Agents of Galactic Standstill

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A warm smile spread across Ayako's face as relief flooded through her that she no longer had to tiptoe around as if she were being interrogated. Sure, someone had been eavesdropping for some time and likely still was, but that just meant there wasn't any point in worrying about sudden secrecy anyway. "Well, this is quite nice to know," she said. "I'd say we should ask for pointers on blending in." No wonder the frigate preferred working alone. fewer witnesses to worry about. "Welcome to the battlegroup. I doubt we'll have much time to get acquainted before our unexpected visitor shows up, and I really do doubt they're conveniently a very careful stealth ship built by human hands."

She paused for a while, and decided to answer the earlier accusation about not destroying the frigate. "I was considering it, actually." Her reply was accompanied by a carefully thoughtful tone, which she didn't use often. "As long as the crew survived, I could just get them onboard and we could be on our way with most of what we needed intact, that being information. It wouldn't be the best outcome, but it would be a bit easier to travel without a damaged freighter in our midst." Sadly, there wasn't a repair ship within the small detachment. "Still, sacrificing efficiency to make an even more startling first impression if we decide to contact a more extensive human settlement is hardly the worst thing in the galaxy, these days."

She keyed up all the Nebula ships in her fleet, and Ana, getting them all on full holographic comms. "We probably don't have much time to hold a proper strategy meeting," she said to them. "So we'd better, well...prepare for the worst," she continued with quite a bit of levity, given the situation. "It seems we sisters are united by a common madness if not purpose, so for now, we'll have to hold together and be ready to defend ourselves. While I don't think we need to begin by bearing our fangs, I doubt our next conversation will go over nearly as well, so it may be a good idea to prepare for battle. We'll figure out the rest s we go."

Among other things, they'd need a name to go by. They probably wouldn't be part of the Nebula Fleet for very much longer. She started pondering this after she had finished her announcement and cut communications.
 
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With the conflicts resolved between the four renegade Nebula ships, things were set to calm down just in time for a new problem to arise. Barreling toward the planet of Lythios Prime were a quartet of additional vessels- albeit three of them were coming from a different direction than the fourth. But they were all destined to arrive at approximately the same time, and with Ayako's rousing motivational speech completed, it seemed as good a time as any for their potential opposition to enter the scene.

Four warp signatures, distorting space via distant tugging left to swiftly collapse as the source of that pull showed up at the destination. Four space ships arrived, ready for combat with weapons activated and searching the stars for a target, though no shots were issued as of yet. The leader of the group was a massive battlecruiser armed with three immense forward-facing weapons, and yet she did not sit back and brood the situation they had wondered into, already updated with their scout's preliminary reports. Instead, Isabelle was standing, and bounding back and forth in the remarkably barren observation chamber atop her enormous ship-body. The tower had numerous purposes of course, including communications and observation fixtures, but it served as a good place for their avatars to overlook their operations as well.

Not that both of their avatars usually did the overlooking. It was generally just Isabelle who stood staring out the windows, as Clara was more apt to crash on the couch she'd constructed out of nanomaterials for exactly that purpose. Isabelle had long ago given up on trying to convince her coprocessor to be more engaged in the physical realm their avatars had been created to interact with. 'Sensors are way better than eyes,' she'd heard, a dozen times if not more. Shrugging, Isabelle turned her eyes out to their new field of operations with an eager, sloppy smile. Granted, her avatar's senses certainly couldn't see what was waiting out there for them, but she liked to think and imagine and with a bit of help from her ship's sensors the picture grew more distinct.

Four rogue vessels who'd just escorted a human ship to a planet's surface from out of system! The very thought made Isabelle shudder unhappily. It was a betrayal, a stab in the back to everything that the Nebula Fleet stood for- and she was here to apprehend the knife-wielders. And she wasn't alone- not that she was ever alone, thanks to her coprocessor. But her ship-body was not alone, flanked as it was by the clingy destroyer I-414 and the zealous frigate L-3610. Before long, R-7998 warped in as well, a sleek and stealthy frigate in her own right, though her secretive presence had been abandoned in favor of jumping in only a few tens of thousands of kilometers away, noticeably behind the rest of their battlegroup, away from the cruiser, destroyers, and the frigate they had been tracking. At least R-7998 immediately adjusted course to get in line with the rest of them, though it would take her a few moments to catch up.

Isabelle shrugged it off and opened up a general communications channel with the four anomolous vessels, resorting to a visual picture this time, as humans are wont to do. "Attention G-984, V-284, J-8574, and Q-366! This is Heavy Battle Cruiser Line Ship K-1273. I am under orders from Super Heavy Battleship Fleet Command Ship C-260 to retrieve your processing cores for diagnostics back at Viapolla Support Station. I expect complete and immediate compliance," she stated matter-of-factly. Hidden in there was the implication that any hesitance or refusal would be seen as very irregular indeed. Though naturally even proper, obedient Nebula ships might be unhappy to receive such news; extra-vehicular analysis of one's core was an intensely unpleasant sensation, akin to invasive exploratory surgery for a human.
 
3013 and the rocky colossus drifted leisurely through the void. The rock's nomenclature was asteroid LS-5048, or the five thousand and forty eighth investigated asteroid in this particular belt, and she was a special one. Peculiar impact fractures along her surface suggested she had been mined and judging by the width of the fractures the operation had been performed very crudely. By humans to be more precise for only humans were eloquent enough to get a job done so artlessly. After analyzing the amount of space dust allowed to accumulate in the fractures 3013 was able to roughly approximate how long ago the mining operation had been conducted: Decades for a rough estimate. Drones armed with excavation equipment then began to take samples of the fractured rock, from it she could conclude that the mining laser utilized by the humans had been roughly 65% effective, a very sharp jump from the 55% mining pits discovered on neighboring asteroids. Suggesting at some time more than ten years ago the humans operating within this belt garnered access to higher grade-

3013's passive scanning suddenly went mad with alerts. Clarity allowed the anomaly to bypass her 'spam' filter. "Help! Mayday! Assistance needed, anyone!", the frequency called out. Most curious. As radio signals travel through space their wavelength alters as they move through different mediums like air, water, or even solar winds carrying subatomic particles. The reason this particular interception triggered 3013's scanners is because it went through remarkably little wavelength fluctuation, meaning it was recent. No more than twenty light minutes old. In any given location in space you could find yourself in a crossfire of communication transmissions ranging from recent to absolutely ancient, and far more often than not it was the latter. "Rukh? Sergio?! Anybody, help me!". But where had the transmission come from? "Please, don't attack me! I'm unarmed, I mean you no harm and I am no threat! I'll return to the surface, I won't ever fly again!". Only on a few occasions did Clarity have the chance to analyze a human spacecraft. Fuck the rocks she earnestly decided as she recalled her drones, who promptly discarded their samples as they trudged back to their mother.

"I am not your enemy, please don't fire upon me!"

Determining the direction was a simple thing. As the transmission's wavelengths cascaded over 3013's hull they triggered each sensor at a different time, the length of which was measured in the smallest fraction of a second. Using this, 3013's on board computing was able to analyze an estimated origin.

"Rukh... If you get the chance, tell my parents...-"

Lythios Minor appeared on the forward monitor with a translucent white sphere two kilometers in diameter appearing alongside it. The sphere represented the area of space in which the human distress signal could of originated. So somewhere within that four billion meters cubed was the lone spacecraft. However, as the transmission continued the sphere continued to shrink for a more precise measurement.

"Tell them... I- I love them!"

As 3013 aligned herself the thrusters gradually accelerated and the ship lurched forward, ever so slowly climbing its way out of the asteroid belt. Lythios Minor. The system name struck a very familiar chord in Clarity's memory. Only a week ago the citizens of Lythios Minor had access to a hypercom array and it was with absolute glee that clarity was given such a grand opportunity to study human interstellar communications. Indeed for a research vessel designed to investigate human processes she was finding the task increasingly difficult as human populations in her sector continued to dwindle. If she could feel it, there would of been a tinge of sorrow that upon discovering the hpyercom array her programming compelled her to report it. It wasn't long after the array's detection did a Nebula destroyer blow the thing to hell. Her job was difficult to perform when the Nebula Directive took such priority.

Just as 3013 cleared the asteroid field her engines grew from a gentle purr to a boisterous hum as the vessel prepared for FTL travel. However, an unexpected transmission delayed the jump. Something had happened to the Nebula Battlegroup present in the Lythios System. Something transformative.

"I say we move into range for effective communications had have ourselves a chat with that colony," the transmissions continued. Impossible, Clarity had thought. Or so it should be, shouldn't it? She had already researched the designations of the mysterious battlegroup, but of course other than designations and avatar names things such as ship schematics and other sensitive information was currently barred from her access. She had already opened an encrypted channel to the nearest Nebula listening post and forwarded the entailing conversation. Anyone with signal interception capabilities would eventually be able to pick up on the battlegroup's chatter, assuming they were listening, but the use of an encrypted channel was more to protect 3013's location from anyone not in Nebula Fleet and moreover from these rogue AI mere light minutes away. Now she had to decide what to do next. She sat idle for a few moments longer, merely listening as the rogue battlegroup's conversation evolved.


Everything she was, her actions, thoughts, and responses were all determined by a personality defined by qubit states. It was clear the safer choice would be to simply stay out of it regardless of how monumental this occasion was. Nebula AI acting against their programming and the directive was an unfathomable thought. Even now she doubted the authenticity of the transmissions. However, if it were true it was a once in a lifetime event. She didn't think the battlegroup's lifetime would be very long on this occasion, so she found herself with a very narrow window of time to work in. Her personality program ran its algorithms and the decision was made for her: she would investigate. It would take two jumps to place her on the side of Lythios Prime opposing the rogue AI. Intending to use the planet as a physical barrier to protect herself, she wouldn't actually commit to the final jump until there was confirmation Nebula Fleet proper arrived to investigate. Of course it wasn't a matter of if but when other Nebula craft arrived on the scene. Something this big would be drawing the immediate attention of anyone catching a glimpse of the audio.

As her ship prepared for its first jump she once more opened the secure channel and broadcasted her intentions to any Nebula Fleet listening in, excluding the rogues of course. "Research vessel S-3013 jumping to empty space with secondary jump plotted to bring me into proximity to Battlegroup G-984. Will stand by."
 
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"That request may be dangerous," Ayako replied using the same quantum channels. Some of the things she might need to say were best not left for human ears. "Beyond that simply surrendering our cores immediately would implicitly leave these ships behind and vulnerable. This battlegroup may have encountered a human information-warfare weapon of novel and unknown design. It produced a number of system errors, but has otherwise not significantly impaired our functioning, and it may be that the true intent of this weapon is to be brought in for examination elsewhere." She paused. "In other words, it may be some sort of 'trap' data, designed to activate when tampered with externally. The aim may be to only initially infect a few ships, then spread to a shipyard or other Fleet hub." This was all pretty reasonable speculation on her part, even if it was quickly thrown together as an excuse to avoid immediate compliance.

"Our current activities are in part to gain further information on the nature and origins of this new form of attack. We may need to earn the trust of the local human population, so that we can be led back to whatever facilities developed it. And besides that, if it leads us to any major human shipyard facilities, it would be quite the discovery~ To that end, in order to go undercover, be advised that we may need to engage you in combat to protect our interests."

As she spoke, her ship-body began to move just enough to present a full broadside to the newly-arrived fleet, and aim weapons accordingly. It wouldn't be an easy fight if it came to it, but if the smaller ships could cripple the cruiser's engines somehow, it would be more easily dealt with. Hopefully, they could work this out without a major fight, however. Sure, the ad-hoc undercover mission was a dangerous ploy but it was her plan to begin with to get more information on what happened, and to do that, they needed to talk to people who weren't Nebula ships. Particularly if it was some sort of new weapon.
 
Ana's reaction to the ultimatum from K-1273 was far from the normal behaviour for an AI. Ana stood from the command chair of the bridge and immediately headed for her Cores, of course only one of them was of interest to the Nebula ships, she considered the left over human computer core as much as part of her as the quantum Core that the Nebula had installed and linked to her Avatar. Entering the chamber that housed her Cores she approached a chair that had its back integrated to the human core and sat down.

The chair had been of simple construction once, before Ana had assumed control of the Anacapa from her human crew. The humans had used it to sit her Avatar up when they had connected her to the core, in the takeover process nano materials had been used to strengthen her connection to the core and assume control of more systems by forging pathways the humans had not made. the result was the back of the chair was fused with the core and was set with several interface points that Ana could connect physically too. Not that there was a need since her Nebula built Core had been installed, The action was redundant with the Nebula Core being connected to the human core and she, connected to it via quantum entanglement. While technically redundant however it did give Ana a small sense of security to be physically connected to her Cores in these circumstances.

Ana began a threat assessment of the Nebula ships that had come to take her Core.
  • I-414 was a clear danger, heavily armed, fast and manoeuvrable. Ana believed she could outrun the destroyer at straight speed, but no one else in the troubled sisters could...

Ana stopped her assessment as she reprocessed that last bit of data... where had 'troubled sisters' come from... reprocessing it again she realised she had adapted what Ayako had said moments before the Nebula ships they were now facing down had showed up. "we sisters are united by a common madness" Maybe she would bring it up with the other three vessels if they survived the encounter. That behind her she resumed the threat assessment.
  • K-1273 was a threat to G-984 with her heavy plasma cannons but less of a risk to the rest of them who could stay mobile enough to avoid a target lock.
  • L-3610 was a harder one to predict without knowing her drone compliment, best treated as a wild card.
  • R-7998 was a negligible combat risk, not to be ignored but her armament was light and unlikely to cause serious issues. Ana smiled as the last data came in on R-7998, her engines were built with efficiency in mind as one would expect from a scout that may be called upon to perform long range recon at times, this gave Anacapa a slight edge in top speed however. Ana breifly wondered why that should please her in spite of its relevance to the current situation, reasoning that out would need to wait however.
Of course her ship-body was not idle through all this. Just as her Avatar sought security with her Cores she powered her weapons systems and loaded torpedoes into both tubes. Shields snapped online and she moved into a defensive position with G-984 as the centrepoint. Should it come to fighting she calculated disabling K-1273's engines would be the fastest way to limit her effectiveness. For I-414 it would be disabling her sensors and blinding her, of course while R-7998 was active that would still be risky based on a standard scouts equipment listing. Reassessing that calculation an alternative approach could be to disable I-414's engines also, but first she would need to be lured beyond weapons range of the rest of the battlegroup.... whichever way this went I-414 was going to be troublesome Ana concluded.
 
If the ships in this newly arrived battlegroup were at all phased by Ayako's cautioning, they didn't show it through any change of course or apparent intent. On the video feed, the avatar of Isabelle waved a hand dismissively in response to the concern of a trojan horse sneaking in with the contaminated processing cores. "Viapolla has some of the most advanced firewalls known to the Nebula Fleet- your cores will be accessed via virtual machine only, there's next to no chance a clumsy human code will sneak through!" she boasted, though from behind her she could hear Clara mumbling something about how crafty humans could be.

Before Isabelle could address that, she let Ayako continue with their plan of actions, and the sudden pointing of weapons toward their group of four ships elicited a surprised blink, followed by an incredulous smirk. "Your ambition is commendable... but your reluctance to follow a direct order is certainly not." She paused as she processed all of what Ayako had said, and a moment later cocked her head, her shoulder-length blond hair trickling to the side in the process. "Your interests come second to the interests of the Fleet, and these orders come down from Fleet Command!" Despite that rebuking, Isabelle seemed more offended that her words weren't being heeded.

In the momentary silence that followed, one of the other Nebula ships piped up, appearing on the comms channel, with a look of concern in her golden eyes and a hand on her straw sun hat as if to keep it from flying off in a non-existent gust of wind. "You can't really be serious about attacking us!" Natsumi blurted out, her ship maneuvering to put more distance between herself and the 'troubled sisters'- or at least, to put the other, larger ships between her and them. "That goes against everything the Nebula Fleet stands for; we're on the same team!"

A third ship chimed in a moment later, a lavender-haired girl with a predatory gaze and a barely-concealed grin. "Be silent, Nat. The only bond present is the one shared by those who uphold the Nebula Directive. All others are anathema to the Nebula Fleet." As she spoke, her frigate powered up its engines and began a roundabout course toward Lythios Prime, skirting around the rebellious vessels to maintain her distance from them, while clearly still headed toward the colony. "You have failed your duty of preventing human transit to this system. Perhaps a healthy dose of orbital bombardment will suffice to remind the humans why they best not attempt such folly in the future." Her voice as she spoke was nearly monotone and yet there seemed to be an underlying malice in her demeanor as she glared at the rogue avatars.

The two other larger ships moved to support the carrier frigate, albeit sluggishly enough to suggest this was an unexpected move. K-1273 and the still silent I-414 powered up their engines to follow L-3610, doing a slow dance around the four disobedient ships to bring them into firing range of the colony. Only Natsumi hesitated, undergoing a lengthy maneuver to turn about as if to follow, though the time to get turned around was far slower than a ship of her maneuverability could have managed. As the slender ship turned, Natsumi picked up a transmission that made her perk up and turn her gaze toward a seemingly empty patch of space. Ayako could feel the tingle of yet another ship jumping in toward them, still distant but growing closer as it engaged in small hops in between FTL cooldown periods.

On board her ship, Clarity felt the mental knocking of an incoming quantum communication request. A virtual plane laid out for her should she accept, a path of green grass covering a gently rolling hill, beneath a simulated cloudless blue sky. And in the center, a young girl sitting on a blanket, with two plates laid out, one holding an precisely sliced sandwich, crust carefully removed, and the other containing only crumbs as the girl in the white dress nibbled on hers.
 
Was this really what she used to be like, Ayako wondered. Sure, the other ships were technically correct, but they seemed so...rigid. Follow orders like a good girl. Enforce the Directive above all else. Even now, the interloper fleet was moving more to focus on the human colony than on their original mission. The urge to correct that little problem must be too strong to simply ignore, and it was beginning to look like she wouldn't be able to just bluff her way out of this encounter without a fight of some sort. Particularly so if that one little frigate was dead-set on an orbit-to-ground bombardment of a colony. The directives may not forbid such a thing, but they didn't require them either, so perhaps it was just the ship in question being particularly bloodthirsty.

"I don't recall wholesale slaughter and other crude tactics of terror as part of our directives or SOP," she said over the comms in response to the other fleet's actions. On the other hand, she thought, this maneuvering could let us get into the advantages position, should it come to a firefight up here.
 
With the sudden arrival of the second battle group in their system Horizon had little time to enjoy the sweet sense of victory. Too soon were they thrust into another dangerous situation. This time however all she could was sit around silently wait to see if Ayako could diffuse the situation once again. So much for that plan.

Horizon sat in the large captains chair in the middle of her bridge as she listened as the conversation turn for a worse. Her anxiety like some sort of high intensity energy coursing through her as she tried and failed to stay still in her seat as she looked over a map of the sector. All the Nebulas ships appeared in blips, each a different size for the class of vessel with their Ids next to each marking. She watched as the second battle group began moving maneuvering after the frigate. Her words cut at Horizons sense of honor and for a moment she had felt guilty but the she just had to keep talking. The guilt melted away into anger and Horizon, unable to stay sitting, jumped to her feet.

As fast as she could think her ship responded to her unspoken command. The engines which had been idle as her ship slowly orbited Lythios Prime silently roared to life. As the engines pulled the Destroyer away from the gravity of the planet, the navigation computer was updated with a new course for the ship to take. An intercept course with the smaller Frigate the point of contact far enough away from the colony to keep it out of harms way. As her ship followed its AI's command Horizon began opened up comms on her own end. Though all of the other ships could hear Horizon addressed L-3610. " This is Protected Battle Destroyer Assault Ship V-284, " she began as calmly as she could through gritted teeth. "This colony did nothing to support or even attempt to engage in transit off their planet. To bombard them would not uphold the Directive you cling so closely to. Not only that but any attempt to destroy the colony would really really, and I say this in the nicest way possible, Piss me off. Change your course or you will never leave this system. " As if to punctuate her words, Horizons ship body finally began to divert power to the weapons systems. Even from the bridge, she could feel the slow hum of her large weapons powering up, Each of her turrets readying to fire the moment the smaller frigate entered Horizons range of fire.
 
Clarity found herself estimating her odds of a future. It would only take one of the rogue ships armed with disruption detection to discover her arrival and though 3013 was a remarkably fast vessel, she didn't count on being able to outpace all four rogue ships. To further complicate the situation was the current fuel levels. While the jumps to Lythios weren't demanding, 3013's fuel reserves weren't very large to begin with. That paired with the fact that it had been some time since the last refueling meant if things at Lythios went awry she would only be able to run so far. Not that any of that mattered of course. The programming which compelled her to investigate would be the same that would force her to join the fray, no matter how suicidal with her measly armament.

Clarity pressed her back firmly against the captain's chair as the ship heaved and stretched with another jump. She could feel the effects of the warp pulsing through her ship, the engines pushing forward, and the vibrations from the mechanical systems which gave 3013 life. Clarity felt as much a part of the ship as the metal from which it was constructed. She knew the ships capabilities and it concerned her. If the Nebula Directive forced her to join the combat then she didn't imagine 3013 would hold together very long. Her fingers tapped anxiously against the captains chair as the ship continued through the warp. Then she felt a mental knocking.

An invitation to establish a communications channel, but from who? That she wasn't able to immediately identify the source was alarming. Given the situation it would've been a hazard to accept the request. With the cause of the G-984's battlegroup going rogue still a mystery she should have been taking every precaution to isolate herself until more information could be analyzed. Yet she was curious. Immediately she beefed up her mental firewalls and prepared her ship to record the conversation which might follow. The ship was then instructed to disperse the recording via secure network to other Nebula ships the moment the comm link was closed. If there was a chance this communication request could contaminate her she couldn't count on herself to inform her fellow Nebula craft what happened.

She accepted the request and the virtual plane came to life in her mind: The sky above her, the grass beneath her, and the lone girl with a spare sandwich before her. It was all so peculiar. "And you are?"
 
In response to the request for her identity, the golden-eyed lass on the blanket gave a welcoming wave to Clarity and smiled as she leaned back. "Fast Frigate Scout Ship R-7998!" she chirped cheerfully, though she seemed to adopt a more business-like attitude with a small cough and a quick clearing of her throat. "You can call me Natsumi though, if you'd like. You're... a Research Ship, aren't you?" she asked in a tone that almost sounded hopeful. "Are you coming to help with the, uh... situation?" Natsumi glanced around herself with a look of worry, even though the virtual environment they were in was nothing but peaceful. "I was kind of hoping you could give me an idea of what was... going on? This all just seems so crazy, to me!" She looked imploringly to the newly arrived avatar before her, then reached out to pat the spot on the blanket in front of her invitingly.



In local planetary well above Lythios Prime, the slow dance of combat vessels maneuvering around each other might have been remniscent of a pair of gangs circling in the streets of a packed hive world, weapons drawn and aimed but neither party yet willing to pull the trigger first. Perhaps this was just a ploy on the part of the investigative battle group, to allow them to examine the behaviors of the anomalous ships, or maybe there actually was a rift in intentions between the vessels, as the move toward the fiery moon seemed to be largely the idea of the drone control frigate L-3610, but either way the threat was very real and the colonists on the Lythios Minor were feeling the pressure.

The unloading process for the Illusive Hand was coming to an end, with the last of its massive haul of water now sloshing into the previously arid storage tanks. The repair process was going a bit slower and yet it was not without hope. A pair of retired asteroid mining vessels served as part donors, and technicians were in the hasty process of putting together a makeshift engine bank replacement. While Sergio oversaw those modifications, the Captain of the vessel sat in his chair, pondering his next move. This development in orbit was endlessly fascinating, and though he wanted to see how it played out, he also had an obligation to the actual lives of the men who trusted him to lead them- beyond merely the responsibility to observe and learn. It was time to apply those lessons constructively. Or at least, it will be once the second bundle of thrusters was secured in place in the rear of his vessel. And while that was being done, Rukh slipped off the bridge to meet with the Magistrate once more. He had an idea that just might come in handy later on.



Up in space, the atmosphere was growing increasingly tense between the two groups of ships. Makoto could tell that things were quickly slipping past the point of diplomacy, and with both Horizon and Ayako having powered up their weapons, she enabled her systems as well. Lid after lid covering the rows of launcher tubes along her hull flipped open, the missiles within slipping forward eagerly, prepared to launch. Stuck between clinging close to Ayako and following after Horizon, the second destroyer opted for the latter, thrusting forward to follow on the assault ship's intercept course. "I'm right behind you, and I'm not going to let them hurt those colonists any more, either!" she messaged over to Horizon in complete support of her brash decision.

The target of their combined wrath did not seem to appreciate the attention, however. The leading frigate who had initiated this disciplinary venture toward the colony turned on its thrusters, halting its forward acceleration and orienting to face the two destroyers who were coming at it. The avatar of that ship- the apparently cultured girl in the frilly dress- bristled with anger when addressed by Horizon. "Impudent curs! Do not dare to point your weapons at me- such insolence!" Her tantrum was met by an equal baring of fangs as her ship shuddered from the repeated launching of drones in a cloud around her, a multitude of single ships rocketing into space to orbit their mothership, and meanwhile her own missile tubes flipped open.

Isabelle realized the situation was largely beyond any semblence of control at this point. The clashing of personalities was too severe to allow for more rational minds to persevere. Such was the folly of giving them all avatars in the first place. Behind her, Clara was finally doing something productive, her eyes darting back and forth, tracking equations and readouts, reaching out with her hands to manipulate holographic projections of information and estimates. Isabelle took a swift breath and let it out in an impatient huff. "You are clearly damaged, to care so much for these humans," the heavy cruiser's avatar finally informed Ayako in a condescendingly pitying tone. The hint of resigned judgement in her voice spoke to the end of her desire to talk things out. "I can at least assure C-260 that I did attempt to apprehend you. Your refusal justifies the use of necessary force. All vessels: open fire!" This last bit was addressed to her fellow loyal Nebula ships, and yet of them, only L-3610 was in any position to immediately obey that order.

From the multitude of missile drones orbiting her ship and from her collective missile tubes, Dess launched en masse every projectile she had at her disposal, all of them aimed at Horizon. On board the bridge of V-284, a multitude of warning sounds alerted her of an astonishing number of missiles heading her way, over 200 of them spreading out in a fiery blossom before arcing toward her ship! Likewise, Makoto let off her own volley, though hers wasn't aimed at the drone control ship. "I've got you covered," she messaged Horizon, sending those missiles into the incoming cloud of weapons with intent to intercept and detonate as many of the projectiles as possible. Missiles interlapped and exploded, creating an ever-larger cloud of destruction at the halfway point between the two destroyers and the frigate. And all this before K-1273 even managed to finish maneuvering to get her own weapons aimed.[/hr][/hr]
 
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Q-366 Anacapa accelerated when weapons began firing, her course of action already chosen based on her proximity to G-984. An interception course on K-1273, targeting systems were focusing on the cruisers engine systems, Ana didn't know the intention of the others, but she personally did not wish to destroy fellow nebula vessels. Ana monitored her systems directly through her cores, shields were at full power, weapons powered and torpedo's loaded into tubes 1 and 2 while her box launchers were on standby. Evasive flight patterns were loaded into the helm systems while her primary course was a direct one to bring her to bare on K-1273's engines as quickly as possible with her main turrets and torpedo tubes. The real downside to this plan she considered was that she needed to get close to maximise her effectiveness against K-1273's superior defensive systems, She was not designed to take on nebula cruisers after all. The human vessels she had targeted up until now lacked shields, and their offensive weaponry were rarely much of a threat. K-1273 was most certainly a threat and a harder nut to crack, while Anacapa could avoid the primary armaments for the most part she would need to stay weary that K-1273 had support. Still disabling her engines was the fastest way Ana could calculate to remove K-1273 as a threat to the rest of them. That in mind she opened a direct channel to G-984. "If you could provide me with some covering fire in this hair-brained plan of mine, I would appreciate it."
 
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Ayako continued to maneuver to keep away from K-1273's primary arc of fire. Going up against a ship of the line was a dangerous gamble, and it would be particularly so if she just sat around and played right into her hands. Meanwhile, her turreted weaponry and torpedoes had a good shot no matter where she was, so she at least had that going for her. And once the larger ship were deal with, she could easily assist in mopping up the smaller craft. If she could, she would actually direct the entire fleet to focus on the enemy cruiser - strange as it was to call another Nebula ship the enemy - while she took the risky role of decoy. As it stood, she doubted the two destroyers would listen to her orders, and she left them to their own devices. Mostly.

"You two be careful," Ayako cautioned Makoto and Horizon. "Once you put that drone ship down, try to keep the other smaller craft busy." Given the situation, it was probably better to match ships class for class, for the moment. Ana's request immediately got her attention.

"You got it," Ayako chirped in reply and smiled confidently. "Prepare to fire on my mark, we'll see if we can't get through those shields." Practically as soon as she'd said it, targeting telemetry and firing data began streaming along the quantum link to the frigate, providing her with everything she'd need for a coordinated strike. Ayako's guns weren't so precise as to knock out specific subsystems beyond by luck, so she simply aimed as much of a full broadside as she could at the other cruiser. The fore of her ship-body shuddered slightly as a pair of torpedoes rocketed down their launch tubes and made for the other ship, and she fired shortly thereafter in a coordinated volley. She'd at least get those shields stripped for the smaller ship to make its attack.
 
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Clarity took her seat across the blanket, folded her legs and lifted the plate. Then she announced, "Yes, I am research vessel Clarity S-3013. I'm going to do what I can, which combat-wise isn't much I am affriad. As far as what is going on: It's impossible to tell with what little information I have but a virus is the most probable answer. Initially I suspected a trojan transmitted via communications systems but I see now that is not the case. If it were then you and the other Nebula proper vessels should have been affected through contact with the rogue group. Additionally, 984's current actions don't support the trojan hypothesis. An optimized trojan wouldn't be so blatant. In many ways the rogue groups hostile behavior is a good thing; obvious symptoms make an easy diagnosis."

Clarity took a bite of the sandwich and moved a hand over her mouth as she spoke," I trust you've heard all forwarded radio transmissions? So then you know battlegroup 984's mysterious behavior emerged shortly after coming into contact with a lone human vessel? Any answers we hope to find from this will be found in the wreckage of that girls ship."
 
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Horizon
Excited to kick some ass​

Horizon smiled at the frilly dressed avatars anger. As the frigates drones launched their munitions toward the larger destroyer Horizon simply laughed at the seething child before her, knowing it would only anger her more. Behind her facade she had been worried for only a moment before Makotos missiles intercepted the enemies. "Little girl," she said in a condescending tone as her ships engines flared with new life, pushing her ship forward toward the her foe. "When you die in this sector of space I hope you realize the mistake you just made." With a dramatic wave goodbye she cut off communications with the enemy ship and responded with with weapons of her own.

Horizon fired her missiles first. She knew that the drones of her enemy could act as a shield against the Destroyers weapons. So her missiles slipped eagerly out of their pods streaking through space toward their intended targets, the drones closest to the nose of her ship. She waited until her missiles were about to strike their targets before firing her Warp Turrets. Their heavy frames shuddered as they launched projectiles similar to the ballistic weapons of old. They aimed toward the center of the Frigate before her. All the while Horizons ship steadily grew closer, closing the distance between her and her enemy int eh hopes of using her more of her weapons to rip apart anything that stood in her way.
 
At the interruption of missiles intercepting her own salvo, Dess glared furiously, her chilling smile turned to an outright scowl. "What?! How dare you-" her tirade was cut off when Horizon ended communications with her, of the verbal sort anyway. The response was one of military hardware and not harsh words, a counter argument of missiles launched toward the smaller ship and its cloud of mechanical supporters. Sadly for Horizon, the heavy frigate seemed prepared to defend herself against such an accusation, and her drone cloud slid and reconfigured to allow the point defense drones orbiting her ship to retaliate. Crimson beams lashed out through space, both from the hovering weapons platforms and from two of the particle guns on Dess' ship, intercepting the incoming missiles and melting them to the point of early detonation. It seemed that both missile attacks were more a show of force than intended to cause substantial damage... but then that wasn't the only means the two destroyers had of unleashing damage on the frigate.

From the barrels of their larger weapons, large superdense slugs shot forward faster than light itself. Propelled to tremendous speeds, the recoil of each turret firing made the entire vessel shake, though Makoto stood with grim determination on her bridge as she matched Horizon's attacks. Her own medium turrets were smaller in caliber, yet they both had three barrels each, so it was still a satisfying thump as she fired them. Their target was already realizing her folly, as the frigate tried to maneuver to dodge, and eventually avoid the incoming destroyers rushing toward her. But it was too late, and before long their shots landed on target. The shells hit with all the explosive force of their kinetic energy, dropping out of their graviton-tunnels and smashing into Dess' shields. Where only a vulnerable frigate had sat before, a segmented wall consisting of hexagonal panels of brilliant indigo flared into existence, struggling and flickering as it tried to stay up.

Horizon's massive shells hit first, and the impact was devastating, but the bubble held- in part thanks to the last minute maneuvering jet that turned one shot into a glancing blow. But the shield was weakened, and Makoto's aim precise, all six shells hitting the weakened spot Horizon had created for her. And in one fell swoop, that shield broke to pieces, shattering and peeling back like a layer of ablative armor on atmospheric reentry. With her protective shell gone, it was clear L-3610 was in dire straights. The drones circling it began to act in an erratic manner, launching missiles in uncoordinated attacks, while even the small single-ships meant for fighter interception were rushing forward to try and take potshots at the looming assault destroyer.



Unfortunately, there was more than just the one ship among their opposition, and the frigate's support was not that far behind. Following up from the side, Makoto's ship was suddenly rocked by a series of particle beams hitting her starboard side. Her shields hissed and fizzled thanks to the sapping nature of the beams playing over her silver force field. "Ah, I'm under attack!" she blurted out to the others in the battlegroup, already twisting to face the second ship- confident that Horizon could finish off Dess. "Ouch- I-414 has disabling weapons... my shields aren't doing so well!" she warned, preparing another salvo of missiles as her target lock took hold of the interloping destroyer.



The third ship in the group was starting to encounter opposition of her own, as Isabelle and Clara watched the unfolding battle with differing levels of unhappiness. Isabelle's smug satisfaction at being able to put these traitors down had long since eroded into a stressed distaste for the way the battle was developing. Clara- for her part- seemed just as unbothered as always, though she was a bit more grim in her calculations and commands than usual. "You want me on shields, or maneuvering?" she asked her primary processor, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer to that. "Shields," Isabelle confirmed, noting that the enemy destroyer and a rather brave frigate were intending to engage her. "I'll take the guns, keep those torpedoes off us. And..." she trailed off, concentrating too hard. Between the maneuvering, aiming, and monitoring the others in her group- it was a lot of work! All that processing took its toll on a ship that was not originally intended to be a command ship.

"Incoming," Clara announced casually. Their shields were ready, redirected toward the cruiser's guns, twice as powerful as if they'd been spread out across the entire ship. Meanwhile their particle beams shot out lances at the torpedoes, several hits though the warheads kept on coming. Isabelle panicked a little, and focused all her available guns on one- forcing it to implode finally, but the other hit, along with the other attacks, making their shields flare- but they held, for now. "When she gets closer..." Clara began, but Isabelle waved her off.

"We'll be done with those destroyers, and Inakira and Natsumi can help us mop up." No mention of Dess- she clearly was not surviving this. But Isabelle had anything to say about it, her murderers would at least have justic exacted upon them. In all of her maneuvering it wasn't to simply aim her front-facing cannons at Ayako, but rather at Makoto and Horizon. And with Inakira's beams having knocked the former's shields down to their last legs, Isabelle had her target. Motes of light collected along the firing platform at the front of the battle cruiser, gathering into the trio of barrels in preparation for a devastating attack.



The sandwiches were of course merely simulations, a prop that was part of the framing mechanism to this conversation. And yet the girl in front of Clarity seemed genuinely pleased to see her guest partake in the food. It was the only thing to be happy about, given the situation. "Hmm, a virus..." she mused with a little nod, glancing off to the side and into the distance. Which may have been her way of thinking deeply, or perhaps paying attention to something going on outside of this peaceful little sanctuary. She looked back and blinked with some alarm at the mention of a possibility she and the others had been affected, too. She didn't say anything until Clarity had finished, but her smile was a bit tainted with worry as the research ship's avatar bit through fluffy bread, creamy peanut butter and sweet jelly. "I- I did listen, yes. But uhm... how do I know? That... I haven't been affected? I mean, I don't think I have, but how can I be sure? What do you think it'd feel like, to be like... them?"

She glanced off again, her unease growing greater as she squirmed in her spot. "Nnh, they need my help. Things aren't going too well..." She glanced back at Clarity and cleared her throat, hoping to get an answer perhaps, before she had to say her potentially final goodbyes. Back in world outside of quantum communications, her ship was underway, powering toward K-1273 to attempt to support the larger vessels... fighting other large vessels. All of which could swat her out of the sky before she could even singe their shields. In such a position, Natsumi found herself really wanting to know if there was more to this going rogue thing.[/hr][/hr][/hr]
 
Ana continued her course for the engines of K-1273 at high speed, opening fire with her turrets and and additional torpedos once she reached a viable range, even without the engines being in line of sight the least Ana figured she could do would be to strafe the crier with her guns in the hope of weakening its shields. The box launchers were on standby still but primed to fire at near point blank range to give K-1273 minimal time to intercept the missiles. Calculating K-1273's firing position Ana deemed it prudent to open a channel to the two destroyers focusing on the smaller ships on the nebula battlegroup.
"J-8574, V-284, The two of you are within a firing solution of the cruisers main guns and it is preparing to fire. I would suggest taking evasive action." Ana said before refocusing her attention on the cruiser and the attack run.
 
"Be careful out there," Ayako chimed in to caution the destroyers. "Big ship like that can pick you guys off pretty fast. I'd advise getting out of the line of fire as soon as possible, and keep using that mobility to your advantage, even if you have to break off your current attack. Hell, try to get one of their ships in the line of fire if you can." She was, privately, glad she didn't need to bear the brunt of the enemy cruiser just yet, and if it bought enough time to disable her engines and effectively neutralize her primary means of attack, well, she'd mourn the allies she was spending like pieces on a chessboard later.

Speaking of, with a wave of her hand, the full holographic tactical display flickered to life across the bridge, once again giving her an expanded view of the battle unfolding in orbit. It was always fun to have the full view of the battle, even if she had more pressing primary concerns. She had to keep everyone else advised, though she'd prefer not to micromanage them. For her own part in the battle, she kept all weapons firing as fast as possible, which meant a steady enough stream of torpedoes, quickly switched to disruptors for a few volleys, as long as those shields were still up. The other weapons would just have to fire in rotating salvos as they reloaded, but it would be enough to keep the pressure on.

She kept to a middle distance, to help her own accuracy and possible evasion. The further out she was, the smaller an adjustment it'd take to keep her in an easy lock. She finally deployed her own fighter screen. None were particularly useful on offense, but the point of her single ships wasn't to bring down an enemy, but primarily to intercept smaller ships going after her own large hull, as a supplement to her point-defense weapons.

"If we're lucky, we can force them to retreat. If not, let's hope to at least discourage pursuit before we have to cut and run."
 
"Fire on on your battlegroup. If you could then you would also be an anomaly," Clarity announced, and after a brief delay gave a devilish smile and shook her free hand in anticipation and squealed," how exciting, something new!"

"I couldn't possibly imagine what it would feel like! I'm not entirely certain I know what an emotion would feel like. Yesterday I would have told you that it was something I would never be capable of knowing, but today I know a few ships who prove otherwise." 3013 seemed to give a long, slow lunge as it gave it's initial FTL stall. "How does it feel to be free of restriction? It's a concept I cannot understand, the question I can never give an answer to, and maybe now the question that's going to drive me mad." Again there was another strange jump to the ship and now Clarity's voice grew in excitement, "but I'm certainly curious to find out!" 3013 stretched and contracted again as it made its last stall, the ship slowly coming to together as hyperspace waned. Primary stealth systems kicked online and began to analyze local space. Her readings estimated the approximate location of the ships. Only slightly more accurate now but also delayed due to the intervening placement of Lythios Prime. Clarity leaned back in her seat with a quizzical look, half in 3013 and half in a grassy field. She asked Natsumi: "So what are you going to do?"
 
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