The captain stared at the various displays aboard the new Cynax Class Battleship, recently rolled off the assembly line at the organizations 'unnamed' shipyards.
He was amazed at how many people had volunteered to serve on board the ship during its test run, while most were young and inexperienced, there were others who had retired but came out when word of the ship was broadcast through the the Serendivus Colony Broadcast Network, or SCBN.
"Status?" he said as he continued to stare at the status monitors. Numerious peices of details scrolled across them, including information related to the engines and experiental shield system.
"Everythings a go sir," navigation said as he double checked the engines. "Engines are cool, hyper-drive is primed, we are clear to jump to proving grounds delta."
The captain nodded, "proceed with the jump," he ordered.
Navigation nodded and inputted the cordinates, suddenly the ship leaped forward into a hyper-drive tunnel on its way to the proving grounds.
The captain could sense the excitement, but also the nervousness in his crew. He had expected this considering it was a new ship and untested, but that was the main reason they were headed to a proving ground.
He didn't, however, agree with a high school field trip being planned on board. Command had informed him that they wanted the younger generation to see the ship in action and had told him to treat them with every curtisy he'd expect.
"Tell me again why we have teenagers on the bridge?" His second in command asked, he turned toward the observation portion of the command deck and noticed a group of fifteen high school teenagers staring out a window, seemingly amazed at what they were seeing.
The captain sighed. "Because command ordered it... we can't say they can't be onboard, although I wish I could restrict them to quarters since this 'is' a military ship and not some playground..." he said and sat down in the command chair and rested his head on the palm of his hand.
His XO sighed before going back to checking the status of the weapons array.
As the ship sped through hyper-space, suddenly klaxons blurred as the bridge was bathed in a red hue. The captain looked up, "what's wrong?" he said.
"Sir, we just got a warning from the proving grounds command control, they are picking up a fleet of pirates moving in on their position. They are requesting emergency assisstance from any ships," Communications said as she read the message.
He turned toward the high schoolers who all looked rather nervous, a sudden grin spread across his face, causing his XO to sigh. "Prepare for battlestations!" His XO shouted.
The crew jumped to their task. "Prepare for possibly interrupt, my guess is they have an interdictor..." the captain said.
Just then the ship was pulled from hyper-space with a sudden jolt, throwing anyone not expecting it to the deck, anyone meaning the teenagers on deck.
His bridge crew looked at the high schoolers for a second before staring back toward through the view screen. "Two heavy cruisers, numerious carriers and frigates, I'm also picking up a battlecruiser amongst the mix," sensors said.
"Alright, lower bridge section and secure battlebridge," the captain ordered. Suddenly the bridge was lowered deep into the bowels of the ship. The walls that had once been solid and showed just the dull grayness, suddenly shifted and showed what was outside the ship.
"Lowering complete, bridge secured. Battle stations active. Weapons and Shields online," the battle officer said as she read off the status.
Ahead of the ship, the pirate fleet had come about and was now headed for them. "Eight of their frigates are moving ahead of the fleet, on an intercept course. Arrival in two," sensors said.
"Teach, if you want I can have you and your students taken to a safer place on the ship," the XO said. But the teacher in charge of the field trip waved her hand. "Thanks but no thanks, my students seems eager to see what your oging to do," she said and turned to her students, while most did indeed seem eager, some were nervous.
The XO nodded, "very well, just keep them out of our way please."
He walked back over to the captains side. "Sir, one minute," he said as the frigates approuched.
"Weapons, raise shields to max." The captain ordered.
"Aye aye sir, shields raied," weapons said.
Suddenly the space near the frigates lit up as their turbo laser batteries opened fire on the might battleship. "Switch on Refractive Generator," the XO ordered.
"Sir, it's untested," weapons said, nervous.
"Thats why I want it on, so we can test it, now do it!" The XO shouted.
Outside the shields shifted slightly in space, it wasn't noticable from a distance but up close a bluish shimmer gave off the apperence of a shield.
As the lasers approuched, weapons counted down to impact. When he reached zero the lasers impacted the shield: and were absorbed.
"Yummy..." the captain said, licking his mouth. Suddenly the lasers appeared behind the ship and off into space.
This action apperently caught the pirates off guard, as they didn't fire, but instead stood still.
"How rude..." the captain said. "Bring Straffer cannons to bear on the frigates," he ordered.
Weapons nodded and powered up the straffer cannons and brought them about. "Targets locked," he said.
"Fire!" The captain shouted.
Pin-pricks of red energy appeared on the tips of eight of the straffer cannons as they powered up. Suddenly lashing out with force through space and bisecting the frigates, cuting them in half amidship and causing their engine sections to come to life, moving toward before blossuming.
A cheer erupted on the bridge, mostly from the inexperienced crewman and officers.
The cruisers in the pirate fleet started moving toward the battleship; cutting between the broken remains of the frigates and straight for the ship. "Does he want to play chicken?" The captain wondered with amusement.
"Divert power from weapons to engines, prepare for a brief ten second burst from the engines," The XO said.
Navigation nodded and did as he was ordered. "Now... lets see who is more the chicken, engage." The captain ordered.
The battleships main engines came to life as fire erupted, the ship moved forward, slow at first, but then gradually built up speed. As the two ships closed, the pirate cruiser opened fire.
"Divert half power from engines to shields, prepare chemical thrusters for a precise burn," the XO ordered.
Outside the shields shimmer as power was diverted to them. As the cruiser got closer, and closer, it began to wobble slightly, its nagivator getting rather nervous.
"Ten seconds.... eight..... six...... four.... two-" navigation said before the cruiser suddenly jerked upward.
"Chemical thursters... now!" The XO shouted.
A bang suddenly resonated as the bow of the battleship was pushed upward, slamming its shields against the cruisers middle sections, the force was enough to shatter the cruisers shields and break its hull in half. "Reverse thrusters engaged," navigation said.
"Fire reported on deck six, section twenty one," damage control said. "Fire supression systems online, no one was in the area."
"Structual Intrigrity of that area is down to seventy five percent," another officer said.
The captain smiled. "Don't play chicken with me damn it..." he said.
His XO shook his head. "Sir, we are suppose to be testing this ship.. not finding ways to break it..." he said
"Oh.. sorry.. just didn't like being mocked.." the captain said and got up from the command chair and walked toward the head of the battle bridge.
"Weapons, target pirate battleship. Prepare the heavy MAC cannons, two to fire fusion shells and the other two to fire plasma shellds," the captain ordered, "arm the others with nuclear warheads and fire those in succession with the heavies."
"Kids, watch and learn." The XO said to the high school students on the bridge. They all wondered what was about to happen, "Oh.. and you better grab something,"
As the captain stood there the pirate battleship was slowly turning toward them. As its middle section exposed itself, he let lose another grin, "weapons... FIRE!"
The ship shuddered as more than six MAC Cannons opened fire on the enemy ship; the rocking was so much that most of the bridge officers, experienced or not, couldn't hold their balance and fell to the deck. The captain, however, stayed upright and watch as the shells closed in on the enemy.
"Enemy carrier is right in the path of two of heavy shells," sensors said just as the carrier vanished off her sensor display.
In the distance a ship blossumed into fire. Then a second one, the second carrier, then several smaller ships, frigates, erupted into flame.
"Reload," the XO ordered. "Fire!"
Again the ship shuddered, this time those on board were a bit more prepared, but most still fell to the deck.
What remained of the battleships escorts was quickly and effectively destroyed by the volley. "Navigation, close the distance, I was a broadside."
Navigation nodded and feed power to the engines. As the two might ships began to get closer and closer, both opened fire with their turbolaser batteries, while the pirates did no harm as they just hit the shields and were either refracted out into space, or right back at them.
The ships were soon side by side, with the pirate ship clearly showing signs of wear as its shields were now having difficulty taking the damage being brought against them.
"Diamond Bores at the ready..." The captain ordered.
Under the ship, five doors opened and each deposited a torpedo that sat in space for several seconds before its thrusters engaged and turned it toward the enemy ship, then they disappeared from space.
"Torpedos away," weapons said as he tracked the torps. They moved through space unabaited and directly under the pirate ship.
Suddenly five objects appeared in space and repurposed themselves, aiming upward at the enemy ship, the ship for a brief second appeared to ignore the, before its undercarraige batteries pegged the torps.
The torps recloaked and fired forward, one was destroyed just a second before it was able to cloak. The other four however got through the gauntlet of fire and through the ships shields just as they collasped.
The torpedos bore deep into the ship until they reached their assigned depth, before exploding.
Fire appeared along the enemy ship, as each torpedo exploded. One torpedo must've found the ships reactor, as the ship suddenly blossumed and exploded outward with so much force that the Cynas was pushed several feet.
"Well... I'd say that was a good test..." The captain said as he straightened his uniform out.
The others on the bridge let out a sigh of relief, "might as well tell control that everything turned out fine," the XO said.
"Do that, and let the Grand Admiral know her new flagship is ready for combat," the captain ordered and turned back toward the monitor. "Release ourselves from red alert, return the bridge to its original position,"
An officer nodded before the bridge ascended to its original position on top of the battleship. Outside, debris flew by from the destroyed battleship. The two carrier that remained had released a 'we surrender' message.
He was amazed at how many people had volunteered to serve on board the ship during its test run, while most were young and inexperienced, there were others who had retired but came out when word of the ship was broadcast through the the Serendivus Colony Broadcast Network, or SCBN.
"Status?" he said as he continued to stare at the status monitors. Numerious peices of details scrolled across them, including information related to the engines and experiental shield system.
"Everythings a go sir," navigation said as he double checked the engines. "Engines are cool, hyper-drive is primed, we are clear to jump to proving grounds delta."
The captain nodded, "proceed with the jump," he ordered.
Navigation nodded and inputted the cordinates, suddenly the ship leaped forward into a hyper-drive tunnel on its way to the proving grounds.
The captain could sense the excitement, but also the nervousness in his crew. He had expected this considering it was a new ship and untested, but that was the main reason they were headed to a proving ground.
He didn't, however, agree with a high school field trip being planned on board. Command had informed him that they wanted the younger generation to see the ship in action and had told him to treat them with every curtisy he'd expect.
"Tell me again why we have teenagers on the bridge?" His second in command asked, he turned toward the observation portion of the command deck and noticed a group of fifteen high school teenagers staring out a window, seemingly amazed at what they were seeing.
The captain sighed. "Because command ordered it... we can't say they can't be onboard, although I wish I could restrict them to quarters since this 'is' a military ship and not some playground..." he said and sat down in the command chair and rested his head on the palm of his hand.
His XO sighed before going back to checking the status of the weapons array.
As the ship sped through hyper-space, suddenly klaxons blurred as the bridge was bathed in a red hue. The captain looked up, "what's wrong?" he said.
"Sir, we just got a warning from the proving grounds command control, they are picking up a fleet of pirates moving in on their position. They are requesting emergency assisstance from any ships," Communications said as she read the message.
He turned toward the high schoolers who all looked rather nervous, a sudden grin spread across his face, causing his XO to sigh. "Prepare for battlestations!" His XO shouted.
The crew jumped to their task. "Prepare for possibly interrupt, my guess is they have an interdictor..." the captain said.
Just then the ship was pulled from hyper-space with a sudden jolt, throwing anyone not expecting it to the deck, anyone meaning the teenagers on deck.
His bridge crew looked at the high schoolers for a second before staring back toward through the view screen. "Two heavy cruisers, numerious carriers and frigates, I'm also picking up a battlecruiser amongst the mix," sensors said.
"Alright, lower bridge section and secure battlebridge," the captain ordered. Suddenly the bridge was lowered deep into the bowels of the ship. The walls that had once been solid and showed just the dull grayness, suddenly shifted and showed what was outside the ship.
"Lowering complete, bridge secured. Battle stations active. Weapons and Shields online," the battle officer said as she read off the status.
Ahead of the ship, the pirate fleet had come about and was now headed for them. "Eight of their frigates are moving ahead of the fleet, on an intercept course. Arrival in two," sensors said.
"Teach, if you want I can have you and your students taken to a safer place on the ship," the XO said. But the teacher in charge of the field trip waved her hand. "Thanks but no thanks, my students seems eager to see what your oging to do," she said and turned to her students, while most did indeed seem eager, some were nervous.
The XO nodded, "very well, just keep them out of our way please."
He walked back over to the captains side. "Sir, one minute," he said as the frigates approuched.
"Weapons, raise shields to max." The captain ordered.
"Aye aye sir, shields raied," weapons said.
Suddenly the space near the frigates lit up as their turbo laser batteries opened fire on the might battleship. "Switch on Refractive Generator," the XO ordered.
"Sir, it's untested," weapons said, nervous.
"Thats why I want it on, so we can test it, now do it!" The XO shouted.
Outside the shields shifted slightly in space, it wasn't noticable from a distance but up close a bluish shimmer gave off the apperence of a shield.
As the lasers approuched, weapons counted down to impact. When he reached zero the lasers impacted the shield: and were absorbed.
"Yummy..." the captain said, licking his mouth. Suddenly the lasers appeared behind the ship and off into space.
This action apperently caught the pirates off guard, as they didn't fire, but instead stood still.
"How rude..." the captain said. "Bring Straffer cannons to bear on the frigates," he ordered.
Weapons nodded and powered up the straffer cannons and brought them about. "Targets locked," he said.
"Fire!" The captain shouted.
Pin-pricks of red energy appeared on the tips of eight of the straffer cannons as they powered up. Suddenly lashing out with force through space and bisecting the frigates, cuting them in half amidship and causing their engine sections to come to life, moving toward before blossuming.
A cheer erupted on the bridge, mostly from the inexperienced crewman and officers.
The cruisers in the pirate fleet started moving toward the battleship; cutting between the broken remains of the frigates and straight for the ship. "Does he want to play chicken?" The captain wondered with amusement.
"Divert power from weapons to engines, prepare for a brief ten second burst from the engines," The XO said.
Navigation nodded and did as he was ordered. "Now... lets see who is more the chicken, engage." The captain ordered.
The battleships main engines came to life as fire erupted, the ship moved forward, slow at first, but then gradually built up speed. As the two ships closed, the pirate cruiser opened fire.
"Divert half power from engines to shields, prepare chemical thrusters for a precise burn," the XO ordered.
Outside the shields shimmer as power was diverted to them. As the cruiser got closer, and closer, it began to wobble slightly, its nagivator getting rather nervous.
"Ten seconds.... eight..... six...... four.... two-" navigation said before the cruiser suddenly jerked upward.
"Chemical thursters... now!" The XO shouted.
A bang suddenly resonated as the bow of the battleship was pushed upward, slamming its shields against the cruisers middle sections, the force was enough to shatter the cruisers shields and break its hull in half. "Reverse thrusters engaged," navigation said.
"Fire reported on deck six, section twenty one," damage control said. "Fire supression systems online, no one was in the area."
"Structual Intrigrity of that area is down to seventy five percent," another officer said.
The captain smiled. "Don't play chicken with me damn it..." he said.
His XO shook his head. "Sir, we are suppose to be testing this ship.. not finding ways to break it..." he said
"Oh.. sorry.. just didn't like being mocked.." the captain said and got up from the command chair and walked toward the head of the battle bridge.
"Weapons, target pirate battleship. Prepare the heavy MAC cannons, two to fire fusion shells and the other two to fire plasma shellds," the captain ordered, "arm the others with nuclear warheads and fire those in succession with the heavies."
"Kids, watch and learn." The XO said to the high school students on the bridge. They all wondered what was about to happen, "Oh.. and you better grab something,"
As the captain stood there the pirate battleship was slowly turning toward them. As its middle section exposed itself, he let lose another grin, "weapons... FIRE!"
The ship shuddered as more than six MAC Cannons opened fire on the enemy ship; the rocking was so much that most of the bridge officers, experienced or not, couldn't hold their balance and fell to the deck. The captain, however, stayed upright and watch as the shells closed in on the enemy.
"Enemy carrier is right in the path of two of heavy shells," sensors said just as the carrier vanished off her sensor display.
In the distance a ship blossumed into fire. Then a second one, the second carrier, then several smaller ships, frigates, erupted into flame.
"Reload," the XO ordered. "Fire!"
Again the ship shuddered, this time those on board were a bit more prepared, but most still fell to the deck.
What remained of the battleships escorts was quickly and effectively destroyed by the volley. "Navigation, close the distance, I was a broadside."
Navigation nodded and feed power to the engines. As the two might ships began to get closer and closer, both opened fire with their turbolaser batteries, while the pirates did no harm as they just hit the shields and were either refracted out into space, or right back at them.
The ships were soon side by side, with the pirate ship clearly showing signs of wear as its shields were now having difficulty taking the damage being brought against them.
"Diamond Bores at the ready..." The captain ordered.
Under the ship, five doors opened and each deposited a torpedo that sat in space for several seconds before its thrusters engaged and turned it toward the enemy ship, then they disappeared from space.
"Torpedos away," weapons said as he tracked the torps. They moved through space unabaited and directly under the pirate ship.
Suddenly five objects appeared in space and repurposed themselves, aiming upward at the enemy ship, the ship for a brief second appeared to ignore the, before its undercarraige batteries pegged the torps.
The torps recloaked and fired forward, one was destroyed just a second before it was able to cloak. The other four however got through the gauntlet of fire and through the ships shields just as they collasped.
The torpedos bore deep into the ship until they reached their assigned depth, before exploding.
Fire appeared along the enemy ship, as each torpedo exploded. One torpedo must've found the ships reactor, as the ship suddenly blossumed and exploded outward with so much force that the Cynas was pushed several feet.
"Well... I'd say that was a good test..." The captain said as he straightened his uniform out.
The others on the bridge let out a sigh of relief, "might as well tell control that everything turned out fine," the XO said.
"Do that, and let the Grand Admiral know her new flagship is ready for combat," the captain ordered and turned back toward the monitor. "Release ourselves from red alert, return the bridge to its original position,"
An officer nodded before the bridge ascended to its original position on top of the battleship. Outside, debris flew by from the destroyed battleship. The two carrier that remained had released a 'we surrender' message.