Chapter Twenty-Six: Battle of Nereid
Location: Moon of Nereid, near Neptune
After almost a month since the Battle of the Kuiper Belt, the UNS Eternity was dispatched to the Neptune Moon, Nereid. There were sightings of two ships from the Centauri Empire. It seemed like they were pushing further into the system, as two satellite bases near Neptune had gone dark.
The UNS dispatched the USN Eternity along with two other ships, the UNS Tallahassee, which was currently hovering above Jupiter, and the UNS Munich, which was currently landed on Mars. These three ships all meet up at the moon of Oberon, which is near the planet Uranus.
The UNS Tallahassee was captained by Captain Joseph Hudson, and the UNS Munich was captained by Captain Simon Herber.
"Come in command; this is the UNS Eternity, reporting that the operation is a go." Captain Aurora spoke into the intercom.
"Launch sentinel fireteams Beta, Eta, Sigma, and Tau. Prepare all shields for heavy fire. If that weapon they used in the Kuiper Belt comes back, prepare to send all power to our shields...we'll need it.
"Yes, ma'am!" the bridge hands said.
"Fireteams have launched and have come into contact with the enemy; reports were correct; two Centauri ships have been located." the vice captain said.
"Prepare all weapons; if you have a shot, take it." Captain Aurora ordered.
Finally, the UNS managed to spot the two ships since they were hiding behind the moon.
"Fire." Captain Aurora ordered the UNS Eternity along with the two other UNS ships unloaded into the Centauri ships.
"Critical hit on enemy ship Alpha; enemy ship Bravo is launching their centurions along with second-stage jet units, similar to the ones they used at the beginning of the war." the bridge hand said.
"Ma'am Fireteam Tau reports the sighting of an unidentified blue centurion. Similar build to the red and purple ones we saw at the Kuiper Belt." the bridge hand said.
"Another elite unit?" Captain Aurora thought. "Order all fireteams to be cautious around that unit and keep an eye out for any other oddly colored units."
Captain Aurora's thoughts went back to Ren; it was a similar situation: an elite unit appears and starts to affect the battle. There was some hope that the unit that took Ren would show up so that she could attack and attempt to capture it.
"Ma'am Fireteam Tau has taken significant casualties. Fireteam Tau Captain Kendrick Darcy is KIA. His second in command has taken over field orders." the bridge hand said.
"Tell Tau to retreat; we can't afford major losses in this battle, especially not a repeat of the Kuiper Belt."
"Ma'am, the enemy ship Bravo has launched missiles in our direction; prepare for impact!" the vice captain yelled.
"Where will the missiles land?" Captain Aurora asked.
"On our port." the vice captain responded.
"Direct all shields to that area; we can't afford to take a massive hit. All hands brace for impact!" Captain Aurora ordered on the comms for the entire ship to hear.
*BOOM*
The missiles hit the ship, causing everyone on it to lose balance. Emergency lights started to flare off. The shields weren't powerful enough to stop the barrage of missiles, causing some minor damage to the ship.
Aurora looked down and saw the vice captain slumped over with blood pouring from his head.
"The hit must have made him lose balance and fall over, causing him to hit his head somewhere." Aurora thought to herself.
"GET A MEDIC UP HERE NOW!" Aurora ordered. "You put pressure on his wounds."
"Ma'am, all deployed fireteams are reporting casualties; UNS Munich is in severe damage after they were hit by the same missiles. Your orders?"
Aurora contemplated what to do in this situation. There wasn't any doubt that the higher-ups would want them to continue the assault, but right now they were at risk of losing the UNS Munich, and their ship could continue fighting alongside the UNS Tallahassee, which also only had minor damage, but was it worth the risk to them? Aurora wasn't sure anymore. Even though they outnumbered their opponent, they were the ones at a disadvantage, so Aurora made a judgment call.
"Tell the UNS Munich and the UNS Tallahassee to retreat back to Oberon; we will be going with them; we're aborting the mission." Captain Aurora said. "However, not before...I get some revenge."
Aurora pressed a button on her control panel, which caused blast doors to open on the back of the ship as missiles launched from each pod hit the enemy ship that was already in critical condition, causing it to explode.
"Alright, let's get the hell out of here and think about what went wrong." Captain Aurora ordered while throwing her hat to the ground.
"Why did the mission fail so badly? They couldn't have known we were coming, yet it seems like they planned on it. And that blue unit—is it tied to that purple and the red unit we saw earlier in the month? Just what's happening?"
All of the UNS ships retreated back to the Oberon Moon to coordinate what to do next.
Captain Aurora answered her comms "Hudson, Herber. Give me a status report."
"The Munich can't fight anymore; most of our weapons were damaged in the fight, and that blue bastard annihilated an entire fireteam of Sentinels. We have to retreat back to the nearest spaceport for mass repairs. What about you two?" Captain Herber asked.
"We'll do the same; this mission would be suicide to continue until we have more data. The Munich is critically damaged, and my ship also has damages that need attention. We have to call it off." Captain Aurora said.
"I agree; I'd rather not risk my soldiers lives fighting a battle we can't win. Let's head back home." Captain Hudson agreed to the idea.
The three ships turned back, heading back to Earth, as the dubbed ship Brave just watched as they left.
Captain Aurora turned around and looked at the casualty report screen.
"Three members of Beta, three members of Eta, two members of Sigma, and six members of Tau, including the Squad Captain...all deceased."
Captain Aurora hated looking at that screen—a list of young men and women who gave their lives—and this time their sacrifices were in vain. The mission failed; they lost.
Captain Aurora walked to her quarters, not saying a word to anyone. Once she got there, she opened her drawer beside her bed. It was a bottle of whiskey, a bottle she would only open after a battle like this. It was her way of mourning those who died because of her orders.
*The Planet of Volaria*
"Alright, is everything ready?" Lucilia yelled out.
It was time for them to head to the unexplored planet nicknamed Titania. Lucilia had ordered about a dozen of her personal guards to come with them to this planet, along with Ren, Ivy, and Mae, who were also all going.
The group all got aboard the ship; it had a smaller crew compared to a warship, and the quarters weren't as expanded.
Lucilia showed them to each of the quarters; Ivy and Mae were obviously sleeping in their own rooms; however, Ren was automatically put into the same room as hers.
It was a smaller room with one bed, a small kitchen, and a small shower.
"So...we're roommates again." Ren said as he put his bag of clothes down on the floor in the room.
"Always Ren." Lucilia responded, smiling. "We should be ready for takeoff soon; after that, this trip will take about two days until we reach Titania, as long as we stick to the schedule.
Ren looked at Lucilia's smile and felt his heart beating faster just at the sight of her.
Ren took a deep breath to calm himself down and thought to himself "I need to tell her soon."
Lucilia looked at Ren and got concerned "Are you feeling okay? It's not the poison, still, is it?"
Lucilia walked over to him, immediately putting her hand on his forehead.
"It's not the poison, Lucilia, just some...personal thoughts." Ren said trying to calm her down.
"Do you want to share those thoughts? I promise to listen." Lucilia said, smiling at Ren again, making his heart beat faster.
"You're going to give me a heart attack at this rate..." he thought to himself.
"I will tell you about them, but maybe not now; after all, we're not alone." Ren commented, pointing at the door with a guard standing in the doorway.
"Ceti? Is everything alright?" Lucilia asked the guard.
"Yes, ma'am, I just thought you should know we're preparing to launch, so you're needed on the bridge." Ceti reported to Lucilia.
"Alright, come on, Ren. I want you to be my vice captain on this trip." Lucilia said, grabbing a hold of Ren's hand.
The two walked over the bridge and ordered the pilots to take off.
"Set course for Titania and keep an eye out for any rebel soldiers who feel brave." Lucilia said.
"Rebels?" Ren asked, questioning what she meant.
"We're a large empire that has invaded multiple planets; of course not everyone would agree to be under our banner. There's various groups that have rebelled against our rule, but only about two or three groups actually pose a threat. These groups are made up of former government members and former soldiers from the planets." Lucilia explained.
"And they pose a threat in space?" Ren asked.
"They have either retrofitted civilian ships or even repaired broken ships of ours, but their weapons aren't a match for ours." Lucilia said. "However, two of the groups have a good number of members in them; they raid our supply ships pretty often."
"What are our odds of running into them on this trip?" Ren asked.
"Not likely, they mostly stay away from ships that are capable of defending themselves. Last time they tried to raid one of our ships, they lost multiple of their ships. It'll take a bit for them to resupply themselves." Lucilia said. "And worse case scenario, we can destroy them with our knights; after all, we got to have a test run of 'Nemesis' soon."
"Well, I'm going to go sit in the 'Nemesis' cockpit; I have to get used to its controls if I am going to use it. Do you guys use mock battle simulations?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, I'll tell Mae to get some started up; our simulations currently have your own units as enemies, but I'll tell her to set it up for another species we faced." Lucilia said.
"Thank you." Ren said before leaving.
While Ren did want to train with his new knight, he in truth just wanted time to think, not only about his friends from Earth but also about his current situation and his current feelings for Lucilia, and he always did his best thinking while training.
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AN: Hey everyone I know this isn't my best chapter I'm dealing with a cold at the moment so I kind of wrote a filler like chapter but also explaining some of the details like how Aurora feels about losing people to this war and the fact not everyone who is serving under the banner of the Empire in the Centauri system agrees with them causing bandits and rebel groups.
Should be better for tomorrows chapter though, just need some medicine.
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