Chapter 5

= place: Arcturus Stacion; year 2163 =

"The new classes of ships Berlin Mk2 [1], Everest Mk2 [1] and Einstein Mk2 [2] performed as expected, or better. So did our new Bem-class destroyers.[3]" - reported Admiral Kastanie Drescher, commander of the 2nd fleet, which was now at full strength of 240 ships.

"And the tests of our new Hyperdrive-MassEffect hybrid drive?" - Admiral Grissom asked.

"We linked our maps and mapped out a system, initially named X01, which was only 1.2 light-years away from one of the relays while still in unknown regions, and previous court and telescope surveys found no signs of intelligent life." - began the Drescher report - "We sent a few ships to the system earlier and then started testing the propulsion, from standard FTL short in-system jump, it went well. Then we tried juped it, on, full automation, using hyperdrive to X01. At first everything was fine when the ship flew into the hyperspace. However, only debris that hit our ships flew out. The covers are strong, so there are no losses other than the test ship. Our engineers expect at least 20 more years before we are able to achieve satisfactory results."

"At least there were no casualties." - Grissom said with relief - "And the design of a new point defense."

"There is progress, but you can't still channel your power properly. We estimate at least 4 consecutive years of research before a working prototype is created."

"How's the information from Cerberus?"

"They send in more projects, information about the state of the galaxy and potential allies. They see the most promising ones, in addition to Kashyyyk and Dac, Alderan, Naboo and Sulust. Potentially Ryloth, Umbara, Mandalore, Corellia and a few more. They also sent out a lot of information about the insurgent movements of the Rebels and sent information about their ways of fighting the Empire. Many problems in the Imperial Navy continue to arise which we can easily use to our advantage if the need arises."

"What about these new strange things that are showing up in part of our population?" - Grissom asked.

"Scientists called them biotics." - Dresher said - "They appear to appear in people exposed to Ezzo and later treated by Ichlings, and in children who were exposed to Ezzo very early. This is very dangerous, especially for younger people. Fortunately, we are already working on implants that will allow them to survive and maybe even use these powers in battle."

"Drescher, one more thing." - Grissom said.

"Yes, sir."

"I plan to retire soon, which means I will be replaced by the person in command of the other fleet, which is you."

"Are you sure, sir?" - Drescher asked, somewhat surprised.

"You are a great officer and I know you can handle whatever challenge comes your way. The foundations for our defense have already been laid, much more thanks to you than you think. But I am getting old, and I am an officer from another era, an era when humanity was locked in its system, without knowing about the larger galaxy. But now we have 2 races that have joined us, I do not exclude the possibility that this number will increase, and many still have to be adapted to them. We need someone younger who will be more open-minded about the future, but at the same time with the right amount of experience. You're the only officer I can think of. Besides, I'm just going to retire. If there is a problem, you can always call."

"I understand, sir." - Dresher said, making a salute to which Grissom replied.

"Now you can go away, I will sit here for a while." - Grissom said.

And Kastanie Drescher left Grissom's office.

= place: Reach; 2164 years =

"Come on, you SOB, do you want to live forever!?" - the sergeant has shouted. New military exercises were still going on, but this time the unit had personal kinetic barriers and new armor, testing it against standard forces. It is true that personal energy shields were being worked on, but they would have been far too expensive to give each soldier, so for now, they were reserved only for special forces.

Meanwhile, a squad of 30 soldiers with new barriers and equipment attacked the position of 90 soldiers with old armor and no barriers. They quickly ran across the empty field taking convenient positions, and although half of them got hit, no one was 'injured' or 'killed' thanks to the barriers. Then the fire exchange began.

The barriers gave a huge advantage to the attackers who smoothly began to approach the point. By default, half were moving while half provided cover fire. When they were halfway, only 2 were 'wounded', while the defenders had already lost 7 'killed' and 12 'wounded'.

"I'm impressed." - said the re-elected president - "The attackers, having 3 times less people, are winning anyway, and with a large margin. Even every civilian would immediately notice how much the attackers outclass the defenders in terms of technology."

"Preliminary studies show that the barriers will be much less effective against blasters, but when combined with armor, they should stop the first shot without damaging the soldier." - said General Williams, who has been quickly promoted recently, thanks to the quick adaptation of the strategy to a possible fight against the Galactic Empire, or any other space nation, and the effective inclusion of the Ichlings in the armed forces and the use of them in special forces.

He made it clear that they would be useless in a full battle, but he would find no better ones for guerrilla warfare and action behind enemy lines. Of course, the Humans were still in the special forces, because the Ichlings were not able to perform some tasks as effectively as Humans, and vice versa.

But returning to the fight, the attackers were already close enough that they launched a final assault, taking over the target. Ultimately, the defenders lost 70% of their strength as 'wounded' or 'killed', while the attackers had 5 'wounded' and 1 'killed'. New technologies for soldiers turned out to be a great success and began to be widely implemented in the army, special forces and the Colonial Guard.

Berlin Mk2 class cruiser:
Dimensions: length - 650 m, width - 179 m, height - 113 m;
Defense abilities: energy shields; 1.8 meters of armor; 60 GARDIAN turrets; 2 Anti-Fighter Missile Pod Launcher;
Offensive abilities: 2 cruiser class MassEffect guns; 38 broadside light turbolasers (19 each side); 8 heavy turbolasers; 2 JAVELIN missile launchers;
Crew: 360 + 50 marines;
Complement: 8 Trident Mk1 Fighter; 2 Bumblebee Bomber; 2 Kodiak Shuttles;

Einstain Mk2 class Carrier:
Dimensions: length - 888 m, width - 220 m, height - 460 m;
Defense abilities: energy shields; 2.4 meters of armor; 48 GARDIAN turrets;
Offensive abilities: 2 dreadnought-class MassEffect cannon; 12 Heavy turbolasers; 2 Anti-Fighter Missile Pod Launcher;
Crew: 1700 + 500 marines;
Complement: 240 Trident Mk1 Fighter; 120 Bumblebee Bomber; 20 Kodiak Shuttles;

Everest Mk2 class dreadnought:
Dimensions: length - 888 m, width - 269 m, height - 145 m;
Defense abilities: energy shields; 3 meters of armor; 40 GARDIAN turrets; 4 Anti-Fighter Missile Pod Launcher;
Offensive abilities: 2 dreadnought-class MassEffect cannons; 8 heavy turbolasers; 32 broadside medium turbolasers (16 each side); 8 JAVELIN missile launchers; 20 proton/ion torpedo launcher;
Crew: 900 + 300 marines;
Complement: 24 Trident Mk1 Fighter; 20 Kodiak Shuttles;

Bem-class destroyer:
Dimensions: length - 426 m, width - 170 m, height - 85 m;
Defense abilities: energy shields; 0.7 meters of armor; 40 GARDIAN turrets;
Offensive abilities: 2 MassEffect class destroyer cannons; 4 heavy turbolasers; 22 broadside light turbolasers (11 each side); 2 JAVELIN missile launchers; 10 proton/ion torpedo launcher;
Crew: 190 + 50 marine

[1]Alliance First Contact Era Starship by Euderion

[2]Einstein Carrier by Euderion

[3]Envoy ship by Euderion - I changed the name from Envoy to Bem because I found a record that destroyers are named after war heroes, generals, and so on. Although I'm pretty sure it was some kind of Fanfiction, I'd rather have a fairly unanimous naming convention for ships. If someone wonders, it looks something like this:
Dreadnoughts - names of mountains
Carriers - names of scientists
Cruisers - names of cities
Destroyer - names of war heroes
Frigates - names of the battles