OOC - Wow, quiet in here. I'll fix that.
Tau Sigma
GTC Horan
The GTVA is filled with reminders of the past, stretching from the ruins of Vasuda, to the decaying Boyington's. Each once was the shining beacon of their civilizations, the guideposts to the future, the gateways to the stars. But time and war have pushed these aside, making way for new monuments, new stations, new ships, and new worlds.
Yet there are still pieces of history that are at work in this world of the future. Where beam cannons and flak guns now dominate, ships that were built before they were even concived continue to ply the sea of stars, seeking to protect all who are under their care. The Galactic Terran Cruiser Horan, Leviathan class, is one of them. Built during the inital construction run of the class, more than 60 years earlier, the Horan has served in more single battles than any other ship in the fleet. It helped lift the GTA to victory in Gulnara, and just managed to survive the Vega Engagement, one of the few to do so. It fought on the lines against the Shivans, even taking on a Cain alone for nearly an hour before reinforcements arrived. As the Vasudans began to wipe out the last of the Hammer of Light, what the thought was the last that is, the Horan was forced to protect an ailing Vasudan cruiser from a HoL suicide attack. During the Second Incursion, now fitted with beams and flak, it again took on a Cain, winning without help this time.
But that was long ago. Though the Horan still commanded respect, it was out gunned by the newer cruisers coming of the line. Yet when the call came out for a ship to test the newest high tech ion cannons, the Horan was the first to arrive, and the first to show what the old warhorse of the fleet could really do. For a brief moment, now nearly five years ago, the Horan was a warship again, the star of the GTVA.
It kept the cannon, of course, but the while the weapons were new and powerful, the ship was ancient beyond anyone's standards. It was schedueled to be decomissioned in a couple of months, on the anniversary of its comissioning, at 61 years of age.
Captian Bud Aelred is also schedueled to be decomissioned then, retire actually, but only at 59. It made him feel good that the entire crew was younger than the ship itself, it made him feel young. Out here, on the edge of known space, that was one of the few feelings he got any more. The other was boredom, and lots of it.
"Sir, sensors picking up a subspace portal, Vasudan configuration." Lieutenant Louis Sandra, sensor operator. Greatest wish: To be the first to positivily identify the start of the Third Shivan Incursion. As such, she's always on the look out for the strange and weird.
"That's not so strange Lieutenant, we are in a Vasudan system." For the last four months, the Horan had patrolled Tau Sigma, one of the most remote Vasudan systems in existance. The "colony," if one could call it that, amounted to a small outpost station and an automated mining colony. Nothing of any real interst in the system except the two nodes out, one to Altair the other to a desolate dead end.
"Sir, its a destroyer, and its right in front of us!" The main screen lit up with blue swirl of a subspace portal only a few hundred meters from the Horan's bow.
"All stop!" Aelred yelled.
"Aye aye!" Spacefares Mate John Johnson, helmsmen. Parents were uncreative with his name apparently. The only reason he joined the military was a bumper sticker he say that said "My other car is a Hecate." He thought it would be cool to have one too.
The Vasudan destroyer pulled through the portal, its purple hull almost invisible against the black sky. "Typhon class, they must have sent them out to pasture like us." Commander Todd Ripper, Exceutive Officer. Young, intellegent, wants to serve on a ship that might see action one day. He will, he will.
"I doubt that," Aelred said. "Sission, hail them."
"Aye sir." Lieutenant JG Julie Sission, communications. Whenever she gets a chance, she transmits a fairly powerful signal towards Earth in an attempt to tell a long lost relative that the family is still alive. They haven't heard anything back yet, but they're still trying. "I've got the captain sir."
"On the main screen, if you please." The screen flashed the face of the Vasudan captain, his (or her, hard to tell) crew moving busily around in the back. "Welcome to Tau Sigma Captain, I'm Captain Bud Aelred of the GTC Horan."
"Thank you Captain, I am Captian Je'ph T'pl of the GVD Vengence. Our apologies for nearly hitting you, we did not know you'd be out here." Aelred could remember a time when the translation would be so flat, you couldn't tell if the Vasudan was joking or dead serious. This one was serious.
"Quite alright. What brings you out this far?"
"Vasudan Command wishes us to take another survey of the system beyond. They believe another node may be found there."
"They're sending you on a wild goose chase." I hope that translates right. "We've had dozens of survey ships in the system and they've found nothing. Hell, I've been in there, and my sensor operator couldn't find anything. And she's on the look out for Shivans half the time."
"No disrespect," translators aren't perfect. "But we do have quite a bit more equipment than you do. And we have our orders."
"Understood. Well, have fun. If you find anything, let us know."
"We will do so, Vengence out."
"Sir, Typhon's have a lot of equipment, but they should have at least two or three long range survey ships with them," Sandra said.
"He's lying." Lieutenant Jake Thomas, weapons officer. Good shot, but a declared anti-Vasudan. The only thing that keeps him from going off on the locals is the fact that he's more scared of them than anything else.
"Agreed," Aelred said. He rarely did that with Thomas' remarks, but the statement was true. "But confronting them will do no good."
"Then what do you want to do?" Todd said.
"After they've gone through the node, we'll send a probe after them, say an hour later."
"They'll be suspious."
"We'll say we're doing it to keep an eye on them, for safety sake. Thomas, prepare the probe."
"Aye sir."
Aelred turned to the main screen, the mighty Typhon moving off toward the node in the distance. Perhaps, he thought, this tour would have at least one interesting thing about it after all.
