HOME | DD

Description
Exploration, discovery, peace, war. These are all things we experience at one point or another. Each path takes us on it's own unique journey may it be enjoyable, miserable, exciting or boring, it's how you get there and find out what awaits you that makes the trip worthwhile. For the crew of the Excalibur class Cruiser ISF-9807 Firehawk, the journey that is worth a thousand lifetimes is just beginning.

Chapter 1 - Fresh Starts

"All crew members bound for the ISF-3546 Charles Vincent please report to shuttle bay 34 for departure. Again all crew members bound for the ISF-3546 Charles Vincent please report to shuttle bay 34." The sound of boots tapping the floor as their owners hurriedly walked along, electric carts carrying personnel and luggage, hooves clopping against the tiled floor, the voices of hundreds filled the halls as everyone shuffled along to their destinations, may it be a shuttle, to the food court, or to baggage claim to leave the terminal, the Intergalactic Space Federation's main departure terminal for the southern California region was teaming with life. Just outside the departure terminal, several large coach buses pulled up, the doors slowly opening to let its passengers, the new crew of the recently commissioned cruiser ISF-9807 Firehawk take their first steps towards the journey of a lifetime. "So, where are you from? Dun see many of yer kind round these parts." weapons officer Chase Broodman asked the crewmate next to him as the group walked past the sliding glass doors leading into the terminal. A low growl was heard in response to the former Midwestern's question, "And whut exactly are yuh tryin to say? Ya’ll northern folk think us southerners are too stupid tuh be on these starships?” Chase took a step back for a moment and blinked, clearly his curiosity was taken completely wrong by this wolf, “I wasn’t implyin anythin bud. Just.. ya know in upstate Oklahoma there aren’t many anthros bout. Lot of the folk dun take too kindly to your kind even after 400 years of coexisting.” He said in an apologetic tone, “Old habits die hard ya know?” Dave Jacklore, the new lead engineer for the Firehawk, tried his best to keep a serious, straight face but was starting to fail miserably as the sight of the frightened weapons officer got to him, “Bah, I’m just foolin with yuh bud. I know yer just curious like a fox is all.” He said as he slapped the weapons officer on his shoulder blade, “I’m from down near dem production plants that make the mechanics for these here ships. Yuh know the ones over near old Fort Bliss?” "Huh really now? Well then, looks like we're in good han...er paws. Bet yuh know the ins and outs of our ship's engine systems then!" Dave couldn't help but smirk at Chase, "if ya count puttin a shit ton of ductape and solder on a busted plasma conduit as fixin it, den yeah, I know da ins and outs."
A look of dread took over the features of Chase's face before the wolf busted out laughing, "We're so screwed..." he said as he face palmed. "Ah just buck up ya foal, we'll be fine as long as our shield systems stay above 20%." "Yeah and besides, our weapons would blast whatever is shooting us to stardust before our shields even drop below 90%! Our ship has 16 of those new MARC weapons on the bow! They shoot a two ton kinetic warhead over five kilometers per second!" "Not to mention that we also have twentyfour smaller hybrid railgun turrets protecting our port and starboard sides." Said the pegasus and unicorn sisters Windsheer and Dawn Frost as the former ruffled Chase's hair as she fluttered by and the latter body checked his leg as they passed the two males to the check-in counter. "Hey Jacklore, who are those two characters?" Chase said as he motioned to the two mares. Dave merely shrugged, "Not sure muh self. Hurd that they're sisters, the one with da horn is our shield spec and da flyin one is head of navigation. Think their names are Windshurr and Dawnpost? Somethin like dat anyways." The two males just looked at each other and shrugged before making their way to where the mares went.
"Looks like we got a good crew so far eh Monty?" A quiet sigh was barely heard over the hustle and bustle of the terminal as two men stepped off the charter bus, "Define 'good'. We got a bunch of rookies on a new boat, cocky ones at that." Monty just hung his head and shook it slowly side to side. "Oh hey by the way Gordon, did you hear that the R.E.N is going to be joining us on this run to the Alpha Centauri sector? They've been itching to test out their new ships since we've allied with them and built them their own shipyards 20 years ago." A small smile emerged upon Gordon's face at the news, "Huh really? The little ponies think their new boats are ready to play with the big boys now? What's their largest ship that they got? I bet it's the size of one of our assault frigates and probably has 'magical' weapons that shoot rainbows~!" As quick as his smile appeared, it was quickly wiped off his face when he felt a cold tingling sensation flow over his body as a baby blue aurora engulfed his body and flipped him upside down in mid air, his forehead a mere three inches off the ceramic floor. "Hey! I'd watch who you'd make fun of there guy. We 'little ponies' pack a serious bite. And~ for your information, the largest ship in the Royal Equestrian Navy is a Celestia class dreadnought armed with 6 large laser beam turrets with tri-focus frequency crystals and also sports one of your navy's siege modules." As Dawnfrost held Gordon upside down, he just merely blinked at what just happened, whereas Monty slowly but eventually busted out laughing, “Hahaha! That’s what happens when you pick a fight you can’t win Gordon.” Monty wiped tears from his eyes as he started to calm down, “Never pick a fight with a unicorn bud, unless you want to end up inside out floating in space.” A grim look took over Gordon’s facial features as the mental imaged kicked in. His fear filled eyes shot over to Dawnfrost with a pleading look in his eyes, “Y..you really can’t do that… can you?” He gulped hard as Dawn just smiled, “Don’t tempt me and you won’t find out~” a soft ‘thud’ could be heard as Gordon crumpled into a heap as Dawn let him go. Dave and Chase stood in place, their mouths agape at the sight of what they just witnessed, “Hey uh Dave….” Chase said in a low tone as he leaned close to the wolf, as if he was telling a personal secret, “Uh yah Chase?” the wolf replied as he did the same gesture as he kept his focus on the two mares as they made their way to security, “Remind me to not get on a unicorn’s bad side….ever.” Dave simply looked from Chase, to the sisters, and then back to him nodding slowly, “Yah, no worries there pardner, remind meh to do the same…” The two looked at each other and gave a single nod of agreement before proceeding through security with the others.
"Ok knock it off, all of ya'll! There's a time and place for screwin around and this ain't it." The crew of the firehawk stopped in place and turned to see who was the owner of the gruff voice. "Commander on deck!" Chase yelped as he snapped to attention, "And damnit Chase haven't we talked about you doin stuff like this before? This ain't a formal occasion ya know." The man speaking wore a rough expression on his face, eyes hidden by dark lensed aviator glasses but you could still see that he was of asian descent, "Sorry Ret, you know old habits die hard and all that jazz," Chase said in an apologetic tone as he gently shrugged. Dave walked over to Gordon who was watching Dawnfrost from the corner of his eye and whispered, "Hey Gordo... who's this guy that's gotten Chase all worked up like that?" Gordon finally took his glare from dawn and looked over to Chase and Ret, "That guy in the shades?" He asked as he pointed over at the two, "he's one of them caspuleers. Basically the brain of the ship more or less. He controls pretty much everything on the ship with just a thought. Not only that, but he's immortal. Dude can't die, if he's lost with the ship, he's instantly transferred to another body like nothing ever happened." Dave just slowly deadpanned to Gordon with a pure look of 'you're shitting me right?' On his face, "and before you ask, no I'm not joking." "Ok guys, and ladies, before we head up I'd like you to meet Retoma Hirotomu. He's the I.S.F capsuleer pilot who's in charge of our boat. Don't worry, he may seem like a hard ass right now, but just wait till we're all settled in." Chase said as everyone turned their eyes to the pilot, "Oh jeeze thanks for the intro Chase. Way to make my ass seem real intimidating" Retoma said just as a small crowd of people started to run past the crew gathering, "QUICK! GET TO A TV! Shit just hit the fan!" One of the runners could be heard saying. The crew of the firehawk just looked at each other before shrugging and following the crowd. Within moments they were apart of a mass of bodies staring at a large hanging ceiling monitor with a breaking news broadcast.
"And now we go to our team over on Ethos Prime for this event that's unfolding, Tracy, what's going on and are you guys ok over there?" The tv switched from a newsroom to what looked like an urban battlefield, "Yeah thanks Chad. I'm here in what's left of the city of Good Hope on the planet of Ethos Prime in the Fornax galaxy and as you can see behind me, it's utter chaos. Just a few hours ago, stealth bombers and fighters appeared out of nowhere and opened fire on the surface AA defense sites and city populations, and then just like that, they disappeared back to wherever they came from. Military and planet officials have no idea who this attack came from nor what prompted this attack in the first place. Wait a moment Chad..." The woman turned and looked away from the camera, nodding her head a bit before a grim look came upon her face, "I've just been informed by an ISF General here that... all ISF personnel are to go on alert as of now. From what I was just told all ISF and ISF allies are to scramble all ships. It's official, the ISF is at war, I repeat Chad, we are now at war." As the broadcast played, there was nothing but silence, then low murmurs as the words "at war" were spoken. Slowly everyone looked at each other, not sure if this was all some sort of weird dream. The entire terminal was still with silence as the broadcast continued on, there were a few gasps heard as images of the destroyed city popped up on the screen followed by some choppy footage that was captured by some street cameras and people’s holophones. Slowly, low murmurs started to fill the terminal, then a few shouts of rage echoed throughout the still terminal as it slowly built up to a righteous roar of anger and revenge.
>Terminal Speakers< Attention all personnel, Attention all personnel. This is Brigadier General Denny Hanson of the ISF Starfleet. We are now code white, to our civilian workers, we are now officially at a state of war. All military personnel, report to your battlestations, all civilian personnel, report to your war readiness advisors for your duty stations. All ships are to be prepped for immediate deployment, all forces have been activated including reserve units. Ship Commanders, please report to the briefing area for jump routes and a quick tactics meeting. This is NOT a drill, repeat, this is NOT a drill.

“You heard the coms guys. I want your asses on the ship and I want it prepped and ready to go before I get back from the meeting.” Retoma said in a cool authoritative tone as his gaze turned from the terminal screen to his crew, “Did I stutter? GET YUR ASSES IN GEAR AND GIT GOIN!” with that, the crew of the Firehawk were snapped out of their stupor. The sounds of their boots flying across the floor were joined by many others as the terminal became alive as everyone was filled with a new energy as they ran to their assigned stations. For most people, this seemed like the beginning of the end, but for the crew of the ISF-9807 Firehawk, this was just the beginning of the journey of a lifetime.

Description
Exploration, discovery, peace, war. These are all things we experience at one point or another. Each path takes us on it's own unique journey may it be enjoyable, miserable, exciting or boring, it's how you get there and find out what awaits you that makes the trip worthwhile. For the crew of the Excalibur class Cruiser ISF-9807 Firehawk, the journey that is worth a thousand lifetimes is just beginning.

Chapter 1 - Fresh Starts

"All crew members bound for the ISF-3546 Charles Vincent please report to shuttle bay 34 for departure. Again all crew members bound for the ISF-3546 Charles Vincent please report to shuttle bay 34." The sound of boots tapping the floor as their owners hurriedly walked along, electric carts carrying personnel and luggage, hooves clopping against the tiled floor, the voices of hundreds filled the halls as everyone shuffled along to their destinations, may it be a shuttle, to the food court, or to baggage claim to leave the terminal, the Intergalactic Space Federation's main departure terminal for the southern California region was teaming with life. Just outside the departure terminal, several large coach buses pulled up, the doors slowly opening to let its passengers, the new crew of the recently commissioned cruiser ISF-9807 Firehawk take their first steps towards the journey of a lifetime. "So, where are you from? Dun see many of yer kind round these parts." weapons officer Chase Broodman asked the crewmate next to him as the group walked past the sliding glass doors leading into the terminal. A low growl was heard in response to the former Midwestern's question, "And whut exactly are yuh tryin to say? Ya’ll northern folk think us southerners are too stupid tuh be on these starships?” Chase took a step back for a moment and blinked, clearly his curiosity was taken completely wrong by this wolf, “I wasn’t implyin anythin bud. Just.. ya know in upstate Oklahoma there aren’t many anthros bout. Lot of the folk dun take too kindly to your kind even after 400 years of coexisting.” He said in an apologetic tone, “Old habits die hard ya know?” Dave Jacklore, the new lead engineer for the Firehawk, tried his best to keep a serious, straight face but was starting to fail miserably as the sight of the frightened weapons officer got to him, “Bah, I’m just foolin with yuh bud. I know yer just curious like a fox is all.” He said as he slapped the weapons officer on his shoulder blade, “I’m from down near dem production plants that make the mechanics for these here ships. Yuh know the ones over near old Fort Bliss?” "Huh really now? Well then, looks like we're in good han...er paws. Bet yuh know the ins and outs of our ship's engine systems then!" Dave couldn't help but smirk at Chase, "if ya count puttin a shit ton of ductape and solder on a busted plasma conduit as fixin it, den yeah, I know da ins and outs."
A look of dread took over the features of Chase's face before the wolf busted out laughing, "We're so screwed..." he said as he face palmed. "Ah just buck up ya foal, we'll be fine as long as our shield systems stay above 20%." "Yeah and besides, our weapons would blast whatever is shooting us to stardust before our shields even drop below 90%! Our ship has 16 of those new MARC weapons on the bow! They shoot a two ton kinetic warhead over five kilometers per second!" "Not to mention that we also have twentyfour smaller hybrid railgun turrets protecting our port and starboard sides." Said the pegasus and unicorn sisters Windsheer and Dawn Frost as the former ruffled Chase's hair as she fluttered by and the latter body checked his leg as they passed the two males to the check-in counter. "Hey Jacklore, who are those two characters?" Chase said as he motioned to the two mares. Dave merely shrugged, "Not sure muh self. Hurd that they're sisters, the one with da horn is our shield spec and da flyin one is head of navigation. Think their names are Windshurr and Dawnpost? Somethin like dat anyways." The two males just looked at each other and shrugged before making their way to where the mares went.
"Looks like we got a good crew so far eh Monty?" A quiet sigh was barely heard over the hustle and bustle of the terminal as two men stepped off the charter bus, "Define 'good'. We got a bunch of rookies on a new boat, cocky ones at that." Monty just hung his head and shook it slowly side to side. "Oh hey by the way Gordon, did you hear that the R.E.N is going to be joining us on this run to the Alpha Centauri sector? They've been itching to test out their new ships since we've allied with them and built them their own shipyards 20 years ago." A small smile emerged upon Gordon's face at the news, "Huh really? The little ponies think their new boats are ready to play with the big boys now? What's their largest ship that they got? I bet it's the size of one of our assault frigates and probably has 'magical' weapons that shoot rainbows~!" As quick as his smile appeared, it was quickly wiped off his face when he felt a cold tingling sensation flow over his body as a baby blue aurora engulfed his body and flipped him upside down in mid air, his forehead a mere three inches off the ceramic floor. "Hey! I'd watch who you'd make fun of there guy. We 'little ponies' pack a serious bite. And~ for your information, the largest ship in the Royal Equestrian Navy is a Celestia class dreadnought armed with 6 large laser beam turrets with tri-focus frequency crystals and also sports one of your navy's siege modules." As Dawnfrost held Gordon upside down, he just merely blinked at what just happened, whereas Monty slowly but eventually busted out laughing, “Hahaha! That’s what happens when you pick a fight you can’t win Gordon.” Monty wiped tears from his eyes as he started to calm down, “Never pick a fight with a unicorn bud, unless you want to end up inside out floating in space.” A grim look took over Gordon’s facial features as the mental imaged kicked in. His fear filled eyes shot over to Dawnfrost with a pleading look in his eyes, “Y..you really can’t do that… can you?” He gulped hard as Dawn just smiled, “Don’t tempt me and you won’t find out~” a soft ‘thud’ could be heard as Gordon crumpled into a heap as Dawn let him go. Dave and Chase stood in place, their mouths agape at the sight of what they just witnessed, “Hey uh Dave….” Chase said in a low tone as he leaned close to the wolf, as if he was telling a personal secret, “Uh yah Chase?” the wolf replied as he did the same gesture as he kept his focus on the two mares as they made their way to security, “Remind me to not get on a unicorn’s bad side….ever.” Dave simply looked from Chase, to the sisters, and then back to him nodding slowly, “Yah, no worries there pardner, remind meh to do the same…” The two looked at each other and gave a single nod of agreement before proceeding through security with the others.
"Ok knock it off, all of ya'll! There's a time and place for screwin around and this ain't it." The crew of the firehawk stopped in place and turned to see who was the owner of the gruff voice. "Commander on deck!" Chase yelped as he snapped to attention, "And damnit Chase haven't we talked about you doin stuff like this before? This ain't a formal occasion ya know." The man speaking wore a rough expression on his face, eyes hidden by dark lensed aviator glasses but you could still see that he was of asian descent, "Sorry Ret, you know old habits die hard and all that jazz," Chase said in an apologetic tone as he gently shrugged. Dave walked over to Gordon who was watching Dawnfrost from the corner of his eye and whispered, "Hey Gordo... who's this guy that's gotten Chase all worked up like that?" Gordon finally took his glare from dawn and looked over to Chase and Ret, "That guy in the shades?" He asked as he pointed over at the two, "he's one of them caspuleers. Basically the brain of the ship more or less. He controls pretty much everything on the ship with just a thought. Not only that, but he's immortal. Dude can't die, if he's lost with the ship, he's instantly transferred to another body like nothing ever happened." Dave just slowly deadpanned to Gordon with a pure look of 'you're shitting me right?' On his face, "and before you ask, no I'm not joking." "Ok guys, and ladies, before we head up I'd like you to meet Retoma Hirotomu. He's the I.S.F capsuleer pilot who's in charge of our boat. Don't worry, he may seem like a hard ass right now, but just wait till we're all settled in." Chase said as everyone turned their eyes to the pilot, "Oh jeeze thanks for the intro Chase. Way to make my ass seem real intimidating" Retoma said just as a small crowd of people started to run past the crew gathering, "QUICK! GET TO A TV! Shit just hit the fan!" One of the runners could be heard saying. The crew of the firehawk just looked at each other before shrugging and following the crowd. Within moments they were apart of a mass of bodies staring at a large hanging ceiling monitor with a breaking news broadcast.
"And now we go to our team over on Ethos Prime for this event that's unfolding, Tracy, what's going on and are you guys ok over there?" The tv switched from a newsroom to what looked like an urban battlefield, "Yeah thanks Chad. I'm here in what's left of the city of Good Hope on the planet of Ethos Prime in the Fornax galaxy and as you can see behind me, it's utter chaos. Just a few hours ago, stealth bombers and fighters appeared out of nowhere and opened fire on the surface AA defense sites and city populations, and then just like that, they disappeared back to wherever they came from. Military and planet officials have no idea who this attack came from nor what prompted this attack in the first place. Wait a moment Chad..." The woman turned and looked away from the camera, nodding her head a bit before a grim look came upon her face, "I've just been informed by an ISF General here that... all ISF personnel are to go on alert as of now. From what I was just told all ISF and ISF allies are to scramble all ships. It's official, the ISF is at war, I repeat Chad, we are now at war." As the broadcast played, there was nothing but silence, then low murmurs as the words "at war" were spoken. Slowly everyone looked at each other, not sure if this was all some sort of weird dream. The entire terminal was still with silence as the broadcast continued on, there were a few gasps heard as images of the destroyed city popped up on the screen followed by some choppy footage that was captured by some street cameras and people’s holophones. Slowly, low murmurs started to fill the terminal, then a few shouts of rage echoed throughout the still terminal as it slowly built up to a righteous roar of anger and revenge.
>Terminal Speakers< Attention all personnel, Attention all personnel. This is Brigadier General Denny Hanson of the ISF Starfleet. We are now code white, to our civilian workers, we are now officially at a state of war. All military personnel, report to your battlestations, all civilian personnel, report to your war readiness advisors for your duty stations. All ships are to be prepped for immediate deployment, all forces have been activated including reserve units. Ship Commanders, please report to the briefing area for jump routes and a quick tactics meeting. This is NOT a drill, repeat, this is NOT a drill.

“You heard the coms guys. I want your asses on the ship and I want it prepped and ready to go before I get back from the meeting.” Retoma said in a cool authoritative tone as his gaze turned from the terminal screen to his crew, “Did I stutter? GET YUR ASSES IN GEAR AND GIT GOIN!” with that, the crew of the Firehawk were snapped out of their stupor. The sounds of their boots flying across the floor were joined by many others as the terminal became alive as everyone was filled with a new energy as they ran to their assigned stations. For most people, this seemed like the beginning of the end, but for the crew of the ISF-9807 Firehawk, this was just the beginning of the journey of a lifetime.