forum The Lost Fleet: A new experience {DeadRP}

Started February 14, 2019 by @ThatOneWeirdLostFleetFan

tune

Carabali allowed the alien her thinking through as she thought to herself as well about what they could do… This was a Battlecruiser after all, not a Battleship… Then again it wouldn't be obvious to anyone but the Alliance. After the 'plan' however was practically thrown at her she only barely fumbled to collect that tag. "Alright, looks like I'm off again. Don't blow up anything they cause a wide area of damage!" She stated before turning and running off once more, max humanly speed possible. She hoped this idea works, whatever was being planned.

Maybe she should tell Geary the plan some time as well… Or at least tell him the slight change of plans. Either way, this was going to be close.

Elizia found her way to the gun deck. Engineers ran back and forth between guns, repairing some of the least damaged guns. Elsewhere, mounts existed with no guns, having been hauled off for detailed repair. The voices of a thousand shouting men drowned out her thoughts.

Sliding into the tide, she began working with the other engineers to repair to fix some of the cannons in better shape. On one of them, she slid in an energy diode she "borrowed" from one of the shield generators and connected it to the ship's power grid.

If there's any worse time to experiment, then I'm sure Brella would love to here about it, Elizia thought.

Blake motioned the fleet forward Lining up in a ancient formation. Lining his armored ships at the front while lethal destroyers and light cruisers at the at the right and left sides. Blake stayed back watching the battle commence below them.
"Engineer load up the cannon." Blake said after taking a deep breath.
Everyone looked at him in surprise and shock and the man after hesitating.
"Bu.. But Sir, The canno…"
"I am the person in command and you listen to my orders! I know the consequences of this but if we need it then, we shall use it." Blake said, his tone laced in heavy seriousness.
The battle continued as the guns started to fire.

Carabali could not believe that she managed to find where the alien ship was and remembered the code… Then again she wasn't entirely normal human so she supposed she should've personally expected it but she was quick all around to put in that blasted code and then trying to run back to where she knew Elizia would be, breathing only slightly hard at the moment… Who decided that making Battlecruisers with the maze of a Syndicate Battleship was a good idea… She thought to herself as she ran. She really was close to beating some poor ship designer with her hands if she managed to find the person who did it.
~~~
Geary did the first pass of the battle with his cruisers, gritting his teeth at the signs of what was being damaged and rocking the ship.

"Sir, forward and port shields spot failures!"

"Then lets make them focus on the starboard and aft. After that lets try and balance forward and aft shield power with starboard and aft."

"Understood sir."

"Captain Desjani, take us on as tight a turn as possible, we need to be hitting them hard, those Battleships won't last long under the intense firepower they have."

"Let's turn up the heat and make them pay, acknowledged sir."

Now that that was done, he was seeing how many they took out. With the amount of Battlecruisers they had… It was a miracle they even took out three of their ships… Or at least, so far there was three counted that had gone down on the enemy side. He hoped that would be enough as close to their allies that the power core explosions would hit their allies and… In turn make a cascade of problems for them. A wild hope, but he knew they won't fall for it.

At least he believed so as he kept assessing the damage and watching the enemy make their run towards the Battleships.
~~
( @seo It can be!! If you need to read up on what was previous of course, it's your choice if you want to join in or not. But this series is built on logic so explaining why and how your ship or something is there is fine to me.)

The energy diode sparked out as soon as she tried to fire it, zapping Elizia's hand something fierce. With a rather loud curse, she retaliated by hitting the thing with the metal static ground on her wrist. As soon as they impacted, the device released a small ray of energy. Elizia cocked her head and pushed more energy through. It fired again.

Nothing fancy or powerful, but it fired. Must have been some busted circuit or something.

She heard Carabali approach behind her, and side stepped as she noticed Carabali was running full sprint. Surprisingly, she came to a sudden halt with plenty of room to spare.

"Carabali! Did the broadcast start okay?" asked Elizia, tapping at the console furiously.

Carabali made it looked like she was breathing as hard as possible, even when she had an easy full stop even though she'd been running full sprint. "The broadcast started perfectly fine… Didn't really stay to check what it's going to do but it's started… What are you doing now..?" She asked as she ran a hand through her hair easily, looking over very inquisitively what she was doing.

She was hoping that it was help of sorts… She didn't think this fleet might survive with a bit more help, even with the amount of what she had presumed was Battleships in a line when she'd checked the sensors last. She barely felt the turn Desjani was trying to pull off at the moment as well, with her as a Captain it was easy to ignore. Especially with Geary in command of this remnant of fleet.

"Do you need me to type in any codes for you? Would save time…"

Elizia didn't blink, just continued tapping at the console, "Nope. Just trying to balance the power of this gun here with theoretical values, so it doesn't explode when I force raw energy into the energy diode within. Speaking of, I don't know how long it's going to last, and we might need more. Any of your shield generators would have what I need."

Elizia stopped tapping, looked up at the gun, and held her hand flat on the console. The barrel began to glow, and suddenly the diode within let off a decent sized laser pulse. "Good, that's still working. I'm not going to ask you to play fetch, that'd be rude of me. But let your engineers know that I would like some diodes. And…." Elizia gave a small smile, "Let your captain know he can expect backup shortly."

Carabali was absolutely surprised that she was going through so much just for them… She had to admit, her respect for Elizia was rising exponentially… Until she said 'theoretical values' of course. "We need the power to the shield generators. From what I can tell on sensors, we're already suffering spot failures and it was our first pass through the Enigma Fleet. If this works, the Admiral's going to be in your debt." She replied.

But she did whistle when the gun fired off the laser pulse. Damn that was nice indeed… "I'll let the engineers and HOD's know what you plan… And I'll let Admiral Geary and Captain Desjani know that we can expect backup." From where though? There were only two jump points… Last she had checked at least with the fleet's systems… She wasn't really that good at systems on a warship, it just wasn't her place. "How much of a 'backup' are they going to be?" She asked, beginning to key in the respective engineers and HOD's to let them know of what they need and where.

Elizia shrugged, "I've never had to call in the fleet before, but I know they're fast. Most likely they'll be here before the fight is through. As far as how many, I'd say around five Daw'slea class destroyers, and then the flagship Monasisha, a little golden-age relic of ours."

She then pointed to the wires connecting the energy diode to the console, "Those are just for measurement. The power in the ship has been routed to the trigger mechanism of the diode, and the rest of the power, I supply. Lovuthans are walking, talking, pure energy generators. Our ships have no onboard generators, they simply require a crew." Elizia smiled again, then braced as the ship was thrashed, "We must not dally. I'll supply power to the guns, and see if I can find more diodes to bring energy weapons online. While I'm doing that, I could try to keep the shields powered and regenerating from here, though it may take time since I'm not right at the generators, and they'll falter slightly when the energy weapons fire."

Carabali was quite interested in the type of ships Elizia was talking about. Those different types of ships too… Certainly something Geary had to know. She was glad she was keying in to him at the moment.

When the ship shook, she hardly noticed as she looked down at the sensors. gritting her teeth lightly. "Lets hope a third pass won't undo all your work." She stated quietly but she gave a nod to Elizia anyways. "And lets also hope that your people arrive fast, Dauntless is a Battlecruiser, she is made for speed, not hits. I don't mean this as a pressure tool, we very much rely on living however… I'm surprised we're even alive right-"

"General Carabali, this is Geary, what's the situation? I'm tied up at the moment. Please make it quick as well, we're about to lose Furious."

"Understood sir. I have been working with our guest, she is working right on schedule however she has given us a small fleet to work with, we just have to make sure this fleet survives long enough to get the help."

"Acknowledged, Carabali. We'll see what we can do with what we have."

"Acknowledged back sir… It's been an honour serving with you, sir."

"General, do not give up hope. We have an advantage the Enigmas do not have, and that is you have me. I'll go to the ends of the galaxy to make sure every single *one of you is alright and stays alive."*

"I know, sir… Still, in case even Black Jack himself can't save us in this, I would like tell you, on behalf of those on Dauntless, you've been a brilliant commander. It will be an honour serving with you in death. To the honour of our ancestors, Carabali out."

"It has been a pleasure working with you, General… Honour to our ancestors and to the living stars, Geary, out."

Carabali sighed quietly to herself as she went into brief thought before turning to Elizia. "What do you need me to do?"

Eliza had been trying to network the weapons while Carabali was talking.

Trying was an overstatement. She'd been hitting this frickin' diode with a wrench. The damn thing just wasn't working, like the last one and so she'd figured….
Bam! The laser fired, nearly taking Eliza's arm off. Smiling, she went back to the original diode and both her hands on exposed floor panels.

"What do you need me to do?" Carabali asked, having just got off comms.

"Keep an eye on me. Tell your Admiral to line this battery up on whatever threat is the biggest. And if by random incident I catch on fire, please put me out. I've never done this with human systems before."

Carabali considered what the other was asking of her and hummed a little more. "Alright, lets hope this thing doesn't explode either…" She muttered in reply, forwarding the message to Geary and as soon as she got off, she knew he would be adjusting plans, if the harsher turn wasn't a dead give away.

She began muttering under her breath, a muttering that was shared by others on the ship and that area as doom approached them once more. It was plain and basic fear, prayers to whatever they truly believed in to save them and their ship from harm, even with Geary at its helm. They didn't believe this would be a fight they'd live through.

Elizia let energy begin to flow within her, lighting her wings and eyes in the neon glow of pure energy. She cast one last glance at Carabali, "If this doesn't work… I really am sorry."

The ship turned sharply, and before long Elizia could see the ship Carabali's Admiral Geary intended to destroy. Waiting patiently for the guns to align, she cast her thoughts back to Brella. Where was she now? On Lovutha? One of Earth's colonies? Or somewhere in between worlds, taking the odd job from a local gun nut in need of parts?

Then the guns were aligned with the ship and Elizia pushed every jolt of power through her into the diodes. The three guns she had modified released crimson lances of fire that arced across space. They collided with the shields of the enemy and washed across the surface before breaking through, tearing a hole right where(if the enigmas followed standard convention) the main power source would be. The standard cannons followed, taking advantage of the cleared shields to finish the job.

Elizia flopped over, gasping for breath, her wings dissipating. For a brief moment, every bone in her body felt like fire, and she was strongly reminded by Brella's voice that she was still very young. Too young, in fact, to push power like that and go unscathed. The feeling subsided, but it left Elizia feeling very, very sore.

"Is it gone? Like, gone gone? Or just disabled?" She asked, hoping that she didn't have to do this to many more times, "If it's gone enough, move onto the next one. I'll be able to fire here in minute."

She reached in her jacket and rested a hand on the power core in her jacket, letting the energy seep into her and soothe the burns inside.

Carabali was slightly surprised with Elizia's apology, but she understood it and had given a nod to her as she watched, the small sounds of prayers having grown a little louder as the time came closer and closer for the ship to fire and be attacked…

Then it passed, Carabali going to Elizia's side and keeping a careful eye on her as she listened to her questions. She grinned a little and nodded. "It's gone, completely obliterated. Power core failure took two others with it… You didn't just save this ship, you saved Furious too. I know who will be offering to repay you for such a feat and she won't take no for an answer." She replied. "Take a few minutes break you need it. We'll be turning around sure however they're looking like on doing an attack run on our Auxiliary and trying to bypass the Battleship blockade. So, we'll take a bit of time to turn and therefore get back into position… But we're in your debt. Even if it was just simply a few ships that were spared by your actions."

Elizia nodded as she drank in the situation. Receiving a bottle of water from a grateful engineer, Elizia sat down by the unfinished diode of another cannon and tinkered absently, still in shock. Her power cell was drained, and off charging in a corner. It had taken the whole thing to soothe her of her internal wounds.

“Elizia, you there?”

The voice shook her out of her daze. She looked around her, but there was no one close enough to address her.

“Elizia! Yoo-hoo! You didn’t leave your Comm-Tech on silent, did you?”

Brella!

Elizia keyed her mic, “Sis? That you?”

“There she is. We’ll catch up later. The fleet got your call, and they’re coming soon. Monasisha is leading the charge. We’ll need you to coordinate targets when we get there.”

“Sister, I’m trying to power an entire battery, I don’t have the focus to point out targets.”

“Battery? How big a battery are we talking? Just take it slow and…”

“Wrong kind of batt- look, I’m onboard the human ship Dauntless. All escorting human ships are allied. Everything else is a threat.”

Carabali had left Elizia alone as she looked at the times the small Battlecruiser fleet was going through and hummed quietly. "There's just not enough time to call Smythe and tell him a report because by then we might get destroyed…" She muttered to herself. When it hit down to at least four minutes, she looked up from her timer. "Alright! Engineers on the double! This ship needs these batteries up and running pronto, no delays. We have four minutes until we hit these assholes, lets teach them a lesson even if it is me that has to be the one that teaches these guys their deserved lesson… For the Alliance!"

The resounding 'For the Alliance' throughout the weapon deck has Carabali grinning as she looked at the people working double time. "I need new weapon crews manning these batteries, this is gonna be one hell of a battle, lets not fail to impress!"

“Who’s that?” Brella asked, her tone turning sly, “You haven’t gone military on me, have you?”

“Relax, sister. I’ll call you back.”

With that she hung up and made her way back to Carabali, stopping to survey the weapons teams as they ran about. “So you have no singular war master? No one to direct the cannon fire while the captain maneuvers the ship?”

"We do have chiefs to direct where they go. Where to fire and all other things belongs to the AI. They just needed more encouragement. After you destroyed one of their ships and made two others go with it, their morale has increased however they always need encouragement to drive in their morale… Hence, why a Marine like me is up here at the moment. At this rate these people will be done in no time…" She trailed off before turning to Elizia. "Thank you for everything you have done, even if it doesn't seem like it isn't much, it means so much to us. Don't rush yourself, the men and women here are going to try and impress you because now, you're a part of Dauntless. And you're the bravest person I've ever seen, and I've seen a twenty seven year old try and take control of a warship like this one. In short, this will be the proper introduction to Dauntless so… Welcome to it."

Elizia’s eyes widened, and she desperately waved her hands, a vain attempt to dismiss this bondage, “I appreciate the love, Carabali, but your life is not mine. I will never be a part of anything Alliance. Weapons do not shine brightly in my eyes, compared to bionics and other conveniences. I am sure I could be of use to you, but that’s not where my loyalties lie. Your men need not thank me, the sound of lasers and cannons firing in unison on a human ship is thanks enough.”

The ship’s turn under Elizia’s feet felt a little like the fast spinning of Lovutha. A feeling Elizia would be happy to do without. But the screams of the cannons, the cheers of the crew that she hard to try so hard not to join in on, it all warmed her heart. The feeling, the temptation to be a part of all this was there. But this isn’t what she was made for.

“Your purpose is to protect the free world, yes? Mine’s to make sure that’s a world worth living in.”

Carabali chuckled a little as she looked at Elizia and listened to her, smiling for once good and proper. "You've made a name for yourself, you can leave but Dauntless and her crew will never forget your bravery. You've inspired where myself and Admiral Geary could not… If you ever want to come back, you don't need to ask at all. Just come on and make yourself at home whenever you like." She replied with a grin.

At her questions however she hummed quietly to herself as she considered it. "Yes, I suppose the Alliance is protecting the galaxy and freedom… At least it was until some politicians began to allow some things to slide…" She sighed quietly to herself at that. She would never forget the moment that Geary instilled honour in them all again, true and proper honour. "Would you like to meet the Admiral properly after this battle is finished? Those ships are going to be torn apart by the Battleship blockade now."

"Admiral Geary," Blake let out a sigh of relief, once he heard about the reinforcements.
Blake walked out of the bridge and into the research room.
"Give me a status report and damage reparation costs."
"Sir, we managed to lose no ships and damage was kept to a minimal." The scientists reported.
Blake then walked out of the room and sent a transmission to Geary for a military meeting.

“And heeeere come the Calvary!”

Eliza’s answer was cut short by Brella’s loud voice in her ear, in addition to the arrival of the dreadnaught Monasisha, which tore it’s monstrous hole in space just to reenter normal space. The Daw’Slea Destroyers came next, lasers drawing lances of fire and destruction. Without the solid power of cannons, the lasers took a bit longer on the ship hulls, but by the time the massive dreadnaught brought it’s laser weapons to bear, no Enigma ship had a working shield.

Elizia watched with awe. The Monasisha looked even more beautiful than the video logs made it out to be. The silver hull was lined with intricate details, which, upon closer inspection turned out to be the ship’s energy web. About 10,000 Lovuthans were aboard, and all their energy crept across the surface, powering the ship.

It was… humbling.

Elizia nodded to Carabali, “Yes, I’d love to meet your admiral. He deserves commendations of his own, and I believe the fleet master himself will want to thank him.”

Geary sighed in relief when the reinforcements came in. He had never been so relieved in his life for once. Slacking back into his chair a bit as he allowed the laser shots to by Dauntless he smiled a little to himself. "Captain Desjani, rotate the men and women around, I have a feeling this is the beginning of a friendship and my presence will be required."

"As you wish sir, and do get some sleep, you need it."

"Same to you. I'm going to meet up with Carabali, evening to you Captain."
~~~
Carabali had to absolutely watch in awe at the light show that was happening. It was so beautiful…

At the others words she gave a nod back and grinned. "Geary would appreciate it, he won't say it verbally and just try and say 'he was doing his job', but he'd like it. Better than the credit the Alliance gives him at least… A hundred years we were at war with the Syndicate, he brought the fleet back home and then in one fell swoop he took out those Syndics and made very shaky order to our part of the galaxy… He'd enjoy some thanking that is somewhere other than his crew. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm hero worshipping him, but it's hard not to when he's done so much."

“And here I was thinking he was leading a cult,” Elizia muttered, “What a turnaround.”

Lights danced across Elizia’s vision as cannons sang and lasers screamed across the star-filled space. The rhythm to both factions became obvious: lasers disrupted shield generators and cannons finished the job. Just like what Elizia had done. Fizzle and boom.

She still felt toasted inside from her massive discharge. Like she’d been singed a little. But seeing the burning wreckage of alien ships made her realize just how little she had done. Sure, she’d popped a shield and hit what was behind it, but without backup, it may still have taken another charged shot to break the fleet. And Elizia didn’t have that in her.

Still, if she hadn’t been there, it’d have been worse.

Elizia looked down at her blackened clothes and frowned. She was an absolute mess, her jacket was still relatively fine, it was designed to handle the charge. But the rest of her clothing was human made. Hardly rated for high energy exposure.

“Oh dear, I’m a mess,” she commented, “I’d better clean up before I meet your fleetmaster. I’ll be returning to my ship temporarily.”