John Carter: The War

by Freelancer 205

"The War." A simple statement that would come to define the ashes the Lylatian Expanse fell into and their subsequent withdrawal from certain defeats' clutches. If not addressed, "The War" will shred the expanse into ribbons of its former self. Rated M for war violence, language, possible drug and sexual reference.

4. Chapter 3 - The Expanse

Authors Note: Thank you to all of those that have been reviewing and keeping me on track for this revamping of the John Carter series.

I have recently completed an entire layout of the John Carter literatures universe for now and most of the foreseeable future that I'll be writing from. If you'd like to provide feedback on the universes layout, please PM me and I'll shoot you some of the data and graphics so you can critique it.

As always, thanks again for reviewing my 'meh' writing ability and sticking in there with me ha-ha. Stay tuned for there will be more to come.

Chapter 3: The Expanse

/: Log Book Open/Date: 11.11.12ALW/Single Entry/

It's been a rather long six months since the start of this conflict. Every gain we make against the enemy, who've now identified themselves as Ordinis Deorum Chaos. Through their intercepted propaganda channels and communications, they seem to be on a mission of cleansing, primarily of the Lylatian kind. All attempts at mediation and diplomacy are met with rampant aggression and immediate destruction of our peace parties.

It would seem the only logical option is a full-fledged war against these beings and their apparent ideologies. It is in line with my best judgment that the Cornerian Governmental Council and the Lylatian Federation deploy the 12th Main Battle Fleet and Planetary Defense Force to the Tantalos System from Tarn in an effort to bolster the already beleaguered 4th and 8th fleets in the system, who are being supported by elements of the 107th Special Aviation Squadron from Serus. The Lylatian and Tantalonian forces already in the system have retaken Gamarros III and all of Gamarros IV, albeit at heavy losses. All commanders are reporting a less than 25% capability for their remaining forces in Tantalos. Food, Water, Fuel and Munitions are in short supply throughout the fleet. Primary casualty points are among deployed ground forces. Even with air support, our Expeditionary Marine Deployment Units are suffering heavy attrition from combat losses and are no longer capable of supporting already in place ground forces on Gamarros III & IV. Heavy equipment and resupply drops to the surrounded forces on the ground on Gamarros II are nearly impossible, being the enemies' persistent air coverage and intensive orbital defense network. The Lam System has committed humanitarian aid; however the shipments will not arrive until we can assure their vessels safety.

Per Directive 12-094, all shipboard nav systems have been purged prior to ship destruction or capture and thus far, no shipboard AI has fallen into enemy hands. The locations of remaining systems in the expanse are still retained in CGC and Lylatian control; though I fear it is only a matter of time before a serious setback allows our foe to access the data that would reveal our other systems.

Casualty Report (Uncorroborated Initial Reports):

Military – 29,000+ KIA / 147,000+ WIA

Civilian – 9.8+ Million KIA / 50+ Million WIA

Countless missing and unaccounted for

Please respond with haste given that our personnel cannot hold out much longer.

/:Log Close/Priority Status: High/Transmit CGCHQ SERUS/DTS: 11.11.12-1429USTALW/

In a lone bunker under the surface of the planets lush green overlay, a single monitor blinked on, an indicator flashing upon its display showing that a high urgency message had just arrived. The date/time stamp in the lower right of the screen steadily displaying 3USTALW. The message indicators silent blinking seeming to mock the situation at hand, for if the casual observer had entered upon this singular room in the seemingly secure bunker, they would lay their eyes upon a gruesome and grisly scene. The body of the canine staff member that has been manning the now awakened consoles controls lay slumped over the typing face, a large plasma produced gouge cutting through his chest. The blood that had not cauterized now dried all upon the smooth controls. Spread out around the remainder of the room was the evidence of an intense battle. The bodies of five Lylatian marines lay mangled all throughout the clutter of the dispersed papers and wrecked computers. Twelve other bodies were mixed in as well, all high ranking CDF military personnel. The bunker door seemingly melted and blasted off its large titanium hinges.

The console continued to blink on in ignorance of the situation. As the low rumble of explosions and raging war could be heard reverberating through the roof of the barely lighted room.

*****Four Months Later*****

"Fox… What the fuck is going on…?"

"You heard the general Falco, the expanse is under attack... Most of the Armedes sector is under enemy control now and there's threat of them breaching into the Canton Sector as well."

The Vulpine and the Avian stood nearly silent on the bridge of their dreadnought class ship, letting that sudden realization sink in. All other conflicts had focused on Lylat. Maybe one other system would be pulled in and that was usually Tarn, just due to the military presence. But now… now an entire sector of the expanse had fallen, with murmurs that another was under threat as well. These murmurs spreading from travelers who claimed that their security escorts just suddenly went silent and disappeared from scans. Others from "survivors" of unknown hit squads that would raid populated areas in the middle of the night. None of it could be validated though without personally travelling near hundreds of light-years to investigate. The only attacks being acknowledged were the two fallen systems of the Armedes Sector.

News reports still rolled in, rehashing old footage and showing new that had just arrived on subspace uplinks. Entire cities in total ruin, smoldering ash and soot clouded the skies. High resolution news drones that managed to dodge enemy anti air edging through the cityscapes, the shadows of defenseless civilians burned into sidewalks and walls from the nuclear blasts the enemy had so widely used.

The middle aged Vulpine just sat in his command chair and looked out the view port at the surface of Corneria, frowning a bit as he thought more into the situation at hand. He and his team had just gotten the Great Fox II less than three months ago and were already being requested to go support an increased security posture in the Litus system.

"So they paying us to go sit back and be on vacation for a bit?" Falco chuckled a bit as he relaxed into his flight deck seat, trying to make some sort of light of the situation like he normally does.

Fox managed a light smile and leaned back into his seat a bit after he punched a few keys on his seat side command computer, "I certainly hope so. We've still got boat loads of credits left over from the Aparoid conflict payout."

Falco nodded and nestled back into his seat, kicking his feet up on the nulled flight controls and watching the star specked space in front of them as the Great Fox turned to move in line with the Beltino Orbital Gate, him cueing up his in ship comms from his seat, "Slippy, Krystal, we've got a mission of sorts. Standby to jump through the warp gate, or come up to bridge."

Moments later the bridge door slid open, exposing a lovely blue vixen clad in just her spandex shorts and a workout tee shirt, "Hey guys, you pulled me outta the gym haha." She let out a light giggle and flopped into her flight seat on the far port side of the bridge, Foxes eyes unconsciously following her shapely rump, tail and legs before he caught himself and glanced down to his lap, realizing that he was dressed in his casual clothes as well, just not as casual as a certain vixen.

"At least you have a decent excuse Krys, was about to say is it casual Monday or some shit?" All three on the bridge shared a chuckle as they watched the speck of the orbital gate slowly materialize into a broad metallic visage that ate up the whole of the view port.

"So Krys, where's Slip?" Falco leaned over, about as lazily as he could, looking over at Krystal to ask his question.

The blue vixen turned her head to him and thought for a moment, remembering she'd passed him on the way to the bridge, "Ah, he said he's gonna hunker down and tinker with a new comm pad during the jump."

Fox and Falco nodded at this, Fox punching in a series of data lines to his keypad, getting a chirped response from the other end of the transmission, signifying that they were cleared to enter the queue for using the warp gate, the large dreadnought maneuvering smoothly and silently in line with two other carrier class and seven heavy battlecruiser class ships, all carrying different emblems than the CGC or CDF, or even the Lylatian Federation for that matter. Fox simply chalked it up to the Litus local government notoriously not liking an active military presence.

His tail flicked a bit as he realized he didn't recognize any of the ships emblems, his brow furrowing a bit as he hoped he wouldn't have to watch his own back out in Litus if something kicked off from this conflict.

He was pulled from his reverie and thoughts as the view screen lit up with the familiar green glow of the warp gate, the chirp of an incoming hailing chiming over the bridge, Fox activating it and a hologram popping up with the head of a middle aged looking German Shepherd, her giving a soft smile before re-announcing the order for entry to the warp gate, the Great Fox sitting at sixth ship in the stack through the gate.

As they pressed through the rippling shimmering green warp hole that would take them to the Litus System, Fox hoped to himself that there would be none of this new foe for a while. Not that he was against the fighting. He and his team were just blatantly tired. Yes it'd been a year and some change since the Aparoid conflict, but they'd been run ragged during that entire mess. He just wanted them to be able to rest awhile longer and actually enjoy some of the credits they'd accrued prior to jumping right back into another fight.

He drew his eyes back up to the viewport, watching as the very tip of the Great Fox's nose tapped into the gate, seeming to stretch on before him as the rest of the massive ship flowed in right after. The shimmers and glows of slipspace surrounding them as Krystal, Fox and Falco took in the pleasant sights of being dragged through deep space at faster than light speeds.

After the ship had stabilized in its initial shift into warp speeds, Fox heaved himself up out of his seat and stretched, his back popping slightly as he yawned, his faded denim jeans and grey tee shirt resting comfortably on his form as he turned to walk back toward his quarters, "Hey ROB, you have the helm."

The familiar bot gave his monotone, "Affirmative." And Fox nodded, heading off to get some sleep. They had a two week journey after all.

*****Three Months Later*****

/: Log Book Open/Date: 12.09.15ALW/Single Entry/

By the order of Commanding General Pepper,

All military funded research and support to extraneous systems shall cease and desist immediately with military assets reassigned to supporting conflict zones throughout the Armedes Sector. Get well date for this directive is the end of 12.11.01 ALW. Reassignment paperwork will follow.

If this directive pertains to unit(s) under your command, prioritize combat capability on attached documents and submit reassignment paperwork to CDFHQ Lylat to receive tasking's for updated billet assignment. All unit(s) notified immediately report to Tarn System and proceed to SD-SBDD-02 in orbit around CDF-OP Charlie for jump gate assistance to your assigned unit. If not assigned by 12.11.05 ALW, report to the 18th Ready Reserve Force Fleet holding in orbit at CDF-OP Bravo.

Failure to comply with this directive will result in termination of position and duty title, to include but not limited to reduction of rank, ejection of career, and/or charges of treason under court martial.

Private funded research ventures to extraneous systems may continue at the behest of funding parties.

/:Log Close/Priority Status: Medium/Transmit CGCHQ LYLAT ALL STATIONS, ALL SYSTEMS/DTS: 12.09.15-0714USTALW/