[SIZE=8pt]During the graveyard shift, the third duty shift ranging between 0000 and 0800 Standard Ship Time, the hallways of the Eradicator-class Heavy Cruiser HIMS Requital were almost eerily quiet for an active warship in the Sith-Imperial Armada. With the majority of the crew off-duty, either relaxing or vast asleep, only a skeleton crew complement remained on watch to monitor the ship’s functions during the nightly hours. In comparison to the other two duty shifts, which were far better staffed, it was actually quite uncommon to find someone in the hallways.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]Especially someone in a hurry.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]Lord Captain Marayna Danforth had just turned around in her bed in an attempt to fall back asleep. The HIMS Requital was plagued by a minor irregularity during hyperspace travel, which resulted in a slight vibration whenever the ship was in transit. A very light sleeper by nature, Marayna had actually managed to get used to the sound and was instead roused from her sleep just minutes ago when it suddenly stopped; an indication that the ship had dropped out of hyperspace. If the entire Line dropped out of hyperspace during a routine border patrol it always meant they had run into something, and the female Galidraani knew that, depending on whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, she could possibly expect to be woken up again within the next couple of minutes. Having come to trust the experience of her watch officer and knowing that she was more than able to handle minor affairs, Marayna had long since given up on waiting for either the sound of her door chime, for the call to general quarters, or for the ship to resume hyperspace travel. Instead, she did what every sensible person would do if awakened in the middle of the night; going back to sleep.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]Marayna was almost asleep again, comfortably curled up beneath the warm covers , when the hated sound of the door chime rang out through her quarters. Opening her blue eyes, the Lord Captain sighed deeply and momentarily pulled the covers over her head as if to hide from the responsibility before she got out of bed, slipped on a scarlet-colored dressing gown, and made her way to the door. When she came face to face with the young Crewman on the other side of her door, the young Chiss immediately snapped at attention before speaking up on a soft tone.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]“Good morning, ma’am. Commander Mailhot requests your presence in the Combat Information Center.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]For the briefest of moments, Marayna actually found herself taken aback. Her presence had been requested in the CIC on multiple occasions since she became a Lord Captain, but those had all been announced by calling for general quarters. In the few times Commander Leeanna Mailhot had actually sent a runner to wake her, it was always to call her to the Bridge instead. Hiding her confusion from the young Crewman, Marayna just nodded in acknowledgment and repeated the message just so they both knew there wasn’t any confusion or misinterpretation. With that, and after dismissing the Chiss, she quickly closed the door again to get dressed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]Several minutes later, the Lord Captain walked into the Combat Information Center. She was flanked by the Commanding Officer of her flagship, Captain Owen Hawke, whom she had encountered by sheer chance along the way. The fact that he had been called out of bed as well did little to put Marayna at ease, but what they subsequently encountered inside the room only confirmed her worries that her Line stumbled upon something big. [/SIZE][SIZE=8pt]She was met by the holographic Commander Leeanna Mailhot, who had called down from the Bridge to brief her, and behind her were the three sleepy-eyed holographic counterparts of Captain Hawke; the Section Leaders Captain Ellison Varga of the [/SIZE]HIMS Aurora[SIZE=8pt], Captain Jaryn Kymball of the [/SIZE]HIMS Acheron[SIZE=8pt], and Captain Niemb’urt’hanlo of the [/SIZE]HIMS Styx[SIZE=8pt]. Knowing that the holographic projectors inside the room had locked in on both herself and Captain Hawke the moment they walked through the doors, and that they were now projected onto the [/SIZE]Requital[SIZE=8pt]’s Bridge and the Combat Information Centers of the three other Cruisers, Marayna immediately spoke up.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]“Commander Mailhot, I see you assembled the entire command staff of my Line.”[/SIZE][SIZE=8pt] As she spoke, the stern tone of Marayna’s Galidraani-accented voice failed to completely hide her discomfort. “You have the floor.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]With a curt nod, her watch officer began to speak. “Fourty-five minutes ago, we received a priority-Aurek distress signal.” The woman’s slight Corellian accent failed to hide her own uneasiness, and Marayna couldn’t blame her. The Sandhurst Officer Training School had taught her that priority-Aurek transmissions were reserved for members of the Imperial Royal Family, and they held the authority to overrule any general order. It was basically a “drop whatever you’re currently doing and do this instead”, but dealing with the Zambranos was so far above the paygrade of anyone in this room, holographic or otherwise, that neither Marayna nor any of her command staff had ever dealt with one before. “There was too much interference to properly decode the message, but we did manage to track down the source of the transmission. It was coming from just outside the border, in the vicinity of a planet called Drongar.” A brief pause followed before Commander Mailhot, misinterpreting the silence as the command staff waiting for her to finish her report, spoke up the words that crushed what everyone was probably silently hoping for. “As there is currently no other Sith-Imperial Armada presence on the long-range scanners, I gave the order to drop out of hyperspace and wake the command staff, ma’am.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]Marayna just nodded at the woman. “Thank you, Commander.” As the hologram began to disappear and Marayna spoke up once more, her mind was already racing through the possibilities. “Captain Hawke, I am detaching the HIMS Firestorm from your Section. Captain Kymball, Captain Burth, I am doing the same with the HIMS Idolator and the HIMS Iconoclast.” As their Velox-class Fast Frigates, those three ships would be able to arrive at Drongar way ahead of the rest of her Line and give them a head start in investigating the distress signal. While Marayna prayed for a higher-ranking officer to arrive at Drongar, just so she wouldn’t be the responsible officer if a member of the Imperial Royal Family were to die, she couldn’t afford to slack around either. “I am assigning Commander Kaya Virai of the HIMS Firestorm as temporary Section Commander. They are to form up and jump ahead of the Line to reach Drongar as fast as possible and commence the investigation into the source of the distress signal. Also, prepare your Squads to follow the Frigates to Drongar as soon as possible. The Requital will take point. Thank you.” As the three officers acknowledged their orders and their holograms began to fade, Marayna turned her attention to Captain Hawke. “Captain, tell Commander Virai that she is not to stop for anyone or anything, regardless of the circumstances.” The tension in her voice increased a little bit as she spoke. “May the Emperor have mercy on us if we get there too late.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt]As Captain Hawke acknowledged his orders as well, be it a little more uneasy than he had been mere moments ago, Marayna turned her attention back to the holographic display. “Bridge, CIC.” Within moments, the hologram of Commander Mailhot appeared again with a tense acknowledgment. “Commander, prepare to jump to Drongar and engage as soon as the Line reports ready.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=8pt][Member='Elani Zambrano'][/SIZE]
