The Junk War

[Ira]

The ship emerged from FTL in a small flash, immediately ejecting its supply tanks, which thrusted off in random directions. The ship itself began zig-zagging ahead in a search pattern. Its hull was decorated in bright geometric patters, and the emblem of an alien skull with seven teeth marked the nose. "Aye, Boss, I am detecting an ion path leading into this vector....crafty ship has a stealth capability...looks like it is hiding in a field of space junk..."

The view screen showed a green digital recreation of the space junk, with the simple screen flickering to compensate for the changes in position. The captain nodded and reached to turn his master key from Peace to War, the war position having a pair of crossed swords crudely engraved next to it. " Scan for thermals. Prepare to fire a missile, maybe we can smoke them out."

He quickly broadcasted a message on an open radio channel. "Attention unknown vessel. You are in restricted space. This is not a warning."

"Aye..." The Sensor officer called back. His hand fluttered over his console and his face remained stoic. He grunted in frustration, then suddenly in pleasure. "I got it!." He said a few seconds later. "It was not easy, but...I told you I was the best you'd ever find... I am relaying a targeting solution!"

The Tactical officer hung loose. 'FIRING!"

"Belay missile! Engage with the 400's, burst mode."

It was too late. The missile had exited the ship and raced out to the target vector. It detonated shortly after in a titanic release of energy having collided with the Alien star ship. The exploded with the stinging sounds of emergency Klaxons. "SAL! DIRECT HIT! HULL BREACHES ON OUR PORT SIDE! DECK 4 is in full decompression."
--- Gartagen Turn ---

The Gartagen Commander hissed in frustration. "Bring us about!" She shouted.

"Electronics, Get into their system, shut down something!!"

-Chelti Turn-

The Pathfinder was still mobile, and the Chelti would detect she had dropped her stealth field and had indeed been smoked out. She was moving evasively. "I smoked her! I smoked her!" The Tactical officer on the Kalahan cried out.

Then...the Chelti heard a low rumbling metallic failure come from engineering. The engines on the Chelti ship had been switched off by the Gartagen Warship.

The Chelti captain reached for his intercom as he looked at the damage control screen. "Engineering, get that fast." he ordered, his voice reverberating though the ship before hanging up again."Keep hitting them." The captain said, turning to Tactical. "Throw them off balance until we recover. 400's, burst!"

The Engines on the Kalahan fired back up in no time. The Head Engineer rang out. "Locked them out! Bastards tunneled into our system, but I managed to lock them out, engines are back online!"

The Chelti Ship opened up with its main guns, the volleys struck the Gartagen ship causing its ablative armor to flake off, one of the rounds pierced the outer hull and detonated inside of the ship leaving a gaping hole in her starboard prow.

-Gartagen turn-

The Commander felt her ship shudder, power conduits exploded all through her ship and she could hear the screams as members of her crew fell wounds.

"Spool up the hyper core! We are bugging out!"

The Navigator called out his response. "AYE AYE!"

The Gartagen Pathfinder maneuvered evasively...then winked out of existence. The Chelti captain patted his tactical officer on the shoulder in congratulations. "Excellent work, gentlemen. The day is ours. Get salvage down here to recover anything they left behind and retrieve our drop tanks."

---- Chelti Victory ----

 

[Ira]

The Victorious Chelti warship had gotten roughly 7 hours to loiter around and pick over the scrap at its leisure. But this sector of space had been logged by the defeated Gartagen Pathfinder. The Pathfinder had fallen back, but not before mustering support. A patrolling interloper answered the call and opted to act as a response.
The Inteloper jumped in roughly 500,000 KM away from the Chelti's last recorded position. It had detected the chelti ship had..multiplied.
"Attention hostile alien vessel. This is the Aknida...you fired on a Gartagen Vessel. You are ordered to surrender your vessels and ready your crews to be seized."
The Gartagen ship was powering up, and scrambled its fighters. It was bearing down on the Chelti ships in an obvious attack posture.
On the chelti ships, crews were already at their stations.
Seven Fang, the ship from earlier was still there. With it was an equally gaudy colored craft, this one with only three fangs under its skull.
"Figured." The captain muttered, peering over the tactical officers shoulder.
He grabbed his communicator from the roof.
"Salvagers, pull off and evacuate."
That done he quickly twisted the master arm key to its natural position and both ships took off at an indirect vector towards the new aggressor.
The Captain switched to reply to the unencrypted radio call from the unknown. "We cannot surrender ourselves to a foreign party. Leave now and you will not be pursued. At least, by us."
"Big mistake." The Gartagen Commander replied, sounding almost pleased at the Chelti response.
The captain returned the communicator to its docket. "Well, it was worth a try. Engage with missiles. Fang Three, target the fighers."
There was a flash of light from the underside of one of the ships as a missle was boosted out, slowly the trail it left behind turned and tracked towards the Interlooper ominously.
The second frigate prepared its laser to shoot down any interceptors attempting to apporach them, or engage the missile.
The first missile flet out and was caught in the interloper's flak fire. It had not had the chance to arm itself so its signature simply vanished on the Chelti's scanner.
"Missile intercepted." The Tactical officer reported calmly, but a hint of tension in his voice from the situation.
The Second ship's Barrage sliced through first fighter squadron. The rapid fire lasers shredded the tight formation of the first squadron shattering it.
"Fang Three here, one enemy squadron is confirmed knocked out." The other ships officer reported.
- - - Gartagen Turn - - -
"Missile is shot down!" The tactical officer called out. The crew broke into cheers. The Gartagen commander puffed on his pipe and adjusted his monocle as he looked up at the Holo-graphic imager. He held a small hairless mammal in his right arm as he sat in his chair.
"Mmm...Indeed."
The tactical officer called out "Squadron A is reporting that the Enemy cut through most of their kith...Squadron B is requesting permission to deploy Nuclear Ordinance!"
The Commander paused... "Advance us forward...permission granded for nuclear Ordinance...do the same with our ships against that...secondary looking mongrol..." He said yawning.
7 Fangs faired better. The light nukes detonated, and caused minimal damage to 7 fangs. But 3 fangs suffered two direct hits from the Interlopwer's anti-ship nuclear war heads. The Nuclear reactions shattered the ship into three seperate peices with the white hot energy from the blasts heating up the ship's hull
---- Chelti Turn ----
When the Nuclear fire subsided, 3 fangs was drifting. A broken ship in space. Grappeling hooks fired out from the broken bones of the vessel and secured the loose chunks, towing them back together. The crew came out in their space suits and began welding the small war ship back together getting 3 Fangs back into the fight.
The captain watched as Three Fang was barraged by enemy fire, he blinked and watched as the crew began hastily trying to reassemble their broken craft.
"Ready the 400's, front side. Maximum firepower." He ordered, the ship turned towards the enemy vessel, but not changing heading. The four turrets on its sloped sides traversing to bear on the enemy. "Fire."
In the distance the salvage ships slowly glowed, and then disappeared with a flash of light.
Those 400 mm cannons opened up sending a streaming barrage of chemically propelled shells at the Gartagen ship. The munitions peppered her barrier shield causing it to ripple and flucuate, but many of them broke through savaging the hull and detonating on the inside.
--- Gartagen Turn ---
"Commander!" The tactical officer yelled over the damage Klaxons as the ship shuddered from the hits. "Primary power to the weapons have been cut off."
The Gartagen Commander perked up. "Get them back on then. Order the Sun Dancers to harrie the vessels of these...savages..."
The Fighter squadrons advanced on to the Chelti ship 7 Fangs, and began firing at it. But those powerful engines were giving the pilots of the Sundancers some issues. A single shot managed to penitraite the Chelti hull.
"Commander...the second chelti ship...its uh...pulling itself back together and now it is coming about!"
"Impossible." The Commander snorted as he reviewed the information in what amounted to silent contemptious disbeleif.
------ Chelti Turn -----
"This is Three Fang, functionality restored but shield and sensors are still offline! Engineers are on it right now!" Came the crackled call from Seven's sister ship as her lights flickered back on and she forcibly relit her fires.
In the background of the call someone could clearly be heard yelling "-use the fucking saucepan, then-"
The ships engines relit with a fury, and she hared off again after her sister. Her sensor suite receiving the full attention of the ships damage control.
Seven Fang was surrounded by a small flock of tiny fighters, swooping and stabbing around it.
"Kill them." The captain ordered, calmly. "Kill them all now."
The ships many lasers erupted into life, spewing beams of light at the fighters as they struggled to keep up. Catching one in the crossfire and sending it spinning away in superheated plasma and debris.
--- Gartagen Turn ----
"Commander weapons are back online!"
"Fire, open fire." The Commander said passionlessly as he puffed on his pipe.
The Interloper fired its main cannons in an effort not to destroy its fighters with nukes. The first gauss round came accross the 7 Fang's prow barely missing, thanks in part to a last second quick jerk from the ship. The second shot slammed into her shielding causing the shield bubble to finally collapse.
The Fighters were ripped up but the returning laser batteries but the small fighters kept pace with the manuverable. They continued their harassment.
The fighters were spooked, and could do nothing but keep firing as they struggled to keep up with the highly manuverable frigate.
------ Chelti Turn -----
The captain was jostled slighty at the hit.
"Shields are down, Captain!" reported an officer.
"Three Fang, our sensors have recovered."
"Keep the pressure up, Three all guns on the alien vessel, it's lost speed. Fire! Fire now!" The captain ordered. "Tactical, get our 400's on that ship, lasers reacquire the fighters again."
Three Fang lit up with fire as the rapid fire cannon sustained a long burst on the alien ship, the flare of a missile shortly followed, lancing towards the ship.
Fang Seven also became its own light show. The large muzzles of the Navy 400's aiming at the enemy ship were complimented by the bright beams of the point defence lasers cutting at the fighters.
The Sundancers however earned their name, and as the Chelti laser batteries cut loose with their beams the Fighters were phantamisc and rapidly manuvered out of the way
The Chelti ships barrage pounded the Interlopers shielding, and pepper the hull of the ship ridling her hull with dents and holes. Her armor was looking salted and brittled after the rapid fire.
The Haymaker --- That antiship missile was once again stopped by the Interloper's Flak batteries
--- Gartagen Turn ---
"The slowed to fire all of their weapons!"
The Commander smiled and puffed his pipe.
"XRASER batteries on the....undead mongrel ship...Gauss Cannons onto the lead ship...Fighters keep it up."
The Chelti would see the Gartagen ship slow to an attack speed, and then fire its main guns
The Barrage smashed into 7 Fangs, causing her hull to rend and bend as the solid tungsten shells passed clean through her hull. One of them was stopped by the Chelti armor, but the other went through the ship's prow and exited out of her stern
3 Fangs faired worse. The Xraser blasts missed initially, then they corrected and sliced a red laterial line down her hull effectively cutting her in two.
The Fighters harried 7 fangs once more...The Punishment dealt from the fighters was too much... and & fangs was not drifting through space as she went dark.
"All ships destroyed I repeat both ships destroyed!"
The Gartagen crew broke out into cheers once more and the Commander loosened up. He pat his little rat like animal and snuggled it, puffed on his pipe. "Excellent. Recall the fighters, and bring us into start examining the alien wreckage...interesting species...I am going to be in my quarters composing my report and records for analysis The CON is your XO. See to it I am not disturbed."
The Commander got up and exited the CIC.
------ 7 Fangs ----
"We got her up and running again Captain...all we need to do is hit the on switch."
"Excellent..." replied the captain, looking out into space through the giant hole in the middle of his ship as if wondering how he was still alive. He could see some very important bits of the ship throughout the physical cross-section.
"But uh...3 Fang...I am not getting any radio chatter...I think these aliens took her down." The Chelti XO said shaking a rigged together walkie talkie.
"Very well. We've lost battlespace control..." The captain paused, hesitating over what he was about to say, his hands went behind him and he pulled himself up in his quickly donned spacesuit. "Prepare to scuttle the remains Three Fang and withdraw. We will remember this."
A flash erupted from the seemingly derelict vessel, streaking towards the dead floating halves of her sister ship. Denying her to the enemy. The missile flew straight between the two halves and detonated in a sphere of light and radiation, setting off the already compromised fusion reactors on the vessel itself. The fuel suddenly ignited and for a second a minute little sun burned with the soul of Fang Three, be extingushing out and leaving nothing behind.
Fang Seven watched the fiery end of her sister before slipping out in a flash of light.
She would return to avenge her sister, and vengence would be mighty.