Incident Above Io

"Helmsman, what's the course? We need to be leaving" a stern voice cracked over the droning of engines, the creaking metal reinforcement straining under the nuclear pressures outside, and the static hissing of recycled air blowing in through vents along the walls. One gloved hand wrapped around a sturdybar, a boot tucked in its gripped step, the admiral looked out through the hexagonal viewing port at the front of the bridge, her other arm tucked neatly behind her pressed rust-colored g-suit. Violent flashes of purple and orange popped like silent fireworks further down in Io's gravity well. Three gunships we're taking the brunt of the fire from orbits closer to the moon, their electromagnetic launch thrusters vectoring wildly to dissipate the flood of charged radiation emanating from the munitions.
"What is our course?" the admiral exclaimed again, her unmoving lips twisting imperceptibly in the corners.
"Equipotential charts put us on the other side, nearer Jupiter," the helmsman stated firmly, looking up to see her eyes staring resolutely at the battle, flashes of color across her face, accentuating the deep creases in her skin.
"Activate the Esse drive; get us out of here." was the command.
Looking back down at the console he was belted to, the helmsman flicked two switches, opened the brass plated cover and turned the key in the center.
Suddenly a bright green energy emitted from everywhere, from the space between space, from within even their eyes. There was no sound, no experience, save from the all-encompassing green, and then suddenly nothing. The bridge was just as before, expect now the viewing port look out at the familiar bands of brown and red, a slant circular shadow cut out from the eclipsing moon.
"Systems nominal. Good jump." the helmsman stated.
Beyond the bridge, several kilometers away small bright dots of green expanded suddenly then evaporated in a hazy static. The dull hulls of three gunships torqued slowly in discontrolled arcs, the matte plating cut against the flowing irregular clouds below.
A palpable energy hung in the cramped cabin like an electrostatic build up waiting for a spark to discharge.
Turning his head sideways to look at the admirals upside-down head, the ship captain began, "Admiral Mborie," leaving the address hanging, as if waiting for her to ask his question.
"Captain Maassen," the admiral stated coldly, turning to face him.
"I don't understand how we got ambushed like that" he said softly, questioningly.
"That's not entirely important right now. We need to be on the other side of Jupiter outside their scopes. They're watching the equipotentials too; they'll be here soon. Have your ship jump ASAP."
The captain nodded sharply and turned again to face out the view port.
"Helmsman, get us to the other side of Jupiter." he commanded.
Without moving her body or head, the admiral began, "Radioman, hail the Caepholus. We need to know if they can make the jump. It'll be a violet jump and they may have taken damage."
Her eyes looked out at the fizzling arcs of blue plasma spewing from the thruster housing of the gunship floating adrift.



The familiar azure arcs of toroidal plasma pulsated brilliant in the superconductor controlled arc behind a thick layer of semi-transparent ceramic. A blue-suited engineer floated slowly between pipes and truss beams to get to the reactor controls.
"How's she holding up, Ansari?" the engineer exclaimed.
"Ah. The shielding got baked when they warped in and so it leaked when we overpulsed it for the jump. I'm not sure if--"
"So not good or fine?" interrupted the first, as he came to stop against the wall behind the reactor operator.
"Fine, but--"
"Gotcha. Could we do a purple jump?"
Ansari squinted at the engineer as he smiled broadly at her.
"I need time to do a full diagnostic. If there's a coil burned out or a capacitor damaged, the plasma could break the containment torus and melt the ship." Ansari shot back, holding up her finger as the engineer attempted to interject
"Captain Janus needs an answer" he stated.
"You can tell Captain Janus..." she trailed off scrunching her brow as she looked down, "you can Captain Janus that engineering will have an answer within ten minutes."
"He's not gonna like that, Ansari."
"Well, it's what he gets, Karger."
With a frown, the engineer pushed off and drifted back through the maze of interlocking pipes and wires to the other side of the compartment, landing against the bulkhead to the exchange room. He slipped in and picked up the intracom.
"Commander Ito, engineering is running diagnostics now. The generator took some damage in the skirmish and jump so we need to make sure we won't accidentally scuttle ourselves."
He paused, wincing as the commander explained why that was an unacceptable situation.
"Yes, sir. Understood, sir. I will get you a full report ASAP."
Placing the receiver onto the small Velcro patch on the wall, Karger rolled over the wall and through the bulkhead back into engineering.
By the time he had maneuvered through the central area, Ansari was smiling proudly, the pulsing purple glow flickering off the walls behind her.
"We should be good for a purple jump. Only serious damage is in ancillary systems, so as long as we get to a port soon we can handle it. It'll probably be have to be a kinetic trip to port though," she reported, chin held up.
Karger nodded slowly, then tried to rotating midair, only resulting in a spasm looking movement, before he reached up to a sturdybar along the upper portion of the cabin, and launched himself back to the bulkhead.


"Received," commander Ito stated firmly, then placed the intracom back in its rubber and magnetic housing on the console. He turned to look at Captain Janus sitting in the center console, arms tightly on the arm rests.
"Sir, we are go for violet jump. Engineering reports minimal damage with systems within jump-capable parameters."
Captain Janus nodded with a frown, as Commander Ito turned back to study the read outs streaming over his display.
"Relay that," Captain Janus boomed, eyes fixed forwards at the rapidly spinning world outside.


"Caepholus reports they are cleared for violet jump," the radioman echoed.
Admiral Mborie nodded to herself, while Captain Maassan directed his attention toward the helmsman above him, "Have you gotten our course? Relay that the group," he ordered.


Set against the murky browns and rusty reds swirling languidly below, the four crafts sat still, their dull metal flanks glinted in the incidental rays of sunlight glaring from the sun. Above, Io hung quietly, it's surface a pitch black in the shadow of itself.
Uneasy, the Caepholus began to steady herself. An electromagnetic thruster rotated slowly to counter the rotation as puffs of chemical propellant corrected for the rest of the erroneous drift.
A brilliant violet, four perfect spheres of pure luminal brightness manifested and then faded out, the flash quickly illuminated the moon in a faded purple haze. Elsewhere the crafts appeared.




"They weren't on our scopes, then we get jammed by a massive x-ray burst, and then when our equipment comes back online we're under fire? How does that happen?" Captain Maassen exclaimed, his boots firmly planted on the rugged concrete floor.
Placing her helmet to the side of the table, Admiral Mborie leaned forward and began poking at the wireframe 3d model of the near Io space, rotating and panning to rewatch the radar record of the exchange. Rhythmically large red spheres appear and grow as the infrared signature of nuclear explosions were replayed on the C2 situational awareness table.
"There's no record, scopes go down because of x-ray burst, then they're here." she said to herself, looking down at the table, the intricate array of prisms and lasers that actuated underneath the darker glass surface.
"They may have an X-ray capable Esse drive." she stated in disbelief as she looked up at the firm gaze of the Admiral sitting across from her. Staying seated in his wheelchair, the admiral leaned forward, adjusting the strap of his eye patch, and interlocked his fingers, elbows planted on the table.
"If they did an X-ray jump, they would have melted their crew. Also, the energy required for that--bah--New Galatia for a week." he scoffed.
"Fleet Admiral Sato, it is a strong possibility. They couldn't have arrived kinetically and no other photon signatures were recorded. Perhaps they were drone ships? Those were deployed during the Trojans war," Captain Maassen offered.
Fleet Admiral Sato stayed silent and continued to stare at nothing in particular halfway across the room.
"Whatever it is, we need to hit it back," Captain Janus expressed with a firm jaw, "Once Caepholus is repaired, I'm jumping in with nuclear cannons armed."
"We need more time to plan for that kind of engagement," Captain Esposito interjected stepping forward to the table, "They already have nuclear cannons and our shields are baked. It'll take a while to scrub them and recalibrate the EM-thrusters."
Sitting still, Fleet Admiral Sato relaxed his hands to the table and met Admiral Mborie's gaze.
"What do you suggest, Admiral?” Sato asked almost as if stating something.

She leaned forward pressing her palms into the ornate cherry wood detailing of the display table.

“It would be prudent to assess the damage to our group and hail the Jupiter fleet to return for support. I understand they are out by Calisto to support deployed operations beneath the moon. I suggest we recall them. If something is able to get into Jupiter’s AOR without advanced warning, this poses a threat to the entire Command.”

Admiral Mborie stood back up straight, her eyes twitching softly as the simulation of recorded thermonuclear weapons burst in a hail fire around the moon.

Reclining in his chair, Fleet Admiral Sato nodded slowly. His tongue stuck out briefly and slid across his lip as his eye stared off nowhere in particular.

“That seems like an appropriate course of action,” he stated, continuing after a pause, “Janus, I need you loading the Caepholus and the rest of the group with nuclear torpedoes; There’s no reason why we should have only one plan.”

A hissing screeched from the door as the air lock cracked open and the barrier shot up surrounded by crystalizing vapor. A white suited Lieutenant Commander walked briskly in carrying a clip board and a stern expression.

“Admiral Mborie, Captain Maassen, Captain Janus, Captain Esposito, and Captain Liebling, you’ll need to come with me. There is a medical issue we need to discuss concerning the event early today.”