Author's Note:
It was brought to my attention that my first chapter had been rather lacking in a variety of regards, mostly in description and priming, among other concerns. I have endeavoured to improve its quality of writing, and as such I have updated it. You do not need to re-read it, for the update does not change the story at all. However, if you want to, you can, obviously.
Coment9: Proper descriptions of the ships involved have also been added in the chapter update. I have actually created basic plans for what each ship looks, but I did indeed forget to properly describe them within the writing itself.
Thank you to those who have decided to tag along in what is my first foray into long form creative writing. I will make mistakes, obviously, so please do point them out where you can.
As Captain Holland had ordered, the HMS Alexander Fleming waited by the Relay, all systems bar communications and passive sensors dark. To say it was tense in the Ops room was an understatement, and despite the fact that there was no way these aliens could hear them through vacuum, let alone an entire system away, everyone keenly felt the need to whisper none the less. When he had signed up for RMREO, Laurence Harrison had not expected to be put in such a position of integral importance. As far as he was concerned, RMREO was a way to serve in the military, without serving in the military, no stress, no MREs, no PE, but you still got to explore the stars in a state of the art ship, and got all the kudos of serving the Empire, perfect for kick starting a political career. Of course, every RMREO ship had military officers straight from the Navy, considering the armament they possessed it was a necessity, but the actual RMREO personnel were effectively civilians and scientists in uniform. The last thing Harrison had wanted was to be put on the frontline of ANY war, let alone a war with an unknown alien threat. Especially not when what felt like the fate of the entire human race weighed down on his shoulders. He was not made for this. Of course, it had a silver lining, if he succeeded and the war was won, he would be the man who made that victory possible. If he failed however…
It was at this moment of rapid and panicked self reflection that the holographic table displayed something horrific. The HMS Hood blinked and disappeared, alongside all the smaller ships around her. All those lives… Lost. That was it. He was not staying any longer. He was not risking them finding the Fleming before they can leave. They had all the information they needed for fuck sake, how much information do they need to convey that there is an ALIEN INVASION currently underway!?
"Helm. Takes us out of here. We shall make straight for Earth." His voice sounded dry and strained, far from the calm authority he had gone for. The order was understood anyway, and they quickly awoke all systems before interfacing with the Relay. All the faces around him were deathly pale, they had all seen what he had seen, and no one dared even speak. None of them were military. They had not signed up for this. He hoped to god that General Williams could hold Scafell long enough for the Admiralty to get off their padded chairs and order Home Fleet to war. As tradition dictates, or more accurately, to comfort himself, he mutters "God Speed" as the ship is flung back towards core British territory.
15/07/2157
After having passed through the many systems between Scafell and Earth, they finally reached Arcturus. By this point, the shock and grief from the Hood's sudden demise had at least somewhat elevated, and pallid attempts to keep an upbeat tone were made by those onboard on occasion. Most were still silent, even the Mess Hall, usually the boisterous heart of any vessel, was reserved and quiet. Not that Laurence could blame them, these were historic times, and not for good reasons. Over the long trip he had lost weight, stress eating at his appetite, he makes his way to the Ops room.
"Contact Arcturus Station." The order was acted upon with some fumble. A direct Mass Less Tight Beam was targeted at a suitable receiver. The most advanced communication technology available, still restricted to military usage beyond the Comm Buoys that BT were setting up slowly, it was a version of laser tight beam communication augmented by a mass less corridor generated by incredibly expensive and advanced systems in conjunction with the Mass Effect core of the ship. Communications were almost instantly established.
"HMS Alexander Fleming, we read you. Where is the Newton?" The well known voice of the RMREO comms officer on Arcturus. Arcturus Station held RMREO headquarters, and with it an entire dedicated branch for communications with their ships when they return for resupply or refit, or to report the recently opened mass relays and where they went. Every RMREO ship pair had an assigned comms officer for ease of operations, a luxury only possible due to the substantial funding the organisation received directly from the Royal Treasury.
"Gone. Lost with all hands as far as we know, though survivors may still be alive within escape pods. We were attacked by an alien civilisation in Scafell. Repeat, we were attacked by an alien civilisation. HMS Hood and her garrison fleet have been destroyed."
"Can you confirm?" The poor officer's voice sounded as shocked and stressed as Laurence did all those weeks ago. This was as much above his pay grade as it was above Laurence's, if not more so. At least he did not have to witness almost five thousand lives be silenced instantly half a system away.
"Yes. Scafell is currently digging in to resist enemy invasion. HMS Hood and her garrison fleet have been destroyed with all hands, no survivors possible, Hood's drive core went up. We are transmitting all the data we collected relevant to the alien civilisation and its ships. Please warn London. Immediately." It almost sounded pathetic, 'please warn London,' certainly not the memorable words of a future prime minister. The fact that he cared was even more pathetic.
"Affirmative. Data received and relayed. Docking bay R14 is available."
"Negative, we shall head straight to Earth. Keep the seat warm for us when we return though." The attempt at levity fell flat, clear from the lack of response, and the fact that he really felt terrible for it.
They had to make for Earth. Or at least, he did. If he was to take advantage of this to further his political career, he would have to do so immediately. He would visit the families of the officers aboard the Newton, he would make public media appearances. As scummy as it felt, if he did not he would simply be lost in the noise of a new war. He had ambitions, ambitions for 10 Downing Street, and if it took some war profiteering, so be it. God did it make him feel dirty.
As soon as they entered the Sol system, it was clear something was wrong. It was like someone had kicked a hornet's nest. Every nation's fleet was mobilising, moving this way and that, Gregarin Station was well garrison by Russian ships, which seemed oddly calm in comparison, and Suez Station had substantial numbers of both French and British ships swarming around, docking and undocking, with shuttles flying everywhere in-between. It was clear the news had made it to Sol, though if he wasn't mistaken the only navy that was not actively undergoing a panicked mobilisation was the Russian Navy, which also seemed to be missing a substantial number of ships. This was suspicious, but also way above his pay grade. Russia was always shifty in his eyes.
They were directed to land in a high priority orbital dockyard in geosynchronous orbit above Geneva, which was odd. He has expected to be told to dock in some backwater yard due to the aggressive mobilisation efforts. Clearly, something was up. Something was indeed up, it would turn out, as as they approach the dockyard, filled with high end transports of the type that billionaires boast about possessing, he received a direct request to make an appearance at an international emergency summit happening in the city above which he was about to dock. Clearly they wanted first hand eye reports, which is rather unnecessary as he had already sent them all the data their sensors had picked up, but he could not complain, it would certainly help his optics and accelerate the time scale of his plan to leave RMREO in favour of a full time political career. The prospective boost that this could provide to his career almost overrode the stress and survivors guilt.
Immediately after docking, he rushed out of the airlock onto the station. Pristine and sterile were the first two thoughts to go through his head upon first sight of the station's interior. With carpeted floors, brilliant white walls emblazoned with directions in the prime colours and bordered with brilliant black lines, it certainly seemed opulent. The normal harsh white or sickly yellow light one expects from space stations is instead a warm yet clean white glow, which does not seem to have an actual source, and every piece of furniture, from bins, to benches, all seem to be forms of modern art, constructed from some white material which seems both reflective and yet not at the same time. As he progresses further through the station, intent to reach the Shuttle services, he passes by restaurants and shops that sell products and meals worth hundreds if not thousands of pounds. This, this is where he wanted to be, but is somewhere he should not be yet. He sticks out like a soar thumb in his RMREO uniform, even after his efforts to clean up, but that seems to be a minor issue as the station is almost abandoned. To be expected he guessed, such high end establishments tend to be far larger than they need to be to handle the traffic they expect.
Eventually he reaches the shuttle services, where a driver in a ruby red uniform quickly identifies him and directs him to his shuttle. Another man in the same uniform opens the door for him, before joining the first in the pilots compartment. With a quiet thanks, he settles into the heavily padded seating for the flight down.
18/07/2157
As he approached the meeting room, the sound of raised voices already reaches him. That was not good, but to be expected. He is shown in by the two Swiss guards at the door, only Swiss military forces are allowed in the building, due to their neutrality, a building which has served as neutral meeting ground for Earth's major and minor powers for more than a century. The International Embassy, as it was called, was home to smaller embassies for all major and minor Earth nations, and featured many meeting halls. The particular one he was entering now being the primary one, large enough to seat the representatives of all space-faring nations at once. With a high vaulted domed ceiling, and neo-classical architecture, it is meant to have a grandiose and civilised air, an air that is quickly dismantled when Laurence is blasted by the sound of a loud multi-faceted argument.
"This is ABSURD! Humanity has been ATTACKED BY A HOSTILE ALIEN RACE! We must present a united front, we HAVE to! For all we know this could be an attempted genocide!" The British representative was all but frothing at the mouth, leaning over his podium, almost knocking off his nameplate. A short and stout man with a balding head, Sir Reginald Stewart was not exactly known for a calm temperament. "EVERYONE IS MOBILISING, BUT NO ONE IS WILLING TO ASSIST THE PUSH TO RELIEVE SCAFELL!?"
"OF COURSE NOT! THIS IS A WAR BETWEEN BRITAIN AND THESE ALIENS! They have not attacked US, they have not attacked anyone ELSE in this room, except YOU. Why should WE declare war on a foreign power when we are not even allied to you! Maybe you will realise what it feels like to be the victim of imperialism rather than the perpetrator, for once!" The Russian representative retorted. While he was yelling in Russian, everyone heard him in their native language, even his mouth movements seem to align with the translation. The Translator Implant, something which was beginning to become common place, was a wondrous device. Of course, it had to be programmed manually, but advanced VI programs have been designed which can do the job to a fair degree of accuracy in a fraction of the time, matching implications, meanings, and context cues between various languages. A technology Laurence had never fully understood, but bloody hell did it work.
"THIS IS NOT JUST AN ATTACK UPON THE BRITISH EMPIRE, THIS IS AN ATTACK UPON HUMANITY!" Sir Reginald had at this point gone entirely red in the face. He was an infamous figure, while some applaud him for 'saying what needs to be said', others wonder how such a man managed to get a knighthood, much less become the international representative of the British Empire. Rumours of corruption, or this being the work of his father, a prominent and important member of the House of Lords, run rampant. Though multiple investigations had come up with nothing on the man or his father.
"At what point was the British Empire representative of Humanity? Hm?" The Arcadian woman inquired. "Just because you own the most colonies, does not make you ruler of all Humanity. If I remember correctly, you yourself made this exact point when we all asked Britain to take more responsibility for its actions. Now look what you have gone and done." Arcadia was almost always in a state of poor relations with Britain, seeing them as responsible for the collapse of their nation, the old United States of America. Arcadia is also known for its penchant for 'Arcadian Exceptionalism', which simply further worsens the issue.
"What they have done? Come now, from what information we have received, the British Romeo expedition followed every stipulation of the Mass Relay Exploration Agreement, to the letter. Something that Arcadian explorers have been noted to fail to do, no? I distinctly remember an occasion in which you were caught sending out exploration vessels without first contact packages." As usual, despite the constant rivalry throughout history, the Anglo-French alliance is still strong, both powers relying upon the mutual support and reinforcement of the other, both in their Earth-based colonial Empires, and in international negotiation. As much as the British and French governments argue between each other on a variety of issues, when placed in a situation of international disagreement, they will support one another against the other major powers. An arrangement found to be rather frustrating by many of the other Major Powers. "Not to mention, the first shot was fired by these aliens if the testimony of the HMS Alexander Fleming is to be believed," the French representative added.
"Be that as it may, conflict with potential alien civilisations is a risk we knew of since we uncovered the Martian Ruins. It is a risk we all take when we explore the stars. The international community cannot be held accountable for the British explorers poking a bear and getting mauled, much the same as we cannot expect the British to come to our aid should we have been in that position." Of course, what goes without saying is that India does not HAVE a serious Mass Relay exploration effort. However, as always, the Indian Representative continues to act upon their foreign policy, that being trying to always reinforce that India was as worthy of sitting with the Major Nations as any other government. Of course, the fact that everyone else sees them as a minor nation results in this being a rather pointless exercise in futility. What was certainly odd however, was that Laurence caught the Russian representative almost seem to look concerned as the declaration was given.
It was at this point that the Swiss representative finally spoke up, a weasel of man who clearly got to where he was through shrewdness, rather than nepotism or populism. "Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would please calm down, Captain Laurence Harrison has arrived." Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on him. "Captain Laurence, if you could please report the exact events leading to the current situation, that would be most useful."
"Thank you. As per protocol, and the Agreement, Captain Rio Woods of the HMS Isaac Newton activated the Shanxi Relay, and ordered both of our ships through the relay. Upon arriving, we immediately began both active and passive sensor runs of the system, quickly detecting what our computers identified as a Heavy Cruiser and 5 Destroyers having seemingly just arrived via a secondary mass relay on the other side of the system. Captain Woods thought that they were Russian due to Russian exploration efforts nearby-"
"They were not Russian. We do not use such heavy flotillas for exploration." The Russian Representative almost seemed nervous. Something rather uncharacteristic from someone who was usually so bold. "We do not seek to claim systems in the way of the exploration of others, unlike certain other nations."
"Could have fooled us with how much of your Navy has left Sol for your colonies…" The Russian Representative quickly glared at the Chinese Representative who made the comment, which were also the first words the woman had said since Laurence had entered the room.
"Yes, they were indeed not Russian. They swiftly FTLed to our location, and Captain Woods ordered myself to position the Fleming to be ready to flee should the first contact turn hostile. Which it did. Despite all efforts to achieve contact, the Alien vessels powered up weapons, and then following an attempt to use all communication technologies available to us, they opened fire. We immediately fled through the Relay to warn Scafell and Captain Holland of the HMS Hood. The Captain then ordered us to flee to the Scafell Relay, and go dark. We were to watch the battle unfold to ensure that we would be able to relay information regarding their combat capabilities."
"This shows blatant disregard of the Agreement! The first thing the companion ship should do upon hostile first contact is return to Earth to warn us! Captain Holland should be held accountable, the reduction in the time we have to mobilise could prove fatal!" The Russian representative seemed incensed, though given the fact that the Russian navy was already comfortably mobilised by the time he had arrived back in Sol, worries about the lack of capability to mobilise in time seem to be rather overblown.
"I thought you said it was OUR war? Not yours. In that case, at what point would it put YOU in danger? Not to mention, Captain Holland is dead, he died honourably in the line of service, and I shall not have you besmirch his name!" Sir Reginald had seemed to have somewhat calmed down, and had re-straightened his nameplate, however his voice still carried the volume and impact he was known for. Both of which tended to make his penchant for aggression and anger all the more impactful. "The Hood went up like her maritime namesake, a drive core detonation whose radius of effect included all the smaller vessels of that accursed battle. There was no chance of survival. That was an act of war. Whether or not any of you cowards will join us."
"I am sorry for your loss, but declaring war on an unknown alien civilisation over what may very well have been a misunderstanding can only be described as foolhardy and a sign of the warmongering that rampant imperialism brings. Your government is just upset it is no longer the biggest bully in the playground. If it is foolhardy for you to declare war with an unknown alien civilisation for what could be a misunderstanding, then it is completely absurd to expect the other major powers of the world to join you. Except, of course, for the nations which have decided to become as puppets to you." The Arcadian Representative calmly continues, "the fact that you think that such a war is a human issue, rather than just a British issue, simply displays the arrogance required to continue to hold an earth-based colonial empire in the 22nd century."
"If we can please continue to hear out Captain Harrison without interruption, that would be greatly appreciated," the Swiss representative acts quickly to cut off Sir Reginald's inevitable vitriolic response. The fact that the German representative was actively glaring at the Arcadian representative, no doubt due to the puppet statement, adding to the pressing need to head off this argument before it begins.
"Right, yes, we quickly reached position. The Hood and her escorts positioned themselves so as to ambush the hostiles when they entered the system, utilising the larger gas giant as cover before using FTL to quickly close range with them as they were distracted by gathering their wits after the Relay transition. At first the manoeuvre seemed to work as intended, and the Hood was able to get two shots off before the aliens could retaliate. However, the aliens seem to possess kinetic barrier technology far more advanced than our own, and survived both with little to show for it. The engagement quickly devolved into a long range firing duel, in which our evasive abilities were shown to be mildly superior. This resulted in the Aliens closing range in order to negate this advantage, while the Hood and her fleet remained stationary. It would turn out that Captain Holland had planned for this, and utilised them closing range to prime them for a standard anti-barrier missile strike. Their reaction seems to indicate a lack of experience with such tactics, rather than attempting to accelerate so as to limit the missile's viable impact zones to the rear of the vessel, they did the exact opposite. No doubt thinking to maximise the time in which the missiles were within a range at which their laser systems were effective."
"Yes, I remember, this was a particularly important part of the report. They do not utilise CIWS. This can certainly prove to be an advantage." The Japanese representative had finally spoke up. Having served in the Japanese Imperial Navy, he had a far better understanding of the military implications of the report than most of the other representatives, who had to rely upon military advisers. He was not known for partaking in the arguments, instead preferring to simply make the statements his government wishes him to at the start of meetings, and spending the rest of the period observing the ongoings. "Though, the report also did mention that their version of GARDIAN systems was far more capable than our own, so they may simply not be using CIWS due to having developed laser systems capable of filling the role of both our own CIWS and GARDIAN systems."
"That would seem to be the case, yes." While the interruptions were starting to get tiresome, at least this one did not devolve into a pointless argument. That is not to say he could not easily partake in such an argument, it was part of the job description of any politician to be quite honest, but on this occasion time was certainly of the essence. "Regardless, finally having negated the alien's barriers, the Hood began to impart serious damage. The alien vessels seem to lack the armour and superstructure strength most human nations use. Though, this may be because of how powerful their barriers are, they may very well have no need for such strong armour as we do. By this point, the escort ships had started a knife-fight engagement in the vicinity of Hood. It was at this point that the alien vessel managed to land a shot that must have reached the drive core of the Hood. Detonating her, and annihilating all lesser ships around her. The alien heavy cruiser was seriously damaged as well, however we cannot tell if it survived or not, for we fell back after this point, not wanting to risk being discovered and hunted down."
"Thank you Captain. That is all. Though I would like to request you remain for the rest of these proceedings to answer any questions should they arise," and so, the Swiss representative condemned him to another 5 hours of constant bickering and arguments between the representatives of the world's most important countries. Of course, this would certainly be something to leverage for his future, partaking in a complete International Meeting, they were particularly rare, usually only occurring when crises between multiple major nations arose. Of course, he could never officially say that he participated, he had no doubt that the existence of this meeting would be kept secret until this war was long over, but that does not mean he could not unofficially leak it…
07/08/2157
It was official then. This was War. Operation Anvil had been initiated, troops and material being transported to the colonies for the Army and RAF to dig in properly. Operation Hammer was about to begin. He had been given command of the Grand Fleet, formed from approximately two thirds of Home Fleet, the first priority he was given was the relief of the colony of Scafell which was presumed to have been invaded at this point. Should Scafell have not been invaded, he should proceed to the second priority, the establishment of a logistical station in orbit over Scafell, and subsequently, the securing of the currently unnamed system beyond the Shanxi Relay. Upon that system being secured, he was to locate the nearest alien population or logistics centre, preferably a planet which fit both characteristics, and take it. Ideally, this would force this alien civilisation to the negotiation table. To further facilitate this, he had been given most of BT's Comm Buoys that they were preparing for deployment across the inner colonies, for use to establish a chain of FTL communications between Scafell and Earth. The Carriers HMS Canada and HMS Cyprus had been turned into mass troop carriers, while HMS Egypt and Hong Kong would carry as many as they could while still being fully capable of serving as proper fleet carriers for the Grand Fleet.
"Fleet Admiral Henry Moore. We wish you luck on this terrible day. Show them exactly why British soil has not been successfully invaded since 1066, do your nation proud." The First Sea Lord had been there to see him off, infront of a camera drone of course. The war had been made public when the Queen had given an official speech declaring war on these aliens, and it was now of apparently paramount importance to squeeze every propaganda victory they could out of everything they could. It all reeked of an attempt to inspire unity and loyalty in the Empire to him, create a unifying enemy and conflict. In his eyes, if you need to actively convince people to be loyal, much less distract them, you are doing something wrong. This was war, not a spectacle. They had already lost almost 5,000 men when the Hood went up, not even counting those within the Destroyers and Frigates, or even if the crew of the HMS Isaac Newton had died. Hell, he had no idea what those aliens were like, whether they were giants who could crew a heavy cruiser with 10, or tiny insects who needed hundreds of thousands, they still lost many lives too. As far as he was concerned, his job in this war is to reduce the number lost as much as possible, and achieving victory as fast as possible is the best way to do that.
"Sir, Dreadnought HMS Valiant has fallen into formation." They had decided to take all Dreadnoughts and Battlecruisers they had available, bar the few first generation Dreadnoughts left in Home Fleet, the fate of the Hood VERY present in everyone's minds. From what he has heard they intend to modernise them all with proper continuous armour plates, having come to the conclusion that the most likely cause of Hood's demise was some unknown flaw in the first generation armour panels after having run hundreds of simulations. The Grand Fleet consisted of 8 Dreadnoughts, including his flagship the HMS Victory, 4 Battlecruisers, 4 Fleet Carriers (Of which 2 are veritable troop barges at this point), 14 Heavy Cruisers, 4 Light Cruisers (Most Light Cruisers having been assigned to Garrisons rather than being within Home Fleet), 50 Destroyers, and 100 Frigates. This was then augmented by 2 French Dreadnoughts (Seeing as their first two dreadnoughts are carbon copies of our first gens, they decided to skip them much like ourselves.), 2 French carriers, 8 French Heavy Cruisers, 40 Destroyers, and 50 Frigates. Even the German navy had contributed to the Fleet, with their brand new Dreadnought, the Siegfried, with its incredibly odd flying saucer-esk design, along side both of their carriers and 20 Destroyers. The Grand Fleet was the largest space fleet that had ever left Sol, or even ever been assembled by Humanity come to think of it. If this was not enough of an armada to win this war, then they were in trouble.
He looked across the Ops room, his crew were ready. The Royal Navy had maintained a schedule of military exercises, a major exercise every two years, and so his crew, and the crews of all his ships, should be at least nominally trained for their duties. From what he knew, this would be an uphill way against a technologically superior enemy, a situation considered almost unthinkable by the Admiralty up until this point, so he would have to rely on numbers and strategy, rather than the superiority of his ships. Hell, he did not even have the Royal Sovereigns, they were being crash built and would be ready next year. An achievement considering the originally slated end dates of 2162, though it came at the cost of two of the class being cancelled and their parts used to finish the first two faster.
Hell, he had seen the war plans, god forbid they have to resort to Operation Scorched Earth, let alone Operation Isolation. The former would put us in the strategic box, setting up nuclear minefields on all the relays that lead outside of our territory? That would lock us in as much as it would lock them out. For all we know they could just push through with no issue. The latter? Granted, it is a last resort, but destroying the relays in order to cut off their route of invasion should it come to it? That seems FAR more like an own goal at that point. We would be literally locked inside our own territory. What makes it worse is that it would require every space going nation and organisation to agree to its utilisation, and with how divided Earth is, that would just mean that it would only be agreed on when they are literally bombing Earth. Worse yet, from what he had heard, the research efforts into its viability have hit a roadblock. The material is locked into its position through some form of field generated inside the relay, on an atomic, if not quantum, level. Not only would the strength of the nigh impervious material have to be broken, but as would the strength of that field. It almost seems like a pipe dream, so he just hopes it never comes to that.
"Siegfried and Richelieu both report that the French and German fleets are ready when we are, sir." This is it then. No turning back now, he will either come back a victor, or he most likely wont come back at all. Hopefully he wont come back as a war criminal though. He had already discussed orbital bombardment with his French and German colleagues. They all agreed that it was to be banned in this campaign, it was morally abhorrent, that and none of them wanted to give these aliens an excuse to do the same. He just hopes that they wont make that decision for them. He also hopes that when they get to Scafell it is not just a large crater.
"Give the order. The Grand Fleet lifts anchor. We set sail for war."