Chapter 1: The World We Know

The automated guidance system flickered into life as it configured its destination, its faint light echoing the dozens of blinking stars that surrounded his cockpit… Brilliant, he thought, that something can look so real from the confines of a screen.

The Pilot glanced at his HUD. Roughly 10 minutes until final destination.

His anticipation grew, bolstered by the excited chatter of his friends on the comm lead.

Who would be first in? How long would they last? Who would die first? It almost seemed dangerously cavalier to think of things as precious as life and death with such low disregard, but then Adhar remembered and cursed himself for a fool. As real as the graphics looked, as enticing as this simulation appeared, it was just that: A simulation. In the excitement of Operation Pitchfork, he had been so absorbed in the game that he'd believed it for a second.

'Dangerous indeed.' he thought aloud, before dismissing it and lowering the lights in his cockpit to a dull haze and setting his DUR Freelancer leisurely to cruising speed.
Adhar Veelix of the Titan Union looked skyward and enjoyed the sensation of thousands of stars flying past his view, forming white lances against the abyssal blackness of space. With nothing to do except monitor the autopilot, he had all the time in the world. This, he thought, was going to be one for the books.

Usually, his ship carried the polished, aerodynamic look of an exploratory vessel - Sleek, slender, and built with speed and comfort in mind. Which, consequently, was exactly what it was; curved wings gave way to powerful twin thrusters and the steely sheen of the reactive plating, all designed to get its crew to a destination in the quickest time. But today, he reminded himself, was not a usual day.

Instead of long range communication relays, his ship bristled with arms more fitting to a ship of the line. His few token missiles, officially assigned to Freelancers in order to dissuade the opportunistic pirate, seemed small beside the various military grade armaments he had fitted. To Adhar, even the AI crewman he had hired to man his rear gun seemed to be in high spirits. Nonsense, of course. It was a computer, nothing more.

Despite this, the mood was lively. The teamspeak was buzzing with friendly chatter and unabashed excitement as the Union began to prepare for the Vanduul onslaught. In a way, it was amusing to think that people were in such high spirits when in the space of a few hours, their months of hard earned progress were about to be blown to smithereens. More amusingly, thought Adhar, was the prospect of Godfather's Avatar flying through space, arms flapping helplessly, with no means of altering course, stopping, or otherwise doing anything to halt his inexorable advance through the vacuum of space. He suppressed a grin. He'd remember to get at least a screenshot or two.

Besides, this was a day long in the waiting. Operation Pitchfork had been conceived long before the beta had even been realised, as organisations by the hundreds flocked to the concept of leaving the beta stage in a big bang, so people had understandably had a long time to get excited about it. Now the day was finally here, the excitement was at it's peak. With so many players in a comparably small section of space, it would be a much needed stress test for the developers too. It wouldn't be surprising if the servers cooked themselves in the first few minutes, Adhar mused.
The 10 minutes were over. As he exited warpspace he was greeted by a sight that could only be described as truly majestic. Nebulae of a thousand different colours painted strokes against the black abyss of Deep Space. A fleet of ships, their hulls shining against the light of the nearby sun, came into view. Then another Fleet. Then another, until the screen filled with the reflective shine of thousands of combat ready ships, all poised to strike at a moment's notice.

Sadly, this was the limit of the game so far; rendering the hundreds - if not thousands - of ships that were there on the same screen would have fried even the most beefy of computers. The developers had solved it by limiting the amount of full renders to a hard limit. Regardless, the effect was stunning nonetheless.

Adhar's Organisation, the Titan Union, had been one organisation among thousands to sign up to Operation Pitchfork, and planned to make the most of it. Whilst they had a sizable number, they paled in comparison to some of the larger organisations; in the distance, Adhar could make out the hulking silhouettes of multiple Javelin Class destroyers, around which swarmed hundreds of Aurora and 300i Fighters, like flies buzzing around carrion. Ironic, considered Adhar. The Javelins would probably be top priority targets and be left as hulking piles of scrap metal by the end of the day. At least the Titan Union's fleet was unassuming enough to be lower down on the pecking order.

He navigated his ship nimbly through the horde of fighters making their way to the frontline and redirected towards the coordinates the Union had specified beforehand.

He could see squadrons forming up left and right, some bigger than others. A random Aurora was doing flips in space, passing dangerously close to it's neighbors and forcing a nearby 325a Pilot to swerve violently away, spouting out a few choice words in the Local Chat. He could even see some sporadic firing happening in the distance. It was chaos even before the battle had started. Adhar could only imagine the sheer confusion that was going to ensue when the first Vanduul was sighted. He wouldn't be surprised if there were more than a dozen of friendly fire incidents once the fight started in earnest. As he approached his final vector, he could make out the hulking form of an Idris. As he approached even closer, he noticed the Titan Union Badge emblazoned on it's hull.
"Is that what I think it is?" said Adhar, as he approached.
"Sure looks like it."
"Oh, hey Godfather."
"Hey man. Guessing you didn't know about the Idris then?"
"Oh, i've heard about it. Just never had the chance to see it."
Adhar slowed down to allow the ship behind him to catch up.
"Jammy bought it about a month ago with Union Funds. He did mention he'd got a surprise for us. Guess it was too much to hope that he'd changed his mind about the whole 'Suicide Mission' thing."
"It'll be fine!" Said Adhar with a grin. "Got nothing to lose, remember? End of Beta means goodbye current ships, hello new build."
"True." Godfather reasoned with a sigh. "Shit or Bust then, eh?"

The TU Impetuous as they had named her, was a ship they hadn't had the chance to see much action. In fact, it had been used so little that not everyone in the Union even knew it existed. It had been quite an event buying the ship with the combined funds of the organisation. The manpower and cooperation required to make such a ship work reminded Adhar of how far they'd come. It wasn't just a ship anymore. It was a symbol of their teamwork, an icon of the Union's collaboration to get things done. It was a mark of their monetary sacrifice and the collective faith that people had put in the Union. It was the current Flagship of the fleet, and it filled Adhar with pride.

A small fleet of ships had already gathered around her. Different types of the 300 series, a few Auroras, Freelancers, Constellations, Hornets, Avengers, all available ships were present. Gishank's Retaliator was on point as the Idris' dedicated AA support. Two Banu Merchantmen with their big main guns were also floating quietly in space. Clearly some of the Commercial Branch members didn't really have any combat oriented ships, so they figured the biggest ship they had would do just fine. Greetings flooded in from all directions as the pair made their presence known.

Godfather redirected to join the other Syndicate Members, wishing the best of luck to everyone before gunning his engines and disappearing into the swarm of fighters.

As he vanished, Adhar called out to the explorers in the group and asked them to gather around him. It was his responsibility to oversee exploration in the Titan Union; he was also the Head Recruiter. So, one way or another, most people had already spoken with him in the past. It wasn't long before he had roughly 13 ships around him.

Many times had Adhar cursed the paperwork involving his position. But he found it all worth the effort seeing the Titan Union grow into a respectable Organisation.

From the Cockpit of his Hornet, Killer, the head of Security, was already shouting out commands to his commanding officers and trying to get everyone where they were supposed to be. He'd earned himself a reputation of being loud and bombastic - quick to point out irrational flaws in people's well reasoned, flawless logic - but for all that, he was a competent leader and an excellent pilot. That said, even the leaders of the Union dreaded having to sit through his overly complicated and over zealous briefings. It was joked among the Titan Union that if the Security Branch ever ran out of Ammunition, then they would send Killer to debate rhetoric with the enemy in the hope that he'd drive them to suicide.

"So you made it?" Aecuss remarked with a laugh.

He was Head of the Syndicate. A position he'd been after for a while. During the entire Beta he was trying to figure out the mechanics regarding subterfuge, scanning software's weaknesses and profitable narcotics. He became rather good at it. Also, he was an insomniac, so he had all the time in the world to looking up all the information that he needed regarding lucrative businesses or competitors.

"Aye." Adhar answered. "And with time to spare this time."

Adhar's exploring often brought him far off the beaten path. So trying to make appointments wasn't an easy task when the closest jump point was 30 minutes flying away. His impending tardiness had become a given between the members.

"I see that Killer's been trying to whip the Security Branch into shape. How many have tried committing suicide under his commands today?" Adhar asked Aecuss.

"Very funny Adhar. You'll be thankful later when they save your ass when the Vanduul surround you." Killer quickly answered.

"Oh, my dear Killer, we all know that I'll be long gone before the Vanduul even reach us. Most likely hiding behind Jammy in his Idris."

"Not really the best spot to be hiding knowing him. I wouldn't be surprised if the idris spontaneously combusted because he pressed the wrong buttons." Aecuss answered.

Adhar was reminded of the presence of the other members on this channel when he heard them laughing about the conversation going on. The laughter intensified a bit when Jammy answered:

"That's why I am sitting on the bridge sipping my tea and am getting nowhere near the controls."

Jammy was the President and official head of the Titan Union. From the conception of the Union nearly 2 years ago, he had been the person who had led the idea to fruition. He was the catalyst that made it all happen, and he led the organisation with a gentle hand. With the advice of the other 3 Board Members that each lead their own respective Branches, the Titan Union, despite its relatively small size, had a strong leadership structure that made it organised and diverse. Some within the Union say he is too kind to lead an Organisation this size, but any task that required a harsher line was given to the Board Members.

"Enough joking around people, we have 10 minutes left before we head out. Anyone that is a volunteer in the Security Branch should group up with the militia unit that is under Killer. The others should gather up with their respective Branch and their Commanding Officers. "Jammy said loudly.

"Alright people." Said Adhar. "Anyone that's exploration head into the "Stellar Mappers" channel."

The sound of people reorganising themselves soon resounded over the channels. It all quieted down significantly as Adhar switched out the global channel with the one dedicated to the explorers. Yet again, 13 members were all that had entered this channel. He had a separate channel open that connected him directly to the commander so he could receive orders from and report directly to the higher command.

Explorers were a ragtag bunch. No consistency in ships like there was in the Security Branch with their predominantly Hornet arsenal.

Freelancers, 315P's, two constellations, a single Anvil Carrack, a Hornet tracker, etc. You could find truly everything.

The explorers were also very laid back. There wasn't much of a command structure between them. Nor did they have any combat training other than the individual fighting they did on occasion. It went without saying that direct combat wasn't their forté.

"It looks like we've got almost everyone. Good, more than I had hoped for." Adhar said after greeting everyone.

"So, ladies. Who of you has forgotten to switch out to heavier weaponry?"

Six people answered reluctantly as the others snorted about this.

"Now now, not everyone is equally eager to start shooting Vanduul. It goes against our instincts that we've honed these past 6 months to shoot enemies. Usually we bail the hell out of there. At least that's what I do." He said while smiling. "So... it's understandable some forgot to even think about switching out gear. Alright, I want everyone that has the standard loadout to stay with the formation. Scan for any enemies and let me know the moment you see anything suspicious. We'll have advanced warning. That way our fighter wings won't be caught with their pants down."

A small shout resounded as they broke away from the group and set themselves up on the perimeters of the Titan Union's formation.

"All you hillbillies that have armed themselves to the teeth assume rabble formation around me!"

"So? How much chance you think we have for surviving this?" A member asked half serious as they all blobbed together around Adhar.

"Depends." Adhar answered. "If we follow the others we'll most surely die. But, if you fly the other way you'll most likely live. Your choice mate."

"Me? Run away? Why would I do that, when I can be the first to discover some rare Vanduul artefacts."

"The only artefacts we'll be discovering today are the functioning warheads heading our way." said another member.

"Well, we still have 5 minutes before the event starts. So I'll be right back, getting a drink." Adhar said just before he removed his headset.

Of course, his true name wasn't Adhar. Adhar Veelix was the alias that everyone knew him as. A few knew his true name. Some of the people in the Organisation he'd had the pleasure of meeting in real life. Regardless, he'd trust most of them with his back, as they had gone through many experiences together. Virtual or not, a bond will develop between people.

Heading toward the fridge in the kitchen he scratched his head, ruffling his hair in the process. The rest of the house was dimly lit, compared to the room were his pc was. But he knew his house well enough to find his way about without hitting his knee on a table.

Opening the fridge his blue eyes adjusted to the sudden increase of light. He grabbed the dark brown bottle that was near the edge. Seeing it was a special occasion he thought a beer would fit nicely with it, and darker beers were his favourite.

Sitting back down in front of his screen he opened up the beer and poured it in a glass. Whilst taking a sip he made his in game persona do the opposite. He wanted to inspect the inside of his ship. As he exited the cockpit and living quarters he passed through the sensor stations. Usually this compartment was dedicated to cargo space. But the Freelancer DUR had it converted to a sensor hub. Past it was the main cargo hold. It was completely empty since it didn't make much sense to take cargo with you on a suicide mission. All it would do was make your movements more sluggish and your explosion more expensive. Not that money mattered at this point.

As he looked up the rear gun he could see the NPC sitting that he had hired to man the rear gun. He would have preferred a real person manning it, but most people here wanted to go in their own ships. This was perfectly understandable. The only ship that had anything other than NPC's manning its auxiliary stations and turrets was the idris. It had about 30 people on board, not counting the NPC's. 20 of which were marines. They were hoping to perform a boarding action on one of the bigger Vanduul ships. Their preferred destination was the inside of a Vanduul Kingship. They knew they wouldn't achieve much, but it was the most insane destination and environment they could imagine themselves fighting in.

He could hear departure time was getting close at hand through his headset as people started getting restless. So he commanded his persona to sit down behind the command interface and prepared himself for what was about to begin.

"You all know why you are here and you all know you are here to die. But let's make it a fight to remember lads. We want to make sure that the name of the Titan Union will be sung about for many years to come. So let's do something so spectacular that every time they see one of our ships they'll instantly recognize us." Jammy said, starting of his equivalent of the 300 Spartans speech at Thermopylae.

"Stick together, rely on your wingmen. We've explained you all the formation we're going to keep and we've trained it many times. But this is the first time we're going to put it to the test. So let's do it right. And remember people, when in doubt…"

"Brussels Sprouts!" It resounded over the comm channels enthusiastically. No one knew where it originated. Maybe he misspoke one day and people made it into Brussels Sprouts. But it had become an inside joke in the Titan Union as Jammy's catchphrase. Doesn't really make sense, seeing as Jammy is British and is in no way related to Brussels. Or sprouts for that matter.

Things like this don't need to be logical. They just do, in a strange twisted way, make sense in the minds of the members.

"PTS is in effect on the global channel people. Start assuming your formations." Killer commanded.

The global channel quieted down and people focused on the talking in their respective groups. The heavier ships started heading to the centre of the formation. The idris had the retaliator in front of it and was flanked by the Banu Merchantmen. Thought they weren't real combat ships, their massive main guns were perfect heavy artillery against bigger enemy ships.

The Constellations and Freelancers formed a screen around the centre together with the fighter wings. The Scout ships that Adhar had assigned took in their new positions spaced out equally around the formation. The blob of explorers that Adhar still had with him was tasked with fanning out and finding the enemy. That's why they were positioned on the front of the formation. It was a job that was entirely reliant on the hope that your allies would arrive in time to save you, because Vanduul show no quarter and attack on sight. To ensure they survived long enough they would be moving in teams of 2 ships. Adhar's Freelancer was accompanied by a 315P.

A massive ripple of movement formed in front as the different organisations and groups set into motion the march to inevitable doom. Their combined engines were strong enough to cast eerie misshapen shadows on the asteroids.

Big ships, small ships. It didn't matter. They were all here with one goal. To poke the hornet's nest and create an evening that won't soon be forgotten.

As the first ships set off into warp toward Vanduul space, Adhar could feel the excitement in his body. He checked the instruments to see how long it would take until he dropped out of warp.

Still 20 seconds to go.

He went through a mental checklist to ensure he didn't forget anything.

He straightened his headset, took a big gulp of beer and got his hands on the controls.

With the usual zooming sound he came out of warp.

There he was, floating between all the other ships. The silence was deafening, nobody dared to make the first move.

A single ship moved out to his far left and and by silent command,dozens of ships followed suit. So did Adhar and his explorers.

For now it was the scout's domain. The main fleets would keep heading straight, keeping a steady pace, deeper into the unknown while they fanned out in all directions looking for trouble.

Adhar would be scouting straight ahead. As he accelerated to full speed he checked his six to see if his wingman was following him. He was used to run missions solo, but this time he was happy to have a companion to watch his back.

Space here was no different than anywhere else. It may have a slightly different hue because of the neighbouring nebula. If not for the threat of their unseen predators, it'd be quite forgettable.

But Vanduul space had a certain reputation. A reputation that involved no ships returning that entered it. This was emphasised by the wreckage that was floating about. It didn't fill the space equally though. Some of the wreckage had begun to cluster together, forming bigger balls of debris as their limited gravity pulled them closer to each other.

The thought crossed Adhar's mind that if this were to continue long enough maybe a small planet sized ball made out of wrecks could form. But the idea seemed so preposterous he didn't dwell on it too long.

Instead he was worried that all those wrecks were causing interference for his sensors. Through the years he had learned to discern the difference between a powered down ship and a floating asteroid. But this was an entirely different matter. Usually the shape and composition give away hostile ships. But here everything had the composition of a ship and sometimes even some resemblance in shape still remained, making his job that much harder. One could say they had to watch for irregular movements caused by the use of thrusters, but the collisions between debris could cause such a sudden change in course just as well.

Occasionally Adhar and his wingman interchanged information to double check as reading all these "phantom" ships was putting them both on edge. Neither of them wanted to be know as the first person to die in Operation Pitchfork. A good 15 minutes had already passed since the fleet had entered Vanduul space. Not a single one of the scouts had found any signs of Vanduul.

Adhar though it was odd that everything stayed so quiet. Vanduul weren't really known for their subtle behaviour. Usually anyone that entered got attacked within the first 5 minutes. Maybe the developers had called it off and somehow removed all the Vanduul from this stretch of space because they feared their servers couldn't handle it. No, that can't be it. They would have warned the community if they were going to do that. A new tactic? They may be gathering their forces in response to such a large host entering their territories. But they were AI, they shouldn't be able of such calculation. But then again, the Developers might have programmed them in such a matter for this occasion. It'd be a lot of work, but Chris Roberts was known to do these kind of things.

A small blip to his right, nothing more, was what drew his attention. He was going through the data on his monitors. It might be another glitch he thought to himself. He's had over a dozen of those with all this metal floating about. But this one seemed different.

Glitches were short disturbances on the radar. They appeared and slowly faded away. But it almost looked like this blip got cut off abruptly, like someone was trying to cover up a mistake before anyone noticed it.

He tracked it to a tight cluster of wrecks. Roughly 5 km in diameter. Bulges and small outcrops of bigger lumps of metal could be seen sticking out everywhere. It'd be impossible to maneuver in there with his freelancer. On the other hand, a 300 series might be able to squeeze in.

"Hey Cal, could you go and check out that cluster over there? I might have picked up something." He called out to his wingman.

He clearly didn't feel much for going in such a tightly packed ball of mayhem, but he complied regardless. Even if his sensors didn't pick up the signal, the freelancer's might have as they are a lot stronger. Also, an explorer's curiosity is a powerful force. The harder it is to reach a place, the more valuable the discovery tends to be.

Adhar watched closely as Cal slowly entered the wreckage. His maneuvering thrusters were doing overtime ensuring he didn't collide with any debris, which could cause a sudden cascade of shrapnel and bigger components flying away at high speed. Regardless, he wouldn't get out of there without losing some of his paintjob.

"Nothing much near the edge. Some burned out engine components, a broken off wing tip... I think its previous generation Hornet design. But don't quote me on that." Cal said.

"Keep going. It originated near the center mass."

"Easy for you to say. I'm scraping paint here. I'll see what I can do."

As he tried squeezing in deeper time ticked by. Adhar was considering it might have been a mistake to stop here. They were losing valuable time.

For now nobody has found any Vanduul, but he'd love to be the one to find them first. His pride was forcing him to. He'd be hitting himself if he lost his chance because he misinterpreted a glitch.

"Hey Adhar, I'm detecting something solid here. I'll patch it through."

As a screen to his left lit up he was looking at the readings.

"Might be a big chunk of a capital ship." He said.

"That's what I thought, i'll try to get closer if you wish, but i'm not sure if it's worth our time. This might be what you detected."

"Yea,.. I know." He shared Cal's concern. But he was certain something seemed… wrong. He trusted his judgement and it had paid off more times than not. Things don't happen without a reason. "Still, go and take a look. You've gotten this far it'd be a shame to waste it." he said defensively.

"No problem, it's your call."

Another half a minute passed before Cal finally got into visual range.

"Well, it's definitely something big." he said. "Don't see the edges, but it looks like Vanduul design."

"So it's a wreck I presume."

"Probably. But it seems to be in very good state. Let me run a detailed scan for a bit." Being this close, Cal could check for structural integrity and get a general image how the inside was looking. Very useful when salvaging ships and trying to determine the damage and amount of work needed.

"Hmm, internal integrity seems fine. Hull intact. Seems like the reactor core is operational. I'm reading low levels of radiation. Odd... it looks like there's still an atmosphere inside."

Barely had he finished that sentence when a great tremor went through the ball of debris. Even sending a shudder through the freelancer, causing the images on his screen to shake violently.

"Cal!? What happened!" He nearly yelled through his headset.

He didn't get any response. Maybe he'd died and quit the game in a rage.

Adhar didn't have much time to ponder over this oddity as his sensors were going crazy. A massive powersource was trying to break through the debris and was already causing the ball to bulge outwards, straight towards him.

"Whatever it is, it was no damn glitch!" He said with a strained voice.

He made his freelancer do a 180 turn and fired up his afterburners. Whatever it was, he didn't want to be near it.

Whatever it was broke through the wall of wrecks and they flew off in all directions. No longer surrounded by its protective shell a massive ship came into view. It was bigger than a Bengal. The gun on the bow was easily twice as big as the Freelancer he was in.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing as he recognised its design. A Vanduul Kingship. That's the first time anyone had seen it in the beta. As far as he remembers they shouldn't even be out yet according to RSI. But still, there it was, looking down at him.

"Mother of god. So that's what they were planning to unleash on us. That's going to be an amazing fight." He said with a mad grin on his face.

He didn't have much time to look at this magnificent yet terrifying hulk of metal as his collision warning was sounding non stop. Dodging chunks of rock and debris the size of small ships was no small feat.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit." he kept thinking. Dodge left. Dodge right. Under that rock! Nearly. Careful of that piece. Full thrusters, no time to slow down. He was happy he had spent all those hours doing racing and evasion exercises in asteroid belts. The only difference there was that the rocks weren't hurtling towards you from the rear, at high speed, with a Kingship looming in the background.

He didn't exactly have rear view mirrors installed either, so he had to rely on his sensors which resulted in more than a few near misses and some big dents, but by some miraculous twist of fate, he managed to get clear of the projectile cluster.

He was fumbling about to find the right shortcut to connect himself back with the main fleet over his voice chat. The Vanduul had begun their deployment. Scythes, Blades and Stingers were already filling the space behind him. It seemed some of them had been send out to pursue him. He had a head start, but it wouldn't last long as they were way faster then him.

The moment he came in to the right chat, he was greeted by a tide of panic.

"There you are! What's going on? The other groups are in total disarray! Readings are popping up out of nothing everywhere around us." Jammy was firing questions at Adhar like bullets from a Mantis GT-220 Gatling Gun.

Adhar quickly looked at his screen and saw what Jammy meant. He completely missed it as we was concentrating on not getting killed by an oversized lump of metal.

A near perfect circle of signatures had appeared around the main fleet. He had no doubt it were more Vanduul.

"Kingship! Kingship! Hiding in a bloody great rock! They're on my six now, bunch of fighters. Help please?" Adhar avoided another ship-sized block of metal as he abruptly cut off his vocal feed.

Gasps and mumbles of excitement resounded as people were getting more hyped about the upcoming battle. It was still a game, and the more unexpected things happened, the more memorable it became.

"Ok!" Killer said as he clapped his hands. "Lets get to it then! The night is young and we've got lots of Vanduul to kill."

Adhar could easily imagine him sitting there with a smile ear to ear. The big engagement he had been dreaming off was finally here.

"Indeed, let's get to it." Jammy answered. "Now, this might sound crazy. But do you think you could lead the Kingship towards us Adhar?"

He raised his eyebrow in surprise to this question. "I guess I could." He said checking behind him on the massive ship.

"But why would you want that massive thing anywhere near you?"

"We're here for an epic battle. Can you imagine any better way than to have a Kingship as an opponent? Just the fact that we're fighting it will draw attention to us, even if we die instantly, it doesn't matter. Any publicity is good publicity."

"Come on, enough chatting. The first Vanduul are already in shooting range." Aecuss said impatiently.

A muffled explosion could be heard through the microphone.

Adhar commanded the explorers to group up with the main fleet again and support them anyway they could.

Not all of them returned unscathed when the Vanduul started popping up. Some had taken heavy damage while others were still dodging that were shot down didn't respond to anymore hails.

"Them as well?" He thought. "Odd, maybe because of all this activity the game bugs out your connection or something."

Yet again, it didn't seem that important at the time. It was a small nuisance considering the whole situation.

Because the fleet consisted of many different organisations and groups, any mutual organisation when forming up was only superficial. The patchwork of different formations made a strange mass of ships that formed an improvised battle line. This broke up even more the moment the fighting started. Space battles were always quite chaotic. The moment the fighters hit each other it evolved into an all out dogfight.

Adhar was still far away from the main fight, he could see the light show in the distance.

That didn't mean he was cruising leisurely towards them. The Vanduul fighters had caught up to him and he could hear that his back gunner had started firing at them.

He may not have been the best at dogfighting. But dodging is something he was remarkably good at and the rubble was giving him plenty of cover.

He didn't have to bother with the whole "luring the Kingship" business that Jammy had tasked him with, as the ship was more than happy to fly toward the unfolding battlefield. Its massive gun was already lobbing shells the size of fighters into the fray to devastating effect.

The only danger they posed was that Adhar had to make sure they didn't hit him while he was dodging the Vanduul.

Reaching the battlefield, he didn't need to bother breaking through the enemy lines, as there were none. Friend a foe were intermingled everywhere. Though the number of Vanduul was far greater than the number of player controlled ships and that difference was only increasing as ships exploded and new Vanduul moved in.

Speeding his way forward he could see the rest of his organisation ahead trying to keep a semblance of formation. His gunner was having a field day and only stopped firing whenever the gun began overheating.

"This is insane!" Killer yelled as he flew past chasing a scythe that was on his wingman's tail. "It's been 5 minutes and it already look like a battlefield that's been going for hours!"

A high pitched shriek could be heard as a Cutlass passed by with one of it's engines burning.

"Aaaaaaah! There's about 10 guys behind me! Get them off me!" The pilot yelled to Killer.

10 was a slight exaggeration; it was closer to 3. But nonetheless he needed some help. Adhar locked on with his still untouched missiles and managed to take down 2 of them while Killer took care of the last guy with a well aimed burst.

"Thanks guys. Hey Adhar, took you long enough getting here." Rexxar said.

"Oh I'm sorry. I was having a nice chat with the Vanduul that were popping up around me. Still nice to see your still alive. Well… Mostly alive."

"Yeah… I had some bad luck. Some knob end hit me. It'd be bad enough if a Vanduul did it, but when it's friendly fire it makes it so much worse." He let out something between a sigh and a grumble as he was fiddling to get his fire suppression system working.

"How's the rest holding up?" Adhar asked.

"We took some small losses at the start of the battle. But we're holding for now. Even if they outnumber us, it's still only AI flying those things" Killer answered.

In the background the Idris, together with smaller craft, was engaging one of the bigger Vanduul ships. A Destroyer Class Hunter. The colourful AA fire that was spreading around everywhere would have been extremely beautiful to watch, if it wasn't so deadly.

As a message for help poured in, Killer and Rexxar left with their afterburner shining brightly behind them. Seems a Void Bomber was getting dangerously close to the Idris.

This really wasn't Adhar's strong point, but he couldn't say he wasn't enjoying it. He was feeling slightly lost in all this mayhem. He figured shooting down random enemies was as good a way as any to help out.

As the fighter squads were already overextended and the other ships were barely holding on. You could see how slowly but surely people were being pushed back.

In the meantime the Vanduul Kingship wasn't just idly sitting by either. It massive cannons were destruction incarnate, firing explosive death at anyone foolish enough to enter its crosshairs. The only reason the Titan Union's Idris was still alive was because it had bigger targets to shoot at. The bigger Organisations didn't consider an Idris a flagship. Their flagships consistent of Javelin Class Destroyers and even the odd Light Carrier.

Most of these larger organisations were now desperately beset by the Vanduul horde, valiantly defending their flagships from the apocalyptic barrage they were receiving. None of the Javelins had fallen yet, and against the odds, their surrounding fleets were somehow still fighting around them. Adhar saw a brave Constellation pilot sacrifice himself to save his flagship from a Vanduul warhead, but it was all in vain. In the distance, the Kingship's main cannon fired, sending a projectile in what seemed like slow motion towards the flank of the already engaged Javelin. Adhar could feel the tension as what seemed like the whole fleet stopped and watched the unstoppable destruction. There was nothing that would be able to withstand a direct hit from the Kingships main guns. The shell continued its inexorable advance, sliding through the Javelin's armour like a knife through butter.
Then it detonated.
The destruction was astounding; where before had been a mighty flagship, a vessel capable of dishing out extreme punishment, remained only the two shattered halves of what might once have been a ship. Most of the starboard side had been simply incinerated in the explosive armageddon that the shell had unleashed, whilst the bridge was simply nonexistent. There was no doubt in Adhar's mind that everyone on board had been either immolated or suffocated as the vacuum of space stole their last air. At least it had been quick.

Around it, the frigates and fighters fought on in confusion, their high command obliterated. They put up a valiant effort, but to Adhar, they were already doomed.

Numbers were dwindling. Most of the "civilian" fleet, like the Banu merchantmen, was nothing more than smoking chunks of twisted metal.

It was when Adhar saw a big ball of fire nearby and the swearing through his headset that the TU Impetuous had been overwhelmed. It looked like one of the bomber had gotten through and managed to land a direct hit with it's torpedoes. A gaping hole in the side was the result.

On the bridge fires had spring up and a loud rumbling could be felt.

"Time to hit the escape pods people! Out, out, out!" Jammy yelled out. Pointing his hand to the exit.

Everyone was hurrying down the now red lit corridor as the abandon ship alarms were going off.

The AI crew on the other hand sported a deadpan look on their faces as they almost leisurely jogged to the escape pods.

A few pods had already launched, but Jammy was still on the ship making sure everyone made it off. He wasn't the kind of person to go down with his ship, but he'd be more than willing to be the last to leave.

Sadly, leaving the ship wasn't going to happen. As the rampant fires reached the fuel reserves, a second, even greater explosion ripped through the ship, breaking it up into several burning pieces.
The Titan Union fell silent.
"Well, shit." Adhar heard Godfather say through the channel.

To see their flagship go down was a bitter pill to swallow, despite its inevitability. Everyone who had signed up had known their ultimate fate - it still hadn't prepared them for the affront to their pride at seeing their leader and his ship destroyed before their eyes. It was almost heartbreaking to see their months of hard work go up, quite literally, in flames.

Even the loss of the AI crew members was strangely painful. Over the course of the month, they'd been given silly names by the officers and had become the Union's Mascots as the likes of 'Private Parts' and 'Major Lee Simple' had brainlessly followed silly orders at Jammy's behest, much to everyone's amusement. It was only a game, after all, but even then, all contact with the people that were still on the ship was lost the moment it exploded. It had become such a common thing during this battle nobody even noticed it at this point.

A thing the remaining people did notice though was that the behavior of the Vanduul was very strange indeed. They were actively picking off the escape pods. Even players rarely did it, but AI doing it was completely unheard of.
"Total War." Godfather said by way of explanation. "They don't just want to win, they want to… y'know. Really win. Kick us in the dick. Bloody Chris Roberts."
"How are you still alive?" Adhar asked. "Last I saw you the Syndicate was getting surrounded."
"Lucky. Levi went down when he tried to get us close to one of those Vanduul frigates, you know, those Hunters?" he replied distractedly, firing a burst of bullets at a nearby Vanduul Stinger.

"Anyway, we managed to get close enough for Levi to slam into it. Don't know if he meant to, but he did. Must have hit them right in the sweet spot too, cos the whole thing popped like a christmas cracker. The guys who didn't get caught in the blast tried to make it back here, but looks like we were too late. Only me left now."

The others that were still in their ships couldn't spare any time defending the pods as they were already engaged in a struggle of survival.

In one of those scarce moments of respite that were becoming less common the longer the fight continued, Adhar did notice that the chatter had quieted down significantly. There only seemed to be about 20 to 40 people left in the channel, of whom Godfather was swearing fluently and Killer was silent save for the occasional whoop of joy and the odd brisk command to what remained of his shattered squadron. It wasn't that everyone was talking less. There were simply fewer people than before. It did give him a very eerie feeling. The more ships exploded the quieter it became.

Yet again, he didn't have the time to ponder over it. Another wave of fighters was heading towards them.

Others were doing better than him. In particular, the Security Branch was holding its own admirably. No big surprise there, as that was pretty much what they are supposed to do. Adhar's rear gun was long gone. The cargo bay had decompressed when he'd taken a direct hit. He was still protected by the two bulkheads, but the same couldn't be said for his AI gunner, who was probably floating vacantly in deep space by now.

He saw Godfather being chased by a pair of Scythes, but was powerless to stop them.
"See you on the other side, Adhar." He said, and Adhar could almost imagine him grinning like a maniac as he slammed his thrusters into reverse and crashed into the leading scythe, blowing them both up. After that, he too went silent on the Teamspeak.

No matter how good you are at dodging, at some point you'll run out of luck, and Adhar's luck has just run out. His radar was clustered with ships, debris and other interference. He had long decided it had become useless and had turned it off so he could focus on the fight at hand. This did leave him with some serious blind spots. It was from one of those blind spots that a Scythe scooped in and managed to hit him with it's bladed wing, severing his left main engine.

New warning signals started flashing, even after he had disabled them in an effort to concentrate on controlling his battered ship. The uneven force distribution was trying to make the freelancer go into a spin that would mean certain doom.

Though it wasn't anything fatal, it pretty much signed his death warrant as evasion had become near impossible.

A last warning light confirmed his doom, followed by a flash as his hull got ripped open by an Scythe's rocket.

An explosion of white light blared across Adhar's sight as the reactor breached, sending debris scattering everywhere and a strange buzzing noise that only Adhar could hear. He felt like he was falling.