Terran Alliance: The Odyssey

Chapter 12- Sudden Change

"ID codes?!" Moorhouse demands.

"Unknown, sir. Do not recognize the codes," the officer responds.

Moorhouse thinks quickly. Right now, only about a quarter of the crew is aboard the ship and most are on downtime right now. However, if this ship could potentially pose a danger to the Hood, he doesn't have a choice. It takes him only a second before he starts shouting orders, "Sound the alarm! Sound general quarters! Alert Admiral Pellaeon! Retract the solar panel array and ready all weapons!"

The bridge crew races to follow Moorhouse's orders. As the solar panel array is retracted into the ship, general quarters alarms begin to sound on the ship. Throughout the ship, crewmembers freeze as they hear that alarm. Then, they hear Moorhouse's voice calling over the PA, "General quarters, general quarters! All hands man your battlestations! This is not a drill!"

The entire crew stays frozen for a moment before they put aside their surprise at what's happening and revert to their training. Despite some of the crew being in their 50s or even 60s, they drop what they're doing and race to their battlestations. The pilots start racing for their ready rooms to get ready to scramble.

With only a quarter of her crew and most of the crew far from ready to assume battlestations before the alarm started, it takes minutes longer than usual for the crew to man their battlestations. All the while, in the engineering spaces, the ship's engineers are trying their best to get the reactor up to full power and get the engines running. Within minutes, the reactor is up and running, while the engines are slowly powering up, beginning to driving the ship forward at greater speed.

On the bridge, Moorhouse watches as the ship slowly comes around New Callistan, waiting anxiously to see what ship caused the alarms to go off.

Finally, after almost 20 minutes after the ship started moving, Moorhouse sees something appearing in the distance from around the planet. As he comes around the planet, Moorhouse, holding his binocks tightly to his eyes, finally gets a clear look at the ship that triggered the alarm. Sure enough, his body floods with various reactions as he realizes that the vessel in question is an Imperial-II class Star Destroyer.

"Holy s***," Moorhouse says. He knows this isn't a Terran or Republic Star Destroyer, as Star Destroyers in Terran or Republic service have markings painted on their hulls to distinguish themselves from Imperial ones. He knows immediately this is a former Imperial ship. But what is it doing here?

However, the question of what the ship is doing in the system can wait. Moorhouse's immediate concern is stopping it before it can cause damage. "Scramble all available fighters and ready all weapons batteries that have been manned," Moorhosue orders.

As the Hood closes on the mysterious Star Destroyer, a handful of fighters scramble from the hangar bay. Given only a handful of pilots are currently aboard, and some take longer to get ready due to their age, the Hood can only muster a dozen Su-36s and 8 X-Wings. As the fighters form up in front of the battlecruiser and streak towards the Star Destroyer, they see some TIE fighters begin to fly out of the Star Destroyer's hangar.

In the cockpit of the leader Su-36, Commander Illich, a veteran of the Galactic Civil War, including the Battle of Yavin, calls out on the radio, "Alright. All fighters, clear to engage any and all targets. Weapons free!" He then locks up one of the incoming fighters and fires a long range missile.

Soon enough, several dozen missiles are flying through space to meet the incoming TIE fighters. Most of the TIEs are shot down before they are even within laser cannon range. The few remaining ones move to engage the Terran fighters, but the X-Wings move ahead to engage them, leaving the Su-36s free to attack the Star Destroyer.