Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

May 4th, 007 SDE:

Countryman watched the latest Raider fleet retreat, several of their ships were burning and leaking flaming trails of plasma into the storm. They'd run into the raiders on several occasions over the last three months. It was enough that he was starting to get a good picture of the locals. The Raiders were militaristic and preferred to take what they needed. As such the usual Raider encounter began with a demand for supplies, typically food, spare parts, and fuel. Naturally when they were refused, things would progress into a skirmish, but they weren't the type to stand and fight. Once it was made clear they were outmatched, the captains would sooner retreat than remain.

During the last battle, they'd even managed to take a Raider ship; a mid-sized Frigate. The vessel in question had been an easy capture, so there wasn't much to talk about there. Said frigate had taken a penetrating hit from the main beam array, one that proved quite fatal. The beam had punched through the shields, penetrated the armor and punched through 13 decks taking out the main shields, disabling a key power node and venting several decks. Several fires had erupted and the local emergency systems had failed, the remaining crew had quickly jumped ship. Leaving an intact vessel that was now sitting in pieces in his forward cargo hanger, while his scientists and engineers poured over it. Ruri had even recently sent a memo that she'd managed to translate the alien databanks. Perhaps soon she'd have some more insights for him on the Raiders.

As for the Storm, their charting expedition had only managed to reveal part of the storm. Still, they'd gained enough data to get a rough idea of how large the storm was. Estimates placed the storm at roughly 750 lightyears across. The outer rim of the storm was a particularly turbulent and thick band of the storm measuring several lightyears thick. It wasn't uniform either; the thickness of the band varied from around five to eight lightyears thick depending on the area. It wasn't the only area of turbulence they'd found. The storm had regions that were especially turbulent in the interior as well and they were starting to chart the various currents, as they explored this massive storm. Given our top speed, it will take the better part of a year to cross from one end of it to the other, and we suspect it will take months more to fully chart the storm.

Greyman stepped next to him, "I'd say that was their worst showing yet."

"Perhaps, but we aren't dealing with a proper military."

"No kidding, they are poorly organized, and don't get me started on their equipment."

Countryman nodded, their ships were as varied as their armament. They all carried something called an ion disruptor, but never a uniform number or caliber of them. He'd also seen just about every other weapon they'd ever encountered. Lasers, plasma launchers, particle cannons, disruptors, you name it, they had it. Thankfully most groups weren't exactly a threat, only one of the the fleets they'd encountered had anything capable of damaging their armor. That had been a couple of weeks back, the fleet in question was smaller, but it had been anchored by a cruiser. It was a middle-weight cruiser about eighteen hundred meters long and armed with a high-yield particle lance not dissimilar to the weapons used by the Toral, just more primitive. He suspected the cruiser was their technology or based on it. Countryman wasn't entirely certain, but he figured he'd see them again. They retreated after he blew a few good holes in their belly.

Standing up he started, "Well with that dealt with I do have a few things to attend to."

"Aye, sir I will watch the bridge."

Countryman walked into the lab. On the left he could see Vera in a worn lab coat staring at a screen. Across the monitor in bold red text were the words; Simulation Failed.

"Still no luck with the shield project?"

She sighed, "Sadly no, you'd think recovering an intact working generator would speed things up, but no. We know the alien generator works, but we can't even get it to turn on."

"Well it's only been a few days."

"Right, well the obvious issue is an incompatibility between our power systems and theirs. I thought I fixed it with the new adapter but still no dice. I just hope we didn't accidentally fry it or something."

Countryman chuckled, "Well that would be something. All that trouble to get an intact working generator and we break it the first chance we get."

A smile graced her lips and she laughed as well. "I guess you are right."

One of the side doors opened and Ruri stepped into the room. He sighed when he saw her, she'd torn her lab coat again. Several times it seemed, and one of her boobs was quite visible as well. "Ruri..."

"Jac!" she said before he could finish speaking she tossed the pad she had been holding onto a console and jumped into his arms.

Vera commented, "Someone seems excited."

Countryman gave her a quick kiss then put her down. "I should make more time for you it seems."

She giggled, "I guess, so how'd that fight go?"

"Same as the others, they shot us, we shot them, they ran. Not much to really say," said Countryman as he removed her lab coat before pulling another one out to dress her with, "So what about you? I got a memo from you about progress with the alien databanks?"

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She smiled and went to grab that pad. Taking it off the console, she responded, "We have made some headway. Decoding the alien charts was simple enough once I figured out their root language."

He took the pad, "So what did you find?

"Well as we suspected the Raiders aren't the only group out here. There are several other major groups that the Raiders compete with, but at the moment our own charting expedition has put us solidly in their space. I've also identified several bases they control."

Countryman blinked, "Sounds valuable, anything else?"

"I've compiled my notes on their social structure and leadership. They are most akin to the pirate republics of the Age of Sail. They are ruled by force of personality and elected positions. Small fleet groups sail the storm raiding any prize they can find and apparently the Enterprise looks pretty juicy. Capital ships of our size class are not only rare, but highly prized by the locals."

"Highly prized eh?"

"Yup, I found a report on capital ship numbers. Apparently they are keeping track of them, particularly major combatants like Battleships and Carriers. Although I should point out they aren't used to fighter combat."

"Explains a few things," said Countryman as he went looking for the section. "Hmm let's see, the Raiders claim fourteen battleships, two converted carriers, and twenty-two heavy cruisers loyal to them.

"Okay, they also mention a Gyn'ri Drifters as a rival. They have seven battleships, eight converted carriers, and sixteen heavy cruisers. The next rival is the Raythil Cooperative who apparently have nine battleships, five converted carriers and twelve heavy cruisers."

"Sounds about right, the last group of interest sounds more interesting. A race of insectoids that control large portions of the storm's core region; the Bresh'i Hive."

"I see and it looks like the Raiders don't know much about their strength. They lack any concrete numbers on their force composition."

"Well what I read indicates they keep to themselves but they also seem to be strong. The Raiders respect their territory and don't encroach on it."

Countryman nodded, "Sounds like someone we should look up."

Ruri led him over to a console, where she had updated their charts. "I added what I could to the map. It seems the storm is bigger than we thought. Just shy of nine hundred lightyears across, our numbers were thrown off by the irregular shape of the storm."

Countryman looked over the chart, it showed the storm and its shape. Measurement markings of key distances, the marked locations of known settlements and swirling patterns that were actively changing across the whole of the storm. There were some dark spots, and the data was clearly incomplete. Especially on the far side of the storm, but it was a major step forward in their understanding of the storm. "Impressive, this would help our understanding of the storm immensely."

Ruri nodded, "Yes I've already got people looking into the storm currents and studying the Raider data on the Rim, but I'm not liking what I see about the Rim. It's lightyears thick and subject to intense shockwaves, eddies and turbulence."

Countryman tapped a spot on the storm, "What's this?"

"An area of the storm subject to strong energy discharges, and hyperspatial eddies. It seems some areas are more dangerous than others."

"This is quite useful, I'll get it to Eri. See what she can make of it."

Ruri blinked, "I'll send a copy to her station then."

The two shared a look, and then Vera commented, "I think you two should find a room."

Countryman chuckled, "Maybe later. I'm sure Rika would enjoy having a sibling, but Rose has her hands full with her already."

Vera laughed, "Well don't mind me then. I'll focus on getting these shields to work."

Sali stepped into her cell and looked around. As the door closed behind her, she couldn't help feeling a rush of emotions. Her review was pretty much a done deal. Today was going to be her last day here, but what was she going to do after this? Well she wasn't entirely sure, but she had a few ideas. Yet for some reason she felt like she would miss the place. In a way, this cell had been her home for nearly seven years. The paintings hanging on the wall were just part of her own touch. Items she'd worked on in her spare time mostly as an outlet. Her early work hadn't been anything to talk about but she was starting to get pretty good.

She heavily settled onto her bed, well it was more of a shelf. Still, Countryman had gotten her a nice padded mattress for it, so she felt comfortable. Leaning back, she considered her options, it had been years but she was an experienced pilot. She'd been well-trained in fighter combat, but that was on Valorian Lancer fighters. None of her training was on the local fighters, so if she wanted to fly again, she'd be going back to school.

Of course, she could also stay in the factories, she had years of experience there and Robert worked there. She felt a tingle at the thought, she really liked him. Spending time with Robert did seem good to her, but did she really want to spend her life in the factories? Hell with all the nano treatments she received, she looked younger than she had when she got here. She'd been told that the nano-treatments weren't just reversing the damage the radiation had done to her, but were retarding her aging. Sali had to consider what that meant, the implications were that she'd have not a few decades but possibly centuries here.

Sali had spoken to Countryman about it, and the man was expecting his 200th birthday in just a few years. Not that he looked it, Sali would have guessed somewhere around fifty at the latest. It would explain the slight pepper of grey in his hair and it fit with what she'd seen in Valorian males.

Shifting her posture she sighed. Years in the factories didn't really sound like what she wanted, and if she was going to live that long, school wasn't that bad of an idea. Then again she'd also spent time in hydroponics and that had been pretty relaxing. A smile graced her lips, as she realized she had a plan. She'd be going back to pilot's school and pitching in at the farms in the meantime. That would get her the credits she'd need while studying. Sali recalled that currency expired around here, so getting a job to pay for school would be required. Yet she couldn't help wondering how much she'd have when she finally got out of jail.