23 September 2977

03h30 hours local time, Borealis Minor system

Mercenary vessel DDG-381 Hannibal approaching New Dawn colony

“Morning Commander” said the ships AI, Onyria, as the commander of the War Gods, Gunner Stone enters the armory, “Status?” he replies, “We are approaching at New Dawn colony at flank speed”, New Dawn was the latest world to have gone silent, in the past 3 months 5 small colony worlds in the areas surrounding the Borealis system in which the Tears of Mara are located have gone comm silent, the War Gods were hired by Empress Catherine Boleyn to investigate.

Gunner asks “Weather and climate?”

Onyria responds “New Dawn is currently entering its winter Commander, temperatures planet side will reach -15 degrees Celsius at night with a maximum of 10 degrees during the day, majority of the planet is covered in thick forests and the Kingston Space Port is located in the Ontes Valley, 25 kilometres from the drop point.”

Gunner takes note “Weapons and Armor?”

“Weapon and Armor prep have already started sir, winter forest camouflage has been applied, would you like to review the latest additions to your armor?” Onyria added

Gunner responds wryly “Enlighten me, also try not to be so loud, we have Bretonian investigators on board, if they find out we have been engaging in illegal r&d we’re all off to Golgotha”.

He opened the documentation on the terminal from Chief Engineer Rawlins “Commander, the L5X is as far as we can take the Guardian armor without actually developing anything new, the entrenching system now has a quick release and the M227 can now be fired on the move although only from one barrel and at a reduced rate, the nano ammo forge also had to be replaced.”

“The M227 Retribution is the last heavy weapon to be developed before outright r&d bans took effect, no longer used by major militaries due it’s weight and excessive maintenance costs tactically it is still a fearsome presence used only by few mercenary units, the weapon is capable of 1000 rounds per minute per barrel between the four barrels of the weapon, firing 15mm High Explosive Armor Piercing tungsten/titanium rounds which are replenished from the integrated ammo forge located on L5X series Guardian armor suits”

“Onyria, skip the preamble please, I know the weapons stats, please proceed with mission overview” he asks

To which she replies “Very well, displaying latest known information on the disappearances, from what was gathered at all previous sites, all life on the planets just ceased to be, no increase in aether levels and no poisons or chemicals detected.”

“Any ships that were in the area at the time?” Lucia Vale, second in command asks as she walks in.

“No Ma’am, all scans collected showed clear, although current estimates are that it could be some form of stealth vessel, considering the proximity to the Borealis system”

“Mission parameters are as follows: Escort the inspectors and keep them safe, do not damage infrastructure and rescue any civilians that are possibly still around”

“Milk run” snorts Gunner

To which Lucia replies “Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know but something feels off, too many unknowns and not enough evidence, I know tensions are high but usually when someone knows something they speak up, in this case though nothing, I’ll get the rest of the crew ready and Onyria?”

Onyria responds “Ma’am?”

Lucia says “Battle stations, I think we are in for a fight”

Onyria replies “A-Firm, disengaging Wave Rider field in 4 minutes”

“Damnit.” Gunner thinks to himself “I hope she’s wrong, the Hannibal is not equipped for a prolonged engagement this mission.”

No sooner were these thoughts cold when the klaxons sounded for general quarters and the crew scrambled frantically to get to their stations.

Onyria’s disembodied voice sounding over the intercom “All hands battle stations, this is not a drill, I repeat all hands battle stations”

The ship shudders as the Wave Rider jump drives disengages and the eerie glow of jump space fades to the normal pitch blackness of real space.

The ship was running hot so any hostiles in the area would pick up the Hannibal the moment they jumped in.

On the bridge the command staff were busy running warm up cycles on the weapons systems in particular the phased particle cannon array and dual heavy rail guns.

Gunner enters and asks “Captain Reyes, status report please”

Captain Enrico Reyes responds “Ah Commander, shields are up and weapons are online, the retro fitted 80mm MLA point defence guns are having some alignment issues but we should have them sorted out soon enough.”

Gunner responds “Shouldn’t these have been sorted out before we left New Canton?”

Captain Reyes replies “Departure was moved ahead, the Empress requested we waste no time sir, Onyria deemed it acceptable.”

Gunner just remains silent.

Lucia enters and says “the rest of the team and the eggs are in the briefing room Commander, just waiting on you”

Gunner nods and follows her.

Entering the briefing room Gunner sees the rest of the team, they rise to greet or salute him and take their seats.

He salutes in return, sits down and starts to address the team “Ok people, mission details are as follows, as of 14h50 local time on September 20th, New Dawn colony went comm silent, this is the 5th world in 3 months, the New Bretonians have requested we investigate and have sent some of their best investigators with us, our mission is to get them planet side, watch their backs and return the eggs unharmed back to the nest.”

He continues “Rules of engagement are as follows, put down any security threat with the level of force you deem necessary, enemy forces unknown could be regulars along with aethers, breakers or both, so watch your selves and do not split from your team mate, also we are to rescue or provide medical attention to any civilians that might still be around, questions?”

They all nod no.

He looks at Lucia who then proceeds to introduce the team to the investigation team headed by Lt.Col Brandis of the New Bretonian Royal Marines Special investigations task force

“The War Gods combat team consists of the following team members, Gunner will be handling heavy weapons and assault duties, myself on fire support, Angel Nakamura is our cqb specialist, Amber Blackburn is the medic, so if you have any issues please let her know of allergies to medicine, Anastasia Zaitsev is our sniper and Evelyn Shade our scout.”

Lt.Col Brandis salutes and says “it is an honour to serve with a group that has a Blackburn in their midst.”

Giving Amber a quick scan with his eyes, he nodded in approval, she is a tall slender woman with pale skin, with chest length celestial white hair she wears in a top knot pony tail and white hot eyes and a soft features on her face.

Amber stands bows and states “Thank you sir, I shall try to live to my family name”

However when he sees Angel his demeanour changes to hostility “You on the other hand best stay clear, word has it you lot have plotted to assassinate the empress”

Angel says something that the translator did not quite catch, recomposes herself and says “I am sorry to hear that.” Bows as is customary for natives of Amaterasu and leaves the room.

Gunner then says “Listen here Brandis, you are on my ship with my crew, show them respect or I will show you out of the nearest airlock with no gear on, do you understand?”

Gunner walks over to drive his point home to which Lt.Col Brandis hurriedly says “Forgive me commander, I didn’t mean to, you have to understand, tensions are quite high.”

“Well bite your tongue, because you are stuck with us for however long it takes you to find out what is going on down there.” Gunner responds and walks over to Evelyn.

She looks up and asks “On my way to check on her now, anything else?”

Gunner then whispers “keep close to this pencil neck once we are planet side, I get the feeling he is going to try and ice her, if he does…”

She says softly “Twilights Edge will make him bleed if he tries…”

Lucia then calls out “if the theatrics are done, final gear check in 5 minutes and get to your drop pods, long range scans have picked up 2 Rhine Bavaria class frigates, we are going in hot”

Gunner then speaks into the intercom “Captain Reyes, do we have a firing solution?” to which the ships weapons officer Lt. Zach Meyer responds “Lt. Meyer here sir ,Negative sir, still out of range, Longbow missiles and Jackhammer torpedoes are armed and ready, Onyria is reporting at this rate 15 minutes to rail gun and particle array maximum effective range.”

Gunner responds “Roger that, give em hell.”

He rushes to his drop pod, ensures his Stryker combat shotgun and hammer Storm Breaker is secured, straps himself in and performs the final pre-drop sequence.

Anastasia breaks his thoughts over the comms “Do you think we are going to have company down there now?”

He replies “Definitely” he adds “Lucia, you were right again”

Lucia chuckles and responds “Drinks are on you again when we get back”

Angel adds “Gael reserve whiskey, 2933”

All Gunner adds to this is “oof, my wallet”

The pods start to rumble as the engines start.

Onyria’s voice spiking though the comms “Emergency Launch, DDG-381 Hannibal under attack, all pods launch, back up request sent to Blood River heavy cruiser HC-51 Cuito Cuanavale.”

The pods thundered out of the Hannibal’s launch tubes, switching on the external cameras Gunner watches as the Hannibal launches multiple volleys of Longbow anti-ship missiles and Jackhammer torpedoes from its vertical launch tubes and the energy build up on the centre line for the particle cannon array preparing to fire.

The last sight he observed was the sight of the Cuito Cuanavale jumping in 2 of its 4 massive Mk.5 Caracal mass drivers obliterating both Rhine frigates with little effort but also seeing the massive Rhine Bismarck class battle cruiser that jumped in before the heat plumes from re-entry forced the cameras to the shutdown. Settling down in the eerie silence due to the comms black out, he goes over the mission details once more in his head before dozing off, it’s a long way down as New Dawn has a thick atmosphere, 20 minutes at least for the drop to complete.

A ear splitting alarm jolts him awake, his first thoughts are “shit, collision alert” as he comes to he checks, he already landed but he augured in pretty hard, putting on his helmet, he takes his weapons and extricates himself from the wreck of the drop pod, his comm springs to life, Lucia’s voice crackling under stress “I repeat is anyone else planet side yet?”

Gunner keys his comm and responds”A-firm, Alpha 1 is on the ground”

Lucia responds “Alpha 1, Alpha 2 here, damn good to hear your voice sir, we took AA fire on the way down, what happened to you?”

“Fell asleep Alpha 2, any news on the rest?” he responds

Lucia responds “Negative, only you so far, something is affecting the range of comms, I am due east about 1,5km your current position also all comms to the Hannibal are down, any idea what else happened up there?”

Gunner says “a Bismarck class battle cruiser jumped in, Onyria sent a distress signal and the Cuito Cuanavale jumped in and engaged, last thing I saw before the cameras shut down, going radio silent, too many unknowns, over and out”