Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tun Kai Poh" data-source="post: 8404249" data-attributes="member: 6761960">MassacreFive days out from the neutral haven of Lighthouse Station, a Union Navy fleet (Battlegroups Eland and Splinter) investigates a fresh debris cloud. Automated distress beacons summoned the warships from their no-fly corridor duty, and they have emerged from nearlight to find a scene of silent carnage."Captain Var," reports the Wagner's NHP exec, "I have verified this ship as FKS Shirline, an unarmed transport bound for DS11 Gloria. It appears to have suffered catastrophic hits from long-spool weaponry. The Shamokin Rising is sending out search vessels, but the prospect of survivors appears slim.""Noted, Bernd. Bring the crew up to Condition II and begin a sensor sweep of the area. Gunnery, warm up the guns." Var brings himself to attention, as is his habit on alert. "Helm, reduce speed to one third and bring us into overwatch for Captain St.Germaine. Comms, let her know what we are doing."He turns his attention to the tactical display at the center of the bridge as the bridge crew rattle off their affirmatives, his eyes scanning it intently for any possible contacts. Then he pauses and taps his chin, thoughtfully."Bernd, Sensors - I want an analysis of the debris field and the local area. Report on any energy traces and weapons signatures.""The Wagner will be holding short of the debris field, Captain. They will take overwatch while we comb for survivors."Captain Tabitha Saint-Germaine nods silently at the voice of the Bukharin's NHP, Vera. Before her on her screen, she can see the Shamokin Rising's two fighter wings slowly sweeping the wreckage with the Unicorn and Undine standing close guard. Around the bridge, she can sense the tension in her crew."Vera, do pull of the logs to see if there's any additional information on the Shirline. Cargo and crew manifests, reported routes and schedules. I want to know where she came from, if she's where she's supposed to be and what she was supposed to be carrying. Have the search teams keep an eye out for any of the ship's data recorders. Beam what information we can get over to the Wagner as well."The Wagner's crew falls into a familiar cadence of work as the ship takes up overwatch. Once a fleet has dropped out of nearlight, it will take days for the nearlight drives to spool up again. The fleet will remain ready for action while the S&R teams are doing their work.Within a couple of hours, the first lifepod has been recovered, its battle-shocked survivors glad for fresh air, warmth and aid."It was a superdreadnought," they say. The PCV-DN Meritorious Rex. A kilometres-long Armory warship that intercepted the Shirline, hammered it with kinetic guns until it surrendered and drifted, waiting helplessly. The Armory ship waited hours for its massive spinal cannon to charge up before firing an executioner's shot, tearing the transport in two. 600 lives snuffed out, in a blatant war crime."The Shirline was a colony transport originally from Karrakin space, bringing civilian engineers and agronomists from Lighthouse to Gloria," reports Vera. "Registered under the House of Remembrance, commanded by Lord Captain Lucius Montaigne, a minor noble with a long record of loyal service. Cargo consisted of construction equipment, Schedule 3 printers and agricultural seed material. Our team is searching through recovered data banks for anything untoward, but so far, there's nothing suspicious.""No attempt to board or recover anything? Just, blasting them apart for no apparent reason? That seems... oddly bloodthirsty." Tabitha, thinks out loud as she paces the bridge. "Inform fleet about this and then pull what you can on the Meritorious Rex - her background, her captain and more importantly, where she's stationed and what she's been up to. Meanwhile, continue the search. I want this debris field picked over with a fine tooth comb." "Our orders are to enforce the corridor, Tabitha." Caspian's clipped voice comes in over the holonet. "I understand your need to get to the bottom of this but that is not our primary objective. I suggest we withdraw back to our stations once S&R procedures are complete, our drives spooled and primary weapons discharged as necessary." "That won't be for at least a few more hours, Caspian. In the meantime, I want to know more about what happened here and if Fleet has any additional instructions given the circumstances. This sort of thing is cold, even for you." Caspian smirks at that."You wound me, Tabitha. Blood thirst and efficiency are two very different things. Which is why I suggest that we complete this operation as per standard procedure and then return to our stations rather than go haring off after a rogue dreadnought to soothe your sense of justice.""Let's wait to see what fleet says, shall we?", Tabitha closes the comms with a curt nod. "Make sure the survivors are properly looked after," she says to Vera. "Why would a dreadnought come all the way out here just to blow up a civilian transport with no apparent military importance?" </blockquote>

Verification