1 Chapter 1: War
A star among the sky is insignificant, to say the least, but a star that we are among a night sky. Its light shining brightly, reaching out into the universe. In the end, we are a ripple in a vast expanse. Expanding ever outwards, till we disperse into the infinite darkness -- Dia
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Time: 11:53 UT
Date: 0005, 25 Terran
Location: Planet Castre - Asteroid Ring
Sentare Star System
Renavol Naval Base
It floated there amid the asteroids, a giant ring. slowly orbiting the remains of the planet. Spires reaching out into the darkness, as the red light from the dying star, doused it in blood. Surrounding it an enormous fleet of ships protecting it from anything that came near.
Closest to the giant structure was a ship more than a kilometer long, with its sleek and sharp exterior proudly showing off its beauty and elegance. On its bow, a symbol similar to the giant ring it guarded and below it the name 'ZEUS' written boldly in white. Inside, people rushed around in chaos. Running from one location to another or talking to each other as they kept the giant ship running. In the control center, in contrast to the rest of the ship, there were only 3 people. Two of the three sat in front of large consoles at the front as they examined the incoming information.
The third stood in the center of the room on a suspended platform. In front of her, a large holographic map of the nearby space. Her hazel eyes quietly peering into the abyss of the infinite, as her hair shined in the light of the star. She was taller than the other two at around 1.8 meters. On her shoulders, a pair of patches embroidered with an exquisite design. Signifying her rank as an Admiral and imprinted on her chest was a name embroidered in golden silk. Kelly Gardina. Suddenly, a lone voice rang out.
"Anomalous spatial deformation in sectors 00-30-15 through 00-119-15. Wave phenomenon detected. Searching for IFF signal, no IFF signal. Classifying the incoming fleet as hostile. Number of signatures is increasing. 69, 84, 105, 124 signatures detected. The margin of error is 7. ETA two minutes." The woman in the middle spoke after a moment.
"Thank you Adet, continue monitoring for more anomalies" she turned to a comms officer on her left, "Rena, open link to all stations and prepare for plan Alpha-7 and launch Wraith."
"Yes, ma'am. Whiskey Romeo 34 is go for launch." Rena flipped a switch to her side before speaking again. "All stations this is Command, begin preparations for plan Alpha-7 and stand by for Admiral Gardina." Kelly took a deep breath as Rena turned on her mic.
"My fellow brothers and sisters, the time has come. In just a few moments, the long-awaited war will finally begin, and although we fight for our future and survival. Not all of us will live to see the light of tomorrow's sun. But we cannot falter, not in the face of fear, or before our enemies. Because we fight for those that we love. For those who we hold dear and refuse to let suffer. Even if our enemies were those we once knew, people that were once our neighbors we shall fight. I will not deny it, our mission will be hard and our path arduous, but in the face of all the odds, we will prevail! Because if we fail the ones to suffer for our failure will not be us. It will be our families, friends, the ones that we fight to protect. That is why I believe in each of you. It is because we fight not just to survive till tomorrow but to ensure that the people we fight for, the people we love, will survive to see tomorrow's light. I wish all of you luck in the coming hours." She nodded at Rena, who turned off the comms, before letting out a small sigh as she finished, making sure that no one had heard her.
Messages flooded the console as the asteroid ring in front of them became enveloped in flashes of light. The light would have blinded them if the windows weren't treated for such situations. Eventually, the mass of light in front of them started to fade away revealing a massive fleet. For a moment, no one spoke as the two fleets simply stared at each other. Kelly spoke again breaking the silence.
"Give me an update on Wraith Squa-." She was suddenly interrupted by Rena.
"Incoming transmission from the enemy fleet!" Kelly's eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out her enemies' moves. It could have been a delaying action, or a tactic to shake her up perhaps. Maybe to try and identify the flagship but that was impossible they already knew that. Perhaps, she thought, she could use this chance to finally identify the enemy admiral.
"Bring it up and trace the signal." She turned to the map. A moment later the map disappeared and, in its place, appeared a man. He had a short blonde hair tinged by white at its tips and his eyes were grey almost as if he had lost his sight. His cheeks a slight pink covered with freckles. She froze as a name surfaced in her mind, but she didn't want to believe in the possibility.
"Hey Kells, how are you?" A light smile played upon his lips.
"Sam," She responded softly along with having her suspicions confirmed. Sam, on the other hand, paused before realizing something.
"You still felt guilty about what happened on Galgin? Though I can't say I'm surprised. You were always like this." His voice was soft and comforting. "Rather I should be the one to say sorry. I forced you to make that choice," his eyes glistened as he continued to speak.
"I also owe you another apology because I have to take that gate from your hands." his smile became strained as he continued "and Kelly? Goodbye, I'll miss you." She tried to say something but before she could respond he vanished as the transmission was cut. Rena quietly spoke in the silence.
"Admiral, we were unable to determine the exact origin of the signal. However, we did manage to determine possible origins. The destroyer Zerstörer, the Cruiser Banshee, or the destroyer Gliese." she didn't hear her.
"Admiral -" Rena called out to her again, bringing her back to reality. "what's your order?"
"Launch the bombers and fighters I want them ready to sortie within minutes and check Wraith Squadron's current position."
"They'll arrive at position Bravo in 25 secon-" A loud alarm rang out from across the bridge as Adet began to yell.
"Picking up two spikes in radiation! Locating source . . . battleships Valkyrie and Neptune! What is this? The entire ship's a cannon! Plotting a line of fire, they're aiming at the Snowfall and Trident!" The moment she finished. Two beams of blue lights erupted from within the enemy fleet. The beam instantly reached the two ships before colliding with a golden wall.
The beam stopped for a moment colliding with a silver transparent wall, but the shield, unable to endure the force of the weapon, shattered into an infinite number of pieces as the beam continued forward, cutting through the two ships.
The beam of light slowly dissipated as the two ships broke apart. The silence was broken when someone finally spoke up."Th- the Battleships Snowfall and the Cruiser Trident have been destroyed. Survivor estimate is . . . zero. Nearby fighters and bombers have also been lost." Adet's voice shook as she watched the data fill in. "Picking additional high energy signatures."
"Dammit! All ships change to bravo formation. Adet, where's Wraith squadron?" she shouted, her voice was straining.
"14 seconds from decloak!" The news darkened her face, if they couldn't make it in time then they would lose more than just the Snowfall and Trident.
"Change of plans, the 2nd bomber wing will launch their attack from above the system plane. Make them think we're trying to hit them from above." Her face grew tense as she watched the IR signature on the Valkyrie and Neptune decrease. The enemy formation was simple, protect the Valkyrie and Neptune from getting killed, and let them do all the work.
But this meant they were in luck, those two probably didn't have any shields available themselves. Not with a weapon that could rip through a Jupiter class ship's shield. With this Wraith squadron will be able to destroy them. "Break radio silence and designate the Valkyrie and Neptune as primary targets for Wraith Squadron. All units, keep them occupied!"
Renavol - Wraith Squadron
The three of them, attached to a large hexagonal prism, couldn't see anything outside the bubble. No energy or information could make its way past the barrier they traveled in. The downside, however, was that no energy could escape from inside either. This minor flaw made being in a gravitationally isolated environment a death sentence if the bubble never went offline. The buildup of energy cooking everything inside it within the hour.
However, they were not afraid, after all, it was a part of the plan. A voice suddenly broke the silence. "We're approaching point Bravo. Remember the plan, wait for the diversion before launching, and be prepared for anything. We don't know what will be waiting for us, but with any luck, it'll be the open asses of the enemy." The speaker was Alex, the leader of Wraith Squadron.
The other two let out a short laugh as gravity slowly pulled them toward their destination. "Bubble dissipation in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0!"
To their left, an enormous fleet appeared from the darkness. The battle had already begun with both sides firing upon each other with everything they could fire. However, despite all the firepower, nothing was effective as walls made silver light appeared blocking everything. The blasts of energy were dissipated into nothing while the metal slugs crumpled into scrap as they clashed with the shields. Alex watched the battle unfold before his attention fell upon a high priority message.
"Hold, incoming target update. Our new targets are battleships Valkyrie and Neptune. Rex, I want you to take care of the Valkyrie, Dame, you will take out the Neptune. I will assist both of you. Fire in 10, 9, 7, 6, hold for diversion -." On cue, hundreds of missiles were launched from within the asteroids that surrounded the enemy fleet. They floated for a second before acquiring their target and starting up their engines as they charged towards the enemy.
"-3, 2, 1" On command all of the bombers released their payload. The missiles slowly turned to the left quickly separating into 2 groups. The enemy, however, was still focused on the missiles from the asteroid. The first wave of missiles bearer down on the enemy fleet, but before any of the missiles could hit the enemy they exploded.
It was an EMP, an electromagnetic pulse. Electricity was generated within the missiles causing them to explode. The sheer number of explosions and release of energy drowned out the enemy fleet's sensors. The remaining missiles were then neutralized by the fleet point defense systems, while the few that remained crumpled or exploded harmlessly on the transparent silver shields.
The crew inside the two ships relaxed as they saw the missiles explode. The sensors were still overloaded with signatures, but they were quickly clearing up. Suddenly an alarm rang out on both ships. The torpedoes from Wraith squadron had been spotted, however, it was already far too late.
The first wave of missiles crashed into their aft, ripping through their armor before exploding violently inside, gouging a massive wound in the aft. Then the second wave came in after the first wave and flew in through the gaping hole they left behind. They ripped through the ship like a knife till they as well exploded. However, unlike before these missiles had made it to the reactor. Both ships fell silent from the destruction of their engines before being suddenly engulfed in a blinding flash of light. Slowly the light dissipated but there was nothing left of the two ships.
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Aeternum - Flagship Andromeda
Sam watched the light dissipate in silence. The others in the bridge shuffling nervously as they kept silent. He spoke breaking the tense silence.
"I want an analysis of everything that has happened since our arrival until now. Every single detail, I want to know how they flanked us, what weapons they used, everything. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir!" The crew replied quickly and without hesitation almost as if they were afraid. They quickly set to work. Scouring through data from the beginning, every single bit of information that they received from the sensors.
Sam watched them work coldly before gazing out at the enemy fleet. His gaze softened as she came to his mind again. "You've gotten better Kelly." He released a sigh. "Change formation to Bravo 2 and comms send a warning to the fleet. If they fail, they will suffer the consequences of their failure." The fleet set out to change their formation from a cone to a multi-layered firing line.
"Sir, we are finished with our investigation." Sam turned to the man who had spoken up.
"Are you certain?" The crew flinched as they felt a chill on their back.
"Y-, yes sir. Before the launch of the missiles hidden within the asteroid, the sensors detected a faint increase in radiation from behind a large asteroid. It is likely that the enemy used some form of cloaking to flank around us before we had even arrived in the system. The missiles from the asteroid were most likely old pre-war missiles considering their lack of EMP hardening." His voice started to crack and grow softer under Sam's gaze
"This move was most likely not only done due to the plentiful reserves of these missiles but also to use the resulting explosion to blind our sensors. The enemy took advantage of this blindness and used what we believe to be the Serpent - 6 experimental missile. We are still uncertain about the specifications of this missile since our intelligence has yet to acquire a complete blueprint." The man finished with a whimper by the end and was almost shivering. Sam turned his gaze away allowing the man to take a breath of relief.
"Archive the data, I want intelligence to set this as their priority." He turned to another bridge crew. Are they finished scrambling the fighters?"
"No sir, there was some disruption due to the destruction of the Valkyrie and Neptune." Sam watched the officer before responding.
"I want them on route to intercept within the next 30 seconds. Star Fire squadron will lead the intercept. I also want Meteor ready with special ordinance alpha." A tense silence fell on the bridge once more. But they quickly recovered and set out to work without questioning the orders they were given. Despite the speed at which they carried out the order it was clear that they were scared. Not of Sam, no this time they were terrified by the simple mention of special ordinance alpha.
