Sink or Swim

Remnants

Ashford Wracker, at the age of 28, is quite familiar with war, both from his few years serving the PFC during the Great Solar War and the years afterward as a mercenary. He is a rather tall man, standing over six feet, with solid black hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a quite obvious Japanese-American heritage. As a consequence of his service, he is normally a very calm man with a will of ultratitanium. But witnessing the destruction of most of his fleet, close to a dozen ships along with however many people that crewed them, combined with making an uncoordinated or "blind" jump with the last of the fleet, most would think it appropriate for Ashford to awake with a sharp gasp. 

Immediately, though it is more out of habit than an actual conscious decision, he scans his surroundings. He is seated in his captain's chair dressed in a black hardsuit within the bridge of his ship, the Wraith.

The Wraith is an Onager-class artillery cruiser, one of the thousands created by the Megacorp Jupiter Arms. It has a primarily black color scheme, designed with the intent to blend into the black of space. It's equipped with both bomb and sentry catapults, autoguns, and a mobile cloak. Like all artillery cruisers, the Wraith is essentially an artillery platform with engines that can potentially destroy an unaware corvette in a single hit.

Ashford is quick to notice the lack of any crew, and a quick scan of the ship shows no life signs aside from himself. He narrows his eyes as he pulls up a diagnostic of his ship, showing that most of the systems are offline but operational.

"But where am I?" Ashford mutters to himself, his voice deep, as he skims over additional diagnostics. None of which reveal his current location, the only thing he can discern is that he is on a planet and underwater.

"Might as well see if I can contact the others," Ashford says, reaching for the controls to activate his communication uplink, only to find it already activated, "That's... odd. Could've sworn this wasn't on before."

Shrugging it off, Ashford speaks into the comm, "This is Captain Ashford Wracker of the EON Wraith, does anyone read me?"

For a few minutes, there is only static, and then a female voice with a southern accent is heard, "This is Katherine Raze of the Queen Bee, that you Ashy boy?"

Ashford lets out a relieved sigh, though he will never admit to being relieved at hearing Kat's voice, "Affirmative. What's your status?"

Katherine Raze, captain of the Valcour-class corvette Queen Bee, another product of Jupiter Arms. It's a black and yellow ship stylized to resemble its namesake. Its modules are a mystery, even to the Admiral. The captain herself is a spitfire of a woman, red-haired, blue-eyed, and short for a 30-year-old, whose strikes are as quick and devastating as her vessel.

"Eh, systems are mostly off and I'm the only one home," Katherine relays, "Managed to get my radar up and runnin', an' I'm picking up three bogeys. One's you, but I'm not sure 'bout the other two..."

"This is Captain Irwin Castor of the Valkyrja, that you Kat? Ash?" Irwin Castor's Irish accented voice comes through.

"Hey! It's the seadog!" Katherine cheers.

Irwin Castor is one of the founding members of the Echoes of Neptune. A tall and lanky man with pale skin, brown hair, and hazel eyes, Irwin is seen as a mentor figure throughout the fleet. His ship, the Valkyrja, is an Aion-class tactical cruiser from the factories of Oberon. He is one of the few to never repaint his ship, keeping the original Oberon white and black color scheme.

"What 'ave I told you abou' callin' me that, lassie!?" Irwin exclaims, causing Kat to laugh over the comms.

"Katherine, I do not believe this is the correct time to antagonize Irwin," Ashford sighs.