Distress Beacon (Melaer characters)

The ship shuddered violently under the weight of the four Mazai frigates pursuing it, the lone Melaer battlecruiser was limping through space, unable to fire back and with its shields rapidly depleting. Damage was starting to show in the hull and the internal alarms blared loudly, the internal voice of the ship's A.I. coming over the intercoms informing that the automatic distress beacon had begun to broadcast.

"Distress beacon activated," the voice said. "Warning! Hull breaches on decks nine, ten and thirteen!"

Alaister's head popped out from under a control panel which had been damage, a rather ridiculous pair of ocular devices on his face that helped scan and zoom in on areas in need of precision repair.

"I can bloody see that, Ruby!" He cried, pushing himself up and trying the panel again to no avail.

"You told me to warn you of any dangers, Admiral." She chimed.

"Yes, I did Ruby." He said through gritted teeth, hitting the panel several times until it buzzed back to life. "But I would have preferred the warning before the danger was immediate!"

The ship turned sharply now that the panel was working, bypassing the damage to the weapon systems, a barrage of repeating beam-cannon fire began in a port broadside aimed at the oncoming frigates. Alaister let out a cheer of approval and pulled the goggles up so they were balanced on his forehead, grinning a bit as the focused fire chewed through the shield of one of the frigates, Melaer weapons technology was still superior to the Mazai even after a thousand years.

"Whoever said I would never make it as a mechanic!" He exclaimed jovially, rushing to one of the other consoles.

"Your repairs, if you can call them that, won't last long Admiral." The A.I. dubbed 'Ruby' replied, sounding bemused.

He didn't bother to reply and instead let out a tut of disapproval as her remark, turning the ship again to try and continue their escape, he had taken down one frigate but there were still three and they had done enough damage that getting weapons back wasn't enough to save them. The loss of one of their frigates had given them pause though and lifted the morale of the Battlecruiser's single occupant, that was until suddenly the lights went out as the main power generator has taken a direct hit, leaving Alaister in darkness.

"Blast..." He said, the shields were still up but they were down to nine percent as most and he couldn't check on them with the power down.

"Would this be a good time to tell you power is down, Admiral?" Ruby chirped.

"Oh, shut up." He said with a sigh.

Kana got onto the Mag-rail and sat down they’d arrived and his presence was requested on the bridge. Kana got off at bridge station and got into the lift to take him to the bridge. Kana was effectively Protector of the Melaer and sat as the speaker of an interim single house parliament which didn’t pass any legislation but was more in place to handle disputes and to make sure civilians did not feel dictated to by the military. Kana enters the bridge.

“Sir, we have arrived at the coordinates set to intercept the Ruby Gold, it is presently under attack by what appears to be two Mazai warships, presently hanging just outside weapons range and awaiting your orders” this was the missive barked at Kana as he entered the bridge.

“Have you hailed them?” Kana continued to exchange with his bridge officer.

“Yes sir no response, no return on the ping, I gather their systems are down”

“Agreed! Take us into range, whilst also aiming to put ourselves in between the Ruby and them, we need to protect that ship” Kana continued to bark orders on the bridge.

“Helmsman! Line up the side guns… on my order shake them with the thunder of our guns!!”
The ship moves into range and lines up all the side guns an obscene amount of fire power for what is needed.
“We are in range sir!”

“FIRE!!” ordered Kana, the ship rained hell down on the ships in pursuit of the Ruby-gold as it pulled across shielding the ship.

Fingers dash over the control panel swiftly, pushing buttons after buttons; swapping from the camera's of the ships vantage points. A device was strapped onto the male's ear, stretching down to his mouth, acting as communication, to which he bellowed orders in via the microphone situated just touching the left corner of his lips. It'd actually be rather surprising the onboard Knights and what-not could even understand said orders, yelled in quite the hurry indeed.

Still working on the panel before him, he turned his head, giving a short nod in Kanaichi's direction at his arrival, allowing the officer to make his way over and fill him in on the current situation. Pushing back from the panel, he let out a low sigh, turning himself around. Still shouting off the odd order through his microphone, though for the most part he brushed his hands down the regal outfit which he donned himself in.

He placed a hand onto the hilt of his sword, laying in a sheath at his left side, moving it slightly more out of restlessness; doing the same with his right hand, onto the kite shied which was strapped to the front of his right thigh, bearing the seal of his family. Arms raised up to entwine across his chest, standing up directly straight, with good posture. He gave a bow of his head in respect in the direction of Kanaichi as the shot was ordered, head turning to the side briefly to observe the carnage being wrought down on the offending vessels.

"Sir."

"Admiral, incoming ship!" Ruby sounded excited. "The IDC is Melaer."

"What?" Alaister sounded more surprised than relieved.

Although in complete darkness due to the internal power outage, the massive figure the Ascendia cut through space was visible through the front of the bridge, Alaister recognised it immediately of course. The Mazai frigates tempted fate at first, they continued their pursuit in hopes of catching up to the Ruby-Gold before the massive lifeship reached it, but the Ascendia was surprising spry for such a large vessel. The repeating beam-cannon fire from the Ascendia turned the forward most frigate into little more than space dust, the remaining two quickly halted pursuit in favour of retreat against firepower of that magnitude.

The Ruby-Gold was dead in space right now, artificial gravity was still active and life support but little else. Alaister adjusted his collar and made his way through the ship, no doubt the Ascendia was going to bring the Ruby-Gold in to dock for protection and repairs, he would be meeting whoever came to greet him at the airlock.

"The Ascendia is moving in for docking proceduries, Admiral." Ruby said, her voice returning to that matter-of-fact tone she used when not in a high stress situation.

"I'll have to wait to thank them in person," he replied, proceeding into the lift. "Communications are down."

The lifts onboard Melaer vessels were powered by a separate generator to the main one, to ensure that in the case of emergency all crew could make it to the escape pods. He adjusted his collar as the lift carried him down from the bridge to deck five, this was the first contact he would have with any of his people since the fall of their homeworld. A thousand years alone had put a lot of things into perspective, though he hadn't meant to return to his people in any form yet, perhaps it was time he did so and helped with efforts to find a new place in the universe.

"Give the green light on the airlock, Ruby." He ordered, hands clutched behind his back.

The airlock hissed slightly, then began to open after a faint shudder from docking because inertial dampeners were a bit wonky after the battle. He took a step forward, standing in his Admiral's uniform, waiting for the doors to open properly before stepping through to greet whoever stood waiting on the other side of the door.

“Good work helmsman, prepare to allow the Ruby to dock” Bellowed Kana to Cailan. He thought to himself that the Ascendia was running a skeleton crew and he saw Cailan was armed, “after you’ve issues those orders Cailan could with me bring your weapon” Kana ordered and then spoke into a communicator “A company, I repeat A company form Ranks at the main docking back, come armed”
While this was a Melaer ship he’d not spoken to anyone on board and while green light code seemed genuine this was the last bastion of the Melaer so Kana felt it best to follow protocol.
Kana walked off the bridge into the elevator giving Cailan enough time to follow him before the lift descended the mag rail was being held for him and they stepped on and headed for the centre of the Ascendia.
Kana was pretty informal as far as commanders went usually not even needing to be called “Sir” as long as they were otherwise respectful and loyal. He’d been a de facto leader of their people for some time now and came to realise having the remnants of a whole species on your shoulders is a heavy burden.
They arrive and marched up to the central tower of the city-ship many members of A company streamed past them one after another as due to their situation they were not housed in barracks. They took an elevator up that a Knight-Captain had held for him, the men saluted him as he entered the large elevator, he saluted back. He had no inspiring words, Melaer contact had his mind racing of what could be, could it be a full crew? They needed more numbers Kana had encouraged people to make a life of the Ascendia so some children had been born but not enough to put a dent into the vast ship.
They reached the main dock, reserved for flagships and smaller carriers. The men lined up and they waited a moment for the rest of A company to get in formation. The airlocks for ships this large had a large space to allow for security details as well as cargo to be stacked up.
The door opened, Kana walked forward motioning for Cailan to walk with him. He saw who it was as the doors opened, it was Alaister Vigil. Kana didn’t know Alaister well but knew they typically agreed on issues in Parliament as well as Military council meeting. Kana approached Saluted and spoke,
“Welcome to the Melaer Citadel Class Ship, Ascendia”

A nod is offered to Kanaichi as he turns himself once more pressing a few buttons on his panel, and relaying some more orders via his communicator – this time, said rather calmly, rather than rushed and hurried as before. Another nod was offered at the second order thrown at him by the man. Pushing off the panel, his hands went to waist and thigh respectively, the right picking up his shield and shoving his arm into it – making sure it's on tight; whilst the left just adjusts his sheath once more.

Turning himself around, he began to follow after Kanaichi, stationing himself in the elevator. Allowing Kanaichi to depart before him, of course, he followed on tow, left hand held tightly at the hilt of his sword; agreeing on the matter of taking extra precautions, despite a code green – after all, this is the last bastion of hope for the Melaer race. He nodded to the Knight-Captain and the rest of Company A as they filed past, offering a word of thanks and greeting to the man who had held the door.

Upon reaching the dock, he stopped himself short of Kanaichi, standing roughly half a foots-length behind him, shield arm held limply at his side, though left hand still clutching his hilt tightly. He watched the ship intently, patiently, as it would have to undergo their security protocol of course – which was also a good sign it was friendly, else, commotion would've most likely been caused at this stage in the process.

Giving another nod as he was motioned to move once more with Kanaichi, he followed the same half foots-length behind. He, however, stopped short in his tracks as he got a glimpse of who was exiting the Ruby-Gold. Both eyebrows elevating upwards slightly, as his eyes would also widen – though only slightly. He returned the shield to it's holster on his right thigh, releasing tension of his sword, beginning to move forwards to get in pace with Kanaichi once more.

His lips curled slightly into a small smile as Alaister would, no doubt, depart. Clicking his feet together, he raised up his arm, saluting accordingly briefly after Kanaichi had.

”Brother?” He was unable to stop himself, though, of course, leaving his speaking until after Kanaichi had offered a generic greeting. ”Is it just you?”

The airlock opened and Alaister stepped through it toward the two men awaiting him, one of them he knew only by reputation, but he knew that they shared many similar views back in the days Melandrisia had a government to share views in. The other brought a smile to his face, his younger brother Cailan was on board, somebody from his family had survived the war - the relief he felt was beyond reckoning. The salutes made him feel like he was at home again and for a moment, the feeling of suffocation he'd had for these thousand years was relieved.

"I'm glad to be here," he replied to Kanaichi when he welcomed him. "The Ascendia's survival is a fairly big deal for what little remains of our people."

His eyes went to Cailan when he asked if it was just him, a frown crossing his face and his head lowering into a short nod. Truth was, nobody had been on the ship with him, he had woken on the battlefield having thought himself dead, he wouldn't tell Cailan and Kanaichi the circumstances revolving about his being alive but he had taken the ship uncrewed and flew it from the barren and broken Melandrisia alone. That was a story for another time, his mind had turned to whether or not anyone else he knew well had survived, especially his nieces.

"There was never a crew, I've been flying it myself all this time. I removed the shackles and voice lock on my AI for company, I would prefer that she remain untouched - she's proven an ally and her self-awareness is indicative of life." He looked around for a moment, then stepped further into the ship. "Who else is here? Did any of the ruling house survive?"

He had seen he and Cailan's youngest brother the King along with their sister-in-law the Queen killed, but he hadn't seen what happened to the two princesses after he'd thrown himself in the way of an attack from Krell himself to save their lives, it had claimed his life but he recalled telling them to run before consciousness slipped from him entirely. He was hopeful, but not overly so, he wanted so much to hear that they had survived and their people still had a future with a Queen to lead them .

“Ruling house is presumed dead, we’re operating under a single house parliament with no leader, and parliament passed a bill that I handle day to day affairs”
Kana folds his arms slightly disappointed that there isn’t more Melaer for the Ascendia but doesn’t dwell on it. “By yourself for that long… well you’re of course welcome to join us, I’ll have the Ruby repaired with what we have but unless we get materials it’ll be a basic repair job” Kana explained to Alaister before turning around and telling the men to stand at ease.
Going back to the previous topic “Provided parliament approves it, I guess your regent”

(Short one sorry)

A heavy sigh heaves from the males lips at Alaisters words, giving a short bowing of his head as a nod. Of course, disappointed - and distraught to a point - at their being no more surviving Melaer among the Ruby-Gold, it was fairly outweighed by Alaister's presence. He was never confirmed dead, but one does begin to assume and predict, when an individual doesn't return to you after a large-scale battle. As for his questions, he slid his arms behind his back, clasping the hands together and standing upright, allowing Kanaichi to answer, a small curling of lips offered to the pair throughout, showing an obvious friendly nature to the man. Not inputting further for the moment, he merely observed the two, allowing them to converse.

(Yeeeah, short from me too.)

The news about the ruling house being presumed dead was hardly surprising, but Alaister closed his eyes and inhaled slowly to lessen the blow, he had nursed a faint hope that at least the young princesses had escaped. He gave a short nod in response to the Ruby-Gold being repaired, then turned toward Kanaichi and his brother with a frown, of course he was regent and the parliament could refuse all it wanted the position was already his by law. But he wouldn't say that, partially because he wasn't the type and partially because he had never wanted the title, but then they did say that made good leaders.

"Regent?" He repeated, then sighed deeply. "A title I never wanted to hold, but one that I am obliged to take now."

He rubbed his face for a moment and looked very weary for a moment, his young face looked old all of a sudden, just around the eyes and then it faded as his shoulders stopped drooping and he stood to his full height again. If he had to hold the position then he would do it right, for a start he would direct them to a place they could get the materials to repair his ship properly without revealing themselves to their enemies.

"I know a world with many raw materials, I believe this ship has a mining rig, yes?" He asked, though he had never been on the ship before he knew the specs due to his almost hobby-like interest in ships. "The planet is uninhabited and well out of the way, it should get the materials needed to make repair to Melaer vessels."

Kana agrees with Alaister and alerts the bridge to be prepared to move the ship to a new location. Kana then signal's an order for the assembled men to fall out. "Permission to retain command of The Ascendia, Lord Regent" says Kana as he salutes Alaister for the first time.