"Sir, they're behind us," reported an Imperial to Prahji, who was starting to wish that his colleagues would actually do something about it rather than telling him something he already knew.
"Then get us moving," replied the Commander.
The crew of the Devastator scrambled to realign the Star Destroyer, its' weapons blazing away as they came into alignment with the Klingon ships. Power was shunted away from non-essential systems to reinforce the shields, especially around the most vulnerable sections.
The TIE Bombers, meanwhile, flitted toward the enemy and began to perform bombing runs; if nothing else, their harrying of the vessels might distract them long enough for their larger companion to get a few extra hits in.
Locking you up on radar since '09Let it be said that the torpedoes off the Normandy were impressive. The Klingons certainly thought so, when their read shields fell to the first impact, and then the second one sliced into its impulse engine and exploded.
The bird of prey pinwheeled in space, shields down and power systems failing.
But Joker's enthusiasm would certainly dim slightly as a weird noise filled the Normandy. Right next to Joker, a pillar of red light and particles appeared as a Klingon transporter set a massive Klingon marine right next to the pilot. The forward bridge was filled with over two dozen similar pillars as most of the Klingon Crew beamed aboard the Normandy. Drawing Disruptors and blades, the one next to Joker swung his fist in a backhanded motion, aiming to deck the much smaller human. The others opened fire on anything that wasn't Klingon.
The Liberty and the Storm Wind's fire did finally find a mark. They punched on through the shields of the leading K't'inga and clearly did damage, blowing the port nacelle clean off the sleek Klingon vessel. It spun in space before getting control back. The ship had lost power to its Disruptors and its torpedoes, it only had one weapon left. The Klingon vessel opened a channel to everyone, broadcasting.
“TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!”
The 250 meter long vessel spun, pointing its bow right at the Storm Wind, then it accelerated at full impulse, in a kamikaze ram, the warp core of the vessel glowing as the Klingon engineer put his engines into full overload, turning the vessel into one giant anti-matter bomb.
The second Negh'Var still came on, throwing salvo after salvo of Disruptor fire at the Linare, as its weapons kept shooting at the fleeing K't'inga, which darted behind debris in an attempt to hide and recharge its shields.
The Illiad's beams smacked into the back of the Negh'Var that was chasing the Knight. The giant vessel came about, now chasing the much smaller ship now, blazing away with its Disruptors and photon torpedoes.
Sunder wiped sweat from his brow. The Knight's shields had taken one hell of a beating. The Excelsior class ship was still flying and could fight.
“Sir! I think the Klingons beamed aboard the Normandy!” Sunder thought,
They don't have shields like we do...
“Get us to the Normandy, double time!” The Knight came about and headed in the direction of the smaller ship.
The Devastator's barrage smashed around the four larger vessels. Unlike the K't'ingas, the Vor'Cha attack cruiser was a lot more brutal, a lot stronger. A few bolts smacked into the leading Vor'Chas, causing the two vessels to veer off as the other two came in on a strafing run, angling for the bridge and its upper structures. The TIE Bombers did do some damage, but not near enough to slow the bigger ships down. Their shields absorbed the incoming bombs.
(OOC: Sorry for taking so long!)
"Fek! They're headed straight to us, captain!" said Akran.
Arsk's face paled beneath his fur. They were going to ram the Storm Wind? Were they crazy?
"Look at this, captain," said Satsi. She hit a button, and the Klingon voice filled the bridge. "TOADY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!"
"They're crazier than those coffin jockeys..." muttered Arsk to himself. "Well... Angle the deflector shields, focus all firepower on that ship's drive and try and get us out of its vector."
"Aye aye!"
The Storm Wind's weaponry changed targets, and fired as one on the kamikaze K't'inga's drives; the Assault Frigate started to move out of the way, its captain trying to avoid collision.
"Sir! One of the enemy ships is on a collision course with the Storm Wind!" said the Liberty's Sensors officer.
"Get our fighters there, fire all weapons on its engines, and tell the tractor beam operators to hit it!" Ordered Yamarus.
The entirety of the Liberty's weapons were brought to bear and fired upon the kamikaze ship. Its tractor beams changed target, now seeking to hold the kamikaze fast, to let the Storm Wind escape it.
The fighters rolled as one, and, turning, fired on the kamikaze.
"Don't let the longneck get to the Storm Wind! We must stop it!" said Green Leader. On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.
Celebrations were cut short on the Normandy bridge when uninvited guests arrived. Joker heard a crack, followed by pain. He vaguely realised that somehow, the enemy had gotten the drop on them.
EDI's robotic body spun from the Copilot seat, drawing the M-3 Predator she had taken to carrying from her hip. There was a pip sound as the weapon fired at the unknown enemy. Pink blood sprayed as the mass accelerator round impacted. Taking up a position by the doors seperating the cockpit from the CIC, EDI remote locked it. Standing over the fallen enemy, the robot fired twice into it's skull. Pink and red stained the floor.
Warning. Forward Bridge has been compromised. Initiating Lockdown protocols.
The elevators stopped working, and the normally blue glow of the ship's light turned into the clinical white lights. Red boxes on all decks began glowing, weapon cabinets that would click unlocked when approached by any Alliance personnel.
EDI turned to Joker, who was clutching his arm in pain. Are you alright, Jeff? A look of concern appeared on her face. Eyes met.
Private Bethany Westmoreland had spent most of her career as an Alliance marine working as security in one form or another. She had been luckier then some, serving in London rather then in the Traverse or some other backworld hellhole. However, she had been itching for a moment to shine.
It seemed that the moment had reared it's ugly head.
The first clue had been the scream on the bridge. The group had been on edge the entire space flight, and now it seemed that the worst had happened. Bethany looked over to her partner, Private Sarah Campbell and nodded. Reaching over to the small armory, she tossed an Avenger to her partner and grabbed another for herself.
The door opened, and the first thing Bethany noticed was a humanoid figure standing over the yeoman, who was on the floor with a very nasty cut on her stomach, a massive blade of some kind in it's hand. It roared.
So did the Avenger. Mass accelerator rounds tore apart the creature. Meanwhile, Campbell put down supressive fire on the multiple other enemies. They had to take back the bridge.
More guns joined the fight.
After the meeting had ended, the marines of the 103rd had idled in the War room. They had been discussing their own situation when the alert came through. Special forces training kicked in immediately.
Rule one: find a weapon. Easy enough, the emergency armory of the war room recognised them and opened. Predators and Shruikans were collected and quickly checked, thermal clips at full charge. Kinetic barriers were powered up.
Rule two: find the target. The squad quickly made it's way toward the forward bridge, toward the sound of gunfire.
Jon took the lead. They entered the security checkpoint, to find the two security officers already in the firefight, popping in and out of cover from the doorway. Mass accelerator fire met with disruptor bolts. Jonathan fired a burst of submachine gun fire, taking down another of the creatures. He then fired a concussive shot at another. Smoke billowed as the creature slammed into an empty terminal.
"Squad, advance!"
The Linare rocked from the unrelenting disruptor fire, as the tactical officer said, "Rear shields down to 40% and armor at 60%. We can't take this kind of fire for too much longer, sir. The enemy ship ahead I believe is losing shields, but no hull damage so far, and it's difficult to hit them in all this debris."
"We're definitely outgunned here, perhaps a different strategy will be more successful," Captain Ramanathan said, "let's play dead - cut power to weapons, shields, and sublight engines as one of those bolts hits us - make it look like they got us."
As the Linare was hit by another blast, the ship apparently lost power, no longer firing its main weapons, shields down, and sublight engines offline, now drifting in the debris field. The fighters regrouped, and set up a protective screen around the ship, as they waited to see if the Klingons would leave them for disabled.
edited 28th Mar '12 11:13:55 PM by Sonzai

"If you insist. Good luck Independence," the repair ship said, as it flew back towards the Linare, being covered by the Linare's fighters