Whispers of Danger

Partially relieved, Denaeya continued. "So, you don't think that there would be an active threat currently near those ships?"

Denaeya typed furiously, recording the important tidbits of what the General said in case she needed to refer back to them later.

"There is no way for me to tell what lies beyond the rubble. If those ships have been there since the war it is likely that pirates and scrappers have taken up residence near the resource pool. If the ship you're tracking is located within the ruins it may have been attacked by the other parties in order to defend the prize of whatever remains useful of the floating parts." he paused for a moment. "If you deem necessary I can permit a armed fighter to join up with the team under defensive protocols."

"Please do," Denaeya answered briskly. "We're part of a coalition including CSCC, OMNE's Securion, and a delegation of Zeonites, but we're a very small force - just recon, really. We are not prepared for an armed encounter. Many of us are civilians." She paused. "Sir, another thing - there are some deceased bodies in and around the rubble. I believe they are Novalysian as well. We can assist in recovery once the area is cleared." She spoke somewhat softly now, knowing it was never easy for someone to hear of his own colony's men being found dead. The professionalism in her voice was clear - she had done this before.

"I appreciate the sentiment, it is not often that a Novalysian soldier is recovered," his voice sounded grimly appreciative, despite it only being a neuro transmission it sounded undoubtedly human and hardly detectable that he was not actually speaking. "A fighter will arrive within the hour...under no circumstances however will the ship be permitted to authorize Zeonite civs to board. That is not my call, I'm sorry. If there is anything more I can do to help you do not hesitate to contact me directly."

As promised a fighter was armed and dispatched to their location within the hour. A transmission would be sent upon approaching the coalition.

"This is captain Roryn Pierce, commander of this vessel. I am under orders to accompany the Search and Rescue efforts and defend if a threat arises. Do you copy?"

"Thank you, General," Denaeya said before ending the transmission. She immediately forwarded all the necessary information to the other leaders of the party and informed them that there would be additional reinforcements en route from Novalyse after discovering that there were destroyed Novalysian ships at the location.

"This is Captain Erde of the CSCC expeditionary ship the Ptolemaios, Glad to have you, the port side Docking bay is alittle cramped at the moment with other vessels, the starboard docking bay is cleared for you Navigation will transmit vectors. Securion and the Zeonites have set up a defensive perimeter, and the Deysian ship has set probes to remotely scan the area and beam back to us. We've also set out 4 transmission buoys to strengthen communication into the field and back to Crest sector. We are currently convening in the main conference room, A junior officer will show you up once you have landed."

"Roger that, altering course to the starboard docking bay. Over." the voice echoed over the com as the Kalanda 1rst Class fighter manuvered to the starboard docks and followed the incoming vectors for landing.  



The cockpit hatch raised, giving way for the man inside to smoothly slide down the side of it's hall.  It was exactly what Thorne had said, one fighter, one pilot armed to the teeth with the latest in Novalysian weaponry.  Roryn followed the junior officer further into the hall of the Cascadian ship to the conference room.

Denaeya had already taken her seat in the conference room, never missing a second of work by typing away furiously at her DataPad to keep up with the latest updates from her crew still on their ships.

She looked up at Roryn. Even being used to seeing military personnel didn't quite get her inner civilian accustomed to seeing a fully decked-out, combat-ready Novalysian fighter pilot. She looked up and studied him for a few moments, nodded respectfully, and looked back down at her DataPad while she waited for the briefing to begin.

Roryn was a young man, looked to be in his early to mid twenties, dressed in slim leather pilot's armor in the same colors as his fighter. At either side was a MASK II W duel- caliber plasma/traditional round side arms(found in factbook). Roryn waited in the doorway for further instructions from anyone inside the conference room.

:: Captain Erde stood up as he waited in the doorway:; Captain Roryn please come in and take a seat . We're just waiting a few more moments for everyone to arrive and we can begin a more indepth briefing. We're glad Novalyse was able to send one, the situation seems far more grim then when we all first encountered the distress signal.

The Zeonite forces and Security ship had created the perimeter as they were ordered, the leader of both groups had come back to the ship while the others patrolled the area around them. If anything moved out there, it wouldn't surprise them. The lead Security Operative there for the briefing was operative 3.B, the Zeonite was squad leader Sanji Yurei.

Roryn sat down and waited in silence for the others. He was young and not accustomed to intercolonial exchange, usually if he was involved he was locking targets to fire, not sitting about having a chat. This was dedicatedly not what he expected upon his arrival.

:; Captain Erde stood and greeted everyone:: " Now that everyone is back, and our new arrival is here lets begin. We've ascertained that this debris field is basicaly a dumping ground or at the very least a ship graveyard. There is alarge number of old Novalysian ships and somewhere inside is an active distress signal. :: displays images and scans above the the meeting table in a 3d holographic display:: We need to figure out our plan to keep us safe and get in so we can investigate the signal. Suggestions?

"Generally, our protocol would be to keep all civilian ships back and with a perimeter defense while the area was cleared and secured. How many ships altogether can we spare after that?" Denaeya asked.

"I believe the only fully civilian ships are among your group. The Ptolemaios, is an exploratory vessel but is a commissioned military space craft, and I assume the same goes for the Zeon and OMNE vessels. It goes without saying that the Ptolemaios is simply too large to enter and well maneuver within the debris field though. I would propose that the area be cleared bit by bit and we can enlarge our perimeter and move forward, though i will ask that we all remember there are possibly lives out there depending on us."

Operative 3.B nodded "If we want to clear the field a bit, our ship has a small repulsion gun I can fire from the driver's seat, it could push some of the larger wreckage out of the way.

Sanji nodded "The fighters we brought aren't really equipped for this type of thing, but we could definitely form a security detail for the people clearing the field.

"Then I suppose that's our only option," Denaeya conceded. "It'd be a no-go to split up any further, and if there's an active distress signal from somewhere within that wreckage, we can't buy too much more time. I say we clear it as best as we can and move in."

"The Vanishin is equipped with medium grade weaponry and armor so just tell me where to shoot." Roryn said as he leaned back in his chair, propping one boot on his opposite knee.

" All right we're decided then. The Zeonites will escort the OMNE crew ahead of us clearing a path following Danaeya's best calculations and Roryn will stay with the Ptolemaios as we follow. Our own fighter craft will prepare to launch should we require it and we'll go straight for the signal. Any querstions?

"No sir," Denaeya answered. "We're ready."

The Zeonites and OMNE personnel were all ready to move out and clear the way

"The Vanishin in locked, loaded, and ready." Roryn spoke, staying up and turning to the door of the conference room. "Let's go."

O.M.N.E immediately got to work moving the rubble and blasting away debris to make it possible for the other ships to move through, the Zeonite forces guarded the OMNE force and flew a perimeter. When there was a larger chunk of debris near the OMNE vessel the Zeonite forces would use small munitions fire to break it up quickly so they could blast it out of the way.

The ADR ships - with the exception of the unmanned scout drones, of course - contained themselves safely within the perimeter of the other ships, being incapable of doing much more to help. They continued running scans and crunching intel on the surrounding area, prepared to dissect every tidbit of information that might come their way.

:: the Ptolemaios would move forward giving the OMNE ship plenty of room to maneuver and clear debris out of the way, when ever there was a VERY large piece of debris, the Ptolemaios would fire what appeared to be a higher than ussuall powered cascadian plasma beam and either destroy or cut it into more manageable peices::