Apogee

Epsilon Carinae, 193.7 LY from Earth. 23 Mar 2157.

"Commander Jacobs, tell the Comet Chaser that she's free to disembark, and to thank her and her crew for their willingness to brave the restricted zone to resupply us."

Captain David West sat comfortably in the command chair in the C&C Center aboard the UNDS Soaring Glory, a Tera Summers class heavy frigate assigned to patrol the space around this distant pair of closely-orbiting stars; only a few planets far outside the 'Goldilocks zone' existed here, there was little of military value.

Which is why Hro'Dhotz, the Separatist Rikti Lord of War had picked this location to place one of his moon-sized portals.

There had been little activity at this site since it had been discovered; nonetheless, United Nation Defense Command felt it prudent to at least send out a fast ship to investigate, in case the maniacal Lord of War attempted to send another fleet into this dimension.

It had been two years since the huge portals had started to appear; only the luckiest of breaks had allowed the UND Fleet to discover and repel the first of many intrusions before the fanatical forces of Hro'Dhotz and his followers could sweep through Kanzaki Point, the main docking and repair station for UND forces. Since then, it had been one long series of bloody, violent skirmishes; most times, the UND forces barely managed to push back the invaders by the skin of their teeth.

Captain West watched as the view screen on his seat rest showed the Comet Chaser, a small civilian freighter, pulled out of the dock and turned to head back towards Epsilon Prime, the nearest transwarp hub to this far-flung star. She had been carrying much-needed medical and engineering supplies, items that could not be replicated out here with the ship's limited resources. The pair of maneuvering thrusters, positioned on the aft end of the stubby-looking craft, pivoted to pull the ship away as the main thrusters glowed a luminescent blue. It wasn't an elegantly-shaped ship; it looked more like a metal tube with two fixed and two pivoting electric razors stuck opposite of the stubby end.

As he watched, a female voice came over the ship-to-ship comm, likely the freighter's captain. "Happy to help, Shining Glory. I'll get back with more stuff as I can, Comet Ch-"

The transmission was suddenly interrupted by a horrid squealing; every screen in the C&C flickered as massive amounts of electromagnetic interference buffeted the mile-long warship.

"E-War! Status, what just hit us?" Captain West barked, as crimson pulses of light sounded the General Quarters alarms; men and women scrambled to their combat stations all over the sleek, silver craft, weapon turrets and missile tubes coming online in rapid succession.

"Sensors indicate the EMP came from the portal, sir! Looks like it's firing up!"

Barely missing a beat, Captain West quickly turned to his Comms Officer. "Tell UND Command we have hostile activity, will need reinforcements as soon as possible. We'll retreat and try to hold out as long as possible, but if it's a fleet coming through, we won't last long." As the message was relayed, he turned back to his E-War Officer. "Get me status on Comet Chaser, was she hit, or did she jump out of the sector?"

Lieutenant Jessica Vernon paled a little as she stared intently over her screen, her dexterous fingers rapidly punching in key sequences to alter her sensor arrays. "I can't determine for certain, Captain. That EMP seriously degraded our long-range array, and there's enough clutter from the asteroid belt we're near to make detection difficult."

"Very well, Miss Vernon, turn your attention to the portal and... by the Furies!" West's jaw tightened as he watched the main display; the massive portal floating so serenely before was now rippling, as huge amounts of energy were generated to create a tear in the very fabric of the universe. As the portal expanded into the by-now familiar azure globe of energy, ships begin to emerge from within. Rikti battleships, by the dozens.

"Weapons! Prepare to fire! Scramble the fighters, and prepare for combat!"

Alarm klaxons rang with their dire warning throughout the ship, as the dagger-shaped vessel came about to point as many of its weapons as possible at the growing number of ships slipping through the hole between the universes. Beams of blazing red projected from the many cannons, blasting into and through the energy shielding of the smaller alien warships and setting them ablaze in billowing clouds of rapidly-escaping oxygen. SSM-13 Bayani II missiles screamed from their tubes to detonate with explosive fury, ripping apart ships twice the size of the Soaring Glory...

But more ships continued to pour through.

From the undersize decks, dozens of dozens of small shapes flew out from the Glory; Flea-class light, Ichimonji-class medium and Sanchez-class heavy fighters swept out to tangle with the many ships still pouring through the rift, beams of purple and crimson light creating a kaleidoscope of brilliant color. Even so... the single ship was rapidly starting to take a beating, as more and more energy beams begin to blast against its shields.

"Sir, we won't last much longer, we need to retreat now!" cried the Weapons officer, even as another hit caused the massive ship to rock from the impact. Acrid smoke began to slowly fill the room as power couplings failed.

West gritted his teeth and punched his armrest; he didn't want to fail, he wanted to get the fleet time to prepare! He turned to his Navigator, preparing to give the order...

When a brilliant flare lit the main view screen.

The screen quickly compensated for the intensity of the light, and the revelation was startling; one of the main battleships that had just fully appeared out of the portal was now a giant ball of roiling plasma, taking out several dozen nearby ships in the process. As the Captain stared in shock, a familiar voice crackled through the ship-to-ship comm.

"Shining Glory, this is Captain Jessica Steiner, on the Comet Chaser. I'm here to assist."

At that moment, the ship in question flew into the picture... only it wasn't the stubby-looking metal tube that had brought them supplies; in its place was a robotic combat machine, a deep blue in color and bristling with weapons and armor. On its right shoulder, a stylized image of a downward-falling comet in sky blue and bright yellow decorated the armor, and wings that seemed to be made of brilliant azure energy and ice spread out from its back. Giant cannons were mounted on top of its forearms, and its sturdy legs bristled with missile tubes.

"Let's say we tell Hro'Dhotz that he's not welcome here, shall we?"