Between the Stars

Disclaimer: I own nothing, as usual.

Summary: in the distant future, mankind is methodically destroying every race that could pose threat to us. Until this time, they had only easy victories. Now, when the bloodiest war of the last ten thousand years is about to break out, humanity's most brilliant Admiral meets a mysterious, dark-haired stranger from an exotic place...

Visualization: Warhammer 40K, Starcraft (especially the video after the terran level 10) and Star Wars gave me the inspiration to form the human fleet. Think along those lines. (other races will be described when they appear, I don't want to spoil any surprises)

Rating: who cares? (Probably R).

Prologue

The year is 2384.
The world is a much wider place.
Peace reigns on Earth.
War rages in space.
To the very end.

Some nameless star two thousand light-years from Old Earth
Moira-class battleship Destiny
Central bridge.

A young woman was leaning over the shoulder of the operator of the main vidscreen. She was wearing jeans and a sparkling blue blouse. Her long, black hair was clasped together by a diamond-adorned barrette. Her dark tresses were tickling the neck of the operator, but he didn't dare to move. Her strawberry scent filled his nostrils. He'll get a lot of free beers for his story tonight! He was already envied for his position on the bridge, but after this! She nearly touched him!

She glanced down at his nametag. She couldn't read it upside down, so she used his rank instead.

'Sergeant, could you please zoom in a bit on the planet?' He obeyed, the spinning blue globe filled the screen. The same picture could be seen on the twenty-foot wide screen above her, but she preferred the monitor. She was resting one hand on the back of his chair, holding her café in the other.

One of the attendants approached her. He was wearing the uniform of the Navy, just like everyone else except her. Black pants and long-sleeved silk shirt, a communicator clasped to his belt. It was pointless to carry sidearms on a spaceship, battles weren't fought hand-to-hand anymore. The shirt was amethyst blue with an inch-wide silver stripe across his chest, indicating that he served on the flagship of the Fourth Human Fleet. His nametag said Major Louis Chan. He was of the far-eastern race, but some Negroid blood showed in his skin and his hair. He stopped at a respectful distance and a good minute later, when she finished watching the planet and turned to him, he saluted.

'Commander, all specimen-collectors have left the planet. The bombers are ready. We are only awaiting your order.'

'Proceed.' She sounded sad. It didn't go unnoticed by her officers; they'd have done anything to cheer her up. Half the fleet had a crush on her.

'Commander, you need to...' He didn't know how to correct his commander.

'I know. Destiny, record my words.'

'Recording started, Admiral.' The ship's computer had a pleasant male voice, but it sounded dead and alien; it wasn't programmed to express any emotions.

'I, Elizabeth Parker, Admiral of the Fourth Human fleet hereby order the Exterminatus of planet number ET-256.'

'Record stored, Admiral.'

'Now you can proceed, Captain.' She said without waiting for an answer. She turned back to watching the large screen. The bridge came alive. The fighter-commanders started giving orders to the squads under them. Vice Admiral Enteroff, the captain of the Destiny, ordered the hangar bays to open. Vice Admirals James Valenti and Samuel Pierce, captains of the two other battleships of the fleet, Fate and Doom, did the same. The bombers left the sides of the Moira-class spaceships in threes, while the fighters escorting them did so in dozens. There was no alien threat here, but the protocol was that no bomber could go on a mission without fighter-cover. In one minute thirty-six bombers and more than a hundred fighters formed up ahead of the fleet, streaking through hundred thousands of miles of emptiness to their target.

The orders were given, there was nothing left to do. Silence filled the bridge, except for the fighter-commanders giving unnecessary directions to their underlings. Everyone else was staring at the wide vidscreen. It focused on the green orb nearly filling it. After two minutes, one by one, tiny dots appeared at the lower edge. The engine-glow of the fighters and the bombers. Ten thousand miles before the atmosphere, the fighters scrambled, assuming patrol, while the bombers continued their run.

Everyone watched holding their breath as the first bomber dived into the atmosphere. Seventeen others followed, all releasing their deadly payload over pre-calculated points of the planet. Numbers started to run down on the left edge: the countdown. The small crafts quickly pulled away from the world condemned to death.

Sixty seconds later the first bomb exploded. Then the next. Eighteen explosions in quick succession. Millions of years of evolution evaporated in one minute. The blue orb slowly turned black and red as the firestorm destroyed the air and an all-consuming flame enveloped the planet.

Silence filled the bridge. One minute of silence for a living world.

Then things resumed their normal pace. Once all crafts returned, the fleet started to move.

The three enormous moiras turned slowly away from the flaming planet, the cruisers, destroyers, and frigates all around them followed their example. The Fourth assumed traveling formation: the motherships on the vertexes of an equilateral triangle, the smaller ships in the middle. Slowly, the faint glow of the engines dimmed. The computers of the battleships synchronized their clocks one last time.

'Navigation ready.'

'Space-ingurgitator-drives ready.'

'All fighters in hangars.'

'Escort ships in position.'

Then finally came the reports from the sister-ships.

'Fate is ready to proceed.'

'Doom is awaiting our signal.'

The Admiral threw a last glance at the Earth-sized ember that was a living, breathing planet not even half an hour ago. It was a heart-breaking sight. She sighed and said softly,

'Let's go home. There is nothing left here.' Enteroff nodded to his adjutant, and exactly ten seconds later, the Fourth Human Fleet left the star-system with three-thousand times the speed of light.

But this time the youngest, and most brilliant admiral of humanity was wrong. In the nearby asteroid field, a small rock started to move. It limped out of the field, turned ninety degrees and left the now-empty system in the direction of a strange, V-shaped constellation...