All was quiet in the mantis home worlds, above the planet Qwiklapak. There were none of the usual brawling mantis mercenaries, pirates and slavers. Nor were there even the usual suicidal supply ships. But that was about to change. If a human had been floating in space right there and then, they would have been awed by the massive flotilla which slowly cruised around the curvature of the planet.
"Zzwallar is ready" yelled officer Harris.
"Yes? Well then we shall wait. Prepare boarding parties. Cut all transmissions unless priority 1. Silence until Rebel 1 arrives." I was Admiral Jontho Franski of the Federation 15th Fleet. Or at least the tattered remains of it. I had succeeded where no one ever had. I had united the Mantis. And with these allies we would destroy the rebellion. The traitors would die.
The basic plan was to ambush the Rebel fleet (Our intel showed Fleet 1,5,6 and 7) with the six groups I had divided our forces into. Yplar was the central fleet above Qwiklaplak. We were accompanied be Zanzze and Hiklarr, with Fruxzli as our reinforcements. Zzwallar and Qezactyl would be stationed behind the moon to ambush the enemy. All together our fleet consisted of- 2 Federation Class Mega-Cruisers, 14 Osprey Class Escorts, 1 Nesasios Stealth Bomber and 4 Torus Class Engi Escorts. The Mantis had put together together 2 Kestrel Class Escorts, around 5000 Antique Mantis Boarding Pods, 54 side boarders (literally mined through the hull to board), 93 Gila Monsters, 655 Kill Class (The smallest Mantis ship), 10,000 bombers and fighters, some of them suicide fighters and 230 various junks and cobbled together scrap heaps. They also had a 200-Year-old Mantis Mega Cruiser, as well as a horribly crippled Thor-Class Fed Mega-Cruiser. There were also 4,000,000 Mantis Volunteers on Planet manning (or Mantissing) anti-ship batteries and weapons. Many were even equipped with pre-FTL weapons.
1 hour later
The rebel fleet jumped in. Fleet 1, 6,7,8 and 9. Only 2-5 and 11 were missing. (10 and 12 were destroyed and were still being rebuilt.)
53 Mega-Cruisers. 15 Carriers. 200 Transports. 4000 escorts. 6000 Bombers. Fighters- As of yet unknown.
"Enagage! I shout into the comms."
The Transmissions start to come through.
'Enemy C5 crippled'
'Harjok is down, repeat Harjok is down…
'Enemy escort, 4 of them broken through, permission to…
'Boarders taken C19, request...
'Slizkak fire at the…
'Endurance has taken a hit, engines blown drifting, request fire control…
'Enemy bomber formations incoming, request Qwalin and Flixak to help...
All the transmissions were whirling past me, the bridge officers rushing about and shouting madly. An explosion rocked the ship. 'Boarding drones reported corridor E4!'
The bridge door exploded and the drones lumbered in, mowing down everything.
I smiled sadly. It was lost.
Officer Harris POV
I saw admiral Franski get hit ripped to pieces, his charred body falling to the ground. I dove under the console control panel and listened as the drones, after eliminating all in sight Federation members began ripping apart the Bridge. A mantis leapt from somewhere at one and was slaughtered instantly. Please let the Marines get here soon.
Private Falor POV
I rushed with my squad, one of the few not in a boarding party towards the bridge.
'Grenade' screamed Sergeant Geraldson and a grenade sailed at the drones in front of us. 'Fire at will!' I opened fire with the rest of the 43 men doing the same. After about one minute the drone fire decreased and I heard someone yell to charge. I did. I ran straight into a drone and raised my welder knife which melted its internal circuits. I looked around. No one was standing with me except a man in an officer's uniform.
Officer Harris POV
'Hello?' I asked the Marine.
He didn't acknowledge me, spinning around to stare at the corpses of his fellow marines. Not even one still alive. He turned back around.
'Do the weapons still work?'
I checked. 'We've still got 3 Artillery beams firing. Basically, the only thing left is the secondary oxygen and the engines. Shields just went down. We're breached horribly everywhere. No! Oxygen just went down. Enemy Drones and Marines just took Artillery Beam 4!'
'Can you Pilot the ship into the enemy command ship?' the Marine asked.
'I could… I'd have to lock down the engines to stop the boarders… I'll order an evacuation…' So many thoughts swirled through my head as I ordered an evac and then increased every engine to max power. Then, because the AI pilot was down, I finally got my life long wish. To manually pilot a Mega-Cruiser. It was a shame it would be my last.
Rebel Vice-Admiral Nell of the 1st Fleet POV
When the drones had reported the death of Franski, Supreme Admiral Thomas had retired to his chamber and left me to do the dirty work of mopping up. It was relatively easy, until an officer reported the enemy command Mega-Cruiser had focused all energy on the engines and was heading right towards us. I looked out at the battle and saw he was right. Oh. 'Evacuate!' I screamed but it was too late. 'There are no victors in war' was the last phrase I remembered.
Captain Bovee of the Halogen (Osprey Class) POV
I watched in horror from the video-feed as the Determination hit the enemy command ship (C1). All fighting stopped as the two ships smashed into each other, the Determination send careening to the side to smash into designated enemy C2. C2's reactor exploded, propelling shrapnel and debris into all the nearby ships. The mortally wounded C1 began sinking downwards before it's engines exploded, propelling it into the clash of allied and enemy ships that had been brawling in the space between the two flotillas Cruisers. The shock wore off and I ordered Harmuin to open fire on the enemy ships. Soon the demoralized but still overwhelmingly powered rebel fleet disengaged, fleeing past the planets moons to make the jump to FTL. We had won thanks to the sacrifice of the Determination.
The casualties were massive for both sides. We had lost 2/2 Mega Cruisers, 12/14 Escorts, 2/4 Torus's and the Stealth Bomber. The Mantis allies had lost 2/2 Kestrels, all Boarding Pods were un-reusable, 53/54 side-boarders, 65/93 Gila Monsters, 602/655 Kill Class, 9500/10,000 Bombers/Fighters, 201/230 Junks and both Mega-Cruisers. They did however end up possessing 5 Mega-Cruisers, 1 Transport and 95 escorts.
The Rebels lost 37/53 Mega-Cruisers, 11/15 Carriers, 189/200 Transports, 3118/4000 Escorts and an estimated 95% of Bombers and Fighters. They would limp back home in disgrace, losing another 2 Mega-Cruisers in the process due to still living Boarders.
But suddenly I realised we had more pressing matters to deal with.
Rebel 5th Fleet, comprising of 1 Mega-Cruiser, 4 Carriers, 400 Bombers, 15 Escorts, 612 Smaller Escort-Transports and 443 Transports. To say they were surprised at their own Mega-Cruisers firing at them was an understatement. In the brutally quick engagement they lost every ship boarded or destroyed, with the exception of 15 Escort-Transports who escaped. We lost 6 Kill Class and 1 Gila with a few more fighters. The rebellion would take a while to recover a recover from this.
For a Federation Victory!