10 (DSV Nautica)AU-945 Part 3
De'an brought the ship out of FTL, exhaling through his nostrils, and attempting to engage the cloak. Right off the bat, It failed. He maneuvered the ship to a hard right, preparing to engage the FTL drive again."Captain! Cloak failu-"The cloak abruptly engaged, Confusing him. He sent word to engineering to immediately check out the cloAking systems. The ship shuddered as the engines lost power. The engineers had shut the engines down.Zhi and Aki lay, together, having thoroughly enjoyed each others company, especially after sex. She smiled, her hair a mess after the ordeal. His was fairly in order, though he wasn't the one who had been ravaged. He had done the ravaging. He kissed her gently. "Let them come get us..."Aki rolled her eyes, stretching out and groaning. "They won't. So long as you remember who your captain is."Zhi let a toothy grin escape his face. "On the ship? You. In the bedroom on the other hand-""Shut up" She cut him off, snickering in spite of herself. Inwardly, though she was a captain, what Zhi said was true. She opened her mouth to say a half formed retort, when De'an broke through their blocks with the urgent message that the cloak had failed. Aki bolted from the bed, closely followed by Zhi who was already half way to engineering. Their suits had barely morphed back on as they left her room, and headed their separate ways. A failed cloak would mean the death of the ship.
Aki felt the cloak engage abruptly, slowing down and trying to straighten out herself, much less walk normally. She quickly took her seat, trying not to think that De'an had seen her with Zhi. "Captain, the cloak failed briefly upon exiting FTL. Its reengaged, but nevertheless...something that should not have happened....happened." De'an felt pretty stupid after saying that. He was a little distracted. "Oh...and the engineers shut the engines down. Something about an over-""Ready weapons.""um...capt-""Do it, De'an. You heard me."He flinched slightly and clicked the weapon safeties off. As he did, an alarm went off indicating a hostile entity. A Draconid. De'an took no second thoughts and fired. The cloak dropped, and the ribbon of energy once again shot out of the massive power core. The ribbon struck the dragon head on, drilling against him as he struggled to hold it back. The blow would have severely damaged or even destroyed regular enemies and ships, even one of their own. The dragon fell back, and the wave washed over him, disintegrating him. De'an reengaged the cloak, floating helplessly through space. Dragons could usually best them. Not this fight. One versus an entire cruiser wouldn't cut it, just as De'an had demonstrated. There were no cheers, but rather a feeling of relief, as if they had dodged a bullet to the head.
Aki slumped back into her chair, head bowed in silent prayer
to whatever deities, or sheer luck, had made them victors in this battle. Not even a battle. Zhi had a damage report. Approx. 8 hours till the engines were repaired. They could still maneuver and travel at slow speeds. But nothing fancy. "Close in on the planet. Lets make this count. High orbit. Prepare the team. And if Flare feels unfit, she can relinquish command to someone else...De'an glanced at her, sending the message through.Flare began gathering the team. She sighed, hating that she had to leave Lyn behind, but Aki was right. She had a job to do. The team made their way to the launch bay, where they cloaked and prepared to leave the protective shield of the Erebus. Hopefully this didn't take too long. They really couldn't afford to get stuck here with dragons en route. She sighed and commanded the team out of the bay, their personal cloaks engaged.Zhi made his way to the bridge, not looking happy. The life support systems had taken some residual damage. It looked like sabotage from the Draconid that they just defeated. The air was already getting thin.
"Captain...the life support systems are at a diminished capacity. We...will need to replenish the air."De'an let out an audible groan. Aki shifted in her seat as well. This would require an atmospheric entry. Risky under normal conditions. Almost impossible now."Not an option right now, Zhi. Do what you can.""Capt-""You heard me."Zhi bit his lip and twitched, narrowing his eyes."This is irresponsible!""Its impossible right now. Draconids might be on the way. Now return to you station."Aki stood firm, despite the conflict of intrests. She knew Zhi was right, but the entry would put the ship at much larger risk than it was now."Do what you can.""Yes captain."Zhi left the bridge stony faced. De'an scrutinized Aki. His respect for her had risen slightly, though he still felt she was way too young for this job. She wasnt entirely incapable. He turned his attention back to the team. They had landed on a small continent, right on the beach. From what they could tell, this is was the largest variant in environment. Inland was just rock.
Flare kicked at the rocky soil and terrain. It was breathable atmosphere. It smelled pretty bad, but habitable nonetheless. She stooped down and took a sample of a the seawater into a large vial of glass, with a small analyzer. It hummed to life and found nanites, and an abundance of microorganisms. Freshly terraformed. Probably a...what did they call themselves? The Galactic Confederacy? Or something like that. They were probably en route. Slow methods of transport as usual. The science team was also tAking samples and dissecting them down to their core technologies.Flare felt a little something here. At first she thought it
was just the planet, but the more she felt it, the more she realized that there was a strong will presence here. Something very strong, will-wise, had happened here. She could tell the others felt it too. It felt....Draconid. But there was another essence. Draconid...and yet not. She exhaled sharply, squinting out to sea.Aki frowned as she began to feel the same as Flare. Something had happened here. A mass will projection. She put a science team on it, tracking what this was and why it had happened. Alerts began sounding on the main console. There were spacial disturbances incoming. Wormholes, probably Draconid ones.
"Jump drive! Now! Im sorry Flare...we will come back...""May the empire protect you...Aki."The Erebus began to rumble, and let out a pop as it appeared to collapse in on itself. It traveled via wormhole far from this place. Flare and the others Took shelter inside the rocky mountains, Keeping cloaked and hoping that they could stay safe and alive long enough.