"Peace and a new industrial revolútion, better tech, weapons resulting in more greed and civil wars/uprisings?" Blake answered."Slave trade is growing more… and Politics and presidents changing." Blake sighed,
(Flashback) Young Blake walking with his dad when they discover a hidden experimental lab, BOOM! the last thing the boy sees is smoke.
"Station's have been built and lost…"
Civil wars? Greed? Slave trade? This… "I didn't realise the Alliance would fall so low as to have slave trading around as well as greed and the like…" Geary replied quietly. "You're serious, this isn't a mock-up or an elaborate trick is it?" He asked. Sure he had heard of what the Alliance had done before… Allowing of bombardment of planets despite civilians but this bad? Elaborate trick was extremely doubtful though… After all the Enigmas had basically barred their way from ever coming back, but they had also seen two other races. Each expanding so quickly, Fleet didn't know what was happening…
"We found another two species, besides from the Enigmas. One's our ally, the other is our enemy. Both of those are vastly different to these Enigmas and have certain types of ships. I will gladly provide information about either whenever you need it exactly, Fleet Admiral." Geary replied now, very carefully in thought himself. He would have to figure out how he was so prone to time slips like this… A second time…
"I would gladly take the information." Blake said." And no this is not a mock-up, sometimes I wish that I could just go to the council and take it to the right path, but alas what can we do but stare in misery especially after the state we are currently in."
Elizia smiled, but felt a little strained. Of course thy were gonna ask for large scale repair. The one thing she was a little unsure of.
"Yeah, no problem. I'll need to reposition the Loveless, but it shouldn't be hard. I might need people as well. How bad a hit?"
Geary gave a nod to the man's words, showing the information with the displays in front of the other, however it was obvious that the 'thirty years' time slip made sure that Geary's ships were severely out of date. "I could take it to the council, I am Black Jack after all… But I won't do that, I take orders and I do them, despite whatever my legends say… What does the Alliance put me and my crew under? Missing in action? Or killed in action?" He asked, certainly wouldn't be the first time he had been placed as 'killed in action', but he didn't think it would be the first.
However, despite this, the two species and who they were and what they were aligned with was almost too obvious. The Spider-Wolves, while the ugliest out of the three races he originally found, were their allies. The bear-cows however, while… Somewhat cute, had quite murderous intentions.
~~~
Carabali raised a brow at that but she made no comment. "If you want we could do up some of the smaller hits. We have as many engineers as we can spare going on the bay but from what I believe, it's been completely obliterated, but not to the extent as to our underside. However, we have so many working on it only because we need it to be repaired as soon as possible, our Auxiliary wouldn't be able to hand over the necessary panels and such otherwise and we'd have to carry it from one side of the ship to another… Roughly. Does that make sense to you?"
"Killed in action," Blake confirmed.
Geary loosed another sigh at that. "Second time on record that I've been believed to be killed in action. The Alliance won't like it when I emerge again but this time with ancient ships." He rubbed the corner of his eyes lightly. "I can understand why they went with killed in action though, thirty years without any communications over light-years apart… Lets hope nothing else happens. Now, because we were both fighting Enigmas, I believe two scouting parties of small force would try and attack our fleet. They will expect us to be broken and defeated. They expect now, with how we are holding formation, to come at them head-on like some new commander. I will be giving my orders to my side of the fleet only though for what I have in mind, if you want to hand orders at me too, then I'll try to follow them unless they contradict the survival of the men and women under my command."
"Show me. It'll make more sense when I see it for myself," Elizia replied, already sorting through her jacket for a remote, "I'm not gonna lie to ya, I'm not sure how well this'll work, but if you can bring your Auxillary next to it, we can get workers to safely free-float over to it, if we depressurise the section."
Carabali gave a light nod to her words, loosening her grip on her rifle and relaxing a little visibly before leading off to the ruined shuttle bay, from where they were, a minute or two. One of the shortest trips Carabali has, admittedly, ever done on board Dauntless But the idea of bringing their last auxiliary closer almost seemed to frighten the woman. "You can't be serious there? Admiral Geary would not ever dare allow such a thing to occur, he wants and likes order, if we bring Tanuki closer it would be pure violation of orders. Besides, all of the formations he showed us do not allow the slow thing to move more than the Battleships. But what do I know, it might work since I'm only a Marine."
"Vi-vio-vio-violation?" Elizia struggled, failing on the word for a minute, "What's that supposed to mean? And who's orders?"
(Sorry for the short thing, writing on the run…)
Carabali just relaxed a little again at that, explaining that would be fine to her. "Violation is… Like breaking a law, except you're making sure you're going against someone's orders in the military. Basically, it's another way of saying 'breaking' in the way of breaking his orders. It just sounds… Better to say 'violation' than breaking though. And those orders would be John Black Jack Geary himself, he wants to keep Tanuki safe and sound within the fleet rather than being somewhere he didn't want her to be. Worried about her, you know? We had six before and now we only have one that has to try and keep up with demands of five other ships as well as itself." She shrugged lightly nonetheless.
(That's alright!!)
Elizia nodded as the marine explained, "It makes sense to value these… Auxillaries, but we won't be long. Especially if all you need to do to get supplies to the shuttle bay is toss them out the airlock to the other ship." They turned three corners, then one. She continued, "And I have another question. This Geary? I've never heard of him. I get he's a big deal and all, but what about him is so important to you people? Is he a religious leader as well as a military one?"
Carabali hummed quietly at her words, taking them into consideration for a bit before shaking her head. "Even if it was brief, this is a military operation and we must respect it so, we don't know when the enemy will jump in but we do not want to take risks, even for a second to do something so trivial as push supplies that we need from one side to another."
Though at her questions about Geary, she raised a brow and made it obvious of course to do so. "He's more military than a religious leader. Well, not even a leader at that, he's lead this fleet on more successes than we can even count within four hands. He's a saviour to the Alliance. He led a brave, final charge at his last supposed resting place but we believed he would come back when the Alliance needed him most." She replied, almost seemingly to be proud of recounting the story.
Elizia raised an eyebrow at the marine's reverence. This is the exact kind of thing that led to dangerous worship. Tentatively, she decided that she should probably avoid Black Jack.
As far as the shuttle bay goes, it made sense to preserve the last resupply ship for emergencies. But why prioritize the shuttle bay for repairs if you weren't ready to do anything necessary to bring it up to full readiness?
She decided to voice her concerns. She knew the Marine probably wouldn't volunteer much more. Besides, she needed someone who spoke machine.
"Excuse me for speaking suddenly, but if you wouldn't mind showing me to your Chief Engineer on this ship? I have a few suggestions if we can't bring the Auxiliary around for easy access. "
(Writing up the two as we RP, so not that'll make 13 characters lmao.)
Carabali was all too quick to note the others eyebrow raise. Unused to the praise of one man was she? Or saw it as dangerous? She didn't personally care, it was how everyone was going to see him and they would hardly change their ways.
Though the others words didn't really give her much care personally. "Chief Engineer? I believe we have Master Chief Gionini and Chief Tarini currently on board, where they would be located I have no idea at the current. I could call them up if you're so desperate for one. But our Master Chief might be a little busy as well as Tarini and most of the other Chiefs for different sections of the ship." She replied easily to the other. In quiet thought about which she should contact if this one really wanted to speak to one.
Elizia waved it off. If they weren't immediately free, she didn't want to pull them from their tasks.
Just as they finished, they turned the last corner and found themselves at the shuttle bay door. Elizia looked to Carabali, "Is the area on the other side still pressurized? No hull breaches? Or will we need EVA suits?"
Carabali looked at her at that. "Light zero-G. Not too bad since it helps some get around to reach the higher places and when we're all done, we'll set it all back up to normal gravity. That alright for you or would you like a survival suit? Or whatever an 'EVA' suit is for you guys…" She replied, personally she didn't mind. "If it's so worrying, I don't mind waiting for you to slip into it real quick, I'll probably walk in ahead and update the Admiral on the damage down here as well as the progress."
"So long as I don't need a mask to breath," Elizia replied, "I can deal with whatever you give me to work with. I won't even need a welder."
With that she pushed open the door. The degree of damage was extensive, and she looked back to Carabali in awe, "What were you fighting to cause this much damage?
(Two things,
I'll leave description of damage to you.
How do shuttle bays work in this ship? Are they depressurized when a ship wishes to leave, or is there some sort of forcefield that streamlines the process?)
The absolute degree of damage was quite immense, the bay, from beyond the 'doors' that were thankfully sealed as much as possible for a repair for one of the generators of the Fleet, the panelling for the floor was torn apart, in three separate and large places. Shuttles themselves exploded apart from the outward forces that had attacked them.
Carabali just sighed quietly as she looked to Elizia. "Enigma. Enigma forces of vastly higher and better degree of weapons, did this. This is just one of the… 'Lesser' places that got hit. The hull's worse. Our engines have suffered major damage but we're working all the more over that and here before other things. You sure you won't need a welder?"
(I'm fine on the description of damage!! And for how shuttle bays work, think of Star Wars and their Destroyers for Fighters and all that, except the hole to let ships come in and out are a bit bigger. So basically, there's only around four 'force field' generators that keep it going.)
(Alright. I know where I'm going with this.)
Elizia waved off the welder offer once again, gave Carabali a quick "Thank you," and ran to catch up to one of the crews working on the generators. That would be her first priority. From there she could deploy the Loveless closer for easier access to tools and supplies from her workship. The generator for the field would be important.
When she got there, the thing was toasted. Elizia inspected every angle of the generator. Burnt out components, fragmented power, and more than a few thrashed circuits.
Elizia reached into her jacket, held a power cell, and her eyes began to glow. The neon energy butterfly wings of her species began to grow. Two fingers together created her own sort of arc welder. Energy burned inside her.
She slid into the group, working with the team to repair interior circuits and cut through pannelling to get to the other components.
(Sorry for late reply, computer troubles is all and sorry this is short personally.)
The group was absolutely astounded when they saw her doing that and easily they dropped numbers after they saw what they were replying from the four to three. Still doing their best to repair the generator on their side. they were very careful about it. Reconnecting wires and everything else that is external.
Carabali, personally, was glad that she was immediately set into her work and just waited personally. While recording all the work she was doing onto a small pad that she would send after the day is done to the Admiral. She was expecting this report to be fairly long however…
Before long, three of the five other crewmembers working on Elizia's generator went elsewhere, and she, along with the other two, found themselves almost done with their third. After, this one, the hanger shield would be operational, and they could undo the hard seals, bringing Loveless to assist in repairs.
The human technology wasn't too terribly different from the Serathan ships she'd worked with in the days after she'd left. Same sorta circuitry, just more complicated. And the metal was easier to cut through. She hadn't had to recharge since she started.
No one had talked to her, either through a general assumption that she was on their side, or they were all just too exhausted to argue with extra help. She had noticed, though, that she was under the watchful eye of the supervisors. They never waved her over, but she heard whispers and saw glances. She just smiled and continued working.
At the last generator, the crew of three started panicking. The generator started to glow. Elizia started in their direction. It was immediately obvious that they'd flipped a bad switch by mistake. A common mistake, but one that could end in failure. She calmly placed her hand on the generator. It cooled, and she flipped the switch back. Her wings glowed brightly, then dimmed as she laid her hand on the powercell in her jacket. After fixing the switch, the field came on, and the crew started taking off the hard seals around the door.
( @Divine_Emperor You still around?)
(Yes sorry been having personal stuff going around as well as some exams.)
(As long as you take your time and such!! I'll be a bit so I can't reply just yet. But I will soon promise!!)
Carabali had been all too ready to call up Captain Smythe, even on the call with him, to order for the Admiral about a new generator for Dauntless but she was quite and fairly, rightfully so, impressed about what this new being did… She gave a light nod or two. "Scratch that Smythie boy, this new girl is helping quite a lot… She's doing more than we could within a few hours. And you know just how precarious how those generators can be, despite everything."
"Everyone knows how precarious those generators are. Ensigns don't but that's because they're fairly new. I'll double up production for Dauntless on panels and such. The way she's going, she might run me out of my own money from producing useless items!" The man stated with a light chuckle.
Carabali just managed a light smile. "We'll see, Captain. I'll update you on what needs to be done later, promise."
"Alright then, talk to you later Marine. Don't do anything too crazy now."
"You know me too well. Don't pawn anything on the black market this time when we get back."
"A deal of sorts… I'll think about it. Goodbye."
"Goodbye." And with that out of the way she could finally update the report to the Admiral about this miracle worker's well… Workings. Perhaps she owed her a few stories about the Admiral and what he's done.
Elizia took a break after the generators went up. She looked out into space, thinking as she drank from a water bottle someone had lended her. A thousand different feelings and ideas raced within her. She was happy here, but how long would that last? And what else here needed fixing? Should she really be resting?
What was it these people were preparing for? Carabali had mentioned the name Enigma, but it didn't ring a bell with Elizia. In their place, she imagined a Lovuthan Armada bearing down on these poor, broken crewmen. Their ships would be decimated by an attack like that. Instantaneously sucked away into the cold and empty dark.
These people must have incredible resolve to be content maintaining position. More than most races, Elizia noted. The humans of this Alliance would be of noteworthy writing material to Brella later.
Slowly, she got back to her feet and turned, looking for Carabali. The crewmen here could handle repairs. She'd opened the Loveless up to them for tools and supplies, closing off her own personal workshop in the ship and leaving the rest open. So long as they didn't notice the hackbugs, it'd be fine. Small blackmarket aqquisitions weren't uncomon on Mechanist Workships anyhow.
She would be needed elsewhere. Of that, she was certain.
Carabali returned to attention when she noted Elizia had stood back up and approached her. "The engine room will be next if you're prepared to have a look at them. Otherwise, we would require re-installations of weapon batteries and our primary engines need repairing. Which of the three do you choose. After all three are done, we could let you have a hand at attempting repairs for the hull. The repairs to the primary engines and repair of the hull require survival suits." She stated, she was not even bothering to hold her gun over her chest as usual, instead favouring it to be on her back than in her hands.
Still, she wondered if Elizia here wanted to hear… Anything about what the old Admiral did, maybe she wouldn't. But at least some information was better than none. So she didn't get the wrong idea about the man at least… To her thoughts at least. "We're ready to go whenever you say when and where."
She thought through that. The engines themselves were mere output. So long as it produced thrust, it could move. The engine room was probably only half broken, considering they had gotten here, just slowly. But speed would be of the essence. Between that and the guns then. That was easy. Flight before fight could save a man's life. They can repair on the move. They can't repair if they're dead.
"The engine room first," responded Elizia, "The engines can work jerry-rigged. Then guns, I'd imagine."
They started on their way, silent at first. Elizia broke the silence early.
"What are you planning to do? Are you expecting engagement?"
"Well, Admiral. May I be excused, disagreement and panic are still human nature so I must Keep it locked down and not let it spread through my ships." Blake said as he stood up from the chair.