Chapter 1: The Battle Lines

--August 11, 2017--
--04:20 GST--
Captain Matheson blinked through the flash of a reaction warhead to the left of the ship. SDD-39 had taken another direct hit and was falling back behind the fleet in flames. Even as the ship disintegrated, she could see the lifepods ejecting from its hull and falling into space to be picked up by their comrades in powered armors. "Damn, we've lost the Sutherland..." She said under her breath. "Move the Bakkensho and the LaClark to the left flank and give us covering fire."

Lieutenant Commander Ryder sent the orders out, and two more destroyers maneuvered around to SDF-2's left side. Both of them fired into the blackness of space with a salvo of their forward lasers, only to be answered back with a salvo of the hundreds of Supervision Army ships up ahead. SDF-2 joined them with all of its forward guns, and the main screen in front of the bridge displayed several direct hits on enemy vessels, a few of them falling behind and launching escape pods and any salvageable mecha for their comrades to pick up. The gunners of Corina's fleet had gotten very good and hitting the enemy ships in tender spots.

And then Amelia looked over her consol and confirmed what she already knew. "Captain, enemy reinforcements approaching."

Corina sighed. "How many this time?"

"Ops reports medium battlegroup; twelve carriers, thirty cruisers, seventy destroyers and a few pickets and troops transports."

Corina looked over the status of her own fleet on the consol next to her chair. She had about that number of ships in her own force, though as one would expect she had known better than to deploy all of them to the front at one time. The Supervision fleets in this system were doing well to control the pace of the battle, patiently pushing forwards with the minimal front and advancing on the defense outpost on Ralga-IV. Even now, the twin booms of the station's four main cannons were pointed skywards and charging for yet another bombardment. As long as the reflex furnaces were intact, each of the four stations on the planet could fire four barrages from their mini-macross cannons about every 2 minutes. "Tell Ralga station to direct the next bombardment towards the enemy's rear echelon. They can't advance if we knock out their bakcbone."

"Yes ma'am." Ryder said, passing out the orders to the gunnery stations bellow.

Corina looked at her watch. Megaroad-01's main cannon was still charging and would not be able to fire for 2 more minutes. Even then she would wait for a worthy target, which was increasingly rare these days. The main cannon of SDF-2 had been installed with the ship's refit last year to destroy the larger Supervision Army command ships and battleships, but now these ships were flying mostly out in the open with the escort vessels giving them a wide berth, and it would be a waste to fire such a powerful weapon to destroy only one ship. "Lieutenant Ryder, check with communications. Any word on those reinforcements?"

Amelia checked her consol again. "The 5th fleet is heavily engaged with an enemy invasion force in the Bolo system. They can't spare any ships to help out."

"Typical." Corina muttered. The war had gone on like this for months. The enemy attacked just about every Gallaron installation at once with just enough strength to keep them all busy. Lacul seemed to be fighting a war of attrition; with more and more reinforcements arriving to his aide from other sectors of the galaxy he would never run out of ships no matter how many of them the GSDF knocked out. Every battle was the same, Gallaron fleets often came out of battles with a 12:1 kill ratio against the enemy, but they would still end up retreating and the besieged outpost would be destroyed. Soon the Supervision Army would push its way to Gallaron for no reason other than there wasn't enough ammunition in the entire fleet to destroy all of them, but the only reason they still had a chance to think about it was because of the half a million Zentradi ships attacking the enemy from the opposite end of the Arturo sector.

And then a powerful beam of light shot past SDF-2 on its starboard side, missing the enemy's front line entirely but striking down several ships close to the rear. A few seconds later, another blast, and then another, and then one more shot reached out from the icy planet below, sending dozens of enemy ships on a one way trip to oblivion. The Zentradi gunships on the far right flank of Corina's fleet joined the barrage, firing into the rear line of the enemy fleet in one deadly wave.

All at once, the enemy fleet stopped advancing. Most of the destroyers near the front of the formation shifted positions to get a good angle on Corina's ships, but none of them were even firing now. The heavier ships in the enemy fleet fell back towards Ralga's moon and the battery stations they had destroyed there, and before long the entire enemy front line had fallen back out of range of the Gallaron fleet. They seemed to be biding their time, analyzing the defenses of the planet to determine the best way to attack it. "Status of enemies, Commander?" Corina said as the enemies fell back. "What are they up to?"

"They're regrouping sir. I think they're shifting their formation to fill the rear echelons. They'll probably resume their attack again within the next two hours if they follow their usual patterns."

Corina nodded. "I think you're right, but we can't hold this position forever. Send another request to Fleet HQ for reinforcements."

"Yes sir, but we both know what they're going to say."

"You never know, maybe we'll get lucky. Just send it."

"Yes ma'am."

Corina took a moment to relax in her chair again. The almost constant battle was taking its toll on her and the entire crew. The fighter squadrons were worn out, barely a third of them were fully operational. Most if not all of the powered armor pilots were going into battle with field dressings over old wounds from battles two or three weeks ago, even Colonel Bilansky, the ship's Mobile Infantry commander was fighting with a newly-fitted prosthetic leg. But more than anything, Corina missed Broli. They'd been married for eleven months and she had only seem him twice since their wedding day. Whenever they seemed to find time to be together, there was always another emergency and both of them would rush right back to the bridge of their ships. Broli's 1st fleet was hundreds of light-years away now on the opposite side of the defense grid, and every day brought the possibility that Corina would never see him again.

She decided it was best not to dwell on these kinds of things and keep her mind on her duty. "Have all sections remain at Alert Level-1. Have three Valkyrie wings saddle up for an air strike."

Amelia glanced at her over her shoulder. "Air strike, sir?"

"The more pressure we apply to the enemy, the more control we have over the direction of the battle. Best to hit them while they're regrouping and take the offensive while we can."

Amelia nodded at the tactical wisdom. "Yes ma'am. I'll pass the order on to the rest of the fleet."

"You do that, but don't include the gunships. The enemy's new variable fighters might have the same idea." Corina looked out the giant viewport of the ship at the planet bellow. She didn't know why, but this made her think of Misa. She started to wonder what the Ichijos were up to right now.

--24:50 GST--
Dumo Koru rose to his feet as the Colonel entered his office and held out his hand in what he had come to understand as the standard Miclone greeting. Hikaru shook his hand and sat down in the chair, and Misa entered shortly after in her wheelchair and likewise shook hands as she entered, "Thanks again for taking time out of your schedule for this, Dumo. We know you're very busy..."

"Not at all, Admiral, this is actually quite routine."

Misa smiled, "When my daughter's involved, nothing is ever exactly 'routine.'"

Koru grinned. "Now she tells me."

Hikaru adjusted himself into a comfortable posture in the padded chair in Koru's office and broke the ice for the good/bad news. "So... she didn't give you too much trouble, did she?"

"No more than I expected. The extra test we spoke about over the phone was just to make sure of a few things. I did a full profile, and even an M.R.I. during one of the tests..." Koru opened a large manila folder on his desk and shuffled through the papers, "And I gotta tell you, I'm really glad you brought her in when you did."

Misa's blood chilled for half a second, "Is something wrong with her?"

"Not exactly... now don't go getting all nervous on me, Admiral, your daughter is in perfect health, mentally and physically. The thing we did find is... a curiosity."

"What did you find?" Hikaru said, bracing himself.

"Miko demonstrates a psychological disposition--and a very mild one--towards a form of Anima Mak-Ibini, known on your world as autistic psychopathy or "Asperger's Syndrome." It's not especially unusual, but tends to go unreported among most people."

Misa and Hikaru turned and stared at each other, then back at the Koru with blank faces, "So... what's wrong with her?" Hikaru said.

Koru smiled, "I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with her, just that you should be aware that your daughter processes information far different than a normal person would. For instance, in one of the test questions I asked her to tell me about your variable fighter. For the next ten minutes I was treated to an EXTREMELY detailed explanation of the Valkyrie's fire control system and and brief summary of aerial tactics. The one thing she didn't do was describe the plane or what it looked like."

Hikaru understood immediately. It was one of Miko's little quirks he had come to marvel at, but until now he had never given it much thought. "So it's... what, an attention deficient thing?"

"Not at all. If she needed to, she could describe that plane in enough detail to build one herself. It's just that when I asked her an opened ended question about the Valkyrie, the first thing that came to her mind were very specific, minute details. And in three other test questions she had the same results, along with the data from the M.R.I. when I asked most of them. She breaks down and analyzes every detail of her life, but she never does consolidate all those details into a coherent image."

Misa rubbed her temples in confusion, "So... you're saying Miko is... you're saying she..."

"Let me put it this way," Koru folded his hands and spoke slowly, "Normal human thought process, as in your case, is like a film reel on a movie projector. In the daily events, each frame--your thoughts--flows seamlessly into the next frame, and the next frame, in a fluid motion that your can interpret as a singular event or concept, even though that event consists of dozens or even thousands of separate bits of information. Your brain blends them together to form a coherent singular image. Miko's thought process is completely different," Koru unfolded his hands and rested his palms on the papers, next to a photograph of a smiling toddler with a plastic airplane in her hand, "Her experience of the world is like a slide show. Every bit of data is in itself a completely separate concept for her to understand. Instead of blending it together to grasp the bigger picture, she breaks it apart and looks every bit of it in detail. That's why you and Hikaru look at an airplane and see a VF-4 Lighting, while Miko looks at the same airplane and sees a hyper-carbon fuselage in lifting body configuration, bound by two engine nacelles each mounting a Bofors Pulse laser and vectored exhaust, canard surfaces on the forward fuselage..." He glanced at the paper for her exact wording, "One and three-quarter meters aft of the canopy of the cockpit, etc, etc."

"But that's what a Lightnig is," Hikaru said defensively.

"Exactly right. But as I said, you'll look at the plane and see whole thing as one object. Miko looks and sees all three-million parts of that plane individually, and decides as an afterthought that all those parts make up a whole. Now don't get confused, it's not really a disability, in fact in many ways it's an advantage. I'm only telling you this because as she gets older, she's going to frustrate the hell out of you the way she thinks of things. She won't understand anything you try to explain to her unless she can take it apart and examine it piece by piece. That means there's going to be misunderstandings."

Misa could tell what he was getting at. "You mean we'll explain something to her and she'll misinterpret it based on the choice of words."

"Right. She'll listen to what you're saying, but the context of the statement goes right over her head. And I'm sure you realize, as with all kids, there's some things she won't understand no matter how you explain it to her."

Hikaru nodded in full agreement. "Between the two of us, there's no way she could dodge that genetic bullet. Stubbornness runs in BOTH of our families."

"I'm well aware of that." Koru tapped a little red button on his desk and called to the secretary around the corner, "Miss Jumo, I'm just about finished with Admiral Hayase, why don't you bring Miko down to the office now." He released the button and closed the folder again, now turning all of his attention to the wheelchair-bound Admiral. "Now, my good commandant, it's your turn to give ME some news."

Misa sighed and leaned back in the chair, "Your last treatment worked really well. The feeling came back in my legs finally."

Koru nodded, impressed. "Any movement?"

She shrugged, "I can sort of wiggle my toes now."

"He hasn't been tickling you again, has he?"

Misa shot Hikaru an evil look, "Actually, he's been doing ALOT of things to me lately..."

Hikaru stared at the ceiling, trying to look innocent when the door to the office opened and Miko walked in with an expression of frustration, "Mommy, the short boy with the thing on his nose ate my candy bar and when I told him to give it back, he licked it!"

Misa put her hand on her shoulder and smiled, "I'll buy you another one, okay?" Miko nodded and climbed up onto her lap, at once sinking into the cushion of her mother's legs. "Dumo, is there any... therapy or medication we need for her?"

"Not for her, no. But I'll tell you right now, both of YOU will."

--August 15, 2017--
--12:30 GST--
The main chamber of Alpha Factory's largest pod is more than four hundred miles from wall to wall and generally about a hundred miles from floor to ceiling. The relative scale of sizes is almost beyond human comprehension, but even a chamber of this size is anything but an open space. Durasteel columns five miles wide run from floor to cieling, each one affixed with literally hundreds of stations, recessed into their surfaces where a combat vessel of nearly any size can be assembled from a quantity of raw material. Battle scars in much of the machinery remained from combat with the Supervision Army centuries ago, but with each passing moment new machines were completed and new construction facilities burst to life somewhere in the main chamber.

Against columns and docks extending from the walls and ceilings, hundreds of Zentradi vessels were being refit, and alongside them Gallaron's newest warships were being assembled from scratch. The columns to which they were affixed were large enough to house entire cities, with enough stations around each to build hundreds of ships at once (if all of the stations were functional). One of the fortified stations close to the top of column Alpha-23 contained the nearly completed hull of SDF-08 Gaviaten, Gallaron's newest Macbeth class command cruiser. Alongside it the hulls of dozens of destroyers were being finalized, and further down the column past an entire section of decimated dock stations were a dozen more Phoenix class cruisers halfway through their own construction phase.

From the observation dome overlooking Alpha-23, Dr. Varcus' brain flew through the metal projections of fleet distribution and production schedules, finding himself grappling with increasingly dark futures. The fleet was growing steadily day by day, but it still wasn't enough to save Gallaron. The Thor class missile destroyers were being produced at a rapid pace and were having an effect, but more powerful ships like the Phoenix and Macbeth were needed, sooner than possible, and in greater numbers than Alpha Factor was capable of building. Blueprints displayed on the monitor to his right was part of the answer, but the list of renovations and robotic-repair initiatives on his desk showed all the more promise.. "I wonder if we're not making a huge mistake?" He was thinking out loud, but Admiral Hallas of the former Stellar Republic was inclined to address his concerns.

"There are never any certainties, especially with new weapons. Expanding this factory will be a help, and the new battlecruisers might just turn the tide of the war in our favor... or they might turn out to flying deathtraps and doom Gallaron to a swift death by fire."

"Your optimism is infectious, Admiral." He said with a hint of sarcasm, "But even if these new ships do turn out to be a raging success, where do you suppose we can find crews for them? Or commanders for that matter?"

"The crew? Well… I'm sure I could train some of my people for command positions. There's no shortage of volunteers these days."

"Actually, Admiral, I'm not as much worried about the command crew or even the captain of the ship, since Gallaron has plenty of volunteers at the moment. More specifically, we need music."

Hallas stared at the Zentradi archivist for a moment as the gravity of the situation sank in. "Not just any music either…"

"No. Only a few performers in the galaxy have the abilities we're looking for, but we have no way of knowing who they are or how to use these abilities. On the other hand, my research indicates the expression of music might only be coincidental."

Hallas nodded. "I've heard that as well. It's probably just easier to express as a form of entertainment than any other way."

"Maybe…" Varcus went through a list of people in his mind who might have fit any of the characteristics of an anima-spiritia, but only one came to mind. With two children and a lock-down daily schedule, he already could guess what she would say if he asked her to join the crew. "How's Shikari's hobby coming along?" He said, changing the subject.

Hallas smiled. "We've got some pretty good results from it so far. She's suggested that Lacul may have retained the services of some of his Vasals."

"Really? Like who?"

"Do you remember the one called Jinai?"

Varcus nodded. "He lead the offensive against the 41st Bogartha fleet two hundred years ago. The other Commanders of his fleet acted as support, thus accelerating the massacre. They say Lacul managed to control their minds without cutting off their higher brain functions, which makes them extremely dangerous in combat."

"And just what does the Great Warlord Shikari plan to do about it?"

Hallas looked out at the spread of ships under construction for hundreds of kilometers, then turned to leave the office. "She's probably planning some elaborate series of assassination attempts. I bet you a month's ration she'll fold right into the heart of Jinai's flagship and tear it appart with her bare hands."

Hallas closed the door behind him and brooded over the fleet for another moment. SDF-08 seemed to beckon to him as if yearning for a commander to begin its tour of duty as flagship of the 6th fleet. "The galaxy is tense, stretched like a steal cable. Soon it will snap, and the load will come crashing down. Will Victory by ready in time to catch it when it falls?" He cast his gaze back to the half completed hulk of the experimental ship further down the column, one ship of many but already several months ahead of the others in construction. All of the modules were completed and were being held in position just short of final assembly. The city block in the central module was being fabricated by construction crews inside; soon SDF-Victory would be ready to fly for the first time. "I can't wait to find out."

--August 16, 2017--
--08:40 GST--
All hell was breaking loose on the planet without a name. The gunnery station on this little mud ball of a moon known as Defense Point Charlie Seven in the Gulara corridor was illuminated by the maelstrom of beam cannons from Supervision Army battlepods and the new variable powered armors that had appeared on the front lines only a few weeks before. The sky was full of explosions, and the smaller laser and particle turrets on the ground fired upwards almost non-stop along with the missile batteries at the base of each of the cannons. All four cannons were pointed skyward, the twin booms of the energy condensers rising almost half a mile above their spherical mounts. They were already charging for another barrage, each powered by a pair of reaction furnaces protected by layers of reinforced armor. Should the enemy penetrate to the base, all of the reaction furnaces would be set to overload.

The evacuation of the support personnel and anyone else not needed to fire the cannons was almost completed by now. SDF-07 Macbeth was hovering in the base in battle mode, laying down thick covering fire with its laser and missile turrets while the refugees packed into the city block like sardines in a can while fighters and powered armors swarmed all around in their deadly dance. Kai Chan and four marines in their new Stormlord powered armors found themselves in freefall, firing up at a group of diving variable armors with gunpods and plasma cannons in an effort to keep the pods from pressing past them. Kai Chan sank a burst into the leading armor, Alako and Rao both put a blast from their chest cannons into the second and third armor before the others broke off and gained altitude again. All five Zentradi powered armors set down on the deck bellow the cannon, and all five immediately fired their thrusters again to make a high speed dash to find some cover. Kai Chan stopped in mid air and came down into a trench next to Private Forest and took a moment to scan the battle zone around them. "Time, Forest?" Kai Chan said on the radio.

"Two more minutes, Skipper. Phoenix reports enemy ships are drowpping reinforcements and the fighter wings can't catch em all."

Kai Chan clenched his fist, not noticing or caring that the powered armor's hands would mimic the action. He looked around the sky again and saw a dozen Queadlunn-Rau armors flying overhead, each one headed upwards towards the top of the cannons, hot on the tail of a group of fighter pods. He was about to call them for a situation report when a dozen more Stormlords dropped into the trench next to him and started to reload rifles and gunpods. Almost as soon as they did, a Glaug armored vehicle passed overhead and fired a spread of mini-missile into the trench. Most of the suits hit the dirt and took cover, but Sergeant Rao's suit took several direct hits and collapsed to the ground unconscious. Kai Chan and Forest turned around and fired upwards with the plasma cannons on their forearms, each scoring a direct hit on the pod's engine section and sending the vehicle spiraling down in flames. Kai Chan watched the Glaug crash and explode, then changed radio frequencies to the SDF-07 for an update. "Capricorn-7 this is Pounder-1, what's the word on those reinforcements?!"

Captain Elensh was in no mood for Kai Chan's complaints, and the bridge of the Macbeth was far too busy for her to be bothered with this right now. All she really knew was that things were not going well for the GSDF. "Lieutenant Chan, the reinforcements from the 4th fleet have been redirected to more immediate emergencies. You'll just have to hold out alittle longer." Imura closed the channel and went back to her business. More reentry pods were entering the atmosphere, this time with Supervision micron and macron infantry in powered armors and tanks. But beyond that, Broli's fleet in near orbit was now taking heavy fire and couldn't last much longer. The enemy force attacking them was massive, almost two hundred strong in just the first wave, and every time Broli's group destroyed some of them, an entirely new group would rise to replace it. The defensive campaign to defend the Gulara Corridor had been three months of bitterness and bloodshed, and now at their last stand it was all coming to a disastrous end. "More immediate emergencies... we're about to loose this battle! What could possibly be more immediate than this?"

A signal broke through on Imura's monitor from the orbiting fleet, this time from the bridge of the Phoenix, almost a thousand kilometers up. "Captain Elensh, there's a new group of enemies moving towards the planet, riding the LaGrange point on the far side of the planet. They'll be in firing range of your position in four minutes."

Imura walked over to the first officer's station and checked with the fighter squadrons, confirming what she already knew. Every variable fighter on the ship was battling enemy mecha at a higher altitude with the powered armors closer to the ground. "Can you get a fighter wing on it?"

"Not in four minutes." Broli said sadly. "We're barely holding on here as it is."

"Great. How many are there now?"

"Nearly three hundred in the main group, an additional one hundred in the new ones coming up on your side."

Imura nodded. "We're going to have to evacuate in a hurry then. Tell Kai Chan to pull his marines back to the base perimeter and get ready to make a run for it."

Lieutenant Gouraz sagged a bit. She'd hoped on winning this battle more than anything else, but it looked like they would end up retreating once again. "Capricorn Seven calling Thug Zero: our forces are in a general retreat! We need you to cover the evac and get ready to pull out as fast as you can!"

Kai Chan didn't have to be told what that meant. Reinforcements are coming, so we'll have to run for it... "Thus Zero to mobile infantry, fall back to the base perimeter! We need to get out of here in a hurry!" He fired his boosters at that point and started flying back towards the cannon base, firing the last of his missiles at the enemy mecha around him as he did. All the powered armors around the base did likewise, blasting everything that moved with gunpods and beam cannons until their backs were literally against the walls of the base itself. Kai Chan fired off two quick bursts from his plasma cannons into a variable powered armor overhead; the blasts tore the machine apart but not before it could answer with a spread of its own missiles. He cut his thrusters and let himself fall, rolling on his back and sweeping away the missiles above him with the pulse laser on the front of his chest. "Macbeth, how much longer?!" He shouted as he cut in the thrusters to stop his descent.

"The evacuation is almost complete!" Mia's voice seemed more and more anxious every second. "The automated defense systems are finally operational again so as soon as the evacuation is completed we can go! Just hold on a few more minutes...!"

Kai Chan felt a rumbling at his feet and looked upwards to see the four main cannons at each corner of the base were moving again, this time aligning towards the horizon. He could also see the Macbeth moving into firing position next to the base, aligning for a 5-cannon salute to the new arrivals to the Gulara corridor. Imura's face had grown sullen in the anticipation. She'd been here too long, it was time to leave. "Range to targets?"

"Three hundred thousand, closing fast."

"Can we hit them effectively from this range?"

Mia checked her computers over quickly and nodded back. "The atmosphere's thin enough, we should be able to get a maximum strike at Two-fifty."

"Take aim and prepare to fire, Lieutenant." The main cannons lowered a few degrees and started to charge up. Every second brought the enemy ships closer into cannon range, all they had to do was wait. The Macbeth was starting to gain altitude now, climbing slowly so the powered armors could still get back to the ship but high enough to get them above the cannon base and a clear escape path with their main engines.

"Targets in range! Approaching optimum firing range... now!"

Imura licked her lips. "Fire all cannons! All fighters pull back at once!" The cannons of SDF-07 flared to life and then exploded in a beam of crimson light. The four cannons of the base did the same, and five well placed energy blasts cut through the atmosphere into the sky, across the distance between them, slicing through the thickest point of the enemy formation before fading to reveal a small galaxy of nuclear explosions right in the midst of them.

Mia looked at the space monitor report and frowned. "Thirty percent of approaching enemies destroyed."

Imura thought as much. "Recall all fighters at once! Arm the automated missile silos in the mountains and set for long range firing."

Mia sighed gravely and sent out the orders. They were really retreating again, another loss. Every day the GSDF lost more ground to the enemy, leaving a bank of reaction missiles behind as a parting shot to take out dozens of unsuspecting enemy ships. At this rate Mia knew she would live to see everything she cared about end in fire... almost as if to illustrate the point of her thoughts, Mia's monitor started screaming a new set of warnings. "Captain, we've got an energy spike! Enemy gunboats are returning fire!"

"Dammit! Engines, full powered ascent! Ground unit, get your asses back up here right now!" Imura gripped the side of her chair for what she knew would be a rough ride. Any second now the whole ship would be lifted into the sky by a new kind of energy.

Kai Chan's platoon pushed strait up from the base, swerving around fire from enemy fighter pods and powered armors towards the Macbeth as it rose higher and higher over the cannon base, each of them shouting at the top of their lungs in a surge of adrenaline. Private Beecher's Queadlunn-Rau platoons came up behind them, caught up with them quickly with their superior acceleration and actually grabbed each of them by the hand and pulled them along behind them to catch up faster. The Stormlords all started to touch down on the port ARMD platform when several beams of light struck down on and around the base from the horizon, turning mater directly into energy and generating a fireball large enough to swallow dozens of starships. The shockwave hit the Macbeth and knocked it sideways as it ascended; some of the powered armors free of the hull, tumbling into the air and back to the planet. Somehow Kai Chan managed to hang on, and as the ship rose out of the turmoil of the explosion he managed to free one hand and grab another powered armor that had lost its grip before it could fall back to the surface. "Pounder to Capricorn, what's the situation up there?!"

Imura steadied herself against the shaking of the ship and looked out of the viewport at the scene bellow her. Charlie Seven, and everything within ten kilometers of the base, had been reduced to a cloud of vapor rising into the sky over a tremendous crater. This battle was over, all they could do now was hope the automated defense systems and various booby traps they had set around this planet would turn the enemy's victory bitter. "Fold system standby. All fighters return to ship for hyperspace transit."

Mia could already see Broli's fleet battling the enemy ships on the horizon as they climbed through the atmosphere of the ship. They had lost a surprisingly small number of ships in this battle, but at any second they would be surrounded on all sides and would face the worst kind of annihilation imaginable unless they retreated to safer ground. "Fold system ready sir."

Broli's ships were already vanishing into hyperspace as the battle started to fade. This battle may have been lost, but there was another fight waiting right around the corner that they had to prepare for if this war was to continue. "Engage fold drive. We'll fall back to Lima-131."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Just a reminder to old readers and some new ones who might be checking out this fic, all times are given in GST (Gallaron Standard Time) which incidentally is a 33 hour day. (Sunrise at 00:00, sunset at 16:00. This also means that each month has 22 days with December having 23. Just FYI