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First officer.
I still hadn't gotten used to the title, even though we've been out on patrol for a few months now.
My hand reached out to swipe some of the steam off of the mirror, having a private bathroom was an experience as well. Frowning at the mirror, I noticed there were scratches in the surface at odd intervals, though this ship was supposed to be new I had no doubt some of the pieces had been sourced from a scrapyard, she was just a destroyer after all.
I stared at the reflection on the dripping surface, the face it showed me wasn't exactly what I wanted, and I was sure it was the reason I hadn't managed to get this position, or higher, sooner. Part of it was mainly my fault but it still mainly stemmed from how I looked, or so I liked to tell myself.
My hand ran across the deep black scaling over the top of my head, down the ridges that adorned my face. It was the same across most of my body, a hard black receding to dark grey that lightened towards my neck and belly. My claw moved to around my eye, into a vibrant patch of toxic nuclear green scaling, the source of my issues. The green was almost neon in how bright it was, it wouldn't be so bad if it were just the striping and stippling leading away from my eyes down my back but the spots around my eyes greatly exaggerated almost all of my expressions. Keeping my face still it looked as if my eyes were wide in awe, frowning made them squeeze together whilst still managing to look slightly surprised. I'd been approached so many times by not just mammals and avians but from fellow odra, asking if I'd painted them on as it looked like 'eyeliner'. It got so bad during schooling and officer training that I'd painted over the marking to try blend them in, which just made it worse. Instead I got used to having a slight scowl, it arched them forwards enough to be mildly intimidating, if not normal.
If nothing else, I got good at bluffing games through the amount of practice I've had in a mirror.
Sighing, I looked towards my door, the low red light next to the threshold shone proudly, letting me know that I was still off duty. Not that it mattered, our second officer Kelli would expect me earlier, she was a stickler for rules and priority. On top of that I'm sure she hated me. It was no secret she thought she should have my position and that I didn't deserve it, but being such a straight arrow forced her subordination.
Even thinking of that made me smile.
After cleaning up and donning my uniform I made my way out into the short hall that would take me to the bridge. The ship was still almost immaculate, the crew had had a lot of time to keep her clean during this excursion. On the record we were out here to investigate a pirate presence and flex the muscles of the Odraani navy a little to show we still cared about these outer settlements. Off the record, I think this was just a set of training exercises to break in some fresh crews and ships, the fleet composition didn't match anything on record. One heavy cruiser, two cruisers and two destroyers, we were down the standard number of ships in almost all tonnages. Not to mention the route we took to get here was convoluted, maybe so the captains could put other officers in charge to get us back, if so they've done it in an odd way, we've been out here for ages.
We had flown out of the Ammari system, all of our ships with a fresh lick of paint to see them off, the dark sea in a storm grey proud upon the hulls, stripes of white and green accompanying them. Only the other destroyer and ourselves had been in berth long enough to get nose art. While they sported a traditional maw on their front for some reason we had 'the privilege' of being a bit more exotic. Two sets of eyes from the face of some exotic creature coupled with a maw that looked like shards of broken glass, the teeth mismatched and protruding at odd angles. I truly hated it at first buit it had grown on me... More like a tumour, or permanently scarred scaling than something I was fond of, as I couldn't imagine her any other way.
Before heading out we christened her the Narada.
The heavy cruiser, the heart of our fleet, was the Amastraan. Newly built like our own ship, this was her first flight. Being such a small fleet we were also using her as the cargo ship instead of trailing a hauler behind us. The cruiser on the inside of our wing was the Negan, an older variant but still able to keep up with newer ships in terms of firepower at a range. Our coil guns were newer and technically outranged her but the power plant she was packing made up for the technical differences. To the right of the Amastraan, running starboard wing was the cruiser Bimin. A true fossil of a ship, I'm sure she was pulled out of a graveyard just for this mission, we must have been lacking ships at command to dredge her up. Coilguns next to useless in this modern age but a skeleton that would be hard to buckle, from a time where closer ship to ship combat was more likely than today's artillery style of warfare. On the very outside of the fleet to starboard, opposite our position was the Recillan. Technically our sister destroyer but our parents were different. She was sporting the classic toothed grin and her construction reflected that, faster than our destroyer with lighter armour and guns she was built for speed where we were more the wallowing predator of the siblings, not to say we weren't fast, just not as fast I liked to think.
Reaching the door I needed, I put my clearance card up against the bridge panel and it slid open, letting me take in the command centre of the ship. It was a great crescent with tables running down the centre, various officers were busy at the consoles against the walls, others were in the centre overseeing operations or looking at charts. There were grander bridges aboard the larger vessels but the simple orientation of the destroyer made him feel at home, it was cosy in a way. I've been trying to think of the Narada as my home ever since assigned here.
“Officer on deck!” A strong female voice called out, my being called in must mean Captain Lacaal wasn't here.
“Officer Kelli are you in command?” I turned toward the orange and black odra standing near the centre of the room, her arms clasped behind her in a picture of officer quality. Her long horns protruding from underneath her cap.
“Aye sir” She said crisply.
“I'm relieving you of command, as you were”
“Aye, command relinquished to First Officer Kendiss” Her hands returned to her front, “You're early to the bridge”
“Didn't want to disappoint you” I smiled, walking over to one of the command consoles, casting an eye over where exactly we might be as well as the fleet position. Our sensors were powered down but we weren't running silent, we were keeping fleet position by sight alone. Frowning, I leaned over our Nav officer Miila, She was looking prim in her uniform, her light grey scales accented with a light blue. She blushed and hunched up slightly as I went over, it wasn't really fair to tease her like this but she has had her fair share of toying with me and deserved some back.
“You needn't seek my approval sir, though the captain was adamant you wouldn't return with the leave he gave you” Kelli said, her face completely passive as she observed from a distance. I didn't know how to feel about the captain yet. He had a very long and respectable record, nearing his retirement, same with the majority of the captains in our fleet. But he'd filled his command crew with green officers, in fact this was the first outing for many of us, the only people with some experience were the engineering crew, apparently the new engines aboard our vessel needed an experienced hand to wield properly. The captain had seemed aloof for the duration of the mission so far, not getting to know his officers, I'd put it down to him thinking of retiring soon and this was just another milk run to train some newbies.
“Uh huh, and where is our captain now?” I asked, turning to face her.
“He didn't say where he was going, he doesn't need to” She replied.
“No, but he should say so in case of an emergency” I turned back to the console, “Start the sensors back up, if you please” I didn't like the idea of running blind, we weren't even picking up passive pings from our fleet, meaning they were running sensors off too, at least the ones with powerful scopes like our sister destroyer.
“Aye sir” Miila answered, her hands working fast, obviously grateful she was given something to do. Kelli moved forwards slightly, her hands behind her back again and a look of concern on her face.
“The captain ordered all sensors off” Kelli said.
“Well the captain isn't here now. We're running port flank, our sensors should be active” I said firmly.
“I was just following orders”
“Well maybe that was the point, the orders contradicted what we should be doing. You know we're out here for test runs. He probably asked you to leave them off to see how long it took to get them back on” I frowned, it was a dumb reason but the only one I could really think of. Kelli didn't respond, she just looked down slightly, one of her fists self consciously balling before she noticed and relaxed. “As soon as the Recillan gets our sensor active on their passive they should turn theirs on as well” I hoped so anyway and that I wasn't just causing a massive blunder, “If not then maybe we can break radio-” Several quick pings broke my sentence.
“Sir! unidentified contacts, grid spacing 50, 30 and 60, 330!” Miila's voice almost quivered as she read out the numbers.
“General alert!” I turned and pointed to Kelli, “Have the guns run out and loaded, breach teams in position, then see if you can find the captain!” I didn't mean to talk so loudly, I made a conscious effort to keep my voice level and in control, “Comms, raise the Recillan, I want a direct line immediately” The control room dimmed as the alert took effect, people bustled at their stations. I didn't want to move the ship out of position until I knew everyone else had received the message there were ships in the area, for all I knew it could be more Odraani vessels and we'd just managed to run into them on a normal meetup, it seemed unlikely though without sensors and no IDF codes being transmitted, “Miila, how far out are they to our starboard?”
“5 kilometres from the Recillan”
They should be able to see the fucking things.
“Sir, Recillan has failed to respond to hails but direct contact has been linked!” Comms officer Cezaak called over. My body twisted around the central platform, my tail intuitively following the curve, “Comms open” Cezaak said, holding down the transmission button.
“Recillan, This is First Officer Kendiss of the Narada, you have unidentified incoming off your starboard side, activate radar immediately” I stressed into the channel, Cezaak let the button go so we could wait for a response, I turned towards weapons command where Kelli was hovering around, “Report on weapons status Officer Kelli”
“Coil guns loaded, heat sinks inline, wings covered sir” Kelli read off, I nodded my head, the gunnery may be as fresh as we are but we've had nothing but time to practice. I was about to reply when a blurt of static came over the comms.
“Narada, this is Recill-” the report of a pistol interrupted them, with a scream, the voice returned but heavily laboured, “Recillan... ahh bridge compromised, we-” The guttural roar of a breaching shotgun sounded over the line with another scream. The feedback over the line whined to a high pitch then cut out.
“Line is dead sir...” Cezaak said softly, his yellow scaling almost pale white. I turned around quickly, trying to keep myself composed, my sharp teeth compressing tightly to keep my maw straight. I couldn't think about the reasoning behind everything right now, my main priority was the ship.
“Hail the rest of the fleet, any ship at all, just keep trying until we get an answer” I moved off into the centre of the room where Navigation was, “pull up all outside views, I need to see around the ship, I want a zoom on the Recillan” The screens in front of me flashed up, the myriad of cameras that show the outside of the ship adjusting to combat positions, giving a 360 degree view of outside the ship. I could see all of the fleet, but some of them were veering off course, the closest light cruiser to the Recillan seemed to be turning towards her, whilst the Amastraan, the heavy cruiser that carried the core of our fleet, was staying true to her original heading. I focused on the ships appearing in the distance, our cameras zooming in to catch them and my breath caught in my throat, “Miila, how many ships are out there, do you have a true reading?”
“Sir, eight vessels on radar that are not of the fleet” her voice was weak as she answered. A flash appeared on the screen, an explosion took the rear of the Recillan, flames chased out of her port side before she started listing.
“Coil guns” I muttered, thinking quickly, “we can't assume the fleet is lost, change bearing to 30 degrees port side, slow speed to one third, present a smaller profile at the front where we can take a hit if we need to” I pointed towards security, “Evacuate all non essential personnel from the stem of the ship, place security teams with spare oxygen at all bulkheads”
“Aye sir, 30 degrees port, one third speed” the response came from Nolah at the helm. The view on the cameras shifted instantly, then rotated to compensate. The Narada might not be the biggest ship in the fleet but at least she can turn.
“Sir, I am unable to locate the captain” Kelli reported in, appearing suddenly at my side, standing taller than I was, exaggerated by her horns, “you still have command” She sounded almost regretful.
“Well I'm just as upset about that as you are” I couldn't hide the venom in my tone, this was the wrong time to bring up personal prejudices. There was something wrong in all of this, “Have security posted at the escape pods, I want nothing off this ship unless there's an evacuation sounded” I hated that I even had to say this, “Regardless of rank”
“Aye... Sir” Kelli responded, I knew she was smart, smarter than me anyway. She should be able to see what I was getting at.
In my view another coil punched through the Recillan, just behind her main reactor, the engines flickered and then died, the only light remaining was the heat wash slowly dissipating. I clenched my hands, some of those ships coming towards us were large, as large as our heavy cruiser, but without any sort of fleet coordination we were just going to be picked off without mounting a defence, the Bimin was just making a suicide run at this point, aiming at one of the larger vessels. The smaller, destroyer sized vessels looked to be skirting the Bimin, trying to run past her to get into the heart of the fleet. These definitely weren't military, the standard code would be sitting back and trading blows but these guys were getting into the thick of it, they'd be torn apart if something hadn't compromised the organisation of the fleet. The Negan, off our starboard had twisted and come to almost a stop, waiting for us to catch up.
“The Negan, have they responded to our hails?” I called out, turning my head towards Miila's screens to see if we would meet up with her before the enemy ships closed in.
“Negative sir, no reply to our hails”
“Alright, open a channel to them” I heard the clicks and the whine, without waiting I called out, “Negan, this is the Narada, if you're receiving this flare engines to one hundred percent before slowing back down” I stared intently at the view screens, my brow furrowing. A sudden burst of light lit the back of the Negan right before it died out again, I slammed my hand against the desk, “Alright we have something, Negan I don't know why you don't have comms but we need to maintain some form of cohesion. You're going to have to listen and follow my lead for now until we can receive from you. There are too many ships out there but we need to at least try and see if the Amastraan can be saved, we'll pull up and cover your starboard flank, over” I ended it uncertainly. I had no idea what our other cruiser was doing but the Amastraan had long coil guns it should have been firing by now if everything were going fine over there. We could only cover them and hope whatever troubles they were having on board were resolved. If they were having a blackout like we were put under then they might not even know we'd already lost a destroyer.
Out in the distance the Bimin had engaged, she fired broadsides in both directions, aiming for the destroyers skimming around her, the port side struck true, a great flare flashing across the screen as the ship snapped in two. A direct hit on her reactors producing an uncontrollable reaction.
“One down” I muttered. One of the larger ships raised her prow to the cruiser, two puffs of smoke appearing at her base, whisped off quickly into the void by the vacuum. “Miila, any readings?”
“Radiation spikes sir”
“Dummy Torpedoes, dirty too, these people are using some archaic weaponry” I had the scanners zoom in, a foreboding sense overcoming me.
“They should be able to shoot those down with the point defence batteries” Kelli spoke from behind me. I'd almost forgotten she was there in the tumult.
“Not from that angle, she isn't presenting a battery flank to them” I breathed out. Flares and pops appeared on the surface of the cruiser, her point defence batteries firing off but not able to get an angle directly in front of the prow. The ship was trying to turn now, knowing what was coming, its flank speed run into combat turning against it. Another of the large ships started disgorging craft, all of them making a line to the heavy cruiser. “What do those look like to you Kelli?”
“Boarding craft” She said promptly, with just a hint of disbelief in her voice, “they want the Amastraan”
“Contact!”
My eyes went back to the Bimin, nothing seemed to happen in her ungainly roll until she flashed from within, an angry red flared inside her, highlighting every single piece of armour welded to her as if someone had shone a torch through a model. The paint peeled a second before the hull plating buckled outwards, atmosphere vented throwing out debris, subsidiary explosions rocketed more parts and shrapnel into space. To add to this the ships around her started firing into the corpse of the cruiser, causing it to jerk spasmodically. Molten steel congealed into long, twisted threads that looked like the roots of some great tree, chasing the coil shots that punched the hull. Metal tendrils bled from the ships bow as the pressure differences sucked out the molten core of the ship after the nuclear warheads had reduced her guts to slag, then the hollowed hull sagged in on itself. What was once a cruiser of the Odraani navy now hung there in space like the carcass of some odd metallic animal.
My mouth hung agape, there was no need for such brutality, the ship was clearly out of the fight.
“They're trying to scare us” Kelli breathed out.
“It's worked” I said deadpan, turning towards comms, “we're leaving, get a message to the Negan, we're turning starboard and making leave at speed before we get surrounded, follow in our wake to present less of a target” I moved over to Navigation at a quick trot, “Start making the turn, keep it loose enough that the Negan can follow us easily, she's a larger ship” I made to move back over to the maps when the ship rocked heavily, throwing me to the ground. A great creak sounded from the bow of the ship all the way to the aft as the structure compensated.
“Long distance coil fire, impact on the prow!” A voice called from damage control. Shaking my head I stood back up, the ground was still level beneath me so all the compensators were working.
“Damage report!” Steadying myself I saw that Nolah had his hands gripping onto console to hold himself still, his knuckles paling from the pressure, “Nolah! Complete that turn!”
“A-Aye sir” He relaxed slightly, returning his hands to the helm controls. Kelli, who appeared to have not fallen at all went over beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder.
“Damage reports coming through, shell impact at roughly 45 degree angle on port side, decks ten through fourteen open to atmosphere in sections A through D, bulkheads closed and holding. Incomplete round penetration, the shell is still somewhere in the ship. Casualty reports pending”
“We can worry about all that once we're out of here, any damage to systems?”
“Forward radar operations limited, visuals limited, quarters impacted-”
Another great squeal ran across the ship, making me grip the closest console hard, my teeth clenching hard, a vibration louder than anything I'd ever heard shook through my bones making my gums tingle. It was like the largest nail had scraped down the coarsest chalkboard.
“Radiation spikes detected!”
I rubbed my jaw, moving back around to the view screens, there were a few blank spots on the front cameras but we'd almost completed the lazy turn and I was more interested in what was behind us now. The ships were far off and just seemed to be taking pot shots at us, I couldn't pick out the warhead travelling towards us, it had probably been moving for a while and only recently armed. I could only guess where it was coming from based on where the ships were, but if one managed to drill through the top of a cruiser it would make short work of burrowing deep into our flank before detonating. A shadow fell across the rear of the ship, Negan completing her own turn to come in behind us, flames peeled from her flank, seems she'd been the main target for the random coil fire and now I could see why. Her coils were firing at regular intervals at the Amastraan, trying to cripple our own vessel as it was being boarded.
I wasn't even thinking of regulations at this point, I'm sure Kelli would bring it up later but even then I don't think I'd have the heart to order fire upon friendlies.
The side of the Negan opened up with point defence fire, looking as if she had caught sight of the torpedo as well.
“Everyone hold on! Signal ship wide brace alert! Retract heat diffusion wings!” I shouted above the clamour.
A white flash filled the screens like a supernova, throwing the shape of the Negan in a harsh silhouette, the light spread and encompassed the ship at the same moment the cameras shut off, the outside heat nearing that of a sun fusing the glass in the instruments. The radar screens showed nothing but white noise before the ship was physically rocked, too hard for the inertial dampeners and gravity generators to compensate for, shoving everyone aside, flooring a few of us.
“I want radars and screens back up, we need visuals and momentum” I called out amidst the groans of people righting themselves.
“Engines report overheating from external wash Sir!” Came the call from logistics.
“Extend the heat wings again, eject cells as required, send the message down, we need full power as soon as possible” I rubbed my head, I don't even remember hitting it but I was bleeding from somewhere, “we don't know if there's another of those on the way”
“Radar back online, we're a few kilometres from where we were sir, seems we rode the wash of the explosion” Miila called, her voice cracking.
“And the Negan?”
“Much closer to us than she was, she's punching engines though to not lose any speed”
“Follow them, don't outpace them, she'll be far more damaged than we are” I could see on screen that she was expelling heat rods burning hot enough to appear on radar, bright blips in her wake amongst the flames that still crowded her side. I dropped into the captain's chair, almost too afraid to ask, “And what about our bogeys out there?”
“They don't seem to be giving chase, they're crowding around the Amastraan” Her voice dipped lower, “Maybe they think we'll just limp off to die somewhere”
“Well, we'll make sure that doesn't happen, the Paktum needs to know what happened here” I sighed heavily, holding my head in my hands as various reports from across the ship started flooding in. A shadow fell across me and I looked up, Kelli standing in front of me, her hands clasped behind her back, something had torn her uniform from her shoulder,a small trickle of blood running down her breast.
“We need to talk about our situation” She said simply.
I looked around, even now engineers were flooding the room, trying to repair any consoles that were damaged. More than one officer was hugging their fellows, even though I knew for a fact they weren't even friends. I looked down at the captains chair I was in, blood smeared an armrest but was already drying into the felt. I looked back up into her eyes.
“Yes, we do”