Two weeks had passed and Parel found himself wondering what he had gotten himself into. Sanders wasn't speaking to him, Parel's most recent stunt had got them into more trouble. Parel just never knew when to quit and so the brass decided to teach him one final lesson. Sanders had begged Parel not to buzz the bridge of the Oussed. They were out training a group of new pilots and were just coming in for their mid break.
Needless to say the stunt in all of it's glory didn't fair well with the captain. They were immediately grounded from flight status and confined to quarters. Needless to say Sanders wasn't entirely pleased with current events.
"I told you that your stunts were going to get us in trouble," Sanders sighed.
"And I told you I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble," Parel said.
"Don't you get it? I'm your co-pilot, everything you do reflects back to me."
"I'm sorry, I promise no more stunts. I'll be a good boy from now on."
"Right, and Andrasels can fly."
"Uh, no they can't."
"That's my point, they can't fly and you can't stop. Thirty seconds until hyperspace exit."
Parel chuckled, "Seriously, no more stunts. At least, for a while."
Sanders moaned.
"Exiting hyperspace," Parel said.
Nova One dropped back into normal space. They had arrived at the Thales sector and to Grendal Outpost. Large asteroids floated around the outpost in constant movement. Grendal itself was half buried into one of the largest asteroids. It helped shield it from scans, unless you were looking for the outpost you could easily miss it with a simple scan.
Parel and Sanders had been ordered by the Brass to come and take over the outpost and relieve the current two person staff. Sanders didn't like what he was seeing on the sensor sweeps. The outpost wasn't putting out any noticeable energy readings, it looked dead.
"That's strange..." Sanders said.
"What is?" Parel asked.
"The outpost looks dead. I should be getting some type of energy readings but I'm not getting anything. Everything looks like it's offline."
Alarms filled the cockpit suddenly making Parel jump, "What the hell?"
"Incoming missile, 6 'o'clock. I have two bogies slipping out from behind an asteroid. Computer is saying they're medium class Keteshed fighters."
Parel dumped all the power he could into the engines, "Where the hell did they come from? What the hell is going on this is supposed to be a quiet sector."
Parel pointed the fighter towards the outpost as he tried to out run the missile. Sanders dumped a couple decoys but the missile ignored them as it closed on them. Parel swooped down and started to follow a ravine in the surface of the asteroid as he closed in on the outpost. The missile followed gaining as Parel swerved around the corners.
"Impact in 20 seconds..." Sanders reported. "It has some type of image recognition system, I can't fool it with the decoys."
"Where are those fighters?" Parel said as he pulled up out of the ravine.
"They're back there but out of range, I don't see them on the scope."
Parel pushed the fighter for all it was worth as he hugged the surface. He was almost there, just a bit further and they would be safe. Grendal outpost loomed in the distance as the small fight sped towards it.
"Impact in 10 seconds..." Sanders reported.
Parel watch as they passed close to one of the closed landing bays. Damage was evident on the outpost, it had been attacked recently.
"Sanders, keep an eye out for more ships. The outpost has been attacked recently."
"Impact in 5 seconds... Ok, starting system scan, lower band."
Parel spotted what he was looking for, a half open landing bay, "Here we go..."
"Oh shit, your fucking crazy..." Sanders complaint was cut off as Parel started a maneuver.
Parel cut the engines, twisting the fighter so they were looking at the outer hull of the outpost as they moved. When Parel caught the sight of the landing bay he poured power into the engines and maneuvering thrusters. The small fighter groaned as it tried to stay together.
"3 seconds to impact..."
Nova One shot through the opening as the missile impacted the outer doors to the landing bay. The explosion from the missile caught the small fighter causing it to flip end over end.
"Seal your suit, this isn't going to be pretty," Parel yelled.
Sanders struggled to reach up just barely managing to hit the button that caused his suit to seal. Parel had managed to get his suit sealed and hit the off switches to cut all power to the small fighter. Nova One slammed into one of the walls as it ricocheted towards the floor. Pieces of the fighter spun past them as it broke apart. It slammed into the floor and skidded into the back wall. The force of the impact cracked the cockpit as the unmistakable sound of depressurization filled the air.
Sanders shook his head to clear it as they came to a rest. He reached up and thumbed the canopy release. Small valves opened allowing the inside and outside pressure to equalize before the canopy blew off. Sanders unbuckled his harness and jumped out of the destroyed fighter, pushing himself towards the floor. His suit shoes magnetized as his feet came into contact with the floor.
Parel landed next to Sanders and reached up thumbing the panel open on the fighter. He pulled two survival kits out handing one to Sanders. He also grabbed the two rifles stored there checking one before handing it to Sanders.
"Come on lets move, I don't know how long that will keep them fooled," Parel said.
Sanders nodded as he touched a sequence of numbers on a pad attached to his wrist. A hum started to issue from the downed fighter as him and Parel made their way towards the main entrance to the outpost. Slowly the fighter crumbled in on itself and was soon no bigger than a lump of coal. This procedure was used to keep their technology from falling into the wrong hands. It also shot a small tight wave transmission beam signaling the nearest friendly forces of their position.
The two fighters watched the explosion from a distance. They slowed their speed and started scanning as they passed the outpost. Finding nothing but debris they logged the enemy fighter destroyed. They made one last sweep of the area before they jumped to hyperspace.
Sanders and Parel approached the main control room slowly as they scanned for life signs. The outpost was dead as far as they could tell. Parel reached up and cycled the doors to the control room open. The crank didn't want to move at first but finally gave way as the two doors slowly opened. Sanders dropped to a knee and covered the room.
"I got nothing on the scans. No one's home," Sanders said.
Parel grunted as he turned the handle one last time, "It looks like the outpost was boarded. There's enough minimal power running that the emergency lights are active. There were also signs of a battle back in to mess room."
"Yeah, but there's no bodies anywhere; where are the two pilot's that were stationed here?" Sanders said as he inched towards the opening.
Parel leaned around the corner and thumbed his rifles light. The light showed a large gaping hole in the far wall of the control room. The containment field wasn't in place. "Not enough energy to even power containment. What the hell is going on here? This is supposed to be a quiet sector. There hasn't been enemy activity here in years."
"Well, I hate to say it, but there is now. We need to make our way down to the power core. See if we can bring it back online," Sanders said, looking at a map displayed on his arm pad.
Parel grabbed him by the arm, "Wait, if we bring the systems back online they will know we're alive."
"Yes they will, but if we bring the power back online and the defenses at the same time we might take them by surprise."
"And if we don't."
"Don't what?"
"Take them by surprise."
"Then I guess it's all over."
"I don't like those odds."
"I hate to tell you this Parel, but we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. These suits only hold so much oxygen, and only so much food. We can either give it our best shot or hide and die a horrible death."
Parel blanched, "Didn't think of it that way, maybe there's a fighter somewhere on the outpost we can use to escape in."
"There wasn't another one in the launch bay we crashed in and the other launch bay is sealed. It will take power to cycle the doors open. There's no crank handle for them."
Parel nodded, "Then I guess we hope they're either gone or we catch them by surprise."
Sanders started down the hall as Parel followed trying to cover their rear.
The Oussed came out of her hyperspace jump and into a shit storm. They ended up in the middle of a full fledged battle. Klaxons blared as she took several hits before her shields came online. Captain Riase stumbled from his office as the Oussed shook from the impacts of missiles.
"What the hell is going on here?" Riase yelled.
"We're being hailed by the Moquez," Comm. reported.
Riase stumbled as the Oussed was hit again, "Put it through."
"Admiral Eradoie on comms," Comm. reported.
"Admiral this is Captain Riase..."
"I don't have time for pleasantries Captain. This was a surprise attack by the Huppea Empire. I need you to lean support to the Gallast. It seems we we're caught with our pants..." The screen faded and filled with static.
"Get the Admiral back right now," Riase said as he took his command chair.
"Captain, shields down to 45%, minor damage to decks 3 and 4. Launch bay one reports major damage. Casualties reported on all decks, medical is responding." Damage control reported.
Riase looked up at the main screen which showed a major battle going on. The Moquez was caught in the center of several ships when she blew. Two of the ships caught in the blast had secondary explosions and loss of power.
"Damn it all to hell, Helm get us to the Gallant. Return fire and get some fighter support launched."
"Launch systems are down Sir. Engineering reports 20 minutes until they're back on line." Damage Control reported.
"Like hell twenty minutes, you tell them to make that a priority. We won't last long without fighter support. Put a call out to Nova One, priority Alpha. They're to return will all haste to these coordinates."
The Oussed lumbered in her turn and picked up speed closing the gap to the heavily damaged Gallast. Two medium cruisers dogged her as she tried to reach the already dead ship. Torpedoes and lasers lanced out cutting paths of destruction in her hull. Two more enemy ships broke from their engagement and started to intercept the Oussed. The Oussed rolled as she fired back the ships that were gaining on her.
"Captain, the Gallast has taken heavy damage. I'm reading several internal explosions and her main power core just went offline," Tactical reported.
"Life signs or life pods?" Riase asked as he stood from his chair.
"No Sir, none. Life support is offline and systems are shutting down. I'm detecting internal fires and massive internal damage."
"Who's left?"
"No one Sir, we're the last," Tactical reported.
Riase paled as he fell back into his chair, "You mean to tell me the entire Corfal Fleet has been destroyed? Has there been any hyperspace jumps?"
"No Sir," Tactical reported.
An explosion rocked the Oussed as Riase stared at the screen in front of him. The battle field was littered with debris and burned out hulls. Riase felt the ship slow as another explosion rocked him.
"Prepare for a hyperspace..." Riase started to say.
Riase would never get the chance to finish the sentence as another explosion rocked the Oussed and flames filled Control. Everyone in Control died instantly from the intense heat. Several more explosions rocked the Oussed as her main power core finally went. Riase would have smiled if he could have as the explosion from the Oussed took out one of the pursuing Cruisers.
With the fall of the main fleet at the Jequad System the heart of the empire was laid wide open. A failing war started as the Empire's enemies began taking system by system. There wasn't enough ships left in the Empire to protect every system. Those left unprotected gave up with little resistance, while those that were protected lasted for a few days before the Empire was force to pull back to reserve their remaining fleet.
The Empire's days were numbered the only thing that stood in the way of them being conquered was time. Time was the one thing that they didn't have much of.
Parel and Sanders stood on either side of the doors out side of the Power Core room. Sanders glance down at his remaining oxygen, it read just under 4 hours left. Parel grabbed the manual door release as he watched for the signal from Sanders. Sanders held up his wrist panel and scanned the room beyond the doors; nothing.
Parel began to crank as Sanders nodded. As the doors reached half way open a blue bolt flew past Parel. He had dodged at the last second as it passed his helmet. Sanders squeezed up to the edge of the door and tried to peek around the edge only to end up jumping back as a hail of fire slammed into the half open door.
"Just great, this is all we need..." Parel said as he took up position opposite of Sanders.
Bolts slammed into the door by Parel as he tried to get a better look into the room. Parel pulled back and stared at Sanders, who just shrugged in response. Parel slipped a halon stick and broke it on his leg. It started to glow in a bright light. He edged back up to the edge of the door and tossed it in the room. He managed to get a glimpse in the room as he tossed the stick. Dozens of extra oxygen tanks litter the floor. No bolts assaulted him as he pulled back into a cover of the partially open door.
"You know what screw this, I'm not going to stand out here and suffocate," Parel said.
"Parel wait, we don't even know what's on the..."
But it was too late, Parel pushed between the doors and into the small room. Bolts slammed into his chest staggering him back against the wall. Sanders had just stuck his head in the room as Parel hit the doors as he was pushed back by the hail of fire. Parel slid down the wall and into a heap on the floor.