Freelancers trusted certain individuals within the Federation or even had secret members in their ranks?" the Admiral said as she stared Kathy down.

"Even if that's true, why did your men try to pull their weapons on us?" Lliam asked.

"Because she had just revealed she was a Freelancer to people who are not Freelancers. If you haven't noticed Freelancers have disappeared and left the Federation on its own, most hate them now for it." She answered.

"Okay, so how did you know I was Freelancer Lure? Even when putting in our access code it doesn't reveal what Freelancer we are. Only Freelancers would know another Freelancer by their face." Kathy said as pounding came from the door.

Seeing now that she set herself up for this, the Admiral said "Hmm... since you trust them with knowing who you are, and since you disappeared before the attack on Inner Haven by the traitor... you wouldn't know about any of us would you?"

"What about Inner Haven? And how would you know about it... wait, you're a..." Kathy started to ask.

Sighing she said. "Yes we're Freelancers from a unit similar to you and the Cardinal Sin Freelancers called the Ghost Unit. I'm Freelancer Wraith; second in command of the G.U. Those here with me are also from the G.U."

Standing up from where she was sitting, Sergeant Yun said "I'm Visitant, fifth position in the unit."

Lowering his hands; which he had raised when he had weapons aimed at him, Lieutenant Omar said "Bogey, seventh position."

Stuttering slightly Ensign Parker said "F-Freelancer Sprite, n-ninth position."

"So, you now know who we are. Care to tell us who you three are?" The Admiral asked.

"Oh you know, just three guys, all considered MIA since seven years ago." James said unhelpfully.

"He forgot to add the fact that we were shot down over a planet now known as Daminia and just rescued a couple weeks ago. We were crew of the I.S.F Darwin." Albert added.

"Oh, I heard about that a few weeks ago but shouldn't you be aboard the Darwin now?" the Admiral asked.

"We're on a special mission and Fleet Admiral Keeton gave us permission to do as we see fit." Lliam said.

"Could I inquire as to what your mission is?" She asked.

Looking her over for a second Lliam said "Search and rescue is part of it, the other is to acquire any Intel we can on enemy movements while in enemy occupied space... so that which led to the attack here at starbase eleven, doesn't happen again."

"Why would the Fleet Admiral give you permission to go on a search and rescue when we're losing against the I.F.H.W?" Visitant asked.

Looking over at the Sergeant Lliam said "Technically we're still listed as MIA and Admiral Keeton left it that way for us." Looking at Kathy Lliam continued with "She's a Freelancer and isn't bound to the orders of a Federation officer and can act independently anyway."

"Fare enough, I won't ask for further details. I may be a Freelancer but I truly am a Federation officer and being that it was the Fleet Admiral who gave you permission you have immunity from any order I were to issue. You can all go and continue your mission but Lure... I'd ask to talk to you privately, just you and me." The Admiral said as she stood up and walked over to the door that security was trying to open.

Opening the door, one of the men on the other side said "Sir are you alright?!"

They all stepped back as the Admiral said "Yes I'm fine. You all can return to your stations." Looking back at everyone in her captain's room she said "Everyone else, get out!"

Once they were alone the Admiral said "Now Lure there are a few things I'd like to inform you about. While the others are mostly trivial, the main thing I want to tell you about though is Avalon..."