Thank you, my faithful readers, for supporting me, and thank you, my new readers, for reading my story. Your support means much to me.
Reviews Responses
CReaper210 (Chapter 5): Thank you for your support. I believe that what separates a "good" and a "normal" story (if not a terrible one) is world building. The more detailed (and consistent, and reasonable) it get, the better the story will become. I just feel... pleasant that my world building really makes someone enjoy my work.
Olav152: Thanks. A mixture between humours, jokes, and blood with grim reality is my "favourite" for writing stories - though it may or may not be linked with my sarcastic and (political) cynical attitude...
general-jospeh-dickson: Thank you for your support.
Watcher123: Thank you for your review. In the previous incarnation of this story, some readers have... voiced their questions (so to speak) on the Turian reactions when seeing the Mass Relay got activated. My failure to make it "real" and "fit" in that situation is one of the reasons why I opt for this re-write. The idea is partial inspired by "The Fourth Council Race" ME Fanfiction by Knight Vigilant Koren. I just added my own ideas on that - A greater cause and a duty are good, but what really tips the balance would be personal reasons ("pay back" for the lost honour of his brother, and his childhool [AV] idol being ensnared). The idea of the Quarian frigate Iktomi sacrificing themselves is inspired by "And the Meek shall inherit the Galaxy" of Full-Paragon. The Federation WILL be in an uproar when the news reached their news outlets, I can guarantee that.
Regarding the Quarian ships under repair... Well they are just civilian ships, none of which is combat-capable, and even if they are, they are not even crewed and they have been "powered-down" already. The Terran Federation EXPECTED them to be destroyed when they blow up the mobile dry dock - after all, either the Quarians would be friendly and they would "compensate" for that, or the Quarians would be hostile and they would have a few ships killed before the war even erupt.
SeregaKR: Thank you for pointing out my mistake, my intention was to put it at Lagranigian Point 4 (L1 is reserved for the Outpost, and not-L2 because of human's paranoia). I think by the time the new chapter is online, the mistake would have been fixed.
Chronus1326: Thank you for your review. Personally, I have no military experience - I'm a civilian as much as you can get. Sure, I have enthusiasm with the armed foces, but that's about it. I mention the deodorant because I have read how veterans complained about the gas masks, and the toilet in my dorm room has... weak ventilation. So... the submarines are always in the need of deodordant, I guess?
OMAC001: Thank you for your support, just keep looking for the notification emails
CReaper210: Thank you for your response - a double response, for that.
"I'm sure you've heard old fossils like me talk about Pearl Harbour. Mostly we all lied, make it sound like we leap to our feet and went after the Axis the second it happened. Truth is... we were scared stiff, rumours were flying. We barely had an army, hell, we were hiding in the bed with our head under our sheets. [...]"
- Commissioner John Gordon, Animated superhero film: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Location:
Anvil
Builder-class mobile dry dock
Zhusanjiao system
Hegemony of Oriental
Terran Federation
Time:
08:15 - Terran Standard time
14 February 2201
Centuries into the Modern Age, and probably one hundred and fifty years into the Space Age (give or take), the job of the Engineers had not changed much. They did two opposite jobs, often in the very same time, they built things, and they blew shit up. Sure, the second part was officially designated for the military engineers, so-called combat engineers. However, no one would bat an eye if a civilian engineer took up that mantle right after the presence of a hostile alien presence.
Especially if the sanity of the engineer was already questionable in the first place, and he was drafted into the service following the Code… Something Something. Vuong was pretty sure that there was about ten or so syllabuses after the word "Code", it sounded pretty military, like Code Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot and Hotel-Santa. Something like that. It was too bad that he had no prior military training, or the professional and official one that would allow him to understand the code.
On the other hand, he still understood his job perfectly: he had to rig the entire Mech-suit hangar bay with explosive, leaving nothing for the enemy (whoever they were) but molten and scrap metals. It was a basic form of scorched earth, but in 23rd century, and in space, or by the grace of TvTrope, Up to eleven. The last part was particularly truth, considering how much explosive he was packing on his back. It was enough to evaporate him a few times over… or a dozen, for that matter.
Luckily, Vuong had a reliable training on how to install the explosive devices, which was fairly simple. All he had to do was to stick the electro-magnetic base on the target and flip on the receiver. The Chief Engineer, who actually came from the military, had the detonator within his office, and only when all explosive was confirmed to install that he would break it out and flip the switch. The part where all personnel had already evacuated was pretty much go without saying.
However, inside the enclosed hard suit and watching the whole hangar venting its atmosphere, he suddenly had a bad feeling. If the new aliens had good boarders and the Marines fail to repel them… well, he would pretty much fall in line of duty. There would be nothing left of him to be brought back and buried properly on the soil of his ancestral ground. The line of thought slowed down his movement a bit, but then he accepted it. He finally understood what his great-great-grandfather wrote down in his notebook "Ask not what your Country can do to you, ask what you can do for your Country", "When Fatherland calls, we relpy" and a bold line in red "For the Motherland".
"For the Motherland" indeed. He was practically danced with his life on the line here. Others, including his friends, and even some unknown colleagues… they all volunteered to help the Quarians as a moral duty, and they quickly followed the Insurance Protocol, risking their own life and safety, when news about a hostile alien race reached. The reason was very simple, they did such jobs because such was asked by their Motherland. It was strange, and quite funny when it was spoken in the "normal" situation, but a hostile alien contact was not a normal circumstance after all. Vuong had a strange feeling inside, it was a grim acceptance, just like when he took the offer from the military to be a civilian engineer specialist. There was a risk of death, but he still took it with his friends… And here he was, installing the explosives on the structures despite a clear risk of death and worse.
"This is Dragoon. All Mech-suits in hangar Delta-Four have been rigged with explosive, installing the rest on the control panel."
"This is Ranger. Raw material storage Five is now armed."
"Romanov here. Mech Hanga Five-Alfa has been rigged with explosive. I'm moving for evacuation now."
One by one, the reports sound up on the radio net. No one spoke a single redundant word. There was no need to do so, for they all knew how to cut down and remove the unnecessary items like babbling on the net. It was not like they were not afraid. No, it was the opposite. Vuong was scared, his breathing is rough, and he had to recite more than a dozen poems, songs and mantras to keep himself focus on the work and not going down the gutter of desperation. On the bright side though, the situation was still rated as "controlled chaos", which was pretty much "a normal day" within the PAC sovereignty. Everyone was scared, everyone was spooked, but the working tempo was still as required… For the moment.
Vuong was not so sure what was happening with him. He knew a war was coming right into his face, he knew that he should be scared shitless… Yet, he was still capable of thinking coherently and remaining reasonably calm. Well, almost. He still had a crap ton of explosive around him, and he was wearing a hard suit within a vacuum hangar bay, a slight mishap was enough to evaporate him. A probable answer on why he had not gone bonker was that he was used to the second part, and the first was his duty…
Yeah, he had already started rambling in his mind here. Self-hypnotizing would be an appropriate term here. It sounded a bit troubling, but it was just a variant of self-assurance and self-confidence, both of which were crucial in passing the Engineering course. Some may say that his psyche was something to be worried about – they should be saying the same thing about other engineers. Hmm… yeah. May be, may be it was because of his engineer occupation and education. The university was more than enough to bruise and strengthen their mentality, enough for them to remain impassive in the face of a First Contact War right out of their window.
They were insane, obviously. But who expected them to stay sane after four years in Engineering schools? While the Economics students were partying and Fine arts students were making up stuff while being high, the Gear-heads were focusing on passing their next exams (or doing the homework, or soon-to-be-submitted reports). They sacrificed a part of their youth for study one of the hardest courses known by humanity, they neither had the idea on how they could pass (and fail) any exam, and most of them had to abstain from building a crazy young love during that time. It would be stranger if they were sane by the time of graduation…
Vuong breathed out a relief. Thinking about something else had diverted a part of his conscious thoughts, making him not to keep freaking out on his situation. That was… a good news. Even if his sanity was questionable in the first place, he was in no rush to find court death. Especially if Death was a white skeleton with the voice of Darth Vader reading bedtime stories and not a hot smoking chick like in a recent anime.
"Dragoon to Central. Hangar Delta-Four has rigged completely. Over."
"Copy that Dragoon. Hang on… Confirm. All explosives have been planted, ready to be activated. Move forward to Dock Five, the evacuation ship is bound to move in twenty minutes. Over."
"This is Dragoon. Solid copy. Over."
Vuong quickly stood up and dashed along the hallways. The clanking sound of the magnetic boots was never formed in the first place – thanks to the entire dry dock had been vacuumed. Fire safety and blocking the enemy's advance, something like that probably. Though to be fair, if the new batch of aliens was competent, venting atmosphere would do little to stop their advance. Their marines, or boarders, would come with their hard suits like the Terran marines, which practically level the field in this regards. But it was not his concern, for the moment, all Vuong needed to know was to dash toward his ship.
The Chief Military Engineer would have the control of the detonator. Along with his unit of combat engineer, he would stay and fight along with the marines to protect the dry dock. Best case scenario, the first invasion wave would repelled, buying enough time for the Federation to de-activate the explosives and transport the whole dock back to friendly territory. More likely than not, the dock would be lost by the end of the day, and the Chief would flip the switch, scuttling the dock and leaving nothing to the new aliens.
It sounded terrible. Vuong just hoped that those soldiers had already made their resolve. Courting Death was one job, but directly staring at his/her eyes, gesturing at him/her with middle fingers while saying profanities about his/her mother was a completely different object. But then, the second was somehow synonym to being human. But then, the second was somehow synonym to being human.
Running on the metal hallway of the now-empty dock (which had just turned dark), he glanced to the side, watching the dark space in the general direction of the Mass Relay. He could not see it, but he knew a fierce battle was going on there, two sides were planning to fight until the bitter end. The place was also the grave... the graves of the Iktomi's crews. They had sacrificed themselves to save other humans whom they had just met. That was a debt of honour, and the newcomers, whoever they were, would soon find out how far the human would willing to go just to prove a point, especially with vengeance in their mind.
And was what he just saw a flash of light?
Location:
Brdige
Destroyer Shigure - Flagship of 27th Destroyer Division
Zhusanjiao system
Hegemony of Oriental
Terran Federation
Time:
07:46 - Terran Federation time
14 February 2201
"What the ACTUAL FUCK?"
That was the scream of Commander Hara Tameichi (the "proper" way that his name should be written) inside the bridge of the Shigure destroyer. However, that was a rhetoric question, which required no answer. The actual answer was simple enough: new alien presence appeared through the Mass Relay, all communication attempts were turned down, his patrol group pulled back to make an image of non-aggression, then the new aliens took a shot with their biggest ship. The shot would hit on his very own ship, potentially dealing a severe damage. The only thing saved him and his crew was the sacrifices of the Quarian frigate Iktomi.
Sure, the top brass would call that ship a "corvette", but he was not too nit-picking at the moment. He had more pressing problems at the moments, one of them was to protect this system from the aliens' invasion, and to exact vengeance for his fallen… friends.
He had no idea what was raging inside him. Fear? Dread? Relief? Hate? Anger? He could not describe it with any words other than turmoil. Other men in the bridge were sharing the same mindset, the only thing kept any one from breaking down was the training drilled into them through years of training and operation.
A few seconds had already passed since the explosion of the Eezo ships (the name sounded much better than Element Alpha-equipped ships, really), the fireball had dimmed off and dissipated, leaving nothing but a cloud of debris. Some of those metal chunks were colliding with his ship hull, generating small and weak vibration along the ship. Mechanically, they could be ignored, but psychologically and mentally though… everyone on board just felt a pang of sorrow inside. Those aliens… those Quarians, despite knowing little about the humans, they had sacrificed themselves to save their new friends.
For Tameichi and his crew, that was a debt of honor, a debt which could only be paid partially by killing and capturing all of the new alien murders. The odd, in term of size, was in human's favor. All four of their ships were at 500 meters in length, give or take a bit. Meanwhile, four of the five alien ships were about 200 meters, slightly bigger than the Iktomi, and the last one was about 600 something. The ratio of the width and height to the length was relatively similar between both sides, enough to "hand-wave" it away.
However, size was not everything in space combat. Hell, even for the wet-navy, sizes did not always equal advantage. A full torpedo from a small destroyer, ten to twenty shots in total from a barely 100m-ship, could cripple, if not outright kill, a full battleship at nearly 300m. Sure, not many destroyers had actually done that, but no battleships or even cruisers were crazy enough to wander near a destroyer during a naval battle. World of Warship game matches were not included, obviously.
Size was not an advantage in combat, be it void or wet-navy. Tameichi had been taught that the two most important things were weapons and electronic counter-measure, widely known as ECM. The first was to make sure that the enemy would be killed with sufficient prejudge, and the second was to guarantee that they could hit the enemy and not the other way around. Back in the pre-Space Age, it was already hard enough for each nation to correctly deduce the level of those two systems coming from their… not so friendly states, despite same original root. Now, he had to face a completely new alien race with no comparable ground. The job to compare the two sides was even harder.
Purely by his ingrained training, Tameichi ordered his men into battle station right after sending a report to Captain Lee Xijang of the Outpost Hotel-Omega 29. Red alert lights quickly flooded the whole bridge with klaxon blazing in the background, giving a feeling of urgency. All four ships were ordered to turn around, heading toward the alien formation. Their thrusters were adjusted so that they were arranged into a diamond-shaped formation, dealing with all possible vectors of attack. The thrusters, both at the end and on the sides, were put in maximum output mode, greatly altering the route of the ships. The inertia and the acceleration pushed the officers into their chairs, yet failed to keep them off from doing their duty. Weapons were primed, ECM was pushed to the limit, and sensors of all type were used to the fullest extent, up to and pass the limits thought up by the arm-chair warriors.
In the same time, the whole crew quickly finished putting on their protective wears. Since the beginning of the patrol, all officers on watch had their hard-suits on already. Those were some ugly pieces of fashion, even for some fashionably-deaf men like Tameichi, but he had to admit the practicality. Each suit had their own rings to hook with whatever was needed, a grapple for rescue purpose, a data-pad to free one's hand, that was not to mention some pouches and pockets, each could hold much more than their appearance suggested. The only thing could surpass that was the Swiss Army Hardsuit, which was practically the epitome of "all in one" mentality. Now, with most of their suits already being worn, they only had to put on their helmets, which strangely looked like the ones from early 21st century. Again, their practicality was insanely good. The gimmicks included a basic attached HUD, flashlight, ultra-violet light, camera, video recorder… And those were just the "basic" variant, the one freshly flushed out of a factory manufacturing line. Further customizing was usually encouraged, as long as the upgrades did not negatively affect the operation.
The hissing sound was quickly heard in Tameichi's ears quickly confirmed that the suit was isolating itself from the external environment, effectively sealing him inside. The HUD on the screen of his helmet showed a decreasing meter, representing the amount of air left inside the bridge room. However, the air being sucked out had little, if not none, effect on the great working tempo of his bridge crew.
"Sir! I have the scan report! Those ships are working on the same principle as the Prothean and the Quarians!"
"Report on their weapons sir! Their main gun power is roughly 36 kiloton at full charge. Expect rate of fire: twice per minute, optimum conditions."
"ECM reporting, their jammers are crap, expect severe affect on their ability to lock on us."
Reports kept flooding in. Generally, they were good report, showing his advantages… Most of them, at least. The weapon range was steep into the aliens' favour, mostly thanks to their superior muzzle velocity. It meant, for a few minutes, his Destroyer division would be put under the threat of being shot. Sure, the ECM was at maximum capacity, but putting all faith of that program would be suicidal. The next bad news was the maneuverability of the ships. It appeared that since late 20th century, the humans of the old world had already believed that the only spaceships human had would be "flying bricks". The description could not be more… appropriate.
A few more shots were launched from the smaller crafts, but none hit their mark. However, the report on the energy spike was more than enough to make their hearts drop a few beats. On the other hand, it was totally confirmed that the new aliens, whoever they were, were not in the mood for the talking or peaceful negotiation. Why it happened was beyond Tameichi's mind, his job at the moment was to fight and to die, and not to question.
He bitted his tongue. Frustration was shown clearly on his face. Within the doctrine of Terran Federation, destroyers would be normally put up against heavy-weight opponent. Saying they were meant to be David facing off Goliath was a very apt description. In addition, just like in the Bible, the David was pretty armed to the teeth. Sure, his ship was equipped and built with such an idea in mind, suggesting a well-designed redundancy and protective system. However, it was just "theory", there was no real test (as in, actual combat) against any human's ship, let alone an ALIEN one.
Now, in the middle of his patrol, he had to test it, with no plan, no support, and probably no rescue… OK, the Task Force Insurance was parking right at the border of the system, a few degrees elevated from the ecliptic plane of the local solar system. But those ships were too far away to be here in time and rescue. Even with the Faster than light intra-system mode, or "Shock mode", there was not enough time, and the tolerance was just too low to accurately send in the relief. That allowance was decreasing by each second with both sides heading toward each other.
The smaller alien ships started opening fire. At closer range, it appeared that their aiming program was affected less compared to their flagship. However, the jamming of the Terran engineers proved their worth with all four shots went wide, missing their formation greatly. Everyone took a silent breath in relief, they had survived a few more moments. Now, all four smaller crafts were getting comfortably within the strike range for their missiles. Time for pay back.
"DesRon 27. Launch your Archer missiles. Three pods each. Fire pattern Bravo-2. Initiate five seconds after my mark. MARK!"
Five seconds passed in a blink of an eye. Then, from the top of each ship, three containers were silently pushed out thanks to some built-in gas canisters. And then, each pod just broke down, revealing their interior. Assuming the aliens had a sufficiently good optical sensor, they would probably shit themselves, if they had not, they should be. The reason was pretty simple, within each pod was over twenty missiles. Simple mathematics would give each ship sixty missiles launched in a single go, or two hundred and forty missiles for the whole salvo of the division. Those were 60 and 240 respectively, for the people prefer reading numbers by "numbers" rather than words.
That number, hopefully, would be enough to overwhelm any point defense system of the enemy. And if they were not, well, DesRon 27 would shift to Charlie-3. Then, it was just a matter of rinse and repeat.
Each missile was hurled forward, quickly gaining their speed with traditional chemical booster (read: oxidizing the fuel at a very high and controllable rate). Then, once the fuel had been used up, the fuel tank part was then discarded. The laws of momentum conservatism allow the warhead part to gain extra speed to its already fast velocity. Furthermore, the cosmos could be regarded as (relatively) free of friction force, allowing the velocity gained during the acceleration process to be preserved. Fast speed plus bonus speed equaled really fast speed, which meant hard-to-be-intercepted-or-evaded missiles.
Oh, and each missile was also equipped with a computer program, allowing them to function like a "wolf pack", making sure that the enemy stayed really dead. The missiles would talk (electronically) to each other, determining the angles of attack, the tempo or the intensity of the strike. Such a system had been implanted since early 21st century by a country called "Russia Federation", the ability of which had been field tested and combat tested, claiming over one hundred kills in a single day.
Now, those aliens were being tested, again. There were only four of them, not in the range of hundreds, but they would be… appetizers for what would be coming. These aliens dared to transgress against the Terran Federation, attempt killing her civilians, and actually kill her friends and allies. They shall taste the wrath of the Federation.
Something looked… disturbingly alike to laser sparked from the four alien crafts. A few missiles were hit and exploded. However, most of those shots went astray – probably due to the jammers installed inside the missiles – and there were enough missiles to ignore the ones being blown off by enemy's point defense.
Then, from both above and below the ship, the Terran missiles jumped on the ships like packs of hungry wolves. The first few… well, the alien ships always had shield, that was a given. Tameichi pursed his lips in worry. If the shield held, his missile strike would fail to damage the enemy ships, leading to the overall failure of the attack.
But he was lucky this time, no, humanity was lucky. The enemy shield had fallen under the constant barrage of missile. Their nature of thermonuclear weapons, also known as "hydrogen bombs", may help greatly in that feat. Scratch that, thermonuclear weapon definitely contributed greatly in bringing down those shields. Both nuclear and thermonuclear weapons used fission (simply understood as big atoms splitting into smaller atoms), but the latter had two fission steps and a fusion (small atoms forming bigger atoms) stage in between to generate extra high-speed neutrons to make sure that the second fission step happened really well. The "happen really well" part allowed all radioactive material was used up to generate a giant explosion.
But the humanity ingenuity did not stop there. An explosion would expand in a sphere, wasting over 90% (or more) energy if they just wanted to take down a certain target in a certain direction. Sure, it did not matter much on the ground, because other than the explosion, there was also the shock-wave, the heat and the radiation, but in space, those additional killing features were removed. Therefore, in order to be efficient, the nuclear blast must be directed in a certain direction.
The result of that? Simple, they used the directional nuclear blast in the Munroe effect, the blast could be either used to drive the projectile, or it would be used, by itself, as the projectile. The second form was being used by Destroyer Division 27 at the moment. And despite their less than sane ideology behind, they had been chosen as standard shipboard weapons of the Terran Navy. People could badmouth about the ethnics behind them, but none could disprove their efficiency.
Human standard weapons with standard usage were confirmed to have the ability to take down the enemy's shields, and by extension, the enemy vessels. Yes. The enemy vessels. After their shields were broken down, there was nothing to save those aliens from the Terran wrath coming in the form of the missiles. And there were a lot of them, both the wrath and the missiles, for the aliens to savour. One after another, the remaining missiles slammed down on the bare hull of the alien ships, engulfing themselves in giant fireballs. The excess missiles were programmed to self-detonated, removing the threat of unexploded ordnance on the battlefield afterwards.
Tameichi grinned, it worked. The attack actually worked in bringing down the enemy down. Sure, it invoked the trope Macross Missile Massacre and (very) liberal use of Weapons of Mass Destruction, but by the end of the day, the enemy was dead.
"Sir, hostile contacts Alpha-Two to –Five are destroyed. Alpha-One is now within the range of our L-MAC."
"Time on target! Open fire with one shot from each ship, then launch a salvo of missiles, two pods each from each of our ship. Time the second salvo of L-MAC with that missile launch. On my mark."
"Roger that! DesRon 27 is sending confirmation."
"MARK!"
The Shigure shuddered a bit, thanks to the Conservatism of Momentum, when a 65 ton metal slug leaving the barrel at the speed of 30 kilometer per second. The yield was pretty weak, just comparable to a tactical nuclear artillery shell, about seven kiloton of TNT, pretty weak compared to that thirty-six-kiloton of the biggest enemy ship. However, they had missiles rated at in the hundreds of kiloton, and some megaton ones, well, that difference in gun size did little to hold them down.
After all, the gun size did not matter, how it was used was what should be considered.
Four metal slugs quickly travelled through the dark space, quickly zoned in on the enemy vessel, a "cruiser" as dictated by the Prothean Archive. It was a bit long and on the upper end of the spectrum, nearling the dreadnaught classification, but still a cruiser nonetheless. Its shield would be… much stronger compared to the "frigates". Data compiled from the previous engagement showed that minimum twelve missiles were required to remove the shield completely. Well, the tempo of the attack was very high, aiming to overwhelm the enemy's point defense, so may be quite a few of them were wasted…
The whole bridge of the Shigure held their breath, waiting for the moment of truth. They felt dread rising inside while noticing the enemy was flaring the thrusters, planning to evade the attack. And then, their ship shuddered for the second time, signaling the launch of the second MAC salvo, this time, the sight had been adjusted to meet the new flight path of the enemy. But, was that enough to catch them?
The answer, terribly, was no. Among the four shots of the first salvo, only one shot, coming from Ariake, was able to slide on the enemy target, inflicting some minor damage. All three other missed the target by at least half of its length. The second salvo was even unluckier with all four shots missed completely. Tameichi cursed silently, it appeared that right off the bat, human had to face a few disadvantages already. At least there would be no fall-out from the failed MAC rounds. After a certain time of travel, they would self-destruct, eliminating its danger to anybody within this system. That was a little comfort to the humans.
However, the time on target tactic was derived for a reason, aiming for an enhanced damage on the enemy infrastructure and formation. In this case, the time on target allowed the human to compensate for their failed MAC strike with their insane missile barrage. Just forty missiles from each ship or one-sixty from the whole division, but they all focused on the same target, not spreading out like the last time.
Once again, the enemy sparkled with laser turrets, attempting to shot down the missiles. There seemed to be more turrets and beams, but the ratio of turrets per unit length of the ship was lower compared to the destroyed frigates. The result of that was… spectacular to say the least. Explosions filled the space around the cruiser, brighten up the screens, and then a final explosion took place, signaling the demise of the final target. Or at least, that was what they thought.
When the explosion finally died out and the radiation had thinned out enough, the sensors quickly picked up the scene. Seeing that, cheers erupted within the bridge of the Shigure. They did that! They had stood against alien aggression, and won! A total victory with zero… No, not zero casualty. The Iktomi did not live to see it. Tameichi bitterly thought silently.
However, he did not say it out loud, his men needed to release their stress. They just had the most intense ten minutes of their lives, from hostile alien contacts to actually prevailing over them. Not many people could actually stay calm and sane after that roller coaster of life. They almost lost their life a few times already.
The Terran Navy Commander breathed out in relief. The fight was finally over. It was a brief… and pretty brutal one. Hell. It was lucky too. Normally, a destroyer would be equipped with two missile pods only, after all, putting hundred thousands of TNT ton worth of nuclear ordnance on a starship on patrol was overkill, even for the human. Not to mention the distinct probability that some crews would go rouge. However, with their patrol being shared with the Quarians and the brass was still spooked about the aliens, his ship was loaded with the fullest set of weaponry, just missing the Putin Tsar with the yield of 200 megaton. In hindsight, it would deteriorate the relationship between the two people when… or if the Quarians found out. At least it helped them to avenge their fallen, so it may help a bit.
Tameichi took a deep breath… and just in time for the next alert report:
"Sir! New contact emerging from the Relay. Counting! Two… T… Four cruisers, and fiftee… no, twenty frigates. I repeat, four cruisers and twenty frigates, all with Element Zero, sir."
"What the ACTUAL fuck?"
He had no idea that had asked the same question a few minutes ago. And even if he did, he would still do the same again to vent a part of his anger. He had just blocked the advance of a hostile wolfpack, just to meet up with their reinforcement. The situation had just turned bleak for the humans. They were completely out-numbered now, six times by ship counts, and probably three or five times by tonnage, outgunned by a factor of… who kept counting, really?
The whole bridge turned silent, stared dumbfoundly at the screen. Their morale was dampened, right after it was lifted by the victory. The whole experience was shocking to say the least, no one could think of anything to do or to say. The bridge turned completely still with the only running sound was the breathing transmitted over the radio net. Five seconds passed, then ten… then fifteen.
"Gentlemen, how many Gods do we believe in?"
Tameichi glanced to the side, where his XO was sitting. What separated him from the others was his genetic code, he was the only one with partial Caucasian genetic material, which gives him a light-brown hair and a tall build. A mostly silent man, the officer was actually quite a beast during off-shore parties (and rumours suggested that he had an alcohol distiller hidden somewhere on the ship)
"One…"
Some of his other officers were murmuring. But it seemed like their voices were too small for the man's liking, which prompt him to speak louder:
"I ask YOU again! How many Gods do we believe in?"
"ONE!"
That was better…
"And what is His name?"
"Death!"
"And what do we tell Him?"
"Not today!"
"Aye aye, NOT TODAY! Hara-san, what is your order, sir?"
Tameichi grimaced, his men were putting faith in him, and they were ready for everything and anything. He could not fail their expectation, could he? Taking a deep breath to calm down his nerve, he glanced around the bridge, taking a good look at his crews, who were watching him carefully. They were waiting for his order.
"DesRon 27, launch missiles, two missile salvos, three pods each, five seconds interval, targeting the smaller crafts. Next, aim at the major ships with L-MAC at full charge, fire pattern Alpha-Four."
The order was calmly issued, and it was quickly taken out. The missiles gunned toward the enemy formation, altering their course in-flight to match up with the evasive maneuver of the enemy. Piercing that cloud of missiles was the occasional main gun attacks of the hostile cruisers. It appeared that these new ships had better firing solution, either because of better gunnery skill, better calibrated guns or just because they had better electronic warfare. Their rounds still missed the Terran destroyers, but the gap was considerably smaller than the last time.
It would only be a matter of time before the alien counter-jamming was able to brute-force through the ECM deployed here. Despite a very… rich history in electronic warfare, his officers failed to penetrate the enemy's firewall. But it was not like Tameichi expected to have it done within a few minutes of combat, the alien language and the programming base were too strange to deduce an efficient way for breaking in. At least, the ECM was enough to fool enemy's sensors, keeping them away from locking correctly on his ships.
The missiles were the first to reach the target area. The first salvo suffered heavy thinning before able to reach the target, still, they were able to remove the shield of nearly ten enemy frigates and damage the shield of one cruiser. The second missile salvo arrived unhindered, thanks to the point defense system was being saturated by the first one (or it was being overheat). Two hundred and forty missiles pounded on the enemy formation and exploded virtually in the same time, giving a bright flash, almost like a sun being formed.
The salvos served more than just some fancy light shows, they also released radiation and electro-magnetic waves, as it was their nature. Those would further blind the enemy's sensors and optics, giving them troubles in dodging the incoming kinetic strikes. No one could see it clearly, but the countdown showed that the 65 ton metal slugs were approaching the enemy ships.
As soon as the nuclear star died out, the L-MAC strike package arrived, slamming on the enemy cruiser. The heavy ships were seen visibly to be pushed back with the sheer intertia of the slugs. It appears that the cruiser's shield was capable of withstanding to at least three missiles and a fully-charged L-MAC strike. On the brighter side, five smaller crafts had been confirmed to be destroyed, and four more were marked as disabled. Nine – nil, so far, it was not a bad exchange for the fight.
However, the luck of the Terran Navy did not last long. Their missile arsenal was running low, just four pods left, the enemy accuracy was steadily increasing with a few scratching shots already, and their missile-analogue had already joined the fight. The last shared many similarities with the Disruptor torpedoes in the Prothean Archive, and they proved adapted in piercing through both the shield and the amours. Therefore, the Closed-in Weapon system (CIWS) of the ships was working in override mode, just to guarantee that those torpedoes could not reach the hulls.
A single mistake here would be extremely costly. But, Lady Luck had already stopped smiling with the humans.
A pair of frigates flew overhead and underbelly the Shiratsuyu in the same time, dropping a series of Disruptor Torpedoes, at least fifteen, in a mad dashing. The enemy had already started focusing the firepower on her, attempting to put at least one ship out of action. The point-defense on board was only able to block ten of them, and the remaining five quickly struck home, tearing the ship from the middle.
On board the ship, damage control party was flushed into action, trying their best to seal the exposed bulks and re-connect the wires. In addition, they also had to put out the fires in a few sections that were not vacuumed. Then, a sudden cry from the engineering told them that the oxygen tanker was leaking due to damage from combat. Before they had any chance to fix it, the tanker exploded, flushing out compressed gas, and then, the gas reached the burning sections, resulting in a giant explosion, practically gutting the Shiratsuyu.
The Ariake suffered a heavy focus fire as soon as the Shiratsuyu was disabled. All remaining hostile frigates pointed their guns and directed their torpedoes at her, dozens of projectiles blanketed all her escape vectors and saturated her point-defense. Bolts and shells were shot from the barrel, attempting to intercept the incoming, the ship itself rolled around its own axis, attempting to dodge the rest. She was not lucky enough. Three disruptors exploded near her starboard, pushing her forward to the left, just enough to have her bow hit by one round and another on her top. The axis for self-rotation was quickly destroyed, eliminating the on board artificial gravity. The ship was still combat capable, even if only just barely enough.
The next ship, Yuugure, was able to score two kill, paying back for the Shiratyusy, but she was not fast enough to protect the Ariake. She was hit by a cruiser strike, a thirty-six kiloton worth of TNT slammed on her portside, and another one at her bow. Her engine was put out of action, and her main gun was rendered inoperational. On her bridge, a few officers were knocked out due to the impact, leaving the remaining and the replacement to scramble over to cover. The damage control party on the Yuugure quickly rushed toward the, pouring their heart and mind to fix it. After all, a stopping ship was a dead one. Another party was heading to the power generator, trying to contain the meltdown of the nuclear power generator.
The flagship Shigure was arguable the luckiest for receiving no crippling shot so far. However, her point defense system had been removed completely, thanks to a series of disruptors torpedoes exploding a bit too close. The hostile cruisers were bracketing her, or at least, trying to. Thanks to a mad man at the Helm (to whom no one of the crew had ever shown their gratefulness, until now), the Shigure was able to defy physics with the movements should not be able to be done with her size. Sure, a few hallways and sections were reporting failure and cracks, but nothing to dangerous, or at least, as dangerous as on the other three ships.
Tameichi felt the seat soaking his hair and covering his forehead. However, he could not take out the helmet and wipe them, nor he had the time and focus to do so. Constant focus on the battle was required to stay alive for a little longer. Missile salvo, L-MAC strike, jamming system, chaffs… every single piece of weaponry was used to gain the slightest advantage possible. However, that job was proving to be increasingly difficult. The enemy was now close enough to brute-force through the human's jamming, and they still had the numerical and firepower advantage. In addition, his ship only had two missile pods left, just enough to cover their retreat.
"Comm, send out the encrypted message… We are pulling back."
Commander Hara had no other choice. He was being outgunned now, the most advisable route was to pull back and recover strength. At least the Yuugare was able to hot-wire their engine, giving them a brief window of maneuverability. She would have to stuck in the dock for a while, but it was much better than being killed off here and now. With all four ships laying down their last mass missile salvo, Destroyer Division 27 could safely pull back, dropping a beacon as the target for the main fleet to jump in.
"Helm, hard to starboard. Launch the last two of our pods. On my mark. Mark!"
The Shigure turned hard to the right, launching their missiles widely at the enemy as a final parting gift. Tameichi was waiting for the time when they got out of their enemy's firing range. Then, suddenly, the Combat Information Center (CIC) cried out:
"Sir! The Yuugure, the Shiratyusu, and the Ariake… they are not turning back sir!"
"What? Comm, open a channel to all three of them, now!"
On the main screen, the faces of three destroyer captains appeared. They all looked worse for wear. Kodai Maoru, captain of Shiratyusu, was the least injured, with just a few drops of blood on his suit and a duct tape covering the entire left side of his helmet. Orimura Ichika, leading the Ariake in place of the deceased captain, was seen bandaging himself – as in, trying to hold the blood pouring out of his missing lower left arm. Ayatsuj Kaito, captain of the Yuugure, was seen finishing delivering the orders to the replacement bridge officer.
"Goddammit you three! We should all get out of here."
"Negative Hara-san, I'm not."
"Same here."
"A samurai never retreats commander, I cannot follow your order."
The other three just blinked, in union, and Tameichi was damned sure that they were staring at each other's faces on their own screens. Then, they started to smirk in the same time. No, no, NO! Tameichi was screaming inside, yet, all he could do was to remain standing still in silence. Horror was engulfing his own consciousness.
"The Shiratyusu will remain on the battlefield and support the Shigure's withdrawal."
"The Yuugare will lend her support to the Shiratyusu."
"The Ariake volunteered to assist the Shiratyusu in this operation."
"Goddammit! We can accept losing this battle, taking a tactical retreat, so that we can win this goddammed war! We have done all we can here, we can even claim it a Pyrrhic victory for our enemy! Withdraw! Goddammit!"
"If we don't do anything, we cannot call in the reinforcement. You are the only left with a functional beacon commander."
"If you do not escape and release the beacon, sir, the reinforcement could not arrive in the proper manner, and there would be no one to protect this system."
"The Terran Federation needs you guys!"
"Thank you commander. It is an honor serving under you."
One by one, the three destroyer captains' images blinked out, leaving nothing but a black screen behind. The schematic of the situation was quickly shown in their replacement, showing the three destroyers heading toward the enemy formation. The Shigure slowly distant themselves from the Terran Navy group, now named as Heroes. Tameichi had no idea who did it, but he would do the same if he was in that man's shoes.
Energy spikes were reported, and the screen quickly showed the appropriate information. It was a MAC strike, followed by a full missile salvo. The group just kept going forward, turning down the charge of their main gun to gain extra firing rate. Reports still kept coming in, telling the status of both sides after each exchange. A frigate was dual tagged and hit from all sides with missiles. The Shiratyusu suffered further explosions on board, losing power in the aft section. The Yuugare and the Ariake combined their MAC to cripple an enemy cruiser, but latter suffered three torpedoes from their dying enemies as the parting gift.
And then, over the radio wave, a signal was transmitted in the clear. There was no encryption, no jamming, only pure speeches were shown
O'er the gelid waves of galactic streams,
Set course for the fixed star of Centuri
Our glorious cosmoship crosses o'er the void far,
Beyond those twinkling stars.
Set Sail! We're casting off, anchors aweigh
Stand on your bearing, steady as she goes
(Steady as she goes)
Weather your helm towards the stars
We are Pilots
We are Pilots of the Cosmos
Everyone in the bridge recognized that song, Ginga Kouro, or "Galactic Passage", one of the traditional songs of the Terran Navy. A few pair of misty eyes appeared in the room, but no one dared to sob out loud, for it could be seen as a dishonor to the brave men of the three other ships.
"Orders, sir?
"Shigure… Maintain direction."
A brief exchange between Tameichi and his XO was heard while the song was still blazing out from the speakers, even if sounds of explosions, crying, grunting were heard clearly.
Oh, now as we sail o'er the Kuiper Belt,
we've left the blue Earth behind us
Far beyond the trails of cosmic wakes,
We can see the event horizon, our heading.
Set Sail! We're casting off, anchors aweigh
Stand on your bearing, steady as she goes
(Steady as she goes)
The sea of stars is this ship's destination
We are Pilots
We are Pilots of the Cosmos
The Shigure boosted herself out of the combat zone, yet, she was unable to save her friends and comrades. She had no choice but to watch them die in anguish. One by one, the destroyers of the Heroes formation fell. The Shiratyusu suffered a disruptor torpedo strike at her engine and another gun strike at her power generator. She was gone in a gigantic fireball fuelled by nuclear power. The meltdown Yuugare reached critical level, and she decided to make her sacrifice worthwhile by ramming on a nearby frigate. Ariake was the last to go down, defying odds by every single second. However, the combined strike by three remaining cruisers quickly put her down, yet she was able to scratch one down as pay back.
Then, the net died down. It was still active, but it was just complete silence. There was no one there to send the messages to or to receive them from. A few moments, or a few minutes passed, then a green message appeared on the screen, signaling their arrival at the safe zone. Tameichi, too exhausted physically and mentally, just gesture with his hand, ordering the release of the beacon.
Two minutes later, Commodore Richard Jenkins jumped in with his 16th Cruiser Squadron, mopping up the battlefield. The remaining of the aliens, two functional cruisers and five frigates, all of them battered and injured, was not a challenge for four full strength cruisers who were hungry for vengeance.
The victory, for the Shigure, was a hollow one.
They had lost their friends, their comrades, their brothers and sisters… all gone and perished. And for that, the alien must pay for their crimes.
Yesterday, 14 February, 2201, a day that shall be remembered as a day of infamy, of injustice, and of outrage, the Terran Federation was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval forces of the Turian Hirerachy, a member of the self-proclaimed Citadel Council, a member of the alien conglomerate which had exiled our new-found friends and partners, the Quarians, with inequality, prejudice and racism centuries ago.
Prior to the attack, The Terran Federation had no official nor unofficial contact with the Hierarchy as well as the Council, but it was our intention to initiate a peaceful relationship with them, in the name of peace and prosperity, and the development of all sentient and sapient lives of this Galaxy. It is such a pity now, that such a dream has to be shelved in light of the events yesterday.
Despite our best intention, as well as our attempts at open communication, the Turians had ignored the openings, and instantly opened fire on our patrol with no warning. To prevent our own death, the crew of the Quarian ship Iktomi gave themselves in the ultimate sacrifice. Yet, even then, the Turian kept ignoring our calls and showed further acts of intense hostility, forcing our brave Navy to righteously defense themselves.
During the course of battle, Turian reinforcement arrived, confirming their plan and intention. They are here not to trade or to co-operate with us, they are here to utterly and totally annihilate us humanity as a race of this galaxy. The patrol formation of the Zhusanjiao has fought with bravery and honour, protecting our sovereignty and buying time for the reaction force to arrive. The attack has incurred great losses on our naval and military loss. I am regret to tell you that Terran lives have been lost. In addition, a vast area of our Federation is now under direct threat of invasion.
But, shall we bow down to the alien aggression? Shall we go down quietly into the night? No, we shall stand on our principles, we shall fight for what is right and what is dear to us. If the Turians are seeking our doom, it is of their own that they shall find here. If the Turians think that they would find a divided and conquerable race, we shall show them the united will of our Motherland.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. The only solution for us is to brave the incoming storm, for surrender is not an option.
I humbly ask that the Assembly and the Council declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Turian Hierarchy on Saturday, 14 February 2201, a state of war has existed between the Terran Federation and the Turian Hierarchy.
For the Motherland, for the Terran Federation, let no alien transgression on our people and our sovereignty go unpunished, let this be their first and their last warning.
This is Chancellor John Jericho Sheridan, thank you for listening.
"[...] And then we heard President Roosevelt on the radio. That voice, strong and sure, taking our fear and turning it into a fighting spirit. He's why we won that war."
- Commissioner John Gordon, Animated superhero film: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Well, that's a lot of words. My Microsoft Word tells me that there are over 8300 words (excluding the Author's note, Review response and Quotes) in this chapter.
For the record, the song used in this chapter is Ginga Kouro or "Passage Galaxy", however, the blogger August Ragone put the name as "Song of the Cosmos pilots". The song is taken from the anime "Space Battleship Yamato 2199" in Episode 1. The video is also available on Youtube, both vocal and instrumental versions.
The speech at the end
And I wonder how many cameos can you guys spot here.
