Kaff winced as her screen filled with boiling light. The Ardenian flagship had cracked, expending its rear end in its own plasma.
"Admiral, another force has arrived!" yet another unrecognized officer cried. "Their Ardenian."
Her ships could probably take that force, too. But that didn't mean an unreasonably large amount of her own people would die in the process. Her thoughts were interrupted by explosion at the door.
Within moments all of the flag bridge's staff were charred and lifeless. Kaff was staring up the barrel of a plasma rifle, eyes wide as she recognized who was on the other end.
Kier was starting to get worried. He had been on this Cruiser for several hours (the EMP had killed his suit's chrono) and nothing happened. They hadn't even come to question him. At least he knew who the enemy was now. Caithans. The tall and skinny race that was still upset about The Priests' removal of the Emperor.
The door opened, a Marine entered and practically picked Kier up and threw him out the door. There were several more Marines, and a dozen of his crew standing outside his door.
The blob of Marines and prisoners started to work their way up to the boat bay. In no time the whole group was aboard a pinnace and headed off to yet another unknown location.
***Kaff watched as the first load of Ardenian prisoners ere led out of the boat bay. The Marines would get them tucked away in their cells; then the Admiral would track down the person in charge.
That Frigate commander had had some nerve. Not only had he ruined one of her pinnaces, he had also annihilated his own ship and dismissed its shipsoul. She had gotten no information from the techs who tried to squeeze what little was left of the puny vessel. Not even its previous mission had survived the chaos that had been unleashed on the eggplant.
***Junach felt the familiar nausea as his Flag made the last jump. The Perich hadn't sent any word back, so he had to assume the...
"Sir, Perich is reporting the capture of his crew."
Junach jerked his head up in surprise. The only time a ship was referred to as he or she was when you were talking about its shipsoul. And if that was true...
"Record everything he has to say." Junach was reeling. "Then give him permission to pass on. Rest in peace dear sir."
Kier smiled. It was not a cheery smile. Kaff was astonished. He had been headed to her, why hadn't she noticed? Kier switched her com over to a frequency that was far, far removed from any the Caithans used.
"Nice to see you again." Kier was surprised by his total lack of inflection. "It's time to call off your invasion."
"I'm sorry, it is beyond my reach now." Kaff's voice was flat, strained.
History leapt with sudden fury as a missile savaged one of her starboard missile bays. Kier went reeling; Kaff was still securely attached to her chair. The rifle rattled off into the blackened mess that once was a Com station.
Kaff punched up the main bridge while Kier was scrambling for footing. "Flag Bridge is out of the loop, Captain Herrel. You are in charge." She looked up at Kier, eyes bight as fire, and switched back to his channel. Kier was cursing at the deck he was now firmly planted on.
"Now look, I like you. You seem to be a good person, and I'm pretty sure if we weren't on different sides of this conflict, we'd be friends. But right now both of our nations are hurting badly, all because of some blurry bureaucrat that no one knows." Kaff was on a roll, and the strangled gurgle of surprise Kier had let out was only egging her on. "If this fighting doesn't end with someone on top then neither of us will survive the future attacks from the lesser nations that are sure to bulrush the losing nation anyway. If the Caithans manage to take the Community then we won't let it go."
