MERLIN
STARDATE 07.03.21
PRIME SECTOR
“We’ve lost Auxiliary Control! Hull is ninety percent gone, Laboratories are seventy five percent destroyed, there is only One Shuttle left, All Photon Torpedoes are destroyed, we have only one Short Range Cannon left, the Ultra Warp Missile Rack is in ruins, the Probe is gone, there is only one Phaser left, and Warp Drive is half gone!! Three of our Shields are Down!!! Heavy casualties reported on All Decks!!!!”
Captain Elizabeth’s face was full of black stains. She’s not sure where they came from. The Bridge was hit and there were fires. Luckily, they put them all out. Lovecraft is no longer in his seat. He is down below working side by side with the remaining Crewmen to keep the Merlin in one piece. Dr. Sap has returned to Sickbay. From her brief reports, she has her hands full just keeping the injured alive.
How could I have been such a Fool? Elizabeth thought to herself. In my arrogance and greed, I pursued the Stumgeschutz into the Sexton Cloud, thinking I could rid the Death Cult of one of their prized Battlecruisers. I fell for their trap and Two New Death Cult Battlecruisers emerged from the Sexton Cloud. They had been waiting for me. It appears that the Stumgeschutz’s “mistake” of getting too close on her last Battle Run was actually no mistake at all. She was feigning her injuries to draw me after her. And, like a brand new Captain fresh out of the Academy, I fell for it! Don’t the Gods punish Mortals for Hubris? Now my Crew is paying for my mistake with their Lives…
“We’re not going to make it to Outpost Colchester!” Fafnir reported as he steered the Merlin on her course. The small Dragonling was trying to keep his fear in check. Still, his body was shaking. “The Breithaupt, the Fiehler, and the Stumgeschutz will overtake us before then!!”
Even if we make it to Outpost Colchester, they cannot save us, Elizabeth mused. The Lionheart is three days away. There is no way she can make it here in time. And she’s the closest Alliance of Lords starship…
Captain Elizabeth spun around in her Command Chair to face her Communications Officer. Brimstone, a lovely green Humanoid Butterfly, was busy trying to coordinate an overwhelming amount of communication transmitting throughout the Merlin.
“Brim! Send out an Emergency Distress Call on ALL Channels!! Direct it to anyone within range who might be able to hear it! Do it NOW!!!”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Captain…?” Ignis announced in an eerie voice full of hesitation. The floating ball of energy wisked out of reality momentarily and then reappeared again. “We are passing the Titan Graveyard…”
It took Captain Elizabeth less than a second to make her decision. “Fafnir, new heading. Take us directly into the Titan Graveyard!”
Una quickly spoke up. The Fair Folk Science Officer was calm and composed, however. Her eyes glittered with stars within them. “Captain, may I respectfully remind you that the Titan Graveyard is strictly off limits per the Alliance of Lords. To break that order would mean…”
“I know what it means!” Captain Elizabeth said loudly, letting her emotions and the dire situation get the best of her. Her ship was dying. Rudeness was justified in this case. “It won’t matter a whole lot if we’re all dead and the Merlin is destroyed, will it?!?”
Una went quiet. She returned to her work without saying any more words.
Captain Elizabeth felt bad for Una, but her outburst was understandable. After all, she was Human wasn’t she?
The Titan Graveyard. The site of a Monstrous Battle waged by the Great Ones. The devastation was unbelievable. There are ruined ships, debris, broken planetoids, cracked moons, stellar flames, tachyon currents, unimaginable monsters, wondrous lost technology, and weapons of great power. The Alliance of Lords lost six exploratory vessels trying to explore the Titan Graveyard. Then they sent in a whole fleet of warships. The entire fleet was never heard from again.
I must be out of my mind. But at least in there we have a chance, if even a tiny one. Out here, we have zero.
Merlin raced into the Titan Graveyard like a fox running from three hungry wolves.
THE BREITHAUPT, THE FEIHLER, AND THE STUMGESCHUTZ FOLLOWED RIGHT BEHIND HER…
