Judgement day was upon us all at Hangar 404. Many lives were lost. Only a few were saved. But it was our duty to save the Federation. And this is my tale, on that fateful day...
Planet XR-SC 1
Federation Hangar 404
10:15 AM
John Viret walked across the cold metallic walkways overlooking Hangar 404. Hangar 404 was the largest ship hangar in the galaxy, large enough to hold two entire fleets of cruisers and about a hundred thousand people. Usually, Hangar 404 was moderately quiet, but today it was buzzing with activity. They had such short notice to prepare for what was coming, but they did what they must. An Engi mechanic was fixing up several shield generators, a couple of humans were carrying boxes and boxes of missiles and fuel towards a ship and a few Zoltan were operating some machinery such as cranes and forklifts. An entire squadron of Federation Bombers, Scouts and whatever other derelict ships they had gathered up here sat below John. A couple of Rockmen were a few meters behind him, carrying a ship-sized missile launcher in their hands. He ordered them to drop it next to the crane and signalled to whoever operated it to pick it up and drop it down by his ship. He pressed a button on the wall, revealing a lift. He entered and hit the bottom button, sending him down to the lower floor. As he walked out, a man waiting at the end greeted him, clipboard and pen in hand.
"Captain Viret, your cruiser will be ready in twenty minutes," said the officer.
"Are the blueprints loaded?" asked John.
"Yes sir, they are in the cargo bay right now."
"Good, I got some business to sort out," he said, quickly heading over to the nearest Federation ship running past a couple of Engi barely keeping a box of drone parts stable. A human was ontop of a moving staircase, welding several parts into the round, cylindrical engines of a Federation Bomber.
"Elnubnub!"
"John!"
Elnubnub walked down the stairs, his metallic footsteps resonating and hopped the last two steps. He looked behind him at the Bomber and then back to John.
"Long time no see, Johnny!" said Elnubnub, patting him on the back. "So how's everything going for ya pal?"
John chuckled. "Fine, fine. I'm just rather tense for this mission. And I'm worried for all the guys still here. There's no way we can prep these hunks of junk in half an hour."
Elnubnub laughed before choking a little and almost falling over on some spilt oil. "Don't worry man. Our Engis can get this stuff fixed in no time. And don't worry 'bout us. We'll blow that rebel scum outta the sky. Anyway, I'd better get back to fixin' this Bomber or Commander's gonna have my head on a platter. Good luck!"
John tried to smile and walked away across the illuminated takeoff strip towards another ship. A few Engi were fixing up the engines and several Rockmen were loading crate upon crate of missiles into the ship. A woman was issuing orders to a Zoltan on a crane who was slowly loading a cannon onto the side of the ship. As the ship and the laser touched, an industrial claw grabbed it and the hydraulics took care of the rest, bringing the launcher into the side of the cruiser.
"Take five everyone," she said. The five or six beings working on the ship walked towards a small table stationed by the ship.
"Liz? I thought you were in the Fourteenth Flagship. What are you doing here?" asked John as he walked towards her.
"John? It's so good to see you here!" she said, hugging him.
"You too Liz."
"So when are you leaving?"
"I have to carry some important documents straight to the Fourteenth Fleet. I'll be taking this Kestrel Cruiser right here in about fifteen minutes. Great job on the renovations. I see you only have to replace this old Artemis with a Pegasus and upgrade the weapon systems."
"I'm coming with you then."
"What?"
"I'm coming with you. You can't possibly fly such a large cruiser alone. Besides, you look like you need the company," she smirked.
"Well I'm expecting company so I hope you don't mind Captain Millstein being on this ship."
"Bob Millstein? You two have been friends since you were little kids, right?"
"Yeah. He's the one who inspired me to join the Federation Navy. Anyway, I'm going to get a quick bite to eat at the cafeteria before the ship's ready. Wanna come?"
"Yes, I'd love to..."
That very instant was the last moment of peace inside Hangar 404. A siren started wailing and the entire hangar was illuminated in a dark crimson light.
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! REPEAT! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!
Panic spread across the hangar as crew rushed to their ships. A tall, lean man ran towards the Kestrel.
"Sorry I'm late John. Got caught up back there..."
"Get in, Bob! We have to get out of here!"
The three of them walked up the flight of stairs into the Kestrel and shut the door. John quickly ushered Liz into the weapons bay and Bob into the shields room before making a mad dash for the cockpit. He sat down on the seat and pressed a series of buttons before the engines roared to life, glowing a vivid orange and blue. Several Federation Scouts sped above the runway, taking off into the atmosphere. As soon as they had passed, and Engi in the control tower gave John a thumbs up and the light infront of him turned green. He pulled as hard as he could on the throttle and sped down the runway, even faster than those Scouts before him. The ship ascended vertically at supersonic speeds, pulling away from the planets gravitational field. John took one last glance at the hangar below him. It was surrounded by miles and miles of untouched jungle. In fact, Hangar 404 was the only part of the planet that wasn't pure nature. A rebel ship must've gotten too close to the planetary defense because an explosion jolted the ship and flaming wreckage fell down into the jungle. John focused as they entered orbit. What he saw was unlike anything he had seen before. Small orange ships dotted the cosmos, annihilating any Federation Scout stupid enough to enter their range. More and more ships arrived, with some wide ships heading down to the surface, Bombers no doubt. Sirens started blaring in the Kestrel.
"Damn Scout must've snuck up on us!" yelled Liz over comlink as a grey ship decloaked behind the Kestrel.
John pressed a button and tried to enter communications with its crew, but to no avail. The ship fired off a couple of laser. One rebound off the Kestrels shields, the other missed.
"This is Engi Scout 001010 of the Federation Navy! The enemy is AI-operated. All communications are futile. Commencing Ionizing protocol."
The Engi Scout launched off a couple of Ion Blasts, disabling the AI's shields and weapons.
"Burst Laser is calibrated!" shouted Liz from the other room. "Firing now!"
Three shots fired from the Kestrel, destroying the weak Auto-Scouts engines. Since it had no crew, it wouldn't be able to repair itself that easily so the Kestrel's crew decided to leave it. Several Federation ships of all classes were jumping away from the Long-Range FTL beacon. However, the majority of the fleet was engaged in a futile battle with the Rebel Fleet. For every ship the Federation blew up, two more came in. The Kestrels comlink screen lit up.
"John! You read me?"
"Elnubnub? Is that you?"
"Yeah it's me! I wish ya good luck. See ya at the Fourteenth Fleet!"
The last Bomber at the Long Range beacon jumped and the signal was lost. John looked behind him. The Rebel Fleet was busy blockading the planet. A massive Federation Capital Ship tried to pierce through the blockade, using its escorts and weaponry to blast through several Auto-Scouts before being shot down by a Rebel Cruisers missile barrage. One by one, the escorts exploded into flames and the Capital Ship itself was slowly reduced to a molten slag. The Rebel Fleet closed in on the planet. The ground defenses could only do so much against the incoming fleet. John could only imagine what was happening on the planet itself.
"...John! John! Get ready to jump already! That Cruiser's locked on! Hurry!"
John zoned back in and saw the massive Rebel Cruiser lock onto the Kestrel. He flicked three switches and pressed a button on a touch interface. The Kestrel disappeared in an instant, leaving XR-SC 1 and Hangar 404 forever.