Morrigan stormed onto the bridge, “What’s the situation?” she demanded.

  Admiral Shepard looked up from her monitor and turned to her as the entire bridge crew focused on their jobs coordinating with their respective departments or processing incoming information, “It seems we have a Federation Destroyer harrying a convoy of sorts.”

  The Archangel came out for FTL transition within range to see clearly a Federation ship firing upon three smaller ships however, they were still too far to make out any detail until Shepard pulled up an enhanced view of their target on the main display.

  Morrigan studied the image as she watched the Destroyer’s prow batteries fire and the shields on two of the smaller ships flare brightly as they uselessly returned fire with single defensive turrets. The fight was unsurprisingly one sided though Morrigan could admit the shields were impressive to withstand military grade artillery. She scrutinized the smaller ships, their orange-yellow hulls drawing her attention as she realized they bore no true identifying markings aside from the serialization of the ships.

  Before she could raise a question of the convoy’s origin, Sister announced, “We have an incoming transmission. Shall I allow it through?”

  “Let it through,” Morrigan stated, waiting for another video feed to appear on the display of a young man aboard one of the ships, electricity sparking from panels and controls surrounding him as two other people in the background tried to keep the ship in working order.

  “This Captain Pearce of the Halwatha Transport company, are you friendlies? We desperately need your help,” the look on the man’s face was pure desperation.

  Morrigan nodded to Shepard, who sent a return feed to the man, “This is Lord Inquisitor Clarke of the Inquisition’s Archangel. What is your affiliation, captain?”

  The man held a bewildered look on his face, either by the surprisingly young woman now appearing on his own communications feed, or by the question she asked however, once the brief moment of thought, he replied, “None, Ma’am. We’re a freelance company,” the ship in the image rocked violently before someone called our the critical state their shield generators were in before he turned back to Morrigan, “Please, we’re going to die if you don’t help us!”

  Civilians. Morrigan understood what the man meant, that they were just civilians being attacked by the Federation though the reason behind their assault remained a mystery, not that she needed any reason to attack the Federation.

  “We’ll help but do not leave the sector. I want to know why they’re after you,” she demanded with a bite to her tone, her anger over the Federation flaring deep inside.

  “Sure-whatever you want, just help us!” He pleaded before she cut the connection, turning her full attention to the Destroyer tailing the convoy.

  She considered her next move before opening a ship-wide comm, “Attention all crewmembers, our target is a Federation Destroyer, prepare for combat. All active combat personnel report to the hangers for onboard assault, all reserve troops prepare for anti-boarding. Havoc squad and retinue, report to the bridge and everyone prepare for hop-skip,” she announced before looking at Avery, who stared with determination towards the military ship.

  “Avery, get them on our port side, Luisa, prepare your battery, as soon as they’re in range, all of your lance batteries are to fire at will and bring down their shields,” Morrigan ordered.

  With confirmation from her crew, Avery steered the ship into position while Sarilla and Avery coordinated with Gene to warp them into position. Within a minute, the gentle lurch of the ship followed by a change in view, as latent electricity crackled across the exterior of the Archangel, and the dull hum of the ship’s energy cannons reverberated through the floor as they took fire-at-will to heart.

  Morrigan watched the Destroyer’s shield flare as bright red streaks of energy attempted to pierce their defenses. Morrigan knew energy weapons excelled at piercing armor and draining energy shields though provided very little damage to solid matter as a whole however, watching the fire rate of the lance batteries, it would take more time than she would have liked to break through the shield.

  “Luisa! Order all cannons to fire at will; bring that shield down!” she ordered.

  Luisa responded with a call to her gunnery crews. Morrigan watched as the rest of the dorsal cannons turned towards the enemy Destroyer and open fire, brief plumes of fire erupting from the mouths of the twin barreled cannons before the vacuum of space consumed what little life of existence the cannon shots provided.

  The assault from the Archangel was staggered to be relentless, the gun crews timing their shots to keep a constant barrage on the enemy ship, keeping the transparent ovular shield surrounding the ship ever-present as it flashed repeatedly.

  “Almost there…” she muttered to herself in her mind as she spent several minutes watching the shield flash, all the while the Destroyer fruitlessly ignored their quarry in an attempt to defend itself, it’s four broadside cannons and singular top cannon harmlessly attacking the Archangel.

  The Federation Destroyer began to sink below the horizon of her view, diving downward in an attempt to dodge their assault the moment she was sure the enemy shield generator would overheat. She let out an exclamatory growl as she stepped forward, watching the ship descend as the last of the Archangel’s barrage connected with the shield; a small section towards the back of the ship erupting as the shield gave out and the remaining spent munitions passing above the enemy.

  She turned sharply to Avery as the Destroyer began to move underneath the Archangel, “Follow them! Do not let them escape!” She watched as Avery obeyed and the view slowly turned as Sister gave both Avery and Sarilla projected flight patterns of the enemy ship to help with the maneuver.

  She listened to Sarilla offer suggestive directions as the Archangel slowly swung towards where the enemy was headed as the ship came into view over the starboard side. “This is taking forever! I never realized how slow ship to ship combat was… if only we didn’t need it intact,” she said to herself as she tapped her foot unceasingly out of frustration.

  I know, right? All it would take is a touch of power and determination and you could rip that ship apart, all of those lives snuffed out. All this back and forth is agonizingly boring!

  Morrigan growled in agreement before turning her attention to the battery commanders, “Gunnar, Luisa, as soon as their engines can be targeted, fire at will,” she said with an aggressive hunger.

  “I know! But I can’t, we need these supplies…” she responded to Apollyon as she considered at least ripping the engines apart herself.

  She touched her comm bead after a moment to think as she watched the Destroyer gain distance being such a smaller and lighter vessel. At top speed, the Archangel’s primary engines only pushed them along about 65 miles per hour due to its size, where as the Destroyer easily surpassed that.

  “Ebony, come in,” she said over the ship’s communication network.

  “Oh! Um, yes, Lord Inquisitor? We’re currently heading towards the bridge now,” she replied meekly.

  “Prepare Havoc squad to join the assault teams, once we take out the engines, I want you to gain control of their systems while our troops deal with the onboard personnel. Even taking out their engines won't stop them from entering FTL if we’re not fast enough,” Morrigan stated as she watched the dorsal battery open fire on the Destroyer, moments before twin bright lances of energy pierced the one of the three enemy engines. Though rarely used, nearly a mile underneath the bridge, sat two fixed and excessively large energy cannons that rivaled the Javelin without the crippling power drain.

  ◇◇◇

  Taylor felt the ship shudder slightly as the cannons fired, rushing across the second deck hanger to find Havoc squad entering a combat lander that prepared to take off. As he jumped in he could hear the comment Henry made, “Man, I think this is the first time we’ve not been shot at a ship before, does anyone know how to handle this or am I the only one at a loss?”

  “I find it weird too,” Aleksei’s deep tone resonated as Taylor shut the lander hatch behind him.

  The sound of pounding on the cockpit door caught everyone’s attention as they turned to see a man, a lieutenant by the markings on his chest plate and shoulder guard, give them an annoyed look as the engines whined lifting the ship off the deck.

  “You need to change your armor,” the man stated as he rolled his eyes before reaching into an overhead compartment. Havoc squad cast confused looks at each other until Ebony noticed the color scheme of the company teams aboard, all having armor stained in dark red with hunter green and black accents with antique shades of silver trim.

  In comparison to Havoc squad’s hodgepodge colored armor, except for Aleksei who wore a traditional Mars red heavy plate armor, the team stuck out like sore thumbs and would blend into their new enemy more so than with the Archangel’s troops.

  “Damn it, I knew we were forgetting something,” Ebony commented as she watched the man pull out three canisters of red spray paint, shaking the marble inside one of the cans before handing it to her.

  “He should be fine, but if you come across any of ours you may get mistaken for the enemy. Last thing we want is to piss of the Inquisitor because we shot some of her new playthings.”

  The entire team was both confused and insulted by the comment, “We’re not playthings! I mean, I guess if you count being a player but I do the playing, I don…”

  “Stow it, Henry,” Ebony ordered, abruptly cutting the man off as the sound of restrained laughter spread throughout the ship.

  Jackson shook his head with a smirk, “Always falling for it.” Jackson let Ebony begin spraying his armor in a thin coat of red, while Taylor worked on spraying what little armor Stephanie wore.

  “Do you think she would mind if I collect more blades? I only have four left,” Stephanie signed to Taylor.

  Taylor looked up to watch her indicate the chainblade in her hand to which he nodded, “I don’t see why not. Though I do believe someone mentioned the R&D department can make you replacements, right Aleksei?”

  There was a loud shout from Henry as Aleksei looked up, losing focus and spraying up the back of Henry’s head causing several of the Inquisition soldiers to burst into laughter, “Oh yeah! Danson can make nearly anything,” his tone heavy with respect for another person who had a mind for creating.

  There was an electric roar from outside the ship that caused Havoc squad to jump as the lieutenant turned to address the teams aboard the lander, “That’s our signal, ladies. The enemy engines have been disabled so pucker your assholes and get ready to take the fight to the Federation!”

  As Havoc squad changed partners to alter their armor as the soldiers all cheered for the upcoming fight, the ship lurched forward nearly pulling them off their feet as the lieutenant turned to them, “I take it you have special orders?”

  Ebony righted herself and braced as she let Jackson begin spraying her down before responding. “Yes, Inquisitor Clarke wants us to take care of the ship’s systems and keep them from entering FTL,” she stated.

  The commanding officer nodded before mulling something over in his head. “Far be it my right to give you orders since you take your orders from the boss lady however, nearly everyone aboard the Archangel knows you’re ex-Fed, but we also know you’re one of us now. So, if you can manage to take care of the automated defenses as well as your primary objective I’m sure you’ll earn some points with the combat crews at least.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Ebony pursed her lips in thought, appearing to be considering the man’s idea though she was actually recalling the defense system backdoors and sub-routines for the Federation; Something she often toyed with behind Rosaline’s back.

  After a week of successfully struggling to compose herself, she began teaching several teams worth of hackers by Morrigan’s orders and Ebony could see why. To her surprise, the Inquisition had very few skilled hackers on the ship. At the same time, with an A.I. like Sister, Ebony wondered why they would ever need hackers or half of the data processing crews they had however, she had been too scared to question it and followed her orders with distinct determination.

  She was sure some of those hackers she taught would be involved in the upcoming assault but she could see the man’s point about closing and blending the divide between them and the vast majority of the ship they had yet to meet. Besides, she knew she would be the fastest person to shut down the turret defenses throughout the enemy ship having a vast knowledge of Federation systems on top of CoU systems.

  “Yeah, we can do that,” she stated as she tightened her grip on one of the overhead cabinets, the ship turning sharply and shifting the equilibrium of the pressurized ship.

  Despite not having any room to sit and strap in like the rest of the Inquisition troops, Havoc squad was used to being torpedoed at enemy ships, so a little shift in gravitational direction meant little to them in the grand scheme of it.

  “And… Thanks, for the recommendation,” Ebony said tentatively.

  The man locked eyes with her and nodded, “We’ve all been the oddball out at one point or another. I don’t know what you know about the Inquisition, but we’re rag tag to the core when it comes to past lives.”

  Without warning, the ship rocked as something began pelting the armor of the lander they stood in and the sound of external return-fire sounded from a distance. Having never been aboard a proper boarding party, Havoc squad looked around at the calm demeanor of the 30 soldiers seated in the long cumbersome ship in curiosity.

  “Don’t worry about it, our fighters are dealing with the problem. Be ready though, we’ll be landing in a minute or so unless they have any nasty surprises prepared for us,” the lieutenant pointed out.

  Havoc squad knew that Destroyer class ships did not have interior anti-ship turrets like the larger ships did, a design most large ships of any party had, nor did they have a numerous wing of fighters either being able to only hold about 14 fighters collectively between two hangers. However, they did have to worry about the external cannons but with the engines and shield down, everyone in Havoc squad was sure that all power was being diverted to the FTL drive as they approached.

  A moment passed as the ship became quiet before the lieutenant listened to an incoming message before addressing the crew, “Prepare for deployment!”

  “Does anyone have anti-armor?” Aleksei asked over the lieutenant who gave him a curious look.

  “What for, big man?” he asked.

  Aleksei pumped his grenade launcher as he watched the entire hold of soldiers stand from their seats and begin preparing their arsenal. “Because, turrets are half inch thick, normally several in small hangers near the back, front and corners,” Aleksei mused as he stepped towards the door they entered the ship from.

  “That’s good intel. Alright! Delta three through six, grab AP rounds and start passing them out!” the lieutenant ordered with heightened enthusiasm.

  Ebony turned to her crew, “Alright, we know the drill,” she said, stating the obvious before turning towards the lieutenant one last time, “Federation ships are relatively standardized, ask the pilot to land towards the stern side of the hanger. That’s where the closest access point will likely be. As soon as we land, I’ll take care of the turrets throughout the ship.”

  “Roger that!” the man said with a grin, emanating a sense of comradery towards Havoc squad before relaying the request to the pilot.

  Before they knew it, the ping of bullets and hiss of laser fire resonated against the hull of the lander as it touched down within the Destroyer’s hanger with three other landers.

  Aleksei kicked the lander’s deployment hatch open with gusto before thrusting his combat shield out of the ship, blocking all incoming fire before stepping out into the fray and letting out a baleful laugh, everyone within the armored hull hearing the dull thump of his grenade launcher before the sound of a small explosion in the distance.

  “Damn, if we had 100 of him we could take out a damned Battleship…” Ebony heard from one of the soldiers causing her to crack a smirk. It was a proper reminder that she had developed a well rounded and highly successful boarding team and despite the challenges they have come across, being forced into perilous servitude by both the Federation and the Inquisition, they had the experience and insanity to overcome the deadliest of obstacles.

  “Aleksei, cover me!” Ebony called out before stepping behind the giant of a man and grabbed ahold of his munitions belt, dragging him along with her as a human shield towards the dock control unit that would serve as her access point.

  Once the duo cleared space the rest of the troops piled out of the lander and spread out behind crates and heavy loading equipment as they returned fire with the steady growing number of marines flooding into the hanger, the squads that were ordered to follow Aleksei’s advice picking off turrets with armor piercing bullets and breaching grenades fired from under-mount launchers.

  The Federation marines slowed their advance in favor of cover as they witnessed the strategic removal of their automated defenses as they picked their moments to fire from cover or throw grenades as well as dodge thrown explosives from their opposition.

  Taylor’s automatic weapon spat an endless stream of rounds to keep the enemy’s head down as he watched Ebony make it to the console and rip the service panel door off before pulling out her new data-slate and begin plugging into the machine. The high pitch screech of grinding metal caught his attention as he turned to see Stephanie locking chainblades with the only other marine crazy enough to favor a close combat weapon, much less the same as the one she used.

  Stephanie held the whirring blade of her weapon firmly against her opponent’s, sparks and miniscule chips of metal flying between them as both refused to relent. Stephanie however, noticed the man was scrawnier than she was, having honed her body for the full intent of adapting to mobility and the finesse to wield to use such a deadly weapon. In fact she noticed the sallow and sunken features of the man fighting against her, his strength and endurance matching hers with autonomous determination despite the pallid appearance.

  Stimrager. Stephanie knew the type of people who lived and died by the hyper-degrading drugs that some soldiers and pirates alike consumed, much like the Berserker that belonged to Morrigan however, lacking any of the augmentation to withstand prolonged exposure and repeated use of the deadly substances. Stephanie witnessed her fair share of Stimragers in her life, mainly from her life within the pirate clans since the Federation technically banned the use of combat stims, but that never stopped those determined to use despite the rules.

  In her youth, she had once watched someone’s intestines melt out of their body and uncoil through the gaping hole that slowly spread in the lower torso yet, that person continued fighting as if they never noticed their fatal condition, the combat stims blocking all pain and driving the body to move and fight in a self-induced trance which led to a quick execution before anyone could get hurt.

  Now, she was forced to shove the clearly induced enemy back and move away as she prepared herself for a difficult fight. The man stumbled back into an ally that scrambled for cover, his blood glazed eyes shifting to the side before he spun on his heels and dragged the motorized weapon across the unsuspecting marine in a violent spray of blood, the marine dropping to the floor.

  To Stephanie’s surprise, the man turned back to her to reveal a reddening complexion and bulging veins spreading across his face and neck as he breathed heavily, telling her that the man had just recently partook in the stimulant.

  As the chaos around them ensued, bullets and streaks of energy pelting the newfound arena for the two gladiators, Stephanie prepared herself in a self-designed stance developed to riposte with her opponent; her mechanized weapon held up above her head as she leaned low and balanced with her free arm. Her enemy, with a rage-induced battle cry charged at her with reckless abandon with his weapon shrieking before a whip crack resonated around her.

  The man fell to the ground before her, stopping short only a mere few feet with half of his skull missing, for her to turn and find the smoking barrel of Henry’s rifle pointed in her direction, Henry giving her a cheesy grin and a friendly thumbs up before Jackson yanked the blonde man below cover as a streak of energy singed a hole right near where his head once was.

  Meanwhile, Ebony frantically invaded the ship’s systems searching for the network access she had been looking for. All the while Aleksei covered her with his shield and pelted the ranks of former allies with explosives.

  “Damn it!” Ebony growled as her search led to a dead end for the FTL drive system, instantly switching gears and delving into the system for the automated defenses in hope for better luck.

  “Come on, boss. You can do it,” Aleksei stated calmly before bursting into laughter as one of his propelled grenades landed in a cluster of marines hiding behind cover, shredding those around the impact and before a small chain reaction ignited a cargo loading walker near them.

  If Ebony had not been so focused, she would have found the words of encouragement odd since no one on her team had ever felt the need to speak to her like that, often spending their time cracking jokes or loose commentary about their situation instead.

  Within a minute and a half, her fingers danced their way into the heart of the ship’s defense network that surprisingly connected to not only the interior turrets, but also controlled the exterior guns and cannons; a very pathetic and useful design flaw for the model of ship they were on.

  With such unhindered access, Ebony not only disabled the ship’s weaponry but also injected several viruses that would destabilize the coding and make it an absolute hell for anyone to attempt to try and reestablish control. The following moment was filled with broken cheers from any of the Inquisition soldiers that took notice of the disabled weaponry as she worked on digging back into the system for any form of information on the FTL drive’s system access or location while simultaneously hindering the ship’s systems.

  “Okay, we got to go up two decks for the closest access point,” Ebony stated as the tide of battle shifted in their favor as a new wave of landers deployed more Inquisition soldiers, the rate of which Aleksei’s shield deflected incoming fire dropping as she disconnected from the dock controls. “Havoc squad, form up!” she called out through their open comms.

  “Alright, the closest access point not connected to this one is two decks up. I’ve rerouted the power flow to useless sub-systems to buy us time- lets go!” Ebony announced as she turned back to see the tide of battle swiftly shift in their favor. The Inquisition abruptly switching to more offensive coordination as Federation marines dropped left and right, falling back deeper into the ship as they lost the hanger.

  The issue with the sudden shift in battle was that Havoc squad would have been required to wade through the carnage and find a spot to swiftly and safely push through enemy lines except they had a mad man for a demolitions expert.

  “Havoc squad, form up!” She called out as she signaled for them to move to the stern wall before tugging on Aleksei’s arm, “We need a hole. Go do your thing.”

  Aleksei grinned and holstered his grenade launcher which sat comically in a holster built into the thigh plate of his armor. Havoc squad moved towards the wall and hid behind cover as a few brave enemy souls remained and took pot shots at the Inquisition as Aleksei merely held his shield high enough to block any incoming fire as his free hand dug out the items he needed.

  By the time the Martian made it to the wall the firefight within the hanger ended and moved into the connecting corridors which allowed him to begin placing lock breachers in a rectangular pattern, using six charges in total before filling the gaps between the charges with an extremely volatile paste he had created that put thermite to shame before pulling out a massive misshapen breaching charge, pausing and asking, “What’s on the other side of this wall?”

  Ebony recalled the vague map she dug into, “Should be Med Bay four.”

  Aleksei snorted and grinned before slapping the large explosive against the wall and pulling two pins from the sides, “Good, then this shouldn’t kill us,” he stated as he pulled an additional pin from the front of the device before stepping back 30 feet and turning around.

  “This will be bright!” he announced before thumbing a detonator that seemed to appear from no where. Taylor instantly recognized the smaller charges he had once used on Earth; small sticky devices that burned so intensely that they metaled the hardest of metals and were blindingly bright. Havoc squad dove away from Aleksei’s set up as the massive breaching charge let out a flash of flame, the silver grey paste igniting and burning brightly as the searing trail moved towards the small lock breachers. Within moments, the entire right side of the hanger was alight with the equivalent brightness of a flashbang.

  As soon as the blinding assault ceased, Aleksei thumbed another detonator and a cacophonous explosion erupted behind them followed by a heavy, echoing thump, each of them turning to see a smoking hole edged with still molten slag. On the other side stood a petrified doctor that stared back through the gaping hole in the wall to see Havoc squad peering back, the pistol in his hand hanging limply at his side before the weapon slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground.

  Stephanie wasted no time as she raised her pistol and fire, punching a small hole into the man’s chest that dropped him to the floor.

  “Was that really necessary?” Henry asked aloud with furrowed brows as he looked to Stephanie, who in response merely shrugged and strutted towards the hole with weapons ready.

  Taylor shook his head as the rest of Havoc squad moved towards the hole in the wall, Jackson pestering Ebony on whether or not they had time to ransack the med bay or not, as he stepped behind Henry. “As much as I don’t like it, the orders are to kill any and all Federation personnel…” his words trailing off as he watched Stephanie disappear to the left of the hole before another gunshot rang out over the distant fire fight down the open corridors connected to the hanger.

  Henry shook his head as well with a shrug, “I get it, and I’m all for following orders but this is like- a war crime or something, right?”

  Taylor nodded as he looked back to see a new set of landers enter the hanger and begin deploying more soldiers, “And of course, Steph is gunho to follow Mori’s orders.”

  Henry stopped and turned, blocking Taylor’s path with a overly curious eyebrow, “Trouble in paradise?”

  Taylor shook his head, “No, we’re good but our new deal; it makes me wonder if we’re really better off. I feel like this is trading one evil for another,” he admitted.

  “Maybe, but then again, its your ex-girlfriend. You really think she’s evil?” Henry asked.

  Before Taylor could respond, Ebony poked her head into the smoldering hole and shouted, “Come on, we don’t have all day!”

  “Sorry boss! Just needed a quick handy from lover boy here!” Henry responded with his usual sarcastic demeanor before both men let the conversation lie and made their way into the med bay as if it never occurred, ignoring the handful of now dead medical personnel before following Ebony’s directions through the interior of the Destroyer.

  Despite his grievances, Taylor hoped the current assault was the last of its kind yet deep down knew he would have to get used to the idea of being a butcher for the Inquisition, as well as for Morrigan, who had orchestrated the massacre of the Federation Destroyer FSS Tempest.