Science Outpost 22 – Fyre Sola System
Fox-Class Cruiser Trials
“Captain engine shakedown is complete. All systems ready, we’re ready to go.”
“Right. Helm, take us out.” He gazed out the massive window that dominated the front of wall of the bridge as he gave the order. The clear glass planes revealing the dark expanse of space that lay beyond. He felt the slight jerk as the ship’s powered up and thrust them forward into that dark realm.
“Sir engine output is nominal and holding. No malfunctions or errors it looks like we’re good.” The captain gave a sigh of relief, a couple trials ago when he had taken this baby out the right engine pod had shorted and almost overloaded. That had not been pretty at all, and he was definitely glad he didn’t have to deal with that again.
He lightly stroked the armrest on his command chair. The Fox-Class was one hell of a ship to be sure. Every time he had taken this baby out for a trial, one thing or another had gone wrong. He was getting pretty sick of it, but he did realize that this ship was just one big balancing act. With the new weapons this thing mounted, space and power were limited on the ship. That along with how powerful the shields were and how thick the hull was had meant that a few sacrifices had to be made. One of those was engine speed.
By god this thing was slower than other craft her size but she sure as hell could take a beating, and dish out even more in the process.
“Sir we are entering the operation zone.”
“Good, ok let’s go weapons hot. Time for the fun part.” He smiled thinking about what was to come. This part of the trials were always his favorite.
“Weapons hot. Ok, everything looks good. Power consumption in the norms. Buffers Operational, plasma coils charging, plasma building. No problems and we’re good to go. Sir we’re ready for Trial start.
“Right.” He activated his comm., “Commencing Trial number 10, proceeding to stage one.” He turned toward his helmsmen, “Ok take us in full speed, full power to frontal shields.”
“Yes sir. We’ll be in range in 4 minutes.” He waited out those few minutes praying nothing would go wrong. “Sir we’re in range of the target.’
“Good, commence shield test.” He didn’t have to wait long for the small barrage of turbolaser rounds to appear; he could not feel but sure are hell could see the bolts impact the shield. He glanced at a monitor next to him, watching as the shields held barely scathed by the weak barrage.
“Good, shields are operating at max efficiency and holding very nicely, looks like we’re good.” He mused to himself, These things may be slow as hell but they an sure take a beating.
“Shielding test passed with flying colors. Continue onto stage two.” He got up from his chair and strolled toward the front of the bridge. “Engines to full power take us in.”
“Yes sir, Lance cannon are powered and functional, we’ll be in range in just under 3 minutes.” Once again the anxious captain had to wait as they reached optimal firing range. “Sir we’ve entered firing range for the Lance Cannons.”
“Good, target the set dummy ship, fire on my order.” He looked outside until finally he spotted the aged and trashed dreadnought cruiser that had been placed here as his target. “Fire!”
He gazed in something similar to awe as he watched the forward 4 lance arrays fire, he cold only see 1 of the guns clearly but by god that was enough. He was momentarily blinded as the deadly blue coherent beams erupted from the guns barrels barreling toward the target at speeds similar to that of a turbolaser.
The Confederation Officer watched as the beams impacted the somewhat functional shields of the dreadnaught struggling to drain them. Finally succeeding in penetrating shields the tail ends of the shots impacts on the black hull of the ship, burning and melting through the armor and hull with terrifying ease.
“Sir the dreadnaughts shields are down, impacts at four points across hull.” The captain smiled to himself as he surveyed the damage reports from a terminal next to him.
“Good. Lance Cannons tests complete proceeding to 3rd and final stage of the trail.” He turned to his gunnery officer, “Are we in range for the Arrays?”
The officer smiled a devious smile, “Yes sir, they are fully charged and ready to fire.”
“Right, on my mark fire.” He waited until he could clearly see the dreadnaught that sat in the distance. “Fire!”
The ships rocked this time a bit as the two massive guns fired, their golden beams lighting up the darkness around the ship, tracing their path to the doomed ship in the distance.
The beams impacted roughly on opposite sides of the dreadnaught, their firing sequences not even half way through they began to move along the hulls length causing massive damage to the ship.
The captain glanced back at the terminal and watched the as data from the doomed ship scrolled across the screen.
Unexpectedly the captain watched as the middle section buckled disintegrated and exploded, the lance beam cutting the hip in half. He turned and strode back to his chair as the firing sequence ended the dreadnaught now nothing more than scrap metal floating in front of the dreadnaught.
“Trial stage 3 complete, trial complete. No problems and every system running at optimum efficiency, we’re good on all fronts.” He smiled in relief at a successful trial, the Fox was now ready for service.
_______________________
Aboard Science Outpost 22
Fyre Sola System
The admiral looked at the captain that stood before him ramrod straight, “Captain Marcus Craiden, commander of the Fox Class cruiser Fox. You’ve done a good job here son. You’ve managed to help create a very fearsome and deadly weapon for the confederation. Now that the trials are complete the Fox is officially ready for deployment.” Marcus smiled finally seeing his chance or deployment to the front.
“But….. By my recommendation and the approval of Rear Admiral Corise Lucerne, you shall not be.” The captain face drooped in disappointment, he quickly however assumed a neutral expression. “I can bet your disappointed son, but listen before you get too down. You will be transferred but it will be to a naval base located still in the Fyre Sola System, here you will take command of an additional 5 Fox class cruisers, possibly more as time goes on.
You will train them and accommodate them with the ship you will form them into a deadly starship squadron. I thought you’d be good for this since you most likely know this ship better than anyone, save the engineers or scientists, but I doubt they’ll be going into battle anytime soon.” The admiral smiled.
Marcus was now much more revealed, while it wasn’t the front line posting he had hoped for, it certainly had the possibility for a greater post in the future, and it meant he would command other ships.
“You must understand son however that this is top secret, Lucerne wants this kept completely secret. I guess you could say that this ace n the hole, we want to make sure that the Empire doesn’t know anything about it.”
Marcus nodded understating completely. The admiral continued “Now lets discuss some of the specifics……
Fox-Class Cruiser Trials
“Captain engine shakedown is complete. All systems ready, we’re ready to go.”
“Right. Helm, take us out.” He gazed out the massive window that dominated the front of wall of the bridge as he gave the order. The clear glass planes revealing the dark expanse of space that lay beyond. He felt the slight jerk as the ship’s powered up and thrust them forward into that dark realm.
“Sir engine output is nominal and holding. No malfunctions or errors it looks like we’re good.” The captain gave a sigh of relief, a couple trials ago when he had taken this baby out the right engine pod had shorted and almost overloaded. That had not been pretty at all, and he was definitely glad he didn’t have to deal with that again.
He lightly stroked the armrest on his command chair. The Fox-Class was one hell of a ship to be sure. Every time he had taken this baby out for a trial, one thing or another had gone wrong. He was getting pretty sick of it, but he did realize that this ship was just one big balancing act. With the new weapons this thing mounted, space and power were limited on the ship. That along with how powerful the shields were and how thick the hull was had meant that a few sacrifices had to be made. One of those was engine speed.
By god this thing was slower than other craft her size but she sure as hell could take a beating, and dish out even more in the process.
“Sir we are entering the operation zone.”
“Good, ok let’s go weapons hot. Time for the fun part.” He smiled thinking about what was to come. This part of the trials were always his favorite.
“Weapons hot. Ok, everything looks good. Power consumption in the norms. Buffers Operational, plasma coils charging, plasma building. No problems and we’re good to go. Sir we’re ready for Trial start.
“Right.” He activated his comm., “Commencing Trial number 10, proceeding to stage one.” He turned toward his helmsmen, “Ok take us in full speed, full power to frontal shields.”
“Yes sir. We’ll be in range in 4 minutes.” He waited out those few minutes praying nothing would go wrong. “Sir we’re in range of the target.’
“Good, commence shield test.” He didn’t have to wait long for the small barrage of turbolaser rounds to appear; he could not feel but sure are hell could see the bolts impact the shield. He glanced at a monitor next to him, watching as the shields held barely scathed by the weak barrage.
“Good, shields are operating at max efficiency and holding very nicely, looks like we’re good.” He mused to himself, These things may be slow as hell but they an sure take a beating.
“Shielding test passed with flying colors. Continue onto stage two.” He got up from his chair and strolled toward the front of the bridge. “Engines to full power take us in.”
“Yes sir, Lance cannon are powered and functional, we’ll be in range in just under 3 minutes.” Once again the anxious captain had to wait as they reached optimal firing range. “Sir we’ve entered firing range for the Lance Cannons.”
“Good, target the set dummy ship, fire on my order.” He looked outside until finally he spotted the aged and trashed dreadnought cruiser that had been placed here as his target. “Fire!”
He gazed in something similar to awe as he watched the forward 4 lance arrays fire, he cold only see 1 of the guns clearly but by god that was enough. He was momentarily blinded as the deadly blue coherent beams erupted from the guns barrels barreling toward the target at speeds similar to that of a turbolaser.
The Confederation Officer watched as the beams impacted the somewhat functional shields of the dreadnaught struggling to drain them. Finally succeeding in penetrating shields the tail ends of the shots impacts on the black hull of the ship, burning and melting through the armor and hull with terrifying ease.
“Sir the dreadnaughts shields are down, impacts at four points across hull.” The captain smiled to himself as he surveyed the damage reports from a terminal next to him.
“Good. Lance Cannons tests complete proceeding to 3rd and final stage of the trail.” He turned to his gunnery officer, “Are we in range for the Arrays?”
The officer smiled a devious smile, “Yes sir, they are fully charged and ready to fire.”
“Right, on my mark fire.” He waited until he could clearly see the dreadnaught that sat in the distance. “Fire!”
The ships rocked this time a bit as the two massive guns fired, their golden beams lighting up the darkness around the ship, tracing their path to the doomed ship in the distance.
The beams impacted roughly on opposite sides of the dreadnaught, their firing sequences not even half way through they began to move along the hulls length causing massive damage to the ship.
The captain glanced back at the terminal and watched the as data from the doomed ship scrolled across the screen.
Unexpectedly the captain watched as the middle section buckled disintegrated and exploded, the lance beam cutting the hip in half. He turned and strode back to his chair as the firing sequence ended the dreadnaught now nothing more than scrap metal floating in front of the dreadnaught.
“Trial stage 3 complete, trial complete. No problems and every system running at optimum efficiency, we’re good on all fronts.” He smiled in relief at a successful trial, the Fox was now ready for service.
_______________________
Aboard Science Outpost 22
Fyre Sola System
The admiral looked at the captain that stood before him ramrod straight, “Captain Marcus Craiden, commander of the Fox Class cruiser Fox. You’ve done a good job here son. You’ve managed to help create a very fearsome and deadly weapon for the confederation. Now that the trials are complete the Fox is officially ready for deployment.” Marcus smiled finally seeing his chance or deployment to the front.
“But….. By my recommendation and the approval of Rear Admiral Corise Lucerne, you shall not be.” The captain face drooped in disappointment, he quickly however assumed a neutral expression. “I can bet your disappointed son, but listen before you get too down. You will be transferred but it will be to a naval base located still in the Fyre Sola System, here you will take command of an additional 5 Fox class cruisers, possibly more as time goes on.
You will train them and accommodate them with the ship you will form them into a deadly starship squadron. I thought you’d be good for this since you most likely know this ship better than anyone, save the engineers or scientists, but I doubt they’ll be going into battle anytime soon.” The admiral smiled.
Marcus was now much more revealed, while it wasn’t the front line posting he had hoped for, it certainly had the possibility for a greater post in the future, and it meant he would command other ships.
“You must understand son however that this is top secret, Lucerne wants this kept completely secret. I guess you could say that this ace n the hole, we want to make sure that the Empire doesn’t know anything about it.”
Marcus nodded understating completely. The admiral continued “Now lets discuss some of the specifics……