"< Porlogani control. Porlogani control. This Falencia actual, How Copy over?>"

[static]

"< Porlogani control. Porlogani control. This Falencia actual, over?>"

[static]

"< Porlogani control. Porlogani control. This Falencia actual, please respond over?!>"

[static]

"<Porlogani control to Falencia actual. go ahead>"

[static]

"<Porlogani Control, Interrogative, What is your reason for your delay, Over.>"

[static]

"<Lanky ship just passed the outer sensor suite. Hold, unknown fleet inbound, scanning. Markings and design match U.E.C ship classifications. Enemy complement count Eight Super Destroyers, two-two Destroyers, One-Five cruisers, two-zero frigates class, and one-five Corvette class. Falencia, Recommendation? Over>”

[Static]

“<Interrogative, Have they detected the station?>”

[static]

“Thats a positive. Bringing station defences online, Break, Hostiles Inbound ETA Four-Five minutes. Out.>”

[Static]

“<We are inbound, Falencia, out>”

[Static]

“<Hold Blacklight warning, Multiple Lanky seed ships detected three heading towards the UEC fleet, and two heading our way, Recommend you abort. Incoming transmission from Node station. Node station detects multiple Alcubierre transitions, NAC ships detected at the extream south. Hold, New contact entering combat range and closing in. New contact does not match recorded silhouettes. New contact is engaging!>”

[static]

“ <Porlogani, Prlogani, how copy?”

[static]

[staic]

==============================================================

(COG Twenty-six: twelve days after entering Helgan space)

(Space)

“What the hell happened here?” the captain of one of the Indianapolis class ship NACS Defiant asked his senior officer. In space around a violet, gas giant lies the desiccated hulks of two UEC super destroyers and six regular destroyers. The signs of combat were evident with an old Gazanti battle station floating lifelessly in the cold dark of space. The bodies of UEC and Helghast personnel float silently with the backdrop of a single Lanky seed ship. Oddly enough around the gazanti station floated what looked like a ring of red haze?

“What that junk? Launch one of the drones and put it at six hundred Kilometers from the station. Have it make a scan of the area and store it in its internal data bank before coming back here. Execute.” the captain says leaning over the tactical lot. There is a pop-woosh as one of the Indies eight sigent drones bursts from its launch tube and makes a two-second burn at maximum speed before it cuts its engines and begins coasting.

“Drone away. ETA zero nine minutes.” the drone operator says.

“Skipper what is that thing?” the ships XO asks pointing at the zoomed in the visual feed from the Defiants external cameras. The object in question appears to be a large railgun mount but forked, and with a large disk occupying the aft section.

“If the data that came through with their message is correct it is probably one of their six MALR cannons. But what confuses me is that the cannons pointing at that seed ship its what blew it up. But that doesn't explain what destroyed those capital ships, those destroyers the picket and the station? It doesn't make sense.”

“I agree, whatever it is had to engage both the Helghast station and its picket, as well as whatever UEC fleet those ships were a part of. The Manitoba wouldn't be able to take on that fleet and the station with its picket. And that Seed ship was obviously engaging both factions, so it would have been faced with a fight on three fronts.”

“The drone is making its scans now.”

“Very good. Keep me apprised of the situation.”

“Got it, sir.”

The minutes ticked by tensely with the sensor operator on high alert with the rest of the bridge crew. The captain chewing on an unlit pipe until the drone returned and began relaying its data to the ships internal computer. After skipping the initial launch and transit data he began the playback. The scans show the red mist to be some kind of biomass. And the visual data from the drones approach showed something very strange.

“Odd, from the drift, blast scoring, it looks like whatever did this came in during the battle, hit the UEC from behind before destroying the… wait hold it there. Do you see that?”

“What?”

“Zoom in at quadrant six, three grid nine eight.” The image zooms in to show a black mass in the distance against the black of space, only visible due to the lack of starlight behind it.

“A second seed ship. And it appears to be operational making a burn and coming our way. Go silent, kill everything lets coast.” the Overhead lights in the CIC dim before going out completely.

The only lights on the bridge coming from the Tactical computer and the station monitors. On the tactical plot, the orange lozenge shape of the Lanky seed ship slowly lumbers its way closer to the Defiant and the debris field. Nobody moves or talks and they all hold their collective breaths as the two-mile-long seed ship lumbers its way along. The captain brings up an external feed from one of the ships dorsal cameras as the ship passes within one hundred miles of the seed ship.

“Damn, that things been through the ringer.” the XO states as lines of carbon scoring and deep gouges in the ships hull become visible. The gauge pattern matches with that of the UEC’s dominance class light destroyer.

“Looks like we have found a survivor of the battle. What are you doing ugly?” the captain says as the Seed ship lumbers its way towards the outermost destroyer. The UEC ship imedetly begins broadcasting SOS and Surrender messages on all bands no doubt someone still alive has noticed the seed ship coming their way.

But in true Lanky fashion, the SOS’s and messages of surrender go unheeded as all along starboard hull holes begin to eyeris open, and yard long penetrators are shotgunned into the crippled destroyer. The unshielded UEC ship yields almost imminently to the onslaught and explodes silently in the black. The Seed ship then turns and begins to lumber away having lost interest in the debris field and as the ship leaves sensor range the bridge crew breathes a collective sigh of relief.

“That was clo…” the captain begins as something on the drones paused video feed catches his eye.

“XO do you see that? Zoom into section 29.40.10.” The video feed zooms in to show a human floating dead in space in the red ring around the battle station.

“My God. That's blood.” the captain says his skin turning white as snow.

“Look there's more of them.” someone says before pointing to the captain and XO.

“They have been flayed, there must be hundreds maybe just over a thousand bodies in there. Helm get us out of here, we have to get back to the fleet and let them know what happened here.”

“Aye, sir. Backing us out of here.” As the Defiant flips around and begins to burn towards the fleet, a single silhouette in the debris field begins to glow and starts following the Defiant. As the Defiant's captain lingers on the horrid sight of hundreds maybe a thousand UEC and Helghast personnel all flayed and floating dead around a station in dead space. His mind wanders to an old NAC poem.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end, know dark is right. Because their words had forked on lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. For as we armed with shot and shell, shall not falter nor retreat. We good soldiers of Humanity shall stand our ground, facing certain death. We who rage, rage against the dying of the light. But, know this oh on slaughtering foes, that we Marines of the N.A.C when our time comes we’ll take you with us, to meet Death. And our good Lord for righteous judgment when we meet upon that great pearl gate. As we lay to rest and gaze on that darkening night. We’ll know we raged, raged, raged against the dying of the light.

Author's Notes:

A short chapter do to personal reasons, but one with great impact.