Shakedown

UEN Infinite Stratus - Jump-space Transit - Commanders quarters

'Captain we will be arriving in the Esitio system shortly ~' the PA clicked off

I looked into the mirror, sigh, these lights just don't compliment my olive skin, i tied my dark hair back revealing the angular beauty of my face, and the faint scar along my jawline.

"...say Captain when she is clearly a Commander"

I walked onto the bridge overhearing the tail end of a conversation

"It's okay crew, I may be a Commander but I am the Captain of this ship" I said to the bickering pair

Looking around the Bridge I saw my weapons officer Lieutenant Casey Wellend,  a fair skinned red haired woman from Wales, she has a slight spotting of freckles  on her cheeks, her curly hair is always a mess, which I let slide as she  is a damn good officer, ranked first in her class and currently holds  the weapons system championships from the war games back home

Next to her is my engineering officer Lieutenant Christopher Pails, another caucasian, he's a German man with sandy blond hair, sharp jawline and the deepest blue eyes I have seen.

Across from them is my Communications Specialist Lieutenant Commander Asuna Fujiko, a lovely Japanese woman with a slight chiseled look and long black hair tied into a sharp bun, she has the perfect Military look about her but then that is to be expected when your from a Military family.

Next is my science officer another Japanese woman Sub-Lieutenant Hiroko Koari, she has short cropped brown hair and an English accent, I didn't want an inexperienced officer on my crew, let alone bridge crew but when Fleet Admiral Ling insists, you can't really say no. But apparently Hiroko is the best the Navy has ever seen acing all the tests in record time, I have high hopes for them.

Lastly at the front of the bridge is a slightly obnoxious Australian man Christopher Farcomb, always making dumb jokes, which I've warned him to keep it off the bridge. He is dark skinned, closer to a heavy tan, black hair cropped extremely short, and for all his faults I'd rather him at the helm as my Navigator.

"Show me where we are" I Ordered

"Aye ma'am" Farcomb replied "we are this little spec here captain, tiny and insufficient"

A map appeared on the main screen showing our course to Esitio, and our position, and the small dot representing our position really did look small.

"Hey" Wellend retorted, putting on a fairly good Texan impression "this 'insignificant tub' is armed with enough firepower to send any hostile back to it's hole"

"Why do we even need that much firepower" Fujiko mumbled nervously "it's not like we are planning a war are we"

"Captain, transition in 5 minutes" Farcomb reported

"Understood" I grabbed the PA mic and jammed the 'all stations' button

A 3 note whistle sounded aa I cleared my throat

'Attention Crew, we will shortly be arriving in the Esitio system, as this is a shakedown cruise we will be berthing at the orbital station, you are free to some shore leave once your work is done.

You have all done wonderfully to get the Infinite Stratus to this point, don't drop the ball now team.'

I looked around the bridge, Pails nodded at me.

'Hands brace for deceleration jump.'

I clicked of the PA, it would be nice to go planet-side I thought, its been a while since I have seen a farming planet.

"Deceleration Jump in 10" Farcomb shouted over his shoulder "5, 4,3,2"

I braced for the jump

I loud whooshing sound reverberated the hull as the ship punched back into real-space slowing down dramatically.

I let out a groan, "The most advanced warship and they still can't fix jump transitions"

"We made it" Koari exclaimed happily

"Don't get too comfortable Captain" Fujiko stated matter of factly "picking up distress signals from Esitio"

I looked over to her and saw her face adopt a look of horror

"Captain, the Dying Twilight, putting on speakers"

The emergency warble note sounded

"Attention all vessels in range of the Esitio system, this is Dockmaster AI in charge of Esitio operations.

A state of emergency has been declared due to hostile activities currently in-system.

This Planet will undergo a full evacuation should the emergency state increase, currently LEVEL 4.

WARNING to all ships in-system, the UEN Dying Twilight has been destroyed by an unknown object currently at the edge of the system, RECOMMEND all ships avoid the area until UEN reinforcements arrive ETA 6 months"

The bridge was dead silent.

"Battle stations, engage silent running, maintain zero emissions" I fired off orders

The battle stations alarms flashed but the klaxons remained dormant, not good, a UEN ship downed

"Get a laser link to the dockmaster, transmit stealth protocol"

"Aye Captain" Fujiko tapped at her console "link active, incoming transmission, on screen we have a 30 second delay due to range"

The AI figure sitting on a model of the Space station appeared on screen

"Captain, Stealth protocols engaged, no one can hear this" the AI look sad " Sorry Captain, you won't like this"

"Captain, we are receiving an uplink becon to the orbital telescope" Koari said

"On screen" I feared what I might find there, I expected a burnt out ship, maybe venting atmosphere, but not this, never this.

The screen snapped on, the image seamed random and blurry, the camera refocused, it showed thousands of pieces of debris, part of a helmet drifted past the words UEN Dying still clearly visible. The camera lost focus again.

"Sorry Captain" the AI apologised, "I am trying to keep it stable but the optics keep shifting"

The camera focused again, just as a dark object with pulsing green light pushed through the debris field.

"That's huge" Farcomb said

"I am picking up intense radiation readings from the object" said Koari "Traces are everywhere"

"Must be their weapons system" Wellend mused

"Captain I hate to interrupt" The AI interjected "and I understand you are on your shakedown cruise, but the object has started moving in-system, protocols demand I evacuate the planet, I will be counting on you"

The Link disconnected and the image faded from the screen replaced by the video of the Dying Twilight being destroyed.

"Crew" I clenched my fists just as the Dying Twilight exploded "load the cannons"