[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Coryth Elaris"] [member="Callista Gseran"]
Commander Marissa Gynt of the
Orion had finally gotten to sleep when a knock on her cabin door roused her. With a groan she sat up.
“Enter, Lieutenant,” she said.
Lieutenant Ward entered, offered a brief salute.
“Sorry to wake you, ma’am,” she said,
“We have a bit of a situation.”
“I’ll come up. Give me a moment.”
A few moments later the Commander was on deck and the pre-dawn light revealed a darkness before them. The
Orion was the first of Firemane’s surface ships to be deployed, a
Triton Class Corvette to help control the sealanes of Tygara.
Gynt, who had been commander of a space borne corvette, had taken some time to get used to maritime life. It was simpler in some ways…no 3D maps required…but on the other hand there was weather and obstacles to take account of.
“Commander on deck!”
“At ease. Lieutenant, what’s the situation?”
Ward brought up a holomap of the twenty kilometres surrounding them.
“That convoy of Xioquo we sighted yesterday? They’re not stopping at the fortress. In fact, they picked up more troops there, we think. They’re coming this way.”
Gynt examined the map with a frown. Twenty ships, eight of them bigger than her corvette, and others packed with troops, were heading her way. They could only be heading for the unprotected Amikarese heartland.
“How many troops?”
“Difficult to say, ma’am. We’re estimating that each ship can carry about 500, so perhaps 6,000 warriors.”
“I’m going to need some COC for this. Get me CEO Alcori on the line.” She had not known that Siobhan had also arrived.
In her room at the palace Tegaea found herself wakened by a gentle touch from an Angelii.
“My apologies, Mistress, but Commander Ward needs to talk with you.”
Tegaea disengaged herself from Siobhan and Chesna, and pulled on a robe over her kiddy corrupting body.
A few moments later she was in the impromptu holoroom set aside for the offworlders.
“Commander?” Tegaea asked. She knew if they had awoken her it would be for an important reason…or else.
“Ma’am, sorry to wake you, but we have a situation out here. Large Xioquo fleet has left the fortress and is sailing your way. I count twenty ships, perhaps 6000 troops. They’re heading for Mansura by the looks of it. They may not even be aware that we’ve landed on Tygara. Whatever the case, ma’am, what are your orders?”
Tegaea examined the map now presented, examined what she knew of relative strengths and forces.
“I have only 200 troops total, but half of them are on the northern continent. We’ve given weapons to the Qadiri, but they’ll not get up to Mansura in time. Any defeat gives our enemies here ammunition against us. I want you to hold them off as long as possible, Commander. Don’t endanger your ship, but give them a display of power. I’ll call in a bomber wing from the fleet to assist, but it’ll be a couple of hours before they get there. Can you hold?”
“Yes, ma’am. Our weapons have longer range and we’re quicker, so we’ll keep ahead of them.”
“Alright, may the Force be with you,” Tegaea said. After the call disconnected she swiftly contacted the commander of the
Valora’s Blade to call in some support.
Commander Gynt meanwhile found herself forced to prepare for battle.
“Battle stations. Prepare the cannons. Ready torpedoes. Range?”
“Enemy is 4km and closing. Lookouts can just see them in the light.”
The sun was rising rapidly. The glint of metal on distant ships, the slight smudge of smoke from steam and coal engines.
“Bring us closer, and cross their T. We need these first shots to count,” Gynt ordered.
The two fleets closed. The largest enemy ships, five in all, were formed up behind three smaller ones. They had seen the
Orion too and were making full steam towards it.
“Report?”
“Enemy ships almost in effective range, ma’am. Seem to be ironclad vessels with large calibre solid and explosive shell weapons. Maximum range…perhaps two kilometres.”
“Well we’ll just have to keep out of range then. Turbolasers ready?”
“Yes, ma’am. Locked on to lead target.”
“On my mark…fire!”
Twin bolts of green fire burst from the turbolaser cannons and arced over the sea. With a flash like a miniature sun they impacted the unsuspecting ship dead on. Flames and dense smoke boiled from the ship before a second volley caused the ship to vanish in a bright explosion as the ammunition expoded.
“Target destroyed, ma’am!” Ward called triumphantly.
“Good…now we just repeat this 19 more times,” Gynt said lightly. She suspected it wouldn’t be that easy!
