SOURCE: OCV-Montana, Unknown Space after docking with new Alien Jumpgate. The large visage of the OCV Montana sailed through the gas cloud. Soon the Order Dreadnought made it to the coordinates provided by the Admiral. Captain Cross started ad the alien jump gate through the bridge’s window. Such alien structures never failed to make him feel uneasy. Even since he had learned of the Dyson sphere deeper in Nomad controlled space that feeling seemed to weigh heavier on him; even when just looking at a simple jump gate.
“Ship status, are we ready to make the jump?” Cross asked, still looking at the gate.
“All decks report green for gate jump.” One of the communication deckhands answered soon after. “On your order captain.”
Cross looked away from the gate and to the helmsman. “Helmsman take us in.”
“Aye captain!” The helmsmen replied.
The Alien gate began to power up as the Montana approached. On the Bridge blast shields over the windows lowered. Moments later, the ship began to shake more violently than a normal gate jump would have gone.
“I don’t appreciate this bumpy ride.” Captain Cross sounded holding onto the railing to keep himself up right.
“Engineering reports more stress on the hull than normal.” A communication hand called back. “We must be going farther and faster, putting more strain on the ship.”
“Are we in danger of hull damage?”
“Engineer does not think so, the shields are taking the brunt of it.”
“Keep me posted, I guess now we test Insurgent Engineering and Order maintenance crews.”
The ship continued to shake before the whole ship lurched forward then returned to normal. Reports came in from the rest of the ship, no damage was reported but complaints of tossed around loose items were plentiful.
“Alright people, let's get this mission started, scanner report.” Captain Cross Ordered straightening himself.
“Long-range scanners standard a standard yellow star with one gas giant, other than that the system is clear.” There was a pause and a few more flicks from the terminal before the deckhand spoke again. “Sir, scanners detecting debris off our portside, remains of the alien gate sir…”
Cross’s heart skipped a beat, no gate meant there was no way to return. “Find out where we are, our jump drive may still be in range of our lunch point.”
A reply came shortly after. “Sir, systems cannot pinpoint our location; the stars don’t match our charts.”
Cross silently let out a curse. This was not good. “How long can the computer create a new chart and to triangulate our location?”
“Unknown sir, but our best estimate is three days to chart the local consultations and to find our original star cluster.”
“Captain! Scanner contacts, twenty contacts on a fast approach!” The Comm. “IFF confirmed Nomad fighters with bomber forms!”
Alarms roared to life all over the ship. Fighter pilots dropped what they were doing and collectively made a mad dash for their assigned fighters. Meanwhile damage control terms equipment their suits in case of deck decomposition. Gunners began to track the incoming Nomad fighters causing anti-snubcraft turrets to turn towards the coming foe. Onuris and Anubis deployed from the rear hangers of the Montana. The fighter quietly turned on an intercept course for the incoming Nomads. The two forces met at a five kilometer distance from Montana. The dogfighting quickly began, light fighters went after the bombers while the heavier fighters attacked the Nomad fighters. Meanwhile the Nomad fighters attempted to screen the bombers, and the bombers themselves kept on their run towards the Order dreadnought.
Montana’s anti snubcraft weapons roared to life as the threat of friendly fire became negligible. Flack began to brighten the void of space as Liberty made anti aircraft bolts raced towards their targets. A few Nomad bombers went up from the combined fire of their light fighter pursuers and antisnub craft weapon fire. Three bombers were able to release their torpedo warheads however the point defense weapons of the Montana quickly shot down most of the warheads allowing the shields to absorb the rest. The rest of the bombers were soon shot down as they were left undefended from their escorts.
Having dealt with the bombers the light fighters turned and raced to join the dogfight against the remaining Nomad fighters. Order snub craft that were damaged during the fighting were able to pull away and return to the Montana for repairs, the Nomads on the other hand did not share this benefit. Soon enough the fighting began to fall into the Order’s favor as Nomad snubcraft began dropping one by one.
As the last Nomad snubcraft went up in flames the comms officer reported in. “Conn: last Nomad contact breaking up, scanners clear.”
“Stand down from battlestations, make ready to retrieve snubcraft.” Captain Cross ordered. “As soon as they are aboard I want to move away from this sector. The Nomads know where they are here and they are bound to send more.”
“Aye captain.” James replied. “Helm, plot course out of the system. Engage cruise engines as soon as fighter complement is storied.”
Captain Cross turned to his chair as he thought of the next course of action for his ship. All he could do now was pray to God that He was watching over them.
SOURCE: OCV-Montana, Unknown Space. “Tell me straight, how is it?” Captain Cross asked his gathered officers in the conference room.
“Sir, if the computer is accurate we are some 1.3 trillion light years from Sirurs.” James began a holographic image of their current location appearing over the table. “It will be generations before we make it back to Friendly space, even with using the jump drive. Our only option now is to attempt to find another Alien Jump gate that gets us closer to Sirurs.”
“Which would require us to explore Nomad territory in search of one.” Sam Raynor, the security officer, added. “Further meaning we are going to be soloing fleets, I don’t like our odds.”
“Better than just rolling over and dying.” Lana Brook, the gunnery officer, countered.
“I never said give up, I'm saying we have one hell of a challenge before us.” Sam rebutted.
“Whatever the case Sir, we are going to have to keep track of our supplies now more than ever.” Chief Engineer Jace Jones added. “We were lucky we just finished servicing before we left so we are full up on supplies. Just don’t go sending us into any Ishtars captain.”
“I’ll take that under advisement Chief Jones.” Captain Cross replied. “Do we have any leads on jump holes in the system or any systems to jump too?”
The Comms officer spoke up. “Scouts managed to find a stable jump hole some 75 klicks away. They went through it and found a rather empty system on the other sider. Only one gas giant, some moon sized planets and an asteroid belt.”
“Anything else?”
“There is a gas cloud further nearby but given that it's in the same direction those Nomads came from I ordered the fighters to stay away.” James added.
“In that case lets keep moving. Set course and drop a message bacon explaining the situation should any more ships use that Jumpgate.”
“Alright get it done Sir.” Jones replied.
Cross stood. “I also want to make an announcement to the ship. The crew should know as well.”
Moments later the ship wide intercom sounded, everyone on board stopped what they were doing to listen in. Captain Cross' voice soon echoed throughout the ship.
“Attention, this is your captain speaking. As you all know we were sent on a mission by the Overwatch to scout a newly discovered Nomad Jump Gate. We have discovered that the Jump Gate on the other side has since been destroyed by unknown means. As you might now understand this means we would have to use the ship's jump drive to return. However upon further investigation we learned that this jump gate was connected to another galaxy entirely.”
“As of now, Montana is now sitting some 1.3 trillion light years away from Sirurs.” murmurs rose up from across the ships. “This is not something we foresaw happening, however we are no strangers to hardships. When our home of Vespucci was on the verge of falling to Liberty we did not give up. We found a way out, and when the Corsairs failed to deliver upon promises we found someone who would. When the Order had us stand against the greatest warships the Nomads could throw at us, we scattered them to the stars.”
“Now we are stranded, disconnected from support and help. Alone with aliens far more advanced than us. In space unknown to us. Do you know what I think we are going to do? I think we are going to find a way back and blast any inhuman alien bastard that gets in the way of the crew of Montana and our home!”
A cry of agreement was taken up among the ship.
“So come, follow me, and let's show these Aliens that they chose the worst ship to get in the way of!”
Another cry of agreement echoed through the ship. Soon a song began to creep up from the voices of the crew. A song that began to spread through every deck until it made its way to the bridge.
The engines of the Montana soon began to shine brighter as the ship entered cruise mode. Fighters around the ship got into formation with the capital as the Insurrectionist turned Order dreadnought. All that stood before them was an uncountable amount of Nomad warforms and the dangers of navigating unknown space.
SOURCE: OCV-Montana, Unknown Space. Captain Cross went over the reports that had been coming in out the past few weeks. Scouting light fighters had been coming and going almost around the clock trying to build a map for the Montana to better understand its surroundings. Yet Nomad patrols were common and more than a few larger warforms were sighted in the area.
Cross had ordered the use of the ship’s cloaking device to avoid being discovered. Some fighters had been lost during scouting missions but thankfully the other pilots had been able to recover their downed wingmates. However every fighter loss meant a loss to Montana's defense complement. Meaning during the next engagement ment less snub craft the Montana could deploy against the Nomads.
Yet at the moment the key to find a way back was using the snub craft to scout nearby systems. The Montana would have to stay behind and stay out of battles and provide a place for the snub craft to return to.
“Captain!” One of the bridge hands called out sound distressed.
“Report.” Cross ordered.
“Long range sensors report cloak disrupter discharge pulses being emitted from local Nomad Warforms! They are trying to disable our cloak!”
“How many?”
“At least a dozen sir. They are spread out to cover a wide grid field. At this rate we will be detected.”
‘With Ishtars waiting nearby no doubt.’ Cross assumed to himself as he thought of a way to deal with this. “Navigation, is there a nebula nearby that can mask our signature?”
“Scouts did find a nebula with heavy interference along with large asteroids.” One of the Navigation officers replied.
“Set course best speed, we will use the rocks to further help conceal us.” Cross ordered.
The ship commander spoke up. “SIr, Nomad sensors are advanced, we may have to power down the main reactor to keep hidden.”
The ship’s smaller reactors could keep life support online. Shields would shut down meaning that smaller rocks could damage the ship’s outer hull, or worse strike a weak point like a window. It would also shut down the sensors making them blind beyond visual contact. Being in a nebula visual range was less than a kilometer. That was a risk they would have to take.
“Once we are in position, shut down the main reactor and rig the ship for ultra quiet. Order our snubs to stay away until we contact them again.” Cross ordered.
“Sir!” James confirmed.
The cloaked Order Dreadnought flew through the void of space racing towards the nebula. Once the Montana had reached the nebula the massive ship exited cruise and used it maneuvering thrusters to get as close as possible to one of the largest asteroids as possible.
“All hands ready for Reactor shut down, ultra quiet producers are now in effect.” After Captain Cross finished giving a ship wide announcement the lights in the ship began to turn off.
The Montana appeared as its cloak was switched off, The ship engine began to power down before turning off completely. The shields around the ship became visible for a moment before crumbling and fading away. Lights that once shone into the void from windows began to blink out. Docking lights to guide snub craft turned off. In a few moments the Montana was silent, all actively onboard stopped. It was as if all of sudden a bustling city had stopped and all was quiet.
On the Bridge everyone was silent waiting for any sign that they had been found out.
“How long before the Nomad Sweep passes over us?” Cross asked.
“From last readings about five hours before the Nomad Cloak disruptors reach this area.” Commander Carr answered.
“After Six hours send out a scout to have a look around. Have runs moving around the ship reporting in. I want to know the moment someone spots anything looking like a warform moving in the nebula.”
“Sir.” Carr acknowledged and began to relay the captain’s orders.
Cross was beginning to remember the stealth drills that the Insurgent officer training school had taught him. Yet, they never did train him with Nomad in mind. He was almost beginning to miss having a Liberty Navy as an opponent.
