25th June 2610
Admiral Mason glanced out into the vast emptiness of space from the bridge of the UHS Dreadnought, a Missouri-class battleship and the current flagship of the United Nations Spacefleet and the 6th Space Fleet. The 6th Space Fleet was composed of one Missouri-class battleship, one Mediterranean-class battlecruiser, 3 Himalaya-class carriers, 5 Jupiter-class heavy cruisers, 7 Paris-class light cruisers, 10 Barack Obama-class destroyers and 12 Canyon-class frigates. They were escorting 12 exploratory vessels, with supplies and expedition members.
Turning to one of the bridge crew, he asked "Status report?"
An officer replied, "All weapons, shields, navigation and engines at full capacity, all life support systems functioning and all starfighters ready to go at moment's notice."
"Good." Turning towards the wormhole, the admiral noticed that it was barely visible and that only the ship's instruments could detect its energy frequencies. Most of space appeared the same anyway, Mason mused. It was like staring at a sand mound in a desert of sandy dunes.
He left his pondering behind him as the UHS Dreadnought and the rest of the 6th Fleet began travelling towards the wormhole. To an onlooker, it appeared as if the fleet was flying across normally only for the bow of the UHS Dreadnought to seemingly melt into the blackness of space, reaching across the stern, followed by the remainder of the fleet. The stern of the last ship disappeared, leaving behind the emptiness of space once more.
Andromeda Galaxy, just 5 minutes later
Upon entering the new galaxy, Mason was surprised by the appearance of 11 ships of unknown design. These were actually, unbeknownst to Mason, 1 Lucrehulk battleship, 3 Recusant-class destroyers, 5 Munificent-class frigates and 2 Gozanti-class cruisers. No sooner had Mason taken in this shock, one of the bridge crew called out, "Sir, there's an increase in energy, it appears they're going to fire!"
Regaining his composure, Mason called out, "Transfer auxiliary power to front shields. Notify command of what's happening," before turning to the comms and shouting, "All hands man battle stations. We're under attack!"
No sooner had he finished did a wave of red laser fire collide with the shields of the fleet, resulting in an enormous fireworks display as turbolaser bolts dissipate across the blue shields which briefly flickered before returning to normal.
"Status report?" asked Mason.
"Shields down to 50% sir, across the fleet down to 70%. All self-firing systems functioning, we're in range for missile tubes and MAC cannons to fire accurately." an officer replied.
"Target those ships." Mason responded, pointing towards the Lucrehulk and 3 Recusant-class destroyers, before turning to the ship's AI, Colin. "Colin, I want a scan of the ships we're up against."
The MAC batteries were first to fire, their ferric slugs bypassing the ray shields of the targeted ships. The Lucrehulk was hit by 5 MAC rounds, tearing the colossal ship apart. The Recusants were struck by 2-3 rounds each, destroying 1 and causing heavy damage to the others. The remaining MACs missed or caused heavy damage to the Gozantis and Munificents. One especially lucky round hit the reactor of a Munificent, destroying it in moments. Yet more punishment was to come as hundreds of missiles streaked towards the surviving ships. Turbolaser fire shot out some of the missiles, but the others found their mark. The remaining 2 Recusants were blown up as fireballs engulfed them, while one Gozanti was sent crashing into a Munificent from the number of missiles it had been hit with. Overall, only 1 Gozanti and 2 Munificents were left, and they all had been damaged.
Observing the situation, Mason said, "Scramble all fighters and bombers from carriers and the flagship to finish them off. Deploy all other fighters to protect the fleet. Send the UHS Neptune and the UHS Winston Churchill and Deng Xiaoping to cut off their escape route. All fighters, target the bombers."
Upon the order, 420 AF/A-XX Wasps, Mirages Xs, Eurofighter Singularities and ASu-80s streamed out from the carriers and battleship and descended towards the CIS ships like a swarm of hornets, while many fighters also took to the air to protect the fleet and the aforementioned warships began to move to intercept the surviving CIS ships. With engines and hyperdrive damaged, they could not flee.
Hundreds of Vultures, Hyenas and Tri-fighters swarmed out to engage their opponents. The Wasps, Mirages and Singularities locked missiles onto as many Hyenas as they could, with some also targeting the Vultures and Tri-fighters. They then unleashed their missiles, which streaked towards the mass of enemy aircraft in a deadly metallic shower. The enemy aircraft didn't realise until it was too late-some attempted to manoeuvre away, but the missiles remained locked and blasted them from the air. Most of the Hyenas were blown out of the sky, as well as several Vultures and Tri-fighters.
Despite taking heavy casualties, the remained pressed on. Both sides unleashed their laser cannons as the two merged. Multiple dogfights occurred, but it was clear that for the droid fighters, it was a lost cause. The UN fighters were much faster and could easily weave away from laser fire. Some Hyenas and Vulture managed to reach the UN Fleet, but they replied with laser CIWS fire and air-to-air missiles from the fighters, decimating their forces into nothing but shreds of floating metal debris, cursed to wander the void of space forever. The bombers and their fighter escorts had also torn through the enemy fighters with ease, and now where making attack runs on the Munificents and Gozanti. Dozens of Paveway Laser Guided 2000 lbs and 1000 lbs bombs, AGM-84 Harpoons and KH-35 anti-ship missiles slammed into the ships, blanketing them in explosions. One Munificent went down as the bridge was hit by an AGM-84, while the other was on the point of breaking before being put out of its misery by a Spike missile fired from the UHS Winston Churchill.
The UHS Neptune was engaged in a fierce broadside duel with the Gozanti cruiser, trading laser fire with each other. However, the Neptune was better shielded and had more weaponry, and finally finished off the Gozanti-class cruiser with a railgun missile which tore through the bridge, killing all of the bridge crew. A second railgun missile tore through the bow, exposing the reactor, which then engulfed the remains of the ship after an ASu-80 fired its Kh-35 anti-ship missile, hitting the reactor dead centre.
Mason watched with a neutral expression; his head was in full tumult. Although they had scored a major victory, they were now in a war that he had not expected to be in.
Finally, he turned towards one of the bridge crew. "Patch me through to Command. We have a problem on our hands."
"A problem is a severe understatement, Admiral," noted Colin, bringing some chuckles from the bridge crew.
Outside, the hundreds of fighters and bombers began streaking back towards their carriers, leaving behind a cluster of metal and empty space.
That's the end of chapter 1. Next chapter will cover the reaction of the UN Parliament and a few other occurrences on Earth.
Regarding the ship's I've used, I'll be writing their inspiration down here. You might also recognise the MAC Cannons from Halo. You may also have recognised Slipspace in the Prologue. Its use will appear later as well.
Missouri-class battleship – Based off the Infinity-class supercarrier (Halo)
Mediterranean-class battlecruiser- Smaller, less armed and faster version of the Missouri-class battleship
Himalaya-class carrier- Based off Orion-class carrier (Halo)
Jupiter-class heavy cruiser- Based off Marathon-class heavy cruiser (Halo)
Paris-class light cruiser- based of Mulsanne-class heavy frigate, but larger and more heavily armed and with hangar bay (Halo)
Barack Obama-class destroyer - based off Halberd class destroyer (Halo)
Canyon-class frigate – Based off Paris-class heavy frigate
Shark-class assault ship (To appear later) – based off Gladius-class corvette, but more heavily armed, slightly larger and docking bays for landing craft.