28 (DSV Nautica) Recovery
The FTL tunnel dissipated, the Erebus returning to normal space. The scans began almost immediately."Captain, No survivors are being detected..." De'ans voice was heavy with remorse and anger.Aki exhaled through her nose, sighing heavily. She wasn't surprised, but it still pissed her off. "Okay. Maneuver the ship toward the Thanatos slowly. Prepare a salvage team to check if its still flyable, needs repairs, or if its totally trashed."Flare began putting the team together as soon as she could, hurrying down to the launch bay. Zhi joined her as well, as per Aki's orders. He tasted the bitter in his mouth, Aki still angry at him for sabotaging the ship. Her love for him was, at the moment, the only thing keeping him out of a cell and put up for court martial. He couldn't raise a finger against her. That could make her snap."De'an, cloak."Just as De'an began the cloaking process, an explosion resonated from the rear of the ship. Alarms resonated throughout the hull, circuits and conduits flashing red for a brief moment to sound the alarm.
"Cloak failure! FTL offline!" De'an shouted."Weapons!"Conduits flared as the plasma emitters warmed, the primary weapon engaging. A lone draconid soared away from the hull, obviously having caused the damage to the drive. Will energy bolts lit the dark space up, targeting him, but fifteen more draconids decloaked from their hiding spots around the wreckage of the Thanatos, and began rocketing toward the Erebus."how predictable...Fire!"The main weapon arced out, slamming into two of the Draconids, sending them reeling with nasty injuries, but the rest reached the Erebus and slammed into the hull, bouncing back off and slamming into it again.Metal let out screeches from the stress, the conduits being drained of their power in attempts to leave them dead in the water. Looked like that was how the Draconids had drained the Thanatos."De'an. Please run them over." Aki felt a trickle of sweat on her brow, and a feeling like she had been gut punched. Everyone else was feeling the same, barely maintaining composure.
Erebus rotated on its axis lazily, then abruptly lurched forward, thowing a few draconids off the front, then tilting up and forward, slamming their bodies into the diamond hull of the ship.Flare had just finished putting together the team, when Aa'zac made his appearance, wearing combat gear for a civilian scientist. This had not been expected, prompting Flare to pull him aside."Aa'zac, what are you doing?" Her voice was rife with concern and irritation. She didn't want him out there for fear the Draconids would harm him, but she would never admit that out loud. That would compromise her.."The captain told me to come along. I don't know why, but hey. Orders are orders."He
grinned deviously and nodded toward the hangar launch bay. "We gonna go?"Flare opened and closed her mouth several times, feeling a mix between anger, concern, and confusion. She didnt get to sort out her thoughts before the hangar personnel began yelling. "Go! Go! Go!" Her team was about to leave without her. She cursed and began running, flashing a glare back at Aa'zac. Don't you dare get into any trouble...He just gave her a devious grin before they all jumped onto their boards, surfing out of the launch bay and cloaking. Dragons had been waiting for them on the other side, but their cloaks prevailed. This gave Flare an idea. They manuvered very carefully to within 5 meters of the dragons hiding spots, and began providing targeting information for the Erebus. Back on the bridge, De'an aligned the main weapon, firing the ribbon at the launch bay. The group of 12 split into 4 groups of three, each group jumping, shocking, and hurling a dragon away from the launch bay, completely cloaked the whole time. The main weapon proved too much for the dragons to handle, resulting in 4 losses on the dragons side.
Inside the Erebus, cheers erupted at the victory, The team outside feeling prouder than the day they had graduated their societal training. But their victory was a small one, and the other dragons were mad. That total made 7 of the 15 dead or incapacitated were out of the fight. Two were incapacitated, and five dead. That was unprecedented, and infuriating to the dragons. A shudder through the Erebus snapped everyone back to the situation, but it was too late. A breach had occurred. The repair subsystems had sealed it, but it had allowed a dragon to get inside."BREACH!" Aki nearly threw De'an across the room. This was the worst nightmare a captain could face. But she had to act fast or it would be five dead draconids and all dead Ayr'een.The Matriarch waited in the chamber, waited for the news that all pilots had returned safely. With a mere thought, she conjured up a display that filled the wall, a 10 by 20 meter space displaying the resonance nodes between the two galaxies. It had just recently been severed, and the next best guess for its realignment was 25 cycles. A somber acolyte entered the room. She could sense he did not have good news.
"Speak, child."The youth seemed nervous. "All but two have returned, Matriarch. Captain Eyr'Ash'ai and Captain Nee'Ak'Ee'Oh have not reported in to us."The Matriarch exhaled and took a seat in the large throne like chair, sitting upright and looking down her nose at the Acoyte. He hadn't done anything wrong, she couldn't punish him."Please...bring me the Curator. Immediately."The acolyte was still puzzled, but knew better than to question it."Yes, Ma'am..."The acolyte scurried out of the room, closing the door behind her. The Matriarch rotated the chair to face
the star-filled sky outside. One of the nine dreadnaughts was close to the station, locked in orbit around Hyperborea, their mobile, Orbital city. Their true home.Not 5 minutes had passed before the Curator bowed her way into the Matriarchs chamber"My Matriarch, how may I be of service?:"I want some old research files. On the Bifrost."The Curator looked totally puzzled, but nodded. "Of course.""That is all."The Curator left the room, hurrying toward the libraries to fetch what the Matriarch wanted. She waved all the Acolytes aside, entering the vast library hall, stepping onto a hoverboard as it lazily rose off the ground. The library of New Ayr was the largest, most comprehensive collection of data among the stars. It stretched for miles upon miles, all the sections independent from eachother with tight security. Real time backups were kept across the galaxy, in specially built space enclaves, except for one feature. Nothing could ever be erased. Even the ancient cataloging mistakes were logged. Of course the main library was error free, but the backups retained those errors for one simple reason: Nothing would be ever lost.
The board carried the Curator a short way down the hall, before stopping at an inconspicuous will metal door. The board discreetly took DNA samples, checking will signatures, bio readings, even hair color analysis to the monthly records taken by the Medical offices. As soon as the Curators identity was verified, the doors quietly slid open to reveal a second door a short way in, the two pairs forming a kind of airlock. The doors closed behind her, leaving the room fully dark. A scan was running, checking for any unauthorized individuals inside with her. Should there be any, they would be rendered unconscious for interrogation.The doors before her slid open to reveal a small library room, cases lining the walls with databanks, specimens, and even some written notes. This was the secret archive, some of the most sensitive and dangerous research conducted by the Ayr'een was in this room.She stepped to the middle of the room, a holographic interface materializing before her. She selected the bifrost research project. One of the data stones hovered slowly toward the center of the room, eventually coming to a rest at her chest level. She gently cupped her hands around it, the stone dropping into her hands. The display disappeared behind her as she exited the room, going through the same checks again as she left.
Upon exiting the library, she was met by a protector escort back to the Matriarchs chamber."Thank you.""My pleasure, but Ma'am..""Yes?""Well, why would you want to examine this project again? It was deprecated for being too dangerous.""No. It was deprecated for being too ambitious."