The Emperor's Last Stand in the Face of Treachery for the Glory of Humanity burst into realspace spinning wildly and venting plasma from one of its aft engines. It had gone well beyond it's intended range of 50 light years, but Gaius had to be absolutely certain the traitors wouldn't be able to catch him. Humanity was the last survivor of the 152nd legion's 236th defense fleet. He knew that almost 20,000 of his comrades had been lost in the fight, not to mention the half a billion on Emperor's Hope either burned in the plasma fires of an orbital bombardment or captured and brainwashed by the savage traitors.
Gaius knew this, but his ship was nearly destroyed and he had to bring the light of the Emperor back to humanity. Giving into fear and sadness was a weakness only traitors possessed. He peeled himself out of the crash couch and began working at his interface. The onboard synthetic intelligence was entirely corrupted from the ships tear through the Outside, and even the crystal etchings and magnetic die had warped slightly. Some data would be lost forever, Gaius knew, but he could at least get the SI functioning at basic level.
After a few hours of work Gaius had finally patched the pieces of the SI back together and queried a status report.
WARNING
UNABLE TO Establish Connections WITH Sections C, F, AND G.
All engines non-functional
Emergency combat repair initiated
--- rehashing all datastores
--- flashing internal and external sensors
Deploying Repair modules
EST. TIME TO COMPLETION 37 HOURS
Across Humanity's relatively tiny half megaton hull, repair drones began to work on the damage across the ship. After only an hour, section A was finally pressurized and Gaius could remove his combat suit. He laid on the ground trying to peel the tight fitting suit off himself, but after a few minutes he simply gave up, curled into a ball and cried.
Gaius awoke to a blinking light on his interface, letting him know that the basic sensors were repaired, all fires had been contained, and all hull breeches repaired. Gaius pulled himself up, limped across the room to the tiny galley, and ordered his daily ration. The machine in the wall dispensed a little plastic cup and began filling it with a clear steaming liquid. Gaius grabbed the cup while it was still burning hot and said a quick prayed to the Emperor before beginning to drink. While he sipped on the broth, he ordered the SI to begin a routine scan and monitoring of the system. Only a few gas giants and an asteroid belt close to the sun, but a least Gaius could use some of the metals to make ammo and other vitamins he needed.
Gaius kept one eye on the sensor readout while he continued repairing the computer systems. Even at full strength he wouldn't have been able to hold off a light corvette, and now he was just a sitting duck. His masters on Hope would have called him childish, but Gaius wanted to know when his death was coming.
Throughout the *Humanity'*s miles of corridors, robots were replacing damaged components and manufacturing ones that were destroyed. His hour long trip through the Outside had done more damage to the ship then the glancing blow she had received in battle. If Gaius had stayed there for any longer then the shields and armor protecting the hundred square foot cockpit, the only place a human could survive the trip, would have worn down killing him instantly.
Suddenly a contact appeared on the screen and Gaius' heart dropped through the floor. "ANOMALY DETECTED" flashed across the screen but as he looked closer, he couldn't make any sense of what he was looking at. First, it was miniscule, surely no longer then three or four hundred feet. The graviton detectors didn't even register it. In fact, the only reason he could even see it at all was because it was only a few lightminutes away, and as a Cornicen the Humanity had some of the best sensors in the fleet. Second, it's power signature was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Even small planetary shuttles had a magnitudes larger power signature. As he stared at the strange craft the sensors registered a wash of EM radiation across a wide range of frequencies coming off the vessel. Gaius immediately ordered the SI to ready battle stations as soon as possible.
PD CANNONS ONLINE IN 37 MINUTES
140 MM LIGHT GUN ONLINE IN 94 MINUTES
EW SUITE ONLINE IN 112 MINUTES
Exploratory vessel 6σ – II – IV 5000 LY from nearest outpost
Captain φ-III ξ-XII CCCXXVI-2, Capitan Coxvi-2, was extremely bored. The bridge of IV had once been an exciting place to tie into, but over the past 10 years every system had begun to look the same. They knew the time for a little Coxvi-3 of their own was coming, but they still felt like there was more to get out of their career. Everyone in their family had gone on to achieve glory, but all Coxvi-2 had to their name was having explored more systems than any other Being.
Coxvi-2 sent a Part to their chief scientist to quintuple check that they system survey was still proceeding according to schedule. IV was a pretty crowded ship this survey with almost 150 other Beings onboard, so Coxvi-2 knew their Part was going to be wandering around the maze of corridors for quite a while before it could track down φ-III ψ-I MDXXXV, Dixv. Coxvi-2 never liked being bored so they sent some Parts to grab food from the mess.
Coxvi-2's thought processes froze as all of their intelligence Parts were thrown violently around the cabin. While Coxvi-2 was unable to form a coherent thought, each of their parts registered the massive boom that rolled though the ship. In the captain's intelligence quarters electric panels overloaded, showering sparks throughout the room, and Coxvi-2's prized stash of Covul root extract was smashed across the floor. As the Parts regained their senses and began conferring again, Coxvi-2 could hear the ringing of alarm bells and the sound of Parts rushing throughout the ship.
As the captain began delegating damage repair tasks to their Parts, one of Dixv's thought Parts ran directly into Coxvi-2's intelligence cluster.
*sensor data readings*[WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS. IT JUST CAME OUT OF NOWHERE]
Coxvi-2 quickly processed the sensor data into a coherent picture. They saw a massive ship explode into existence, throwing out a massive bubble of unstable particles that ripped the atoms of everything in a light minute radius down to their quantum particles. That wave of radiation had instantly popped IV's shield and stripped nearly an inch of armor half the ship. The sensors that didn't completely failed sent back useless data filled with overflows. They looked closer at the ship itself as Parts of Dixv ran back and forth feeding them more sensor data. The ship itself was a magnitude larger than any of the Peoples warships, and absolutely bristling with guns. Coxvi-2's intelligence Parts were crawling all over themselves in a combination of fear and excitement as Coxvi-2 realized that they were the first in their line to make first contact. And not just first contact, but first contact with a species capable of building such a massive war machine.
*power level data*[Look at this. The reactor on that thing must be putting out as much energy as a star, if not more. We need to confer with 1 immediately.] Dixv added.
*first contact protocol guidelines*[I understand your fear, and I agree that we should confer with 1****, **** but it is extremely important that we do not allow our fear to cloud this momentous occasion] *command override order regulations* [I'm ordering you to figure out how to communicate with these aliens, and to begin analyzing their technology just in case they turn out to be hostile]
*hyperspace sensors output*[One more thing Captain. This thing didn't make any waves on any of the hyperspace bands we can detect. It literally appeared out of nowhere. Make sure with 1 understands that this ship didn't get here using any technology we're aware of. Most importantly, based on that burst of radiation, if it had jumped within 10 lightminutes of a planet it would've killed anything on the surface]
PD CANNONS ONLINE IN 25 MINUTES
140 MM LIGHT GUN ONLINE IN 82 MINUTES
EW SUITE ONLINE IN 100 MINUTES