A Helping hand: Part 4
03 Jul 2022Fallharbor
This log continues a short series in collaboration with Titan Contractors and it's many Commanders. Thank you CMDR RADIUMIO and everyone else involved for allowing me to be part of this. Part 1 here. Part 2 here. Part 3 here.
Location: The Solaris in orbit of body 3e in system IC 4604 Sector HR-W d1-68
Date: 10 June 3308
The Tethys officers lowered their weapons pointed at Adair. I had already holster the Tormentor after recognizing her voice...It was a brave if not maybe idiotic desicison to return here. She's wanted by them and the Feds but...I guess I too would return to Hecate's Rest if it needed help like this. The Sergeant began to escort her over to the small command center but I walked up and she took notice of me...
"Welcome home, Commander Adair" I said with a smile and nod as I extended my hand, " It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person. I am Commander Fallharbor of Hecate's Rest, here assisting with rescue and evacuations." I couldn't tell how she reacted through the black visor but I know she studied me fore moment before taking my hand. I pulled her slightly closer, "You've still friends here and on Hecate's Rest" I assured her. She tensed as I pulled her in but nodded and replied "... u-uh... thanks... ha..." I let go and she took a step back studying me once more before continuing to follow the Sergeant. I attempted to follow along but was there wasn't anywhere to really stand without being obvious about listening in so, I stood buy the armaments and organized them. They didn't need organizing....
Adair spoke to the Sergeant and Commander Sharales who was there. I didn't catch enough to really know what they were talking about before I heard the Templar's doors open yet again. I'm not sure why but I griped my Tormentor and faced the airlock. The person who appeared couldn't be anyone other than Commander Levine, Adair's supposed accomplice in her escape according to the Fed's report. I eased my grip on the Tormentor as I saw her look around and smile when she looked towards Commander Kryik and Adair. I continued to "organize" the armaments as she ran past me to the two. I listened in a bit to their conversation, only being able to catch them updating each other on what they've been through before I realized I was leaning in too close. I looked at my wrist comm and nodded as if I had received new info and walked away from them for now. No one appeared anxious enough to attack them nor did they seem anxious to cause any havoc. One of the CSF officers came up to me and asked if I could get more medical supplies in. I nodded and starting writing a message into my wrist comm to Aurelia and Jenn as I heard voice approaching.
"Uhmm, heyy!" said Commander Levine walking up next to me as I finished and sent the message. "Never seen you around and you don't seem like crew and don't look like them" she continued nodding towards the CSF officer that requested the supplies.
"Hello there, I'm Commander Fallharbor of Hecate's Rest," I replied with a smile. It felt like I've been repeating that line for days now..."You're Commander Levine I presume?" I continued offering a handshake.
She nodded and shook my hand, "That's right. Not super popular around here as of late but guess there's bigger things for people to worry about. Nice to meet you though, Fallharbor. Guess you're sorta new around here? I never seen you before."
“Yeah, you could say that. The Solaris helped us a while back before the whole trip and invited us to join. We…stayed close but this is the first time since Tamar that I’ve boarded.” I looked around and frowned remembering how nice everything looked back then. "“Unfortunate that it’s under these circumstances.”
"Hey. Sorry if I'm... interrupting again... ha~..." Adair said joining the conversation beside Levine. She looked to her and then to me with a warm smile. ""I... uh... I see you met Commander Fallharbor. It's nice to meet you too, by the way. And I wanted to... thank you for all of your help with the Solaris..."
"It's my pleasure to help. I wish Tethys and CSF would allow me to do more but I understand the need to keep some things under their control. I've...heard about your situation but according to what I was privy to in TCON's concourse, there's more than what the Feds have reported. Please let me know if I can be of any help."
Adair's smile faded at my mention of their 'situation'. I probably shouldn't had brought it up...She looked around before settling back on me and sighed. "You guys are... are already doing more than we could ever ask for. I guess I... I can't really speak for the squadron anymore but... we're in your debt. Really. You helping Tethys is... it's making a difference."
I smiled at them in attempt to ease the mood. "If it were us we'd appreciate the help as well. I'll continue to help Tethys any way I can if it helps the Solaris and Titan. Again, don't hesitate for any assistance from me and Hecate's Rest." They responded in kind and we spoke of their infiltration of the Fed's most secure star port before separating. The Sergeant has given them permission to help in the rescue dives it seemed at least...anonymously. Most of the remaining Solaris forces might not be happy to hear of their return but they both wanted to do what they could to help. I continued to do what I could in bay 13 for the those that returned...
Location: The Solaris in orbit of body 3e in system IC 4604 Sector HR-W d1-68
Date: 16 June 3308
We'd lost multiple rescue teams in the last five days and it wasn't more than three days ago Adair had rushed through the bay door to find source of the disappearances herself closing and jamming it in the process. The reports that were coming in were that we were being attacked and that it was Solaris' own crew doing the attacking. Something appeared to be driving mad to point of murder and the remaining teams were rushing to find any survivors who hadn't turned. Levine, Novus, the Sergeant, a few CSF and Tethy's forces and I were stuck behind this door. Commander Novus donned his machine, the Kaiju, and began attempting to force open the door. The machine whined as it's gears turned beyond its strength to lift the locked bulkhead. Meanwhile, Commander Levine cursed and huffed at Adair's recklessness but more so at leaving her behind. I got on my wrist comm to report to Hecate's Rest.
Fallharbor: Aurelia, Jenn, CSF forces and Solaris crew...a bunch of them just starting firing on us. We've gotten reports of attacks on rescue teams as well. We have no idea how to tell between friend or foe now.
Jenn: Roger, Vidal. We'll send reinforcements. You get the hells back here now!
Fallharbor: Negative, I'm staying here and helping as much as I can. Aurelia, jump the carrier away. I don't want any of our people affected by whatever this is.
Aurelia: We're not going to leave you behind, Vidal.
Fallharbor: That's an order! I disabled any incoming notifications from the carrier after that. They would need to realize I was being serious. I walked over to the armaments and loaded up on Tormentor ammo before returning to the group. There Levine had just exclaimed she was going after Adair alone. The Sergeant sighed and nodded knowing there was no use in stopping her at this point. Instead she gave her a transponder with any remaining teams' location and ammo. I told Keep to take control of the Arbmos and join the revolving ships in ferrying the remaining survivors out to the Mortal Dictata, TCONs rescue carrier that had arrived a couple of days ago. Novus' Kaiju eventually opened the bulkhead enough for Levine to slid under while the rest of us began to gather anything that could be used as a barricade. A while later, the bulkhead opened enough for us to position ourselves in the hallway with barricades. All we could hear were distant gunfire and screams. I took a position on the bay side of the bulkhead and steeled myself. I've been in combat on my ship and on the ground. That was always against people who I knew were the enemy. This was different. I didn't know who the enemy was...that the real one at least. All I knew is they were using the Solaris' people as soldiers, as fodder on some murderous path. I had new friends stuck in the depths of this carrier and it took all my strength to not run in after them but the Sergeant had said we needed to defend this bay. It was the only escape. Moments that felt like eternity passed as we received reports of teams falling one by one. It wasn't long before we heard the screams coming from the corridor. CSF and Tethys soldiers opened fire and the hallway lit up with shields flashing. I lined up the Tormentor pistol against a barricade and opened fire on anything coming towards us. Novus' Kaiju released a salvo of bullets from it's machine gun in side the hallway. It wasn't enough. Our forces in the hallway were being overwhelmed. I'd run out and hid behind the barricade looking for any weapons. I looked to my side and saw a CSF soldier go down. The enemy was shooting back. They weren't just mad they were smart! I grabbed the downed soldiers gun and peek over the barricade to continue firing. It was then I saw the Kaiju strike at the barrage of enemies with a massive claymore before getting stuck to the hull. Novus was being overwhelmed.
“Novus! Get out of that suit and retreat!” I shouted as loud as I could. "“We need to hold off until we can get everyone here off the carrier!! Hold them off!!" I exclaimed to the soldiers around me while I gave Novus cover fire. Novus runs over and takes cover before continuing to fire. The enemy shot, ran, and climbed over the Kaiju and barricades. It wasn't long before the Kaiju started glowing red hot and Novus yelled for everyone to get down. We took cover before the barricade and massive explosion flashed over us and blew my ears. It took a few moments to get my sight back and I saw Novus shake his head to get his own bearings. I did the same before we looked over the barricade at the destruction. A few more enemy forces remained, attempting to break through the ruins but the Tethys forces used their remaining rockets to take them out. As the debris settled, the rest of us looked towards the corridor with guns ready to fire. The battle was over for now but our forces remained in the carrier. Within minutes, new bodies began to appear from the wreckage but these were injured and not shooting at us. Everyone in the bay looked to each other with hesitation and their fingers on their triggers waiting for the Sergeant's orders. The remaining light of the bay revealed them to be our some of remaining forces. More trickled in as medics began to help them. Captains of the teams reported to the Sergeant. Ships continued to shuttle out the few remaining survivors. After a while a group walked into the bay trailed by a someone carrying a body in their arms. It was Adair and the body...Levine. I called out for medics to get to them and started to run over before I was stopped by a technician.
"Hey, Commander! You got a minute?" the Tech asked.
"I-uh…" I looked over to Adair, the medics taking Levine's body from her and trying to help her. I decided it might be best to hold off talking to her for now and faced the tech, “…what’s up?”
"Need some help moving the Kaiju's wreckage and... getting it unfused from the floor."
“Are we just moving pieces to make space for anyone else? Is anyone else still in there?!” I asked, following the tech towards the wreckage.
"Well... it's more of a recovery thing. Whatever combat teams came back now... that's it. The unfortunate reality, as put by our Sergeant, is... once the Solaris is evacuated - we're done here. The remaining survivors get out of here, we grab whatever gear we can recover and scramble the rest." The technician paused a few meters before the Kaiju and glanced back at me with a shrug. "... In almost every way, we lost. Honestly, can't help but think the dead got the better end of the stick. We're left to pick up the pieces... and this drifting tomb has plenty...Anyway, I'm sure Commander Novus would like his shit back... well, whatever's left of it. If anything's left of it."
The technician looked over the Kaiju again and sighed. "Mind picking up any intact weapons nearby, Commander? Any ammo... rifles, stuff like that. I'm gonna try cut this thing out of the floor." I nodded and began looking around while the technician began to cut with an arc cutter. After a few minutes, I had a small pile of salvageable weapons and took them over to the cache in the bay. I caught a glimpse of Adair sitting in a corner as the medics worked on Levine. They looked a mess but...I wouldn't even know what to say to her. I grabbed another arc cutter and returned to the technician. They nodded to the the other leg, "Well, get to work. Remember to not run the tool too long. The increased beam tends to overheat quite quickly. And, y'know. Be careful." With a nod I began to cut and it wasn't long before I was lost in thought in the sparks of the cutter hitting the metal. Everything that had just happened brought me back to the day I was lost from Hecate's Rest. The deaths and destruction I witnessed before my parents jettisoned my escape pod. I imagined the death toll of the mutiny Amara engaged in to take over Hecate's Rest and the murder of my parents in the process. I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and heard the technician over the whine of the overheating cutter.
"S-sorry about that," I said shutting down the cutter. I felt a glare through the technicians opaque visor before they grabbed the cutter from my hands and placed it on the floor.
"Yeah. Well... it's probably too heavy to lift, so let's give it a little push away from us."
With the help of a nearby soldier we began to push the Kaiju away from us. It took some force but eventually we were able to topple over the machine. With clapped our hands clean and took a breathe before the hallway began to groan.
"Look out!" the technician yelled. I saw the hallway collapsing and there was no way both of us would get out in time. I tried to push them away from the collapsing panels but the last thing I saw was them fall a little backwards and everything went dark...