Guardians: Downfall Chapter 2
Chapter 2: The UGM ValkyrieDate: November 9, 2777Location: Wolf 348, 11 light years from Leben, 2 light years from ForaoiseTime: 1204 (Military time)The hanger was bustling with life. There where people, both Pelzigan and Humans, working on the Mecha's that where stored on board the ship. They worked fast and hard to finish the tune ups on the mech's. a small group of mechanics were working on the arrow shaped dropship off in the distance. Cale watched in wonder as the mechanics continued to to pull several panels off the of the shiny new drop ship. The ship was said to have stealth capabilites, there were several prototypes onboard the Serenity, they where all being checked over one last time before they where to be sent out on their first run. Their destination was the outer rim of the Epsilon Eridani System, primarily around the planet Foraoise, a lush jungle planet that had several reports of Lothian skirmishes. Cale looke around, the red and white husky wolf mix took a deep breath. He had no clue why the UGM was sending out their newest and most advanced warship out to investigate a few minor skirmishes when a War Frigate and a few support vessels could've done just the same job, but it wasn't up to him as to where they where sent. The Serenity was a beautiful ship, she contained cloaking capabilites, she could become invisible to both scanners and to the naked eye. She was a death machine, built to annihilate any and all hostiles that stood in her way. He tugged at the collar of his brown jump suit and took a deep breath and turned towards his mech. It was an A2Z1 model, one of the newer ones that where approved for use. they had more maneuverability than any other mech on top of their small shielding system. The hydrolaucs on the suit were better than most, but that didn't mean that the mech was easy to handle, one wrong move and the whole system could crash on him and leave him immobile for a decent amount of time. He began climbing back up to the cockpit of the mech and jumped into the seat. "Begin routine diagnostic systems check alpha." he said. "Please varify user." said a cool female voice. "Authorization Alpha-niner-one." he replied back. "Varifying, please wait." the voice said again and a few seconds later "Varification complete, Corporal Cale McCoy. Beginning routine diagnostic check." The hatch to the mech hissed shut and a dim blue light filled the cockpit. It came from a central monitor in front of him, it started feeding numbers and numeriacal data. after a few minutes of sitting in the cockpit then it pulled up a schematic of the mech itself and began analyzing the various mechanics within the mech itself. There was a dull thud on the hull of the mech that made Cale's ears twitch and stop writing on his data pad. he looked to where the noise came from and jumped when there was a banging on the hull then sighed growling. "God damn it Mariah!" he shouted as he opened the cockpit and
poked his head out staring at the female blue and white Husky that stood there looking up at him with her green eyes, looking comfy in her brown flight jacket. Grease stains covered the bottom portion of her suit. She smirked stairing up at the well built man. "How's my favorite Wusky doing?" she said swinging her tail back and forth. He blushed a deep red, she knew that got to him and that she knew he'd blush at that. "How many times do i have to tell you not to call me that sis." he said as he paused the diagnostic program and climbed out of the mech and leaped to the ground and tucked the data pad in his pocket. "Oh come on now Cale, you know i can't resist calling you that, you look too cute when you blush!" She pinched his cheek and smiled. He sighed and stared at her and smiled a little. "Having fun with the ships engines?" He asked. She gave a simple nod still smiling. He shook his head and smirked. They had both signed up and were luckily stationed on the same ship. It was glad to see one of his sisters here on the ship, the other, Lian, was back on Leben as a doctor. "Look, i've got to finish the tune-ups on the mech sis, i'll catch you back at the mess hall, alright?" He said, she nodded "you better not be working too late Cale!" she said as she walked off. He smiled and turned back towards the mech. "Attention all hands, prepare to exit Jump, we've picked up an SOS signal. We are to drop out of the wormhole and investigate. You have one minute, that is all" said a voice over the intercom, must've been the Captain. Cale ran back to his mech and began to lock it down so it wouldn't come crashing down and roll around the hanger. After a few minutes he made his way towards a box next to the mech and pulled out a clip and ran towards the railing against the wall and clipped himself on and looked down at his watch, he had Twenty seconds before the ship exited the Wormhole. The reason why everyone did this was primarily because of the gravitational shift that occurs. If they where exiting a wormhole like normal, the gravitational shifts wouldn't be enough to harm the crew due to how subtle the changes are in the gravity but an emergency drop out of the wormhole to investigate an SOS? well, gravity changes darastically when they do that, this SOS is bound to be a high priority SOS for them to do this. He saw all the crew in the hanger hooked onto a railing and preparing for the exit. Suddenly, the lights dimmed and turned a dark red and an alarm sounded. Here we go, he thought as he gripped the railing and suddenly the ships hull shrieked with the stress from the gravitational changes. The crew in the hanger got swept off their feet as they flew to the left, those who were on the left side of the hanger were hard pressed against the wall as the ship lurched forward and dropped out. Several sparks flew from the control panels on the walls and some of the mech's fell over and started skidding towards the left wall when the gravity
started returning to normal. They where finally able to put their feet and he looked at the left side of the wall, the mechs were only mere feet from the crew on the left side of the wall. They where lucky. The lights flickered a little and then turned to yellow indicating that all crew should be ready for any action they may receive. He rushed to check on his mech. "Lian, i need the coordinates to the SOS." said Nielson as he punched in several numbers into the console in front of him. "sending them now Ensign Nielson." Replied a cool female voice. It was the ships Artificial Intelligence. "received the coordinates, setting course now." replied Ensign Nielson. "I want a damage report people." said the captain as he swiveled in his chair stairing at the monitors in front of him. "We're getting them in now Captain." replied a woman to the far left of him. Damn it, he didn't mean to be so rough on her. But if this SOS was what the sensors had picked up, it had to be done. "Alright Ensign, bring us in close." "Aye Captain." The view port tilted as the ship turned onto it's new course. "We should be at the source in 12 minutes Captain, we exited Jump rather close to it." The Captain nodded and looked out the viewport. he could make out the remnants of a starship off in the distance, her lights still flickering on and off. "Lian, have you identified the ship that the source is coming from?" "Negative Captain, but i am close to finding the serial nu-" she stopped. "Lian?" "Serial number A90583B25. Searching data base for the ship that matches the service number. One minute." It was silent on the bridge for a minute until she said "It's the UGM Valkyrie!" The Captains eyes went wide with terror. The Valkyrie was, in a sense regardign her class, a sister ship to the Serenity. The only difference between the two was that Valkyrie had no shielding and no barges that she could deploy to help combat enemy forces. And a lack of armament that the Serenity had. Even so, if she was taken out, there must be a massive enemy ship nearby, or one with the firepower needed to take out a ship like the Valkyrie, and could pose a serious threat to the Serenity. "All hands, Red Alert! We are to remain at it until we are certain we are the only ship out here. I want long range sensors going nonstop, anything that isn't Human or Pelzigan will be deemed hostile. Ensign Nielson, bring us in close. Prepare a boarding party to go and search the ship for it's flight recorder and get any and all survivors on board the Serenity. Deploy two of the five Freighters we have stowed in the ship, set them up in a defensive position. nothing gets in or out. Lets go to it people!" The Captain said. All the lights dimmed and turned red, an alarm sounded. "I want several squadrons of fighters out on a patrol." "yes sir!" Akutenshi staired up at the ceiling and took a deep breath when the lights went dim and turned red, an alarm sounded. Not
good. He sat up from his bed and looked around. His and Cale's quarters were small, a single bed, not bad seeing as the two where together, a simple desk with a lamp and computer. it was only about a hundred square feet wide. Big enough for two, thats all they needed. He walked over to the closet and began stripping and putting on his uniform. The standard grey uniform with the patch of seven planets circling a star with the words UGM above the picture and the words Unified Galactic Military down below. His rank, Sergeant was displayed on the collar of the shirt. He began slipping on his grey pants and black boots when his coms started beeping. "Ishimura here." He said as he tapped a button to reply to whoever was trying to reach him. "Sergeant Ishimura, you're wanted in hanger A1 on level 31, Get there as soon as possible." Came one of the Master Sergeants voices over the coms. "Understood, Ishimura out." He replied back as he tapped the coms off. he finished strapping the boots on and checking to make sure everything was in order on his uniform and headed out the door. He entered the hanger and saw Cale, Miranda, Kijani, and a human he hadn't met yet as well as Cale's sister, Mariah. In front of them all was a black Human Master Sergeant, tall, thin, yet muscular with pearcing blue eyes in the typical gray combat armor. "Reporting in sir!" Akutenshi said as he jogged over to the rest of the group, the Captain, a tall white Human in the typical light grey officers uniform stood next to the Master Sergeant with a concerned look on his eyes. "Good, now people, I want you all to listen closely and carefully. We are currently at combat ready status, red alert, and have picked up on an SOS signal. It is coming from the Citadel Class War Freighter the UGM Valkyrie." That sent a bit of a shock to Akutenshi. The Valkyrie was one of the more advanced Starships the UGM had, she had only been in service for approximately a year and a half. She wasn't nearly as advanced as the Serenity but she could probably knock Serenity down a few pegs and leave her more than just crippled if they where to fight each other. The Master Sergeant stared at Akutenshi. "The Captain wants your team to be deployed and investigate the Valkyrie, find her flight recorder, any survivors, and then prepare the Valkyrie to be towed by the Serenity. We have yet to locate any nearby ships that may have been capable of taking her out, but we have deployed two of the five freighters that where stored in the Serenity as well as a several squadrons of fighters to help scout the perimeter for any hostiles. So, with that being said, you shouldn't have to worry about being attacked by ship, but much rather if any hostiles are on board the Valkyrie. With that, we will be keeping close tabs on you guys, if we have to we can deploy a transporter circuit to your location and teleport you out of there. Is there anything you'd like to add in Captain?" The Master Sergeant
looked at the Captain and the Captain nodded as he stepped forward. "Now listen up! I want this to go smoothly, no screwing around. At the first sign of trouble or any hostile ships i want you want you all to return to the ship immediately and prepare for an emergency jump. but that is needless to say as i'm sure you all know that by now. The Serenity will be on standby and we'll keep as close to the Valkyrie as possible. That is all." The Captain stood back and nodded to the group and then walked towards the hanger door and out of it and back to the bridge. "Alright people, you have your orders! Get to the Valkyrie and find the flight recorder along with any and all survivors!" The man shouted as he turned and walked out of the hanger. A small dropship was soon brought in and they loaded up, Cale in the cockpit preping the drop ship for take off. The engines warmed up as the hatches closed. There was a low rumbling as the engines went online and started up. Akutenshi could feel the ship lift off the ground and begin moving forward. They flew off into space and headed towards the massive starship. "Cale, adjust your heading and proceed carefuly, you'll be entering debris from the ship." "understood Mariah, adjusting heading." Cale and Mariah were taking every precaution to avoid trouble or hull breaches. "We're approaching the Valkyrie, ETA is 5 minutes. The Serenity really did park close to her." Akutenshi stood up and made his way into the cockpit and stared out at the darkened figure of the Valkyrie. He got an eerie feeling just staring at the ship that made his fur stand on end. There were chunks of the hull missing and electricity flashing throughout the ship from damaged circuits, motherboards, you name it, were sparking. there were a few lights on the upper levels of the ship that flickered on and off every few minutes. The ship was just about as big as the Serenity, and it was scary knowing that a new warship could be taken out and was now just adrift in space. Cale looked over to Akutenshi and put his paw on his. Akutenshi stared down at him and saw the worried look on his face. "I don't like the look of this." He said to Cale. "I know hun, but we'v got a job. Besides, i highly doubt whoever attacked her stuck around long enough for us to see them." "Thats what worries me, we don't know who or what attacked her." He said as he walked back into the back of the dropship and took his seat. "Alright people, we're-holy shit!" Cale shouted as there was a dull thud against the ship hull. Akutenshi quickly got back up and ran to the cockpit and saw a long Human, his skin a light greay color, his eyes blood shot, and an arm and leg missing. The mans blood was floating out in space. The look on his face was complete terror. Akutenshi wanted to throw up at the site of seeing the man. Poor bastard. They watched as the body slid off the windshield of the craft leaving a blood streak on it. "Cale, turn on all lights. now." Akutenshi said.
Cale punched in several commands and the lights came on. What they saw put them all in shock. There were both Pelzigans and Humans floating in space, all torn apart and the same exact look that the man they had just hit had. "What the fuck?" Cale said in a low voice. "Take us towards the umbilical." "Why?" "Because sensors show that the hangers energy shields don't have power being supplied to them, we land there and step out, we'll sufficate and die." "Got it Mariah, setting course for the nearest Umbilical." Cale slowly moved the ship into position next to the umbilical and began docking precedures and extending their ships umbilical out towards the Valkyrie. "Attaching the Umbilical now. Securing Umbilical and pressurizing interior. Ok we're good!" Cale yelled back and heard the group stand up and open their end of the umbilical and step onto the short tube. "we'll report back as soon as we can Cale, try not to leave us!" Akutenshi said as he followed the group into the umbilical and Cale gave a small nod. The group reached the end of the umbilical and opened the other side and stepped in. "Alright people, activate night vision." Akutenshi said activating his. The room around them became eluminated in a green tinted color but allowed them to see perfectly fine. "Alright guys, arm yourselves." He said. Everyone nodded and pulled out an M17A Assault Rifle they had brought with them from the dropship and clicked their safety's off. "Lets get that flight recorder, find out what the hell happened." He motioned for them to proceed, Kijani took point and Mirandah took the rear. They kept their guns ready to fire in case they ran into something they didn't want standing. They proceeded down the hallway which was littered with metal panels, wires, and several other components Ishimura couldn't make out. They soon came to a two other paths. Ishimura brought up the ships schematics on his wrist pad and pointed to the left route, they continued. Eventually they came across several Human bodies, all of their life signs read deceased. Akutenshi shook his head and motioned for the group to continue. The lights flickered off and on as they got closer to the bridge. They soon came across a heavy metal grey bulk head that had sealed shut. The panel to the left of it flickered on and off. "Kijani, take a look at it, see if you can open it." Kijani nodded and went up to the panel and took it off the wall and began toying with it. There was a creaking sound coming from the hull. "Sounds like she's not going to last much longer on this deck Sergeant." Mirandah said. Akutenshi nodded in agreement. "Kijani, hurry it up." "I'm going as fast as i can Akutenshi, this is being a bigger pain in the ass than it should be." There was a sudden squeal and the whole ship shook violently knocking everyone to the ground. "Kijani, we need to get this thing open NOW!" Akutenshi yelled, Kijani got back on his feet and moved a few more wires around and the bulk head
opened with a loud hiss. "Move in!" Akutenshi said and they all proceeded in. They where met with several dead bodies sitting in their chairs at their consoles, all of them had blown and it was apparent that the shards from their desks and consoles had fataly hit them. A Pelzigan male Tiger had a shard of metal petruding from his chest. Akutenshi looked around and took a deep breath and proceeded onto the bridge and towards the Captains chair. He kneeled down and put his paws on a panel that was on the floor. He punched in several codes and a part of the floor behind the Captains chair gave off a low hiss as it rose up revealing a metal red box. The flight recorder. He reached over and grabbed it. "Alright, we got what we need. lets proceed to the Umbilical." "what about the survivors?" Mirandah asked. He sighed "At the rate of decay this ship is in, i don't think we'll have time to-" mid sentence he stopped, they weren't alone on the bridge. Mirandah and Kijani could hear it too. A soft scuddle of feet across the floor. It came from behind the Helms control. Akutenshi raised his gun and stood up carefuly and proceeded to it. "Come out with your hands up, and we won't shoot." He said in a cool calm voice. He waited a few seconds then saw a pair of white hands pop up. A man, not even in his mid twenties, stood up with hands up. His brown hair a mess, his face had some blood caked on it and his uniform was torn. But that wasn't what made Akutenshi stare at the man in shock. On his right arm there was a small green color eminating from it, it was barely visible but Akutenshi could make out ancient Pelzigan markings on the mans arm. It wasn't possible. Humans had no Guardians, not that they knew of. "Who are you?!" He said in an angered tone. The man looked terrified but responded in a shaken voice "Lance Corporal Lupin, s-sir." Akutenshi nodded. "Any other survivors on board?" "Not that i know of sir, i'm sorry. I've been here for a few hours and i haven't heard a word or anything. I'm sorry." Akutenshi nodded. The hull creeked yet again. "Sir, we need to get out of here! The hull is beyond it's limits. This section of the ship could go in any minute!" Kijani said in a worried tone. "Understood, lets make our wa-" Akutenshi was interrupted as the hull underneath him warped and buckled, he fell face first against the floor. Damn it! He quickly got back up and grabbed Lupins had and pulled him forward. "RUN!" He shouted. "Back to the Dropship damn it! Run!" He saw Kijani and Mirandah turn and start running, Lupin followed close behind them. Akutenshi started sprinting when sparks started flying around the room. The ships hull was badly damaged, it was stressing itself trying to stay together. There were multiple cracks and a white mist started spraying in, The oxygen was beginning to vent into space. He ran as fast as he could, the floor beneath him began to buckle again and he almost lost his footing. There was a loud
screeching noise and metal panels started falling from the ceiling, wires came down sparking and the lights began going off section by section in the ship. They made their way back towards the Umbilical and made their way back into the dropship. "What the fuck is happening hun!" Cale shouted back. "Take off! Take off damn it! The ships hull is buckling! Get us out of here!" Cale turned towards the monitors on the dropship and it came to life. He retracted their Umbilical and shot off full throttle back to the ship. Behind them, the section that the Umbilical was in caved in and began crumpling like a paper then there was an explosion, no fire, no color, just a bright white mist came out as pieces of the hull came flying out. There was no noise. "Serenity, this is Corporal Cale McCoy, we are en route to the ship. Got one survivor and the flight recorder." He waited for a response. Understood Corporal, get back to the Serenity ASAP, we're reading several Lothian Battle Cruiser jump signatures a few kilometers out. We're preparing everyone for an emergency jump." "Understood!" Cale punched it flying between pieces of the hull of the Valkyrie and small shards of metals. The Serenity came into view. The two Freighters that the Serenity had deployed where being docked into her belly. Several squadrons of fighters formed around the dropship. Off to the left in the far distance, they saw several bright lights shine then dissapate. "All hands, battle stations! Cale, get your ship back here!" "Yes sir!" He pushed the dropship as hard as he could, the escort fighters kept up. "We've got your six, just get back to the ship!" Came a male voice over the comms. "Understood!" Cale Responded. The fighters formed a defensive pattern around the dropship. The Serenity was just ahead of them when a bright blue light flashed in front of them. "Evasive Maneuvers! Evasive Maneuvers!" Cale shouted into the comms as he angled the drop ship to avoid the wormhole. On the other side he saw a massive black ship emergin from it. It was like no other Lothian ship he had seen. The front of the ship had multiple long spikes that had several lights flashing on and off. As the rest of the ship emerged, it was round and smooth with hundreds of cannons on her hull. "Holy shit..." Cale uttered as the massive ship exited the wormhole. It was the same size as the Serenity! "Captain, we have an unidentified ship that just dropped out of a wormhole in front of us, looks like it's heading your way!" "We see the fucking thing! Get back here now!" Immediately the Lothian ship fired at the large grey UGM Vessel, the ships shield flickered multi colors ranging from red, blue, green, and grey, then dissapated. The laser tore through her shields and hit her directly, there was a minor explosion. Serenity returned fire with her own laser turrets, they hit a darkened grey shield that didn't even faulter. They continued to fire the turrets at the enemy ship but no luck. The ships
shields stood. Cale had docked into the Serenity when the ship fired a missile into the hanger they where in. There was a bright flash of light as the missile hit inside the ship and blew up. The Dropship was thrown against the wall and Cale's head went full force into the control panel knocking him out. Mariah shook violently as she cracked the back of skull and fell unconcious. Akutenshi was the only one in the back not strapped in, he was flung back and forth until he went head first into the wall and was knocked unconcious. Everything went dark. Captain, our shields are recharging! FTL engines are ready!" "Set us a course to Leben!" "Already set sir, beginning jump sequence!" The Captain looked around, sparks flew all over the bridge as they took hit after hit from the enemy ship. "Sir, There was an explosion in hanger A1 on Level 31!" shouted a woman on the far left of the ship. Damn it, thats where Akutenshi's group was. "Send in medics and fire control!" "Yes sir!" The view screen angled towards the emptiness of space and suddenly a wormhole generated and the ship began to enter it. Come on! The view port filled with a blue mist and suddenly he felt the gravity shift and took a deep breath. They had made it. "I want a full damage report. Send a message to HQ, let them know we've engaged a new ship and we just got our ass' kicked by this thing!" "Yes sir!" "I'll be in med bay." The Captain stood up and walked towards the elevator and got in. "Level 12, Med Bay" The door shut on him and he was on his way to the med-bay.