A heavy smell of stale sweat and cigar smoke filled the nostrils of an aged man with dark brown skin, taking deep pleasing breaths of anticipation as he paced from one end of the bridge to the other. The glows of the single tier of control units in front of him outlined the skeletal figures of his thin crew. "Brothers. How long until they enter warp travel?" asked the man with a hoarse deep voice. One of the six skeletal figures answered without turning her head from the screen. "Captain, they should be entering warp within ten minutes, if our source is reliable and correct, we shall be able to snatch one of their ships." said the skinny woman. Captain Zhou replied with a simple menacing grin.
After minutes of silence and bracing the coming storm, Zhou's eyes widened with excitement as the timer reduced itself closer to zero. Zhou licked his lips, eager, but knowing if he fired too soon, he would miss the opportunity to steal such a priceless treasure. The fleet of degenerates lay still as a pack of wolves, poised to strike the hunted prey. The zero came, his smile increased, as his prize came ever closer.
"Fire."
"Yes, Pilgrim."
The lone ship sat in the void of space, it's hull shining in the rays of the sun. The smooth hull in pristine condition except for the dark scarring of the fore starboard area of the lower hull, from where a seemingly rogue asteroid had collided with the ship during a warp jump. The surrounding void was deathly calm, the klaxon blurting throughout the ship, unheard in the cold vast heart of space.
"Engineers! Get the breach sealed! Get the comms back up! Casualty report!" roared the captain of the Pride of Lions. His voice breaking from the stress of the sudden break from warp travel. The chaotic bridge which constantly had the calm sense had been completely broken, a dead helmsman lay in the corner of the bridge, under a cream sheet, speckles of red beginning to appear over where the helmsman's head was hidden. A medic began shouting over the radio to the captain, his voice trembling through static.
"Sir, we have seventy two crew confirmed dead, over two hundred injured! We need more medical staff, sir!"
after a moment Captain Commander Jeremy Simm asked a question that seemed unimportant to the rest of the crew.
"Where is Johansen? Where's Chief?"
two of the passing bridge officers stopped and gave Simms a stone look, before one turned and vomited, their stomach finally giving in to the stress of the impacted exit from the warp.
"Chief Doctor Johansen is dead, sir." came the shaking voice of the medic.
The two bridge officers shook their heads in distaste as the captain gave his next command.
"Son, you are now my chief medic."
his order was met with only a long shudder as the metal of the ship complained loudly with a creak as an invisible wave harshly embraced the stranded ship within its arms.
A wave created by a large group of ships simultaneously exiting warp travel, knocking most of The Pride Of Lion's crew from their stations as the Pride of Lions tried to right itself from the shock wave that tried to upend the vessel.
"Captain! We have seven unknown large contacts and seventeen small unknown contacts bearing one-three-seven and closing, sir!" screamed a watch officer monitoring the local void as he climbed back into his chair, recovering from the wave. Before Captain Simm could speak his orders, a barrage of E.M.P. missiles had been launched on an attack course for The Pride Of Lions.
Within seconds, The Pride of Lion's power had been disabled.
"Get life support and weapons back online! Return fire, red alert, shields up when we have them, get everything back online!" bellowed the ever more panicking Captain Simms. "Life Support and Weapons are online sir! That's all we could get!" returned a tactical officer after a handful of minutes passed.
The seventeen smaller unknown contacts moved fast, specks of blood red dust cutting through the void with superior speed to The Pride Of Lions guns, the rapid firing Hellsing Cannon's could not keep up with the smaller craft. The larger seven ships, six blood red, one a navy blue, slowly crawling towards the battle. Simm took note of the slower ships and the odd coloured one. "All weapons channel attack to the larger ships! I want the blue one destroyed!"
Zhou sat in his large red leather throne on the bridge of his Magnificent ship, licking his lips with anticipation, savouring the coming taste of victory. The ship in his scope had taken minimal structural damage, but massive crew losses as he had planned. Small scorch marks stained the hull of The Pride Of Lions where the E.M.P. missiles had hit. Zhou's mind began to wonder, 'what colour shall I have my newest flag ship?' he thought to himself. An unexpected quake erupted in his throne, shaking him back into the moment. "Captain. The enemy ship has gained power to its weapons. What shall we do? We cannot destroy her!" Zhou jumped to his feet, a new and sudden anger bulging through his narrow eyes. "send a Fire Ball at their bridge. I'm sure I will be able to afford a refit." snapping his fingers together, he ordered his weapons team to fire a single Fire Ball aimed at the bridge of The Pride of Lions.