Welcome to Gaia! ::

The twin moons, Oradio and Orran hung in the dark void, keeping watch above the barren desert world of Kunorask II. Through her link with the ship's systems, Captain Mureta could perceive them as though she were looking at them with her own eyes.

She was an older ship captain, and had spent roughly one hundred and thirty years fully integrated with the Ateno's systems. With her body fully submerged in a life support vat, she was effectively ageless, and could expect to remain operational until the heat death of the universe. Still, such sights never failed to fill her with a sense of awe, and wonder.

“Kunorask II Orbital Control, this is the HRNV: Ateno, requesting permission to dock.” It was her voice, but it was the Adjutant's words. She was linked with the ship, and the ship was linked with her. Both entities could manipulate the other at will. It had taken some Mureta some time to get used to, but she could not deny it's efficiency. There were many small matters that needed to be dealt with, before the Ateno could safely dock, the Adjutant allowed her to focus on the less trivial matters.

“Kunorask II Orbital Control please respond, over.” Something wasn't right. Kunorask II should have had a patrol frigate waiting to escort them in, and now this? The Adjutant waited a moment, before saying: “Captain, I am unable to establish contact with Orbital Control.”

“Perhaps they're having trouble with their long range communications dish?” Mureta guessed, hesitantly. “Send a shuttle to investigate.”

“I am detecting several vessels approaching our present location. They are ignoring our hails.”

“Classification?” she asked, though she feared that she already knew the answer.

“Their configuration is consistent with that of the House Ral Viper XI Star Fighter.”

“Friendly forces then.” She said, relieved. The planet had not fallen to a rival house. “Are they still not responding to our transmissions?”

“Negative. I am detecting several new heat signatures.”

“Source?”

“The incoming fighters. Likely hood of an incoming missile barrage, 89.7%”

“Raise shields!” she said, frantically. “Get our point defences online!”

“The majority of the crew are still in hibernation capsules. Would you like me to revive them?”

“No, there's no time. Eject the capsules for later recovery, and launch a message beacon back to Ral Primus. Notify them of what has happened here, and request assistance.”

“Affirmative. The beacon has been launched, it will arrive in exactly three point four months and thirteen...”

Dull thumps slammed into the Ateno, and Mureta shook inside her vat.

“Shields offline, multiple hull breaches detected. Power failure on decks two through six.”

“Return fire!”

“Missile tubes one through eighteen firing.”

It wouldn't be enough, and she knew it. Her only hope was to buy enough time to effect emergency repairs. She'd purposefully not activated the distress beacon on the capsules, with their minimal power usage, the would be invisible to most means of detection. Only her systems were calibrated to find them, once the battle was over, automated drones could recover them easily enough.

“Three enemy vessels destroyed, captain. Four more have suffered severe damage, and are breaking off. The remaining squadrons are commencing another attack.”