Chapter 1
The Cruiser passed across the outline of the window that many now gazed from, in a sea of darkness its ceramic composites shined through the station at which it was holding itself to. The contrast of the shining beauty of what could only be recognized as the Imperial Navys largest class of warships, quickly confirmed by the name exquisitely etched into the side of the hull "CA-02 H.M.S Carpathian", many of the watchers became briefly lost in awe, from the lowest cargo handlers to the highest officers of the Navy now stationed on Draconis Station. a small green looking officer approached "Captain Hvorsan Sir!" and saluted the Captain who had not noticed him as he looked towards the Carpathian and realized what was happening, he shortly came to and looked towards the seemingly young lieutenant --- "What can I do for you Lieutenant ---" the Lieutenant rested his salute as he held a datapad to his chest and then handed it to Hvorsan "Sir, the Admiral would like to see you and your EXO immediately onboard the Carpathian", Hvorsan read the datapad and then slid it under his arm "Very well Lieutenant let the Admiral know I am on my way".
three sets of footsteps began to approach a steel door blast door with a label bolted onto the outside of the bulkhead "Bridge", "Hvorsan you know the Admiral, its nothing to worry about he probably just wanted to discuss the situation" The small but broad shouldered executive officer exclaimed "Besides its not every day you get to walk onto an Etna class" she smiled and turned away as they neared the door. Captain Hvorsan gave the EXO a look of exhaustion "While I appreciate the positivity I am more concerned of the Admirals desire to control every last bulkhead from Earth to Dolanar" he then turned to look forward as the Marine sentry saluted them, Marines were not a common sight as the navy possessed only a handful of warships ontop of the Marine Corps only being established only fifteen years ago but they had grown quite a reputation in use as special forces and were given due respect, this particular sentry was clad in his power armour which was not standard protocol.
The Blast Door began to open as the loud chatter of the evidently busy bridge crew began to seep through into the corridor which had now been exposed, Hvorsan stepped forward and noted the sheer size of the vessels bridge when compared to his own there must be at-least thirty members of the crew on the bridge, while he had looked at the schematics of an Etna class he had never once step foot on one due to them only coming online within the last two years, Hvorsans attention was quickly snapped away as he remembered why he was here, he looked up towards Admiral Griffson and gave a salute being joined by his executive officer Jentalra, the man they paid salute to looked to be in his 40s and wore the unmistakable uniform of an Admiral in command of a warship, the uniform bristled with gold accents ontop of black layers capable of making even the most unkempt officer look the part.
"At ease, thank you for coming Captain we have much to discuss regarding the upcoming situation" The Admiral began to usher them towards the centre of the bridge where a holographic command table sat elevated above the various command stations on a platform, this was the norm for most warships as the captain would traditionally stand on this platform and command outwards as needs arose. "I have called you and your EXO here to discuss the planned excursion to Draconis which due to your late arrival ---" the Admiral exaggerated out that point as he looked towards Hvorsan "So we best get you up to speed, how much do you know of the current plan" Hvorsan stepped forward hoping to makeup for the somewhat irritated Admiral "Well sir I got the primary brief from command and know we are going in within the day, our purpose is to recover the bodies of the lost crew members and to determine if any threat remains within the system" Hvorsan stood back as the Admiral eyed him "That is part of it Captain, however what command failed to inform you of is the ----" the Admiral took a breath "Delicate nature of the mission and the level of preparedness our forces have --- I will level with you captain we do not have the number of ships I would like or intelligence of the operational area we are going into, combining that with this being potentially the first engagement against an adversary in space borne combat it troubles me --- however we have a mission to perform and by his Majestys order no less and so I have come up with the following plan" He gestures for one of his men to turn on the table
"Lieutenant please explain to the captain the order of battle" The Lieutenant turned the table on and the shine of the holographic display appeared showing four warships, the H.M.S Carpathian, Hvorsans command the Pelican as well as the Condor and Dove --- three destroyers and one cruiser which had arrayed in an arrowhead formation with the destroyers in-front of the cruiser, "As you can see captain the fleet will be arranged as such and upon the Admirals order will pass by JS-7 to begin preparation for Aether jump, as part of these preparations we have had Vigilance Scout Craft brought aboard and will be utilizing them to poke Draconis 26s entrance point before sending in the larger ships, once we have determined it is safe the rest of the fleet will move in and begin heading for the wreck. The Lieutenant then paused the holographic projection and deferred to the admiral.
"Any questions Captain Hvorsan?" the Admiral exclaimed "Or perhaps does your EXO have any? ---" "Well Sir the plan is certainly ambitious and I share the issues regarding intelligence and the relatively few numbers of warships we have available, does Command really have no other vessels available for this operation?" He looked towards the projections on the table of what was barely a flotilla, the Navy's first generation of warships which while mighty and strong relative to anything that came before were not tested in battle and the Navy as a whole had relatively little experience in combat besides the odd smugglers making a run for it in the belt, "Unfortunately Captain they do not, you see we have seemingly exhausted the last of our concerns regarding the mandate and they want it done, I would of preferred to wait until H.M.S Bat and Starling were here but they are still in drydock so we must make do with what we have" The admiral looked off into the distance remembering the difficulties in development the Imperial Navys warships, troubled by inexperience and political agendas the projects which saw the Blizzard, Kingfisher, Hawk and Etna class vessels be developed caused delays upwards of a decade and by this time the mandate originally given was a stain on what little reputation the Navy had this was in combination with fierce rivalry that sprung up with the Army as more resources were directed for shipyard construction taking away from what the army claimed were vital supplies needed to meet a potential alien threat, despite the issues however the Navy now had warships and only time would tell how effective they would be.
"I see, very well then sir I believe I understand, is there anything you need the Pelican for specifically as I do not see my fellow captains anywhere" he made a gesture to the emptiness of the platform then looked back toward the Admiral "Yes, well it would of helped if you were more punctual captain ---" he glared towards Hvorsan for daring to question him "However the purpose of your being here is yes more than just a simple briefing of the overall plan, because we do not know what will happen when we reach the wreckage I want the Pelican to hold itself at the Aether Point and at the first sight of trouble you are to transit back through to Draconis Station and inform Command of the situation, whatever surprised the Gyller we will not allow it to slip through our fingers and while I find it unlikely that it will be needed in a fleet destruction event we must ensure his Majesty knows of what we are facing in Draconis." He pressed one of the buttons on the holotable as he discussed the plan and showed clearly where Pelican was to be stationed. Captain Hvorsan looked disappointed knowing this was a rational decision to use the Pelican this way however it stung that he himself would practically be left at the Aether Point alone, it made perfect sense to have the Pelican do it as it was the only Hawk class destroyer in the Flotilla and unlike the Kingfisher class it had a mix of weaponry and was able to perform anti ship operations that the fisher just simply could not and so in a worst case scenario it would be able to defend itself long enough to make the transit back through the Aether Point.
Piping himself back up again he looked towards the Admiral "I understand sir the Pelican is a fine ship and we will ensure our mission is carried out accordingly" he then gave a quick salute and the Admiral nodded as a sign of approval, "Will that be all sir or am I needed for another task?" Hvorsan at this point had grown tired of the formalities and with the information on the mission his ship would be holding he would really rather prefer to be aboard the Pelican dispensing the information and coming up with plans, "No Captain your presence is no longer required" both Hvorsan and Jentalra saluted the Admiral and walked back towards the entrance of the bridge as a marine sentry escorted them out.
