Chapter 4

CIC of the Parnassos Base:

"What's going on out there?" asked Vice Admiral Hakkinen.

"A new enemy fleet has sudddenly appeared from nowhere and has started to attack our flank, Sir."

"The Vers Orbital Knights, who were in range of the moonbase have also started to attack our other flank."

"Calculations say that there is a high chance for our forces to be encircled by the enemy." An analyst commented.

"We can not afford to lose these forces."

"Order all our forces to withdraw."

"Yes, Sir."

'This operation didn't go as smoothly as planned,' thought the admiral.

"Sir, we can't get any connection to any of our units."

"What's the problem?"

"Someone is jamming all our communications, Sir."

'For someone to jam all our communications he must be very close to us,' concluded the admiral.

Then realisation hit him, but before he could issue any order a huge number of explosions shook the base to the core.

"Give me a damage report."

"Our Air-Defences are destroyed and our catapults heavily damaged."

"How could that happen?"

"Sir, three massive ships and dozens of Kataphrakts have surrounded the base."

"Where did they come from?"

"I don't know Sir, they just appeared from nowhere."

"We are receiving a transmission from the largest of these ships, Sir."

"This is Captain Siegfried Kircheis speaking, your defences are destroyed and you are unable to get into contact with anyone outside your base. The main guns of our ships are targeting the entrances and exits of your base. Futhermore you are completely surrounded. To avoid any further bloodshed I advise you to surrender. In the name of his Highness Prince Valerius I promise you lenient treatment. I give you 5 minutes to asssess your situation and give me your reply."

"What are we going to do, Sir?"

"Did this Captain made a correct assessment of our situation."

"I'm afraid he did, Sir."

"Is there any other way to launch our Kataphrakts to engage the enemy?"

"We can go through the front door, but you know what will happen then, Sir."

"For everything else we could do we don't have the necessary time and I don't think the enemy will wait."

"If we self-destruct would that cause any damage to the enemy?" The admiral asked his analysts.

Some of soldiers in the control room turned white when the admiral asked the question.

"There is quite some distance between the enemy ships and us and we don't know anything about the defensive capabilizies of the enemy ships. Therefore it's not likely that the explosion will cause any serious damage. At best we can take some of their Kataphrakts with us." One of the analysts said.

"In other words our situation is desperate and there is no way out."

"I'm afraid so, sir."

"Then we no other choice." Vice Admiral Hakkinen said with a heavy heart.

"Establish a direct communcation line with the enemy."

On the bridge of the second battlecarrier

After his ultimatum Captain Kircheis could catch a breath for a moment.

'His Highness's plan went smoothly. These new scanners and Stealth Kataphrakts were really worth their weight in pure air and water. Who would have thought that scanners, which were originally developed to scan asteroids for the purpose of mining would have such a great military use. It was as if we had the construction plans of the enemy base. Therefore it was easy to attach the explosive charges at the right places, especially if you have invisble Kataphrakts at your disposal. I will recommend these two knights for an award later.'

Captain Kircheis was disturbed in his thoughts by a report from one of his officers.

"Captain, the enemy base tries to establish a line of communication with us."

"On screen."

"Yes, Captain."

Captain Kirches could see the image of an elder Terran officer and from his look Kirches could suspect a high-ranking one.

"I'm Vice-Admiral Eelis Hakkinen, the Commander of UEF General Headquarters. Do I have your word as a soldier that no harm will come to the men and women under my command if we accept your demands?"

"Yes, I give you my word as a soldier that no one will be harmed as long as you do not resist."

"Then we will accept your advice to surrender."

"On behalf of my Prince I compliment you on your wise choice and advise you to be prepared to be boarded."

With these words the cummunication ended.

"Send out our landing ships at once and occupy the enemy base. But tell Commander Mintz to leave the staff of command in place and only keep them under guard. His Highness thinks that we can still make use of them."

"Aye-aye, sir!"

This phase of the operation went well and I can only hope that the next phases of Prince Valerius's plan will go as smoothly as this one.

AN: Prince Valerius's task force consisted of his battlecarrier and six battlecruisers whlie Captain Kircheis's task force consisted of his battlecarrier and two battlecruisers.

In the next chapter we will see the fight of the Deucalion against an imperial battlecruiser, or Captain Magbaredge against Captain Konev.

There will also be some duels and the fight between Inaho and Slain, but for a different reason in future chapters.

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