RP: 188604 [Star Wasp] 2: The Hunt Begins

Necromancer Ready Room:

Werner sat alone inside his ready room, found at the back of the bridge. The room was sparse, except for a metal desk on one end of the room which held little personal items, and a holo table in the center of the room. Currently the holo table was displaying The Necromancer in high orbit above 188604. Werner sat at his desk reading over the new crew rosters. Finally he had a target and a ship to command once more. The man wanted little more than that.

A soft female voice crackled to life, interrupting Werner and his thoughts. "Captain, Comms." A small speaker on his desk chimmed.

"Comm, Captain. Go ahead." He replied.

"Sir, Ms. Uso's personnel are arriving on the flight deck in 20 mikes. They have just broke the atmosphere." The Comm operator spoke.

"Understood, have the XO meet me on the way to the hanger deck." He replied cutting the link and standing. He grabbed his beret and placed it on his chrome dome. He smoothed out the Burning Skull patch of The Necromancer and exited his ready room.

Necromancer Hanger:

As he walked the through the halls of his ship he heard pounding feet behind him. "Ulysses wait up!" A gruff voice called out from behind him. Werner turned to see his XO walking quickly to catch up with him. The man was several inches shorter than Ulysses, but what he lacked in height he made up for in muscle. He looked like he ate steroids and iron for every meal.

Werner paused, waiting for his XO to catch up. "Nice of you to join us Commander Kovac." He said with the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"You know Captain, just because you pulled me out of retirement doesn't mean..." But he didn't get to finish his statement as the door to the hanger slid away and Werner looked back to him. "Let's go Daro. We shouldn't keep our new guests waiting." He said stepping through the threshold and onto the flight deck. As he did, the main airlock cycled and a Na-T2 shuttle landed. As it was directed into its berth, a color guard of the ship's security lined up to greet the newcomers. Werner wondered where Hazel was. As the Chief of the Aerospace Group, or CAG, she was expected to be here. Leave it to his little sister to be late. He sighed internally as the boarding ramp lowered on the Na-T2...

Raphael stepped off the shuttle first. As he did the color guard saluted him. Without missing a beat Raphael saluted back, and walked towards Werner. Raph couldn't read the man's face as he approached. "Permission to come aboard Captain?" He asked saluting.

Werner nodded and saluted. Welcome aboard Mr. Castiel. I have been informed that you are to be put in place as the fleet commander. So I am guess you are to be called Admiral yes?" Werner asked.

Raphael looked thoughtful. "That would probably be best as to avoid confusion." He looked to Werner. "If that is the case I would like to make your ship the flagship of the fleet."

Werner gave the hint of a smile. "It would be an honor Admiral, The Necromancer is yours to command. However, the operations of the ship are mine. You give an order and I will choose how best to enact those orders. Do we have an understanding?" Werner asked, an eyebrow raised.

It was Raph's turn to smile. "Crystal Captain." He said as the others exited the transport.

Werner stepped forward. "Greetings, and welcome to the Necromancer. She will be your home for the duration of our shakedown cruise. We of the Necromancer look forward to working with you all, but you must adhere to strict rules, just like any other crewman on a warship. You will follow the commands of your superiors without question. Your duty assignments will be explained at the briefing at 1600 hours shipboard time. Find your berths and get settled. I look forward to working with you." He said dismissing everyone.

He turned to Raphael. "Admiral if you will follow me to my ready room, we can prepare for the briefing..." He said leading Raph to his ready room, leaving the new guys with Commander Daro Kovac watching them.

Necromancer, Hanger >

The ship's flight wing was quite a few fighters less than this ship was designed to carry, which meant there was ample space for everyone to set out their equipment. A single Junker drone with a splash of green paint across the front was busy laying out equipment, various guided missiles for Errowyn and 8-Ball's fighters and a rather large Gatling gun with a huge drum of ammo for Ronin's mecha.

Vier would be the first one to directly address the pilots. The woman looked barely in her 20s, and spoke with a calm, even, voice over their personal radio channels.

"Hellcat, 8-Ball, please outfit your fighters with whatever ordinance you need and proceed to a defensive posture around the ship. Their squadron will be joining you outside shortly."

She would then turn her attention to Ronin,

"Ronin, this ship was not built with point defense in mind, and the long range cannons can not be expected to work as well as they did when the ship was originally designed. I would like you to take some armored plate along with the Junker drone and prepare a defensive position on the ship's hull."

And then to the I'ee delegation,

"I would like to have you on the ship's bridge, when we reach your home system, we may need you to explain our presense to the rest of the I'ee."

And finally, to the ship's captain and admiral.

"Werner, Raphael, can we meet in the briefing room as soon as possible? I would like to get underway as soon as we can."

Hanger>

Sammy and the other Ee'ith delegate currently present, listened attentively, albeit nervously to Vier's address. "Yes, we can do that.", Sammy squeaked to her before the other I'ee, a female, spoke after him. "Where can we find this bridge, Miss?"

188604 Orbit>

The I'ee JTE was arranged neatly in space, observing the Necromancer from a comfortable distance. All of the five escort craft were docked with the Utility Vessel, while the Ee'ith treasury vessel was just now breaking away from a rendezvous with the Necromancer, returning to form with the rest of its fleet.

Hanger

Ronin was quiet as everyone tended to their duties, a lit cigarette in the corner of his mouth. He had been climbing up the service rungs of the Tengu as he was told his orders. The automatic weapon would certainly provide for a powerful tool for point defense, but he certainly wasn't pleased with the fact he was working with the Junker. It meant he didn't have to employ tools and take long, certainly, but he didn't trust anything that had been more or less described as a killing machine when asking about them. By the time he had finally got into his cockpit, he'd snub the lit cig on the metal rung of his reinforce chair within the cockpit. It was a mess of supplies inside, but they were all strapped down to the floor using securing harnesses that no pilot could fly without. He'd turn and sit back in the cockpit before putting the still usable smoke-stick in his pocket. The Environmental Suit he'd taken was snug as ever, the mohawk-sporting man zipping it up as he patched the Tengu into the comm unit and powered the machine up. The hum of its powerful and near limitless engines would take up a lot of the hanger's noise as it keyed into the communications network, the Tengu transmitting to those in the hanger who were too far from the foot of his mecha to hear him call out.

"No worries, the Tengu is pretty much perfect for this! The shoulder cannon alone can dissuade anyone who might sneak up on us! The big gun will only help and means I don't have to order any new magazines for my rifles!"

The mecha whirred to life, servos clicking and unlocking as power cycled through the Origin-design. But rather than rise to its full height, the Tengu bent at the knee to put him back into view to anyone on the ground.

"I never was fond of having to go into the void. Zero G and no oxygen makes smoking impossible! Can't even smoke inside... eat up my damn oxygen in no time..."

Necromancer's Hanger

"Alastair," Tiberius said authoritatively after Uso told him to assume a defensive posture. "Load up counter measure in the 8, 120s containers on the Ebony Peregrine. We'll use them to protect the ship as well as ourselves." He said as he did a quick mental check of what other systems he had on board. "Leave the 25 Talon missiles in the internal weapons bay but load up the 805's with mini-missiles. That massive hellstorm of missiles will be our Hail Mary." Alastair responded with. "And the 6 external hardpoints sir?" "Load them up with the LERs, we'll use them to shred any capital ship's shields if we come across them." 8-Ball responded. LERs were an abbreviation for the Large Enhanced Radiation Warheads that were designed specifically to knock out electronics and shields. "Very good sir." Alastair responded as he faded away.

8-Ball turned back to Uso as automated machines began switching out various munitions on the mercenary's F/A-1A fighter. He was in his all-black flight suit once more. All of his features were obscured to those around him once more. "Alastair and I reviewed the NMX fleet's composition, incursion path into the I'ee space, and last known location in order to project where they may appear next. I will have him send the data to you post haste, my most beloved and magnificent space empress of the stars."

"Death before dishonor." The pilot said as he saluted Uso and turned on his heels towards his ship. He looked over at Ronin. "Let me know when you need to be saved." He said cheekily as he walked over to his ship. "I'm just a phone call away."

The refit of the Ebony Peregrine was nearly complete when Tiberius jumped inside the cockpit and began powering up his fighter. The last of the warheads were being loaded onto the ship now, to include two decoy warheads should his countermeasures somehow fail. 'Speaking of countermeasures...' He thought to himself as he looked back behind him. "How are you doing back there Aries? Are you and Alastair playing nice?"

Necromancer's Hanger

Errowyn went over her craft with her odd assortment of missiles. Both with the big punch and those that were light. She still had her standard defensive measure untouched so far. Once her compliment of missiles loaded up for the current load out. Two heavy missile on external hard-points along with assorted smaller missile pods.

She was stoic as ever and quiet as she took care of her combat load for the Kawarime along with her deck crew.

Necromancer's Bridge

Veir was happy to lead Sammy and the other I'ee ambassador to the bridge of the Necromancer, exposing the I'ee to the seemingly large open room as the double doors swung open. This C2 still had the old-style Nepleslian bridge, a long table in the center of the room with seats all around. Each seat had a workstation built into the table in front of them, and critical CIC information was being displayed as floating images above the table. The walls, ceiling, and floor all were similarly covered with a seamless display, making it seem like the room was floating in space. The I'ee fleet could be seen off in the distance, a hovering blue ring showing the ships in magnification as if someone was holding telescope in place. The planet was directly below them, the swirling dust clouds visibly moving about the surface, and directly ahead of the ship was a small marker for the I'ee's home system.

"Please do not be nervous. Though this operation will be dangerous I have a high confidence that we will return completely intact." Veir said, looking down at Sammy as she tried to figure out what would calm the bug, "Perhaps I could get you a juice box?"

The bridge itself was full of activity, reports being processed, indicators of power levels rising for the FTL drive.



Necromancer's Hanger

The rest of the pilots were finishing loading their fighter craft, a fleet of 6 jet black diamonds, and had taxied over to the front hanger doors to get ready for launch.

The leader of the Hound squadron was all to happy to brief her squadron on the all hands channel so that the other pilots could overhear.

"Alright Nuggets, this is supposed to be an easy operation. We are only flying escort for the Necromancer. Don't get pulled away from the ship and don't head out to engage enemies on your own. I want you to stay close to your flight lead and not get shot down. That being said, we're professionals, when we inevitably do get into trouble I expect you to have a higher kill count than the other mercenaries."

She would then click over to a private channel, including just Hell-cat, 8-Ball, and Tiberius.

"The three of you up for a friendly wager?"



Space

Once the I'ee ship had pulled away from the Necromancer, it would head for deep space and make the jump to the I'ee's home system, arriving in deep space just outside of the system's FTL exclusion zone.

Bridge

"A juice box would be lovely, thank you!", Sammy's sister squeaked out before he could answer, to which he simply agreed to with a nod before speaking himself. "I have confidence in your abilities, Miss. We're glad to have your help." The two I'ee seemed fascinated by the layout of the Necromancer's bridge, and busied themselves with examining the central 'round table' control centre, presumably comparing the differences it had to their own ship's bridge.

I'ee Home System - Outer Graveyard

The space junk littering the space that the Necromancer jumped into was unusually dense. Besides the countless microscopic debris bouncing off of the shielding, larger pieces of metal could be seen floating. The stars that were visible sparkled constantly as countless pieces of debris, distant and close, drifted past them. An unshielded craft would likely be torn to shreds attempting to navigate this area of space.

One of the specks of light visible in the blackness of space was quite obviously a planet, judging by its colour and size. Consulting the star map provided by the I'ee would identify it as Oo'oo: A large, barren planet whose precarious orbit forces it through the Outer Graveyard debris rings twice per cycle. The Oo'tut family is described as having set up a colony and observation post on one of Oo'oo's moons, while the planet itself is frequently combed for salvage drawn in from the debris field by other families.

Next was a tiny dwarf planet that was nestled between Ee'ee and Oo'oo's orbits. Interestingly, it had no I'ee name, and was instead referred to by their database as 'Kebrenasse': A name that was described by the database as archaic.

Aries blipped into view. "Oh sorry I was reviewing the systems and what not on your craft and I must say for its age it is over what would normally projected. Did you work on it yourself? Also Alastair and I have hit it off well." Aries thought for a second before adding jokingly. "Who know we might start dating soon."

Necromancer Bridge...

As the I'ee were lead in by Vier, Werner and Raphael stepped out from the rear of the room. All of the men and women in the small bridge snapped to attention. "At ease." Werner said walking up and taking a seat at the head of the table. "A little late to the party are we?" Werner's XO asked. "Stow it Kovac and get back to work. I need my Tactical officer to be paying attention." He shot back. Raphael walked up to Sammy an smiled. "Hello Sammy. Would you ask your sisters to step back so Captain Werner and his men can work?" He asked politely. Werner from his position waved to Raphael. "No need for that Admiral. They are just looking, which is okay with me. Just no touching got it?" He asked the two admiring the bridge equipment.

"Sirs!" The navigator called from his workstation.

Werner and Raphael turned to look at the man. "What do you have for me Mr. Steensen?" Werner asked.

"We have arrived at the target location as ordered. However our jump has landed us inside a massive debris field." Steensen replied.

"Aye Captain." The Sensor's operator replied. "I am transferring the largest of the debris to Tactical incase it needs to get shredded."

"I've got them." Replied Kovac. "There are a few in our way, but it should be of no concern."

Werner nodded. He looked over towards Raphael. "What are your orders Admiral?" He asked.

Raphael looked thoughtfully."Reroute power from noncritial systems to the shields. Move us out of this feild and begin a slow burn towards the planet." Raphael looked over at Werner. "Any objections Captian?" He asked.

Werner smiled slightly. "You have a knack for this Admiral." He said looking towards his crew. "You heard the man. Helm, take us out. All ahead slow. Systems, route power to sheilds."

"Aye sir! All ahead slow." The Helmsman confirmed slowly dialing up the throttle. Outside, the engines of the C2 roared to life, cutting a path through the field. After several minutes, the Necromacer arrived at the edge of the debris field.

Werner tapped a button on his work station. "CAG, Captain. You are cleared for launch. Good hunting sister." He said closing the link.

Raphael looked over at Sammy, waving him over. "Sammy, could you hail your friends and let them know we mean no harm? We need to make sure we do not have any Blue on Blue." Raphael said.

Werner turned around to look at Sammy. "He means no friendly fire." He stated flatly, turning back to his crew. "Helm, begin a slow burn towards the planet, Sensors monitor the area. Report on any transmissions from the system."

Necromancer Fighter Hanger

"The three of you up for a friendly wager?" came the unfamiliar voice over her coms.

"I don't wager when dealing unknown friendlies." Hellcat responded back over the same frequency as she moved her Kawarime into her assigned launch position. Her voice had the dual resonance to it. One mechanical with overtones of natural voice as if two different people were speaking at the same time. "Just come back alive to have the boasting rights and give salute to those that failed to return."

With the SPINE interface in full swing and her mind processing the myrid flood of information from her craft. 'Seeing' through the Kawarime's camera and scanners and her own naked vision. She was strapped in tight to the seat of her craft. Comfortable within her metal shell if a 'living' craft.

~~"Okay sisters, looks like we got shangied into another sortie with Mishhu squids.." ~~ Errowyn spoke mentally with her 'Ghosts' sisters.

~~"I still say we shoulda op'ed for home base protection.~~ One of her sisters spoke only to be beaten down by the other more bolder ones.

Hellcat rolled her eyes and waited for the signal to launch.

Necromancer's Hanger

"Really?" Tiberius asked Aries as a smirk came across his face. "Are those wedding bells I hear in the distance Alastair? Are you and Aries going to have AI babies? Wait a minute," He paused as the Necromancer jumped into a heavy debris field, 8-Ball knew, he had a perfect view of the debris field. His ship had taxied to the front of the line thanks to his munition swap. "Can AIs have babies?"

A miniature, and blue, Alastair head appeared to the right of 8-Ball. "I will not dignify that question with a response." The expression on his face was one parts flustered and two parts incredulous. Clearly something unsettling had been said. Whether that something was the inquiry into the nature of his relationship with another AI or the remark of AI babies, who could be sure? 8-Ball thoroughly enjoyed teasing his AI either way. "Aw, cheer up buddy. I can program you guys beautiful babies. Aries clearly approves of my handy work." He said, referring to Aries' question about whether the work was a custom job.

While these shenanigans were going on, there was some chatter back and forth between some of the other mercenaries. Tiberius was going to ignore the chatter until he heard something about a wager and a morbid response from a depressed robot girl. "Lighten up will ya?" 8-Ball said over the coms as he reached for the throttle. "You sound like we're going to my grandmother's funeral." With that he pushed the throttle forward and the engines of the Ebony Peregrine roared to life, propelling the fighter outside the hanger.

Spppppaaaaaaaccccccceeeeeee

"So whats the wager Head Hound?" Tiberius asked over the com before he muted his mic. "Aries, begin actively scanning the debris field. You probably won't get the full 32AU in this mess but do the best you can." Meanwhile he cut through some of the debris field before pulling up on his yoke to begin to mirror the Necromancer's flight path towards the planet. 8-Ball wanted to be a healthy distance from the ship before he began his scan pattern. His fighter was pretty darn fast compared to the rest of the fleet, even that Kawarime if it was stock, so he wanted to cover as much space as possible to do his part.

"I can do better. I'll stack as many scans I can so that we get as clean a picture we can get without using too much power or time. Also AI don't make babies not without them being at least a tier six out of the ten tiers. I myself am a tier nine thanks to both my original design along with other factors most concerning Ace. But getting back to the point lesser AI can split into fragments which is basically like cutting a board in half then cutting it in half again those are fragments they are certain sections of the original usually expelled for either being corrupted or due to nececity." Aries then turned to her work. "Other than some debris we are clear for now I'll keep you updated."

Inside the Ebony Peregrine's Cockpit

"Outstanding Aries," 8-Ball replied to the claim that the debris field would have no adverse impact on the scanners. His enthusiasm even went up pa notch when Aries briefly explained AI babies. "So what you are saying there is a chance." The pilot said as he grinned devilishly behind his black mask. "I have the perfect name picked out. One that'll emphasize the AI's heritage like Aaron or Aahed." He said the name in such a manner that Aaron sounded like he said the letter 'A', followed by the name Aron. "What do you think Alastair?" He asked the AI who simply shook its head at the human. "Your comedic genius has once again left me utterly speechless sir..."

"Yes there is a chance though I don't see us having a 'child' in the near future as Ace will probably return to the refugee camp he helps run and maintain after this to finish building me a body as well as care for Scrabler and Tomblyn. But if we were to have a child I would need to know what tier Alastair is can either stop scanning the debris field and scan Alastair or he can tell us himself."

Meanwhile
After seeing as how Uso probably wasn't gonna get them anything anytime soon Ace decided that it was time to eat. "Oy Tomblyn you hungry?"

Bridge

Sammy and his sister squeaked timidly when asked to step away from the central control station. "Sorry!", the two apologised in almost perfect synchronisation, before quickly becoming distracted by the sight of the debris field. They chattered quietly to one another, apparently trying to identify their position through memory; Sammy pointed to the distant speck of Oo'oo, to which his sister squeaked.

The request to contact their 'friends' seemed to confuse Sammy and the other Ee'ith ambassador, who glanced at one another. "Contact who, exactly, sir?", the female I'ee asked, with Sammy speaking up after her. "Are we within range of any of our ships?"

Meanwhile, the crew of the Necromancer would pick up a signal ahead of them, towards the outskirts of the debris field: Namely, a distress signal, coupled with some scattered life signs. It was very clearly non-I'ee in origin.

Space:
A boxy container floated slowly through the debris field of the outer graveyard. Outwardly inconspicuous , when examined by sensors it revealed a weak distress signal as well as faint signs of life originating from it.

Necromancer's Hanger

“Most kills this outing, Winner gets a medal from the loser.” Hazel replied, as Tiberius took off and made a Bee line towards the planet. Of course, their squadron wasn't going to be left behind.

“Hound Squadron, Launch!”

The jet black fighters would quickly exit from the launch bay, and turn to take shelter from the debris by using the Necromancer to body block.

“Careful 8-ball, that far out ahead we won't be able to protect you from monsters...”


Necromancer's Bridge

A small, wheeled robot would drive onto the bridge with two Juice Boxes afixed to the top, which Vier would take in hand, the woman waiting off to the side as the two I'ee scurried about.

As the Necromancer's scanners swept over nearby space they would start to filter out the unnecessary bits, briefly highlighting fragments before classifying them as scrap and moving on. When they reached the boxy container, it would end up magnified on the displays, a small blue halo appearing around it. The workstations displaying data such as mass, distance, and power output.

Shortly after that, other blips would start appearing... additional blue blips where aether reactor output was being detected. One blip showing up only a few light minutes away.... then another.... and another...

Aries snapped to her readings. "Heads up we have inbound and a weak distress signal. Enemies are jumping in I'm guessing either that or they've offline and are starting their engines now."
Aries pulled up a radar for 8-ball to see. "Diverting power away from most advanced scan types and going to sonar and thermal the power is going to shields and weapons. The white dot is the distress signal red enemies and green is friendlies. Standing by for further orders." Aries had defaulted to high combat performance so that she could use more processing power on keeping the ship intact.

Necromancer Bridge...

Raphael turned to Sammy. "What I mean is..." But he was cut off as the sensor's station pinged.

"Sir's we have contacts!" The Sensor operator called. "Transferring tracks to Tactical."

"I have them, multiple pings around that distress beacon." The XO said.

Werner nodded. "Comms, set General Quarters." He ordered.

"Aye Captain, General Quarters." She said hitting a button on her console. The ship's light all changed to a red tinge. An automated voice began speaking. "General Quarters, General Quarters, All hands man your battle stations. This is not a drill. I repeat General Quarters..."

Raphael stepped up to the table, taking a seat in one of the unoccupied chairs. "Well we seem to have lost our element of surprise. I hope you have this old bucket of bolts tricked out..." Raphael said to Captain Werner.

Werner smiled. "Do I? Of course. We will handle this." Werner nodded to his XO. "Tactical, I want the fore Torpedo bays loaded with two EMPs and two Aether tap. Prep for snapshot. I also want a full spread of Pufferfish missiles. I want to flood their CIWS with targets so they miss our big payloads."

The XO nodded. "Aye sir! Two EMP, Two Aether Tap prep for Snapshot and a full spread of Pufferfish." The XO confirmed.

Werner nodded looking over to the Helm. "After snapshot, I want you to roll the ship 90 degrees and turn to port 90 degrees. Show them our keel. It is the most armored section of the ship, plus we will be able to get our main guns on them. I want our Quad and two Dual cannons firing as soon as they get in range." He said nodding back to his XO.

"Roger that Sir. Torpedos set for snap shot and Pufferfish missiles ready." The XO reported.

Werner tapped on his comms. "All fighter groups, the NMX have poked their ugly heads out. We are about to launch a full spread of missiles and torpedos to soften them up for you. You are free to engage after the salvo. Necromancer Actual out." He cut the comms and nodded. "Open fire."

14 Pufferfish missiles raced out towards the first NMX target after several tense seconds, the two EMP torpedoes rocketed out from their tubes, followed shortly by the Aether Taps. As the Puffer fish neared, they missles separated, and a huge multitude of mini missiles streaked towards the target, followed closely behind by the torpedos...