What Happened to the ESV: Reconnoiter?

//It's about time I cracked this out. not really using Tony much anymore, so no point in keeping it a secret. For once, Tony was actually satisfied with the food the cooks had whipped up for lunch. With the help of the RnD guys they'd managed to start growing much of their own food onboard, and it wasn't half bad. Sure, they had plenty of food from Equestria to last the ship for decades, but it was nice to save it for emergencies. He just couldn't believe the sauce he'd had with his veggie-chicken patty thing had been grown on the ship. It was almost better than the stuff he could get at the canteens back on the Equestrian star-ports. Not as good as ma's though. Nothing ever would be. Tony slots his ID card into a newly implemented keycard reader. He'd just put these things in a few days ago to keep nosy crewmen out of the engineering compartment so his boys could work in peace. The security guys put up a stink until Tony gave their TO 3 keycards to hand out to the guards he trusted most. Every now and then a guard would poke his head in to make sure Tony and his boys weren't making a death ray. The door into the second floor of the engineering compartment slides shut behind Tony. He talks with his guys about today's lunch for a few minutes before heading to his office to grab his toolkit, and get ready for another few hours of work. As Tony picks up his toolkit with his magic he can hear a distinct sound from beyond the wall. Odd. Sounds like something just impacted the ships shields. As he turns to leave his office the voice of the ship's AI comes over the ship's PA system. "Attention, all crew. Code Orange has been declared. Please proceed with caution while preforming your duties." Code Orange? Were they entering hostile space or something? He doesn't remember anyone else mentioning hostile space in the past few Equestrian cycles. Sitting on the bridge of the Reconnoiter, Captain Nathanial Vreems is repulsed by the image in front of him. His veiwscreen currently displays the hideously large, ugly, and green face of what could best be described as a 'space orc.' It's giant maw drips with saliva as it sizes up the captain. The creature then laughs. Other laughs can be heard coming from the bridge of the other ship. The creature then looks back to the captain, and bellows "Wee'z dah Mekuhz! And wee'z gunna scruch you!" The feed then cuts, and Captain Vreems is met with a site that nearly makes his heart stop. There's at least a dozen ships in view. Possibly more he's not able to see right now. Knowing what this will entail, the captain commands Celaris to sound the alarm. (Music because yes: https://youtu.be/tl39KWu2T6U?t=346) Tony is just leaving his office when alarms all across the ship begin to sound. The voice of the captain comes over the ship's PA. "Captain to crew! General Quarters! All hands, man your battle stations!" Without a second thought Tony begins barking orders to his engineers. He sends half of them out to preform any emergency repairs on damaged equipment, and the others need to keep an eye on the equipment in the engineering compartment. He heads back into his office to quickly put on his Environmental Protection suit. There's another impact to the shields, followed by 2, then 3 more. Tony feels the ship rock slightly as the Reconnoiter answers with it's railguns, and laser batteries. He manages to slip into his EPS just as the ship's AI comes over the Pa system. "Warning. Shield integrity rapidly depleting. Generator efficiency at: 46%." The generators were getting overworked with the amount of fire they're being forced to take. There's no way just one ship is doing all of this. A voice in his EPS' coms system catches his attention. "Need an engineer in the weapons control bay! One of our railgun batteries isn't responding!" Without a moment's hesitation Tony takes his toolkit, and near-sprints out of the engineering compartment to head towards the weapons control bay. Upon arriving at the weapons control bay Tony shoves the gunnery crewman standing in front of the unresponsive railgun's control panel, and begins to run a diagnostics check on it. He watches as every one of the gun's systems comes back inconclusive. Tony then pulls out his PDA, and opens up a camera feed to take a look at the gun to see if it's even still there. He catches a glimpse of a large fleet of ships ahead of the Reconnoiter as it's attempting a turn to port. Likely to turn around, and flee. When the camera finally turns to look at the railgun, he finds what looks to be a drone of some sort attached to the gun. Tony quickly switches his view, and takes control of a nearby Point Defense turret to blast the drone off of the gun. Though the railgun sustains some damage in the process, the drone is gone, and the gun is now responsive. He gives a nod to the crewman before grabbing his toolkit. Both Tony and the crewman are nearly thrown to the ground as the ship is violently impacted. Seconds later the ship's AI comes over the PA system again. "Hull breach detected in Starboard crew quarters, deck 2. Engineering, please respond immediately." Not good. Tony quickly rushes out of the weapons control bay, and down to deck 2. When he gets there he finds one of his engineers desperately trying to interact with the crew quarters' door panel. "The mechanism's jammed!" The engineer shouts. Tony approaches, and whips out his blowtorch. He's going to cut the door open. As he lights the blowtorch he can hear something banging against the door. Shit. There are crewmen inside. He works as fast as he can, but a blowtorch isn't exactly a laser, or a drill. As he reaches halfway through the door the banging slows in intensity, and eventually stops completely. When he manages to cut through the door, and pry to two parts open a grimace appears on Tony's face. They were so young. Some of them were on their first assignment. The first time they'd ever been to space. They were only 18. Tony steps over two crewmen lying face down in front of the door. He doesn't dare look at the others. As Tony approaches the breach in the back of the quarters a sound catches his attention. He can hear crying coming from the bathroom. Tony rushes to the bathroom door, and taps his comms. "Respirators! Starboard crew quarters! I need respirators! We got crew stuck in the bathroom!" After calling in for aid Tony knocks on the door before shouting. "Hey! Stay calm alright! Slow, steady breaths! You got limited oxygen in there! Just stay calm! We're gonna get you guys out!" Afterwards Tony heads back over to the breach to begin patching it up. As he works, a nurse with his own respirator enters the quarters, and heads to the bathroom. Tony can hear the door open, and the nurse start telling someone to put the respirators on, and get out of the crew quarters. Following the group of hoofsteps exiting the quarters Tony feels the ship rock once more, with the ship's AI reporting quickly afterwards. "Warning. Un-authorized biological forms detected in Shuttle Bay. Combat personnel please respond immediately." Ah fuck. Now they're being boarded. He can hear coms activity pick up as the Marine Lieutenant addresses his men. "Alright boys! This is what we trained for! Lock and load!" He hears a group of "Oorah!"s, followed by the sound of armored boots thundering past the crew quarters. Then he hears other voices from the coms. "Shit! That thing's huge!" "Focus on the one with the axe!" "My SMG isn't doing anything! The hell?!" Then the coms are filled with pained screams, and cries of distress. The ship's AI speaks once more. "Attention, Medical Personnel. Security reports severe casualties in Shuttle Bay. Please respond immediately." Tony can hear the gunfire from the shuttle bay as he finishes patching the hull breach in the crew quarters, and heads to check on the bridge. More chatter fills the coms as he half-sprints through the corridors. "3 o'clock! Big guy with a huge fuck-off gun! Take 'em down!" "The hell are these guys made of?!" "Eat this you ugly green DnD reject!" The AI continues to rattle off warnings and alerts as Tony enters the bridge. "Warning. Combat Personnel report 50% casualties. Medical personnel, please respond immediately." Tony finds that one of the navigation panels on the bridge is going haywire, but he doesn't have the correct tool to fix the issue. He quickly turns to half-sprint back towards the engineering compartment. The corridors of the ship were in chaos. Impacts rocked the ship, crewmen rushed to and fro, and he could see dozens of wounded being treated in the corridors by the overexerted medical staff. Tony slides into the engineering compartment as the AI rattles off another warning. "Warning: Reactor temperature reaching unsafe levels. Engineering please investigate immediately. He looks over towards a window overlooking the reactor compartment to see 3 of his boys already working on the issue. He taps his coms to send them a message. "What's the issue?!" "Coolant pipe's are busted sir! We're working on getting them fixed!" Another explosion rocks the ship. Another warning by the AI. "Warning: Fire detected in corridor, Deck 2. Fire suppressant systems damaged. Engineering please respond immediately." At this point Tony and his boys were going to be stretched too thin. There was too much stuff getting damaged for them to keep the ship afloat for much longer. As he searches for the specific tool in his office Tony hears banging on the deck 2 door to the engineering compartment. He approaches cautiously, and places his helmet to the door as if to hear through it. He can just barely hear a young voice cry out from the other side. "Somebody help! I don't want to die this way!" With a huff Tony opens the door, and grabs the shirt of a young crewman standing outside the door. He tosses the young crewman into the compartment before shutting the doors. Now he has to deal with the fire. Captain Vreems listens as Celaris reports on damages all throughout the ship. Around 30% of the crew is injured or dead, the ship's hull is on the brink of utter collapse, and there are hostiles on the first deck. Even if they were to jump away now, the fleet might follow. He needed a way to save his crew, fast. Celaris alerts the captain to a message from one of the Head Researchers. He pulls the image up on-screen to see Dr. Wells staring coldly at the captain. In his usual, no-nonsense tone the researcher speaks. "Captain. My team has identified a spatial anomaly to our bow. We are unsure of it's exact nature, and advise re-directing our course before a jump." The captain responds quickly. "Negative. We don't have the time." He turns to his navigators. "Set the course! Jump as soon as our drives are ready!" The Head Researcher raises his voice the first time Captain Vreems has ever heard. "Captain! We have no idea what this anomaly could do! For all we know it could lead to the destruction of the entire ship!" "We have no other options doctor! We're making the jump!" Tony can hear the reactor's 'critical condition' alarm blaring as he searches for the tool in his office. He's barely managed to put out the fire, and get back to his office when the entire ship goes dark. He suddenly begins to feel as if his body is being both stretched, and condensed infinitely. He finds himself unable to keep track of time, and it feels like an eternity, and also a second before the ship's emergency lights come on. He suddenly no longer feels both stretched, and condensed, and is forced to lean against the wall of his office as the ship's AI repeats a single warning. "Warning: Planetary impact imminent." He feels himself being pressed against the floor of his office as the ship feels as if it's plummeting. The ship rumbles violently for a few seconds before Tony feels the ship crash into something far denser than it, and he's knocked unconscious.